• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.242-252
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• 1988

In vivo effects of leucine on skeletal muscle protein synthesis in fed and I-day food deprived young rats were examined. Animals assigned to leucine group were given a single i.p. injection of 80 or 160flmoles of leucine while control group animals were saline sham injected. The rate of protein synthesis was measured by the amount of $^{14}\textrm{C} incorporated into muscle protein after a single injection of $^{14}\textrm{C}-tyrosine, IO$\mu$ Ci/l00g B.W. Examined muscles were two different types of hind limb muscles. the oxidative solues and the glycolytic EDL and plantaris. Administered leucine elevated the concentration of free leucine in soleus muscles by 4-6.8 times the normal level. A massive dose of leucine, 160 flmoles, stimulated protein synthesis in the EDL and plantaris by 24 %, 29 % respectively of straved rats. The soleus of I-day food deprived rats and both types of muscles in fed rats did not respond to the injected leucine. The synthesis rate of the EDL and plantaris was supressed to one-half of the normal while the soleus that was not stimulated by leucine maintained a relatively normal rate, 78 %, of protein synthesis after I-day of food deprivation. Thus, in vivo stimulatory effect of leucine appears to be not a general phenomenon but to be related to the degree of catabolic condition developed by stress such as food deprivation. Although anabolic effects of leucine observed in this study was limited, any applicability of this special property of leucine to human subjects for the purpose of protein sparing in skeletal muscles remains to be examined.

• Korean Journal of Exercise Nutrition
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.65-71
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• 2012

Oxygen is the final acceptor of electron transport from fat and carbohydrate oxidation, which is the rate-limiting factor for cellular ATP production. Under altitude hypoxia condition, energy reliance on anaerobic glycolysis increases to compensate for the shortfall caused by reduced fatty acid oxidation [1]. Therefore, training at altitude is expected to strongly influence the human metabolic system, and has the potential to be designed as a non-pharmacological or recreational intervention regimen for correcting diabetes or related metabolic problems. However, most people cannot accommodate high altitude exposure above 4500 M due to acute mountain sickness (AMS) and insulin resistance corresponding to a increased levels of the stress hormones cortisol and catecholamine [2]. Thus, less stringent conditions were evaluated to determine whether glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity could be improved by moderate altitude exposure (below 4000 M). In 2003, we and another group in Austria reported that short-term moderate altitude exposure plus endurance-related physical activity significantly improves glucose tolerance (not fasting glucose) in humans [3,4], which is associated with the improvement in the whole-body insulin sensitivity [5]. With daily hiking at an altitude of approximately 4000 M, glucose tolerance can still be improved but fasting glucose was slightly elevated. Individuals vary widely in their response to altitude challenge. In particular, the improvement in glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity by prolonged altitude hiking activity is not apparent in those individuals with low baseline DHEA-S concentration [6]. In addition, hematopoietic adaptation against altitude hypoxia can also be impaired in individuals with low DHEA-S. In short-lived mammals like rodents, the DHEA-S level is barely detectable since their adrenal cortex does not appear to produce this steroid [7]. In this model, exercise training recovery under prolonged hypoxia exposure (14-15% oxygen, 8 h per day for 6 weeks) can still improve insulin sensitivity, secondary to an effective suppression of adiposity [8]. Genetically obese rats exhibit hyperinsulinemia (sign of insulin resistance) with up-regulated baseline levels of AMP-activated protein kinase and AS160 phosphorylation in skeletal muscle compared to lean rats. After prolonged hypoxia training, this abnormality can be reversed concomitant with an approximately 50% increase in GLUT4 protein expression. Additionally, prolonged moderate hypoxia training results in decreased diffusion distance of muscle fiber (reduced cross-sectional area) without affecting muscle weight. In humans, moderate hypoxia increases postprandial blood distribution towards skeletal muscle during a training recovery. This physiological response plays a role in the redistribution of fuel storage among important energy storage sites and may explain its potent effect on changing body composition. Conclusion: Prolonged moderate altitude hypoxia (rangingfrom 1700 to 2400 M), but not acute high attitude hypoxia (above 4000 M), can effectively improve insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance for humans and antagonizes the obese phenotype in animals with a genetic defect. In humans, the magnitude of the improvementvaries widely and correlates with baseline plasma DHEA-S levels. Compared to training at sea-level, training at altitude effectively decreases fat mass in parallel with increased muscle mass. This change may be associated with increased perfusion of insulin and fuel towards skeletal muscle that favors muscle competing postprandial fuel in circulation against adipose tissues.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.10
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• pp.1207-1214
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• 2017

