• Molecules and Cells
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.23-29
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• 2007

Cyclic AMP-responsive element binding protein (CREB) is known to be associated with angiogenesis. In the present study we investigated the possible role of CREB in the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) by mouse macrophages. Over-expression of CREB increased VEGF secretion by cells of the RAW264.7 mouse macrophage cell line. It also increased the promoter activity of a mouse reporter driven by the VEGF promoter, while a dominant negative CREB (DN-CREB) abrogated the activity, suggesting that CREB mediates VEGF transcription. Forskolin, an adenylyl cyclase activator, stimulated VEGF transcription, and the PKA inhibitor H89 abolished this effect. IFN-${\gamma}$, a potent cytokine, stimulated VEGF expression only in part through the PKA-CREB pathway. These results indicate that PKA phosphorylates CREB and so induces VEGF gene expression. An analysis of mutant promoters revealed that one of the putative CREB responsive elements (CREs), at -399 ~ -388 in the promoter, is critical for CREB-mediated VEGF promoter activity, and the significance of this CRE was confirmed by chromatin immunoprecipitation assays.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.515-532
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• 2018

Light is an essential and powerful element to animals. A light-emitting diode (LED) is most efficient in terms of economic benefits. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of LED lighting time on milk production, milk composition, and the immune response of Holstein cows. Forty lactating cows were assigned to four experimental groups: control; natural daylight, treatment; am3-6, pm6-12 and pm6-am6. We found that there was no significant effect on the decrease ratio in milk production among the groups. Milk urea nitrogen (MUN) was significantly decreased in pm6-am6 and pm6-12 than the control. With regard to the hemolytic biochemical analysis, GLU was significantly increased and CRE, T-BIL were significantly decreased in the pm6-12 than the control. IGF-1 levels were significantly increased in pm6-12 compared to other groups. Besides, cortisol was significantly lowered in the pm6-12 than the control, while prolactin, IgA and IgG were not significant among the groups. In addition, catalase and glutathione peroxidase were also significantly increased in pm6-12 than the control. However, antioxidant enzyme activity and superoxide dismutase were not significant among the experimental groups. Therefore, it was concluded that LED lighting time had some impact on blood parameters and immune responses in dairy cows without any changes in milk production.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.205-212
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• 2009

Antitumor activity of Korean mistletoe extract (KM-110) and European commercial mistletoe preparation (Helixor) was investigated. KM-110 showed the cytotoxic effect that it is high for various tumor cell lines and normal splenocytes in comparison with Helixor. Administration of two mistletoe extracts ($100{\mu}g$) to mice did not show any significant changes on the level of glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT), glutamic-pyruvate transaminase (GTP), blood creatinine (CRE) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) in sera. The culture supernatant of macrophages stimulated with KM-110 inhibited effectively tumor growth whereas Helixor had little effect. Administration of KM-110 or Helixor resulted in a effective inhibition of lung metastasis after the i.v. inoculation of colon 26-M3.1 lung carcinoma, B16-BL6 melanoma and L5178Y-ML25 lymphomas. In all cases, the mice treated with KM-110 showed more effective anti-tumor metastatic activity than the mice of Helixor. These results suggest that Korean mistletoe extracts, KM-110 might be used as an alternative methods having antitumor activity like European mistletoe preparation, Helixor.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.105-113
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• 2009

Dentin, a major component of teeth, is formed by odontoblasts which produce the dentin matrix beneath the dental epithelium and induce the mineralization of dentin. To date, the biochemical properties of dentin matrix proteins have been well characterized, but upstream regulators of these proteins are not yet well known. Recently in this regard, several transcription factors have been identified as potential regulators of matrix proteins. Most transcription factors are generally involved in diverse biological processes and it is essential to identify those that are odontoblast-specific transactivators to further understand the process of dentin formation. We thus analyzed the expression pattern of dentin matrix proteins and the activities of established transactivators containing a Cre-locus. Expression analyses using in situ hybridization showed that dentin matrix proteins are sequentially expressed in differentiating odontoblasts, including type-I collagen, Dmp-1 and Dspp. The activities of the transactivators were evaluated using ${\beta}$-galactosidase following the generation of double transgenic mice with each transactivator and the ROSA26R reporter line. The ${\beta}$-galactosidase activity of each transactivator paralled the expression of the matrix proteins. These results thus showed that these transactivators could be utilized for odontoblastspecific conditional gene targeting. In addition, time- and tissue-specific conditional gene targeting might also be achieved using a combination of these transactivators. Odontoblast-specific conditional gene targeting with these transactivators will likely also provide new insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying dentin formation.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.233-239
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• 2007

