• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.383-389
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• 2002

We experienced a case of partial DiGeorge syndrome in a $35^{＋5}$ week premature female infant presented with micrognathia, fish-shaped mouth, beaked nose, nasal regurgitation, obstructive sleep apnea, velopharyngeal insufficiency and late onset hypocalcemic seizures. The chromosome 22q11 microdeletion was found by the FISH method. The lab findings showed serum calcium level of 4.4 mg/dL, ionized calcium level of 0.49 mg/dL, phosphorous level of 7.5 mg/dL, magnesium level of 1.3 mg/dL and PTH-RIA level of <1 pq/mL. Initial treatment was done with 10% calcium gluconate infusion and magnesium sulfate followed by oral calcium gluconate and low phosphorousformula milk feeding. The serum calcium level was normalized in 6 days. Nasal regurgitation, desaturation with obstructive sleep apnea continued. T-cell functions & numbers(CD 3, CD 4, CD 8)were decreased but Ig G/A/M levels were normal. No visible signs of thymus shadow were seen in either chest X-ray & chest MRI. Electrocardiography and echocardiography showed normal heart. Kidney ultrasonographby showed right side mild hydronephrosis. Neurosonography was normal but EEG showed electrical partial seizure. Hearing assessment by BERA showed mild to moderate hearing impairment. Velopharyngoplasty is scheduled for further treatment. A brief review of literature was made.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.38 no.7
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• pp.663-668
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• 2015

hBMSCs are multipotent cells that are useful for tissue regeneration to treat degenerative diseases and others for their differentiation ability into chondrocytes, osteoblasts, adipocytes, hepatocytes and neuronal cells. In this study, biodegradable elastic hydrogels consisting of hydrophilic poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and hydrophobic poly(${\varepsilon}$-caprolactone) (PCL) scaffolds were evaluated for tissue engineering because of its biocompatibility and the ability to control the release of bioactive peptides. The primary cultured cells from human bone marrow are confirmed as hBMSC by immunohistochemical analysis. Mesenchymal stem cell markers (collagen type I, fibronectin, CD54, $integrin1{\beta}$, and Hu protein) were shown to be positive, while hematopoietic stem cell markers (CD14 and CD45) were shown to be negative. Three different hydrogel scaffolds with different block compositions (PEG:PCL=6:14 and 14:6 by weight) were fabricated using the salt leaching method. The hBMSCs were expanded, seeded on the scaffolds, and cultured up to 8 days under static conditions in Iscove's Modified Dulbecco's Media (IMDM). The growth of MSCs cultured on the hydrogel with PEG/PCL= 6/14 was faster than that of the others. In addition, the morphology of MSCs seemed to be normal and no cytotoxicity was found. The coating of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) containing scaffold with Matrigel slowed down the release of VEGF in vitro and promoted the angiogenesis when transplanted into BALB/c nude mice. These results suggest that hBMSCs can be supported by a biode gradable hydrogel scaffold for effective cell growth, and enhance the angiogenesis by Matrigel coating.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.182-192
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• 2006

Background: Atherosclerosis has emerged as the leading cause of death in developed countries. At present, human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) are most commonly used for the investigation of Endothelial cells (EC). However, HUVEC are not found in arteries but only in veins. Currently there are many reports on methods used to isolate EC;, most of these methods require special equipment to remove contaminating smooth muscle cells (SMC). Materials and Methods: The method described here may be used to isolate not only ECs but also SMCs;,the approach presented here did not require special equipment. Rat aorta was treated with 2 mg/ml of type II collagenase solution for 45 minutes. The isolated cells from the aorta were incubated in medium G for a week;, only ECs could be separated. After the collagenase treatment, the rest of aorta was cut lengthwise, and left undisturbed to obtain SMCs in the culture dish for 10 days. To verify the purity of the isolated cells, we performed immunofluorescence and evaluated the results with transmission electron microscopy analysis. Results: The immunofluorescence study demonstrated specific expression of CD31 and ${\alpha}$-smooth muscle actin in the isolated ECs and SMCs, respectively. Cultured ECs and SMCs showed their own fine structure characteristics. Conclusion: These results suggest that this method for isolating ECs and SMCs may be especially useful for the study of atherosclerosis.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.566-572
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• 2020

In the recent years, thin film solar cells (TFSCs) have emerged as a viable replacement for crystalline silicon solar cells and offer a variety of choices, particularly in terms of synthesis processes and substrates (rigid or flexible, metal or insulator). Among the thin-film absorber materials, SnS has great potential for the manufacturing of low-cost TFSCs due to its suitable optical and electrical properties, non-toxic nature, and earth abundancy. However, the efficiency of SnS-based solar cells is found to be in the range of 1 ~ 4 % and remains far below those of CdTe-, CIGS-, and CZTSSe-based TFSCs. Aside from the improvement in the physical properties of absorber layer, enormous efforts have been focused on the development of suitable buffer layer for SnS-based solar cells. Herein, we investigate the device performance of SnS-based TFSCs by introducing double buffer layers, in which CdS is applied as first buffer layer and ZnMgO films is employed as second buffer layer. The effect of the composition ratio (Mg/(Mg+Zn)) of RF sputtered ZnMgO films on the device performance is studied. The structural and optical properties of ZnMgO films with various Mg/(Mg+Zn) ratios are also analyzed systemically. The fabricated SnS-based TFSCs with device structure of SLG/Mo/SnS/CdS/ZnMgO/AZO/Al exhibit a highest cell efficiency of 1.84 % along with open-circuit voltage of 0.302 V, short-circuit current density of 13.55 mA cm^-2, and fill factor of 0.45 with an optimum Mg/(Mg + Zn) ratio of 0.02.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.287-299
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• 1994

