• Molecules and Cells
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.258-265
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• 2016

In metastatic breast cancer, the acquisition of malignant traits has been associated with the increased rate of cell growth and division, mobility, resistance to chemotherapy, and invasiveness. While screening for the key regulators of cancer metastasis, we observed that neurotrophin receptor TrkB is frequently overexpressed in breast cancer patients and breast cancer cell lines. Additionally, we demonstrate that TrkB expression and clinical breast tumor pathological phenotypes show significant correlation. Moreover, TrkB expression was significantly upregulated in basal-like, claudin-low, and metaplastic breast cancers from a published microarray database and in patients with triple-negative breast cancer, which is associated with a higher risk of invasive recurrence. Interestingly, we identified a new TrkB-regulated functional network that is important for the tumorigenicity and metastasis of breast cancer. We demonstrated that TrkB plays a key role in regulation of the tumor suppressors Runx3 and Keap1. A markedly increased expression of Runx3 and Keap1 was observed upon knockdown of TrkB, treatment with a TrkB inhibitor, and in TrkB kinase dead mutants. Additionally, the inhibition of PI3K/AKT activation significantly induced Runx3 and Keap1 expression. Furthermore, we showed that TrkB enhances metastatic potential and induces proliferation. These observations suggest that TrkB plays a key role in tumorigenicity and metastasis of breast cancer cells through suppression of Runx3 or Keap1 and that it is a promising target for future intervention strategies for preventing tumor metastasis and cancer chemoprevention.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.463-469
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• 2018

Morphological information such as shape and margin of micro lesion is important information for diagnosis of disease in clinical imaging. In this study, we investigated the morphological changes of the micro lesions by comparing the contrast and area in grid suppressed DR images according to grid frequency. In the profile analysis of the image, the mass showed an average intensity variation of 8.6 ~ 72.4 after suppression, The higher the grid frequency, the more the contrast was increased. However, in the images obtained using 103 lp / inch, which is a grid frequency less than the sampling frequency, the contrast of the mass in the vertical direction decreased after suppression. In the binary image, the area change of the mass was also large. As a result, the shape, size, and margin of the mass changed. In the case of very small calcification, the higher the grid frequency is the larger the change in contrast, so that a clear image can be obtained in the post-suppression image. However, we could confirm that the margin of the lesion was blurred and the lesion was lost in some of the images using the 103 lp / inch grid. The higher the frequency of the grid, The change of the contrast of fiber occurred largely and clear boundary was confirmed. The decrease of the number of pixels was small and morphological change was small. In conclusion, when using a grid frequency that is not suitable for the sample frequency, morphological changes or lesion loss of micro lesions in the post- suppression image may give the possibility of misdiagnosis in diagnosis and differentiation of the image.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.385-390
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• 2010

Excessive extracellular matrix (ECM) accumulation is the main feature of chronic renal disease including diabetic nephropathy. Plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI)-1 is known to play an important role in renal ECM accumulation in part through suppression of plasmin generation and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activation. The present study examined the effect of PAI-1 antisense oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN) on fibronectin upregulation and plasmin/MMP suppression in primary mesangial cells cultured under high glucose (HG) or transforming growth factor (TGF)-${\beta}1$, major mediators of diabetic renal ECM accumulation. Growth arrested and synchronized rat primary mesangial cells were transfected with $1\;{\mu}M$ phosphorothioate-modified antisense or control mis-match ODN for 24 hours with cationic liposome and then stimulated with 30 mM D-glucose or 2 ng/ml TGF-${\beta}1$. PAl-1 or fibronectin protein was measured by Western blot analysis. Plasmin activity was determined using a synthetic fluorometric plasmin substrate and MMP-2 activity analyzed using zymography. HG and TGF-${\beta}1$ significantly increased PAI-1 and fibronectin protein expression as well as decreased plasmin and MMP-2 activity. Transient transfection of mesangial cells with PAI-1 antisense ODN, but not mis-match ODN, effectively reversed basal as well as HG- and TGF-${\beta}1$-induced suppression of plasmin and MMP-2 activity. Both basal and upregulated fibronectin secretion were also inhibited by PAI-1 antisense ODN. These data confirm that PAI-1 plays an important role in ECM accumulation in diabetic mesangium through suppression of protease activity and suggest that PAI-1 antisense ODN would be an effective therapeutic strategy for prevention of renal fibrosis including diabetic nephropathy.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.256-262
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• 2009

