• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.205-210
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• 2016

Interleukin-10 (IL10) plays an important role in initiating and maintaining an appropriate immune response to non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Previous studies have revealed that the transcription of IL10 mRNA and its protein expression may be infl uenced by several single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the promoter and intron regions, including rs1800896, rs1800871, and rs1800872. However, the impact of polymorphisms of the IL10 gene on NHL prognosis has not been fully elucidated. Here, we investigated the association between IL10 polymorphisms and NHL prognosis. This study involved 112 NHL patients treated at the National Cancer Center, Korea. The median age was 57 years, and 70 patients (62.5%) were men. Clinical characteristics, including age, performance status, stage, and extra-nodal involvement, as well as cell lineage and International Prognostic Index (IPI), were evaluated. A total of four polymorphisms in IL10 with heterozygous alleles were analyzed for hazard ratios of overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) using Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma was the most common histologic type (n = 83), followed by T-cell lymphoma (n = 18), mantle cell lymphoma (n = 6), and others (n = 5). Cell lineage, IPI, and extra-nodal involvement were predictors of prognosis. In the additive genetic model results for each IL10 polymorphism, the rs1800871 and rs1800872 polymorphisms represented a marginal association with OS (p = 0.09 and p = 0.06) and PFS (p = 0.05 and p = 0.08) in B-cell lymphoma patients treated with rituximab plus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (R-CHOP). These findings suggest that IL10 polymorphisms might be prognostic indicators for patients with B-cell NHL treated with R-CHOP.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.485-488
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• 2013

The performance values of available techniques used in serodiagnosis of toxoplasmosis are satisfactory but they raise problems of equivocal and discordant results for very low IgG titers. Recently marketed, LDBio-Toxo II IgG Western blot (IB) showed an excellent correlation with the dye test. We estimated the proportion of equivocal and discordant results between the enzyme immunoassay Platelia Toxo IgG (EIA-IgG) and fluorescent antibody test (FAT) and assessed the usefulness of the IB as a confirmatory test. Out of 2,136 sera collected from pregnant women, 1,644 (77.0%) tested unequivocally positive and 407 (19.0%) were negative in both EIA-IgG and FAT. The remaining 85 (4%) sera showed equivocal or discordant results. Among them, 73 (85.9%) were positive and 12 (14.1%) were negative in IB. Forty-one (89.1%) equivocal sera in EIA-IgG and 46 (86.8%) equivocal sera in FAT were positive in IB. Reducing the cut-off values of both screening techniques improved significantly their sensitivity in detecting very low IgG titers at the expense of their specificity. In conclusion, equivocal results in routine-used techniques and their discordance in determination of the immune status in pregnancy women were not uncommon. IB test appeard to be highly useful in these situations as a confirmatory technique.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.141-145
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• 2018

Ni-InGaAs shows promise as a self-aligned S/D (source/drain) alloy for n-InGaAs MOSFETs (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors). However, limited thermal stability and instability of the microstructural morphology of Ni-InGaAs could limit the device performance. The in situ deposition of a Pd interlayer beneath the Ni layer was proposed as a strategy to improve the thermal stability of Ni-InGaAs. The Ni-InGaAs alloy layer prepared with the Pd interlayer showed better surface roughness and thermal stability after furnace annealing at $570^{\circ}C$ for 30 min, while the Ni-InGaAs without the Pd interlayer showed degradation above $500^{\circ}C$. The Pd/Ni/TiN structure offers a promising route to thermally immune Ni-InGaAs with applications in future n-InGaAs MOSFET technologies.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.179-184
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• 2018

