• BMB Reports
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• v.56 no.9
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• pp.469-481
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• 2023

The gut microbiome is widely recognized as a dynamic organ with a profound influence on human physiology and pathology. Extensive epidemiological and longitudinal cohort studies have provided compelling evidence that disruptions in the early-life microbiome can have long-lasting health implications. Various factors before, during, and after birth contribute to shaping the composition and function of the neonatal and infant microbiome. While these alterations can be partially restored over time, metabolic phenotypes may persist, necessitating research to identify the critical period for early intervention to achieve phenotypic recovery beyond microbiome composition. In this review, we provide current understanding of changes in the gut microbiota throughout life and the various factors affecting these changes. Specifically, we highlight the profound impact of early-life gut microbiota disruption on the development of diseases later in life and discuss perspectives on efforts to recover from such disruptions.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.26-35
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• 2021

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of awareness of good death and end-of-life care attitudes on end-of-life care performance in long-term care hospital nurses. Methods: This study used a cross-sectional study design. The participants were 147 nurses working at six long-term care hospitals with more than 200 beds in B city, South Korea. Data were collected using self-reported questionnaires, and analyzed with descriptive statistics, the t-test, analysis of variance, Pearson correlation coefficients, and multiple stepwise regression analysis using IBM/SPSS 26.0 for Windows. Results: The participants' awareness of good death, end-of-life care attitudes, and end-of-life care performance were positively correlated. The factors affecting end-of-life care performance were age, education level, awareness of good death, and end-of-life care attitudes; these variables explained 19.0% of end-of-life care performance. Conclusion: In order to improve long term care hospital nurses' end-of-life care performance, continuing education and training should be provided regarding awareness of good death and end-of-life care attitudes.

• Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.1027-1041
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• 2012

This study analyzed middle-aged woman volunteers' evaluations on their volunteering and its implications for the adult life-long education. The subjects were 126 women aged from 35 to 59 who enrolled in the volunteer centers in Busan, Korea. They participated in the survey of the volunteer effects and the factors that made them continue to volunteer. Survey said, middle-aged women volunteers perceived that they got positive feedback from others and themselves and it made them keep doing on volunteering. Based on their volunteering experiences, they reported the personal effects such as positivism, caring, volunteering capacity, industry, maturity and the family member's effects such as positivism and participating in their volunteering. They also mentioned that they had positive and negative effects on family relationship such as family relation reinforcement and being indifferent to their own family. Based on the research findings, it was the emphasized that supports for volunteering of the middle-aged women that helps them to accomplish the developmental tasks in the middle age are necessary. A scheme of linkage between volunteering and the adult life-long education was also dealt with. Finally, the implications on the further studies in the field were discussed.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.5741-5746
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• 2012

Aim: Although preoperative chemoradiatherapy (CRT) has proven its benefits in terms of decreased toxicity, there is still a considerable amount of cases that do not receive postoperative CRT. Oncologists at different geographic locations still need to know the long-term effects of this treatment in order to manage patients successfully. The current paper reports on long-term quality of life (QOL) and late side effects after adjuvant CRT in rectal cancer patients from 5 centers in Anatolia. Methods: Rectal cancer patients treated with postoperative CRT with minimum 1-year follow-up and were in complete remission, were evaluated according to RTOG and LENT-SOMA scales. They were also asked to complete Turkish version of EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire and the CR-38 module. Each center participated with the required clinical data. Results: Two hundred and thirty patients with median age of 55 years participated and completed the study. Median follow-up time was 5 years. All patients received RT concomitant with chemotherapy. Common parameters that both increased functional health scales and yielded better symptom scores were long term interval after treatment and sphincter-saving surgery. In addition, surgery type and follow-up time were determined to be predictors of QOL scores and late toxicity grade. Conclusion: Postoperative CRT was found to have a great impact on the long term QOL and side effects in rectal cancer survivors. The factors that adversely affect these are abdominoperineal resection and shorter interval. The findings may encourage life-long follow-up and cooperation with patients, which should be mentioned during the initial counseling.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.84-92
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• 2020

Patients undergoing radiation therapy for head and neck cancer (HNC) experience significant early and long-term side effects. The likelihood and severity of complications depends on a number of factors, including the total dose of radiation delivered, over what time it was delivered and what parts of the head and neck received radiation. Late side effects include: permanent loss of saliva; osteoradionecrosis; radiation recall myositis, pharyngoesophageal stenosis; dental caries; oral cavity necrosis; fibrosis; impaired wound healing; skin changes and skin cancer; lymphedema; hypothyroidism, hyperparathyroidism, lightheadedness, dizziness and headaches; secondary cancer; and eye, ear, neurological and neck structures damage. Patients who undergo radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma tend to suffer from chronic sinusitis. These side effects present difficult challenges to the patients and their caregivers and require life-long strategies to alleviate their deleterious effect on basic life functions and on the quality of life. This review presents these side effects and their management.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.404-408
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• 2007

