• Title/Summary/Keyword: Biological response

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A Study on the Threat of Biological Terrorism in modern society (현대사회의 환경변화에 따른 Bio-Terror의 위협요인 연구)

  • Kang, young-sook;Kim, Tae-hwan
    • Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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    • v.1 no.1
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    • pp.3-26
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    • 2005
  • In recent years, there is growing concern about the potential use of biological agents in war or acts of terrorism accompanied an increased realization that rapid preparedness and response are needed to prevent or treat the human damage that can be caused by these agents. The threat is indeed serious, and the potential for devastating numbers of casualties is high. The use of agents as weapons, even on a small scale, has the potential for huge social and economic disruption and massive diversion of regional and national resources to combat the threat, to treat primary disease, and to clean up environmental contamination. Biological weapons are one of weapons of mass destruction (or mass casualty weapons, to be precise. since they do not damage non-living entities) that are based on bacteria, viruses, rickettsia, fungi or toxins produced by these organisms. Biological weapons are known to be easy and cheap to produce and can be used to selectively target humans, animals, or plants. Theses agents can cause large numbers of casualties with minimal logistical requirements (in wide area). The spread of disease cannot be controlled until there is awareness of the signs of infection followed by identification of agents; and if the organism is easily spread from person to person, as in the case of smallpox, the number of casualties could run into the tens of thousands. Biological weapons could be used covertly, there can be a lot of different deployment scenarios. A lot of different agents could be used in biological weapons. And, there are a lot of different techniques to manufacture biological weapons. Terrorist acts that make use of Biological Agents differ in a number of ways from those involving chemicals. The distinction between terrorist and military use of Biological Weapon is increasingly problematic. The stealthy qualities of biological weapons further complicate the distinction between terrorism and war. In reality, all biological attacks are likely to require an integrated response involving both military and civilian communities. The basic considerations when public health agencies establish national defence plan against bioterrorism must be 1) arraying various laws and regulations to meet the realistic needs, 2)education for public health personnels and support of concerned academic society, 3)information collection and cooperative project with other countries, 4)Detection and surveillance(Early detection is essential for ensuring a prompt response to biological or chemical attack, including the provision of prophylactic medicines, chemical antidotes, or vaccines) and 5) Response(A comprehensive public health response to a biological or chemical terrorist event involves epidemiologic investigation, medical treatment and prophylaxis for affacted persons, and the initiation of disease prevention or environmental decontamination measures). The purpose of this paper is providing basic material of preparedness and response for biological terrorism in modern society.

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Neurotransmitter and Neuroendocrine Markers as Predictors of Therapeutic Responses In Psychiatric Disorders (신경전달물질 및 신경내분비 Marker를 이용한 치료반응의 평가)

  • Han, Chang-Hwan
    • Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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    • v.2 no.1
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    • pp.3-19
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    • 1995
  • Numerous investigators have conducted extensive investigation in the search for biological markers in psychiatric illness. There are, as a test of q biological approach to the diagnosis of the psychiatric illness, tests for the neurotransmitters, their metabolites, and related enzymes, the neurotransmitter receptors, the neuroendocrine output and response, the membrane transport, peptides and eletrolytes. They are called the biological markers, and they are helpful for the diagnosis or differential diagnosis, choice of treatment or drugs, symptom improvement, predictor of recurrence and anticipation of suicidal attempt. These studies are among the main purposes that are pursued in the neuroscience and based on the potential utility of the biological markers mentioned above. Since 1970's, lots 01 biological markers' studies for the diagnosis, differential diagnosis or subtypes differentiation have been done but varieties of different opinions have been drawn since then through they could explain the charaters of main psychiatric illness(especially schizophrenia and mood disorder). But, the search for biological markers, including displines of neuroendoclinology and neurochemistry(neurotransmitter and thair metabolite), has yielded a number of putative trait merkers and state markers for psychayric illness. This paper aims to anticipate or evaluate the good response to the therapy(Therpeutic response) with lots of markers. Acoording to the diagnosis of lots of diseases or subtypes, we are going to review the papers, mainly concern with 'Is there any Marker' or 'Is any test possible to detect the improvement clinically?' 'Is it possible to predict the recurrence or good prognsis?' or 'Is it possible to select any drug or therapy to bring the good response?' The biological tests to review are mainly the metabolites of catecholamine neurotransmitter, and especially neuroendocrine test based on the knowledge that hormons of the adenohypophysis are influenced by activity of the cerebral or limbic neurons as well as the hypothalamus ones. Among them, author introduced some clinically available tests that are DST, TRH stimulation test(TRHST), GH stimulation test, and the urine MHPG test that can give us the evaluation of the treatment response, the predictor for recurrence or choice of drug that can bring a good response. So author discussed thair potential utility in clarifying, therapeutic, and prognostic issues in psychatric illness. We hope they'll be used and look forward to more active study on the different opinion.

