• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.200-208
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• 2017

Actinobacteria are prolific producers of a large number of natural products with diverse biological activities. In the present study, an actinobacterium isolated from sunflower rhizosphere soil sample collected from Medak, Andhra Pradesh, South India was identified as Amycolatopsis thermoflava strain SFMA-103. A pigmented secondary metabolite in culture broth was extracted by using methanol and it was further purified by silica gel column chromatography with methanol-chloroform solvent system. Structural elucidation studies based on UV-visible, 1D and 2D-NMR, FT-IR, and mass spectroscopic analyses confirmed the structure as 1-methoxy-3-methyl-8-hydroxy-anthraquinone. It showed significant in vitro anticancer activity against lung cancer and lymphoblastic leukemia cells with $IC_{50}$ values of 10.3 and $16.98{\mu}M$, respectively. In addition, 1-methoxy-3-methyl-8-hydroxy-anthraquinone showed good free radical scavenging activity by DPPH method with an $EC_{50}$ of $18.2{\mu}g/ml$. It also showed other promising superoxide radical scavenging, nitric oxide radical scavenging and inhibition of lipid peroxidation activities. This is a first report of anti-proliferative and antioxidant activities of 1-methoxy-3-methyl-8-hydroxy-anthraquinone isolated from A. thermoflava strain SFMA-103 which may find potential application in biotechnological and pharmaceutical fields.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.436-442
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• 2005

Objective: The detection rate of traumatic subdural hygroma(TSH) has increased after the development of computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. The treatment method and the mechanism of development of the TSH have been investigated, but they are still uncertain. This study is performed to evaluate the effectiveness of subduroperitoneal shunt in traumatic subdural hygroma. Methods: Five hundred thirty six patients were diagnosed as TSH from 1996 to 2002, among them, 55 patients were operated with subduroperitoneal shunt. We analyzed shunt effect on the basis of clinical indetails, including the patient's symptoms at the diagnosis, duration from diagnosis to operation, changes of GCS, hygroma types. We classified the TSH into five types (frontal, frontocoronal, coronal, parietal and cerebellar type) according to the location of the thickest portion of TSH. Results: The patients who have symptoms or signs related to frontal lobe compression (irritability, confusion) or increased intracranial pressure (headache, mental change), had symptomatic recovery rate above 80%. However, the patients who have focal neurological sign (hemiparesis, seizure and rigidity), showed recovery rate below 30%. The improvement rate was very low in the case of the slowly progressing TSH for over 6weeks. We experienced complications such as enlarged ventricle, chronic subdural hematoma, subdural empyema and acute SDH. Conclusion: Subduroperitoneal shunt appears to be effective in traumatic subdural hygroma when the patients who have symptoms or signs related to frontal lobe compression or increased ICP and progressing within 5weeks.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.164-168
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• 2009

Objective : Bilateral C1-2 transarticular screw fixation (TAF) with interspinous wiring has been the best treatment for atlantoaxial instability (AAI). However, several factors may disturb satisfactory placement of bilateral screws. This study evaluates the usefulness of unilateral TAF when bilateral TAF is not available. Methods : Between January 2003 and December 2007, TAF was performed in 54 patients with AAI. Preoperative studies including cervical x-ray, three dimensional computed tomogram, CT angiogram, and magnetic resonance image were checked. The atlanto-dental interval (ADI) was measured in preoperative period, immediate postoperatively, and postoperative 1, 3 and 6 months. Results : Unilateral TAF was performed in 27 patients (50%). The causes of unilateral TAF were anomalous course of vertebral artery in 20 patients (74%), severe degenerative arthritis in 3 (11%), fracture of C1 in 2, hemangioblastoma in one, and screw malposition in one. The mean ADI in unilateral group was measured as 2.63 mm in immediate postoperatively, 2.61 mm in 1 month, 2.64 mm in 3 months and 2.61 mm in 6 months postoperatively. The mean ADI of bilateral group was also measured as following; 2.76 mm in immediate postoperative, 2.71 mm in 1 month, 2.73 mm in 3 months, 2.73 mm in 6 months postoperatively. Comparison of ADI measurement showed no significant difference in both groups, and moreover fusion rate was 100% in bilateral and 96.3% in unilateral group (p=0.317). Conclusion : Even though bilateral TAF is best option for AAI in biomechanical perspectives, unilateral screw fixation also can be a useful alternative in otherwise dangerous or infeasible cases through bilateral screw placement.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.67-71
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• 2011

