• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.10
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• pp.1307-1315
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• 2012

We evaluated the effect of dietary supplements with benzoic acid on intestinal beneficial bacteria concentration and immune response of weaning pigs. Supplementation with benzoic acid at 0.5% or control diet for 35 days resulted in a higher Lactobacillus casei concentration in the cecum. Supplementation with benzoic acid at 0.5% increased concentration of L. plantarum in the cecum. Pigs with the control diet and 0.5% benzoic acid had significantly increased concentration of B. subtillis in the cecum compared to the antibiotic group, while the concentration of B. subtillis in the rectum increased in pigs given 0.3 and 0.5% benzoic acid (p<0.05). Compared with the control group, the level of interleukin-$1{\beta}$ mRNA showed a significant decrease in the proximal small intestine in pigs fed diets supplemented with benzoic acid at 0.5% or antibiotic. Feeding 0.5% benzoic acid resulted in a marked reduction in the expression of IL-6 mRNA in the middle small intestine (p<0.05). Supplementation with benzoic acid at 0.5% or antibiotic resulted in a lower level of tumor necrosis factor-mRNA in the middle intestine. Up to 0.5% benzoic acid may be included in weaning diets for improvement of intestinal beneficial bacteria, thus modulating genes of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the gastrointestinal tract.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.284-293
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• 2006

Even though Ac/Ds gene-tagging systems have been established in many higher plants, maize is the only major plant in which short-distance transposition of Ac/Ds has been utilized to probe gene function. This study was performed to evaluate the efficiency of obtaining new alleles and functional revertants from Ds insertion loci in rice. By analyzing 1,580 plants and the progeny of selected lines, the insertion sites and orientations of Ds elements within 16 new heritable alleles of three rice loci were identified and characterized. Intragenic transposition was detected in both directions from the original insertion sites. The closest interval was 35 bp. Three of the alleles had two Ds elements in cis configuration in the same transcription units. We also analyzed the excision footprints of intragenic and extragenic transpositions in Ds-inserted alleles at 5 loci. The 134 footprints obtained from different plants revealed predominant patterns. Ds excision at each locus left a predominant footprint at frequencies of 30-75%. Overall, 66% of the footprints were 7-bp additions. In addition, 16% of the excisions left 0-, 3-, 6-, and 9-bp additions with the potential of conserving reading frame.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.236-250
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• 2020

Currently, many available anti-cancer therapies are targeting apoptosis. However, many cancer cells have acquired resistance to apoptosis. To overcome this problem, simultaneous induction of other types of programmed cell death in addition to apoptosis of cancer cells might be an attractive strategy. For this purpose, we initially investigated the inhibitory role of TRIP-Br1/XIAP in necroptosis, a regulated form of necrosis, under nutrient/serum starvation. Our data showed that necroptosis was significantly induced in all tested 9 different types of cancer cell lines in response to prolonged serum starvation. Among them, necroptosis was induced at a relatively lower level in MCF-7 breast cancer line that was highly resistant to apoptosis than that in other cancer cell lines. Interestingly, TRIP-Br1 oncogenic protein level was found to be very high in this cell line. Up-regulated TRIP-Br1 suppressed necroptosis by repressing reactive oxygen species generation. Such suppression of necroptosis was greatly enhanced by XIAP, a potent inhibitor of apoptosis. Our data also showed that TRIP-Br1 increased XIAP phosphorylation at serine87, an active form of XIAP. Our mitochondrial fractionation data revealed that TRIP-Br1 protein level was greatly increased in the mitochondria upon serum starvation. It suppressed the export of CypD, a vital regulator in mitochondria-mediated necroptosis, from mitochondria to cytosol. TRIP-Br1 also suppressed shikonin-mediated necroptosis, but not TNF-α-mediated necroptosis, implying possible presence of another signaling pathway in necroptosis. Taken together, our results suggest that TRIP-Br1/XIAP can function as onco-proteins by suppressing necroptosis of cancer cells under nutrient/serum starvation.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.253-259
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• 2004

