• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.81-91
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• 2021

Objectives : Osteoporosis is a systemic skeletal disease that decreases bone density and increases the risk of fractures. Bisphosphonates and SERMs are mainly used to treat osteoporosis, but, long-term use increases the risk of side effects such as jaw bone necrosis and breast cancer. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a therapeutic agent for a natural product with few side effects. Water extract of Lonicerae Japonicae Flos (wLF) was mainly found to have anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory effects. However, the effect of wLF on osteoporosis has not been elucidated. Therefore, this experiment investigated the effect of wLF on osteoclasts, osteoblasts and osteoporosis models. Methods : In order to study the effect of wLF on osteoporosis, the OVX-induced rat model was used for in vivo study. After 8 weeks, we measured body weight, uterine weight, liver weight, femur weight, bone density, trabecular area and tibia ash weight. To determine the effect of wLF on osteoclast differentiation, we measured the number of TRAP-positive cells and TRAP activity. To examine the effect of wLF on the expression of osteoblast-related genes, we measured the mRNA expression of alkaline phosphatase (ALP, Alpl) and osteocalcin (OCN, Bglap2). Results : In vivo experiment, wLF inhibited the reduction of femur weight, trabecular area, bone density and tibia ash weight. In vitro experiment, wLF had no significant effect on osteoclast differentiation. However, wLF increased the mRNA expression of Alpl and Bglap2 in MC3T3-E1 cell. Conclusions : This result suggested that wLF may be used for the treatment and prevention of postmenopausal osteoporosis.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.978-983
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• 2006

We investigated the anti-inflammatory effects of mycelial culture extract from Phellinus linteus (MCPL) for suppression in the process of ethanol-induced inflammation in rat liver. Levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) were significantly increased in the serum of ethanol-treated rats compared to normal. However, the level of ALT was arrested markedly in ethanol-treated rats with MCPL compared to ethanol alone treated control ones. Severe histopathological changes of liver such as cloudy swelling, inflammatory cells infiltration, Kupffer cell reaction and focal necrosis were demonstrated in the rats challenged with ethanol compared with normal. Fewer scores of these changes were observed in MCPL-treated rat with recovered glycogen in centrolobular region of hepatic lobule. The Western analysis showed that the expression of inflammatory proteins such as cyclooxygenase (COX)-1, COX-2, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), tumor necrosis factor $(TNF)-{\alpha}$ were increased in the ethanol-treated rat. But decline of COX-2 and iNOS expression were observed in MCPL-treated rat. Immunohistochemical analysis showed that the expression of COX-2 and $TNF-{\alpha}$ tended to increase in ethanol-treated rat, but decrease of these reactions were induced by MCPL treatment. These results suggest that MCPL may act as a protective agent for alcohol-induced liver injury through a regulating inflammation-related proteins.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.341-352
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• 2022

Medical image segmentation is the most important task in radiation therapy. Especially, when segmenting medical images, the liver is one of the most difficult organs to segment because it has various shapes and is close to other organs. Therefore, automatic segmentation of the liver in computed tomography (CT) images is a difficult task. Since tumors also have low contrast in surrounding tissues, and the shape, location, size, and number of tumors vary from patient to patient, accurate tumor segmentation takes a long time. In this study, we propose a method algorithm for automatically segmenting the liver and tumor for this purpose. As an advantage of setting the boundaries of the tumor, the liver and tumor were automatically segmented from the CT image using the 2D CoordConv DeepLab V3+ model using the CoordConv layer. For tumors, only cropped liver images were used to improve accuracy. Additionally, to increase the segmentation accuracy, augmentation, preprocess, loss function, and hyperparameter were used to find optimal values. We compared the CoordConv DeepLab v3+ model using the CoordConv layer and the DeepLab V3+ model without the CoordConv layer to determine whether they affected the segmentation accuracy. The data sets used included 131 hepatic tumor segmentation (LiTS) challenge data sets (100 train sets, 16 validation sets, and 15 test sets). Additional learned data were tested using 15 clinical data from Seoul St. Mary's Hospital. The evaluation was compared with the study results learned with a two-dimensional deep learning-based model. Dice values without the CoordConv layer achieved 0.965 ± 0.01 for liver segmentation and 0.925 ± 0.04 for tumor segmentation using the LiTS data set. Results from the clinical data set achieved 0.927 ± 0.02 for liver division and 0.903 ± 0.05 for tumor division. The dice values using the CoordConv layer achieved 0.989 ± 0.02 for liver segmentation and 0.937 ± 0.07 for tumor segmentation using the LiTS data set. Results from the clinical data set achieved 0.944 ± 0.02 for liver division and 0.916 ± 0.18 for tumor division. The use of CoordConv layers improves the segmentation accuracy. The highest of the most recently published values were 0.960 and 0.749 for liver and tumor division, respectively. However, better performance was achieved with 0.989 and 0.937 results for liver and tumor, which would have been used with the algorithm proposed in this study. The algorithm proposed in this study can play a useful role in treatment planning by improving contouring accuracy and reducing time when segmentation evaluation of liver and tumor is performed. And accurate identification of liver anatomy in medical imaging applications, such as surgical planning, as well as radiotherapy, which can leverage the findings of this study, can help clinical evaluation of the risks and benefits of liver intervention.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.357-364
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• 2011

