• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.1-24
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• 2013

Objectives: The object of this study was to observe the protective effect of Gamijipaesan aqueous extracts(GJS), which has been traditionally used in Korean medicine in obstetrics & gynecological fields as anti-infectious and anti-inflammatory agents, against mastitis induced by Staphylococcus aureus infection in a rat model through antibacterial, antiinflammatory, immunomodulatory, and anti-oxidant effects. Methods: Antibacterial activities of GJS against S. aureus were detected using standard agar microdilution methods, with the effects on the bacterial invasion and intracellular killing of individual test materials in human mammary gland carcinoma cell(MCF-7) and murine macrophages(Raw 264.7) at MIC1/2, MIC and MIC2 concentration levels. In addition, the effects on the cell viability, nitric oxide(NO), tumor necrosis factor(TNF)-${\alpha}$ and interleukin (IL)-6 productions of LPS activated Raw 264.7 cells. The changes on the mammary tissue viable bacterial numbers, myeloperoxidae(MPO), inducible nitric oxide synthetase(iNOS), TNF-${\alpha}$ and IL-6 contents were observed in the S. aureus in vivo intramammary infectious rat model. The anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory effects were compared with ciprofloxacin and piroxicam, respectively in the present study. Results: MIC of GJS and ciprofloxacin against S. aureus were detected as $0.860{\pm}0.428$ (0.391-1.563) mg/ml and $0.371{\pm}0.262$(0.098-0.782) ${\mu}g/ml$, respectively. In addition, GJS and ciprofloxacin were also showed marked dosage-dependent inhibition of the both bacterial invasion and intracellular killing assays using MCF-7 and Raw 264.7 cells at MIC1/2, MIC and $MIC{\times}2$ concentrations, respectively. $ED_{50}$ against LPS-induced cell viabilities and NO, TNF-${\alpha}$ and IL-6 releases of GJS were detected as 0.72, 0.04, 0.08 and 0.11 mg/ml, and as 19.04, 4.18, 5.37 and 4.27 ${\mu}g/ml$ in piroxicam, respectively. 250 and 500 mg/kg of GJS also inhibit the intramammary bacterial growth, MPO, iNOS, TNF-${\alpha}$ and IL-6 contents in S. aureus in vivo intramammary infected rats, respectively. GJS 500 mg/kg showed quite similar antibacterial and anti-infectious effects as compared with ciprofloxacin 40 mg/kg and also showed similar anti-inflammatory effects as piroxicam 10 mg/kg, in S. aureus in vivo intramammary infectious models. Conclusions: The results obtained in this study suggest that over 250 mg/kg of GJS showed favorable anti-infectious effects against S. aureus infection in a rat model through their antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory and anti-oxidant effects and therefore expected that GJS can be used as alternative therapies, having both anti-inflammatory and anti-infectious activities. However, more detail mechanism studies should be conducted in future with the efficacy tests of individual herbal composition of GJS and the screening of the biological active compounds in individual herbs. In the present study, GJS 500 mg/kg showed quite similar anti-infectious effects were detected as compared with ciprofloxacin 40 mg/kg treated rats, and also GJS shows quite similar anti-inflammatory effects as compared with piroxicam 10 mg/kg in S. aureus in vivo intramammary infectious rats, but ciprofloxacin did not showed any anti-inflammatory effects, and piroxicam did not showed anti-infectious effects in this study.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.162-174
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• 1997

Background : Metabolic cooperation via gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) is an important mechanism of the bystander effect in gene therapy using the Herpes Simplex Virus thymidine kinase/ganciclovir (HSVtk) "prodrug" system. Since retinoids have been reported to increase GJIC by induction of connexin 43 expression, we hyporthesized that treatment of tumor cells with retinoic acid could augment the bystander effect of the HSVtk/GCV system and result in improved tumor cell killing by enhancing GJIC. Methods : We transferred HSVtk gene to SKHep-J cell line that does not express connexin43, and also transferred the gene to human and murine mesothelioma cell lines that express connexin43. We verified that retinoic acid enhanced GJIC utilizing a functional double-dye transfer study and evaluated the effects of retinoic acid on the growth rate of tumor cells. We then tested the effects of retinoic acid on bystander-mediated cell killing. Results : Addition of all-trans retinoic acid (RA) increased GJIC in cell lines expressing connexin 43 and was asspciated with more efficient in vitro bystander killing in cells transduced with HSVtk via adenoviral and retroviral vectors. In contrast, there was no increase in the efficiency of the bystander effect after exposure to RA in a cell line which had no delectable connexin 43. Conclusion : These results provide evidence that retinoids can augment the efficiency of cell killing with the HSVtk/GCV system by enhancing bystander effect and may thus be a promising new approach to improve responses in gene therapy utilizing the HSVtk system to treat tumors.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.149-155
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• 2017

