• BMB Reports
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.115-119
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• 2005

Replacement of valine by tryptophan or tyrosine at position $\alpha$96 of the $\alpha$ chain ($\alpha$96Val), located in the ${\alpha}_1{\beta}_2$ subunit interface of hemoglobin leads to low oxygen affinity hemoglobin, and has been suggested to be due to the extra stability introduced by an aromatic amino acid at the $\alpha$96 position. The characteristic of aromatic amino acid substitution at the $\alpha$96 of hemoglobin has been further investigated by producing double mutant r Hb ($\alpha$42Tyr$\rightarrow$ Phe, $\alpha$96Val$\rightarrow$Trp). r Hb ($\alpha$42Tyr$\rightarrow$Phe) is known to exhibit almost no cooperativity in binding oxygen, and possesses high oxygen affinity due to the disruption of the hydrogen bond between $\alpha$42Tyr and $\beta$99Asp in the ${\alpha}_1{\beta}_2$ subunit interface of deoxy Hb A. The second mutation, $\alpha$96Val$\rightarrow$Trp, may compensate the functional defects of r Hb ($\alpha$42Tyr$\rightarrow$Phe), if the stability due to the introduction of trypophan at the $\alpha$96 position is strong enough to overcome the defect of r Hb ($\alpha$42Tyr$\rightarrow$Phe). Double mutant r Hb ($\alpha$42Tyr$\rightarrow$Phe, $\alpha$96Val$\rightarrow$Trp) exhibited almost no cooperativity in binding oxygen and possessed high oxygen affinity, similarly to that of r Hb ($\alpha$42Tyr$\rightarrow$Phe). $^1$H NMR spectroscopic data of r Hb ($\alpha$42Tyr$\rightarrow$Phe, $\alpha$96Val$\rightarrow$Trp) also showed a very unstable deoxy-quaternary structure. The present investigation has demonstrated that the presence of the crucible hydrogen bond between $\alpha$42Tyr and $\beta$99Asp is essential for the novel oxygen binding properties of deoxy Hb ($\alpha$96Val$\rightarrow$Trp).

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.50 no.9
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• pp.868-874
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• 2007

Purpose : We performed this study to investigate the perinatal and developmental features of the patients with congenital myotonic dystrophy (CDM) confirmed by the molecular genetic method and the clinical characteristics of their mother, and to identify the relation between the number of CTG repeats and the clinical severity.Methods : A retrospective review of the medical records and the results of the dystrophia myotonica protein kinase (DMPK) gene test was done for the patients who were confirmed as CDM through gene analysis from January 2001 to September 2006. Results : All of the eight patients (male 2, female 6) showed moderate to severe degree of perinatal distress and feeding difficulty associated with profound hypotonia. Three patients had the history of polyhydramnios and two patients had equinovarus deformity. The developmental milestones were delayed in all patients, which improved gradually with age. All of their mothers demonstrated myotonic symptoms and typical myopathic face. The number of CTG repeats in DMPK gene analysis ranged 1,000-2,083, and there was no significant correlation between the number of CTG repeats and the time of walking alone. Conclusion : All patients with CDM presented with severe hypotonia in perinatal period, and developmental delay thereafter, which were improved with age. All of their mothers manifested myotonic symptoms with typical myopathic face, and the identification of such features greatly contributed to the diagnosis of the patients. The number of CTG repeats had no significant influence on the motor development.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.143-158
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• 1990

