• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.215-222
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• 2020

Metformin is a recommended first-line therapy drug for type 2 diabetes patients. However, compared to other oral antidiabetic drugs (OAD), metformin has a large unit dosage, with bioavailability of 40-60%. This limiting bioavailability is because metformin is absorbed only in the upper gastrointestinal tract as a BCS class 3 drug. Hence, we propose that applying the Gastroretentive Drug Delivery System (GRDDS) and extending drug release time in the stomach will result in improved bioavailability. We selected the swelling type delivery system, as it is considered the most stable gastroretention technology compared to other GRDDSs. We modified the swelling excipient by using a natural swelling excipient to form a swelling tablet made of carrageenan and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC). Our results indicate that the swelling complex tablet made of carrageenan and HPMC has a good swelling ability and shows required sustained release in a dissolution pattern. In addition, the carrageenan complex has a better swelling ability than the marketed metformin tablet, as determined by the ratio, (swelling ability)/(excipient weight). Taken together, our results indicate that the carrageenan complex can be developed as a good swelling excipient. Further optimizations are required for the commercialization of the carrageenan complex.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.150-155
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• 2009

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate observed changes in the prevalence of biopsy-proven Helicobacter pylori infection in Korean children with functional recurrent abdominal pain during the past 18 years. Methods: Between July 1991 and December 2008, 1,194 children with functional recurrent abdominal pain (499 males and 695 females) 9.2${\pm}$3.1 years of age were included. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopies were performed in all patients. H. pylori infection was assessed by the CLO test. Changes in the prevalence of the endoscopic diagnosis of H. pylori infection during 18 years were analyzed. Results: The prevalence of H. pylori infection between 1991 and 1993, 1994 and 1996, 1997 and 1999, 2000 and 2002, 2003 and 2005, and 2006 and 2008 were 25.1% (56/223), 23.1% (45/195), 19.3% (28/145), 16.1% (39/242), 11.3% (24/213), and 10.8% (19/176), respectively; these serial decreases in the prevalence over 18 years were statistically significant (p<0.001). Regardless of gender and age, the prevalence of H. pylori infection decreased. This decrease was inversely related to socioeconomic improvement as represented by the per capita gross national income growth of Korea. Conclusion: The prevalence of H. pylori infection has decreased significantly for the past 18 years in Korean children. This decrease might be caused by an improvement in socioeconomic status.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.521-530
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• 2020

Purpose: Malnutrition is a common feature in critically ill children. Enteral nutrition (EN) is the main strategy to nutritionally support critical ill children, but its use can be hindered by the development of intolerance. The study aimed to assess the effectiveness and safety of amoxicillin/clavulanate (A/C) to treat EN intolerance. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated patients admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit from October 2018 to October 2019. We conducted a case-control study: in the first 6 months (October 2018-April 2019) we implemented the nutritional protocol of our Institution with no drug, whereas in the second half (May 2019-October 2019) we employed A/C for 1 week at a dose of 10 mg/kg twice daily. Results: Twelve cases were compared with 12 controls. At the final evaluation, enteral intake was significantly higher than that at baseline in the cases (from 2.1±3.7 to 66.1±27.4% of requirement, p=0.0001 by Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test) but not in the controls (from 0.2±0.8 to 6.0±14.1% of the requirement, p=NS). Final gastric residual volume at the end of the observation was significantly lower in the cases than in the controls (p=0.0398). The drug was well tolerated as shown by the similar safety outcomes in both cases and controls. Conclusion: Malnutrition exposes critically ill children to several complications that affect the severity of disease course, length of stay, and mortality; all may be prevented by early EN. The development of intolerance to EN could be addressed with the use of A/C. Future prospective clinical trials are needed to confirm these conclusions.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.437-446
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• 2014

Problems appear when triptans are taken orally. For example, the bioavailability of triptan is reduced by the digestive system, and the drug level in the blood reduces rapidly over time; there is also a possibility of gastrointestinal disorder. To improve side effects, a transdermal patch has been prepared in hydrogel form. The polymer matrix that makes up the hydrogel uses PVA; PEG is used as an additive to induce inter/intra hydrogen bonding of the PVA and almotriptan drug is added. In addition, to accelerate micro-phase separation between PVA chains, liquid nitrogen is used. In FT-IR analysis, the absorption bands of PVA, PEG, and almotriptan were found. The degree of crystallinity, the water uptake ability and tensile strength were increased with increasing PEG content. In drug release tests, the amount of drug released increased depending on the PEG content. In this study, hydrogels with 10 wt% PEG showed better performance in drug release. Approximately 60% of the total drug amount was released in 2 hr, and the drug continued to release for 1 day. Thus, the prepared hydrogel patch is suitable as a transdermal formulation for the second dose administration of triptans to patients who require recurrent migraine treatment within 24 hr after the first administration.