In this study, we investigated the effects by age of long-tenn supplementation of Epimedium koreanum Nakai (EKN)-containing water on the in vivo antioxidant capacities of rats. All rats were reared in a conventional system, and none of the rats showed any signs of aversion to the EKN solution. Neither the mean nor maximum life spans of the rats were extended by long-tenn administration of the solution. The EKN extract caused decreases in the levels of serum thiobarbituric acid reactive substances in the rats. The activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione (GSH) peroxidase within the liver cytosol decreased with age in both the control and EKN-supplemented groups. GSH peroxidase activity, however, was higher at old age in the EKN-supplemented group. The activities of GSH reductase and GSH-S-transferase, and the levels of free-sulfhydryl (SH) and total-SH group gradually decreased with age in both groups. However, there was some tendency for higher levels in the EKN supplemented group at a corresponding age. These results indicate that long-tenn supplementation of EKN water extracts alone does not exhibit discernible adverse effects in rats, and has some enhancing effects on the antioxidant capacities of the blood and liver, but it does not have life-prolonging effects.

• Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
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• v.10
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• pp.133-155
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• 1983

Most important of all was the concept of library life-long education on which the studies were to be based. This concept has been broad, both in its interpretation of what constitutes a "program" and of what life-long education in a library is. No formal definition was adopted, but a common understanding existed that a fundamental purpose of the public library is to provide the means of continuing education, and to encourage the most effective utilization of these means through a program of activities whose effects are continuous and cumulatives. There are educational program, socio-cultural program and recreational program in the life-long education program of the public library. These programs can be planned by which the public library developed its resources and its services. services.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.739-745
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• 2006

Changes in the levels of analytes in the blood and urine of a rodent animal model were taken as a measure of the hypoglycemic effects of a diet containing fermented chaga mushroom. These studies were conducted using the genetically manipulated diabetic Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rat. The effects of 8-week long diets that included either fermented (FCM) or non-fermented (CM) chaga mushroom powder (5% in the diet) on the OLETF rat were compared to the normal diet fed OLETF rat and the non-diabetic Long-Evans Tokushima Otsuka (LETO) rat. Hypoglycemia was tracked by measuring serum and urine concentrations of glucose, insulin, fructosamine, and leptin. Serum and urine levels of glucose, fructosamine, and leptin in the OLETF rats were higher than in LETO rats when fed normal diets but insulin levels did not differ between the two animal groups. The FCM rats were characterized by dramatically low levels of serum glucose and leptin in the OLETF rats whereas the levels of fructosamine and urine glucose trended lower in response to FCM. The serum leptin level in the CM-fed OLETF rat was also lower than that in the normal diet fed OLETF control. Serum concentrations of insulin in the OLETF rats were higher following FCM or CM feeding compared to the normal diet. These observations imply that (a) a dietary supplement of fermented chaga mushroom may contribute to a hypoglycemic effect in the OLETF rat, and (b) the increased blood insulin concentration following 8 weeks of an FCM diet may be important to the noted improvement in hyperglycemia.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.477-480
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• 2010

Advances in research and medical and supportive care have contributed to a growing population of adults formerly treated for childhood cancer. History of cancer and its therapy can have significant life-long health implications. Late effects of cancer therapy can be insidious on onset, occur outside the pediatric age, and contribute to premature morbidity and mortality. In this review, I have focused on the key long-term effects of pediatric cancer therapy, particularly on the metabolic syndrome, including cardiopulmonary complications, infertility, and secondary neoplasm.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.625-634
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• 2019

Background: Ginsenoside Rg3, a derivative of steroidal saponins abundant in ginseng, has a range of effects on cancer cells, including anti-cell proliferation and anti-inflammation activity. Here, we investigate two long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), STXBP5-AS1 and RFX3-AS1, which are hypomethylated and hypermethylated in the promoter region by Rg3 in MCF-7 cancer cells. Methods: The lncRNAs epigenetically regulated by Rg3 were mined using methylation array analysis. The effect of the lncRNAs on the apoptosis and proliferation of MCF-7 cells was monitored in the presence of Rg3 or Korean Red Ginseng (KRG) extract after deregulating the lncRNAs. The expression of the lncRNAs and their target genes was examined using qPCR and Western blot analysis. The association between the expression of the target genes and the survival rate of breast cancer patients was analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier Plotter platform. Results: STXBP5-AS1 and RFX3-AS1 exhibited anti- and pro-proliferation effects, respectively, in the cancer cells, and the effects of Rg3 and KRG extract on apoptosis and cell proliferation were weakened after deregulating the lncRNAs. Of the genes located close to STXBP5-AS1 and RFX3-AS1 on the chromosome, STXBP5, GRM1, RFX3, and SLC1A1 were regulated by the lncRNAs on the RNA and protein level. Breast cancer patients that exhibited a higher expression of the target genes of the lncRNAs had a higher metastasis-free survival rate. Conclusion: The current study is the first to identify lncRNAs that are regulated by the presence of Rg3 and KRG extract and that subsequently contribute to inhibiting the proliferation of cancer cells.