• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.520-534
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• 2018

This study was conducted to understand the conceptual definition and characteristics of health inequality. To accomplish this, we analyzed data collected from 14 participants as well as from available literature regarding health inequality using the hybrid model introduced by Schwartz-Barcott and Kim. We categorized health inequality into nine attributes in three dimensions. These dimensions included "target", "precede", and "result," corresponding to the target, cause and consequence of health inequality, respectively. Specifically, we define health inequality as individuals, families, communities, socio-economic, or geographically distinct demographic groups that are treated unfairly and result in several problems such as loss of quality of life, reduction of survival rate, or aggravation of a disease due to (i) poor treatment by a hospital (ii) irregular meals, (iii) desperate need for work (for money), (iv) expensive medical care costs, (v) qualitative differences in medical care by regional groups (vi) the lack of knowledge regarding disease (vii) and inadequate health care because of lack of time. As a result of this unfair treatment, human rights violation occurs. The major contribution from this paper is that we provide a guideline for establishing strategies to reduce health inequality by identifying the concept of health inequality. Based on this study, we recommend development of an educational program to reduce health inequalities.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.271-300
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• 2013

Human and animals are born with an intuitive ability to determine approximate numerosity. This ability is termed approximate number sense (hereafter, number sense). Evolutionarily, number sense is thought to be an essential ability for hunting, gathering and survival. According to previous research, children with mathematical learning disability have impaired number sense. On the other hand, individuals with more accurate number sense have higher mathematical achievement. These results support the hypothesis that number sense provides a basis for the development of mathematical cognition. Recently, researchers have been examining whether number sense training can lead to enhancement in mathematical achievement and changes in brain activity in relation to mathematical problem solving. Numerosity which basically represents discontinuous quantity is expected to be closely related to continuous quantity such as representations of space and time. A theory of magnitude (ATOM) states that processing of number, space and time is based on a common magnitude system in the posterior parietal cortex, especially the intraparietal sulcus. The present paper introduces current literature and future directions for the study of the common magnitude system.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.129-141
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• 1994

Intracellular ions which have a major role in cellular function have been reported to affect repair of radiation damage. Recently it has been reported that ouabain sensitizes A549 tumor cellls but not CCL-120 normal cells to radiation. Ouabain inhibits the $Na^+-K^+$-pump rapidly thus it increases intracellular Na concentration, Vanadate which is distributed extensively in almost all living organisms is known to be a $Na^+-K^+$-ATPase inhibitors, This study was performed to see any change in radiosensitivity of tumor cell by vanadate and any role of $Na^+-K^+$ATPase in radiosensitization. Experiments have been carried out by pretreatment with vanadate in human cell line(A549, JMG) and mouse cell line(L1210, spleen). For the cell survival MTT assay was performed for A549 and JMC cells and frypan blue dye exclusion test for L120, and spleen cells. Measurements of $Na^+-K^+$-ATPase activity in control, vanadate treated cell, radiation treated cell (9 Gy for A549 and JMG, 2 Gy for L1201, spleen), and combined $10^{-6}M$ vanadate and radiation treated cells were done. The results were summerized as fellows. 1. L1210 cell was most radiosensitive, and spleen cell and JMG cell were intermediate, and A549 cell was least radiosensitive. 2. Mininum or no cytotoxicity was seen with vanadate below concentration of $10^{-6}M$. 3. In A549 cells there was a little change in radiosensitivity with treatment of vanadate. However radiation sensitization was shown in low dose level of radiation i. e. 2- Gy. In JMG cells no change in radiosensitivity was noted. Both L1210 and spleen cell had radiosensitization but change was greater in tumor cell. 4. $Na^+-K^+$-ATPase activity was inhibited significantly in tumor cell by treatment of vanadate. 5. Radiaiton itself inhibited $Na^+-K^+$-ATPase activity of tumor cell with high $Na^+-K^+$-ATPase concention. Increase in radiosensitivity by vanadate was closely associated with orginal $Na^+-K^+$-ATPase contents. From the above results vanadate had little cytotoxicity and it sensitized tumor cells to radiation. Inhibitory effect of vanadate on $Na^+-K^+$-ATPase activity might be one of the contributing factors for radiosensitization to tumor cells which has greater enzyme activity than that of normal cell. It was suggested vanadate could be used as a potential radiosensitizer for tumor cells.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.283-291
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• 2006

The survival and growth of epithelial cells depends on adhesion to the extracellular matrix. An adhesion signal may regulate the initiation of differentiation, since epidermal keratinocytes differentiate as they leave the basement membrane. A metabolically dead cornified cell envelope is the end point of epidermal differentiation so that this process may be viewed as a specialized form of programmed cell death. In order to investigate the precise cellular signaling events loading to terminal differentiation of keratinocytes, we have utilized HaCaT cells to monitor the biological consequences of $Ca^{2+}$ stimulation and numerous downstream signaling pathways, including activation of the extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase(ERK) pathway and activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase(PI3K). The results presented in this study show that $Ca^{2+}$ function as potent agents for the differentiation of HaCaT keratinocytes, and this differentiation depends or the activation of ERK, Protein kinase B(PKB) and p70 ribosomal protein S6 kinase(p70S6K). Finally, the results show that the expression of Activator protein 1(AP-1; c-Jun and c-Fos) increased following $Ca^{2+}$-mediated differentiation of HaCaT cells, suggesting that ERK-mediated AP-1 expression is critical for initiating the terminal differentiation of keratinocytes.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.207-215
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• 2018

