• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.100-109
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• 2005

In South America, natural products with unknown drug effects are used as folk remedies and for preventive medicine. Among South American natural products, we directed our attention to Propolis, which have been known as medicinal plants, and examined the mechanisms by which these substances affect antioxidant activity, anti-tumor activity and immunoresponse. When the antioxidant activities of Propolis were examined by the DPPH and Rhoudan iron methods, since Propolis contains high levels of flavonoids, it is thought that flavonoids may be responsible for the antioxidant activity in this study. In the examination of immunoenhancement activity, we measured lymphocyte versus polymorphonuclear leukocyte ratios (L/P activity). The number of lymphocytes was significantly increased in groups treated with Proplolis. Specifically, slightly high levels of $IFN-{\gamma}$ were measured in mice bearing the S-180 carcinoma, after administration of Propolis. This strongly suggests that cellular immunity is especially activated by treatment with Propolis, because production of $IFN-{\alpha}$ is limited to the T cells and NK cells stimulated by mitogen and sensitized antigen. $TNF-{\alpha}$ shows a different extent and mechanism of action depending on the target cells. When $TNF-{\alpha}$ was measured in mice bearing the S-180 carcinoma, mice treated with Propolis showed slightly higher $TNF-{\alpha}$ levels as compared to the control group. This suggests that activated macrophages produce $TNF-{\alpha}$ in mice treated with Prapolis, since activated macrophages and lymphocytes are the source of most $TNF-{\alpha}$. When anti-tumor action was examined using two kinds of sarcoma (Ehrlich solid carcinoma and Sarcoma-180 carcinoma), tumor-suppressive ratios after treatment with Propolis was 29.1%. When Sarcoma-180 solid carcinoma was used, tumor-suppressive ratios were 62%. Thus, Propolis showed strong anti-tumor activity against two kinds of solid carcinoma. Taken altogether, this strongly suggests that Propolis enhances original functions of macrophages and NK cells, and as a result, secondarily enhances the immune reaction and suppresses tumor growth.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.69-74
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• 1996

Background: The diagnosis of pulmonary embolism (PE) based on clinical findings is often elusive and therefore requires confirmative diagnostic method. Pulmonary angiography, though the gold standard for the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism, is an invasive method and requires trained personnel and special equipment. Lung V/Q scan, on the other hand, is a noninvasive method but the diagnostic specificity and sensitivity arc not satisfactory in case that the results are either intermediate or low probability scan. Plasma D-dimer is generated when a thrombus is fibrinolysed by plasmin and is known to be increased in various thrombotic disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate the value of the determination of plasma D-dimer level in the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism. Methods: Pulmonary angiography was performed in 17 patients who were clinically suspected to have pulmonary embolism. 9 patients(PE, $56{\pm}13.4$ yrs, M:F=8:1) were diagnosed to have pulmonary embolism by pulmonary angiography. The control group were the 8 patients with negative pulmonary angiography and 13 orthopedic patients with no evidence of pulmonary embolism on scintigraphic and impedance plethysmographic studies(n=21) (non-PE, $54.5{\pm}11.1$ yrs, M:F=11:10). Plasma D-dimer was measured by latex agglutination method in study subjects and the results were analyzed according to the presence or absence of pulmonary embolism. Results: 1) The increased level of plasma D-dimer was more frequently observed in the patients with pulmonary embolism than in the controls(>0.5 mg/L, 8 in PE, 10 in non-PE; <0.5 mg/L, 1 in PE, 11 in non-PE, p=0.049). 2) The diagnostic value of plasma D-dimer level higher than 0.5 mg/L were as follows: sensitivity 88.9%(8/9), specificity 52.4%(11/21), positive predictive value 44.4%(8/18), and negative predictive value 91.7%(11/12). Conclusion: Plasma D-dimer determination showed high sensitivity and negative predictive value in the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism and is therefore thought to be useful in excluding the possibility of pulmonary embolism.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.120-128
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• 2008