Bacterial blight in rice caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) greatly reduces the growth and productivity of this important food crop. Therefore, we sought to increase the resistance of rice to bacterial blight by using a NAC (NAM, ATAF, and CUC) transcription factor, one of the plant-specific transcription factors that is known to be involved in biotic/abiotic stress resistance. By isolating the OsNAC58 gene from rice and analyzing its biological functions related to Xoo resistance, phylogenetic analysis showed that OsNAC58 belongs to group III. To investigate the biological relationship between bacterial leaf blight (BLB) and OsNAC58 in rice, we constructed a vector for overexpression in rice and generated transgenic rice. The expression analysis resulting from use of RT-PCR showed that OsNAC58-overexpressed transgenic rice exhibited higher levels of OsNAC58 expression than wild types. Further, subcellular localization analysis using rice protoplasts showed that the 35S/OsNAC58-SmGFP fusion protein was localized in the nuclei. Thirteen OsNAC58-overexpressed transgenic rice lines, with high expression levels of OsNAC58, showed more resistant to Xoo than did the wild types. Together, these results suggest that the OsNAC58 gene of rice regulates the rice disease resistance mechanism in the nucleus upon invasion of the rice bacterial blight pathogen Xoo.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.359-366
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• 2016

Exosome, a small vesicle secreted from cells, has diverse functions depending on cell origins and tissue types and plays a important role in cell viability and intercellular communication. Recently, many researchers have demonstrated the use of exosomes for the treatment of cancers and immune diseases, and the development of diagnostic biomarker. However, the secretion mechanism of exosome from skin cell and its physiological functions in skin remain unclear. Thus, this study aimed to explore whether keratinocyte-derived exosome affects proliferation and migration in HaCaTs. Exosomes were isolated from HaCaTs by ExoQuick-TC and then boiled or unbolied. Boiled and unboiled exosome induced proliferation in HaCaTs in a dose-dependant manner ($0.1{\sim}20{\mu}g/mL$), respectively. Boiled and unboiled exosome at concentration of $20{\mu}g/mL$ increased proliferation level in HaCaTs by $186.96{\pm}3.87%$ and $193.48{\pm}10.48%$ compared with control group. Unboiled exosome stimulated migration in HaCaTs in a dose-dependent manner ($0.1{\sim}20{\mu}g/mL$), which reached a maxium at concentration of $20{\mu}g/mL$ ($179.39{\pm}4.89%$ of control), but boiled exosome did not affect HaCaT migration. In addition, unboiled exosome ($0.1{\sim}20{\mu}g/mL$) dose-dependently stimulated sprout outgrowth in HaCats. These results demonstrate that in exosome from HaCaTs, heat-stable components such as lipid may induce HaCaT proliferation and heat-unstable components such as protein may stimulate migration and sprout outgrowth in HaCaTs, thereby leading to reepithelialization and skin-wound healing activities. It is concluded that exosomes from HaCaTs may be used as cosmetic materials.

• Journal of Korea Spatial Information System Society
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• v.6 no.1 s.11
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• pp.73-85
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• 2004

Recently, as the growth of the wireless Internet, PDA and HPC, the focus of research and development related with GIS(Geographic Information System) has been changed to the Real-Time Mobile GIS to service LBS. To offer LBS efficiently, there must be the Real-Time GIS platform that can deal with dynamic status of moving objects and a location index which can deal with the characteristics of location data. Location data can use the same data type(e.g., point) of GIS, but the management of location data is very different. Therefore, in this paper, we studied the Real-Time Mobile GIS using the HBR-tree to manage mass of location data efficiently. The Real-Time Mobile GIS which is developed in this paper consists of the HBR-tree and the Real-Time GIS Platform HBR-tree. we proposed in this paper, is a combined index type of the R-tree and the spatial hash Although location data are updated frequently, update operations are done within the same hash table in the HBR-tree, so it costs less than other tree-based indexes Since the HBR-tree uses the same search mechanism of the R-tree, it is possible to search location data quickly. The Real-Time GIS platform consists of a Real-Time GIS engine that is extended from a main memory database system. a middleware which can transfer spatial, aspatial data to clients and receive location data from clients, and a mobile client which operates on the mobile devices. Especially, this paper described the performance evaluation conducted with practical tests if the HBR-tree and the Real-Time GIS engine respectively.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.32-38
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• 2010