Almost all countries of the world have recently made great efforts to reduce green-house gases to alleviate the global warming threatening human survival, because a huge amount of carbon dioxide as one of the main green-house gases has been emitted from the combustion processes of fossil fuels such as coal and oil. $CO_2$ capture and storage (CCS) technology is a representative method to diminish the green-house gases, and actively investigated by many countries. This study focuses on the design and construction of a high pressure $CO_2$ injection facility to store it to underground, which is the first $CO_2$ injection in Korea following the steps of the $CO_2$ capture from large $CO_2$ emission sources and transportation to the sea. Injection tests of $CO_2$ on the platform on the sea were carried out in Yeongil Bay of Pohang city in the early 2017. Thus, we were able to perceive the necessary operating conditions of the injection facility, injection characteristic, and knowhow of the injection facility. The results obtained from the injection test shall be utilized for facility upgrades and scale-ups.

• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.37-45
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• 1981

The importance of thyroid hormones for the survival of rats in the cold is along-established fact. Hypothyroid animals are unable to survive in a cold environment. It was also reported that acute exposure of rats, guinea pigs and rabbits to cold produced an increased secretion of TSH and thereby thyroid hormone secretion within 10 to 30 min, but this increase of thyroid activity disappeared quite rapidly during warming. However, in human study no significant difference was found in the concentration of $T_4$, TSH and cortisol between summer and winter. But plasma $T_3$ concentration was increased significantly in winter in 56 adult men. On the other hand, it has been also known that catecholamines are important in the maintenance of body temperature of rat exposured to cold. Abundant evidences suggest that the sympathetic nervous system is involved in the activation of nonshivering thermogenesis and that thyroid hormone metabolism and secretion are influenced by catecholamines and consequently by the activity of the sympatheticadrenal system. Many of the metabolic effects of catecholamines are associated with an increase in the level of cAMP mediated through activation of adenylate cyclase which converts ATP to cAMP. Other studies have shown that thyroid hormones affect the amount of adenylate cyclase present in the adipose tissue. On the other hand. it was also reported that a particulate cAMP phosphodiesterase activity in fat cells was modulated by the action of thyroid hormones. The objective of the present study was to determine the interaction between thyroid activity and cyclic nucleotides during acute exposure to cold. Albino rats weighing around 200 g were used as the experimental animal. The room temperature group was kept at $25^{\circ}C$ and the cold-exposured group was kept at $4^{\circ}C$ for 1 week or 2 weeks. Each group was subdivided into three subgroups; control, KI, and MTU group. At the end of experiment the animals were etherized and blood was taken from abdominal aorta for $T_4,\;T_3$ and cyclic nucleotides. The determinations of $T_3,\;T_4$ and cyclic nucleotides were carried out with a radioimmunoassay(RIA) method. The results were summerized as followings. 1) A significant increase of thyroid weight was observed in rats exposured to cold for 2 weeks. Furthermore, in rats administered MTU while to exposure to cold the thyroid weight was also increased significantly. 2) After 2 weeks $T_3$ concentration in the plasma of cold-exposured rats was significantly increased in KI group and MTU group as well as in control group. On the contrary, after 2 weeks of cold exposure $T_4$ level was decreased in control group. 3) In the case of cyclic nucleotides, plasma cAMP was increased in the control group after 1 or 2 weeks of cold exposure. However, cAMP level in plasma was rather significantly decreased in KI group and MTU group as well as in control group.

• THE JOURNAL OF KOREAN ORIENTAL ONCOLOGY
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.85-98
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• 1997

Oriental medicine as a candidate for effective cancer treatment recently gain positive concerns in fields of therapeutic oncology. that is why some herbal medicines have been empirically safer in toxicity than anticancer drugs used in western medicine, and to show excellent therapeutic efficacy in human trial. Thus, these effects by clinically applied-herbs have not yet fully demonstrated in experimental tumor model. This study was initiated to evaluate the antitumor effect of Insambaekhaptang as candidate of antitumor-herbal agent against B16 melanoma metastasized into C57BL/6 mice lung. In experiment to test whether Insambaekhaptang can directly kill cancer cells in vitro or not, Insambaekhaptang showed direct killing action in concentration or higher against B16 melanoma cells using MTT assay, and showed lower IC50. Another experiment to know whether Insambaekhaptang can inhibit growth and metastasis of cancer cell or not, Insambaekhaptang significantly inhibited Solid tumor by intraperiperal injected-melanoma and lung metastasis induced by intravenous injected-melanoma in inbred C57BL/6 mice. When quantitative survival time increasing, we could obtain results that increased 113% in treated by Insambaekhaptang. These results show that Insambaekhaptang can inhibit growth of B16 melanoma cells through various biological mechanisms.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.313-326
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• 2010

