• Development and Reproduction
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2004

The potential importance of proteomic approaches has been clearly demonstrated in other fields of human medical research, including liver and heart disease and certain forms of cancer. However, reproductive researches have been applied to proteomics poorly. Proteomics can be defined as the systematic analysis of proteins for their identity, quantity, and function. It could increase the predictability of early drug development and identify non-invasive biomarkers of toxicity or efficacy. Proteome analysis is most commonly accomplished by the combination of two-dimensional gel electrophoresis(2DE) and MALDI-TOF(matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight) MS(mass spectrometry) or protein chip array and SELDI-TOF(surface-enhanced laser desorption ionization-time of flight) MS. In addition understanding the possessing knowledge of the developing biomarkers used to assess reproductive biology will also be essential components relevant to the topic of reproduction. The continued integration of proteomic and genomic data will have a fundamental impact on our understanding of the normal functioning of cells and organisms and will give insights into complex cellular processes and disease and provides new opportunities for the development of diagnostics and therapeutics. The challenge to researchers in the field of reproduction is to harness this new technology as well as others that are available to a greater extent than at present as they have considerable potential to greatly improve our understanding of the molecular aspects of reproduction both in health and disease.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.449-455
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• 2018

This study was conducted to analyze the correlation between changes in white matter and homocysteine concentration through brain computed tomography of healthy 50-75 year old subjects without stroke or dementia history. We studied 722 out of 900 patients who underwent health screening at one hospital from 2016 to 2017. Based on the medical records, retrospective studies were conducted and analyzed using SPSS. A chi-square test, T-test and univariate logistic regression analysis were used for analysis. After the subjects were divided into the group with and without white matter changes, the population characteristics were analyzed. The mean age, homocysteine concentration and prevalence of hypertension and diabetes were higher and the duration of education was shorter in the group with white matter changes. In the group with white matter changes, the population increased as homocysteine concentration increased. When the odds ratio was compared based on the lowest group (Q1), age [p<0.001], hypertension [p<0.001] and hyperhomocysteinemia [p=0.021] were risk factors for white matter changes. We also identified modifiable risk factors such as hypertension and hyperhomocysteinemia to prevent complications of white matter changes. However, there has been no report of risk for the each causes of hyperhomocysteinemia and relationship between white matter changes and homocysteine concentration in Koreans. Therefore, large scale prospective studies are needed to better understand this topic.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.52 no.9
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• pp.991-998
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• 2009

Purpose : Thyroid hormone is essential for development of the brain in early life. Thyroid dysfunction is more common in the first 2-4 postnatal weeks of life in premature infants than in term infants. This study aimed to identify the prevalence and clinical course of thyroid dysfunction in prematurity. Methods : Premature infants admitted to and given neonatal screenings at Dankook University Hospital between April 1999 and March 2008 were included in this study. We retrospectively reviewed medical records and categorized subjects into six groups: normal, hypothyroidism, hyperthyrotropinemia, hypothyroxinemia, delayed onset of hypothyroidism, and delayed onset of hyperthyrotropinemia. Results : Among 599 subjects, 136 (23%) had initially abnormal thyroid function test (TFT); transient hypothyroxinemia was the most frequent condition (118, 20%). In addition, 8 (17%) of 46 subjects with initially normal TFT levels showed delayed onset of hyperthyrotropinemia with or without low free thyroxine ($fT_4$). Thyroxine was prescribed for 10 patients (1.7%) due to low $fT_4$ levels but was discontinued in 9 patients during follow-up. Thyroid scan confirmed ectopic thyroid in one patient. Conclusion : Thyroid dysfunction was frequently seen in premature infants, but most of the conditions were transient. In addition, some infants showed delayed TSH elevation on routine follow-up. Therefore, a recheck of the thyroid function of premature infants at 3-4 weeks is recommended, even if normal thyroid function is initially seen, especially in prematurity of less than 33 weeks of gestational age or birth weight of less than 2,500 grams.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.132-139
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• 2018

