• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.315-346
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• 2016

With the development of big data processing technology, the potential value of healthcare big data has attracted much attention. In order to realize these potential values, various research using the healthcare big data are essential. However, the big data regulatory system centered on the Personal Information Protection Act does not take into account the aspect of big data as an economic material and causes many obstacles to utilize it as a research purpose. The regulatory system of healthcare information, centered on the primary purpose of patient treatment, should be improved in a way that is compatible with the development of technology and easy to use for public interest. To this end, it is necessary to examine the trends of overseas legal system reflecting the concerns about the balance of protection and utilization of personal information. Based on the implications of the overseas legal system, we can derive improvement points in the following directions from our legal system. First, a legal system that specializes in healthcare information and encompasses protection and utilization is needed. De-identification, which is an exception to the Privacy Act, should also clearly define its level. It is necessary to establish a legal basis for linking healthcare big data to create synergy effects in research. It is also necessary to examine the introduction of the opt-out system on the basis of the discussion on the foreign debate and social consensus. But most importantly, it is the people's trust in these systems.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.57-64
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• 2016

Recently several studies reported that the renal toxicity of lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) may exist in even a low level exposure. In terms of the deterioration of tubular function, it affects the loss of divalent metals and leads to other complications, so renal tubular effect of heavy metals should be well managed. Considering the exposure to heavy metals in reality, it is hard to find the case that human is exposed to only one heavy metal. We designed a cross-sectional study using Korean Research Project on the Integrated Exposure Assessment (KRIEFS) data to investigate the renal effects of multiple metal exposure in general population. We used blood Pb and urinary Cd as exposure measures, and urinary N-acetyl-${\beta}$-D-glucosaminidase (NAG) and ${\beta}_2$-microglobulin (${\beta}_2$-MG) as renal tubular impairment outcome. We conducted linear regression to identify the association between each heavy metal and urinary NAG and ${\beta}_2$-MG. And then, we conducted linear regression including the interaction term. Of 1953 adults in KRIEFS (2010~2011), the geometric mean of blood Pb and urinary Cd concentration was $2.21{\mu}g/dL$ (geometric $SD=1.49{\mu}g/dL$) and $1.08{\mu}g/g\;cr$ (geometric $SD=1.98{\mu}g/g\;cr$), respectively. In urinary Cd, the strength of the association was also high after adjusting (urinary NAG: ${\beta}=0.44$, p < 0.001; urinary ${\beta}_2$-MG: ${\beta}=0.13$, p = 0.002). Finally, we identified the positive interactions for the two renal biomarkers. The interaction effect of the two heavy metals of ${\beta}_2$-MG was greater than that of NAG. It is very important in public health perspective if the low level exposure to multiple heavy metals has an interaction effect on kidney. More epidemiological studies for the interaction and toxicological studies on the mechanism are needed.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.486-492
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• 2015

Drug metabolism mostly occurs in the liver. Cytochrome P450 (CYP) is a drug-metabolizing enzyme that is responsible for many important drug metabolism reactions. Recently, the US FDA and EU EMA have suggested that CYP enzyme induction can be measured by both enzymatic activity and mRNA expression. However, these experiments are time-consuming and their interassay variability can lead to misinterpretations of the results. To resolve these problems and establish a more powerful method to measure CYP induction, we determined CYP induction by using luminescent assay. Luminescent CYP assays link CYP enzyme activity to firefly luciferase luminescence technology. In this study, we measured the induction of CYP isozymes (1A2, 2B6, 2C9, and 3A4) in cryopreserved human hepatocytes (HMC424, 478, and 493) using a luminometer. We then examined the potential induction abilities (unknown so far) of mesalazine, a drug for colitis, and mosapride citrate, which is used as an antispasmodic drug. The results showed that mesalazine promotes CYP2B6 and 3A4 activities, while mosapride citrate promotes CYP1A2, 2B6, and 3A4 activities. Luminescent CYP assays offer rapid and safe advantages over LC-MS/MS and qRT-PCR methods. Furthermore, luminescent CYP assays decrease the interference between the optical properties of the test compound and the CYP substrates. Therefore, luminescent CYP assays are less labor intensive, rapid, and can be used as robust tools for high-throughput CYP screening during early drug discovery.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.253-260
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• 2008