To evaluate hepatoprotective effect of Epimedium Koreanum nakai (EKN) on liver-damaged animal model, rats were intoxicated with carbon tetrachloride (1 ml/kg) for 9 weeks orally. Liver-damaged rats were divided into 2 groups: liver-damaged control (LDC) group and EKN group were administered vehicle (saline), EKN extract per os for 4 weeks respectively. Normal control (NC) group was administered saline as the same process of LDC group. The weights of prostate (absolute), testis (relative), epididymis (relative) and packed cell volume (PCV), mean corpuscular volume (MCV) of EKN group significantly (P < 0.05) increased compared with LDC group. But Mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpusulcar hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were significantly (P < 0.01, P < 0.05) decreased. Fibrotic regions in hepatic parenchyma of EKN group significantly (P < 0.01) decreased compared with LDC group and mean diameters of hepatic lobules significantly (P < 0.01) increased. Percentages of degenerative kidney regions and number of degenerative kidney tubules, number of vasodilated atrophic glomerulus of EKN group was significantly (P < 0.01, P < 0.05) decreased compared with LDC group. Number of atrophic seminiferous tubules and epididymal tubules showing oligospermatozoa of EKN group were significantly (P < 0.01) decreased compared with LDC group. In conclusion, EKN extract has a favorable effect on the $CCl_4$-induced liver damage.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.700-704
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• 2008

Anti-obesity effects of $\beta$-cyclodextrin in obese C57BL/6J mice induced by a high fat diet (HD) were observed. The administration of $\beta$-cyclodextrin reduced the gain of body weight, abdominal fat, liver weight, the lipid deposits of hepatocytes and the size of adipocytes in the HD group. In serum analysis, the total and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterols were significantly decreased in the $\beta$-cyclodextrin-supplemented HD group than in the HD group. However, high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol was not changed in these groups. In hypothalamic homogenates, the decrease of neuropeptide Y and increase of $\alpha$-melanocyte stimulating hormone were detected in the $\beta$-cyclodextrin-supplemented HD group compared to that in the HD group. These effects of $\beta$-cyclodextrin were similar to those of Garcinia cambogia, which is widely used as a natural anti-obesity product. These results suggest that $\beta$-cyclodextrin has anti-obesity effects through the lowering of the abdominal fat pad and inhibits the central effects of hunger.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.431-434
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• 2023

Background: The first 3 ribs are anatomically well-protected, shielded by the large thoracic muscles, the shoulder girdle, and the arm. A significant force is required to fracture these ribs; thus, such fractures suggest a high-energy trauma and are associated with injuries to vital organs of the thorax, such as the aorta, the heart, the lungs and the great vessels. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted over a 10-year period at a single hospital. The study assessed patients with fractures of the second rib, including their concurrent injuries and the overall severity of their trauma. Results: Among the 76 patients included in the study, the average age was 47.35 years, 81.5% were men, and 19.5% were women. Thirteen patients (17.1%) survived their injuries. The most common causes of injury were road traffic accidents (63%) and pedestrian injuries (22%). The patients who did not survive sustained injuries to an average of 5 additional organs, while survivors had injuries to an average of 2.07 additional organs. Left rib fractures were the most frequently observed (46%). The most serious concurrent injuries reported were to the aorta (5.26%), heart (10.52%), lung (52.36%), head (57.89%), liver (30.2%), spleen (26.31%), and kidney (17.1%). Conclusion: As indicators of serious injury to vital endothoracic organs, isolated fractures of the second rib should be considered equal to first rib fractures in clinical importance.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.148-154
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• 2008