Purpose: Mistletoe extract was widely used for cancer treatment as complementary or alternative therapy in European area from early twenty century. It is currently used as alternative anti-cancer remedy by piecemeal in domestic medical group, however, the anti-cancer mechanism of mistletoe extract was not known precisely until now. In this study the effect of mistletoe extract on gastric cancer was studied vis cell line experiments. Materials and Methods: The SNU719 gastric cancer cell line was used, and ABNOBAviscum-Q and ABNOBAviscum-F were treated to cells as mistletoe extract, or 5-FU and cisplatin were used with mistletoe extract. The cell viability and cell death rate were estimated by CCK-8 assay kit and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay kit in each. Caspase 3 assay kit was used to measure caspase 3 activity. The protein expression amounts of Bcl2, p53, and PTEN were estimated through Western blot analysis. Results: The co-treatments of mistletoe extract Q/F and 5-FU/cisplatin decreased lesser cell viability than only mistletoe treat. Caspase 3 activity was increased 4~6 times in co-treatment of mistletoe extracts and 5-FU than control. Bcl2 protein expression was reduced by mistletoe extracts or anti-cancer drugs, further more, the co-treatment of mistletoe extracts and 5-FU/cisplatin diminished more the expression than only mistletoe treatment. Mistletoe extracts did not affect the protein expressions of p53 and PTEN. Conclusion: It was concluded that the anti-cancer mechanism of mistletoe extracts was made by caspase 3 activation and lowered Bcl2 expression, and this apoptosis inducing mechanism was independent to p53.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.414-429
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• 1990

Numerous research reports have substantiated the role of stressful life events in relation to the onset of health changes. The relationship tends to hold across different age groups. Theoretically, adolescence has been considered a developmental crisis period of great stress, impoverished coping skills and high vulnerability to biological, social and psychological demands. The research problem addressed by this study was to examine the relationships between stressful life events and health symptom patterns, and the effect of two variables, coping and social, support, theoretically considered to mediate the relationship between stress and health symptoms in adolescents. The following five hypotheses were tested in this research : 1. Health symptoms are positively related to stressful life events in adolescents, 2. Health symptoms are negatively related to coping in adolescents, 3. Health symptoms are negatively related to social support in adolescents, 4. When coping is controlled, the relationship between health symptoms and stressful life events will decrease, and 5. When social support is controlled, the relationship between health symptoms and stressful life events will increase. The study subjects consisted of 1090 high school students of the metropolitan city of Seoul. The following sampling procedure was used : 1. Of the 169 high schools in nine school administrative districts in the city, a proportional sample of ten schools was selected. 2. One class from each of the freshman and sophomore was randomly selected and all the students who were in the sampled class were used as the study sample. The study was limited to freshman and sophomore adolescents, aged 15 to 18(mean＝16.6). Of the 1090 subjects 688(63%) were boys and 402(37%) were girls. An Adolescent Inventory of Stressful Life Events, a Health Symptom Questionnaire and an Adolescent Coping Inventory were adapted for this study. The Norbeck Social Support questionnaire was utilized to collect the data on perceived social support. Five high school teachers in the areas of school health and counselling reviewed the items of each questionnaire for content validity. A pilot study was undertaken to ascertain reliability. Fifty three high school students responded to the questionnaires and gave their opinions on the items. For stressful life events, health symptoms, coping, and social support, the Cronbach's alpha's on the study were .70, .94, .77, and .76, respectively. Research assistants attended all the sampled classes with the school proctor to explain the purpose and procedures of the study to the students. The questionnaires along with a ballpoint pen were distributed to the students who were asked to complete each item. The research assistants left the ballpoint pen with the students as a gift for their cooperation. An average of 50 minutes was required to complete the questionnaires. Using an SPSS, the first, three hypotheses were tested using Gamma, a measure of association for ordinal variables. Partial gamma was used to test the fourth and fifth hypotheses. Patterns of elaboration described by Babbie were selected to interpret the relationship of the three variable analyses. The significance of gamma was determined by Chisquare at a .05 level of significance. There was a positive relationship between health symptoms and stressful life events(Gamma＝.35, p＝.000). Thus the first hypothesis was supported. Unexpectedly, coping was positively related with health symptoms(Gamma＝.13, p＝.000). That is, the higher the coping levels, the greater number of health problems. The third hypothesis, the higher the level of social support, the fewer the health symptoms, was not accepted in this adolescent study group. When coping was controlled, under the condition of low coping the association between health symptoms and stressful life events increased significantly to a partial gamma of .39, and under the condition of high coping it was .30. According to the elaboration model, when one partial relationship is the same or greater than the original and the other is smaller, the control variable should be considered to be specifying the conditions. When social support was controlled the relationship between stressful life events and health symptoms increased under the condition of low social support, but with high social support, the relationship decreased. Both partial gamma were statistically significant at .05 level(.43 and .26 relatively). It can be interpreted that stressful life events are strongly and positively related to health symptoms under the condition of low social support, however this relationship can not be expected with high social support. Thus, the last two hypotheses were conditionally sustained. In this study, the relationships between stressful life events and health symptoms, and the specified me diating roles of coping and social support were found to have statistical interaction. This finding supports the theoretical position of this study. It suggests that stressful life events would create high susceptability to biological social and psychological health symptoms and coping and social support buffering the relationship between stressful life events and health symptom. The findings of this study have implications for nursing practice. When adolescents are confronted with non-developmental life events that are perceived as stressful, nurses should recognize the evidence of the stress-buffering effect of coping and social support on health symptoms and utilize the diverse sources of social support that are readily available to adolescents.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.262-274
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• 2014