La doped CuO-ZnO-$Al_2O_3$ powders are prepared by sol-gel method with aluminum isopropoxide and primary distilled water as precursor and solvent. In this synthesized process, the obtained metal oxides caused the precursor such as copper (II) nitrate hydrate and zinc (II) nitrate hexahydrate were added. To improve the surface areas of La doped CuO-ZnO-$Al_2O_3$ powder, sorbitan (z)-mono-9-octadecenoate (Span 80) was added. The synthesized powder was calcined at various temperatures. The dopant was found to affect the surface area and particle size of the mixed oxide, in conjunction with the calcined temperature. The structural analysis and textual properties of the synthesized powder were measured with an X-ray Diffractometer (XRD), a Field-Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FE-SEM), Bruner-Emmett-Teller surface analysis (BET), Thermogravimetry-Differential Thermal analysis (TG/DTA), $^{27}Al$ solid state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and transform infrared microspectroscopy (FT-IR). An increase of surface area with Span 80 was observed on La doped CuO-ZnO-$Al_2O_3$ powders from $25m^2$/g to $41m^2$/g.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.555-561
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• 2007

To obtain low molecular weight water soluble chitosan (LMWSC) with various molecular weights, chitosan oligosaccharides (COS) with lactic acid was separated by using ultrafilteration technique and LMWSC with a free amine group was prepared by the novel salts-removal method. The characterization of LMWSC removed the lactic acid and degree of deacetylation (DDA) were identified by FT-IR and $^1H-NMR$ spectra. Polydispersity index (PDI) was $1.278{\sim}1.499$, which indicates a relatively molecular weight distribution. To identify the potential as a gene carrier, we confirmed the transfection efficiency of COS fractioned according to molecular weight successfully and the salt-removed LMWSC using 293T cell. Also, LMWSC derivatives prepared for improvement transfection efficiency were evaluated using Balb/C mice.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.332-341
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• 2013

H-shaped amphiphilic pentablock copolymers $(PSt)_2-b-PCL-b-PEO-b-PCL-b-(PSt)_2$ was synthesized via chemoenzymatic method by combining enzyme-catalyzed ring-opening polymerization (eROP) of ${\varepsilon}$-caprolactone (${\varepsilon}$-CL) and atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of styrene. By this process, we obtained copolymers with controlled molecular weight and low polydispersity. The structure and composition of the obtained copolymers were characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and infrared spectroscopy analysis (IR). The crystallization behavior of the copolymers was analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The crystallization behavior of the H-shaped block copolymers demonstrated a PCL dominate crystallization. The self-assembly behavior of the copolymers was investigated in aqueous media. The hydrodynamic diameters of the copolymer micelles in aqueous solution were measured by dynamic light scattering (DLS). The morphology of the copolymer micelles was observed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The hydrodynamic diameters of spherical micelles declined gradually with the increase of the hydrophobic chain lengths of the copolymers. The critical micelle concentration (CMC) values were determined from fluorescence emission, and it was found that the CMCs decreased with an increase of PSt hydrophobic block lengths.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.159-167
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• 2012

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to investigate the effecacy of Korean medical treatments on cervical myelopathy patient diagnosed by magnetic resonance imaging(MRI). Methods : The patient was treated by Korean medical treatments including acupunture, pharmacopuncture, herbal medicine, cervical traction technique of Chuna treatment. To evaluate the change of MRI view, slipped disc ratio and A-P compression ratio were used. The improvement of the clinical symptoms was observed by Score of pain part and Nurick grade. Results : After treatment, patient's score of pain part, Nurick grade were decreased and slipped disc ratio, A-P compression ratio were also improved. Conclusions : The Korean medical treatments might be an effective method to improve the clinical symptoms and radiological view of cervical myelopathy.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.139-149
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• 2019