• Advances in pediatric surgery
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.127-134
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• 2007

Meckel's diverticulum is the most common congenital anomaly of gastrointestinal tract in children. The incidence of complicated Meckel's diverticulum is about 4 %. The major complications of Meckel's diverticulum are bleeding, intussusception, obstruction and perforation. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical manifestations and the role of laparoscopic surgery in complicated Meckel's diverticulum in children. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 19 patients with complicated Meckel's diverticulum who underwent operation at Asan Medical Center between Jan. 1990 and Apr. 2007. Male to female ratio was 11:8, and median age was 1 year (1 day-13 years). The most frequent symptom was hematochezia (68%), followed by irritability or abdominal pain (16%), vomiting (11%), and abdominal distension (5%). Two operative procedures were performed; small bowel resection with anastomosis (68%) and diverticulectomy (32%). The operation proven complications of the Meckel's diverticulum were bleeding (68%), intussusception (16%), perforation (11%) and obstruction (5%). Ectopic tissues found by postoperative pathologic examination were gastric (84%) and pancreatic (11%). Hospital stay after laparoscopic operation for bleeding Meckel's was 5 days (median) and average first postoperative feeding was 1.5 days. On the contrary, hospital stay for open surgery was 7 days and first feed was 3 days. In summary, the most common compliation of Meckel's diverticulum in children was bleeding and ectopic gastric tissues were present in 84%. Laparoscopic procedure seemed to be useful for diagnosis as well as for definitive treatment.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.64 no.5
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• pp.383-386
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• 2008

An elevated serum CA19-9 level is an indication of pancreatic and biliary tract cancer. However, it has recently become known that nonmalignant gastrointestinal diseases and a variety of nonmalignant respiratory diseases, such as idiopathic interstial pneumonia, collagen vascular disease associated lung diseases, diffuse panbronchiolitis and bronchiectasis, can also show an elevated serum CA19-9 level. We recently encountered a case of bronchiectasis with persistently elevated serum CA19-9, but without any evidence of malignant disease in endoscopic retrograde pancreatocholangiography, abdominal computed tomography, and positron emission tomography. After serial follow-up of 3 years and 10 months, there was still no evidence of cancer. It is believed that the elevated serum CA19-9 level was due to bronchiectasis. An elevated serum CA19-9 level should be interpreted carefully with the patients' clinical condition.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.123-128
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• 2006

Behcet's disease (BD) is a systemic vasculitis characterized by recurrent oral and genital ulcers, and ocular inflammation, and which may involve the joints, skin, central nervous system and gastrointestinal tract. Although the exact pathogenesis for BD is not completely understood, it has been suggested that the disease is triggered in genetically susceptible individuals by environmental factors, such as microbial agents. It is noted that multiple genes, including MHC (major histocompatibility complex) and non-MHC genes, are implicated in the pathogenesis of BD. This study tries to determine whether IL-6 gene polymorphisms are associated with susceptibility to Behcet's disease in Koreans. Gene polymorphisms were typed by VNTR (variable number of tandem repeat), RFLP (restriction fragment length polymorphism), DHPLC (denaturing high performance liquid chromatography).There were no evidences for genetic association conferred by the IL-6prom polymorphism. However, significant differences in the IL-6vntr genotype and allele frequencies were found between patients with BD and controls. The IL-6vntr*C allele appeared to be an additional susceptibility gene to Korean BD. Further studies in other populations and gene are required to confirm these results.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.423-435
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• 2018