In this study, changes of nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants were determined by using a multi-functional grinder. Contents of vitamin C and vitamin $B_1$ were measured by HPLC, and antioxidant activity was estimated toward free radical scavenging effect in using DPPH. Contents of minerals(Zn, Mn, Fe, Mg, K, and Ca) were computed by ICP-Mass. Results identified that the contents of vitamin C was $44.06{\pm}10.86mg/kg$ in mandarine, $132.1{\pm}22.80mg/kg$ in orange, and $12.79{\pm}2.01mg/kg$ in pineapple by using the hand blender for 3 minutes, and the loss rate of vitamin C contents were 12%, 7%, and 12% in comparison with the control group. In addition, the contents of vitamin C were $41.89{\pm}5.55mg/kg$ in mandarine, $131.51{\pm}12.67mg/kg$ in orange and $16.76{\pm}1.47mg/kg$ in pineapple when using of the grinder for 3 minutes, and the loss rate of vitamin C contents were 16%, 8%, and 17%. The results of vitamin $B_1$ showed a tendency to decrease in the same manner as the content of vitamin C even if there was no significant difference. Furthermore, the result of antioxidant activity revealed that free radical scavenging effect of sample was 60% decreased when using a hand blender and 10% decreased when using a grinder. Thus decrease rate of antioxidant activity when using the hand blender was higher than grinder. Lastly, current study could find any significant differences among the 16 food samples for cooking when employing the multi-functional grinder(p<0.05).

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.244-249
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• 2011

This in vitro study compared the remineralization of incipient interproximal caries in the presence of three glass ionomer cements(highly-filled glass ionomer cement, resin-modified glass ionomer cement, compomer) and a resin composite(control). Thirty-two extracted premolars were selected based upon the lack of any visible demineralization. The teeth were coated in a transparent acid resistant nail varnish leaving $3{\times}3$ mm square. The teeth were subjected to the demineralizing buffer for 3 days and quantitative light-induced fluorescence(QLF) images of the subjects were taken. Proximal restoration was simulated by placing tooth specimens and the various glass ionomer cements in closed containers with artificial saliva at $37^{\circ}C$ and pH 7.0 with constant circulation. Further QLF images were subsequently taken at 30, 60, and 90 days. The changes of mineral loss(${\Delta}Q$) were evaluated by QLF and the change of ${\Delta}Q$(${\Delta}{\Delta}Q$) were compared between groups in order to evaluate the effects of remineralization. All data were analyzed using ANOVA and the post-HOC Dunnett C multiple comparison test at p<0.05. While ${\Delta}Q$(changes of mineral loss) increased for all treatments, the increases for three glass ionomer groups were significantly higher than that for the resin group at first month period. As time went on, the amount of ${\Delta}{\Delta}Q$ decreased.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.446-453
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of Indocyanine Green (ICG) and near-infrared (NIR) diode laser on Streptococcus mutans biofilms depending on ICG concentrations. S. mutans biofilms were formed on a Hydroxyapatite disk, and 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0 mg/mL ICG solutions dissolved in sterile distilled water and a NIR diode laser having a power of 300 mW and a wavelength of 808 nm were applied to the biofilms. The temperature changes of the biofilm surface according to the concentrations of the ICG solution were measured using a 1-channel thermocouple thermometer. Compared to the control group, in the groups with only the 3.0, 4.0, 5.0 mg/mL ICG solution application, and in the groups with the 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0 mg/mL ICG solution application and light irradiation, a statistically significant decrease in the bacterial counts were observed. The temperature increase according to the concentration of the ICG solutions was 9.53℃, 10.43℃, 11.40℃, 12.10℃, 12.67℃, and 13.63℃ in ICG solutions of 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0 mg/mL respectively. This study presents the potential for clinical application of ICG and NIR diode lasers as a new method for preventing dental caries.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.79-86
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• 2012

