• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.417-428
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• 2017

Diseases caused by foodborne or waterborne pathogens are emerging. Many pathogens can enter into the viable but nonculturable (VBNC) state, which is a survival strategy when exposed to harsh environmental stresses. Pathogens in the VBNC state have the ability to evade conventional microbiological detection methods, posing a significant and potential health risk. Therefore, controlling VBNC bacteria in food processing and the environment is of great importance. As the typical one of the gram-negatives, Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a widespread foodborne and waterborne pathogenic bacterium and is able to enter into a VBNC state in extreme conditions (similar to the other gram-negative bacteria), including inducing factors and resuscitation stimulus. VBNC E. coli has the ability to recover both culturability and pathogenicity, which may bring potential health risk. This review describes the concrete factors (nonthermal treatment, chemical agents, and environmental factors) that induce E. coli into the VBNC state, the condition or stimulus required for resuscitation of VBNC E. coli, and the methods for detecting VBNC E. coli. Furthermore, the mechanism of genes and proteins involved in the VBNC E. coli is also discussed in this review.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.348-353
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• 2019

Soluble epoxide hydrolases (sEH) are enzymes present in all living organisms, metabolize epoxy fatty acids to 1,2-diols. sEH in the metabolism of polyunsaturated fatty acids plays a key role in inflammation. In addition, the endogenous lipid mediators in cardiovascular disease are also broken down to diols by the action of sEH that enhanced cardiovascular protection. In this study, sEH inhibitory guided fractionation led to the isolation of five phenolic compounds trans-resveratrol (1), trans-piceatannol (2), sulfuretin (3), (+)-balanophonin (4), and cassigarol E (5) from the ethanol extract of the seeds of Passiflora edulis Sims cultivated in Vietnam. The chemical structures of isolated compounds were determined by the interpretation of NMR spectral data, mass spectra, and comparison with data from the literature. The soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) inhibitory activity of isolated compounds was evaluated. Among them, trans-piceatannol (2) showed the most potent inhibitory activity on sEH with an IC₅₀ value of 3.4 μM. This study marks the first time that sulfuretin (3) was isolated from Passiflora edulis as well as (+)-balanophonin (4), and cassigarol E (5) were isolated from Passiflora genus.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.35-43
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• 1983

Health institutions in Korea include a wide range of traditions, most notable of which are hospitals, clinics, pharmacies and health centers as foci for the dispension of western medicine care ; and herb clinics and shamans acting as centers for traditional medicine. Health consumers have pluralistic conceptions of illness(or disease) and act accordingly, using what they consider as appropriate medical practices. The research conducted surveyed residents of Jeomdong-Myon(a rural farming district), Guro 6-Dong(an urban district) and the Banwol(a semiurban district) area on attitudes about health institutions and their utilization of them. The results indicate that the hospital is considered the most reliable health institution, however, the most widely known and commonly used institution was the pharmacy. Hospitals and clinics were found to be utilized more frequently by those residents who were familiar with them than by others less familiar with them. In addition respondents with higher education, those with medical insurance, and those living in urban areas tended to utilize hospitals and clinics more frequently than their less educated, uninsured, or rural counterparts. Converse to the ranking of western medical institutions, traditional health institutions were rated low with regards to reliability, familiarity and utilization. This indicates that western medical care has pervaded the Korean medical system.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.17 no.2 s.32
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• pp.17-33
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• 1996

Chinese medical science with long history has experience and theory of cure and prevention as well as the perfect different system with western medicine. Western medical science also was introduced in recent times and has been used in fast development in China extensively. Therefore only China that coexist oriental and western medicine is used the term, the integration of oriental and western medicine. Its object is to make better treatment and prevention value with utilizing their strong point and weak point. That is, its great principle is to develop through interchange together without interference in the other science. For mutual growth of both medical science, national concern and support, medical staffs, administrative system and a lot of fruits, etc should be arranged simultaneously. This paper was obtained the as follows. 1. The system of public health administration is composed a sanitary department for a western medicine and a managing agency for a chinese one in the center. There are each local organization under the control both agency in the locality 2. The importance of the integration of chinese and western medicine is to get the merit of special chinese system through the interchange of both medicine and union with modem science and chinese pharmacy. 3. It is the long term and great project. So its important study field is illness treatment and cure, oriental medical remedy and theory, acupuncture and moxibution etc. 4. It makes steady progress in all the healthy medical field. It has studied its foundation, the education of medical staffs, scientific study and strengthening of skill management considerably. 5. The products are the development of new chinese medicines and many researches about traditional chinese medical science. In brief, the integration of chinese and western medical science is the historical stream. Besides it will contribute toward the cure and prevention of human illness for future 21 century.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.805-810
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• 2013