Objectives : To investigate the prevalence of hepatitis B and C virus infections and determine the associated risk factors among young adults in Busan, Korea, which is known to have a high incidence of liver cancer. Methods : The study population consisted of volunteer participants in a health survey during 2002, which included 1,350 students (515 males and 835 females) aged between 16 and 24 years, from three different schools in Busan. The participating students were asked to fill in a self-administered questionnaire which included lifestyle habits and risk factors of hepatitis. Sera obtained from the participants were studied for HBsAg, anti-HBs, and Anti-HCV by enzyme immunoassay (EIA) method and for liver function tests. Results : Among the study subjects (N=1,350), the seropositivities of HBsAg 7.9%(95% CI=7.8-8.0), 7.6%(95% CI=7.6-7.7) in male and 8.1%(95% CI=8.0-8.2) in female. And the seropositivity of Anti-HBs was 69.7%(95% CI=69.0-70.4), 70.5%(95% CI=69.8-71.2) in male and 69.2%(95% CI=68.5-69.9) in female. The seropositivity of Anti-HCV was 0.4%, 0.2% in male and 0.5% in female. The seropositivity for HBsAg in the subjects not having a hepatitis B vaccination history was twice(95% CI=1.0-4.4) that of those that did. Also, the seropositivity for HBsAg in subjects having experienced sexual intercourse was 1.7 times (95% CI=0.9-3.0) that of the subjects who had not. Conclusions : The present study confirmed the high prevalence of HBsAg seropositivity and sexual transmission of HBV among adolescents and young adults may occur. Further studies to evaluate the relationship between HBV vaccination and sexual transmission are required for the young population in Korea.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.30 no.2 s.57
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• pp.342-355
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• 1997

This research was carried out to determine the performance rate of health related practices, to measure the agreement between morbidity by doctor's diagnosis and morbidity by subject' self-reported and the degree of association between health related practices and morbidity rate by doctor's diagnosis, to identify their effects on morbidity among rural area populations. The data were gathered by volunteer residents (over the age of 20) of Haman Myeon, Haman Gun, Kyeongsangnam Do in Korea, from June 10, 1993 to June 12, 1993 (369 male and 516 female). Face to face interview, lab, chest P-A, EKG and physical examination were completed. Descriptive statistics, agreement analysis and multiple logistic regression procedures were employed for analyses. The results of the study were summarized as follows : 1) Age adjusted morbidity rates by doctor's diagnosis and self-reported were 38.5% (male:37.3%, female:36.5%), 26.4% (male:33.3%, female:27.5%), respectively. Kappa coefficient between morbidity by doctor's diagnosis and morbidity by self-reported was 0.21 (male:0.21, female:0.22). 2) The frequency of disease by doctor's diagnosis was as follows: hypertension(15.3%), gastritis (9.6%), diabetes mellitus (8.5%), live. disease (8.1%), and degenerative arthritis (6.2%) in the study population. 3) Order of health practice performance rate was as follows: Males-normal body weight (62.1%), non-heavy alcohol consumption (57.5%), 7-8 hours of sleeping (50.1%), non-smoking (21.7%), and exercise (19.8%). Females- non-heavy alcohol consumption (97.3%), non-smoking (84.7%), normal body weight (57.8%), 7-8 hours of sleeping (45.0%), and exercise (9.9%). 4) There was no significant relationship between health related practice and morbidity except exercise among health related practices. 5) Health related practice index which was recategorized by high, medium, and low had effects on the probability of developing morbidity.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.394-401
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• 2012

Objectives: Diabetes and obesity each increases mortality, but recent papers have shown that lean Asian persons were at greater risk for mortality than were obese persons. The objective of this study is to determine whether an interaction exists between body mass index (BMI) and diabetes, which can modify the risk of death by cardiovascular disease (CVD). Methods: Subjects who were over 20 years of age, and who had information regarding BMI, past history of diabetes, and fasting blood glucose levels (n=16 048), were selected from the Korea Multi-center Cancer Cohort study participants. By 2008, a total of 1290 participants had died; 251 and 155 had died of CVD and stroke, respectively. The hazard for deaths was calculated with hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) by Cox proportional hazard model. Results: Compared with the normal population, patients with diabetes were at higher risk for CVD and stroke deaths (HR, 1.84; 95% CI, 1.33 to 2.56; HR, 1.82; 95% CI, 1.20 to 2.76; respectively). Relative to subjects with no diabetes and normal BMI (21 to 22.9 $kg/m^2$), lean subjects with diabetes (BMI <21 $kg/m^2$) had a greater risk for CVD and stroke deaths (HR, 2.83; 95% CI, 1.57 to 5.09; HR, 3.27; 95% CI, 1.58 to 6.76; respectively), while obese subjects with diabetes (BMI ${\geq}25kg/m^2$) had no increased death risk (p-interaction <0.05). This pattern was consistent in sub-populations with no incidence of hypertension. Conclusions: This study suggests that diabetes in lean people is more critical to CVD deaths than it is in obese people.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.105-116
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• 1996