Purpose: With neurodegeneration, the signal intensity of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the brain increases. The objective of this study was to evaluate chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) signals with and without the contribution of CSF signals in elderly human brains using two different 3T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences Methods: Full CEST signals were acquired in ten subjects (Group I) with a three-dimensional (3D)-segmented gradient-echo echo-planar imaging (EPI) sequence and in ten other subjects (Group II) with a 3D gradient and spin-echo (GRASE) sequence using two different 3T MRI systems. The segmented tissue compartments of gray and white matter were used to mask the CSF signals in the full CEST images. Two sets of magnetization transfer ratio asymmetry (MTR_asym) maps were obtained for each offset frequency in each subject with and without masking the CSF signals (masked and unmasked conditions, respectively) and later compared using paired t-tests. Results: The region-of-interest (ROI)-based analyses showed that the MTR_asym values for both the 3D-segmented gradient-echo EPI and 3D GRASE sequences were altered under the masked condition compared with the unmasked condition at several ROIs and offset frequencies. Conclusions: Depending on the imaging sequence, the MTR_asym values can be overestimated for some areas of the elderly human brain when CSF signals are unmasked. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a method to minimize this overestimation in the case of elderly patients.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.377-386
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• 2014

Objective: In this study, we used resting-state fMRI data to map differences in functional connectivity between a comprehensive set of 8 distinct cortical and subcortical brain regions in healthy controls and Internet addicts. We also investigated the relationship between resting state connectivity strength and the level of psychopathology (ex. score of internet addiction scale and score of Barratt impulsiveness scale). Background: There is a lot of evidence of relationship between Internet addiction and impaired inhibitory control. Clinical evidence suggests that Internet addicts have a high level of impulsivity as measured by behavioral task of response inhibition and a self report questionnaire. Method: 15 Internet addicts and 15 demographically similar non-addicts participated in the current resting-state fMRI experiment. For the connectivity analysis, regions of interests (ROIs) were defined based on the previous studies of addictions. Functional connectivity assessment for each subject was obtained by correlating time-series across the ROIs, resulting in $8{\times}8$ matrixs for each subject. Within-group, functional connectivity patterns were observed by entering the z maps of the ROIs of each subject into second-level one sample t test. Two sample t test was also performed to examine between group differences. Results: Between group, the analysis revealed that the connectivity in between the orbito frontal cortex and inferior parietal cortex, between orbito frontal cortex and putamen, between the orbito frontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex, between the insula and anterior cingulate cortex, and between amydgala and insula was significantly stronger in control group than in the Internet addicts, while the connectivity in between the orbito frontal cortex and insula showed stronger negative correlation in the Internet addicts relative to control group (p < 0.001, uncorrected). No significant relationship between functional connectivity strength and current degree of Internet addiction and degree of impulsitivy was seen. Conclusion: This study found that Internet addicts had declined connectivity strength in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and other regions (e.g., ACC, IPC, and insula) during resting-state. It may reflect deficits in the OFC function to process information from different area in the corticostriatal reward network. Application: The results might help to develop theoretical modeling of Internet addiction for Internet addiction discrimination.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.199-206
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• 2006

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate comparison of static MRI and pseudo-dynamic (cine) MRI in temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder patients. Materials and Methods: In this investigation, 33 patients with TMJ disorders were examined using both conventional static MRI and pseudo-dynamic MRI. Multiple spoiled gradient recalled acquisition in the steady state (SPGR) images were obtained when mouth opened and closed. Proton density weighted images were obtained at the closed and open mouth position in static MRI. Two oral and maxillofacial radiologists evaluated location of the articular disk, movement of condyle and bony change respectively and the posterior boundary of articular disk was obtained. Results: No statistically significant difference was found in the observation of articular disk position, mandibular condylar movement and posterior boundary of articular disk using static MRI and pseudo-dynamic MRI (P<0.05). Statistically significant difference was noted in bony changes of condyle using static MRI and pseudo-dynamic MRI (P<0.05). Conclusion: This study showed that pseudo-dynamic MRI didn't make a difference in diagnosing internal derangement of TMJ in comparison with static MRI. But it was considered as an additional method to be supplemented in observing bony change.