• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.425-430
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• 2022

L-alanine (LA, as an amino acid residue) pentamer model was used to investigate changes in the dihedral angle, intramolecular hydrogen bonding and formation energies during structural optimization. LA pentamers having four conformation types [𝛽: 𝜑/𝜓=t-/t+, 𝛼: 𝜑/𝜓=g-/g-, PP_II: 𝜑/𝜓=g-/t+ and P-like: 𝜑/𝜓= g-/g+] were carried out by quantum chemical calculations (QCC) [B3LYP/6-31G(d,p)]. In LA, 𝛽, 𝛼, and P-like types did not change by optimization, having an intra-molecular hydrogen bond: NH⋯OC (H-bond), and PP_II types in the absence of H-bond were transformed into P-like at the designated 𝜓 of 140°, and to 𝛽 at that of 160° or 175°. P-like and 𝛼 were about 0.5 kcal/mol/mu more stable than 𝛽. In order to understand the processes of the transformations, the changes of 𝜑/𝜓, distances of NH-OC (d_NH/CO) and formation energies (𝜟E, kcal/mol/mu) were examined.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.118-125
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• 2010

Background and Purpose: Bone metastases rarely occur in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), so the molecular mechanisms of bone metastasis of OSCC remains unclear. Studies with animal models allow progresses in understanding the molecular events for bone metastasis and provide new targets for therapy. So we tried to establish a murine model for bone metastasis of oral squamous cell carcinoma. Materials and Methods: Human OSCC cells (KB cell line) were xenografted to nude mice via direct inoculation into the tibial marrow. Mice with tibial tumors were sacrificed once a week, until seven weeks after the injection of human tumor cells. Growth of tibial tumors were observed by histology. Expression of TGF-$\beta$ and CXCR-4 in bone OSCC (experimental) and subcutaneous tumor (control) was also evaluated by immunohistochemical staining. Results: Bone OSCC was successfully induced by intra-tibial injection of KB cells. Tumor mass was developed in the marrow tissues of tibia and finally invade the endosteum of tibia. Immunohistochemical staining showed higher expression of TGF-$\beta$ in bone tumors than in subcutaneous tumors. Conclusion: A murine model of bone metastasis of OSCC was suggested that imitated the clinical findings of distant vascular metastasis. This bone tumor model should facilitate understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of OSCC bone metastasis, and aid in the developement of treatment strategies against OSCC bone metastasis.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.706-713
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• 2010

Objectives : The source is from the flower of Carthamus tinctorius L., family Compositae. It is used in clinical medicine to promote blood circulation, remove blood stasis, promote menstruation and alleviate pain. In the present study, we investigated the genome wide analysis of Carthami Flos on the intra-cranial hemorrhage(ICH) model. Methods : ICH in rat was induced by injection of collagenase type IV and Carthami Flos extract(CFe) was administered orally. The molecular profile of cerebral hemorrhage in rat brain tissue was measured using microarray technique to identify up- or down- regulated genes in brain tissue. Results : Expression profile showed that diverse genes were up- or down-regulated by ICH induction. Administration of CFe restored the expression level of some of altered genes by ICH to normal expressional level. Interestingly, these recovered genes by CFe were involved in the same biological pathways which were significantly activated or suppressed by ICH. Conclusion : The above results might explain the therapeutic mechanism of CFe on ICH. Further, by analyzing interaction network, core genes was identified which could be key molecular targets of CFe against ICH.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.637-647
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• 2018

Extra-hypothalamic growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) plays an important role in reproduction. To study the treatment effect of Grin (a novel hGHRH homodimer), the infertility models of 85 male Chinese hamsters were established by intraperitoneally injecting 20 mg/kg of cyclophosphamide once in a week for 5 weeks and the treatment with Grin or human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG) as positive control was evaluated by performing a 3-week mating experiment. 2-8 mg/kg of Grin and 200 U/kg of hMG showed similar effect and different pathological characteristics. Compared to the single cyclophosphamide group (0%), the pregnancy rates (H-, M-, L-Grin 26.7, 30.8, 31.3%, and hMG 31.3%) showed significant difference, but there was no difference between the hMG and Grin groups. The single cyclophosphamide group presented loose tubules with pathologic vacuoles and significant TUNEL positive cells. Grin induced less weight of body or testis, compactly aligned tubules with little intra-lumens, whereas hMG caused more weight of body or testis, enlarging tubules with annular clearance. Grin presented a dose-dependent manner or cell differentiation-dependentincrease in testicular GHRH receptor, and did not impact the levels of blood and testicular GH, testosterone. Grin promotes fertility by proliferating and differentiating primitive cells through up-regulating testicular GHRH receptor without triggering GH secretion, which might solve the etiology of oligoasthenozoospermia.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2015

