• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.360-372
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• 2010

Concentrations of ambient air particles such as total suspended particulates (TSP), particulate matter $(PM)_{10}$, and $PM_{2.5}$, were monitored simultaneously from May to June, 2007, at four locations at Alashan and Beijing in China, and Seoul and Gosan in South Korea. These monitoring sites are in the pathway of Asian dust (AD) storms traveling from China to the Korean peninsula. An AD event was observed in the Korean peninsula on May 25-26. During the sampling period, the average concentrations of TSP and PM10 were each higher than $150\;{\mu}g/m^3$ in Alashan and Beijing, but not in Seoul and Gosan. The concentration of TSP in Alashan (where the dust storm originated) on the day of the AD event reached $1824.7\;{\mu}g/m^3$, this being the highest concentration of air particles observed during the sampling period. The level was decreased to 15% of this ($274.7\;{\mu}g/m^3$) in Seoul and to 8.7% ($159.0\;{\mu}g/m^3$) in Gosan when the AD was observed two days later in Korea. Gosan, a representative background site in East Asia, displayed the lowest concentration of particles, with this maximal TSP concentration of $159\;{\mu}g/m^3$. Inorganic element contents in the air particles were also measured, and the concentrations in the four different regions compared. Concentrations of anthropogenically-enriched heavy metals in $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$, such as lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury, were higher in the metropolitan cities of Beijing and Seoul compared to non-industrialized regions of Alashan and Gosan. However, the concentrations of inorganic soil elements including iron, magnesium, aluminum sodium, and manganese, were higher in Alashan compared to those in other sampling sites.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.324-331
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• 2013

The addition and removal of N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) molecules on serine or threonine residues of a protein is called O-GlcNAcylation. This post-translational modification occurs on both cytoplasmic and nuclear protein, and is fast and reversible as comparable to phosphorylation. In contrast to the phospho-signaling cycles, this emerging moon-lightening signaling is cycled by only two enzymes, O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) and O-GlcNAcase (OGA). The simple machinery is a good evolutionary adaptation of a cell for quick accommodation to continuously fluctuating intra- and extracellular microenvironments. Rather than "switching" on or off a specific proteins - this would be done by phosphorylation where numerous specific kinases and phosphatases are involved - O-GlcNAcylation would play a "rheostat" which would be much more delicately increase or decrease the efficacy of signal transductions in response to cellular nutrient and stress conditions. Interestingly, recent evidence indicates that O-GlcNAc is further modified by phosphorylation. The O-GlcNAc-P will upgrade the modulation efficiency of cellular processes to continuous 'analogue' level. So far, only one protein AP180 was reported to have O-GlcNAc-P on Thr310. But, proteomic data from our laboratory indicate that there are multiple O-GlcNAc-P proteins, constituting "O-GlcNAc-P'om". This will focus on the possibility of existence of "O-GlcNAc-P'om".

• The Korean Journal of Vision Science
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.589-596
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• 2018

Purpose : We compared intraocular pressure (IOP) values measured by two types of tonometers in condition of normotensive and glaucomatous rat model. We tried to determine which of tonometer can more easily and accurately measure the IOP of animal model. Methods : Glaucomatous eyes were induced by intracameral injections of hyaluronic acid in right eyes of six-week-old male Spargue-Dawley (SD) rats. Normotensive contralateral eyes were left eyes of the SD rats. IOP was measured using a rebound tonometer (Tonolab) and a immersive tonometer ($Tonopen^{(R)}$ XL) about 3:00 pm. Results : The mean IOP values of normotensive control eyes were $10.80{\pm}1.03mmHg$ by Tonopen, and $15.10{\pm}0.73mmHg$ by Tonolab. They were statistically insignificant (p = .1). The mean IOP values of glaucomatous experimental eyes were $30.20{\pm}2.67mmHg$ by Tonopen, and $37.90{\pm}2.73mmHg$ by Tonolab. They were statistically insignificant (p = .95). High IOP values of glaucomatous eyes by two types of tonometers had strong positive correlation each other (r = .904, p < .01). Conclusion : This is the first study to compare IOP values using two types of tonometers between normotensive and glaucomatous model made by intracameral injection of hyaluronic acid. Tonopen should be used carefully when the IOP is within normal range, and both Tonopen and Tonolab can be used reliably when the IOP is high.

