• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.102-108
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• 2017

Purpose: Many metal ions released from dental casting alloys have been reported to influence the intraoral symptoms of oral lichen planus (OLP) and burning mouth syndrome (BMS). The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between salivary metal ion levels and the prosthetic duration as well as to evaluate the time-dependent morbid effects of metal ions in OLP and BMS patients. Methods: Three study groups consist of the following subjects respectively: 17 OLP patients, 12 BMS patients, and 12 patients without oral symptoms. The salivary concentrations of 13 metal ions (copper, cobalt, zinc, chromium, nickel, aluminum, silver, iron, titanium [Ti], platinum, tin, palladium, and gold) were measured by Laser Ablation Microprobe Inductively coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry. Results: The Ti ions had statistically significant differences among the groups with a prosthetic duration of less than 5 years. There were no significant differences between all ion levels among the groups wearing dental cast alloys for over 5 years. In the BMS group, the level of Ti ions in patients with prosthetic restorations less than 5 years old were significantly high (p<0.05). Conclusions: In the BMS group, 3-60 months during which salivary Ti levels were higher were matched with the duration of burning symptoms ($15.6{\pm}17.1months$). Furthermore, Ti ions were statistically high in the oral cavity of BMS patients fitted with dental casting alloys for 5 years. These results suggest that Ti ions released from dental implants and oral prostheses could attribute to burning sensation of BMS.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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• 2015.11a
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• pp.37-37
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• 2015

dsRNA was found in malformed cultures of Lentinula edodes strain FMRI0339, one of the three most popular sawdust cultivated commercial strains of shiitake, and was also found in healthy-looking fruiting bodies and actively growing mycelia. Cloning of the partial genome of the dsRNA revealed the presence of the RdRp sequence of a novel L. edodes mycovirus (LeV), and sequence comparison of the cloned amplicon showed an identical sequence to known RdRp genes of LeV found in strain HKA. The meiotic stability of dsRNA was examined by measuring the ratio of the presence of dsRNA among sexual monokaryotic progeny. More than 40% of the monokaryotic progeny still contained the dsRNA, indicating the persistence of dsRNA during sexual reproduction. Comparing the mycelia growth of monokaryotic progeny suggested that, although variations in the growth rate existed among progeny and virus infection was observed in highly actively growing progeny, there appeared to be a tendency toward a lower frequency of virus incidence in actively growing progeny. This study attempted to cure the edible mushroom L. edodes strain FMRI0339 of the L. edodes mycovirus (LeV) in order to obtain an isogenic virus-free fungal strain as well as a virus-infected strain for comparison. Mycelial fragmentation, followed by being spread on a plate with serial dilutions resulted in a virus-free colony. Viral absence was confirmed with gel electrophoresis after dsRNA-specific virus purification, Northern blot analysis, and PCR using reverse transcriptase (RT-PCR). Once cured, all of fungal cultures remained virus-free over the next two years. Interestingly, the viral titer of LeV varied depending on the culture condition. The titer from the plate culture showed at least a 20-fold higher concentration than that grown in the liquid culture. However, the reduced virus titer in the liquid culture was recovered by transferring the mycelia to a plate containing the same medium. In addition, oxygen-depleted culture conditions resulted in a significant decrease of viral concentration, but not to the extent seen in the submerged liquid culture. Although no $discernable phenotypic changes in colony morphology were observed, virus-cured strains showed significantly higher growth rates and mycelial mass than virus-infected strains. We were also explored effects of LeV on fruiting body formation and mushroom yield. The fruiting body formation yield of virus-free L. edodes was larger than virus-infected L. edodes. These results indicate that LeV infection has a deleterious effect on mycelial growth and fruiting body formation. In addition, we have been investigated host-parasite interaction between L. edodes and its mycovirus interaction to study viral mechanism by establishment of proteomics.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.62-68
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• 2016