Schisandrae Fructus (SF), the fruit of Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill., is widely used in traditional medicine for the treatment of a number of chronic diseases. SF extracts have been recently reported to attenuate the inflammatory responses in SW1353 human chondrocyte cells in in vitro and monosodium iodoacetate (MIA)-induced cartilage degradation in in vivo osteoarthritis (OA) models. However, their protective and therapeutic potentials against OA in primary culture chondrocytes and animal models remain unclear. Therefore, we investigated the effects of the ethanol extract of SF on the activity of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), biomarkers for diagnosis of OA, on interleukin $(IL)-1{\beta}-induced$ primary cultured rat cartilage chondrocytes and MIA-induced osteoarthritis in a rat model. Our data indicated that SF treatment significantly reduced the mRNA expression and enzyme activity of MMP-1, -3 and -13 in $IL-1{\beta}-induced$ primary cultured rat cartilage chondrocytes. The chondro-protective effects of SF were then analyzed in a rat OA model using a single intra-articular injection of MIA in the right knee joint. According to our results, the elevated levels of MMP-1 and -3 were markedly ameliorated by SF administration. Collectively, these findings indicate that SF could be a candidate for the treatment of OA.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.52 no.7
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• pp.135-142
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• 2015

Human-powered self-generating devices have been attractive with its operation characteristic independent from outer environment such as weather condition and wind speed. However, conventional self-generators have low electric power output due to their weakly-coupled electromagnetic structure. More importantly, rotary crank motion which is usually adopted by conventional self-generator to generate electricity requires specific skeletal muscles to maintain large torque circular motion and consequently, causes fatigue on those muscles before it can generate enough amount of electricity for any practical application. Without improvement in electric power output and usability, the human-powered self-generator could not be used in everyday life. This study aims to develop a human-powered self-generator which realized a strong electromagnetic coupling in a closed-loop tubular structure (hula-hoop shape) for easy and steady long-term driving as well as larger electric output. The performance and usability of the developed human-powered generator is verified through experimental comparison with a commercial one. Additionally, human workload which is a key element of a human-powered generator but not often considered elsewhere, is estimated based on metabolic energy expenditure measured respiratory gas analyzer. Further study will focus on output and portability enhancement, which can contribute to the continuous power supply of mobile equipments.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.1340-1348
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• 2017

Sanguinarine is a benzophenanthridine alkaloid derived from the roots of Sanguinaria canadensis L., which is used for the purpose of treating various diseases. Although studies of anticancer activities have been performed using various cancer cell lines, the phenomenon of inducing apoptosis in cancer cells by using sanguinarine requires more research. Therefore, this study investigated the anti-cancer activities and related mechanisms of sanguinarine used with Hep3B human hepatocellular carcinoma cells in terms of the regulation of apoptosis. Sanguinarine inhibited the proliferation of Hep3B cells in a concentration-dependent manner, which was associated with the induction of apoptosis. Sanguinarine also increased the activity of caspase-3, which is a typical effector caspase, and the activities of caspase-8 and caspase-9, which are key when initiating extrinsic and intrinsic apoptosis pathways, respectively. In addition, sanguinarine increased the expression of death receptor-related genes and pro-apoptotic BAX, which belongs to the Bcl-2 family, while suppressing the expression of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2. Sanguinarine promoted the truncation of Bid and enhanced the release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria to the cytoplasm due to a loss of mitochondrial membrane potential. Furthermore, the reduction of a survival rate that was induced by sanguinarine and the induction of apoptosis disappeared with the inhibition of artificial caspase activity. Therefore, the results of the study indicated that sanguinarine-induced apoptosis in Hep3B cells involves both extrinsic and intrinsic pathways; such apoptosis is a caspase-dependent phenomenon.

