• BMB Reports
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.135-139
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• 2011

Chronic alcohol consumption contributes to numerous diseases, including cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and liver cirrhosis. Epidemiological studies have shown that excessive alcohol consumption is a risk factor for dementia. Along this line, Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia and is caused by the accumulation of amyloid-$\beta$ ($A{\beta}$ plaques in neurons. In this study, we hypothesized that chronic ethanol consumption is associated with pathological processing of APP in AD. To investigate the relationship between chronic alcohol consumption and $A{\beta}$ production, brain samples from rats fed an alcohol liquid diet for 5 weeks were analyzed. We show that the expression levels of APP, BACE1, and immature nicastrin were increased in the cerebellum, hippocampus, and striatum of the alcohol-fed group compared to the control group. Total nicastrin and PS1 levels were induced in the hippocampus of alcohol-fed rats. These data suggest that the altered expression of APP and $A{\beta}$-producing enzymes possibly contributes to the chronic alcohol consumption-mediated pathogenesis of AD.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.13
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• pp.5427-5432
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• 2015

Background: Oral cancer stands among the 10 top causes of cancer death in the world. Considering the role of epidemiologic information on planning and effective interventions, the present study aimed to investigate the epidemiology of oral cancer in Iran. Materials and Methods: The required information for this systematic review study was obtained from PubMed, Google Scholar, CINAHL,SID, Medlib, Magiran and Iranmedex databases, using key words "cancer", "oral cancer", "squamous cell carcinoma", "oral cavity carcinoma" and their Persian equivalents in combination with keywords of epidemiology, prevalence, etiology, frequency, and Iran from 1990 to 2014. From 1,065 related studies found, finally 25 were included to the study. Results: The mean age of 8,248 patients in 25 studies was $54.0{\pm}15.1years$. The male/female ratio for oral cancer was 1.91. Tongue with average percentage of 29.9 was the most involved site. Regarding microscopic grade, 65.7% of cases were grade 1. SCCs, accounting for an average of 70.0%, was the most common among all types of oral cancer. In the majority of studies, smoking including cigarette, hookah, and tobacco consumption was found to be a risk factor. Conclusions: The epidemiological pattern of oral cancer in Iran is somewhat similar to that of other countries. Yet the information on hand in this field is limited and considering the role of epidemiological data we suggest conducting more accurate studies to catch data that is required for effective programs and interventions.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.121-126
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• 2007

Obesity is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. In our case study using animal models for disease states such as obesity or hypertension, we found that, Isaria sinclairii remarkably reduced body weight and ameliorated metabolic abnormalities in Zucker and SHR rats. Genetically obese (fa/fa) Zucker rats were one animal model chosen for this study. Four groups of rats received a standard diet and were treated orally with the following test samples daily for 8 weeks: saline (negative control), ethanol extracts of I. sinclairii, hot water extract of I. sinclairii, or $Xenical^{(R)}$ (30 mg/kg, positive control). Mild reductions (6.3%) in body weight gain were observed in the groups treated with the hot water extract of I. sinclairii compared to the control after 8 weeks. Interestingly, organ weight was greatly reduced by this Dongchunghacho (I. sinclairii), in parallel with the mild reductions in body weight gain and reductions in abdominal fat (adipose tissue). Also observed was a 4.1 % decrease in the ratio of heart weight/body weight compared to the control group. As a hypertensive animal model, SHR (spontaneously hypertensive rat) and WKY (Wistar Kyoto) rats were also administered these extracts for one month. Treatment with the hot water extract of I. sinclairii caused greater reductions in body weight gain for the SHR group (10.9%) compared to the WKY group's (5.2%). Based on these results, I. sinclairii extracts contain selective action for anti-obesity activity, naturally occurring candidate for regulation of body weight increase, as demonstrated in the present study.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.359-372
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• 2019

Metabolic syndrome is deeply related with risks of chronic disease and mortality. Furthermore, the metabolic syndrome disorder in childhood and adolescence usually tends to lead to a number of cardiovascular disease in the stage of adulthood. In this sense, metabolic syndrome needs to be investigated seriously. The purpose of this study is therefore to prove the relationship between dietary habits(high carbohydrate, high calorie) and metabolic syndrome among adolescents. We also aim to clarify the relationship between emotional factors perceived by adolescents and metabolic syndrome. Our empirical results based on KNHANES dataset significantly demonstrates that the HDL-cholesterol is a decisive factor for the diagnosis of metabolic syndrome disorder. Additionally, emotional experience factors such as stress also show significant effects in difference of adolescents' metabolic syndrome.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2022