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the effects of nutritional intervention focused on a Nutrition Support Team (NST) in patients receiving enteral nutrition (EN) in general hospital wards. Methods: The electronic medical records of 95 adult patients admitted in C university hospital and received EN supply for more than 3 days at a general ward were analyzed retrospectively. The subjects were classified into the intervention group (n = 40) and non-intervention group (n = 55). Results: The calorie support rate (%) and protein support rate (%) increased significantly only in the intervention group after 2 weeks compared to the rate upon admission. The serum albumin levels increased in the intervention group after 2 weeks compared to the levels at admission, but decreased in the non-intervention group. The glucose levels decreased only in the intervention group compared to that at admission. Conclusion: The nutritional status of the patients was improved by the proper planning of nutrition management from the beginning of hospitalization and systematically managing the nutrition intervention of the NST.

• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.343-349
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• 1994

A number of neurological syndromes(e.g. tardive dyskinesia) are developed as a consequence of chronic treatment with neuroleptics or antipsychotic agents. Despite the long and succesful use of phenothiazine derivatives and related agents in the treatment of certain states of mental disease, the mechanisms of these drugs are still poorly understood. One current hypothesis from extensive reviews is that these compounds might significantly interfere with the cyclic nucleotide system in brain (Levin and Weiss, 1977; Nowicki et al., 1991; Haley et al., 1992). Nitric oxide (NO), one of an interesting messenger molecule and aberrant transmitter, is believed to play a important role in biological functions of cyclic nucleotides in nervous system. It has been reported that calcium-dependent NO synthesis in endothelial cytosol is mediated by calmodulin which is supposed to be tightly related to pharmacological actions of antipsychotic agents. In the present study, the effect of several antipsychotic agents on the activity of NO synthesis and formation of cyclic GMP were investigated. These agents inhibited both the formation of $[^3H]L-citrulline$ and that of $[^3H]cyclic$ GMP by concentration-dependent manner, and their inhibiting patterns are so similar to that of calmodulin antagonist.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.45-52
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• 2009

Digital Mammography is an efficient imaging technique for the detection and diagnosis of breast pathological disorders. Six mammographic criteria such as number of cluster, number, size, extent and morphologic shape of microcalcification, and presence of mass, were reviewed and correlation with pathologic diagnosis were evaluated. It is very important to find breast cancer early when treatment can reduce deaths from breast cancer and breast incision. In screening breast cancer, mammography is typically used to view the internal organization. Clusterig microcalcifications on mammography represent an important feature of breast mass, especially that of intraductal carcinoma. Because microcalcification has high correlation with breast cancer, a cluster of a microcalcification can be very helpful for the clinical doctor to predict breast cancer. For this study, three steps of quantitative evaluation are proposed : DoG filter, adaptive thresholding, Expectation maximization. Through the proposed algorithm, each cluster in the distribution of microcalcification was able to measure the number calcification and length of cluster also can be used to automatically diagnose breast cancer as indicators of the primary diagnosis.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.718-723
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• 2008

Background: The advances in surgical techniques, anesthesia management, perfusion methodology and postoperative intensive care have markedly decreased the mortality and cardiac morbidity of patients who undergo heart surgery over the past 2 decades. Nevertheless, it is well recognized that cardiac surgery carries a substantial risk for central nervous system complications. This study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of subclinical cerebrovascular lesions in the head and neck by performing magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), and we investigated the clinical course of patients who had abnormal lesion seen on head and neck MRA. Material and Method: The subjects were 107 patients (71 men and 36 women ranging in age from 21 to 83 years) who were scheduled for cardiac surgery under nonemergency conditions between October 2005 and June 2008. Informed consent was obtained before the MRA. The carotid arteries, intracranial arteries and brain parenchyme were examined for subclinical cerebrovascular lesions by performing MRA. We reviewed the patients' medical records and MR findings to evaluate the prevalence of neurologically high risk patients and their clinical course. Result: The overall prevalence of neurologically high risk patients was 15.7% (17 patients). Among these patients, 11 patients had ischemic heart disease and 6 patients had valvular heart disease. Only 2 patients had a history of cerebrovascular disease. The clinical courses of 14 patients (13.1%) were changed according to their MRI findings. Conclusion: The prevalence of subclinical cerebrovascular disease in patients who were scheduled for cardiac surgery was higher than was expected. MR angiography was of value to identify these patients.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.5-15
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• 1980

