• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.58 no.4
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• pp.393-402
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• 2020

Toxoplasma gondii is an intracellular parasite that causes severe disease when the infection occurs during pregnancy. Adenosine is a purine nucleoside involved in numerous physiological processes; however, the role of adenosine receptors in T. gondii-induced trophoblast cell function has not been investigated until now. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the intracellular signaling pathways regulated by adenosine receptors using a HTR-8/SVneo trophoblast cell model of T. gondii infection. HTR8/SVneo human extravillous trophoblast cells were infected with or without T. gondii and then evaluated for cell morphology, intracellular proliferation of the parasite, adenosine receptor expression, TNF-α production and mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase signaling pathways triggered by adenosine A₃ receptor (A₃AR). HTR8/SVneo cells infected with T. gondii exhibited an altered cytoskeletal changes, an increased infection rate and reduced viability in an infection time-dependent manner. T. gondii significantly promoted increased TNF-α production, A₃AR protein levels and p38, ERK1/2 and JNK phosphorylation compared to those observed in uninfected control cells. Moreover, the inhibition of A₃AR by A₃AR siRNA transfection apparently suppressed the T. gondii infection-mediated upregulation of TNF-α, A₃AR production and MAPK activation. In addition, T. gondii-promoted TNF-α secretion was dramatically attenuated by pretreatment with PD098059 or SP600125. These results indicate that A₃AR-mediated activation of ERK1/2 and JNK positively regulates TNF-α secretion in T. gondii-infected HTR8/SVneo cells.

• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.19-31
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• 2019

Objective : The purpose of this study was to examine differences of psychological symptoms for mothers of infants with autism spectrum disorder(ASD) according to the level of parenting stress. Methods : The subjects were seventy-two mothers of infants with ASD(aged 22 months to 71 months) completed Korean Parenting Stress Index (K-PSI) and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory(MMPI-2). The data was analyzed using SPSS 23.0 program. Results : First, total and parent domain of parenting stress were positively correlated with several clinical scales of MMPI-2. However, there was no significant association between the child domain of parenting stress and clinical scale MMPI-2. Second, as a result of verified the difference of psychological symptoms according to level of total and parent domain of parenting stress, high-risks group was significantly higher scores in several clinical scales of MMPI-2 relative to those in normal range group. However, regarding the association between the child domain of parenting stress and psychological symptoms, there was no significant difference in psychological symptoms between high-risks group and normal range group. Conclusions : The results of this study have implications for verified the difference of psychological symptoms according to level of parenting stress among mothers of infants with ASD.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF PACKAGING SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.47-53
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• 2022

Recently, intelligent packaging of foods has been increasingly developed in response to the growing interest of consumers in checking food quality. Indicators, an important element in intelligent packaging, change color to detect specific substances or indicate food quality changes. Gas indicators can be built into food packaging to detect volatile substances that are released when food quality changes. Ethylene gas is produced as climacteric fruits ripen. Climacteric fruit ripening results from a rapid increase in ethylene production and respiration. In the case of packaged fruits, the ethylene gas concentration in the headspace is closely related to the ripeness of each fruit variety. If an ethylene gas indicator that can be used in fruit packaging is available, the consumer will be able to eat the fruit at the optimal time. In this paper, the characteristics and pros and cons of the ethylene gas indicators developed so far were analyzed by reviewing various types of indicators such as metal reduction-based indicator, fluorescence-based indicator, pH indicator-based indicator, and liposome-based indicator.