• BMB Reports
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• 제48권4호
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• pp.209-216
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• 2015

Stress is now recognized as a universal premorbid factor associated with many risk factors of various chronic diseases. Acute stress may induce an individual's adaptive response to environmental demands. However, chronic, excessive stress causes cumulative negative impacts on health outcomes through "allostatic load". Thus, monitoring the quantified levels of long-term stress mediators would provide a timely opportunity for prevention or earlier intervention of stressrelated chronic illnesses. Although either acute or chronic stress could be quantified through measurement of changes in physiological parameters such as heart rate, blood pressure, and levels of various metabolic hormones, it is still elusive to interpret whether the changes in circulating levels of stress mediators such as cortisol can reflect the acute, chronic, or diurnal variations. Both serum and salivary cortisol levels reveal acute changes at a single point in time, but the overall long-term systemic cortisol exposure is difficult to evaluate due to circadian variations and its protein-binding capacity. Scalp hair has a fairy predictable growth rate of approximately 1 cm/month, and the most 1 cm segment approximates the last month's cortisol production as the mean value. The analysis of cortisol in hair is a highly promising technique for the retrospective assessment of chronic stress. [BMB Reports 2015; 48(4): 209-216]

• BMB Reports
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• 제49권3호
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• pp.167-172
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• 2016

Kaiso is a Pox Virus and Zinc Finger (POZ-ZF) transcription factor with bi-modal DNA-binding specificity. Here, we demonstrated that Kaiso expression is inversely correlated with glucocorticoid receptor (GR) expression in breast carcinomas. Knockdown of Kaiso increased GR expression, while overexpression of Kaiso inhibited GR expression in breast cancer cells. Furthermore, Kaiso repressed GR proximal promoter-reporter activity in a dose-dependent manner. Remarkably, ChIP experiments demonstrated that endogenous Kaiso was associated with the GR promoter sequence in a methylation-dependent manner. Since glucocorticoids inhibit chemotherapyinduced apoptosis and have been widely used as a co-treatment of patients with breast cancer, we assessed the role of Kasio in GR-mediated anti-apoptotic effects. We found that overexpression of Kaiso attenuated the anti-apoptotic effects of glucocorticoids in breast cancer cells. Our findings suggest that GR is a putative target gene of Kaiso and suggest Kaiso to be a potential therapeutic target in GC-combination chemotherapy in breast cancer.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• 제22권2호통권57호
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• pp.165-170
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• 2007

Elevation of homocysteine levels is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and liver diseases. It has been reported that both streptozotocin-induced type I diabetic rats and obese type II diabetic rats have plasma total homocysteine lower than each control rats. We determined the effects of lean type II diabetes on homocysteine levels using type 2 diabetic Goto-Kakizaki rats. The concentrations of serum glucose were increased to ${\sim}two-fold$ of control levels and the total cholesterol levels were also increased in GK rats. Hepatic aspartate, histidine, threonine, alanine and methionine levels were significantly increased in GK rats. Plasma aspartate and glutamate levels were elevated, but threonine and arginine levels were decreased in GK rats. Plasma total homocysteine levels were not changed in GK rats, but hepatic total homocysteine levels were increased to ${\sim}three-fold$ of control levels. These results suggest that hepatic metabolism of sulfur-amino acid may be altered in diabetic condition.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제14권12호
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• pp.7215-7219
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• 2013

Background: Variation in metabolic genes is regarded as an important factor in processes leading to cancer. However, the effect of GSTT1 null genotype is divergent in the form of lung cancer. Methods: Studies were conducted at different research databases from 1990 to 2013 and the total odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated for lung cancer. Review Manager 5.2 and STATE 12 are employed. Results: Total OR value is calculated from 17 articles with 2,118 cases and 2,915 controls. We discovered no significant increase in lung cancer risk among subjects carrying GSTT1 null genotype [OR = 1.15; 95% CI 0.97-1.36] in this meta-analysis. Conclusion: The GSTT1 deletion polymorphism does not have a significant effect on the susceptibility to lung cancer overall in China.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• 제7권5호
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• pp.380-384
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• 2013

Zinc may participate in blood pressure regulation and in the pathogenesis of hypertension. The study examined the relationship between zinc status and blood pressure in obese Korean women. Forty obese women (body mass index (BMI) ${\geq}25kg/m^2$) aged 19-28 years participated in this study. Zinc intake was estimated from one 24 hour recall and 2-day diet records. Serum and urinary zinc concentrations were determined by atomic absorbance spectrophotometry. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were measured using an automatic sphygmometer. Metabolic variables, such as waist circumference, triglyceride, high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, fasting glucose, and fasting insulin, were also measured. Dietary zinc intake of obese women was averagely 7.5 mg/day. Serum zinc and urinary zinc concentrations were $13.4{\mu}mol/L$ and $378.7{\mu}g/day$, respectively. Averages of SBP and DBP were 119 mmHg and 78 mmHg. Dietary zinc intake was negatively correlated with SBP after adjusting for energy intake (P < 0.05), but serum and urinary zinc concentrations were not found to be correlated with SBP or DBP. Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that dietary zinc intake was inversely associated with SBP in obese women after adjusting for body weight, energy intake and sodium intake (P = 0.0145). The results show that dietary zinc intake may be an independent risk factor of elevated SBP in obese Korean women.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제19권7호
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• pp.666-674
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• 2009