Diphencyprone (DPCP) is frequently used as a compounded preparation in dermatology for the treatment of alopecia and recalcitrant warts based on the immune reaction of skin allergy. However, DPCP is a non-recognized agent in Pharmacopoeia, because there are no criteria or analytical method for quality control of its powder and formulation. DPCP is unstable under light irradiation because as it easily decomposes to diphenylacetylene (DPA). This study aims to develop a simultaneous HPLC analytical method for analyzing DPCP and DPA in the raw materials and compounded preparation. The method required a C18 column ($250{\times}4.6mm$, $5{\mu}m$) at $40^{\circ}C$ with a mobile phase of (A) 0.01 M phosphoric acid in water and (B) acetonitrile at UV 220 nm. DPA conversion to DPCP in the powder and compounded preparations was accelerated after light exposure for 60 min. In addition, this resulted in different patterns depending on the wavelength of light and the formulation. That is, DPCP in compounded preparation was more unstable than that in the powder. However, the DPCP formulation in amber bottles was observed to remain stable, although the measured concentrations of DPCP were somewhat different from the nominal concentration of the compounded preparations. The control of the exact concentration is required for effective disease treatment, depending on the state of the patient. In conclusion, these results will be useful for the recognition of DPCP in Pharmacopoeia and new DPCP formulation development to prevent photodecomposition.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.373-381
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• 2020

There is a need for newer feed additives due to legal prohibition on inclusion of growth promoting antibiotics in livestock diets in several countries due to antimicrobial resistance. In this context, rare earth elements (REE) have gained attention among animal nutritionists as potential growth promoters. Currently, several studies have reported better weight gain, milk production, egg laying capacity and feed conversion efficiency among different breeds of farm animals following supplementation with REE, with however largely inconsistent results. Furthermore, REE supplementation has also shown to improve ruminal fibrolytic and proteolytic activities as well as flavor of meat with negligible residues in edible tissue, however the mechanism behind this action is still unclear. According to existing research, due to their poor absorption and similarity with calcium REE might exert their action locally on gut microbial populations within the gastrointestinal tract (GIT). Moreover, REE have also shown anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative as well as immune stimulating effects. The present review aims to broaden the knowledge about use of REE as feed additives for livestock and sum up efficacy of REE supplementation on performance and health of animals by comparing the findings. Till date, researches with REE have shown properties that make them a promising, new and safe alternative feed additive but further exploration is recommended to optimize effects and clarify discrepancy of various results before practical proposals can be drafted.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.464-470
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• 2020

This study was conducted to replace fish meal (FM) with three plant proteins (soybean meal, soy protein concentrate, and wheat gluten) in diets for growing olive flounder Paralichthys olivaceus. The control diet was formulated to contain 65% sardine FM and four other replacement diets were formulated to replace FM with the plant proteins by 25, 30, 35 and 40% (designated FM25, FM30, FM35 and FM40, respectively). The replacement diets were added with three essential amino acids (lysine, methionine and threonine) to meet their requirements for the fish. Olive flounder (initial average weight, 96.8±0.2 g) were randomly distributed into 20 tanks (425 L each) at a density of 25 fish per tank. Four replicate groups of fish were fed one of the diets two times daily for 15 weeks. At the end of the feeding trial, no significant differences were found among all the fish groups in growth performance, feed utilization, nonspecific immune responses and hematological health parameters. Thus, this result indicates that the plant proteins with the three limiting amino acids could replace FM up to 40% in diets for growing olive flounder.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.12
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• pp.1728-1735
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• 2014

Scrub typhus, caused by infection with Orientia tsutsugamushi, is a mite-borne zoonotic disease endemic to the Asian-Pacific region. In Korea, the incidence of this disease has increased with climate changes, and over 10,000 cases of infection were reported in 2013. Although this infection is treatable with antibiotics such as doxycycline and azithromycin, an effective prophylactic vaccine against O. tsutsugamushi would be more desirable for preventing scrub typhus in endemic areas. In this study, we investigated the 56-kDa type-specific antigen (TSA56), which is a major outer membrane protein of O. tsutsugamushi, as a vaccine candidate. Intranasal immunization of recombinant TSA56 (rec56) induced a higher level of TSA56-specific IgG than that induced by intramuscular immunization of tsa56-expressing DNA (p56). Both types of immunization induced a cell-mediated immune response to TSA56, as demonstrated by the splenic cell proliferation assay. Mice immunized with p56, followed by rec56 plus heat-labile enterotoxin B subunit from E. coli, had a stronger protection from a homologous challenge with the O. tsutsugamushi Boryong strain than with other combinations. Our preliminary results suggest that an effective human vaccine for scrub typhus can include either recombinant TSA56 protein or tsa56-expressing DNA, and provide the basis for further studies to optimize vaccine performance using additional antigens or different adjuvants.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.497-502
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• 2014