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Countermeasure system and Construction Method against CBR Terrorism (화생방 테러에 대한 대응체계 구축방안)

  • Park, Ok-cheol;Kim, Tae-hwan
    • Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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    • v.6 no.2
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    • pp.21-44
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    • 2010
  • Today, in response to chemical, biological and radiological terrorism has been active for the study. However, if chemical, biological and radiological attack has occurred to respond to the agency has not conducted the research. The purpose of this study are as follows. First, South Korea and the United States 'CBR terrorism' comparative analysis of the response system. Second, South Korea 'CBR terrorism' measures to improve the system response is presented. To achieve the purpose of this study, the following research is carried out. First, determine the status of the case of CBR incident. Second, the United States 'CBR terrorism' response systems and organizational approaches. Third, Korea's 'CBR terrorism' response system and the problem is derived.

Nondestructive Techniques for Quality Inspection of Fruits and Vegetables

  • Young J. Han;Cho, Young-Jin;Wayne S. Rial;Wade E. Lambert
    • Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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    • v.2 no.3
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    • pp.269-279
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    • 1997
  • Various nondestructive technologies for quality inspection of fruits and vegetables were reviewed through published literatures and selected agricultural databases. These technologies were grouped into nine categories, including acoustic response, dielectric response, machine vision, magnetic response, mechanical vibration response, microwave response, optical properties, and other possible sensing technologies. Their principles and characteristics were investigated and these technologies were presented with their current and potential applications. The link of appropriate nondestructive technologies with common principal quality parameters of fruits and vegetables was summarized.

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Biological Mechanism of Suicide (자살의 생물학적 기전)

  • Cheon, Eun-Jin
    • Journal of the Korean society of biological therapies in psychiatry
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    • v.24 no.3
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    • pp.129-141
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    • 2018
  • Suicide is a behavior that is intended to cause death by itself and requires medical treatment, resulting in suicidal attempt or completion. Suicide causes loss of life, damages the body, costs a lot of medical expenses, and causes families to fall into sorrow and suffering therefore this suicide is a huge loss to family and society. There have been attempts to reduce and prevent suicide by understanding the mechanism of suicide. The mechanism of suicide can be thought of as psychological mechanism and biological mechanism. In the past, if we considered the psychological and biological mechanisms separately, the development of neuroscience now connects and integrates these two. Psychological factors affect biological factors and biological temperaments also affect perception or thinking about the situation and increase psychological vulnerability. Distant factors in suicidal behavior-such as childhood adversity and family and genetic predisposition-increase the lifetime risk of suicide. They alter the response to stress and other processes through changes in gene expression and regulation of emotional and behavioral characteristics. Distant factors affect the biological system and consequently changes in these systems can increase the risk of suicide. In other words, the distal factor does not directly induce suicidal behavior but rather acts indirectly through developmental or mediating factors. These mediating factors are impulsive aggressive and anxious trait, and chronic use of substances. The mechanism of this disorder is the abnormality of the serotonin system and the abnormality of the lipid level. Proximal factors are associated with the onset of suicide events and include changes in the major neurotransmitter systems, inflammatory changes, and dysfunction of glial cells in the brain. A series of studies, including a variety of research methods and postmortem and in-vivo imaging studies, show the impairment of the serotonergic neurotransmitter system and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis stress response system for suicidal behavior. These disorders lead to suicidal behavior due to difficulty in cognitive control of mood, pessimism, reactive aggression, abnormality in problem solving abilities, excessive response to negative social signals, severe emotional distress, and cognitive dysregulation of suicidal ideation.