Serine proteases form one of the most important families of enzymes and perform significant functions in a broad range of biological processes, such as intra- and extracellular protein metabolism, digestion, blood coagulation, regulation of development, and fertilization. A number of serine proteases have been identified in parasitic helminths that have putative roles in parasite development and nutrition, host tissues and cell invasion, anticoagulation, and immune evasion. In this review, we described the serine proteases that have been identified in parasitic helminths, including nematodes (Trichinella spiralis, T. pseudospiralis, Trichuris muris, Anisakis simplex, Ascaris suum, Onchocerca volvulus, O. lienalis, Brugia malayi, Ancylostoma caninum, and Steinernema carpocapsae), cestodes (Spirometra mansoni, Echinococcus granulosus, and Schistocephalus solidus), and trematodes (Fasciola hepatica, F. gigantica, and Schistosoma mansoni). Moreover, the possible biological functions of these serine proteases in the endogenous biological phenomena of these parasites and in the host-parasite interaction were also discussed.

• Korean Journal of Breeding Science
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.479-489
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• 2011

Gluten is the main functional component of wheat, and is the main source of the viscoelastic properties in a dough. One of the gluten group is glutenin, which is composed of high molecular weight (HMW) and low molecular weight (LMW) subunits. The HMW glutenin subunits (HMW-GS) have been shown to play a crucial role in determining the processing properties of the grain. They are encoded by the Glu-1 loci located on the long arms of homeologous group one chromosomes, with each locus comprising two genes encoding x- and y-type subunits. The presence of certain HMW subunits is positively correlated with good bread-making quality. The highly conserved N- and C- terminal contaning cystein residues which form interand intra-chain disulphide bonds. This inter chain disulphide bonds stabilize the glutenin polymers. In contrast, the repetitive domains that comprise the central part of the HMW-GS are responsible for the elastic properties due to extensive arrays of interchain hydrogen bonds. In this review, we discuss HMW-GS, HMW-GS structure and gluten elasticity, relationship between HMW-GS and bread wheat quality and genetic engineering of the HMW-GS.

• Journal of Biomedical and Translational Research
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.130-139
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• 2018

This study aimed to analyze a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) separation using a pentafluorophenyl column of parent drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and its active metabolite, desethylhydroxchloroquine (DHCQ) applying to determine bioequivalence of two different formulations administered to patients. A rapid, simple, sensitive and specific liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method has been developed and validated for bioanalysis of HCQ and its metabolite DHCQ in human whole blood using deuterium derivative $hydroxychloroquine-D_4$ as an internal standard (IS). A triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer was operated using electrospray ionization in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. Sample preparation involves a two-step precipitation of protein techniques. The removed protein blood samples were chromatographed on a pentafluorophenyl (PFP) column ($50mm{\times}4.6mm$, $2.6{\mu}m$) with a mobile phase (ammonium formate solution containing dilute formic acid) in an isocratic mode at a flow rate of 0.45 mL/min. The standard curves were found to be linear in the range of 2 - 500 ng/mL for HCQ; 2 - 2,000 ng/mL for DHCQ in spite of lacking a highly sensitive MS spectrometry system. Results of intra- and inter-day precision and accuracy were within acceptable limits. A run time of 2.2 min for HCQ and 2.03 min for DHCQ in blood sample facilitated the analysis of more than 300 human whole blood samples per day. Taken together, we concluded that the assay developed herein represents a highly qualified technology for the quantification of HCQ in human whole blood for a parallel design bioequivalence study in a healthy male.