• Obstetrics & gynecology science
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• v.61 no.6
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• pp.662-668
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• 2018

Objective This study was to identify the risk factors for cytological progression in women with atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASC-US) or low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL). Methods We analyzed data from women infected with the human papillomavirus (HPV) who participated in the Korean HPV cohort study. The cohort recruited women aged 20-60 years with abnormal cervical cytology (ASC-US or LSIL) from April 2010. All women were followed-up at every 6-month intervals with cervical cytology and HPV DNA testing. Results Of the 1,158 women included, 654 (56.5%) and 504 (43.5%) women showed ASC-US and LSIL, respectively. At the time of enrollment, 143 women tested positive for HPV 16 (85 single and 58 multiple infections). Cervical cytology performed in the HPV 16-positive women showed progression in 27%, no change in 23%, and regression in 50% of the women at the six-month follow-up. The progression rate associated with HPV 16 infection was higher than that with infection caused by other HPV types (relative risk [RR], 1.75; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.08-2.84; P=0.028). The cytological progression rate in women with persistent HPV 16 infection was higher than that in women with incidental or cleared infections (P<0.001). Logistic regression analysis showed a significant relationship between cigarette smoking and cytological progression (RR, 4.15; 95% CI, 1.01-17.00). Conclusion The cytological progression rate in HPV 16-positive women with ASC-US or LSIL is higher than that in women infected with other HPV types. Additionally, cigarette smoking may play a role in cytological progression.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.65-81
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• 2022

Objectives This study aimed to assess the effects of oral administration of deer antler extracts on an osteoporosis-induced animal model. We analyzed the results of using deer antler single extracts on animal models with osteoporosis through a systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods We included osteoporosis studies in animal experiments that administrated deer antler extracts orally. We searched the following 13 databases without a language restriction: PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang, Korean Medical Database (KMbase), National Digital Science Library (NDSL), Korean Traditional Knowledge (Koreantk), Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System (OASIS), Research Information Sharing Service (RISS), Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI), and Koreanstudies Information Service System (KISS). We used Systematic Review Centre for Laboratory Animal Experimentation's risk of bias tool for assessing the methodological quality of the included studies. Results A total of 299 potentially relevant studies were searched and 11 were included for a systematic review. Nine studies used a single deer antler extract. A study compared the effects of single extracts of deer antler and antler glue, while another study compared the effects of three single extracts of deer antler, old antler, and antler glue. For evaluating the intervention effect, bone mineral density (BMD) was measured as the primary outcome, while the histomorphometric indicators of the bone and serum alkaline phosphatase and osteocalcin levels were used as the secondary outcome variables. On conducting a meta-analysis of studies on single deer antler extract, BMD was observed to be significantly increased compared to that in control group (standardized mean difference [SMD]=2.11; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.58~2.65; Z=7.75; p<0.00001; I²=56%). As a result of meta-analysis, according to the concentration of deer antler, the group with high concentration showed statistically significantly higher BMD than the group with low concentration (SMD=1.28; 95% CI=0.74~1.82; Z=4.63; p<0.00001; I²=9%). Conclusions The research shows that the deer antler extracts have significant anti-osteoporotic effects on the osteoporosis-induced animal model. However the studies included in this research had a high methodological risk of bias. This indicates the requirement of considerable attention in the interpretation of the study results.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.216-223
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• 2022