The potential of. nonpathogenic Fusarium oxysporum strain Avr5, either alone or in combination with chitosan and Bion, for inducing defense reaction in tomato plants inoculated with F. oxysporum f. sp lycopersici, was studied in vitro and glasshouse conditions. Application Bion at concentration of 5, 50, 100 and $500{\mu}g$/ml, and the highest concentration of chitosan reduced in vitro growth of the pathogen. Nonpathogenic F. oxysporum Avr5 reduced the disease severity of Fusarium wilt of tomato in split plants, significantly. Bion and chitosan applied on tomato seedlings at concentration $100{\mu}g$ a.i./plant; 15, 10 and 5 days before inoculation of pathogen. All treatments significantly reduced disease severity of Fusarium wilt of tomato relative to the infected control. The biggest disease reduction and increasing tomato growth belong to combination of nonpathogenic Fusarium and Bion. Growth rate of shoot and root markedly inhibited in tomato plants in response to tomato Fusarium wilt as compared with healthy control. These results suggest that reduction in disease incidence and promotion in growth parameters in tomato plants inoculated with nonpathogenic Fusarium and sprayed with elicitors could be related to the synergistic and cooperative effect between them, which lead to the induction and regulation of disease resistance. Combination of elicitors and non-pathogenic Fusarium synergistically inhibit the growth of pathogen and provide the first experimental support to the hypothesis that such synergy can contribute to enhanced fungal resistance in tomato. This chemical could provide a new approach for suppression of tomato Fusarium wilt, but its practical use needs further investigation.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.153-157
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• 2012

Many studies have explored suppression of aflatoxin produced by Aspergillus Genus. On the other hand, this study examined the inhibitory effect of the culture broth extract (CE) of A. tamarii obtained from dead silkworm on nitric oxide (NO) production and its antioxidative activity. The culture broth was extracted with EtOAc, dried, and then used in this experiment. As a result, CE did not show cytotoxicity on RAW 264.7 cells at any concentration. Moreover, CE suppressed lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced NO production of RAW 264.7 cells in a dose-dependent manner. The total phenol content according to the Folin-Dennis method, the antioxidative activity by DPPH, and the nitrate radical scavenging capacity of CE were increased in a dose-dependent manner. Thus, many of the phenolic compounds were considered to represent the antioxidative activity.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.41-51
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• 2018

Since fire blight disease on apple and pear was produced in Korea in 2015, there were no registered chemicals to control against this disease. Instead, several antibacterial chemicals that were registered for other bacterial diseases such as soft rot and bacterial spot have been authorized by Rural Development Administration (RDA). However, these chemicals are not tested efficacy for fire blight disease except damage by those treatments on apple and pear in Korea. Thus, we evaluated efficiency using in vitro and in planta assays of antibacterial chemicals such as antibiotics and copper compounds including kasugamycin, oxytetracycline, oxolinic acid and streptomycin, and copper hydroxide, copper sulfate, oxine copper and tribasic copper sulfate, respectively. We also tested two kinds of biological agents. As expected, significant antibacterial effect was observed in vitro test of both antibiotics and copper-based chemicals. In planta test based on disease severity including ooze and water-soaked formation on immature pears, bacterial populations on blooms, and blight lesion formation in artificially inoculated shoots, kasugamycin, oxytetracycline and streptomycin have been shown the most efficiency among tested antibiotics. Four copper-based chemicals tested in this study, control effects are little bit lower than agricultural antibiotics but they seem to be available to use in terms of winter season. Biocontrol agents were also shown possibility to treat in eco-friendly farms. In addition, there are no antibiotic resistance genes in Korean isolates against antibiotics, which were selected for suppression of fire blight in this study.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.302-310
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• 2011

Elsinoe fawcettii is one of major pathogenic fungi which cause citrus scab diseases, resulting in fruit blemishes that reduce the economic value of fruit. By increasing interest to safe products of crops, the alternative methods of disease control is highly required. We investigated whether the 215 bacterial strains isolated from Jeju Island possess antifungal effect or suppression effect on the symptom development by Elsinoe fawcettii on citrus. Among them, three bacterial strains THJ 609-3, MRL408-3, and TRH423-3 that exhibited antifungal capacity against Elsinoe fawcettii were selected. To illustrate the disease suppression mechanism, pre-inoculation with the selected bacterial strains was carried out whether could suppress the citrus crab on the leaves. The observation with a fluorescence microscope revealed that the selected bacteria could decrease the number of fungal spores. The ratio of germ tube formation was also decreased by the selected bacterial strains at one day after fungus challenge. The strain THJ 609-3 was identified as Pseudomonas putida as a result of analyzing the internal transcript spaces of the rhizobacterial rDNA. The strains MRL 408-3 and TRH 423-3 were identified as Burkholderia gladioli. Our results may be valuable when the selected rhizobacterial strains used as the environment-friendly microbe for biological control on citrus scab caused by Elsinoe fawcettii.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.664-673
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• 2022