Osteoporosis is a medical condition of global concern, with increasing incidence in both sexes. Bone mineral density (BMD), a highly heritable trait, has been proven a useful diagnostic factor in predicting fracture. Because medical information is lacking about male osteoporotic genetics, we conducted a genome-wide association study of BMD in Korean men. With 1,176 participants, we analyzed 4,414,664 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) after genomic imputation, and identified five SNPs and three loci correlated with bone density and strength. Multivariate linear regression models were applied to adjust for age and body mass index interference. Rs17124500 ($p=6.42{\times}10^{-7}$), rs34594869 ($p=6.53{\times}10^{-7}$) and rs17124504 ($p=6.53{\times}10^{-7}$) in 14q31.3 and rs140155614 ($p=8.64{\times}10^{-7}$) in 15q25.1 were significantly associated with lumbar spine BMD (LS-BMD), while rs111822233 ($p=6.35{\times}10^{-7}$) was linked with the femur total BMD (FT-BMD). Additionally, we analyzed the relationship between BMD and five genes previously identified in Korean men. Rs61382873 (p = 0.0009) in LRP5, rs9567003 (p = 0.0033) in TNFSF11 and rs9935828 (p = 0.0248) in FOXL1 were observed for LS-BMD. Furthermore, rs33997547 (p = 0.0057) in ZBTB and rs1664496 (p = 0.0012) in MEF2C were found to influence FT-BMD and rs61769193 (p = 0.0114) in ZBTB to influence femur neck BMD. We identified five SNPs and three genomic regions, associated with BMD. The significance of our results lies in the discovery of new loci, while also affirming a previously significant locus, as potential osteoporotic factors in the Korean male population.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.138-144
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• 2001

Objective: Bronchogenic carcinoma can mimic or be masked by pulmonary tuberculosis (TB), and the aim of this study was to describe the radiologic findings and clinical significance of bronchogenic carcinoma and pulmonary TB which coexist in the same lobe. Materials and Methods: The findings of 51 patients (48 males and three females, aged 48-79 years) in whom pulmonary TB and bronchogenic carcinoma coexisted in the same lobe were analyzed. The morphologic characteristics of a tumor, such as its diameter and margin, the presence of calcification or cavitation, and mediastinal lymphadenopathy, as seen at CT, were retrospectively assessed, and the clinical stage of the lung cancer was also determined. Using the serial chest radiographs available for 21 patients, the possible causes of delay in the diagnosis of lung cancer were analyzed. Results: Lung cancers with coexisting pulmonary TB were located predominantly in the upper lobes (82.4%). The mean diameter of the mass was 5.3 cm, and most tumors (n=42, 82.4%) had a lobulated border. Calcification within the tumor was seen in 20 patients (39.2%), and cavitation in five (9.8%). Forty-two (82.4%) had mediastinal lymphadenopathy, and more than half the tumors (60.8%) were at an advanced stage [IIIB (n=11) or IV (n=20)]. The average delay in diagnosing lung cancer was 11.7 (range, 1-24) months, and the causes of this were failure to observe new nodules masked by coexisting stable TB lesions (n=8), misinterpretation of new lesions as aggravation of TB (n=5), misinterpretation of lung cancer as tuberculoma at initial radiography (n=4), masking of the nodule by an active TB lesion (n=3), and subtleness of the lesion (n=1). Conclusion: Most cancers concurrent with TB are large, lobulated masses with mediastinal lymphadenopathy, indicating that the morphologic characteristics of lung cancer with coexisting pulmonary TB are similar to those of lung cancer without TB. The diagnosis of lung cancer is delayed mainly because of masking by a tuberculous lesion, and this suggests that in patients in whom a predominant or growing nodule is present and who show little improvement of symptoms despite antituberculous or other medical therapy, coexisting cancer should be suspected.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.435-441
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• 2020

