• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.186-195
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• 2015

Anthranilate synthase (AS) is a key enzyme in the biosynthesis of tryptophan (Trp), which is the precursor of bioactive metabolites like indole-3-acetic acid and other indole alkaloids. Alpha anthranilate synthase 2 (OsASA2) plays a critical role in the feedback inhibition of tryptophan biosynthesis. In this study, two vectors with single (F124V) and double (S126F/L530D) point mutations of the OsASA2 gene for feedback-insensitive ${\alpha}$ subunit of rice anthranilate synthase were constructed and transformed into wildtype Dongjinbyeo by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Transgenic single and double mutant lines were selected as a single copy using TaqMan PCR utilized nos gene probe. To select intergenic lines, the flanking sequence of RB or LB was digested with a BfaI enzyme. Four intergenic lines were selected using a flanking sequence tagged (FST) analysis. Expression in rice (Oryza sativa L.) of the transgenes resulted in the accumulation of tryptophan (Trp), indole-3-acetonitrile (IAN), and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) in leaves and tryptophan content as a free amino acid in seeds also increased up to 30 times relative to the wildtype. Two homozygous event lines, S-TG1 and D-TG1, were selected for characterization of agronomic traits and metabolite profiling of seeds. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs), related to ion transfer and nutrient supply, were upregulated and DEGs related to co-enzymes that work as functional genes were down regulated. These results suggest that two homozygous event lines may prove effective for the breeding of crops with an increased level of free tryptophan content.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.1485-1490
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• 2012

An electrochemical immunoassay based on osmium-hippuric acid (HA) conjugate films onto the electrode is presented for the detection of urinary HA. This is the first report on the use of the oxidative electropolymerization of 5-amino-1,10-phenanthroline (5-$NH_2$-phen) for immobilizing an antigen, osmium-conjugated HA. As a redox mediator, [Os(5-amino-1,10-phenanthroline)$_2$(4-aminomethylpyridine-HA)Cl]$^{+/2+}$ (Os-phen-HA) was successfully synthesized and electropolymerized onto the screen-printed carbon electrodes (SPCEs). The interaction between osmium-HA conjugate films and antibody-HA ($anti$-HA) was performed by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). The electrical signals were linearly proportional to urinary HA in the range of 0.1-5.0 mg/mL, which is sufficient for use as an immunosensor using a cutoff concentration of 2.0 mg/mL in urine samples. The proposed electrochemical immunoassay method can be extended to various applications for detecting a wide range of different small antigens in the health care area.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.118-126
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• 2020

Silicon and phosphorus are elements that are beneficial for plant growth. Despite the abundant availability of silicate and phosphate in the Earth's crust, crop nutritional requirements for silicon and phosphorus are normally met through the application of fertilizer. However, fertilizers are one of the major causes of heavy metal pollution. In our study, we aimed to assess silicate and phosphate solubilization by the bacteria Enterobacter ludwigii GAK2, in the presence and absence of phosphate [Ca₃(PO₄)₂] or silicate (Mg₂O₈Si₃), to counteract cadmium stress in rice (Oryza sativa L). Our results showed that the GAK2-treated rice plants, grown in soil amended with phosphate [Ca₃(PO₄)₂] or silicate (Mg₂O₈Si₃), had significantly reduced cadmium content, and enhanced plant growth promoting characteristics including fresh shoot and root weight, plant height, and chlorophyll content. These plants showed significant downregulation of the cadmium transporter gene, OsHMA2, and upregulation of the silicon carrier gene, OsLsi1. Moreover, jasmonic acid levels were significantly reduced in the GAK2-inoculated plants, and this was further supported by the downregulation of the jasmonic acid related gene, OsJAZ1. These results indicate that Enterobacter ludwigii GAK2 can be used as a silicon and phosphorus bio-fertilizer, which solubilizes insoluble silicate and phosphate, and mitigates heavy metal toxicity in crops.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.1485-1492
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• 2008