Rendering the brain ischemic would evoke the cerebral ischemic reflex which is characterized by an arterial pressor response, apnea and bradycardia. Since the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM) is known to play a key role in the maintenance of normal cardiopulmonary activity, during the cerebral ischemic reflex some cardiac related cells should be excited and respiration related cells inhibited. In this context, the responses of RVLM neurons to systemie and focal hypoxia were analyzed in the present study. Twenty-five adult cats of either sex were anesthetized with ${\alpha}-chloralose$ and the single neuronal activities were identified from RVLM area. For the induction of focal hypoxia in the recording site, sodium cyanide was applied iontophoretically and for systemic hypoxia the animal was ventilated with nitrogen gas for a twenty-second period. Cellular activities were analyzed in terms of their discharge pattern and responses to the hypoxia by using post-stimulus time and single-pass time histograms. Of eighteen cardiac related cells recorded from the RVLM area, twelve cells were excited by iontophoresed sodium cyanide and of twenty-five respiration related cells, fourteen cells were excited by iontophoresed sodium cyanide. Remaining cells were either inhibited or unaffected. Eight of fifteen cells tested with iontophoresed sodium lactate were excited and remaining seven cells were inhibited. Systemic hypoxia induced by nitrogen gas inhalation elevated the arterial blood pressure, but excited, inhibited or unaffected the single neuronal activities. Some cells showed initial excitation followed by inhibition during the systemic hypoxia. Bilateral vagotomy resulted in a decrease of arterial pressor response to the systemic hypoxia, and a slight decrease in the rhythmicity related to cardiac and/or respiratory rhythms. The single neuronal responses to either systemic or focal hypoxia were not affected qualitatively by vagotomy. From the above results, it was concluded that the majority of the cardiac- and respiration- related neurons in the rostral ventrolateral medulla be excited by hypoxia, not through the mediation of peripheral chemoreceptors, and along with the remaining inhibited cells, all these cells be involved in the mediation of cerebral ischemic reflex.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.90-96
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• 2009

The high rising building construction makes increasing the requirement of high strength concrete. Especially, the workability analysis is related with dispersion of admixture such as SF for improving strength and FA, BS for reducing construction cost and improving durability of Ultra High Strength Concrete which has over 100 MPa of compressive strength is very important. Precisely, decreases dispersion because of lumping situation of each admixture and it causes the workability of admixture is decreased. Therefore, the workability of cement paste is tested for analyze effects of pre-mixed cement for solving those problems with it to this research. The summary of the results are like below. First of all, OBS is increasing workability more than OFS. This result causes that the glassy surface of BS in the OBS is increasing workability and the absorption of admixture of FA in the OFS is decreasing workability. In the case of mixing methods, pre-mixing method is increasing workability more than normal one. This result shows that the normal mixing method is bad dispersion of binders. The other side, the pre-mixing method is good. Furthermore, depending on the mixing time, according to the increasing mixing time such as 30, 60, and 120 seconds, the dispersion of binders and workability turns better.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.49-55
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• 2018

Under the era of energy crisis, hydrogen energy is considered as one of the most potential alternative energies. Liquid hydrogen has much higher energy density per unit volume than gas hydrogen and is counted as the excellent energy storage method. In this study, Navier-Stokes equations based on 2-phase model were solved by using a computational fluid dynamics program and the liquefaction process of gaseous hydrogen passing through a cryogenic cooling tube was analyzed. The copper with high thermal conductivity was assumed as the material for cryogenic cooling tube. For different inlet velocities of 5 m/s, 10 m/s and 20 m/s for hydrogen gas, the distributions of fluid temperature, axial and radial velocities, and volume fractions of gas and liquid hydrogens were compared. These research results are expected to be used as basic data for the future design and fabrication of cryogenic cooling tube to transform the hydrogen gas into liquid hydrogen.

• Environmental Mutagens and Carcinogens
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.125-132
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• 2006

Previous studies showed that epigallocatechin gallate(EGCG) have substantial effects of suppressing the N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine(MNNG)-initiated cell transformation process on the bases of foci formation frequency and loss of anchorage dependency. In this study we tried to clarify the molecular mechanism of suppressing the cell transformation process. Mouse cell line balb/c 3T3 A31-1-1 was exposed 2 days to MNNG followed by 15 days 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate(TPA) treatment for our transformation process. EGCG was added after the time point of 24 hours exposure to TPA and incubated for 19 days. 2029 genes were selected in our transformation process that showed fold change value of 1.5 or more in the microarray gene expression analysis covering the mouse full genome. These genes were found to be involved mainly in the cell cycle pathway, focal adhesion, adherens junction, TGE-$\beta$ signaling, apoptosis, lysine degradation, insulin signaling, ECM-receptor interaction. Among the genes, we focused on the 631 genes(FC>0.5) reciprocally affected by EGCG treatment. Our study suggest that EGCG down-regulate the gene expressions of up stream signaling factors such as nemo like kinase with MAPK activity and PI3-Kinase, Ras GTPase and down stream factors such as cyclin D1, D2, H, T2, cdk6.