Metal complexes were prepared by reacting uranium (Ⅵ), thorium (Ⅳ) and rare earth metal (Ⅲ) ions including Nd (Ⅲ), Sm (Ⅲ) and Ho (Ⅲ) with macrocyclic ligands including five crown ethers, nine crownands and one cryptand ligands, and subjected to NMR studies in order to examine coordination sites of the ligands and compositions of the complexes formed. Among the marcocyclic ligands, crown ethers and crownand ligands have shown down-field shifts of the methylene protons of the lcigands by forming stable complexes with all the metal ions and the differences of chemical shifts were decreased as increasing of the cavity-size of crown ethers for the same metal ions and decreasing of the atomic number of the rare earth metals for the same ligands. It has been found that crownand 22 gave a stable complex with uranium(Ⅵ) ion by the coordination through both oxygen and nitrogen atoms of the ligand whereas no complex was formed with the rare earth metal(Ⅲ) ions, which on the other hand were found to form stable complexes with cryptand 221. The rest of the crowand ligands have also been found to form stable complexes with uranium(Ⅵ) ion by coordinating through all the oxygen and nitrogen atoms of the ligands whereas no complexes were formed with the rare earth metal(Ⅲ) ions. It has also been shown by 1H-NMR study that uranium(Ⅵ), thorium(Ⅳ) and rare earth metal(Ⅲ) ions formed 1:1 complexes with the macrocyclic ligands except for thorium(Ⅳ) complex of 12C4 in which the mole ratio of metal to ligand is 1:2. More stable metal complexes show larger changes in chemical shifts of the coordinated ligand protons. Finally, the rare earth metal(Ⅲ) complexes of 18C6 have shown ligand exchange reaction with the solvent molecules in acetylacetone solution, which was not observed for the uranium (Ⅵ) complexes.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.39-46
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• 2003

Purpose : To develop a theoretical model for magnetic relaxation behavior of the superparamagnetic nano-particle agent, which demonstrates multi-functionality such as liver- and lymp node-specificity. Based on the developed model, the computer simulation was performed to clarify the relationship between relaxation time and the applied magnetic field strength. Materials and Methods : The ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide (USPIO) was encapsulated with biocompatiable polymer, to develop a relaxation model based on outsphere mechanism, which was resulting from diffusion and/or electron spin fluctuation. In addition, Brillouin function was introduced to describe the full magnetization by considering the fact that the low-field approximation, which was adapted in paramagnetic case, is no longer valid. The developed model describes therefore the T1 and T2 relaxation behavior of superparamagnetic iron oxide both in low-field and in high-field. Based on our model, the computer simulation was performed to test the relaxation behavior of superparamagnetic contrast agent over various magnetic fields using MathCad (MathCad, U.S.A.), a symbolic computation software. Results : For T1 and T2 magnetic relaxation characteristics of ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide, the theoretical model showed that at low field (<1.0 Mhz), $\tau_{S1}(\tau_{S2}$, in case of T2), which is a correlation time in spectral density function, plays a major role. This suggests that realignment of nano-magnetic particles is most important at low magnetic field. On the other hand, at high field, $\tau$, which is another correlation time in spectral density function, plays a major role. Since $\tau$ is closely related to particle size, this suggests that the difference in R1 and R2 over particle sizes, at high field, is resulting not from the realignment of particles but from the particle size itself. Within normal body temperature region, the temperature dependence of T1 and T2 relaxation time showed that there is no change in T1 and T2 relaxation times at high field. Especially, T1 showed less temperature dependence compared to T2. Conclusion : We developed a theoretical model of r magnetic relaxation behavior of ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide (USPIO), which was reported to show clinical multi-functionality by utilizing physical properties of nano-magnetic particle. In addition, based on the developed model, the computer simulation was performed to investigate the relationship between relaxation time of USPIO and the applied magnetic field strength.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.171-178
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• 2004

Metallothionein (MT) is a family of ubiquitous, low molecular weight (6-7 kDa), cysteine-rich protein with a high affinity to metal ions and has no aromatic amino acids and histidine. Some of the known functions of MT include detoxification of heavy metals and alkylating agents and neutralization of free radicals. Also, this protein may affect a number of cellular processes including gene expression, apoptosis, proliferation and differentiation. But, its actual functions are still not clear. The present study was undertaken to examine immunocytochemically the localization of MT in developing rat liver. On the day 11 of gestation, the fetal rat liver has already been formed and contained numerous oval cells with high nuclear cytoplasmic ratio, which were the progenitors of hepatic parenchymal cells, but no reaction products of MT were detected at this time. And then, positive reactions against MT started to appear predominantly in the parenchymal cells of liver from the 13th day after gestation. Reaction products, immunogold particles or brown coloration, were localized at both the nucleus and the cytoplasm of the parenchymal cells, except mitochondria. The intensity of this reaction gradually increased, and exhibited the strongest at birth. The intensity of MT staining and immunogold labelling diminished with growth, and by the 15th day after birth weak positive reaction was observed in the cells. In brief, positive reactions for MT were observed in the oval cells and the parenchymal cells during fetal stage, meanwhile they were present only in the parenchymal cells after birth. The present results suggest that MT possibly involves parechymal cell proliferation and differentiation through the storage or the supply of various metal ions in the developing rat liver.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.171-182
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• 2003