Purpose: Although radiation-induced fibrosis is one of the common sequelae occurring after irradiation of skin and soft tissues, the treatment methods are not well standardized. This study aimed to establish the skin fibrosis mouse model by fractionated radiation for the further mechanism studies or testing the efficacy of therapeutic candidates. Materials and Methods: The right hind limbs of BALB/c mice received two fractions of 20 Gy using a therapeutic linear accelerator. Early skin damages were scored and tissue fibrosis was assessed by the measurement of a leg extension. Morphological changes were assessed by H&E staining and by Masson's Trichrome staining. TGF-${\beta}1$ expression from soft tissues was also detected by immunohistochemistry and PCR. Results: Two fractions of 20 Gy irradiation were demonstrated as being enough to induce early skin damage effects such as erythema, mild skin dryness, dry and wet desquamation within several weeks of radiation. After 13 weeks of irradiation, the average radiation-induced leg contraction was $11.1{\pm}6.2mm$. Morphologic changes in irradiated skin biopsies exhibited disorganized collagen and extracellular matrix fibers, as well as the accumulation of myofibroblasts compared to the non-irradiated skin. Moreover, TGF-${\beta}1$ expression in tissue was increased by radiation. Conclusion: These results show that two fractions of 20 Gy irradiation can induce skin fibrosis in BALB/c mice accompanied by other common characteristics of skin damages. This animal model can be a useful tool for studying skin fibrosis induced by radiation.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.38 no.4 s.249
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• pp.277-283
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• 2005

Arterial oxygen saturation $(SaO_2)$ instability frequently takes place after systemic-pulmonary shunt without shunt occlusion. We analyzed actual incidence and risk factors for $SaO_2$ instability after shunt operations, and possible mechanisms were speculated on. Material and Method: Ninety three patients, who underwent modified Blalock-Taussig shunt from January 1996 to December 2000, were enrolled in this study. Adequacy of shunt was verified in all patients, either by ensuing one ventricle or biventricular repair later on or by appropriate pulmonary artery growth on postoperative angiogram. Age, body weight, hemoglobin level at operation were 3 day to 36 years (median: 1.8 months), 2.5kg to 51kg (median: 4.1kg) and $10.7\~24.3$ gm/dL (median: 15.2 gm/dL) respectively. Preoperative diagnoses were functional single ventricle with pulmonary stenosis or atresia in 39, tetralogy of Fallot in 38 and pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum in 16. Pulmonary blood flow (PBF) was maintained pre-operatively by patent ductus or previous shunt in 64 and by forward flow through stenotic right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) in 29. $SaO_2$ instability was defined as $SaO_2$ less than $50\%$ for more than 1 hour with neither anatomic obstruction of shunt nor respiratory problem. Result: 10 patients $(10.7\%)$ showed $SaO_2$ instability after shunt operation. After shunt occlusion was ruled out by echocardiogram, they received measures to lower pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR), which worked within a few hours in all patients. Risk factors for $SaO_2$ instability included older age at operation (p=0.039), lower preoperative $SaO_2$ (p=0.0001) and emergency operation (p=0.001). PBF through stenotic RVOT showed marginal statistical significance (p=0.065). Conclusion: $SaO_2$ instability occurs frequently after shunt operation, especially in patients with severe hypoxia pre-operatively or unstable clinical condition necessitating emergency operation. Temporary elevation of pulmonary vascular resistance is a possible mechanism in this specific clinical setting.

• Composites Research
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.23-31
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• 2002