Background: This study aims to empirically compare and evaluate the current status of medical accessibility and health inequality between people with disabilities and without. We calculated the ACSC hospitalization rate, which is a medical accessibility index, for hypertension, a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease that accounts for more than 20% of deaths among people with disabilities using the 2016 National Health Insurance Big Data. Methods: The subjects of the study were a total of 601,520, including 64,018 people with disabilities and 537,501 people without. Logistic regression was performed to analyze the differences in hypertension hospitalization rates adjusted for demographic and sociological characteristics and disease characteristics using SAS 9.4 program. Results: Before adjusting for the characteristics, the hypertension hospitalization rate of people with disabilities was 1.55%, and the people without disabilities were 0.49%. After adjusting, it was found that people with disabilities were 2.11 times higher than people without disabilities, and it was statistically significant. Conclusion: The preventable hospitalization rate of people with disabilities is higher than that of people without, suggesting that the disabled have problems with access to medical care and health inequality. Therefore, the government's policy improvement is required to close the medical gap for the disabled.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.188-193
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• 2018

Objectives : Clozapine is a widely prescribed antipsychotic drug for schizophrenia and is known to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease due to its metabolic side effects. However, little is known about the effect of clozapine on the platelet activation, another important factor in the development of cardiovascular disease. In this study, we tried to investigate the effect of clozapine on platelet activity in patients with schizophrenia by comparing the mean platelet component (MPC) values before and after the clozapine administration. Methods : A retrospective review of medical records of patients with schizophrenia, who newly started clozapine treatment from September 1st, 2003 to April 30th, 2007 at the Department of Psychiatry, Konyang University Hospital in Republic of Korea was performed. The final statistical analysis included 14 participants. Bayer ADVIA $120^{(R)}$ system was used to measure MPC. Results : Among the 14 participants, five subjects were males (28.60%), and ten subjects were females (71.40%). The mean age of participants was $37.50{\pm}11.64years$. Average of duration of illness was $91.00{\pm}93.96months$, with the mean dosage of clozapine taken by participants at the time of the last blood test was $337.50{\pm}109.52mg$. The mean MPC measurement before and after receiving clozapine was $26.12{\pm}2.22g/dL$ and $25.14{\pm}2.08g/dL$ respectively. Wilcoxon signed rank test showed that there was a statistically significant decrease in MPC levels after clozapine administration (V=16, p=0.024). Conclusions : Decreased MPC levels after clozapine administration implies that clozapine may increase platelet activation which could have an adverse effect on the occurrence of thromboembolic disease. Our findings also suggest that careful monitoring of the risk factors of cardiovascular diseases, such as platelets activity, is necessary when administering clozapine.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.191-201
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• 2020

As society develops rapidly, environmental pollution is becoming a greater risk factor threatening human health. One of the major causes of air pollution that affects human health is particulate matter (PM), which contains a heterogeneous mixture of different particle sizes and chemical compositions. PM is classified by size into general PM (PM₁₀; diameter below 10 ㎛) and fine PM (PM_2.5; diameter below 2.5 ㎛). PM_2.5 can pass through the respiratory tract into the circulatory system and thence throughout the body. PM_2.5 is known to stimulate oxidative stress and inflammatory responses to cells, promoting diseases such as asthma, chronic respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, and immunological disorders. Although detailed molecular mechanisms for how PM stimulates disease progression still need to be elucidated, together with national efforts to reduce PM production, significant research has been conducted that demonstrates the harmfulness of PM in disease progression through in vitro and in vivo experiments. This review focuses on the harmfulness of PM in disease progression; we also introduce a biological verification method for determining the hazards of PM.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.31 no.12
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• pp.1159-1164
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• 1998

