• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.181-188
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• 2011

Major depression is a devastating disorder of which lifetime prevalence rate is as high as up to 25% in general population. Although the etiology of the disorder is still poorly understood, it is generally accepted that both genetic and environmental factors are involved in the precipitation of depression. Stressful lifetime events are potent precipitating environmental factors for major depression and early-life stress is in particular an important element that predisposes individuals to major depression later in life. How environmental factors such as stress can make our neural networks susceptible to depression and how those factors leave long-lasting influences have been among the major questions in the field of depression research. Epigenetic regulations can provide a bridging mechanism between environmental factors and genetic factors so that these two factors can additively determine individual predispositions to major depression. Here we introduce epigenetic regulations as candidate mechanisms that mediate the integration of environmental adversaries with genetic predispositions, which may lead to the development of major depression, and summarize basic molecular events that underlie epigenetic regulations as well as experimental evidences that support the active role of epigenetic regulation in major depression.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Toxicology Conference
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.14-20
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• 1998

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2014

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by selective destruction of pancreatic ${\beta}$-cells resulting in insulin deficiency. The genetic determinants of T1D susceptibility have been linked to several loci, in particular to the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region, which accounts for 50% of the genetic risk of developing T1D. Multiple genes in the HLA region, which are in strong linkage disequilibrium, are thought to be involved. Another important locus, with a smaller effect on genetic predisposition to T1D, is the insulin gene. The advent of numerous single nucleotide polymorphism markers and genome screening has enabled the identification of dozens of new T1D susceptibility loci. Some of them appear to predispose to T1D independently of the HLA and may be important in families with T1D who lack strong HLA susceptibility. Other loci may interact with each other to cause susceptibility. The autoimmune response against ${\beta}$-cells can also be triggered by environmental factors in the presence of a predisposing genetic background. Deciphering the environmental and genetic factors involved should help to understand the origin of T1D and aid in the design of individualized prevention programs.

• Interdisciplinary Bio Central
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.6.1-6.3
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• 2011

Diabetes Mellitus (DM), often simply referred to as diabetes, has developed into a major health concern affecting more than 200 million people worldwide with approximately 4 million deaths per year attributed to the presence of the disease. Diabetes mellitus is categorized as Type 1 and Type 2, where Type 1 diabetes represents a lack of insulin production, and Type 2 diabetes is characterized by a relative lack of insulin receptor (i.e., decreased sensitivity to the effect of insulin) and cased by a complex interplay between genetic factors and environmental factors. Up to date, various studies on the pathology and mechanism in terms of genetic experiments have been conducted and approximately hundreds of genes were reported as diabetes mellitus associated genes. At this point, to support studies on the cause and mechanism of diabetes mellitus, an efficient database system to provide genetic variants related to diabetes mellitus is needed. DMBase is an integrated web-based genetic information resource for diabetes mellitus designed to service genomic variants, genes, and secondary information derived for diabetes mellitus genetics researchers. The current version of DMBase documents 754 genes with 3056 genetic variants and 66 pathways. It provides many effective search interfaces for retrieving diabetes mellitus and genetic information. A web interface for the DMBase is freely available at http://sysbio.kribb.re.kr/dmBase.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.105-111
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• 2016

The genetic structure of marine animals that inhabit the seashore is affected by numerous factors. Of these, gene flow and natural selection during recruitment have strong influences on the genetic structure of seashore-dwelling species that have larval periods. Relative contributions of these two factors to the genetic structure of marine species would be determined mainly by the duration of larval stage. The relationship between larval period and genetic structure of population has been rarely studied in Korea. In this study, genetic variations of cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) were analyzed in two dominant species on rocky shore habitats in the Korean peninsula: periwinkle Littorina brevicula and acorn barnacle Fistulobalanus albicostatus. Both species are not strongly structured and may have experienced recent population expansion. Unlike periwinkle, however, barnacle populations have considerable genetic variation, and show a bimodal pattern of mismatch distribution. These results suggest that barnacle populations are more affected by local adaptation rather than gene flow via larval migration. The bimodal patterns of barnacle populations observed in mismatch distribution plots imply that they may have experienced secondary contact. Further studies on seashore-dwelling species are expected to be useful in understanding the evolution of the coastal ecosystem around Korean waters.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.57-69
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• 2011

