• Physical Therapy Korea
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.16-22
• /
• 2006

Falling is a serious problem associated with aging. Unintentional injury, which most often results from falling, is one of the leading causes of death in elderly people. The purpose of this study is to investigate the risk factors of falls and to compare characteristics of people who fall with that of non-fallers among the rural community-dwelling elderly of Korea. A sample of 201 people, living in the community, aged 60 years and over was taken from the members of a center for seniors located in Jecheon city. The mean age of the participants was 70.5 years of age. The participants are comprised of 151 women and 50 men. Eighty four of the 201 participants (41.8%) fell during the previous year. Twenty two of the fallers (26.2%) fell down more than two times. It was found that fallers had poorer eyesight, multiple chronic diseases and a more difficult time walking than non-fallers. In the logistic regression analysis of falls, only the difficulty of walking one kilometer (OR=2.4) and chronic diseases (OR=2.5) have shown an increased risk of falls. The risk of recurrent falls is, in addition, influenced by the difficulty of walking one kilometer. The result of our study shows that the impairment of mobility was the strongest risk factor of recurrent falling.

• Molecules and Cells
• /
• v.43 no.3
• /
• pp.304-311
• /
• 2020

Methionyl-tRNA synthetase (MRS) is essential for translation. MRS mutants reduce global translation, which usually increases lifespan in various genetic models. However, we found that MRS inhibited Drosophila reduced lifespan despite of the reduced protein synthesis. Microarray analysis with MRS inhibited Drosophila revealed significant changes in inflammatory and immune response genes. Especially, the expression of anti-microbial peptides (AMPs) genes was reduced. When we measured the expression levels of AMP genes during aging, those were getting increased in the control flies but reduced in MRS inhibition flies age-dependently. Interestingly, in the germ-free condition, the maximum lifespan was increased in MRS inhibition flies compared with that of the conventional condition. These findings suggest that the lifespan of MRS inhibition flies is reduced due to the down-regulated AMPs expression in Drosophila.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.241-247
• /
• 2000

The possibility of buckwheat-wheat flour mixture as bread was studied by adding 10, 20, and 30% of buckwheat to wheat flour. To improve bread-making quality of the mixture, gluten, ascorbic acid, and hydroxy propyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) were added to 30% buckwheat-wheat flour and sensory evaluation was also exercised on it. The weight of bread increased but the volume of that decreased as the percentage of buckwheat to wheat flour increased, and improved bread-making quality by adding gluten, ascorbic acid, HPMC to 30% buckwheat-wheat composite flour. When it comes to color, color of the bread got darker as the percentage of buckwheat increased, got brighter when gluten and HPMC were added and showed little difference when ascorbic acid was added. Texture of bread increased in maximum weight, strength, hardness but decreased in springiness and cohesiveness. The use of additives showed influence to the some results. In terms of the aging process, enthalpy increased with storage time, and it could be slowed down by the use of the additives. The sensory evaluation shwoed that 10% buckwheat-wheat bread was most excellent, 20% bread was similar to other bread made from wheat flour, and the bread made by mixing additives were better than just 30% buckwheat-wheat flour in terms of quality.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.31 no.4
• /
• pp.630-636
• /
• 2021

Glabridin, a compound of the flavonoid, has shown outstanding skin-whitening and anti-aging properties, but its water insolubility limits its wide application. Therefore, glabridin liposome (GL) has been developed to improve its poor bioavailability, while there are few studies to evaluate its amelioration of UVB- induced photoaging. This study is performed to investigate the amelioration of GL against UVB- induced cutaneous photoaging. The prepared GL has a spheroidal morphology with an average diameter of 200 nm. The GL shows lower cytotoxicity than glabridin, but it has a more effective role in inhibition of melanin. Moreover, the application of GL can effectively relieve UV radiation induced erythema and leathery skin, associated with the down-regulated expression of inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-10). Taken together, these results demonstrate that GL has potentials as topical therapeutic agents against UVB radiation induced skin damage through inhibiting inflammation.

