• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.159-165
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• 2010

The evolution of brain imaging techniques over the last decade has been remarkable. Along with such technical developments, research into chronic pain has made many advances. Given that brain imaging is a non-invasive technique with great spatial resolution, it has played an important role in finding the areas of the brain related to pain perception as well as those related to many chronic pain disorders. Therefore, in the near future, brain imaging techniques are expected to be the key to the discovery of many unknown etiologies of chronic pain disorders and to the subjective diagnoses of such disorders.

• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2014

Iron is an important element for brain oxygen transport, myelination, DNA synthesis and neurotransmission. However, excessive iron can generate reactive oxygen species and contribute neurotoxicity. Although brain iron deposition is the natural process with normal aging, excessive iron accumulation is also observed in various neurological disorders such as neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, Friedreich ataxia, and others. Magnetic resonance image (MRI) is a useful method for detecting iron deposits in the brain. It can be a powerful tool for diagnosis and monitoring, while furthering our understanding of the role of iron in the pathophysiology of a disease. In this review, we will introduce the mechanism of iron toxicity and the basics of several iron-related MRI techniques. Also, we will summarize the previous results concerning the clinical application of such MR imagings in various neurological disorders.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.22
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• pp.9805-9812
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• 2014

Radixin, a member of the ERM (ezrin-radixin-moesin) family, plays important roles in cell motility, invasion and tumor progression. It is expressed in a variety of normal and neoplastic cells, including many types of epithelial and lymphoid examples. However, its function in glioblastomas remains elusive. Thus, in this study, radixin gene expression was first examined in the glioblastoma cells, then suppressed with a lentivirus-mediated short-hairpin RNA (shRNA) method.We found that there were high levels of radixin expression in glioblastoma U251cells. Radixin shRNA caused down-regulation of radixin gene expression and when radixin-silenced cells were implanted into nude mice, tumor growth was significantly inhibited as compared to blank control cells or nonsense shRNA cells. In addition, microvessel density in the tumors was significantly reduced. Thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) and E-cadherin were up-regulated in radixin- suppressed glioblastoma U251 cells. In contrast, MMP9 was down-regulated. Taken together, our findings suggest that radixin is involved in GBM cell migration and invasion, and implicate TSP-1, E-cadherin and MMP9 as metastasis-inducing factors.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.29-33
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• 2015

The brain maintains homeostasis and normal microenvironment through dynamic interactions of neurons and neuroglial cells to perform the proper information processing and normal cognitive functions. Recent post-mortem investigations and animal model studies demonstrated that the various brain areas such as cerebral cortex, hippocampus and amygdala have abnormalities in neuroglial numbers and functions in subjects with mental illnesses including schizophrenia, dementia and mood disorders like major depression and bipolar disorder. These findings highlight the putative role and involvement of neuroglial cells in mental disorders. Herein I discuss the physiological roles of neuroglial cells such as astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and microglia in maintaining normal brain functions and their abnormalities in relation to mental disorders. Finally, all these findings could serve as a useful starting point for potential therapeutic concept and drug development to cure unnatural behaviors and abnormal cognitive functions observed in mental disorders.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.20.1-20.21
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• 2024

The brain and lungs, vital organs in the body, play essential roles in maintaining overall well-being and survival. These organs interact through complex and sophisticated bi-directional pathways known as the 'lung-brain axis', facilitated by their close proximity and neural connections. Numerous studies have underscored the mediation of the lung-brain axis by inflammatory responses and hypoxia-induced damage, which are pivotal to the progression of both pulmonary and neurological diseases. This review aims to delve into how pulmonary diseases, including acute/chronic airway diseases and pulmonary conditions, can instigate neurological disorders such as stroke, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease. Additionally, we highlight the emerging research on the lung microbiome which, drawing parallels between the gut and lungs in terms of microbiome contents, may play a significant role in modulating brain health. Ultimately, this review paves the way for exciting avenues of future research and therapeutics in addressing respiratory and neurological diseases.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.18-26
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• 2021