Can We Predict Treatment Response in Major Depression? (주요우울증에서 치료반응을 예측할 수 있는가?)

  • Ko, Young Hoon;Kim, Yong Ku
    • Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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    • v.11 no.2
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    • pp.77-87
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    • 2004
  • Due to the high population prevalence of major depression and the strong emphasis on pharmacotherapy for this disorder, antidepressants are among the most frequently prescribed pharmacological agents. But the clinicians are still unable to predict accurately the response of their depressed patients to medication. This article reviews the biological predictors of treatment response including monoamine, neuroendocrine, pharmacogenetic, and psychophysiologic markers. The biological predictors of response, despite some interesting leads that may in the long term be of considerable importance, are not yet sufficiently established to be of routine clinical usefulness. Many of the predictive factors explored in this article are examples of mediators and moderators that affect outcomes. Each one alone may not provide definitive answers for predicting response to treatment, but each must be taken into account at the outset of treatment. It is clear that treatments must be individualized for each patient. It would be necessary to develop the algorithm in order to predict the responsiveness of antidepressant treatment with integration of the results from the previous studies.

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Therapeutic Effects of Resiniferatoxin Related with Immunological Responses for Intestinal Inflammation in Trichinellosis

  • Munoz-Carrillo, Jose Luis;Munoz-Lopez, Jose Luis;Munoz-Escobedo, Jose Jesus;Maldonado-Tapia, Claudia;Gutierrez-Coronado, Oscar;Contreras-Cordero, Juan Francisco;Moreno-Garcia, Maria Alejandra
    • Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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    • v.55 no.6
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    • pp.587-599
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    • 2017
  • The immune response against Trichinella spiralis at the intestinal level depends on the $CD4^+$ T cells, which can both suppress or promote the inflammatory response through the synthesis of diverse cytokines. During the intestinal phase, the immune response is mixed (Th1/Th2) with the initial predominance of the Th1 response and the subsequent domination of Th2 response, which favor the development of intestinal pathology. In this context, the glucocorticoids (GC) are the pharmacotherapy for the intestinal inflammatory response in trichinellosis. However, its therapeutic use is limited, since studies have shown that treatment with GC suppresses the host immune system, favoring T. spiralis infection. In the search for novel pharmacological strategies that inhibit the Th1 immune response (proinflammatory) and assist the host against T. spiralis infection, recent studies showed that resiniferatoxin (RTX) had anti-inflammatory activity, which decreased the serum levels of IL-12, $INF-{\gamma}$, $IL-1{\beta}$, $TNF-{\alpha}$, NO, and $PGE_2$, as well the number of eosinophils in the blood, associated with decreased intestinal pathology and muscle parasite burden. These researches demonstrate that RTX is capable to inhibit the production of Th1 cytokines, contributing to the defense against T. spiralis infection, which places it as a new potential drug modulator of the immune response.

Comparison of immunoadjuvant activities of four bursal peptides combined with H9N2 avian influenza virus vaccine