Objectives: This study was conducted to analyze the dental care utilization patterns and related factors of the rural residents. Methods: The data collected by interview and self-administered questionnaire survey of 524 peoples of Seongju county in Gyeongsanbuk-do. The summarized results are as follows. Results: The rate of persons who experienced the oral disease was 52.5% during 1 year and it was at most in the age group of 40-49. The rate of persons who had experienced the oral disease were investigated according to general characteristics, perception of oral health, being of regular treatment facility. Therefore the rate of persons who had experienced the oral disease was significantly higher the younger peoples, worse oral health status and being of the regular treatment source than the other groups. During 1 year period, 64.0% of the cases had treated the perceived oral disease, 36.0% did no action at all during last year. Among respondents, 49.4% had treated their oral disease at dental clinics, 8.0% had treated at community health center or subcenter and remains did not treated at all. The results of logistic regression analysis suggested that statistically significant factors in dental health care utilization were educational level, degree of pain, oral health status and regular treatment facility. Therefore the dental health care utilization rate was higher at groups with the high educational level, serious pain, better oral health status and being of the regular treatment source than other groups. 45.5% of the rural residents did not treat their oral disease immediately due to the no identified need, limitation of time(19.2%), economic limitation(19.2%), and geographical limitation(9.0%). Conclusions: In consideration of above findings, we may conclude that oral health community program to prevent oral diseases should be intensified, oral health education to raise oral health knowledge should be performed periodically.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.41 no.7
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• pp.936-942
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• 2012

In the present study, the effects of green tea catechin on microsomal phospholipase $A_2$ ($PLA_2$) activity and the arachidonic acid (AA) cascade in the lungs of microwave exposed rats were investigated. One Sprague-Dawley male rats weighting $100{\pm}10$ g was randomly assigned to the normal group and three were assigned to the microwave exposed groups. The microwave exposed groups were subdivided into three groups according to the levels of dietary catechin supplementation: catechin free diet (MW) group, 0.25% catechin (MW-0.25C) group and 0.5% catechin (MW-0.5C) group. Rats were sacrificed on the 6th day after microwave irradiation (2.45 GHz, 15 min). The lung microsomal $PLA_2$ activity in the MW and MW-0.25C groups was 30% and 15% greater than that of the normal group, respectively, whereas no significant difference between the normal group and MW-0.5C group was observed. The percentage of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) hydrolyzed in the lung microsome in the MW, MW-0.25C and MW-0.5C group increased by 47%, 18% and 20%, respectively, due to microwave irradiation. The formation of thromboxane $A_2$ ($TXA_2$) in the lung microsome was 50% greater in the MW group than in the normal group. However, the levels of $TXA_2$ in the MW-0.25C and MW-0.5C group were normal. The formation of prostacyclin ($PGI_2$) in the lung microsome was 31% lower in the MW group than in the normal group, while the levels of $PGI_2$ in the MW-0.25C and MW-0.5C group were similar to the normal group. The lung microsomal thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) concentration, which can be used as an index of lipid peroxide was 34% greater in the MW group, when compared with the normal group. However, there was no difference between the MW-0.25C, MW-0.5C and normal groups. In conclusion, lung function appeared to be improved by green tea catechin supplementation due to its antithrombus action, which in turn controls the AA cascade system.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.333-340
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• 2005