Freshwater fish from Vientiane Municipality and Savannakhet Province, Lao PDR were examined by the muscle compression and artificial digestion methods to know the infection status with trematode metacercariae. In the fish from Savannakhet, 2 species of metacercariae, Opisthorchis viverrini and Haplorchis taichui, were detected. O. viverrini metacercariae were found in 6 species of fish, Puntius brevis, Hampala dispar, Esomus metallicus, Mystacoleucus marginatus, Puntioplites falcifer, and Cyclocheilichthys armatus. H. taichui metacercariae were detected in 3 species of fish, P. brevis, P. falcifer, and M. marginatus. In the fish from Vientiane, 4 species of metacercariae, O. viverrini, H. taichui, Haplorchis yokogawai, and Centrocestus formosanus, were detected. Among them, O. viverrini metacercariae were found in 7 species of fish, Onychostoma elongatum, C. armatus, H. dispar, P. brevis, Cyclocheilichthys repasson, Osteochilus hasseltii, and Hypsibarbus lagleri. The metacercariae of H. taichui were detected in 6 species of fish, C. repasson, O. elongatum, C. armatus, H. dispar, Labiobarbus leptocheila, and Cirrhinus molitorella. The metacercariae of H. yokogawai were found in 9 species of fish, C. repasson, O. elongatum, C. armatus, H. dispar, Labiobarbus leptocheila, O. hasseltii. C. molitorella, Hypsibarbus wetmorei, and H. lagleri. The metacercariae of C. formosanus were detected in 4 species of fish, C. repasson, P. brevis, O. hasseltii, and C. molitorella. From these results, it is confirmed that fish borne trematode metacercariae, i.e. O. viverrini, H. taichui, H. yokogawai and C. formosanus, are prevalent in various species of freshwater fish from Savannakhet Province and Vientiane Municipality, Lao PDR.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.184-192
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• 2014

${\beta}$-lapachone is a naturally occurring quinone that selectively induces apoptotic cell death in a variety of human cancer cells in vitro and in vivo; however, its mechanism of action needs to be further elaborated. In this study, we investigated the effects of ${\beta}$-lapachone on the induction of apoptosis in human gastric carcinoma AGS cells. ${\beta}$-lapachone significantly inhibited cellular proliferation, and some typical apoptotic characteristics such as chromatin condensation and an increase in the population of sub-G1 hypodiploid cells were observed in ${\beta}$-lapachone-treated AGS cells. Treatment with ${\beta}$-lapachone caused mitochondrial transmembrane potential dissipation, stimulated the mitochondria-mediated intrinsic apoptotic pathway, as indicated by caspase-9 activation, cytochrome c release, Bcl-2 downregulation and Bax upregulation, as well as death receptor-mediated extrinsic apoptotic pathway, as indicated by activation of caspase-8 and truncation of Bid. This process was accompanied by activation of caspase-3 and concomitant with cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase. The general caspase inhibitor, z-VAD-fmk, significantly abolished ${\beta}$-lapachone-induced cell death and inhibited growth. Further analysis demonstrated that the induction of apoptosis by ${\beta}$-lapachone was accompanied by inactivation of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt signaling pathway. The PI3K inhibitor LY29004 significantly increased ${\beta}$-lapachone-induced apoptosis and growth inhibition. Taken together, these findings indicate that the apoptotic activity of ${\beta}$-lapachone is probably regulated by a caspase-dependent cascade through activation of both intrinsic and extrinsic signaling pathways, and that inhibition of the PI3K/Akt signaling may contribute to ${\beta}$-lapachone-mediated AGS cell growth inhibition and apoptosis induction.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.719-727
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• 2000