The first recorded trypanosomiasis epidemic in Uganda took place at the beginning of this century in the islands and in a strip along the northern shores of Lake Victoria, which resulted in deaths of 1/3 million people. The disease was partly controlled by early 1930's and continued to occur sporadically in certain localized foci. The disease has however flared up in an explosive outbreak in Busoga district along Lake Victoria since 1977. The incidence of disease in northern district adjacent to Southern Sudan is also increasing lately. This paper describes the three month observation on the surveillance and control activities in the epidemic areas and of various health units including the Vector Control Division, the Tsetse fly Control Division, Tororo Trypanosomiasis Research Institute, medical units in Busoga, and Acholi districts. Data analysis and review were made of disease information so far collected by various health units in the Ministry of Health and district health offices. The findings may be summarized in the following: 1) A total of 12, 100 patients and 38 deaths: have occured in Busoga district since 1977 onward, and over 100 cases of diseases arc occuring in the Northern region bordering Southern Sudan. 2) the distribution of trypanosomiasis is characterized with two district patterns. The disease caused by Trypanosoma rhodesiense occurs in Busoga and is transmitted by Glossina palpalis, G. fuscipes infested in the islands and in the northern shore of forests of Lake Victoria. Another type caused by Trypanosoma gambiense occurs in Madi and Acholi in the north and is transmitted by Glossina morsitans in Savannah. 3) The house survey in Rusoga indicated that most of patients keep domestic animals in their house premises, and are engaging in either farming or fishing. Practically all the patients remembered that they had been bitten by tsetse in the field. 4) The routine diagnostic methods in the hospital laboratory is carried out through the microscopic examination of trypanosome with Giemsa stain of blood and cerebro-spinal fluid, The measurement of ESR and IgM has been used by Tororo Tryponosomiasis Research Institute for field screening.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.45 no.1 s.142
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• pp.31-36
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• 2006

Inflammation in the brain has known to be associated with the development of a various neurologiacal diseases. The hallmark of neuro-inflammation is the activation of microglia, brain macrophage. Pro-inflammatory compounds including nitric oxide(NO) are the main cause of neuro-degenerative disease such as Alzheimer's disease. In the study, we examined whether Harmonia axyridis extracts inhibit the NO production by a direct method using Griess reagent, western blotting and by RT-PCR(Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reactionin) the gene expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase(iNOS). Distilled water$(H_2O)$ and methanol(MeOH) extracts of H. axyridis inhibited the protein expression of TNF-a(Tumor Necrosis Factor) and IL-6(Interleukin) in LPS (Lipopolysaccharide) stimulated BV-2 cells at the concentration of 100 ng/ml. Incubation of BV-2 cells with the extracts of $H_2O$ of MeOH inhibited the LPS induced NO and iNOS protein. And this inhibition of iNOS protein is concordant with the inhibition of iNOS mRNA expression. These data suggested that H. axyridis extracts may play a crucial role in inhibiting the NO production.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.164-172
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• 2016

Objectives: This study attempted to evaluate the usefulness and direction of development of post-traumatic assessment and interventions based on the opinions of psychiatrics and disaster and trauma-related experts using the Delphi survey technique. Methods: In-depth individual interviews served as the pre-survey and were followed by Delphi primary and secondary surveys. Specialists in child and adolescent mental health, psychological support professionals specialized in disasters and related practitioners with experience of disasters in Korea completed a set of questionnaires and participated in focus group interviews and in-depth individual interviews on post-traumatic assessment and intervention. Results: We found that the following issues have a significant impact on the interventions after disasters: the proper time of the initial interview in the event of a disaster, assessment notices, aged assessment services, mandatory enforcement measures, scale screening and treatment intervention elements, symptoms degree classification, intervention standardization, the use of a levelled program, care unit environment, and operation plan. Conclusion: This study proposed effective mental health intervention measures and has implications for the development of evaluation treatment protocols after disasters.