Objective: To evaluate the performance of baseline clinical characteristics and pretherapeutic histogram parameters derived from T2 mapping of the extraocular muscles (EOMs) in the prediction of treatment response to intravenous glucocorticoid (IVGC) therapy for active and moderate-to-severe thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy (TAO) and to investigate the effect of fat-suppression (FS) in T2 mapping in this prediction. Materials and Methods: A total of 79 patients clinically diagnosed with active, moderate-to-severe TAO (47 female, 32 male; mean age ± standard deviation, 46.1 ± 10 years), including 43 patients with a total of 86 orbits in the responsive group and 36 patients with a total of 72 orbits in the unresponsive group, were enrolled. Baseline clinical characteristics and pretherapeutic histogram parameters derived from T2 mapping with FS (i.e., FS T2 mapping) or without FS (i.e., conventional T2 mapping) of EOMs were compared between the two groups. Independent predictors of treatment response to IVGC were identified using multivariable analysis. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to evaluate the predictive performance of the prediction models. Differences between the models were examined using the DeLong test. Results: Compared to the unresponsive group, the responsive group had a shorter disease duration, lower kurtosis (FS-kurtosis), lower standard deviation, larger 75th, 90th, and 95th (FS-95th) T2 relaxation times in FS mapping and lower kurtosis in conventional T2 mapping. Multivariable analysis revealed that disease duration, FS-95th percentile, and FS-kurtosis were independent predictors of treatment response. The combined model, integrating all identified predictors, had an optimized area under the ROC curve of 0.797, 88.4% sensitivity, and 62.5% specificity, which were significantly superior to those of the imaging model (p = 0.013). Conclusion: An integrated combination of disease duration, FS-95th percentile, and FS-kurtosis was a potential predictor of treatment response to IVGC in patients with active and moderate-to-severe TAO. FS T2 mapping was superior to conventional T2 mapping in terms of prediction.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.133-138
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• 2003

Five seed kernel namely, Neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss.), Pongamia (Pongamia glabra L. Pierre), Tamarind (Tamarindus indica L.), Mahua (Madhuca indica Gmel.) and Shikakai (Acacia cancinna De.) were tested against hatching of eggs and larval mortality of Meloidogyne incognita causing root knot disease in mulberry along with Furadan (Carbofuran) and Bionema (a bioformulation developed from Verticillium chlamydosporium) for comparison. Results revealed that highest hush-up of hatching was observed in Neem (77.40%) and Pongamia (75.99%) seed kernel extracts at 100% concentration over the check. Similarly, highest larval mortality was observed in Neem and Pongamia by 76.00% and 74.50%, respectively at 100% concentration after 72 hrs of exposure period. Pot culture studies revealed that pre-application of seed kernel powders (20 days before inoculation of nematode) found to be more effective in controlling the root knot disease than post application. In pre application of seed kernel powders, maximum reduction of root knots was observed in case of Neem seed kernel powder (54.85%) followed by Pongamia (51.9%). Similar trend was also observed in reduction of egg masses/plant and nematode population ／250 cc soil. Rest of the seed kernel extracts was found to be less effective in suppression of hatching, enhancing the larval mortality and controlling the root knot disease. However, application of Furadan and Bionema tested for the comparison were found to be more effective than seed kernel powders. The generated information seems to be useful in developing an ecofriendly integrated approach for the control of root knot nematode disease in mulberry.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.323-329
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• 2016

Water extract from spent mushroom substrate (WESMS) of Pleurotus eryngii suppressed bacterial wilt disease of tomato caused by Ralstonia solanacearum by 70% without any direct antibacterial activity against the pathogen. WESMS-treated tomato had increased contents of free phenolic compounds (increased by 3%) and total salicylic acid (increased by 75%), and significantly enhanced plant height, leaf number, and fresh weight compared to those of a water-treated tomato sample. These results suggest that the treatment of tomato with WESMS can suppress bacterial wilt disease by enhancing plant defense factors and overall plant health.