Background: As a process of aging, skeletal muscle mass and function gradually decrease. It is reported that ginsenoside Rb1 and Rb2 play a role as AMP-activated protein kinase activator, resulting in regulating glucose homeostasis, and Rb1 reduces oxidative stress in aged skeletal muscles through activating the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt/Nrf2 pathway. We examined the effects of Rb1 and Rb2 on differentiation of the muscle stem cells and myotube formation. Methods: C2C12 myoblasts treated with Rb1 and/or Rb2 were differentiated and induced to myotube formation, followed by immunoblotting for myogenic marker proteins, such as myosin heavy chain, MyoD, and myogenin, or immunostaining for myosin heavy chain or immunoprecipitation analysis for heterodimerization of MyoD/E-proteins. Results: Rb1 and Rb2 enhanced myoblast differentiation through accelerating MyoD/E-protein heterodimerization and increased myotube hypertrophy, accompanied by activation of Akt/mammalian target of rapamycin signaling. In addition, Rb1 and Rb2 induced the MyoD-mediated transdifferentiation of the rhabdomyosarcoma cells into myoblasts. Furthermore, co-treatment with Rb1 and Rb2 had synergistically enhanced myoblast differentiation through Akt activation. Conclusion: Rb1 and Rb2 upregulate myotube growth and myogenic differentiation through activating Akt/mammalian target of rapamycin signaling and inducing myogenic conversion of fibroblasts. Thus, our first finding indicates that Rb1 and Rb2 have strong potential as a helpful remedy to prevent and treat muscle atrophy, such as age-related muscular dystrophy.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.545-550
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• 2004

Salivary glands, major and minor, are susceptible to a wide variety of pathologic conditions. Excision of the submandibular gland is a surgical procedure often undertaken. The procedure is the treatment of choice for patients with neoplasm of the submandibular gland and those with non-neoplastic submandibular disorders which are not controlled with conservative medical measures. Extirpation of the submandibular gland may also be undertaken for diagnostic purposes. We evaluated 84 patients who had been admitted to the dept. of oral and maxillofacial surgery of Pusan National University Hospital from January, 1989 to December, 2002 and had been performed submandibular gland excision. The results are as follows : 1. The patients undertaken the excision of the submandibular gland showed an age range of 16 to 71 years. The average was 49.1. 2. They consisted of 60 males(71.4%) and 24 females(28.6%), having 2.5 : 1 of genda ratio. 3. The most common symptom was swelling in 41 cases(48.8%), followed by the pain in 23 cases(27.4%). Other symptoms included mass, dysphagia, facial abnormaly and neck dyscinesia. 4. 42 cases(50.0%) showed sialadenitis and sialodochitis associated with salivary calculus. 5. According to the histopathologic study, all cases consisted of 17 neoplasmatic conditions(20.3%) and 67 non-neoplasmatic(79.7%). The neoplasmatic cases included 13 benign tumors and 4 primary malignant tumors. Sialadenitis and sialodochitis associated with or without salivary calculus were most marked, found in 50 cases(59.3%), in the non-neoplasmatic conditions. Pleoomorphic adenoma showed the highest frequency of the benign tumor.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.1017-1027
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• 2018

To explore the influence of coal thickness on the mechanical behavior and the failure characteristics of rock-coal-rock (RCR) mass, the experimental investigation of uniaxial compressive tests was conducted first and then a systematic numerical simulation by particle flow code (PFC2D) was performed to deeply analyze the failure mechanical behavior of RCR specimens with different coal thicknesses in conventional compression tests. The overall elastic modulus and peak stress of RCR specimens lie between the rock and the coal. Inter-particle properties were calibrated to match the physical sample strength and the stiffness response. Numerical simulation results show that the deformation and strength behaviors of RCR specimens depend not only on the coal thickness, but also on the confining pressure. Under low confining pressures, the overall failure mechanism of RCR specimen is the serious damage of coal section when the coal thickness is smaller than 30 mm, but it is shear failure of coal section when the coal thickness is larger than 30 mm. Whereas under high confining pressures, obvious shear bands exist in both the coal section and the rock section when the coal thickness is larger than 30 mm, but when the coal thickness is smaller than 30mm, the failure mechanism is serious damage of coal section and shear failure of rock section.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.1887-1893
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• 2012