This study was performed to investigate the physiochemical properties and anti-diabetic effect of yacon vinegar by two-step fermentation. Yacon was matured at room temperature for 20 days. The sugar content of yacon juice prepared from mature yacon was approximately $14^{\circ}Brix$. In the first stage, yacon wine was produced from the juice at $28^{\circ}C$ for 6 days. In the second stage, acetic acid fermentation was conducted at $30^{\circ}C$ and 200 rpm for 6 days to produce yacon vinegar with 4.75% acidity. The major free sugars of yacon vinegar were glucose and fructose at 2,072.12 mg% and 463.95 mg%, respectively. The acetic acid content was the highest of the major organic acids at 3,881.44 mg%. The total free amino acid content was 62.88 mg% with the main free amino acids being proline, ${\gamma}$-amino-n-butyric acid and ornithine. The major minerals of yacon vinegar were Ca, K and Mg. The in vivo anti-diabetic activity of yacon vinegar was investigated in high-fat diet (HFD)/streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice. Diabetic mice were administered orally with 10% yacon juice and two yacon vinegars (5% and 10%) at a dose of 7 mL/kg body weight once per day for 4 weeks. Five% yacon vinegar improved the fasting blood glucose levels and glucose tolerance test significantly compared to the diabetic control group (p<0.05). Yacon vinegar increased the pancreatic C-peptide concentration in a dose-dependent manner. These results show that 5% yacon vinegar has a more potent effect on ameliorating hyperglycemia than 10% yacon juice.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.65-72
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• 2012

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of unripened cheese supplements on lipid metabolism and antioxidant status in hypercholesterolemic SD rats. Rats were induced to have hypercholesterolemia by feeding them high cholesterol diet (0.5% cholesterol and 0.2% sodium cholate) for 4 weeks and then divided into 2 groups. One group was fed a high cholesterol diet with 5% unripened cheese (URC) daily for 6 weeks, and the other one was fed a high cholesterol diet without 5% unripened cheese (URC) daily for 6 weeks. Significantly-increased plasma total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), and AST activity because of the high-cholesterol diet were reduced 18.8%, 40.5%, and 33%, respectively, by URC supplementation. Also, URC lowered hepatic total lipids, TCs, and TGs, whereas fecal lipid profiles were not changed by URC. The supplementation of URC resulted in an increase of plasma retinol and ${\alpha}$-tocopherol by 40.5% and 39.2% and leukoytic DNA resistance to oxidative stress by 52.3% compared to hypercholesterolemic control. These results suggest that unripened cheese supplements could exert significant health benefits to those with hypercholesterolemia through ameliorating lipid profiles and antioxidant effects.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.109-113
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• 2006

Purpose: Various minimally invasive surgical techniques, such as an endoscopic mucosal resection and a laparoscopic gastrectomy, are becoming common practice for some cases of early gastric cancer (EGC) defined in terms of the depth of invasion being limited to the mucosa or submucosa. However, there are rare cases of early gastric cancer with massive lymph-node metastasis. Materials and Methods: From 6 university hospitals of Korea, 2,772 EGC cases were resected during the various period of analysis (1,432 cases of mucosal cancer and 1,340 of submucosal cancer). Results: As control data, we used the data from a single institute, CHA University Hospital. There were nine cases of early gastric cancer (9/2,772, 0.32%) with N3 lymph node metastasis defined by more than 15 lymph nodes being metastasized according to the UICC-TNM classification (pT1N3, stage IV). Two cases were mucosal cancer (2/1,432, 0.1 4%), and seven cases were submucosal cancer (7/1,340, 0.52%). Metastasized lymph nodes varied in number from 18 to 52. There were three male and six female patients with a mean age of 57. This is a totally reversed sex ratio compared to the usual gastric cancer or EGC. Among the total of 9 EGC patients, there were 5 who had superficial spreading carcinomas with surface areas larger than $25\;cm^2$. This is a significantly higher proportion compared to the general EGC population. When we compared the tumor size according to the LN status, the N3 group was definitely larger than the other groups. 78% of the pT1N3 cases showed lymphatic invasion, which is very high compared to the 4.7% in general EGC cases. Among the 9 cases, 6 patients had too short a follow-up period to evaluate the correct prognosis, but there was one patient with a non-curative resection and two patients with early recurrence. Although the sample size is small and the follow-up period is short, we can expect a very poor prognosis when we consider the common prognosis of EGC that is widely known and accepted. Conclusion: From these results, we can a conclude that the risk factors for pT1N3 gastric cancer are female patients, submucosal invasion, larger tumor size, and lymphatic invasion. However rare, the existence of pT1N3 gastric cancer needs to be taken into consideration, especially during the diagnosis. Furthermore, minimally invasive treatment for EGC needs to be chosen with great precaution. Since the prognosis of pT1N3 gastric cancer is expected to be poor, aggressive adjuvant chemotherapy may be necessary. (J Korean Gastric Cancer Assoc 2006;6:109-113)