Prostaglandin $A_2$ ($PGA_2$), one of cyclopentenone PGs, induced both apoptosis and heme oxygenase (HO)-1 expression in U2OS cells. $PGA_2$-induced apoptosis was not perturbed by either over-expression or knock-down of HO-1, whereas $H_2O_2$-induced cell death was inversely modulated by the expression level of HO-1. In addition, N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC), a thiol antioxidant, blocked both apoptosis and HO-1 expression induced by $PGA_2$. But, non-thiol antioxidants like butylated hydorxyanisole (BHA) and ascorbic acid did not block either apoptosis or HO-1-induction. Taken together, these results suggest that $PGA_2$ induces both apoptosis and HO-1 expression, which are critically related to the thiol- reactivity of $PGA_2$, but not oxidative stress, and HO-1 expression may be independent or functionally located downstream of apoptosis by $PGA_2$ without contribution to apoptosis progression.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.117-125
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• 2015

Purpose: To investigate the relationship between early treatment response to definitive chemoradiotherapy (CRT) and survival outcome in patients with limited stage small cell lung cancer (LS-SCLC). Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 47 patients with LS-SCLC who received definitive CRT between January 2009 and December 2012. Patients were treated with systemic chemotherapy regimen of etoposide/carboplatin (n = 15) or etoposide/cisplatin (n = 32) and concurrent thoracic radiotherapy at a median dose of 54 Gy (range, 46 to 64 Gy). Early treatment volume reduction rate (ETVRR) was defined as the percentage change in gross tumor volume between diagnostic computed tomography (CT) and simulation CT for adaptive RT planning and was used as a parameter for early treatment response. The median dose at adaptive RT planning was 36 Gy (range, 30 to 43 Gy), and adaptive CT was performed in 30 patients (63.8%). Results: With a median follow-up of 27.7 months (range, 5.9 to 75.8 months), the 2-year locoregional progression-free survival (LRPFS) and overall survival (OS) rates were 74.2% and 56.5%, respectively. The mean diagnostic and adaptive gross tumor volumes were 117.9 mL (range, 5.9 to 447 mL) and 36.8 mL (range, 0.3 to 230.6 mL), respectively. The median ETVRR was 71.4% (range, 30 to 97.6%) and the ETVRR >45% group showed significantly better OS (p < 0.0001) and LRPFS (p = 0.009) than the other group. Conclusion: ETVRR as a parameter for early treatment response may be a useful prognostic factor to predict treatment outcome in LS-SCLC patients treated with CRT.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.428-437
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• 2013

Physico-chemical water quality parameters and the phytoplankton communities from 12 sites in Oship-stream, Songchunstream, and Namdae-stream, located Gyeongsangbukdo Uljin-gun, Yeongdeok-gun, and Pyeonghae-eup respectively, were investigated from April 2009 to February 2010. Oship-stream, which is an open estuary, was easily affected by ocean current compared to that of Songchun-stream and Namdae-stream. OS3 and OS4 conductivity was higher with a season average of 3,397 ${\mu}s/cm$. The streams were mesotrophic to hypertrophic. Biological oxygen demand (BOD) was about 3mg/L, which was level 2 on the water quality ratings, but a concentration of 5mg/L in April 2009 indicated increased pollution due to drought. A total of 118, 117, and 124 phytoplankton taxa were found in Oship-stream, Songchun-stream, and Namdae-stream, respectively. The apparent dominant species in the polluted waters included Cryptomonas ovata, Fragilaria construens var. venter, Oscillatoria limnetica, O. limosa, and Phormidium tenue. All of Oship-stream, SC2 and SC4 of Songchun-stream, and ND3 of Namdae-stream were eutrophic as a result of standing crop analysis. BOD was highly correlated with chlorophyll-a content(r=0.52). Phosphorus concentration and proliferation of phytoplankton were thought to most affect BOD concentration in all three streams.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.91-95
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• 1999

To investigate the effect of salts on the production of erythritol by Torula sp., cells were grown on the media containing various concentrations of KCl or NaCl. Cell growth and glucose consumption rates decreased when KCl or NaCl concentration increased from 0.0 to 0.5M. The production of erythritol, however, was maximal at 0.3M aCl. The erythritol concentration of 54.3g/l in the medium containing 0.3M NaCl and 200g/l glucose was obtained after 120h. The production of erythritol decreased in cultures above 0.3M NaCl or 0.4M KCl due to the inhibition of cell growth. To elucidate the effect of salts more quantitatively, KCl and NaCl concentrations were converted to osmotic pressure. As the osmotic pressure increased, the yield of erythritol from glucose increased regardless of the kinds of salts and the yield of erythritol was approximately 49% at the osmolality of 2.4Os/kg. When the osmotic pressure increased to 2.5Os/kg, the specific growth rate of cells decreased but the production rate of erythritol increased. For the effective production of erythritol, osmotic pressure must be adjusted not to inhibit markedly the growth rate of cells and to stimulate the production rate of erythritol by supplementing salt.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.15
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• pp.6387-6390
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• 2014