Objectives: Purpose of this study is to analyze and to estimate which and how much genetic and environmental factors have affected on growth. Also, a method of final height prediction can be developed from this study results. Methods: Correlation analysis and categorical regression analysis were conducted between genetic and environmental factors correlated with the final adult height, through survey from 171 male. Results: Mid parental height, neonatal body weight, intake frequency of beef, chicken, milk, fruits and coffee, sleep quantity and quality during the elementary school and sleep quantity during the middle school have affected on the final adult height. And a regression equation with 0.494 for coefficient of determination was obtained. Conclusions: Mid-parental-height has the most affected on the final adult height. Among environmental factors, food and sleep have significantly affected, but exercise doesn't. Among foods, meal, beef, and milk intake have remarkably affected on the final height, and chicken and fruit also have affected in some degree, but coffee has affected badly. Among sleep habits, sleep quantity during the elementary school has the most affected, sleep quality during the elementary school and sleep quantity during the middle school also have affected in some degree on final height. The younger the age is, the more sleep have affected and sleep quantity have more affected than sleep quality. Neonatal weight also has remarkably affected on the final height. Through this analysis, the final adult height can be predicted using regression equation which covers 49.4% of genetic and environmental factors.

• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.280-306
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• 2007

The purpose of this study is to investigate the two assertions of hereditarianism and environmentalism in the intellectual abilities, which is one of the most important factors of giftedness, and thus to discuss and understand giftedness. As the result of various investigations about the two opposing opinions, it is general view that about 50% of the intellectual abilities are endowed by genetic factors, but they are not fixed life long but changed and developed by posterior experiences. In other word, it is said that giftedness itself of which an important factor is intellectual abilities is determined by heredity, but the degree of revelation of the potential faculty is determined by environmental factors. Therefore, the recent major concerns in this field seem to be on how to make unfold most the children's giftedness rather than arguments about the degree of genetic and environmental factors. It can be said that giftedness is sprung up and accelerated only when an excellent genetic factor and a special environmental factor are transacted dynamically and amplified exquisitely.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.225-234
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to identify the factors that related to obesity among 6th grade elementary school girls. The study subjects were 337 girls residing in Seoul. Not only variables of nutritional environment such as eating habits, health related behavioral variables, nutritional feeding methods during infancy, and genetic factors but also sexual maturity had been included as a obesity related factors. Association between obesity and related variables were analyzed by $x^2$(Chi-square) test. The obesity prevalence of the study subjects were 16% based on Röhrer Index(RI). Fifty-three percent of the study subjects experienced menarche at the time of data collection. Result of analysis showed that not only the nutritional enviromental variables such as eating habits, specific food preferences, and habit of exercise but also genetic factors did not show any statistically significant association with obesity. Above finding may imply that more variables other than the variables included in this study might have influenced on the obesity of the children. However sexual maturity in term of breast development showed significant association with obesity.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.135-140
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• 1998

It was reported that the etiologies of recurrent spontaneous abortion are immunologic factors, endocrinologic problems, anatomical abnormalities, genetic abnormalities, infection, and unexplained factors. Among those etiologic factors, genetic abnormalities occur in about 5% of the couples who experience recurrent spontaneous abortions, and most common parental chromosomal abnormality contributing to recurrent abortion is balanced translocation. The advent of in vitro fertilization (IVF), the development of skills associated with the handling of human embryo, and an explosion of knowledge in molecular biology have opened the possibility of early diagnosis of genetic disease in preimplantation embryos. Therefore preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is indicated for couples, infertile or not, at risk of transmitting a genetic disease. A case of successful pregnancy and term delivery by PGD using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) technique in patient with recurrent spontaneous abortion due to balanced translocation is presented with brief review of literatures.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.497-507
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• 1993

Four truncation selection schemes (SSs) were framed to predict and compare the age structures and genetic responses under the influence of various factor employing the scheme-specific algorithms. Two paths of selection, sires (bulls' sires) and dams (bulls' dams) to breed young bulls were considered. Among variable factors, four levels (0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 0.9) of precision of evaluation, five levels (0.0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20 genetic standard deviation) of genetic differences among age classes and 4 levels of proportions selected (for bulls' sire, 0.05, 0.10, 0.125, 0.25, and for bulls' dams 0.02, 0.04, 0.05, and 0.10) contemplated on both paths of selection. The number of age classes for bulls' dams and bulls' sires were 4 or 8 and 2 or 4, respectively. The stayability across age classes for bulls' dams was assumed to be 0.80 or 0.60. The candidates for selection for bulls' sires were equally distributed (0.5 or 0.25) across the age classes. The SS1 (selection on same proportions as candidates' distribution) revealed longest generation lengths and lowest yearly genetic responses. The average ages were youngest and yearly genetic responses were highest in SS4 (selection at each age-specific truncation point with the same average genetic superiority of selected parents across the ages) and followed by SS3 (selection at each agespecific truncation point with same predicted genetic values) and SS2 (selection at common truncation point on phenotypic values) in a population with overlapping generations. The results revealed the importance of choosing suitable selection scheme to acquire maximum yearly genetic responses especially when the genetic differences among age classes are large and the precision of evaluation is relatively low.