This investigation was aimed at working out the combined role of lncRNA H19, miR-29b and Wnt signaling in the development of colorectal cancer (CRC). In the aggregate, 185 CRC tissues and corresponding para-carcinoma tissues were gathered. The human CRC cell lines (i.e. HT29, HCT116, SW480 and SW620) and normal colorectal mucosa cell line (NCM460) were also purchased. Si-H19, si-NC, miR-29b-3p mimics, miR-29b-3p inhibitor, si-PGRN and negative control (NC) were, respectively, transfected into the CRC cells. Luciferase reporter plasmids were prepared to evaluate the transduction activity of $Wnt/{\beta}-catenin$ signaling pathway, and dual-luciferase reporter gene assay was arranged to confirm the targeted relationship between H19 and miR-29b-3p, as well as between miR-29b-3p and PGRN. Finally, the proliferative and invasive capacities of CRC cells were appraised through transwell, MTT and scratch assays. As a result, overexpressed H19 and down-expressed miR-29b-3p displayed close associations with the CRC patients' poor prognosis (P < 0.05). Besides, transfection with si-H19, miR-29b-3p mimic or si-PGRN were correlated with elevated E-cadherin expression, decreased snail and vimentin expressions, as well as less-motivated cell proliferation and cell metastasis (P < 0.05). Moreover, H19 was verified to directly target miR-29b-3p based on the luciferase reporter gene assay (P < 0.05), and miR-29b-3p also bound to PGRN in a direct manner (P < 0.05). Finally, addition of LiCl ($Wnt/{\beta}-catenin$ pathway activator) or XAV93920 ($Wnt/{\beta}-catenin$ pathway inhibitor) would cause remarkably altered E-cadherin, c-Myc, vimentin and snail expressions, as well as significantly changed transcriptional activity of ${\beta}-catenin/Tcf$ reporter plasmid (P < 0.05). In conclusion, the lncRNA H19/miR-29b-3p/PGRN/Wnt axis counted a great deal for seeking appropriate diagnostic biomarkers and treatment targets for CRC.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.488-509
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• 2021

Purpose: Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a chronic syndrome accompanied by repetitive digestive symptoms that appear in the upper gastrointestinal tract and are not caused by specific diseases. Psychological symptoms like anxiety, depression, insomnia, and somatization are frequently observed in FD. The purpose of this study was to review the effect of herbal medicine on the psychological symptoms that accompany FD. Methods: Database search (PubMed, EMBASE, KISS, Kmbase, KoreanMed, NDSL, OASIS, CNKI) was performed on February 24, 2021; a total of 1825 studies were searched. After the screening, 22 studies were included. Results: The studies were assessed by Cochrane RoB 2 and sorted into a table according to psychological symptoms. Meta-analysis was performed to estimate the effect of herbal medicine. Twenty of the twenty-two studies reported that herbal medicine was significantly more effective than the control group. Only three of the studies did not have a high risk of bias. Conclusion: Herbal medicine was significantly effective with or without Western medicine and had fewer adverse effects. Severe adverse effect was not reported. Psychological symptoms in FD affect onset and duration of FD, and some FD patients want to be treated for their anxiety before other symptoms. Reliable information about treatment for the psychological symptoms of FD is lacking. We reviewed the effect of herbal medicine treatment in this study, the results of which could be selected for primary or secondary treatment for FD.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.207-216
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• 2022

Canine babesiosis has been scarcely investigated in the Republic of Korea (ROK). Although it is known that Babesia gibsoni is its primary causative agent, its clinical presentation has not been completely clarified in the ROK. Consequently, the aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical appearance of this parasitic infection based on the anamnesis of the patient and compare of hematological and biochemical test results. Four hundred whole blood samples from patients with a presumptive diagnosis of tick-borne disease were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify the Babesia spp. 18S rRNA gene and by a rapid diagnostic test kit (VetAll Laboratories^®) to detect B. gibsoni seroreactive animals. Thirty-six (9.0%) dogs were PCR-positive but only 24 (6.0%) were seropositive. The investigation revealed that all the courses of the disease are present in the ROK, with the acute course being predominant. The acute course tends to consist of inappetence, lethargy, pyrexia, gastrointestinal symptoms, and occasionally hematuria. It also occurs with common hematological abnormalities, such as thrombocytopenia and anemia, and to a lesser extent biochemical abnormalities, such as hyperbilirubinemia, hypoalbuminemia, and elevated liver enzymes. This research shows that B. gibsoni is an endemic hemoparasite capable of producing a variety of clinical manifestations in dogs. For its accurate diagnosis, a descriptive history of the clinical signs, hematology, and biochemical profile of the patient, along with a well-performing PCR assay, are essential. These findings will help in planning pragmatic preventive strategies against this potent threat in the ROK.