A study was conducted to determine the susceptibility of swine to Korean foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV; subtype O, isolated from Chungju province) in April, 2ooo. One holstein cow was inoculated intradermolingually with suspension of homogenized tissue from a Korean native cow naturally infected with Korean FMDY. Infected cow was housed with one susceptible cow and one susceptible pig (contact sentinels). Four additional susceptible pigs were housed in the same room but caged separately (non-contacted sentinels). The contacted pig and cow as well as non-contact pigs developed typical clinical signs after 2, 3, and 7 days post exposure, respectively. We compared neutralizing antibody from the animals to FMDV $O_1$ Lombardy, O Taiwan, $O_1$ Campos, and $O_1$ Manisa after 0, 4, 7, 10, 14, 21, 28 days post challenge and post-exposure. The highest viral neutralization titer could be interpreted that serotype O Korea (Chungju isolate) is antigenically more related to $O_1$ Manisa. In addition, immunohistochemistry was used to further characterize Korean FMDV from tissues of infected pigs. Korean FMDV antigen was observed in the tongue, hoof, esophagus, and tonsil tissues of sentinel pigs. These findings suggest that Korean FMD virus isolated from cattle can be rapidly transmitted to pigs both directly and indirectly contrast field observation in which only cattle were clinically ill.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.173-186
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• 2000

This experiment was carried out to investigate the tendency of incident diseases in pre- and post- weaning piglets which ages were 1 to 7 weeks old by laboratory diagnosis and in order to minimize death in preweaning piglets and of stunted growth in postweaning piglets. The result of this experiment used as the basic data for the preventive programs in pre- and post- weaning piglets and were as follows: 23 different diseases diagnosed in 331 cases were studied in relation to age, season, and etiology. The most prevelent diseases of pre- and post- weaning piglet were Colibacillosis(79 case, 23.9%) and the major diseases were Salmonellosis(44 cases, 13.3%), Anemia(37 cases, 11.2%). Unknown viral disease(20 case, 6.1%), Rota viral infection(19 case, 5.8%), Porcine reproductive & respiratory syndrome(PRRS; 15 case 4.5%), Transmissible gastroenteritis(TGE; 12 case, 3.6%). The gastrointestinal disease, such as Colibacillosis, Salmonellosis, Swine dysentery, Clostridial infection, Rotaviral infection, TGE, Porcine epidemic diarrhea(PED) and Ballantidiosis occured pro- dominently in the period of pre- and post- weaning, which were 178 cases(53.8%) and not related to occurrence according to age and season. The respiratory diseases were Atrophic rhinitis(AR), Swine enzootic pneumonia, Pneumonic pasteurellosis, Pleuropneumonia, Branchopneumonia, PRRS and which were 48 cases(14.5%) and higher prevalent in spring and summer. The viral diseases was 73 cases(22.1%) that occurred in the period of 5 weeks piglet and prevalent mainly in spring. The bacterial diseases were 188 cases(56.8%) that were not related to occurrence according to age and season. Salmonellosis was prevalent in 3 to 5 weeks piglet and mainly occurred in summer. Viral septicemia and rotaviral infection occurred after 5 weeks piglets intensively and 3 to 5 weeks, respectively. And the both occurred without relation with season. PRRS occurred after 4 weeks piglet and prevalent in summer. TGE occurred 1 to 7 days old piglets and prevalent in spring and winter. Hematologic values of anemia was decrease in number of Red Blood Cell, concentration of Hemoglobin and Hematocrit. Amikacin, cephalothin, colistin, norfloxacin were effective to E coli, and amikacin, cephalothin, nortloxacin, neomycin were effective to Salmonellra spp. but clindamycin, erythromycin, penicillin, sulfonamides were resistant to E coli and Salmonella spp.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.469-475
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• 2005