Increasing the rate of smoking cessation will reduce the burden of diseases related to smoking, including cancer. Understanding the process of smoking cessation is a pre-requisite to planning and developing effective programs to enhance the rate of smoking cessation.The aims of the study were to determine the demographic distribution of smokers across the initial stages of smoking cessation (the pre-contemplation and contemplation stages) and to identify the predictors of smoking cessation among Malaysian adult smokers. Data were extracted from a population-based, cross-sectional survey carried out from April 2006 to July 2006. The distribution of 2,716,743 current smokers across the pre-contemplation stage (no intention to quit smoking in the next six months) or contemplation stage (intended to quit smoking in the next six months) was described. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between socio-demographic variables and the stages of smoking cessation. Of the 2,716,743 current smokers, approximately 30% and 70% were in the pre-contemplative and contemplative stages of smoking cessation respectively. Multivariable analysis showed that male gender, low education level, older age group, married and those from higher income group and number of cigarettes smoked were associated with higher likelihood of pre-contemplation to cease smoking in the next six months. The majority of current smokers in Malaysia were in the contemplative stage of smoking cessation. Specific interventions should be implemented to ensure the pre-contemplative smokers proceed to the contemplative stage and eventually to the preparation stage.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.31-37
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• 2011

Previous work demonstrated that an ethanol extract (HS0608) of a mixture of three medicinal plants of Curcuma longae radix, Phellinus linteus, and Scutellariae radix markedly inhibits $A{\beta}$ (25-35)-induced neurotoxicity. The present study was performed to further verify the neuroprotective effect of HS0608 on oxidative and ischemic cerebral injury using cultured rat cortical neurons and rats. Exposure of cultured cortical neurons to $100\;{\mu}M$ hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) induced neuronal apoptotic death. At $10-100{\mu}g/ml$, HS0608 inhibited neuronal death, elevation of intracellular calcium concentration ($[Ca^{2+}]_i$), and generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) induced by $H_2O_2$ in primary cultures of rat cortical neurons. In vivo, HS0608 prevented cerebral ischemic injury induced by 2-h middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) and 24-h reperfusion. The ischemic infarct and edema were significantly reduced in rats that received HS0608 (200 mg/kg). These results suggest that the anti-oxidative properties of HS0608 may be responsible for its neuroprotective effect against focal cerebral ischemic injury and that HS0608 may have a therapeutic role in neurodegenerative diseases such as stroke.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.23 no.12
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• pp.1708-1716
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• 2013

Conventional molecular detection methods cannot distinguish between viable and dead Escherichia coli O157 cells. In this study, the loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) method combined with propidium monoazide (PMA) treatment was developed to selectively detect viable E. coli O157 cells. Four primers, including outer primers and inner primers, were specially designed for the recognition of six distinct sequences on the serogroups (O157) of the specific rfbE gene of the E. coli O157 genome. PMA selectively penetrated through the compromised cell membranes and intercalated into DNA. Amplification of DNA from dead cells was completely inhibited by $3.0{\mu}g/ml$ PMA, whereas the DNA derived from viable cells was amplified remarkably within 1 h by PMA-LAMP. Exhibiting high sensitivity and specificity, PMA-LAMP is a suitable method for evaluating the inactivation efficacy of slightly acidic electrolyzed water in broth. PMA-LAMP can selectively detect viable E. coli O157 cells. This study offers a novel molecular detection method to distinguish between viable and dead E. coli O157 cells.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.467-479
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• 2018