Excessive alcohol use causes oxidative stress in the liver, and antioxidant therapy has been an attractive approach for the treatment of ethanol-induced liver damage. The present study examined the hepatoprotective effect of Sasa quelpaertensis Nakai (Korean name, Jeju-Joritdae) in C57BL/6 mice intoxicated with ethanol. Mice were intraperitoneally administered with ethanol alone, or together with test materials three times at 12-h intervals. At 3 h after the last dosing, hepatotoxicity was assessed based on serum activities of aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase, and hepatic contents of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances and glutathione. Sasa quelpaertensis extract mitigated the acute ethanol hepatotoxicity as effectively as silymarin. Its n-butanol fraction was more active than methylene chloride or aqueous fraction. p-Coumaric acid, a major constituent of S. quelpaertensis, was found to effectively prevent the ethanol-induced hepatotoxicity. These data suggest that S. quelpaertensis and p-coumaric acid could be useful for the prevention of liver disease caused by alcohol abuse.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.377-382
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• 2006

This study was performed to evaluate the effect of the herbal extract mixture of Cnidium officinale, Petasites japonicus and Coptis chinensis (CPC) on the lipids metabolism in mice with tyloxapol. ICR mice weighing between 30-40 g were divided into four groups: normal group, 600mg/kg tyloxapol injected group, $50\;{\mu}g/g$ CPC treated group 6h after tyloxapol injection (SAM1), and tyloxapol and CPC treated group (SAM2), respectively. Tyloxapol or CPC was injected intraperitoneally. Tyloxapol caused an elevation of total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides(TG), and LDL-cholesterol and a decrease of HDL-cholesterol. In addition, tyloxapol induced accumulation of lipid including cholesterol in both the liver and kidney. Serum levels of TC, TG and LDL-cholesterol were decreased whereas HDL-cholesterol was increased by CPC. CPC increased in HDL-cholesterol /total cholesterol ratio and lowered atherogenic index. The levels of TC, TG and LDL-cholesterol by CPC were rather lower in SAM2 than SAM1. CPC also inhibited lowering HDL-cholesterol by tyloxapol. CPC reduced lipid blots and cholesterol particles in both the deposition and size in the liver and kidney with tyloxapol. These results suggest that CPC might be expected to be beneficial for protection and treatment of hyperlipidemia by the disturbance of lipid metabolism.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.1610-1614
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• 2005

The purpose of this study is to observe the effects of Chaenomelis Fructus Herba Chelidonii Clematis Florida Thunb mixed water extract on the inflammatory edema induced by Found's complete adjuvant and on different blood volume, and then to demonstrate its efficiencies as well as its safety. We injected Chaenomelis Fructus Herba Chelidonii Clematis Florida Thunb mixed water extract on the inflammatory edema induced by Found's complete adjuvant once daily at the same time for a week, then observed the paw-edema, the counts of the blood WBC, Serum total protein, Serum total bilirrubin, SGOT and SGPT The result obtained is as follows : Inflammatory edema on the right plantar in both sample groups showed a significant reduce compared with that in the control group. The counts of WBC in both sample groups showed a significant decrease compared with that in the control group. The volume of serum total protein in the Sample A group showed a significant decrease compared with that in the control group. The volume of serum total bilirrubin, GOT and GPT in both sample groups was not changed compared with that in the control group. As a result of this experiment, it is concluded that Chaenomelis Fructus Herba Chelidonii Clematis Florida Thunb mixed water extract showed that therapeutic effect on the anti-inflammation on arthritis; otherwise it showed non-toxic effect on the liver function.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.9
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• pp.1244-1251
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• 2008

The aim of the present study was to delineate the expression and secretion of insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system components by pig liver cells. Hepatocytes were prepared from 3-wk-old weanling piglets following a two-step collagenase perfusion procedure, after which the cells were incubated for 24 or 48 h at a density of $2{\pm}10^5$ cells per 35-mm dish in 2-ml Williams' medium E. The cells were found to express the genes encoding IGF-I, IGF-binding proteins (IGFBPs)-2 and -3 and acid-labile subunit (ALS) by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) following the culture. However, IGF-I was localized to hepatocytes by immunohistochemical analysis, whereas IGFBP-3 was localized to endothelial cells, but not to hepatocytes. This indicated that the IGFBP-3 gene expression detected by RT-PCR was likely to have been contributed by unidentified non-parenchymal cells that had not been removed during the hepatocyte preparation. The conditioned culture medium (CCM) of the cells contained immunoreactive IGF-I and IGF-II, with the latter being seven-fold more abundant than the former. The CCM also contained 43-, 40-, 34-, 31-kDa doublet and 26-kDa IGFBPs as examined by Western ligand blotting. The 40-, 34- and 31-kDa doublet IGFBPs were approximately three-fold as abundant as the 43- and 26-kDa IGFBPs. Moreover, the 43- and 40-kDa doublet and the 34-kDa IGFBPs were immunoprecipitable with IGFBP-3 and IGFBP-2 antibodies, respectively. Overall, these results are similar to those known in the rat, which suggests that the IGF system components are likely to be expressed and secreted in pig liver in a manner similar to that in rat liver.