Cytogenetic and hematological analysis was performed in peripheral blood obtained from pigs bred in the high background radiation areas (HBRA) (Cheongwon-gun and Boeun-gun) and a control area. The frequencies of gamma-ray induced micronuclei (MN) in the cytokinesis-blocked (CB) lymphocytes at several doses were measured in three pigs. An estimated dose of radiation was calculated by a best fitting linear-quadratic model based on the radiation-induced MN formation from the swine lymphocytes exposed in vitro to radiation over the range from 0 mGy to 1,969 mGy. The measurements performed after irradiation showed dose-related increases in the MN frequency in each donors. The results were analyzed using a linear-quadratic model with a line of best fit of $y=0.0005404D^2+0.04237D+0.00833$ [y = number of MN/cytokinesis-blocked (CB) cells and D = irradiation dose in Gy]. MN rates per 1,000 CB lymphocytes of pig from the HBRA (Cheongwon-gun, Boeun-gun) and the control area were $6.70{\pm}2.36$, $9.00{\pm}3.50$ and $11.00{\pm}2.98$, respectively. The MN frequencies of CB lymphocytes from pigs bred in three areas means that the values are within the background variation in this experiment. The MN frequencies and hematological values were similar regardless of whether the pigs were bred in the HBRA or the control area.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.159-167
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• 1995

The relationship between palpable ovarian structure and milk progesterone levels were determined in 144 dairy cows. Depending on the ovarian structure and diseases were divided into two groups, Group I (absence of functional luteal tissue in ovary and <2ng/ml in milk progesterone levels) and Group II(presence of functional luteal tissue in ovary and ${\geq}2ng/ml$ in milk progesterone levels) 1. Among 69 cows of group I, dysfunction of ovary, atropy of ovary, follicle is ovary, follicular cyst and corpus luteum albicans were 17(11.8%), 19(13.2%), 14(9.7%), 3(2.1%) and 16 cows(11.1%), and among 75 cows of group II, corpus luteum A, B and C were 16(11.1%), 17(11.8%) and 42 cows(29.2%), respectively. 2. In Group I, milk progesterone concentrations were <1ng/ml in 55 cows(79.9%). Conversely in Ggroup II, milk progesterone concentrations were ${\geq}4ng/ml$ in 55 cows(73.3%). 3. The mean(${\pm}SE$) concentrations of milk progestsrone in the Group I and II were $1.62{\pm}0.45$ and $7.64{\pm}0.68ng/ml$, respectively, and CR test showed the difference in milk progesterone concentrations between the two groups to be statistically significant(p<0.01). 4. The mean(${\pm}SE$) concentration of milk progesterone in cows with corpus luteum A, B and C were $8.11{\pm}1.83$, $8.48{\pm}1.30$ and $7.12{\pm}0.82ng/ml$, respectively, there was no significant relationship between palpable corpora luteum structure and milk progesterone concentration. 5. The accuracy of ovarian diagnosis was 82.6 and 20.2% in the Group I and II, respectively, and Chi-square test showed the difference in accuracy between the two groups to be statistically significant (p<0.001). 6. The agreement between the rectal palpation and milk progesterone concentrations in ovarian disease was 50%.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.69-75
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• 1994

Pregnant CD-1 mice were exposed to methylmercury in the drinking water at concentration of 20ppm with subcutaneous treatment of thiaminHCl(vitamin $B_1$) (100mg, 200mg or 300mg/ kg b.w.) or BAL(5.0 mg/kg b.w.) under the alone or combined base at the therapeutic agents from day 6 to 15 of gestation. Fetal growth parameters, including body weight and crown-rump length in the mice exposed to mercury, were reduced as placental weight compared to those in the control group(no treatment). The incidence of dead fetuses/resorption and malformed fetuses(especially cleft palate) was also increased even in the group treated with thrapeutic agents as well as in the mercury only treated group. However, all kinds of alteration indicated above, possibly induced by mercury, reduced/or decreased significantly compared to those of control. A subtle indication of maternal toxicity was noted in most experimental animals as evidenced by decreased water consumption and increased relative liver weight. The present study confirmed that methylmercuric chloride is embrytoxic and teratogenic in CD-1 mice when administered during organogenesis and that thiamin administration may have therapeutic application for the treatment or prevention against of deleterious effects induced by mercury during gestation period.