• The Korean Journal of Zoology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.295-299
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• 1988

An endogenous 17-6a inhibitor of Caa+_activated protease has been purified from neo-plastic tissues of human stomach using heat treahent and conventional chromatographir procedures. It appears to consist of a single polvpeptide since the same molecular weight was obtained by both gel fntration under nondenaturing condition and gel electrophoresis in the presence of SDS. Since the size of the inhibitor or is the smallest amens those reported so far, it may represent a functional unit for inhibiting Caa+_activated protease. This protein is also capable of inhibiting the protease isolated loom chick skeletal muscle. Thus, the functional unit of the inhibitor most well be conserved during evolution. Howrver, it remains unclear what may be the physiological significance of the presence of the Iow-molecular weight form of the inhibitor in neoplastic tissues of human stomach. 사람의 위암조직으로부터 Ca2)_activated protease을 저해하는 단백질을 열처리 및 여러 크로마토그라피 방법을 이용하여 순수분리 하였다. 이 저해단백질은SDS-전기영동카자1 filtra-tion의 방법에 의하여 그 분자량이 17 kDa으로 나타남으로 보아 단일 Polypeptide로 구성되어 있음을 알 수 있었다. 이 저해 단백질의 분자량은 지금까지 알려진 CaB+_activated protease의 저해단백질에 비하여 가장 작은 것이었다. 따라서, 이 단.백질은 Ca2)에 의하여 활성화되는 단백질 분해효소의 작용을 저해하는 기능적 단위로 추측되었다. 한편, 이 저해제는 계 골격근에서 추출한 Ca2+ _activated protease의 촹성 도 억제 하는 것으로 나타났다. 이러 한 결과는 이 저 해 단백질의 기능적 단위가 진화과정 동안 오래 보존되어 왔음을 시사한다. 그러나, 사람의 위암조직에서 이 저해제가 무슨 이유로 가장 작은 분자량의 단백질로 존재하는지에 대한 생리학적 중요성에 관한 문제는 앞으로 많이 연구되어져 야 할 것이다.

• Journal of the Korea Computer Graphics Society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.1-8
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• 2013

Captured human motion data has been widely utilized for understanding the mechanism of human motion and synthesizing the animation of virtual characters. Searching for desired motions from given motion data is an important prerequisite of analyzing and editing those selected motions. This paper presents a new method of content-based motion retrieval without the need of additional metadata such as keywords. While existing search methods have focused on skeletal configurations of body pose or planar trajectories of locomotion, our method receives a three-dimensional trajectory as its input query and retrieves a set of motion intervals in which the trajectories of body parts such as hands, foods, and pelvis are similar to the input trajectory. In order to allow the user to intuitively sketch spatial trajectories, we used the Leap Motion controller that can precisely trace finger movements as the input device for our experiments. We have evaluated the effectiveness of our approach by conducting a user study in which the users search for dozens of pre-selected motions from baseketball motion data including a variety of moves such as dribbling and shooting.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.445-448
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• 2006

Purpose: The nose is the most prominent skeletal feature of the face and is thus prone to frequent injury. Closed reduction of nasal bone fractures can be performed under general or local anesthesia. However, the benefits and the drawbacks in either form of anesthesia chosen are seldom perceived by the surgeon. A retrospective study was performed to assess the differences in the outcome among the two groups subjected to surgery under different type of anesthesia and to introduce our method of local anesthesia and its adequacy. Methods: Two hundred and fifteen patients during a 2-year period were included in the study. 2% Lidocaine mixed with 1:100,000 epinephrine was injected on the anterior ethmoid nerve and the periosteum. Assessment factors included intra-operative adequacy of analgesia, post-operative analgesic requirement and functional and aesthetic outcome of surgery. Results: 19 patients were manipulated under general anesthesia and 196 patients were manipulated under local anesthesia on the anterior ethmoidal nerve and dorsal periosteum. No statistically signigicant variable in performance of surgery could be attributed to the mode of anesthesia employed(p > 0.05). Four patients experienced complications after reduction. One developed septal deviation and three nasal obstruction. But, no secondary operations were needed. Conclusion: Anterior ethmoidal nerve block and dorsal periosteal injection of 2% Xylocaine, combined with topical intranasal 4% lidocaine and epinephrine provided sufficient analgesia comparable to that of general anesthesia.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.133-141
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• 2008