This study was carried out to evaluate the effects of Dochetang for the treatment of chronic diarrhea in a 4 months-old-female Korean native calf. The calf was presented to the Wow Animal Clinic, Iksan with the history of chronic diarrhea for several weeks. The feces test did not reveal the presence of the parasites or microbes causing diarrhea in calf. The blood test was also negative to the virus that causes of diarrhea in calf. Adminstration of parenteral antibiotics resulted in improvement of the condition temporarily but diarrhea was recurred again after 2-3 weeks. Then the calf was treated with Dochetang administered orally once a day in an empty stomach for 15 days. Feces was significantly reduced in moisture on 7 days after initial treatment. On 9 days after initial treatment, the calf had normal appetite and defecation in physiological conditions. Blood samples were collected before administration and on 1, 2 and 3 weeks after initial administration of Dochetang for hematology and biochemistry. A significantly differences were observed in the white blood cell (WBC), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), albumin (ALB), glutamic pyrubic transaminase (GPT), inorganic phosphorus (IP) and magnesium (Mg), while no significant differences were seen in the red blood cell (RBC), hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit (HCT), platelet (PLT), glucose (Glu), total protein (T-pro), glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT), blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatine (CRE). This study suggests that Dochetang administration can be a successful alternative therapeutic agent in instead of antibiotics for the treatment of chronic diarrhea in calves.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.398-407
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• 2017

BTG 1 (B-cell translocation gene 1) gene was first identified as a translocation gene in a case of B-cell chronic lympocytic leukemia. BTG1 is a member of the BTG/TOB family with sharing a conserved N-terminal region, which shows anti-proliferation properties and is able to stimulate cell differentiation. In this study, we identified and characterized the pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas BTG1 (cg-BTG1) gene from the gill cDNA library by an Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) analysis and its nucleotide sequence was determined. The cg-BTG1 gene encodes a predicted protein of 182 amino acids with 57% 56% identities to its zebrafish and human counterparts, and is an intron-less gene, which was confirmed by PCR analysis of genomic DNA. Maximal homologies were shown in conserved Box A and B. The deduced amino acid sequence shares high identity with other BTG1 genes of human, rat, mouse and zebrafish. The phylogenic analysis and sequence comparison of cg-BTG1 with other BTG1 were found to be closely related to the BTG1 gene structure. In addition, the predicted promoter region and the different transcription-factor binding site like an activator protein-1 (AP-1) response element involved in negative regulation and serum response element (SRE) were able to be identified by the genomic DNA walking experiment. The quantitative real-time PCR analysis showed that the mRNA of cg-BTG1 gene was expressed in gill, heart, digestive gland, intestine, stomach and mantle. The cg-BTG1 gene was expressed mainly in heart and mantle.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.49-59
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• 2021

This study investigated the use of real-time PCR melting curves for the diagnosis of blaKPC and blaNDM genes among the most frequently detected carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae in Korea. As a means of addressing the shortcomings of phenotype tests and conventional PCR. The modified Hodge test confirmed positivity in 25 of 35 strains, and carbapenemase inhibition testing confirmed positivity in 14 strains by meropenem+PBA or meropenem+EDTA. PCR analysis showed amplification products in 25 strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemases (KPC), 10 of K. pneumoniae, 5 of E. coli, 5 of A. baumannii, 4 of P. aeruginosa, and 1 of P. putida. New Delhi metallo β-lactamase (NDM) identified amplification products in 8 strains, that is, 2 K. pneumoniae, 3 E. coli, 1 P. aeruginosa, 1 E. cloacae, and 1 P. retgeri strains. Real-time PCR melting curve analysis confirmed amplification in 25 strains of KPC and 8 strains of NDM, and these results were 100% consistent with PCR results. In conclusion, our findings suggest early diagnosis of carbapenem resistant Enterobacteriaceae by real-time PCR offers a potential means of antibacterial management that can prevent and control nosocomial infection spread.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.140-146
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• 2009