Sleep is essential to brain function and mental health. Insomnia and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are the two most common sleep disorders, and are major public health concerns. Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H-MRS) is a non-invasive method of quantifying neurometabolite concentrations. Therefore, ¹H-MRS studies on individuals with sleep disorders may enhance our understanding of the pathophysiology of these disorders. In this article, we reviewed ¹H-MRS studies in insomnia and OSA that reported changes in neurometabolite concentrations. Previous studies have consistently reported insomnia-related reductions in γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) levels in the frontal and occipital regions, which suggest that changes in GABA are important to the etiology of insomnia. These results may support the hyperarousal theory that insomnia is associated with increased cognitive and physiological arousal. In addition, the severity of insomnia was associated with low glutamate and glutamine levels. Previous studies of OSA have consistently reported reduced N-acetylaspartate (NAA) levels in the frontal, parieto-occipital, and temporal regions. In addition, OSA was associated with increased myo-inositol levels. These results may provide evidence that intermittent hypoxia induced by OSA may result in neuronal damage in the brain, which can be related to neurocognitive dysfunction in patients with OSA. The current review summarizes findings related to neurochemical changes in insomnia and OSA. Future well-designed studies using ¹H-MRS have the potential to enhance our understanding of the pathophysiology of sleep disorders including insomnia and OSA.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.239-244
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• 2014

Several recent studies have showed that the n-myc downstream regulated gene 2 (NDRG2) is a new tumor suppressor gene, and that it plays an important role in tumor suppression in several cancers or cancer cell lines. However, few studies focused on its function in neuroblastoma cells. In the present investigation, we demonstrated that NDRG2 overexpression inhibited their proliferation. Using a cDNA microarray, we found that overexpression of NDRG2 inhibited the expression of cysteine-rich protein 61 (CYR61), a proliferation related gene. From our research, CYR61 may partially hinder NDRG2-mediated inhibition of cell proliferation. Overexpression of NDRG2 resulted in accumulation of cells in the G1 phase, which was accompanied by upregulation of p21 and p27 and downregulation of CDK4 and cyclin D1. Taken together, these data indicate that NDRG2 inhibits the proliferation of neuroblastoma cells partially through suppression of CYR61. Our findings offer novel insights into the physiological roles of NDRG2 in neuroblastoma cell proliferation, and NDRG2 may prove to be effective candidate for the treatment of children with neuroblastoma.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.51
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• pp.9.1-9.10
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• 2021

Brain disorders seriously affect life quality. Therefore, non-invasive neuroimaging has received attention to monitoring and early diagnosing neural disorders to prevent their progress to a severe level. This short review briefly describes the current MRI and PET/CT techniques developed for non-invasive neuroimaging and the future direction of optical imaging techniques to achieve higher resolution and specificity using the second near-infrared (NIR-II) region of wavelength with organic molecules.

• The Journal of the Society of Stroke on Korean Medicine
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.102-110
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• 2012

Neuropsychiatric disorder is one of the symptoms developed after traumatic brain injury. The main symptoms of neuropsychiatric disorder are delirium, anxiety, depression and so on. We treated the patient with herbal medicine, acupuncture, moxibustion and other appropriate traditional Korean medical treatment. The patient only appeared neuropsychiatric disorder, not another neurologic symptoms. We consider it is the rare case in traditional Korean medicine hospital. So we report the patient with the review of literatures regarding neuropsychiatric disorder induced by traumatic brain injury.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.971-977
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• 2015

Malignant glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most malignant brain tumor and despite recent advances in diagnostics and treatment prognosis remains poor. In this retrospective study, we assessed the clinical and radiological parameters, as well as fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) of 1p19q deletion, in a series of cases. A total of 816 patients with GBM who received surgery and radiation between January 2010 and May 2014 were included in this study. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox regression analysis were used to find the factors independently influencing patient progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Age at diagnosis, preoperative Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS) score, KPS score change at 2 weeks after operation, neurological deficit symptoms, tumor resection extent, maximal tumor diameter, involvement of eloquent cortex or deep structure, involvement of brain lobe, Ki-67 and MMP9 expression level and adjuvant chemotherapy were statistically significant factors (p<0.05) for both PFS and OS in the univariate analysis. Cox proportional hazards modeling revealed that age ${\leq}50$ years, preoperative KPS score ${\geq}80$, KPS score change after operation ${\geq}0$, involvement of single frontal lobe, deep structure involvement, low Ki-67 and MMP9 expression and adjuvant chemotherapy were independent favorable factors (p<0.05) for patient clinical outcomes.