  • Zhang, Cong;Zhou, Jiangfei;Liu, Zhixin;Liu, Yongqing;Cai, Kairui;Shen, Tengfei;Liao, Chengshui;Wang, Chen
    • Journal of Veterinary Science
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    • v.19 no.6
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    • pp.817-826
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    • 2018
  • The bursa of Fabricius (BF) is a central humoral immune organ unique to birds. Four bursal peptides (BP-I, BP-II, BP-III, and BP-IV) have been isolated and identified from the BF. In this study, the immunoadjuvant activities of BPs I to IV were examined in mice immunized with H9N2 avian influenza virus (AIV) vaccine. The results suggested that BP-I effectively enhanced cell-mediated immune responses, increased the secretion of Th1 (interferon gamma)- and Th2 (interleukin-4)-type cytokines, and induced an improved cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) response to the H9N2 virus. BP-II mainly elevated specific antibody production, especially neutralizing antibodies, and increased Th1- and Th2-type cytokine secretion. BP-III had no significant effect on antibody production or cell-mediated immune responses compared to those in the control group. A strong immune response at both the humoral and cellular levels was induced by BP-IV. Furthermore, a virus challenge experiment followed by H&E staining revealed that BP-I and BP-II promoted removal of the virus and conferred protection in mouse lungs. BP-IV significantly reduced viral titers and histopathological changes and contributed to protection against H9N2 AIV challenge in mouse lungs. This study further elucidated the immunoadjuvant activities of BPs I to IV, providing a novel insight into immunoadjuvants for use in vaccine design.

The Effect of Taxol and Ethyl-N-phenylcarbamate (EPC) on Growth and Gravitropism in Zea mays L

  • Park, Yun-Hee;Choy, Yoon-Hi;Lee, June-Seung
    • Journal of Plant Biology
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    • v.39 no.4
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    • pp.287-293
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    • 1996
  • The effect of taxol and ethyl-N-phenylcarbamate (EPC) on the growth and gravitropism of maize roots and coleoptiles was studied. Taxol is known to promote the assembly of microtubules (MTs) and stabilizes MTs by preventing depolymerization. EPC, on the contrary, is an anti-microtubule drug that promotes disassembly of MTs. Taxol, at 1 $\mu$M, inhibited gravitropic response of maize roots to about 40%, but did not inhibit growth; at 10 $\mu$M, it inhibited the gravitropic response of coleoptile segments of maize by approximately 50%, but did not inhibit growth, while 0.5 mM EPC inhibited both the gravitropic response and growth of maize roots by approximately 50%. Taxol, which inhibited the gravitropic response of maize roots and coleoptile segments, had no effect on either the polar or the bilateral transport of auxin. These results indicated that MT polymerization could not occur normally with taxol or EPC, so that if there was any abnormal rearrangement of MT, the gravitropic response was inhibited, which resulted from the inhibition of neither growth nor auxin transport. This results suggested that gravitropic response was related to the MT arrangement, and that both straight growth and the differential growth in gravitropic response could be regulated by different mechanisms.

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WNT11 is a direct target of early growth response protein 1

  • Kim, JuHwan;Jung, Euitaek;Ahn, Sung Shin;Yeo, Hyunjin;Lee, Jeong Yeon;Seo, Jeong Kon;Lee, Young Han;Shin, Soon Young
    • BMB Reports
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    • v.53 no.12
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    • pp.628-633
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    • 2020
  • WNT11 is a member of the non-canonical Wnt family and plays a crucial role in tumor progression. However, the regulatory mechanisms underlying WNT11 expression are unclear. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) is a major inflammatory cytokine produced in the tumor microenvironment and contributes to processes associated with tumor progression, such as tumor invasion and metastasis. By using site-directed mutagenesis and introducing a serial deletion in the 5'-regulatory region of WNT11, we observed that TNFα activates the early growth response 1 (EGR1)-binding sequence (EBS) in the proximal region of WNT11 and that the transcription factor EGR1 is necessary for the TNFα-induced transcription of WNT11. EGR1 bound directly to the EBSs within the proximal 5'-regulatory region of WNT11 and ectopic expression of EGR1 stimulated WNT11 promoter activity, whereas the knockdown of EGR1 expression by RNA interference reduced TNFα-induced WNT11 expression in T47D breast cancer cells. We also observed that mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK), extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and p38 kinase mediated TNFα-induced transcription of WNT11 via EGR1. Our results suggest that EGR1 directly targets WNT11 in response to TNFα stimulation in breast cancer cells.