• BMB Reports
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2003

The causative role of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in human carcinogenesis is undisputed. Measurements of PAH-DNA adduct levels in easily accessible white blood cells therefore represent useful early endpoints in exposure intervention of chemoprevention studies. The successful applicability of DNA adducts as early endpoints depends on several criteria:i.adduct levels in easily accessible surrogate tissues should reflect adduct levels in target-tissues, ii. toxicokinetics and the temporal relevance should be properly defined.iii. sources of inter- and intra-individual variability must be known and controllable, and finally iv. adduct analyses must have advantages as compared to other markers of PAH-exposure. In general, higher DNA adduct levels or a higher proportion of subjects with detectable DNA adduct levels were found in exposed individuals as compared with non-exposed subjects, but saturation may occur at high exposures. Furthermore, DNA adduct levels varied according to changes in exposure, for example smoking cessation resulted in lower DNA adduct levels and adduct levels paralleled seasonal variations of air-pollution. Intra-individual variation during continuous exposure was low over a short period of time (weeks), but varied significantly when longer time periods (months) were investigated. Inter-individual variation is currently only partly explained by genetic polymorphisms in genes involved in PAH-metabolism and deserves further investigation. DNA adduct measurement may have three advantages over traditional exposure assessment: i. they can smooth the extreme variability in exposure which is typical for environmental toxicants and may integrate exposure over a longer period of time. Therefore, DNA adduct assessment may reduce the monitoring effort. ii. Biological monitoring of DNA adducts accounts for all exposure routes. iii. DNA adducts may account for inter-individual differences in uptake, elimination, distribution, metabolism and repair amongst exposed individuals. In conclusion, there is now a sufficiently large scientific basis to justify the application of DNA adduct measurement as biomarkers in exposure assessment and intervention studies. Their use in risk-assessment, however, requires further investigation.

• Interdisciplinary Bio Central
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.14.1-14.9
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• 2010

Misidentification of cultured cell lines results in the generation of erroneous scientific data. Hence, it is very important to identify and eliminate cell lines with a different origin from that being claimed. Various methods, such as karyotyping and isozyme analysis, can be used to detect inter-species misidentification. However, these methods have proved of little value for identifying intra-species misidentification, and it will only be through the development and application of molecular biological approaches that this will become practical. Recently, the profiling of microsatellite variants has been validated as a means of detecting gene polymorphisms and has proved to be a simple and reliable method for identifying individual cell lines. Currently, the human cell lines provided by cell banks around the world are routinely authenticated by microsatellite polymorphism profiling. Unfortunately, this practice has not been widely adopted for mouse cells lines. Here we show that the profiling of microsatellite variants can be also applied to distinguish the commonly used mouse inbred strains and to determine the strain of origin of cultured cell lines. We found that approximately 4.2% of mouse cell lines have been misidentified; this is a similar rate of misidentification as detected in human cell lines. Although this approach cannot detect intra-strain misidentification, the profiling of microsatellite variants should be routinely carried out for all mouse cell lines to eliminate inter-strain misidentification.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.583-592
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• 2021

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental disorder in which a person repeated a particular thought or feels. The domain of beliefs and guilt predicted OCD symptoms. Although there were some neuroimaging studies investigating OCD symptoms, resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) study investigating intra-network functional connectivity associated with guilt for OCD is not reported yet. Therefore, in the current study, we assessed the differences between intra-network functional connectivity of healthy control group and OCD group using independent component analysis (ICA) method. In addition, we also aimed to investigate the correlation between changed functional connectivity and guilt score in OCD. Total 86 participants, which consisted of 42 healthy control volunteers and 44 OCD patients, acquired rs-fMRI data using the 3T MRI. After preprocessing the fMRI data, a functional connectivity was used for group independent component analysis. The results showed that OCD patients had higher score in emotion state in beliefs and lower functional connectivity in fronto-parietal network (FPN) than control group. A decrease of functional connectivity in FPN was negatively correlated with feelings of guilt in OCD. Our results suggest excessive increase in guilt negatively affect to process emotional state and behavior or cognitive processing by influencing intrinsic brain activity.