Objectives: Oxidative stress plays a key role in chronic and acute brain disorders and neuronal damage associated with Alzheimer disease (AD) and other neurodegeneration symptoms. The neuroprotective effects of berberine and Berberis vulgaris (barberry) root extract against apoptosis induced by hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) in the human SH-SY5Y cell line were studied. Methods: The methanolic extraction of barberry root was performed using a maceration procedure. Oxidative stress was induced in SH-SY5Y cells by H₂O₂, and an MTT assay was applied to evaluate the neuroprotective effects of berberine and barberry root extract. The cells were pretreated with the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) of each compound (including berberine, barberry root extract, and H₂O₂), and the anti-apoptotic effects of all components were investigated using RT-PCR. Results: The SH-SY5Y cell viability increased in both groups exposed to 75 and 150 ppm barberry extract compared with that in the H₂O₂-treated group. The data showed that exposing SH-SY5Y cells to 30 ppm berberine significantly increased the cell viability compared with the H₂O₂-treated group; treatment with 150 and 300 ppm berberine and H₂O₂ significantly decreased the SH-SY5Y cell viability and was associated with berberine cytotoxicity. The mRNA levels of Bax decreased significantly under treatment with berberine at 30 ppm compared with the control group. A significant increase in Bcl-2 expression was observed only after treatment with the IC₅₀ of berberine. The expression level of Bcl-2 in cells exposed to both berberine and barberry extracts was also significantly higher than that in cells exposed to H₂O₂. Conclusion: The outcomes of this study suggest that treatment of SH-SY5Y cells with barberry extract and berberine could suppress apoptosis by regulating the actions of Bcl-2 family members.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.12
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• pp.63-70
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• 2022

The essence of the definition of "tolerance" is analyzed. Motivational, knowledge and behavioral criteria for tolerance of future teachers are highlighted. Indicators of the motivational criterion are the formation of value orientations, motivational orientation, and the development of empathy. Originality and productivity of thoughts and judgments, tact of dialogue, pedagogical ethics and tact are confirmed as indicators of the knowledge criterion. The behavioral criterion includes social activity as a life position, emotional and volitional endurance, and self-control of one's own position. The formation of tolerance is influenced by a number of factors: the social environment, the information society, existing stereotypes and ideas in society, the system of education and relationships between people, and the system of values. The main factors that contribute to the education of tolerance in future teachers are highlighted. Analyzing the structure of tolerance, it is necessary to distinguish the following functions of tolerance: - motivational (determines the composition and strength of motivation for social activity and behavior, promotes the development of life experience, because it allows the individual to accept other points of view and vision of the solution; - informational (understanding the situation, the personality of another person); - regulatory (tolerance has a close connection with the strong - willed qualities of a person: endurance, selfcontrol, self-regulation, which were formed in the process of Education); - adaptive (allows the individual to develop in the process of joint activity a positive, emotional, stable attitude to the activity itself, which the individual carries out, to the object and subject of joint relations). The implementation of pedagogical functions in the information society: educational, organizational, predictive, informational, communicative, controlling, etc. provides grounds to consider pedagogical tolerance as an integrative personal quality of a representative of any profession in the field of "person-person". The positions that should become conditions for the formation of tolerance of the future teacher in the information society are listed.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.517-525
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• 2023

The emergence and spread of multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MRPA) have become a serious problem worldwide. The involvement of metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs) in inducing carbapenem resistance is particularly acute. However, unlike other members of the Enterobacteriaceae genus, new clones of P. aeruginosa are constantly emerging and rapidly replacing previously prevalent dominant clones. Therefore, this study aimed to perform antimicrobial resistance gene analysis, integron gene cassette analysis using DNA sequencing, and plasmid transfer analysis by conjugation to investigate the antimicrobial resistance dynamics of 18 P. aeruginosa strains isolated from various medical samples at a general hospital in Busan from September 2017 to September 2019. All 18 strains showed extensively drug-resistant (XDR) phenotype and were resistant to most antibiotics, except colistin (100%) but were susceptible to aztreonam (22.2%) and ceftazidime (16.6%). Approximately 66.7% of the strains had Class 1 integrons showing various antimicrobial resistances. Notably, IMP-6 ST235 (66.7%), VIM-2 ST357 (16.7%), and IMP-1 ST446(16.7%) were identified. The identification of IMP-1-producing ST446, previously unreported in Korea, is noteworthy considering the emergence and prevalence of another MRPA high-risk clone.

• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.51-63
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• 2002

The purpose of this study was to be of use for getting rid of job stress from dental technicians, by examining how much they were stressed out at work place as one of the professional medical personnels. The subjects in this study were 255 selected dental technicians who were working in the region of Taegu. The one-on-one interview was conducted from March 1 to 30, 2001, with structured questionnaire. The questionnaire sued in this study included 19 question items about the general characteristics and 29 items regarding job stress. The job stress was categorized into seven subareas based on earlier studies and considering the job situations of dental technicians: heavy workload, job conflicts, improper treatment, role and job knowledge, human relations, physical environment and personal matters. The job stress extent was measured on five-point Likert scale that is widely used in social science: one point for no stress, two for little stress, three for so-so, four for a little stress, and five for severe stress. Therefore, a higher point means a severer job stress. The reliability of the questionnaire turned out very good with Cronbach a = 0.9272. The findings of this study were as follows: 1. The general characteristics of the dental technicians investigated could be described as below: (1) By gender, 80.4% of the dental technicians were male, and 50.2%, the largest percentage, were in their 20s, followed by those in their 30s, those in their 40s, and those in their 50s in the order named. (2) The most common work place was dental technician shop(92.5%), followed by dental technology room in dental hospital or clinic and in general hospital in the order named. The primary duties were coating materials work(30.6%), followed by sculpture, grinding, partial and full denture and orthodontics in the order named. 2. The most larges (1) The most largest motivation to be a dental technician was its being a professional(33.7%), followed by the advice from others, their own aptitude, and good economic treatment in the order named. 3. Their job stress could be explained as below: (1) Their collective job stress average was 3.96$^{\circ}{\ae}$0.50 on the basis of 5 point, which showed that they were exposed to a fairly severe job stress. (2) By area, they were most stressed out from heavy workload (4.12), and they also were severely stressed from role and job knowledge(4.02) and personal matters(4.00). (3) By situation, they were most stressed when the disagreement of prosthesis that results from a specific error is unconditionally attributed to them(4.43). And they were also stressed a lot when their workload increases due to the rework(4.38), when a dentist asks something difficult for them to resolve(4.20), when heavy workload makes their working hours irregular and it's impossible to lead a personal life or have leisure time(4.16), and when they are o work for an excessively short time(4.16). This fact indicated that most of the dental technicians were exposed to a lot of stress in conjunction with job performance. 4. The main duties they took charge of didn't make any significant difference to their job stress, but yielded a significant difference to the extent of job stress in individual areas and the order of the most stressful one. Those who were engaged in grinding were most stressed from their own matters, whereas heavy workload was most stressful for those who were engaged in the other types of works. 5. As a result of seeing if their personal characteristics yielded any differences to job stress, the personal characteristics that made their job stress vary significantly were working hours, motivation of being a dental technician, job satisfaction and willingness to continue doing dental technology works. There was a tendency that longer working hours led to severer job stress, and those who chose to be a dental technician according to their own aptitude were less stressed than the others who became a dental technician because of economic reason or advices from others. And the people who were satisfied with their job were exposed to less job stress than the others who weren't, and those who had an intention to keep that job as much as possible were less stressed, compared to the others who hadn't.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.1377-1383
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• 2008

A bacterium producing non- or partially digestible dextran was isolated from kimchi broth by enrichment culture technique. The bacterium was identified tentatively as Leuconostoc sp. strain SKY. We established the response surface methodology (Box-Behnken design) to optimize the principle parameters such as culture pH, temperature, and yeast extract concentration for maximizing production of dextran. The ranges of parameters were determined based on prior screening works done at our laboratory and accordingly chosen as 5.5, 6.5, and 7.5 for pH, 25, 30, and $35^{\circ}C$ for temperature, and 1, 5, and 9 g/l yeast extract. Initial concentration of sucrose was 100 g/l. The mineral medium consisted of 3.0 g $KH_2PO_4$, 0.01 g $FeSO_4{\cdot}H_2O$, 0.01 g $MnSO_4{\cdot}4H_2O$, 0.2 g $MgSO_4{\cdot}7H_2O$, 0.01 g NaCl, and 0.05 g $CaCO_3$ per 1 liter deionized water. The optimum values of pH and temperature, and yeast extract concentration were obtained at pH (around 7.0), temperature (27 to $28^{\circ}C$), and yeast extract (6 to 7 g/l). The best dextran yield was 60% (dextran/g sucrose). The best dextran productivity was 0.8 g/h-l.