This study was performed to evaluate the toxicity of cadmium selenide for a period of 28 days in Sprague-Dawley rats. Each of 10 healthy male and females rats per group received daily oral administration for 28-day period at dosage levels 30, 300 and 1,000 mg/kg of body weight. Mortality and clinical signs were checked, and body weight, water intake and food consumption were also recorded weekly. There were no dose-related changes in food consumption or urine volume. All animals survived to the end of study with no clinical signs or differences in body weight gain observed when compared with the control group. At the end of study, all animals including control group, were subjected to necropsy. Blood samples were collected for hematology tests including coagulation time and biochemistry analysis. Blood coagulation time and relative organ weight were unaffected by all received doses. White Blood Cell (WBC) counts significantly increased in the 300 mg/kg administered male animal group when compared to the control. Monocyte (MO) value were also increased significantly in both 300 and 1,000 mg/kg male animal group. However, Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV) were significantly decreased compared with the control in the 1,000 mg/kg dose groups for male and female animals. Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin (MCH) decreased significantly for female in the 300 and 1,000 mg/kg group compared to the control. Blood biochemical values of Inorganic phosphorus (IP) were significantly increased in both the 300 and 1,000 mg/kg dose groups in male animals when compared to the control. Creatinine (CRE) levels indicated significant increase in kidney function for the female, 30 mg/kg dose group when compared with control. There was a significant decrease in thymus absolute organ weight in the female, 1,000 mg/kg dose group when compared with control. Histopathological findings revealed no evidence of injury related to cadmium selenide except for one case of focal hepatic inflammation in the high dose (1,000 mg/kg) group. One case of lung inflammation was also seen in the control group. Basis on these result, the No Observable Adverse Effect Level (NOAEL) of cadmium selenide was determined to be more than 1,000 mg/kg/day for male and female rats under conditions in this study.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.137-142
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• 2005

Purpose: To evaluate the safety, efficacy and technical problems of the endoscopic balloon dilatation of esophageal anomalies in children. Methods: The medical records of 8 children treated by endoscopic balloon dilatation for esophageal anomalies over a 10-year period at Pusan National University Hospital were reviewed retrospectively. The balloon catheter (Maxforce TTS or CRE, Boston Scientific Co., USA) was positioned across the area of narrowing by direct visualization. The balloon was slowly inflated with normal saline to specified pressures for each balloon and maintained for 60 seconds and then deflated. After 60 seconds pause, the procedure was repeated with a larger sized balloon (increments of 1 mm for each subsequent dilation) till effective dilatation was confirmed by direct visualization without complications. Results: Three male and five female were included and their mean age was 4.2 years. A total of 27 (average of 3.2 per patient) dilatation were performed. Underlying diseases of patients are postoperative stricture of esophageal atresia in 3 cases, esophageal ring in 2 cases, achalasia, corrosive esophagitis and hypertensive LES in one case respectively. The size of initial dilating balloon was chosen on the basis of the diameter of the narrowing determined by endoscopy. The first dilation in patients with severe esophageal stricture was made with a 6 mm sized balloon. Complications observed were esophageal perforation and respiratory holding during the procedure in one case respectively. Successful outcome was seen in 6 patients (75%). Conclusion: Endoscopic balloon dilatation can provide a safe and effective mean of treating esophageal anomalies in children and should be considered the treatment of choice in the initial management of those cases.

• Land and Housing Review
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.33-46
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• 2020

As the fastest growing office transaction volume in Korea, there's been a need for development of indicators to accurately diagnose the office capital market. The purpose of this paper is experimentally calculate to the office price index for effective benchmark indices in Seoul. The quantitative methodology used a Case-Shiller Repeat Sales Model (1991), based on actual multiple office transaction dataset with over minimum 1,653 ㎡ from Q3 1999 to 4Q 2019 in the case of 1,536 buildings within Seoul Metropolitan. In addition, the collected historical data and spatial statistical analysis tools were treated with the SAS 9.4 and ArcGIS 10.7 programs. The main empirical results of research are briefly summarized as follows; First, Seoul office price index was estimated to be 344.3 point (2001.1Q=100.0P) at the end of 2019, and has more than tripled over the past two decades. it means that the sales price of office per 3.3 ㎡ has consistently risen more than 12% every year since 2000, which is far above the indices for apartment housing index, announced by the MOLIT (2009). Second, between quarterly and annual office price index for the two-step estimation of the MIT Real Estate Research Center (MIT/CRE), T, L, AL variables have statistically significant coefficient (Beta) all of the mode l (p<0.01). Third, it was possible to produce a more stable office price index against the basic index by using the Moore-Penrose's pseoudo inverse technique at low transaction frequency. Fourth, as an lagging indicators, the office price index is closely related to key macroeconomic indicators, such as GDP(+), KOSPI(+), interest rates (5-year KTB, -). This facts indicate that long-term office investment tends to outperform other financial assets owing to high return and low risk pattern. In conclusion, these findings are practically meaningful to presenting an new office price index that increases accuracy and then attempting to preliminary applications for the case of Seoul. Moreover, it can provide sincerely useful benchmark about investing an office and predicting changes of the sales price among market participants (e.g. policy maker, investor, landlord, tenant, user) in the future.