• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.562-575
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• 2015

This study intends to discover stories and sensibilities connected with characteristics and symbols of the history and culture of Sangju to develop contents about the native foods of Sangju. 'General Jeong's Table', which supplied the energy and nutrition necessary for soldiers during war, is set with Jobap, Patipguk, Euneogui, Baechumoojeon, Kongnamulheojib, Patipnamul, and Munamulsileagideanjangmuchim. 'Sangjuseong retaking wartime food', as a kind of ready-to-eat meal, which stresses convenience above everything else, is composed of Konggarujumeokbap, Bbongipjuk, Gamjangajji, and Odigojgammodeumbagitteok for table setting. 'General Jeong's liquor table', which allowed the general to regain his energy or was set to entertain generals of allied forces in the Myeong Dynasty, is formed by Baeksuk, Gojgamssam, Kongjukjijim and Sangsurisul. Efficacies of food materials were analyzed in the Part of Drug Formula of the best-known medical book in Asia. Foods on 'General Jeong's Table' has health efficacies that protect the five viscera and maintain the spleen and stomach.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.172-175
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• 2012

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the various causes of male infertility using multiple approaches. Methods: Nine-hundred-twenty infertile male patients were analyzed at their first visit with one physician between January 1 and December 31, 2009. All patients were subjected to physical examination and semen analysis and azoospermic patients underwent hormonal testing, chromosomal tests, and testicular biopsy. Semen analysis was based on the definition of the World Health Organization. Results: Among the 920 patients, 555 patients (60.3%) had semen results within the normal range, 269 patients (29.2%) within the abnormal range, and 96 (10.5%) were diagnosed with azoospermia. Varicoceles were diagnosed in 84 of the 555 normal-range patients (15.1%) and in 113 of the 269 abnormal-range patients (42.0%). Of the 96 patients with azoospermia, 24 patients (25%) were diagnosed with obstructive azoospermia, 68 patients (71%) with non-obstructive azoospermia, and 4 patients (4%) with retrograde ejaculation. Conclusion: Various causes of male infertility have been reported and diverse treatment methods can be adopted for each cause. In this regard, research must be conducted on a larger number of patients to accurately assess the various causes of infertility in Korean patients and to investigate various infertility treatment methods.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.46 no.11
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• pp.1143-1146
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• 2003

Rickets is a nutritional disorder which is caused either by deficiency of vitamin D or by a defective activation of vitamin D. In these days, even though the incidence of rickets has decreased through adequate nutritional support, we sometimes experience rickets in babies receiving a prolonged special diet as therapy for chronic diarrhea, or those subject to a in receiving the prolonged elimination of milk because of allergy. But there are no reports about rickets caused by absolute elimination of milk because of allergies in Korea. We report here a case of rickets developed after feeding on Sunsik( a mixture of several grain and fruits powder) during a seven months period in an 8-month-old male patient. This male infant manifested vomiting, poor feeding, decreased serum calcium and 25-hydroxycholecalciferol levels, and markedly increased serum alkaline phosphatase and parathyroid hormone levels. Skeletal X-rays showed cupping and fraying in distal metaphyses of radius and ulna, and generalized osteopenia. The patient improved with vitamin D and calcium therapy.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.6433-6438
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• 2013

In hepatocellular cancer (HCC), lack of response to chemotherapy and radiation treatment can be caused by a loss of epigenetic modifications of cancer cells. Methionine adenosyltransferase 1A is inactivated in HCC and may be stimulated by an epigenetic change involving promoter hypermethylation. Therefore, drugs releasing epigenetic repression have been proposed to reverse this process. We studied the effect of the demethylating reagent 5-aza-2'-deoxycitidine (5-Aza-CdR) on MAT1A gene expression, DNA methylation and S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe) production in the HCC cell line Huh7. We found that MAT1A mRNA and protein expression were activated in Huh7 cells with the treatment of 5-Aza-CdR; the status of promoter hypermethylation was reversed. At the same time, MAT2A mRNA and protein expression was significantly reduced in Huh7 cells treated with 5-Aza-CdR, while SAMe production was significantly induced. However, 5-Aza-CdR showed no effects on MAT2A methylation. Furthermore, 5-Aza-CdR inhibited the growth of Huh7 cells and induced apoptosis and through down-regulation of Bcl-2, up-regulation of Bax and caspase-3. Our observations suggest that 5-Aza-CdR exerts its anti-tumor effects in Huh7 cells through an epigenetic change involving increased expression of the methionine adenosyltransferase 1A gene and induction of S-adenosylmethionine production.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.5161-5165
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• 2012

Background: There are few molecular markers known to predict cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) prognosis. Smad7 has a certain relationship with epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), but its relevance to CCA in unclear. Therefore expression and clinical significance of Smad7 in CCA was the focus of this study. Methods: Expression of Smad7, E-cadherin and vimentin was assessed in 41 patients with CCA by immunohistochemistry and analyzed for associations with clinical parameters. Results: Smad7 and vimentin expression in the CCA tissue was dramatically higher than that in adjacent tissues. In addition, Smad7, vimentin and E-cadherin expression was significantly associated with CCA lymph node metastasis and perineural invasion($P{\leq}0.05$), but not other factors, such as gender, age, tumor location, tumor type and tumor differentiation degree (P>0.05). The overall survival and relapse-free survival rate was significantly higher in patients with negative Smad7 expression than those with positive Smad7 expression. Conclusion: EMT phenomena may occur in the process of CCA invasion and metastasis. Smad7, which was highly expressed in CCA, may be considered to be one feedback regulator in late stages and could have potential as a prognostic indicator for clinical assessment.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.767-773
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• 2012

The esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is an aggressive tumor with a poor prognosis. Understanding molecular changes in ESCC should improve identification of risk factors with different molecular subtypes and provide potential targets for early detection and therapy. Our study aimed to obtain a molecular signature of ESCC through the regulation network based on differentially expressed genes (DEGs). We used the GSE23400 series to identify potential genes related to ESCC. Based on bioinformatics we constructed a regulation network. From the results, we could establish that many transcription factors and pathways closely related with ESCC were linked by our method. STAT1 also arose as a hub node in our transcriptome network, along with some transcription factors like CCNB1, TAP1, RARG and IFITM1 proven to be related with ESCC by previous studies. In conclusion, our regulation network provided information on important genes which might be useful in investigating the complex interacting mechanisms underlying the disease.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.3011-3015
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• 2013

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the expression of B7-H4 in human thyroid cancer and determine any association with patient clinicopathological parameters and survival. Methods: B7-H4 expression in 64 clinical thyroid cancer specimens was assessed with immunohistochemistry. Moreover, B7-H4 mRNA expression in 10 fresh resected specimens were evaluated by the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Immunohistochemical staining of CD3 was performed to assess the number of tumor infiltrating T lymphocytes (TILs) in thyroid cancers. Results: Positive B7-H4 immunohistochemical staining was observed in 61 out of 64 (95.3%) specimens of thyroid cancer tissues. Significantly more B7-H4 mRNA copies were found in thyroid cancer tissue than that adjacent normal tissue. Moreover, B7-H4 expression in human thyroid cancer tissues was significantly correlated with patient TNM stages and extrathyroidal extension (P<0.05), being inversely correlated with the number of TILs (P<0.05). The overall survival rate of the patients with higher B7-H4 expression was significantly worse than that of the patients with lower B7-H4 expression. Conclusions: This present study suggests that high B7-H4 expression is associated with cancer progression, reduced tumor immunosurveillance and worse patient outcomes in human thyroid cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.5133-5139
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• 2013

Background: Perineural invasion (PNI) has been reported as one of the sources of locoregional recurrence in resected pancreatic cancer (PC). However the impact of PNI in resected pancreatic cancer remains controversial. The purpose of this study was to determine the association between PNI status and clinical outcomes. Methods: Publications were identified which assessed prognostic significance of PNI status in resected pancreatic cancer up to February 2013. A meta-analysis was performed to clarify the association between PNI status and clinical outcomes. Results: A total of 21 studies met the inclusion criteria, covering 4,459 cases. Analysis of these data showed that intrapancreatic PNI was correlated with reduced overall survival only in resected pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients (HR=1.982, 95%CI: 1.526-2.574, p=0.000). Extrapancreatic PNI was correlated with reduced overall survival in all resected pancreatic cancer patients (HR=1.748, 95%CI: 1.372-2.228, p=0.000). Moreover, intrapancreatic PNI status may be associated with tumor recurrence in all resected pancreatic cancer patients (HR=2.714, 95%CI: 1.885-3.906, p=0.000). Conclusion: PNI was an independent and poor prognostic factor in resected PDAC patients. Moreover, intrapancreatic PNI status may be associated with tumor recurrence.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.150-158
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• 2001

The activity of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in rheumatoid arthritis is not only due to the inhibition of the production of prostaglandins, which can even have beneficial immunosuppressive effects in chronic inflammatory processes. Since we speculated that these drugs could also act by protecting endogenous proteins against denaturation, we evaluated their effect on heat-induced denaturation human serum albumin (HSA) in comparison with several fatty acids which are known to be potent stabilizers of this protein. By the Mizushimas assay and a recently developed HPLC assays we observed that NSAIDs were slightly less active [$EC_{50}~10^{-5}-10^{-4}$ M] than FA and that the HPLC method was less sensitive but more selective than the turbidimetric assay, i.e. it was capable of distinguishing true antiaggregant agents like FA and NSAIDs from substances capable of inhibiting the precipitation of denatured protein aggregates. In conclusion, this survey could be useful for the development of more effective agents in protein condensation diseases like rheumatic disorders, cataract and Alzheimers disease.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.319-324
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• 1997

Despite the direct placement of sperm within the oocyte, fertilization failure still occurs after ICSI. This study was accomplished to analyze the chromosomes in oocytes failed to fertilize after ICSI comparing to oocytes failed to fertilize by conventional in vitro insemination. Seventy-four ICSI cycles and 122 conventional IVF cycles were included in analysis. Included unfertilized oocytes were from 74 patients (mean age = $32.7{\pm}3.7$). Ninety-three oocytes were informative and 83 oocytes were legible for cytogenetic analysis. Sixty-two oocytes out of 83 (74.7%) had normal chroruosomes, while 15 (18.1%) were hypoploidy, 6 (7.2%) were hyperploidy. Eighteen oocytes out of 93 (17.6%) were premature chromosome condensation (PCC). Two hundred ninety-four unfertilized oocytes after conventional insemination were subjected to chromosomal analysis and 180 oocytes were legible for analysis. One hundred thirty-two oocytes out of 180 (73.3%) were normal, while 22 (12.2%) were hypoploidy, 20 (11.1%) were hyperploidy, and 6 (3.3%) were polyploidy. Twenty-two oocytes (12.2%) were PCC. There was no difference in chromosomes between oocytes that failed to fertilize after ICSI or conventional insemination. High PCC rates in fertilization-failed oocytes suggest that oocytes maturity is another important factor in achieving successful fertilization.