• Molecules and Cells
• /
• v.46 no.11
• /
• pp.655-663
• /
• 2023

Autophagy dysfunction is associated with human diseases and conditions including neurodegenerative diseases, metabolic issues, and chronic infections. Additionally, the decline in autophagic activity contributes to tissue and organ dysfunction and aging-related diseases. Several factors, such as down-regulation of autophagy components and activators, oxidative damage, microinflammation, and impaired autophagy flux, are linked to autophagy decline. An autophagy flux impairment (AFI) has been implicated in neurological disorders and in certain other pathological conditions. Here, to enhance our understanding of AFI, we conducted a comprehensive literature review of findings derived from two well-studied cellular stress models: glucose deprivation and replicative senescence. Glucose deprivation is a condition in which cells heavily rely on oxidative phosphorylation for ATP generation. Autophagy is activated, but its flux is hindered at the autolysis step, primarily due to an impairment of lysosomal acidity. Cells undergoing replicative senescence also experience AFI, which is also known to be caused by lysosomal acidity failure. Both glucose deprivation and replicative senescence elevate levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), affecting lysosomal acidification. Mitochondrial alterations play a crucial role in elevating ROS generation and reducing lysosomal acidity, highlighting their association with autophagy dysfunction and disease conditions. This paper delves into the underlying molecular and cellular pathways of AFI in glucose-deprived cells, providing insights into potential strategies for managing AFI that is driven by lysosomal acidity failure. Furthermore, the investigation on the roles of mitochondrial dysfunction sheds light on the potential effectiveness of modulating mitochondrial function to overcome AFI, offering new possibilities for therapeutic interventions.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.25 no.10
• /
• pp.1176-1183
• /
• 2015

Ulmus macrocarpa has been used in Korean medicinal food material to physical disorder or tonic material. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate splenocyte life span expansion effects of Ulmus macrocarpa water extract (UMWE) in general cell culture condition. Splenocytes were handled in the presence of 100 μg/ml UMWE for several different time conditions. Live cells were detected with Hoechst 33,342 dye and cell survival molecules were identified through Western blot. Changes in level of cytokine synthesis were evaluated by ELISA. UMWE showed an effect on increased splenocyte survival. UMWE elevated slightly PI3K phosphorylation and ERK1/2 phosphorylation used at 48 hr and 96 hr. Moreover, Bcl-2 was elevated at 48 hr and 96 hr in UMWE-treated splenocytes. UMWE decreased caspase-3 level at 48 hr and 96 hr. ICAD protein increased at 48 hr culturing time. Hematopoietin IL-2 cytokine was down-regulated, however IL-4 hematopoietin cytokine was up-regulated in UMWE treated cell culture media. Increased IFN-γ levels were verified in the supernatant of UMWE-treated cells in all periods (48 hr and 96 hr). Increased patterns in the production of IL-12 cytokine occurred as compared with control after 48 and 96 hr in UMWE-treated-cell cultures. These results suggested that UMWE can prolong splenocyte life span by controlling various signal factors and cytokines.

• Genomics & Informatics
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.22-29
• /
• 2018

Incorporation of unique barcodes into fission yeast gene deletion collections has enabled the identification of gene functions by growth fitness analysis. For fine tuning, it is important to examine barcode sequences, because mutations arise during strain construction. Out of 8,708 barcodes (4,354 strains) covering 88.5% of all 4,919 open reading frames, 7,734 barcodes (88.8%) were validated as high-fidelity to be inserted at the correct positions by Sanger sequencing. Sequence examination of the 7,734 high-fidelity barcodes revealed that 1,039 barcodes (13.4%) deviated from the original design. In total, 1,284 mutations (mutation rate of 16.6%) exist within the 1,039 mutated barcodes, which is comparable to budding yeast (18%). When the type of mutation was considered, substitutions accounted for 845 mutations (10.9%), deletions accounted for 319 mutations (4.1%), and insertions accounted for 121 mutations (1.6%). Peculiarly, the frequency of substitutions (67.6%) was unexpectedly higher than in budding yeast (~28%) and well above the predicted error of Sanger sequencing (~2%), which might have arisen during the solid-phase oligonucleotide synthesis and PCR amplification of the barcodes during strain construction. When the mutation rate was analyzed by position within 20-mer barcodes using the 1,284 mutations from the 7,734 sequenced barcodes, there was no significant difference between up-tags and down-tags at a given position. The mutation frequency at a given position was similar at most positions, ranging from 0.4% (32/7,734) to 1.1% (82/7,734), except at position 1, which was highest (3.1%), as in budding yeast. Together, well-defined barcode sequences, combined with the next-generation sequencing platform, promise to make the fission yeast gene deletion library a powerful tool for understanding gene function.