This paper explores the changing aspects of the fishing village and fishermen since the beginning of the Saemangeum Reclamation Development Project in 1991. The Saemangeum Project was neither appropriate nor effective because it adopted an outdated development policy. It should have been obvious that as a result of the Project, tideland where various kinds of clams, crabs, oyster, and many other marine resources live would be lost. The fishermen in the affected area have suffered various hardships. The most acute problem at present is the disappearance of their subsistence activity that threatens their families' survival. Facing the crisis, they view fishing as their most valuable resource. Overlooking the Saemangeum Lake which is newly formed, they view the sea and tideland as their treasure boxes or bank deposits. From the beginning until now, the government did not pay attention to the concerns of the fishermen and their communities. It was an outcome of the typical top-down bureaucratic decision making. Until recently the government has persisted in its position that the primary goal of the reclamation project was to increase agricultural land. In July 23, 2009, the government suddenly announced the new Saemangeum development plan. The new plan focusing on the industrial city complex was quite different from the old plan. Regardless of the revised plan the lives of the villagers in the coastal areas have already been significantly altered. Most villagers no longer depend on fishery. Many have already left their homestead and moved away in order to search new jobs or find another coastal area where they can continue their fishing.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.107-111
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• 2009

The transfection efficiency of a transgene into pig and goat fetal fibroblast cells (PFF and GFF, respectively) was tested using co-transfection of a human tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) transgene and neomycin-resistant ($Neo^r$) gene, followed by G418 selection. To initially test G418 resistance, GFF and PFF were incubated in culture medium containing different concentration of G418 for 2 weeks, and cell survival was monitored over time. Based on the obtained results, the concentrations chosen for G418 selection were 800 ug/ml and 200 ug/ml for GFF and PFF, respectively. For co-transfection experiments, the pBC1/tPA and $Neo^r$ vectors were co-transfected into GFF and PFF ($1{\times}10^6$ cells in each case) using the FuGENE6 transfection reagent, and resistant colonies were obtained following 14 days of G418 selection. We obtained 96 and 93 drug-resistant colonies of GFF and PFF, respectively, only 54 and 39 of which, respectively, continued proliferating after drug selection. PCR-based screening revealed that 23 out of 54 analyzed GFF colonies and 5 out of 39 analyzed PFF colonies contained insertion of the tPA gene. Thus, the experimentally determined transfection efficiencies for tPA gene co-transfection with the $Neo^r$ gene were 42.6% for GFF and 12.8% for PFF. These findings suggest that co-transfection of a transgene with the $Neo^r$ gene can aid in the successful integration of the transgene into fetal fibroblast cells.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.265-271
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• 2014

Interleukin-7 (IL-7) is a potent anti-apoptotic cytokine that enhances immune effector cell functions and is essential for lymphocyte survival. While it known to induce differentiation and proliferation in some haematological malignancies, including certain types of leukaemias and lymphomas, little is known about its role in solid tumours, including breast cancer. In the current study, we investigated whether IL-7 could enhance the in vivo antitumor activity of tumor-reactive $CD8^+$ T cells with induction of IFN-${\gamma}$ in a murine breast cancer model. Human IL-7 cDNA was constructed into the eukaryotic expression plasmid pcDNA3.1, and then the recombinational pcDNA3.1-IL-7 was intratumorally injected in the TM40D BALB/C mouse graft model. Serum and intracellular IFN-${\gamma}$ levels were measured by ELISA and flow cytometry, respectively. $CD8^+$ T cell-mediated cytotoxicity was analyzed using the MTT method. Our results showed that IL-7 administration significantly inhibited tumor growth from day 15 after direct intratumoral injection of pcDNA3.1-IL-7. The anti-tumor effect correlated with a marked increase in the level of IFN-${\gamma}$ and breast cancer cells-specific CTL cytotoxicity. In vitro cytotoxicity assays showed that IL-7-treatment could augment cytolytic activity of $CD8^+$ T cells from tumor bearing mice, while anti-IFN-${\gamma}$ blocked the function of $CD8^+$ T cells, suggesting that IFN-${\gamma}$ mediated the cytolytic activity of $CD8^+$ T cells. Furthermore, in vivo neutralization of $CD8^+$ T lymphocytes by CD8 antibodies reversed the antitumor benefit of IL-7. Thus, we demonstrated that IL-7 exerts anti-tumor activity mainly through activating $CD8^+$ T cells and stimulating them to secrete IFN-${\gamma}$ in a murine breast tumor model. Based on these results, our study points to a potential novel way to treat breast cancer and may have important implications for clinical immunotherapy.