The two dimensional size effect of specimen gauge section ($length{\;}{\times}{\;}width$) was investigated on the compressive behavior of a T300/924 $\textrm{[}45/-45/0/90\textrm{]}_{3s}$, carbon fiber-epoxy laminate. A modified ICSTM compression test fixture was used together with an anti-buckling device to test 3mm thick specimens with a $30mm{\;}{\times}{\;}30mm,{\;}50mm{\;}{\times}{\;}50mm,{\;}70mm{\;}{\times}{\;}70mm{\;}and{\;}90mm{\;}{\times}{\;}90mm$ gauge length by width section. In all cases failure was sudden and occurred mainly within the gauge length. Post failure examination suggests that $0^{\circ}$ fiber microbuckling is the critical damage mechanism that causes final failure. This is the matrix dominated failure mode and its triggering depends very much on initial fiber waviness. It is suggested that manufacturing process and quality may play a significant role in determining the compressive strength. When the anti-buckling device was used on specimens, it was showed that the compressive strength with the device was slightly greater than that without the device due to surface friction between the specimen and the device by pretoque in bolts of the device. In the analysis result on influence of the anti-buckling device using the finite element method, it was found that the compressive strength with the anti-buckling device by loaded bolts was about 7% higher than actual compressive strength. Additionally, compressive tests on specimen with an open hole were performed. The local stress concentration arising from the hole dominates the strength of the laminate rather than the stresses in the bulk of the material. It is observed that the remote failure stress decreases with increasing hole size and specimen width but is generally well above the value one might predict from the elastic stress concentration factor. This suggests that the material is not ideally brittle and some stress relief occurs around the hole. X-ray radiography reveals that damage in the form of fiber microbuckling and delamination initiates at the edge of the hole at approximately 80% of the failure load and extends stably under increasing load before becoming unstable at a critical length of 2-3mm (depends on specimen geometry). This damage growth and failure are analysed by a linear cohesive zone model. Using the independently measured laminate parameters of unnotched compressive strength and in-plane fracture toughness the model predicts successfully the notched strength as a function of hole size and width.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.297-316
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• 2018

The golden apple snail (GAS, Pomacea canaliculata) is an invasive freshwater snail. The GAS was introduced in Korea without prior studies on the possibility of crop damage or its impact on the natural ecosystem. The freshwater apple snails can be found typically in ponds, rice paddies, irrigation canals, roadside ditches or slower portions of streams. In this study, we were carried out to investigate the assessment of physiological and ecological characteristics, environmental characteristics inhabited area in winter season and cause of massive death at one time of golden apple snails used for weed control in wet rice paddies. The GAS was introduced from Japan to Korea for commercial production as a dietary protein supplement. The golden apple snail was also used a recently for weed control in wet rice cultivation. The species of freshwater Pomacea snails is belonging to the genus Pomacea, family ampulariidae, order mesogastropoda, subclass pulmonata, class gastropoda, phylum mollusca. The GAS spread into irrigation ditches and natural waterways. It is now distributed in ponds and canals near rice fields of southern parts of the country and has overwintered. It increases its cold hardiness before winter. However, the physiological mechanism of cold hardiness in molluscs is poorly understood, especially in freshwater molluscs. Our results on physio-ecological characteristics of the Pomacea apple snail showed that the ratio of males to females was 1: 1.99~2.33. The daily growth was 87.7 mg in weight, 0.31 mm in height and 0.33 mm in width of the their shell. On the other hand, the golden apple snails were very high to resistance on drying condition and survived rate about 80% up to 3 months. The inhabitation of GAS was no statistical significant impacts on the water quality. An important property of aqueous solutions is agricultural water quality because it affects chemical and biochemical properties such as chemical reactions, equilibrium conditions, and biological toxicity. The death rate of weed control apple snails by Ostracoda (Stenocypris hislopi) was only 2.86% and 5.71% depending on the density. Therefore, GAS was not a direct death caused by Ostracoda (Stenocypris hislopi).

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.123-132
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• 2015

Purpose: The objective of this study was to examine whether Hamcho freeze-dried powder and Hamcho freeze-dried nano powder have an anti-obese effect on high fat diet-induced obese rats. Methods: Sprague Dawley rats were divided into 6 different groups, each of which was bred for 8 weeks with a different experimental diet: normal diet group (NC), high fat diet group (HFC), high fat diet + 2% Salicornia herbacea L. freeze-dried powder group (2% HS), high fat diet + 5% Salicornia herbacea L. freeze-dried powder group (5%HS), high fat diet + 1% Salicornia herbacea L. freeze-dried nano powder group (1% HSN), high fat diet + 2% Salicornia herbacea L. freeze-dried nano powder group (2% HSN). Results: The 5% HS group showed a weight loss effect in body weight, liver and adipose tissue by reducing the amount of dietary intake and food efficiency ratio. In addition, the 5% HS group showed a significant reduction of serum leptin concentration, while having a beneficial effect on the improvement of lipid metabolism such as increase the serum concentration of adiponectin. However, Hamcho freeze-dried nano powder did not show a weight loss effect. Conclusion: Overall data indicated that Hamcho seemed to have anti-obesity effects. In particular, consumption of 5% Hamcho freeze-dried powder might have beneficial effects on body weight, serum adiponectin level, and lipid profiles since it led to reduced body weight and growth of adipose tissues by suppressing dietary intakes. However conduct of further research studies is needed for analysis of active components and biochemical action mechanism of Hamcho.