Stem cells have self-renewal capacity, long-term viability, and multiline age potential. Adult bone marrow contains mesenchymal stem cells. Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) are progenitors of skeletal tissue components and can differentiate into adipocytes, chondrocytes, osteoblasts, and myoblasts in vitro and undergo differentiation in vivo. However, the clinical use of BMSCs has presented problems, including pain, morbidity, and low cell number upon harvest. Recent studies have identified a putative stem cell population within the adipose tissue. Human adipose tissue contains pluripotent stem cells simillar to bone marrow-derived stem cells that can differentiate toward the osteogenic, adipogenic, myogenic, and chondrogenic lineages. Human adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ATSCs) could be proposed as an alternative source of adult bone marrow stem cells, and could be obtained in large quantities, under local anesthesia, with minimal discomfort. Human adipose tissue obtained by liposuction was processed to obtain ATSCs. In this study, we compared the osteogenic differentiation of ATSCs in a specific osteogenic induction medium with that in a non-osteogenic medium. ATSCs were incubated in an osteogenic medium for 28 days to induce osteogenesis respectively. Osteogenic differentiation was assessed by von Kossa and alkaline phosphatase staining. Expression of osteocyte specific bone sialoprotein, osteocalcin, collagen type I and alkaline phosphatase, bone morphogenic protein 2, bone morphogenic protein 6 was confirmed by RT-PCR. ATSCs incubated in the osteogenic medium were stained positively for von Kossa and alkaline phosphatase staining. Expression of osteocyte specific genes was also detected. Since this cell population can be easily identified through fluorescence microscopy, it may be an ideal source of ATSCs for further experiments on stem cell biology and tissue engineering. The present results show that ADSCs have an ability to differentiate into osteoblasts. In the present study, we extend this approach to characterize adipose tissue-derived stem cells.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.301-309
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• 1996

LBD-001, a recombinant human interferon ${\gamma}$ produced by genetically engineered yeast as a host system, was intravenously administered to pregnant female rats (Sprague-Dawley) from day 7 to 17 of gestation at dose levels of 0.35$\times$10$^{6}$ , 0.69$\times$10$^{6}$ , and 1.38$\times$10$^{6}$ I.U./kg/day. As the control groups, hydrocortisone sodium succinate (5 or 10 mg/kg/day) was also similarly administered. Teratological effects of the test agents on fetuses and development of offsprings (F1 rats) were investigated. (1) No significant changes by the treatment of LBD-001 were observed in body weight, food and water consumption, feeding and nursing behaviors, and autopsy of pregnant or lactating mother rats. However, in hydrocortisone sodium succinate (10 mg/kg/day)-treated group, significant decreases of body weight on day 16, 18, and 20 of gestation and food consumption on day 20 of gestation and outstanding atrophy of thymus and adrenals were observed in two rats autopsied on day 20 of gestation. (2) No significant changes in resorption rate, skeletal or visceral development of fetuses, and physical or sensory development of offsprings (Fl) by the treatment of LBD-001 were detected. In hydrocortisone sodium succinate (10 mg/kg/day)-treated group, however, there were significant decreases of body weight of fetuses, delay of ossification, temporary delay of body weights of offsprings (F1) on day 1 and 3 of lactation, and increased tendency of stillborn rate and malformation rate of bone. The results show that LBD-001 at the dose of 1.38$\times$10$^{6}$ I.U./kg/day or less is not teratogenic in organogenesis of fetuses and the development of offsprings (F1). Meanwhile, hydrocortisone sodium succinate (10 mg/kg/day) seems to delay ossification of fetuses and temporarily retard the development of offsprings (Fl).