Background: Although operative outcome is progressing due to the development of operative techniques and myocardial protection, some patients face an increased morbidity and mortality. Therefore, it has become increasingly important to predict the operative morbidity and mortality. Material and Method: This retrospective study reports the results of risk factor analysis of morbidity and mortality of 137 consecutive patients who were underwent coronary artery bypass graft surgery(CABG). Preoperative variables were age, sex, preoperative myocardial infarction, operative priority, left ventricular ejection fraction, obesity and triple vessel disease. Postoperative morbidities were arrhythmia, wound infection, cerebral infarction, prolonged postoperative hospitalization, pneumonia, acute renal failure, prolonged use of ventilator and operative death. Result: The mean age of total patients was 56.7 years, from 27 to 74. The overall mortality was 6.6%(9 of 137) with the mortality of 3.9%(5 of 128) for elective operation, and 44.4%(4 of 9) for emergent or urgent cases. The morbidity of patients over 65 years was stastistically higher than that of under 65 years. Sex distribution showed no difference in morbidity, however operative mortality rate was slightly higher in women (5/41, 12.19%) than in men(4/96, 4.17%). Morbidity of emergent or urgent operation was 100%, much higher than that of the elective operation. Mortality of the patients whose left ventricular ejection fraction was under 50% was higher than that of those over 50%. Conclusion: We concluded that the risk factors of morbidity after CABG were old age above 65 years and emergent or urgent operation, and that risk factors of mortality were low left venticular ejection fraction under 50% and emergent or urgent operation.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.217-223
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• 2003

Purpose : Every year, there is a remarkable increase in the prevalence of children with excess body fat. The aim of this study is to find a useful screening method in assessing adolescent, obesity and to specify the predictable risk factors that are related to adult cardiovascular disease according to BMI and obesity index. Methods : From July to November in 2001, a total of 2,814(male : female=2,011 : 803) mid to high school students who were in the obesity range according to obesity index(>20%) were evaluated according to height, weight, body mass index(BMI), obesity index, and serum lipid levels. Results : Among the obese students over 20% by obesity index, 86.6% were over the range of 95 percentile by BMI. Among students defined as obese by BMI, 21.0% of males and 21.4% of females students had hypercholesterolemia; by obesity index, the ratio was 20.7% male and 19.0% female. The frequency of hypertriglyceremia in male students was 15.0% in group I(overweight group, 85P97p); in female students 11.8%, 20.7% and 28.2% respectively. Conclusion : In this study, using BMI alone to test the serum lipid level in adolescent obesity had a limit of 10.0-17.0% omission. Therefore using obesity index as a screening method to find the adult cardiovascular disease would rather reduce the omission rate. The risk factor of cardiovascular disease according to BMI was the increasing level of triglyceride in both male and female students. We think that using the obesity index has more rationale rather than BMI in assessing lipid profiles.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.396-404
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• 2007

Increased oxidative stress contributes to the progression of atherosclerosis. We measured serum antioxidant mineral concentrations, capacities of serum antioxidant enzymes and fasting lipid profile in 97 male patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and 21 male controls. Nutrient intake was assessed by the semi-quantitative food frequency method. CAD patients were divided into single-vessel disease (SVD, n=66) and multi-vessel disease (MVD, n = 31) groups on the coronary angiography. The ratio of serum LDL- to HDL-cholesterol elevated with an increasing number of diseased vessels compared to the control (control < SVD < MVD, p < 0.05). Patients with SVD and MVD had higher levels of serum lipoprotein (a) than the control (p < 0.05). The mean intake of carbohydrate, protein and cholesterol was higher in MVD patients and the intakes of vitamins C and E were lower in MVD and SVD patients than in the control (p < 0.05). Serum copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) levels were higher in MVD and SVD patients than in the control (Cu: control $75.8{\pm}5.07$, SVD $99.2{\pm}2.90$, MVD $100.1{\pm}2.32{\mu}g/dL$, p<0.01; Zn: $76.8{\pm}5.36$, $119.0{\pm}5.95$, $129.1{\pm}2.70{\mu}g/dL$, p < 0.01). And the ratio of Zn to Cu was higher in SVD and MVD patients than in the control (control $0.78{\pm}0.06$, SVD $0.88{\pm}0.05$, MVD $0.99{\pm}0.04$, P < 0.05). The activity of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) was lower in MVD than in SVD and the control (control $35.13{\pm}1.34$, SVD $35.30{\pm}1.01$, MVD $31.00{\pm}1.04 U/mg$ protein, p < 0.05). The ratio of the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) to GSH-Px was higher in MVD than in control and SVD (p < 0.05). In groups with CAD, serum Cu and Zn concentrations and their ratio were changed compared to the control. GSH-Px activity was decreased and the ratio of SOD to GSH-Px was increased in the patients with MVD. The balances between the activities of SOD and GSH-Px should also be considered a risk factor in CAD patients.