Background: The prognostic significance of the circulating absolute monocyte count (AMC) in patients with locally advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is uncertain. This study was designed to assess the association of circulating AMC with survival outcomes in patients diagnosed with locally advanced or metastatic HCC receiving systemic chemotherapy. Materials and Methods: Between January 1, 2005 and December 30, 2012, locally advanced or metastatic HCC patients who had Child-Pugh stage A or B disease and received systemic chemotherapy were retrospectively enrolled. Patient features including gender, age, extrahepatic metastasis, Child-Pugh stage, serum alpha-fetoprotein(AFP) level and AMC were collected to investigate their prognostic impact on overall survival(OS). Results: A total of 216 patients were eligible for the study. The optimal cut-off value of AMC for OS analysis was $0.38{\times}10^9/L$. Median OS was 5.84 months in low-AMC group (95% confidence interval [CI], 5.23 to 6.45), and 5.21 months in high-AMC group (95% CI, 4.37 to 6.04; p=0.003). In COX multivariate analysis, elevated AMC remained as an independent prognostic factor for worse OS (HR, 1.578; 95% CI, 1.120 to 2.223, p=0.009). Conclusions: Our results indiicate that circulating AMC is confirmed to be an independent prognostic factor for OS in patients with locally advanced or metastatic HCC receiving systemic chemotherapy.

• The Korean Nurse
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.29-38
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• 1992

The purpose of this is to find the anxiety score of OHS pt's family and general surgery pt's family and to offer basic data. The subjects of this study were 80 : 40 were OHS pt's family in Seoul Hospital and remaining 40 were OS pt's family in Capital Hospital. The data was collected between March 1, through May 30, 1992. The instruments used for this study were Zung's The Self-Rating Anxiety Scale. The collected daLa were analyzed using percentage, descriptive statistics, $X^2-test$, t-test and Two-way Anova. The finding's were as followed: 1. Test of hypothesis "The anxiety score of the Ol-lS pt's family were similar to as pt's family" was rejected (L=0.772 P>.05) 2. The mean score of anxiety of the OHS pt's family was 1.772, The mean score of anxiety of the OS pt's family was 1,790. 3. The relationship between anxiety of the OHS pt's family and GS pt's family and family's age was significant (P<.Ol) and the relationship between anxiety and age interaction effect. (F=242.0 P<.01) In conclusion, the anxiety score of the OI-IS pt's finding and GS pt's family was all high.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.62 no.2
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• pp.62-67
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• 2019

Purpose: We aimed to determine the prognostic significance of lymphocyte counts and the lymphocytemonocyte ratio (LMR) in pediatric patients with osteosarcoma. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 27 pediatric patients with localized extremity osteosarcoma, treated at the Korea Cancer Center Hospital between May 2002 and March 2016. Leukocyte counts and LMR before treatment and on day 14 (LMR14) of the first cisplatin-doxorubicin chemotherapy round were evaluated. Patients were dichotomized according to the median value of these parameters, and survival rates were compared. Results: The median age of the 27 patients was 9.9 years (range, 3.2-14.1 years) and tumor sites were: distal femur (n=14), proximal humerus (n=7), proximal tibia (n=2), proximal fibula (n=2), and elsewhere (n=2). Patients were followed up on for a median of 76.4 months (range, 4.5-174.7 months), and 5-year overall (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) rates were $66.0%{\pm}9.8%$ and $60.9%{\pm}9.7%$, respectively. Patients with a higher pretreatment lymphocyte count (${\geq}2,320/{\mu}L$) had better OS (90.9% vs. 46.2%, P=0.04) and EFS (83.9% vs. 38.5%, P=0.02). However, the day 14 lymphocyte count was not associated with survival. While no survival difference was observed between patients grouped according to pretreatment LMR (median value, 6.3), patients with a higher LMR14 (${\geq}5$) fared better than those with lower LMR14 (5-year OS: 83.3% vs. 46.3%, P=0.04). Conclusion: Pretreatment lymphocyte count and LMR during chemotherapy had prognostic significance in pediatric osteosarcoma patients. Further studies involving larger cohorts are necessary to validate our findings.