In this study, the radioprotective effects of Grifola umbellata hot water extracts (Gu-extract) on mice were investigated. Single pre-administration of Gu-extract increased the 40-day survival ratio of irradiated mice from 65.5％ to 78.6％. The growth of 3 week old male mice in the irradiated group was slightly retarded as compared to those of the control and Gu-extract treated mice. The average spleen and thymus weights of the irradiated mice were lower than those of the control and Gu-extract treated mice. The weight reduction of testis in the irradiated mice was significant. While it was relatively slight in the Gu-extract treated mice as compared to that of control mice. No significant difference in the weight was observed in heart, kidney or liver among three groups. The leukocytes of the Gu-extract treated mice did not decrease dramatically as in the irradiated group, but recovery patterns were similar in both groups. Reduction of erythrocytes were similar in both groups but its recovery occurred more rapidly in the extract treated group. The glucose level of the Gu-extract treated group did not change during the period examined, while it was still higher in the irradiated group than the level in the control group in two weeks. The cholesterol levels in the irradiated and the Gu-extract treated groups were higher than that of control group on day 7, but decreased to the level of the control group on day 14. No difference was observed in total protein amount of the serum among the three groups. SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the soluble proteins extracted from various organs did not reveal differences to any extent in all groups except in the livers of the irradiated and extract treated groups, in which some proteins were missing or less present.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.42 no.12
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• pp.906-918
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• 2019

MicroRNA-223-3p (miR-223-3p) is one of the potential microRNAs that have been shown to alleviate inflammatory responses in pre-clinical investigations and is highly encased in exosomes derived from bone mesenchymal stem cells (MSC-exosomes). MSC-exosomes are able to function as carriers to deliver microRNAs into cells. Autoimmune hepatitis is one of the challenging liver diseases with no effective treatment other than steroid hormones. Here, we examined whether MSC-exosomes can transfer miR-223-3p to treat autoimmune hepatitis in an experimental model. We found that MSC-exosomes were successfully incorporated with miR-223-3p and delivered miR-223-3p into macrophages. Moreover, there was no toxic effect of exosomes on the macrophages. Furthermore, treatments of either exosomes or exosomes with miR-223-3p successfully attenuated inflammatory responses in the liver of autoimmune hepatitis and inflammatory cytokine release in both the liver and macrophages. The mechanism may be related to the regulation of miR-223-3p level and STAT3 expression in the liver and macrophages. These results suggest that MSC-exosomes can be used to deliver miR-223-3p for the treatment of autoimmune hepatitis.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.382-390
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• 2020

This study was carried out to evaluate the antimicrobial effect of red ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) against several foodborne pathogens including Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger. The antimicrobial effect was determined by agar diffusion method using red ginseng extract, crude saponin and non-water-soluble fractions. Red ginseng extract showed antimicrobial effect against S. aureus, but not C. albicans or A. niger. The extract showed anti-bacterial activity at concentration above 30% against S. aureus, which cause both food poisoning and atophic dermatitis. Crude saponin showed antibacterial activity above 7.5% against the bacterium. However, the ginsenosides purified from crude saponin showed no antimicrobial activities at 100-200 ㎍/mL. To investigate the mode of growth inhibition, red ginseng extract and crude saponin were added to 0.85% NaCl solution containing S. aureus and then incubated at 35℃ for 12 h. The results showed that viable cells were rapidly reduced in above 10% concentration of red ginseng extract and above 2% of crude saponin, respectively. However, the crude saponin and red ginseng extract did not inhibit the bacterial cells completely at those same concentrations. On the other hand, whereas all non-water-soluble fractions showed inhibition zones above 10 mm against S. aureus, they showed no inhibition effects against E. coli, C. albicans or A. niger. The methanol fraction-1 (MF-1) showed the highest antibacterial activity against S. aureus, and the MIC (minimal inhibitory concentration) was 0.625 mg/mL. These results suggest that red ginseng extract, crude saponin and non-water-soluble fractions show selective antibacterial activity against S. aureus, and non-water-soluble fractions might be used as natural antibacterial agents.