Plasma protein which has been known as one of nonspecific immunostimulators was added to feedstuff to examine its effect on the enhancement of cellular immune response in porcine immune system. A total of 40 piglets, 20 male and 20 female each, were fed for 30 days with or without plasma protein. The peripheral blood were collected and analyzed for the investigation of leukocyte subpopulations and their activities by using a panel of monoclonal antibodies specific to porcine leukocyte differentiation antigens and flow cytometry. The results obtained as follows. 1. Subpopulations expressing major histocompatibility complex(MHC) class I antigen were $96.2{\pm}3.1%$ and $86.6{\pm}3.8%$ in piglets fed with plasma protein and in piglets fed without plasma protein, respectively. 2. Proportion of leukocyte subpopulation expressing MHC class II antigens were significantly higher in the piglets fed with plasma protein than ones without plasma protein. The proportion was $27.6{\pm}3.6%$ and $16.6{\pm}2.2%$ in MHC class II DQ antigen, and $28.1{\pm}2.0%$ and $20.0{\pm}0.3%$ in MHC class II DR antigen, respectively. 3. A significant increase in the proportion of cells expressing poCD2 was not found in piglets fed plasma protein. 4. Proportion of subpopulation expressed porcine(Po) CD4 antigens which specific to helper T lymphocytes were not increased (18.3-19.1% vs. 25.6-28.8%), rather slightly decreased, in plasma protein-treated group. 5. The most important increase of proportion in plasma protein-treated group was the leukocyte subpopulation specific to $poCD8^+$ T cytotoxic/suppressor lymphocytes. The expression level was significantly higher up to 45.9-47.1% in plasma protein-treated group in comparing with 29.7-33.0% in non-plasma protein-treated group. 6. Lymphoblastogenetic responses using different concentrations of Con A mitogen and plasma protein has found that the responses of lymphocyte from piglets fed plasma protein was significantly activated (p<0.01). The activities measured by 3[H]-thymidine incorporation showed 3-6 times stronger in plasma protein-treated group than those in non-plasma protein-treated group. The study has concluded that plasma protein, which has known as a nonspecific immunostimulator, may have an immunoenhancing activities in porcine lymphoid system by increase the activated cell proportions and their blastogenetic properties which is critical to host immune responses.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.72 no.4
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• pp.367-373
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• 2012

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is now regarded as a heterogenous disease, with variable phenotypes. Acute exacerbation of COPD is a major event that alters the natural course of disease. The frequency of COPD exacerbation is variable among patients. We analyzed clinical features, according to the frequency of acute exacerbation in COPD. Methods: Sixty patients, who visited Gyeongsang National University Hospital from March 2010 to October 2010, were enrolled. Patients were divided into two groups, according to their frequency of acute exacerbation. Frequent exacerbator is defined as the patient who has two or more exacerbation per one year. We reviewed patients' medical records and investigated modified Medical Research Council (MMRC) dyspnea scale, smoking history and frequency of acute exacerbation. We also conducted pulmonary function test and 6-minute walking test, calculated body mass index, degree of airway obstruction and dyspnea and exercise capacity (BODE) index and measured CD146 cells in the peripheral blood. Results: The number of frequent exacerbators and infrequent exacerbators was 20 and 40, respectively. The frequent exacerbator group had more severe airway obstruction (forced expiratory volume in one second [$FEV_1$], 45% vs. 65.3%, p=0.001; $FEV_1$/forced vital capacity, 44.3% vs. 50.5%, p=0.046). MMRC dyspnea scale and BODE index were significantly higher in the frequent exacerbator group (1.8 vs. 1.1, p=0.016; 3.9 vs. 2.1, p=0.014, respectively). The fraction of CD146 cells significantly increased in the frequent exacerbator group (2.0 vs. 1.0, p<0.001). Conclusion: Frequent exacerbator had more severe airway obstruction and higher symptom score and BODE index. However, circulating endothelial cells measured by CD146 needed to be confirmed in the future.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.673-685
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• 2021