The aging process induces a plethora of changes in the body including alterations in hormonal regulation and metabolism in various organs including the heart. Aging is associated with marked increase in the vulnerability of the heart to ischemia-reperfusion injury. Furthermore, it significantly hampers the development of adaptive response to various forms of conditioning stimuli (pre/post/remote conditioning). Aging significantly impairs the activation of signaling pathways that mediate preconditioning-induced cardioprotection. It possibly impairs the uptake and release of adenosine, decreases the number of adenosine transporter sites and down-regulates the transcription of adenosine receptors in the myocardium to attenuate adenosine-mediated cardioprotection. Furthermore, aging decreases the expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma co-activator 1-alpha ($PGC-1{\alpha}$) and subsequent transcription of catalase enzyme which subsequently increases the oxidative stress and decreases the responsiveness to preconditioning stimuli in the senescent diabetic hearts. In addition, in the aged rat hearts, the conditioning stimulus fails to phosphorylate Akt kinase that is required for mediating cardioprotective signaling in the heart. Moreover, aging increases the concentration of $Na^+$ and $K^+$, connexin expression and caveolin abundance in the myocardium and increases the susceptibility to ischemia-reperfusion injury. In addition, aging also reduces the responsiveness to conditioning stimuli possibly due to reduced kinase signaling and reduced STAT-3 phosphorylation. However, aging is associated with an increase in MKP-1 phosphorylation, which dephosphorylates (deactivates) mitogen activated protein kinase that is involved in cardioprotective signaling. The present review describes aging as one of the major confounding factors in attenuating remote ischemic preconditioning-induced cardioprotection along with the possible mechanisms.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.285-291
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• 2016

Background: Ginsenosides have been shown to exert beneficial pharmacological effects on the central nervous, cardiovascular, and endocrine systems. We sought to determine whether total ginsenosides (TG) inhibit monocrotaline (MCT)-induced pulmonary hypertension and to elucidate the underlying mechanism. Methods: MCT-intoxicated rats were treated with gradient doses of TG, with or without $N^G$-nitro-$\small{L}$-arginine methyl ester. The levels of molecules involving the regulation of nitric oxide and mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways were determined. Results: TG ameliorated MCT-induced pulmonary hypertension in a dose-dependent manner, as assessed by the right ventricular systolic pressure, the right ventricular hypertrophy index, and pulmonary arterial remodeling. Furthermore, TG increased the levels of pulmonary nitric oxide, endothelial nitric oxide synthase, and cyclic guanosine monophosphate. Lastly, TG increased mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase-1 expression and promoted the dephosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated protein kinases 1/2, p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase, and c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase 1/2. Conclusion: TG attenuates MCT-induced pulmonary hypertension, which may involve in part the regulation of nitric oxide and mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.643-649
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• 2015

This study was performed to determine the optimal month of harvest between May and July for wild peach (Prunus davidiana) by comparison of functional materials. The general composition, amino acid and vitamin (A, C, and E) content, and antioxidant activity were determined. With respect to the general composition of wild peach according to the month of harvest, wild peach harvested in May (HMP) and July (HJP) contained mostly carbohydrate, the contents of which amounted to 77.37 g/100 g and 77.92 g/100 g, respectively. The total amino acid content of HMP and HJP were 675.29 mg% and 573.25 mg%, respectively. Regarding the vitamin contents, vitamin A (retinol), E (${\alpha}-tocopherol$) and C in HMP were higher than those in HJP. The total polyphenol content of HMP (218.37 mg TAE/g) was higher than that of HJP (71.45 mg TAE/g). The total flavonoid content of HMP (64.95 mg RE/g) was also higher than that of HJP (32.67 mg RE/g). Moreover, the DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activities ($IC_{50}$) were higher in HMP ($137.18{\mu}g/mL$ and $157.15{\mu}g/mL$) than those in HJP ($160.10 {\mu}g/mL$ and $186.01 {\mu}g/mL$), meaning that the former produces better antioxidant effects. It can be concluded that wild peach harvested in May contained higher functional materials such as vitamins and amino acids and had a higher antioxidant effect, than wild peach harvested in july.