An electrochemical bioreactor (ECB) composed of a cathode compartment and an air anode was used in this study to characterize the ethanol fermentation of Zymomonas mobilis. The cathode and air anode were constructed of modified graphite felt with neutral red (NR) and a modified porous carbon plate with cellulose acetate and porous ceramic membrane, respectively. The air anode operates as a catalyst to generate protons and electrons from water. The growth and ethanol production of Z. mobilis were 50% higher in the ECB than were observed under anoxic nitrogen conditions. Ethanol production by growing cells and the crude enzyme of Z. mobilis were significantly lower under aerobic conditions than under other conditions. The growing cells and crude enzyme of Z. mobilis did not catalyze ethanol production from pyruvate and acetaldehyde. The membrane fraction of crude enzyme catalyzed ethanol production from glucose, but the soluble fraction did not. NADH was oxidized to $NAD^+$in association with $H_2O_2$reduction, via the catalysis of crude enzyme. Our results suggested that NADH/$NAD^+$balance may be a critical factor for ethanol production from glucose in the metabolism of Z. mobilis, and that the metabolic activity of both growing cells and crude enzyme for ethanol fermentation may be induced in the presence of glucose.

• 대한의생명과학회지
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• 제12권3호
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• pp.191-196
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• 2006

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors may be acting several decades before CVD becomes manifest. Data from young subjects may be valuable in further elucidating at this issue. We evaluated the association between baPWV (brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity) and cardiovascular risk factors in apparently healthy young adults. A total of 46 male and 91 female adolescents aged $18{\sim}25 years$ were studied. baPWV increased in a dose-responsive manner as the number of metabolic syndrome components. In both gender groups, baPWV was positively correlated with age. In males, waist, circumference total cholesterol, and LDL-cholesterol were positively correlated with baPWV, and in females, blood pressure (BP) was positively correlated with baPWV. Age, gender, mean BP, and Homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) were found to be independent factors associated with baPWV levels. In conclusion, mean BP, age, gender, and HOMA-IR were associated with baPWV in young adults. This result suggests that multiple cardiovascular risk factors may be associated with an increased risk of arterial stiffness in young adults.

• 대한의생명과학회지
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• 제15권3호
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• pp.171-177
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• 2009

This study investigated whether increased adiposity is prevented by estrogen replacement in female ovariectomized (OVX) C57BL/6J mice, an animal model of human menopause and whether these metabolic changes reflect the inhibitory action of estrogen on peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor $\gamma$ ($PPAR{\gamma}$)-regulated gene expression. Treatment of $17{\beta}$-estradiol for the last one week of the experiment decreased high fat diet-induced body weight gain and white adipose tissue mass compared to OVX control mice. Histological analysis showed that administration of $17{\beta}$-estradiol to mice decreased the size of adipocytes in parametrial adipose tissue versus OVX control mice. In addition, $17{\beta}$-estradiol reduced the adipose expression of $PPAR{\gamma}$ as well as $PPAR{\gamma}$ target genes such as adipocyte fatty acid binding protein and tumor necrosis factor $\alpha$. These results suggest that $17{\beta}$-estradiol may inhibit adiposity through reducing the $PPAR{\gamma}$ activities in female OVX mice.

• Toxicological Research
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• 제18권3호
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• pp.215-226
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• 2002

Acute or repeated physical exercise affects a large number of physiological parameters including hemodynamics, respiration, pH, temperature, gastrointestinal function and biotransformation, which determine the pharmacokinetics of drugs and chemicals. The rate and the amount of a chemical reaching the active site are altered by physical exercise, which results in significant changes in pharmacolosical/toxicological activity of the chemical. This aspect of physical exercise has vast implication in therapeutics and in safety evaluation, particularly for chemicals that have a low margin of safety. However there appears to be a wide inter- and intraindividual variation in the effects of physical exercise depend-ing on the duration, intensity and type of exercise, and also on the properties of each chemical. It is suggested that more studies need to be done to determine which factor(s) plays a major role in the disposition of chemicals in human/animals performing physical exercise. Certain chemicals induce severe toxicity due to metabolic conversion to reactive intermediate metabolites. it is suggested that repeated exercise may enhance the free radical scavenging system by increasing the activity of antioxidant enzymes. This area of research remain to be explored to elucidate the interaction of exercise and chemical on the antioxidant system.

• 한국임상약학회지
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• 제16권1호
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• pp.46-51
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• 2006

Dyslipidemia is an important CHD risk factor in diabetic patients. We conducted this study to assess the pattern of dyslipidemia in type 2 diabetes patients, to examine the demographic and clinical factors associated with dyslipidemia and to evaluate attaining within the lipid target goals and treatment strategies. A retrospective analysis was conducted among patents diagnosed type 2 diabetes at outpatient clinic in endocrinology between January 2003 and December 2004. Clinical history and physical examination were reviewed and laboratory data including blood glucose, HbAlc, lipid levels were recorded sequentially at least 1 year. In 882 patients with type 2 diabetes, 437 patients (49.6%) have dyslipidemia and 73% of them (319 patients) received lipid-lowering agents. 244 patients (94 males, 150 females, mean age 60 years old) were susceptible to analyses. The most frequent pattern of dyslipidemia is high LDL level and high TG levels (28%). Metabolic syndrome and macrovascular complication were significant negative independent association with lipid levels within the target goals (p<0.05). Only 15.2% (19 males, 18 females) attained within the lipid tar- get goals. Patients with diabetic dyslipidemia need maximization of lipid-lowering agents, increasing the fibric acid derivatives prescription and the effort to correction of low HDL and/or high TG.