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Obesity is associated with the impaired regulation of T cells characterized by increased numbers of Th1 and Th17 cells and the dysregulation of vitamin D metabolism. Both obesity and vitamin D have been reported to affect autophagy; however, a limited number of studies have investigated the effects of vitamin D on T cell autophagy in obese mice. Therefore, we aimed to determine whether in vitro treatment with vitamin D affects the proliferation, function, and autophagy of T cells from obese and control mice. MATERIALS/METHODS: Five-week-old male C57BL/6 mice were fed control or high-fat diets (10% or 45% kcal fat: CON or HFDs, respectively) for 12 weeks. Purified T cells were stimulated with anti-CD3 and anti-CD28 monoclonal antibodies and cultured with either 10 nM 1,25(OH)₂D₃ or 0.1% ethanol (vehicle control). The proliferative response; expression of CD25, Foxp3, RORγt, and autophagy-related proteins (LC3A/B, SQSTM1/P62, BECLIN-1, ATG12); and the production of interferon (IFN)-γ, interleukin (IL)-4, IL-17A, and IL-10 by T cells were measured. RESULTS: Compared with the CON group, T cell proliferation tended to be lower, and the production of IFN-γ was higher in the HFD group. IL-17A production was reduced by 1,25(OH)2D₃ treatment in both groups. The LC3 II/I ratio was higher in the HFD group than the CON group, but P62 did not differ. We observed no effect of vitamin D treatment on T cell autophagy. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that diet-induced obesity may impair the function and inhibit autophagy of T cells, possibly leading to the dysregulation of T cell homeostasis, which may be behind the aggravation of inflammation commonly observed in obesity.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.34-45
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• 2021

Weather is one of the important factors in the agricultural industry as it affects the price, production, and quality of crops. Upland crops are directly exposed to the natural environment because they are mainly grown in mountainous areas. Therefore, it is necessary to provide accurate weather for upland crops. This study examined the effectiveness of 12 forest soil factors to interpolate the weather in mountainous areas. The daily temperature and precipitation were collected by the Korea Meteorological Administration between January 2009 and December 2018. The Generalized Additive Model (GAM), Kriging, and Random Forest (RF) were considered to interpolate. For evaluating the interpolation performance, automatic weather stations were used as training data and automated synoptic observing systems were used as test data for cross-validation. Unfortunately, the forest soil factors were not significant to interpolate the weather in the mountainous areas. GAM with only geography aspects showed that it can interpolate well in terms of root mean squared error and mean absolute error. The significance of the factors was tested at the 5% significance level in GAM, and the climate zone code (CLZN_CD) and soil water code B (SIBFLR_LAR) were identified as relatively important factors. It has shown that CLZN_CD could help to interpolate the daily average and minimum daily temperature for upland crops.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.49-62
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• 2020

Purpose: We aimed to investigate the disease phenotype of Korean pediatric Crohn's disease (CD) patients at diagnosis according to the Paris classification by comparison with patients from the European multicenter 5-years recruitment of children with newly developed IBD (EUROKIDS registry). Methods: Korean children and adolescents who had been newly diagnosed with CD at the age of <18 years during 2013-2016 were included in this multicenter retrospective study. Disease phenotype at diagnosis was classified according to the Paris classification, and compared with the published data from the EUROKIDS study. Results: A total of 255 patients were included. The median diagnosis age was 14.7 years (range, 0.8-17.9 years). No significant difference was observed in male-to-female ratio with EUROKIDS (1.9:1 vs. 1.45:1, p=0.062). The proportion of children aged <10 years was significantly lower in Koreans (7.1% vs. 19.6%, p<0.001). Colonic disease was less prominent (10.0% vs. 27.3%, p<0.001), while upper GI involvement was more prominent in Korean children (59.3% vs. 46.2%, p<0.001). The proportion with perianal fistulizing disease at diagnosis was significantly higher in Korean patients (44.8% vs. 8.2%, p<0.001). A separate analysis of Korean patients revealed that perianal fistulizing disease at diagnosis was positively associated with male sex and body mass index z-score (odds ratio [OR]=2.12, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.20-3.76, p=0.010; and OR=1.29, 95% CI=1.05-1.58, p=0.015, respectively). Conclusion: Approximately half of pediatric CD patients in Korea present with perianal fistulas and/or abscesses at diagnosis, which is a distinct feature of CD in Korean children and adolescents compared to their European counterparts. An underlying genetic difference between ethnicities may play a role in this expression of different phenotypes in pediatric CD.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.745-749
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• 1994

Animal experiments were conducted to confirm the suppressive effect of green tea on the intestinal absorption and tissue accumulation of toxic heavy metals in rats. When drinking water contaminated with 500 and 5000 times level of water quality standard for lead or cadmium was administrated to rats for 3 weeks, feed intake and body weight gain were not significantly differrent among all groups except for high cadmium group. In the relative weights of target organs, kidney and femur showed a significant difference by heavy metal administration and green tea did not influence on the weights. Green tea showed a suppressing effect on the accumulation of heavy metals in target organs, in which the reducing effect in femur was $25{\sim}45%$ for lead, and 42% for cadmium. As calcium content of femur decreased by heavy metal administration was increased in green tea group, it was concluded that heavy metal accumulation in femur was interrupted by tea beverage.