Extracellular nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) cleaving activity of a particular cell type determines the rate of the degradation of extracellular NAD with formation of metabolites in the vicinity of the plasma membrane, which has important physiological consequences. It is yet to be elucidated whether intact human neutrophils have any extracellular NAD cleaving activity. In this study, with a simple fluorometric assay utilizing $1,N^6$-ethenoadenine dinucleotide (etheno-NAD) as the substrate, we have shown that intact peripheral human neutrophils have scant extracellular etheno-NAD cleaving activity, which is much less than that of mouse bone marrow neutrophils, mouse peripheral neutrophils, human monocytes and lymphocytes. With high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), we have identified that ADP-ribose (ADPR) is the major extracellular metabolite of NAD degradation by intact human neutrophils. The scant extracellular etheno-NAD cleaving activity is decreased further by N-formyl-methionine-leucine-phenylalanine (fMLP), a chemoattractant for neutrophils. The fMLP-mediated decrease in the extracellular etheno-NAD cleaving activity is reversed by WRW4, a potent FPRL1 antagonist. These findings show that a much less extracellular etheno-NAD cleaving activity of intact human neutrophils compared to other immune cell types is down-regulated by fMLP via a low affinity fMLP receptor FPRL1.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.247-253
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• 2013

Neospora caninum is the etiologic agent of bovine neosporosis, which affects the reproductive performance of cattle worldwide. The transmembrane protein, NcSRS2, and dense-granule protein, NcGRA7, were identified as protective antigens based on their ability to induce significant protective immune responses in murine neosporosis models. In the current study, NcSRS2 and NcGRA7 genes were spliced by overlap-extension PCR in a recombinant adenovirus termed Ad5-NcSRS2-NcGRA 7, expressing the NcSRS2-NcGRA7 gene, and the efficacy was evaluated in mice. The results showed that the titer of the recombinant adenovirus was $10^9TCID_{50}/ml$. Three weeks post-boost immunization (w.p.b.i.), the IgG antibody titer in sera was as high as 1:4,096. IFN-${\gamma}$ and IL-4 levels were significantly different from the control group (P<0.01). This research established a solid foundation for the development of a recombinant adenovirus vaccine against bovine N. caninum.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.528-534
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• 2000

Sixteen specific pathogen free 4-wk-old crossbred weanling pigs were allotted into a $2{\times}2$ factorial design to evaluate chromium picolinate (CrPic) on growth and physiological responses. Two factors included (1) no Cr or 400 ppb Cr supplementation from chromium picolinate and (2) lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection on day 21 (d 21) and 35 (d 35) compared to saline application. Plasma samples and rectal temperature were obtained from all piglets before (h 0) and at 2 h (h 2), 4 h (h 4), 8 h (h 8), and 24 h (h 24) after LPS injection ($200{\mu}g/kg$ BW, intraperitoneally). The rectal temperature on d 21 was significantly decreased (p<0.05) of about $0.36^{\circ}C$ with Cr supplementation before LPS injection. After LPS injection, the daily gain of piglets was decreased during d 35-38. Supplementation of Cr had no effect in general on growth performance particularly after LPS injection. The plasma glucose, triglycerides and urea nitrogen concentrations were changed in different ways after LPS injection. Plasma cortisol level was significantly elevated at h 2 after LPS injection on d 21 and d 35. The supplementation of Cr in the diet can delayed plasma cortisol release on d 35. The results suggest that 400 ppb Cr supplementation from CrPic may modulate the physiological response during immune stress in weanling pigs.