• Herbal Formula Science
• /
• v.23 no.2
• /
• pp.199-208
• /
• 2015

Objectives : In the present study, we investigated the effects of ethanol extract of Scutellaria baicalensis (EESB) on the progression of cell cycle in human renal cell carcinoma Caki-1 cells. Methods : The effects of EESB on cell growth and apoptosis induction were evaluated by trypan blue dye exclusion assay and flow cytometry, respectively. The mRNA and protein levels were determined by Western blot analysis and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, respectively. Results : It was found that EESB treatment on Caki-1 cells resulted in a dose-dependent inhibition of cell growth and induced apoptotic cell death as detected by Annexin V-FITC staining. The flow cytometric analysis indicated that EESB resulted in G2/M arrest in cell cycle progression which was associated with the down-regulation of cyclin A expression. Our results also revealed that treatment with EESB increased the mRNA and proteins expression of tumor suppressor p53 and cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk) inhibitor p21(WAF1/CIP1), without any noticeable changes in cyclin B1, Cdk2 and Cdc2. In addition, the incubation of cells with EESB resulted in a significant increase in the binding of p21 and Cdk2 and Cdc2. These findings suggest that EESB-induced G2/M arrest and apoptosis in Caki-1 cells is mediated through the p53-mediated upregulation of Cdk inhibitor p21. Conclusions : Taken together, these findings suggest that EESB may be a potential chemotherapeutic agent and further studies will be needed to identify the biological active compounds that confer the anti-cancer activity of S. baicalensis.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
• /
• v.28 no.5
• /
• pp.443-455
• /
• 2020

The thioredoxin (Trx) system plays critical roles in regulating intracellular redox levels and defending organisms against oxidative stress. Recent studies indicated that Trx reductase (TrxR) was overexpressed in various types of human cancer cells indicating that the Trx-TrxR system may be a potential target for anti-cancer drug development. This study investigated the synergistic effect of auranofin, a TrxR-specific inhibitor, on sulforaphane-mediated apoptotic cell death using Hep3B cells. The results showed that sulforaphane significantly enhanced auranofin-induced apoptosis by inhibiting TrxR activity and cell proliferation compared to either single treatment. The synergistic effect of sulforaphane and auranofin on apoptosis was evidenced by an increased annexin-V-positive cells and Sub-G1 cells. The induction of apoptosis by the combined treatment caused the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) and upregulation of Bax. In addition, the proteolytic activities of caspases (-3, -8, and -9) and the degradation of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase, a substrate protein of activated caspase-3, were also higher in the combined treatment. Moreover, combined treatment induced excessive generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). However, treatment with N-acetyl-L-cysteine, a ROS scavenger, reduced combined treatment-induced ROS production and apoptosis. Thereby, these results deduce that ROS played a pivotal role in apoptosis induced by auranofin and sulforaphane. Furthermore, apoptosis induced by auranofin and sulforaphane was significantly increased through inhibition of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt pathway. Taken together, the present study demonstrated that down-regulation of TrxR activity contributed to the synergistic effect of auranofin and sulforaphane on apoptosis through ROS production and inhibition of PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.17 no.10
• /
• pp.509-519
• /
• 2016

This study intends to examine how the subjective health perception of drinkers influences the depression trajectory change by using longitudinal data for elderly drinkers. This study has set up a balanced panel by combining the results from "Aging study panel research" conducted in the year 2006 (1st), 2008 (2nd), 2010 (3rd), 2012 (4th). A total of 543 elderly drinkers, who have responded to each research have been selected as targets for the final analysis. In the analyses, descriptive statistics and Latent Growth Modeling were conducted to examine the causal relationship between the observed and latent variables. The results are as follows: First, it was found that there was a negative correlation-with statistical significance-between the initial value of subjective health perception and the initial status of depression symptom. Second, there was a positive correlation between the initial value of subjective health perception and the changes of depression symptom. This indicates that elderly drinkers with high health perception usually have high degree of depression change; however, this does not mean it was statistically significant. Third, there was a statistically significant correlation between subjective health perception change and depression symptom change. It was found that the depression change level would be low if the subjective health perception change level was high. Thus, we can assume that the depression symptoms of elderly drinker c would slow down if the subjective health perception level increases.