The aim of this study was to detail characteristics of mammary Paget's disease (PD) representing the whole population in China. A total of 4211 female breast cancer inpatients at seven tertiary hospitals from seven representative geographical regions of China were collected randomly during 1999 to 2008. Data for demography, risk factors, diagnostic imaging test, physical examination and pathologic characters were surveyed and biomarker status was tested by immunohistochemistry. The differences of demography and risk factors between PD with breast cancer and other lesions were compared using Chi-square test or t-test, with attention to physical examination and pathological characters. The percentage of PD was 1.6% (68/4211) in all breast cancers. The mean age at diagnosis was 48.1, and 63.2% (43/68) patients were premenopausal. There is no difference in demography and risk factors between PD with breast cancer and other breast cancer (P > 0.05). The main pattern of PD in physical exam and pathologic pattern were patients presenting with a palpable mass in breast (65/68, 95.6%) and PD with underlying invasive cancer (82.4%, 56/68) respectively. The rate of multifocal disease was 7.4% (5/68). PD with invasive breast cancer showed larger tumor size, more multifocal disease, lower ER and PR expression and higher HER2 overexpression than those in other invasive breast cancer (P < 0.05). These results suggested that PD in China is a concomitant disease of breast cancer, and that PD with underlying invasive cancer has more multiple foci and more aggressive behavior compared with other breast invasive cancer. We address the urgent needs for establishing diagnostic and therapeutic guidelines for mammary PD in China.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.181.2-181.2
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• 2014

A single-layer graphene has been uniformly grown on a Cu surface at elevated temperatures by thermally processing a poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) film in a rapid thermal annealing (RTA) system under vacuum. The detailed chemistry of the transition from solid-state carbon to graphene on the catalytic Cu surface was investigated by performing in-situ residual gas analysis while PMMA/Cu-foil samples being heated, in conjunction with interrupted growth studies to reconstruct ex-situ the heating process. We found that the gas species of mass/charge (m/e) ratio of 15 ($CH_3{^+}$) was mainly originated from the thermal decomposition of PMMA, indicating that the formation of graphene occurs with hydrocarbon molecules vaporized from PMMA, such as methane and/or methyl radicals, as precursors rather than by the direct graphitization of solid-state carbon. We also found that the temperature for dominantly vaporizing hydrocarbon molecules from PMMA and the length of time, the gaseous hydrocarbon atmosphere is maintained, are dependent on both the heating temperature profile and the amount of a solid carbon feedstock. From those results, we strongly suggest that the heating rate and the amount of solid carbon are the dominant factors to determine the crystalline quality of the resulting graphene film. Under optimal growth conditions, the PMMA-derived graphene was found to have a carrier (hole) mobility as high as ${\sim}2,700cm^2V^{-1}s^{-1}$ at room temperature, which is superior to common graphene converted from solid carbon.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.504-511
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• 2010

Diabetes is a disease that contains a high concentration of glucose in blood and due to defects in either insulin secretion or insulin action. Although the distinctive causes and factors of diabetes have not been clarified, the genetic factors are suggested as a main susceptibility until now. SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism), as the most common genetic variation, has an influence on personal susceptibility for diseases. A nonsynonymous SNP, which changes the amino acid of the protein and its function, is especially important. Therefore, this study hypothesized that there are associations between specific SNPs of the targeted genes. Transcription factor 7-like 2 (TCF7L2) and fat mass and obesity associated (FTO) genes were selected as target genes from the results of genome-wide association and other related research studies. Second, four nonsynonymous SNPs (three in TCF7L2 and one in FTO gene) were selected as target SNPs by using public database of NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information). The recruited personnel was classified into three subgroups of diabetes, impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and normal groups. The individual genotypes of each group were analyzed by resequencing. None of genetic variations at four targeted SNP sites was revealed in all samples of this study. However, this study found two new SNPs that were not reported in TCF7L2 gene. One is synonymous SNP, which is heterozygous of C/T and no amino acid change of asparagine/asparagines, was located at c1641 and found in one normal person. Another is nonsynonymous SNP, which is heterozygous of G/A, was located at c1501 and found in two samples. This new discovered nonsynonymous SNP induce the amino acid change from alanine to threonine. Moreover, this new nonsynonymous SNP was found among two persons, one of whom was a diabetes patient and the other one was a person at boundary between IFG and normal, suggesting that this variant might be associated with IFG or diabetes. Even if there is a limitation of sample number for statistical power, this study has an importance due to the discovery of new SNPs. In the future study, a large sample number of diabetes cohort will be needed to investigate the frequency and association with new discovered SNP.