• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.49-55
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• 2009

This review aims to introduce the basic neurobiological aspects of dream. There have been long debates on whether the neurobiology of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is identical to that of dream. However, many theories on dream are based on the findings of REM sleep. Bizarre cognition and intense emotion in dream have been suggested to derive from physiological (e.g. desynchronized gamma oscillation and postsynaptic inhibition), chemical (e.g. decreased noradrenalin and serotonin, increased acetylcholine and modulation of dopamine), anatomical (e.g. deactivation of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and activation of limbic and paralimbic areas) change in REM sleep. In addition, dream has been suggested to play its neurobiological roles. Processing of negative emotion may be one of the functions of dream. Dream is also supposed to consolidate memory, especially semantic memory. Despite a number of hypotheses and debates, the neurobiological mechanism of dream generation has not been concluded.

• BMB Reports
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• v.46 no.11
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• pp.519-526
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• 2013

Dopamine (DA) regulates emotional and motivational behavior through the mesolimbic dopaminergic pathway. Changes in DA signaling in mesolimbic neurotransmission are widely believed to modify reward-related behaviors and are therefore closely associated with drug addiction. Recent evidence now suggests that as with drug addiction, obesity with compulsive eating behaviors involves reward circuitry of the brain, particularly the circuitry involving dopaminergic neural substrates. Increasing amounts of data from human imaging studies, together with genetic analysis, have demonstrated that obese people and drug addicts tend to show altered expression of DA D2 receptors in specific brain areas, and that similar brain areas are activated by food-related and drug-related cues. This review focuses on the functions of the DA system, with specific focus on the physiological interpretation and the role of DA D2 receptor signaling in food addiction.

• ALGAE
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.81-87
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• 2015

Recent studies have shown the importance of viruses as potential sources of plankton mortality, which affect primary production and biogeochemical functions of their hosts. Here, we report basic characteristics of a novel virus (Stephanopyxis palmeriana virus: SpalV) that causes lysis of a culture of the diatom S. palmeriana, which was isolated in Jaran Bay, Korea, in August 2008. SpalV is a round-shaped viral particle ~25-30 nm in diameter that propagates in its host's cytoplasm. In addition, it shows species-specific infectivity among the tested diatom species. The burst size and latent period are estimated to be roughly 92 infectious units $cell^{-1}$ and <80 h, respectively.

• THE JOURNAL OF KOREAN ORIENTAL ONCOLOGY
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.149-163
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• 2000

The cells that make up the body continuously undergo cell division to maintain life, but stress and carcinogens, and physiological stimuli suppress immunological functions in the body and change cells to cancerous cells. The only way to overcome cancer is by treatment through early detection and proper diagnosis. However, because early stage of cancer shows subjective symptoms that are similar to those of other common illnesses, even doctors have difficulty separating cancer from common illnesses in its early stage. However, the Ki(bioenergy) present in our body recognizes and changes to the most minute changes in the body. This method of detecting the change in bioenergy to discover a disease in the early stage to raise treatment success is called the OBET: O-Ring, Bioenergy Test. This method, which is based on the theories of oriental medicine, focuses on tumors, especially malignant tumors, and has shown value in diagnosis and treatment, as witnessed in the clinical applications. The diagnosis method and cases of OBET: O-Ring, Bioenergy Test are presented.

• BMB Reports
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• v.49 no.8
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• pp.424-430
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• 2016

Autophagy, an evolutionarily conserved cellular degradation pathway of the lysosome, is associated with many physiological and pathological processes. The hallmark of autophagy is the formation of the autophagosome that engulfs and degrades cytosolic components via its fusion with the lysosome, in either a selective or a non-selective manner. Autophagy is tightly regulated by proteins encoded by autophagy-related (atg) genes. Among these proteins, ATG8/LC3 is essential for autophagosome biogenesis/maturation and it also functions as an adaptor protein for selective autophagy. In mammalian cells, several homologs of yeast Atg8 such as MAP1LC3, GABARAP, and GABARAPL 1/2 have been identified. However, the biological relevance of this gene diversity in higher eukaryotes, and their specific roles, are largely unknown. In this review, we describe the mammalian ATG8/LC3 family and discuss recent advancements in understanding their roles in the autophagic process.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.211-214
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• 2012

Since 15-hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase (15-PGDH) is the key metabolic enzyme of prostaglandin $E_2$ ($PGE_2$), inhibition of 15-PGDH is supposed to facilitate various physiological functions by increasing $PGE_2$. Methanol extract of Artemisia argyi (AAME) inhibited 15-PGDH ($IC_{50}$: $13.13{\mu}g/mL$) with relatively low cytotoxicity ($IC_{50}$: $415.00{\mu}g/mL$) and elevated extracellular $PGE_2$ levels in HaCaT cells. Real-time PCR analysis showed that AAME decreased significantly mRNA expression of PG transporter (PGT) in HaCaT cells. These results indicate that AAME could be applicable to functional materials as a 15-PGDH inhibitor and PGT expression inhibitor for the upregulation of extracellular $PGE_2$ level.

• Korean journal of food and cookery science
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.742-758
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• 2005

Lipid-based functional components present in foods undergo chemical changes during cooking. Useful n-3 and n-6 fatty acids, phytosterols, tocopherols, and carotenoids are degraded by thermal cooking such as frying, resulting in loss of their physiological functions. However, conjugated linoleic acid and diacylglycerols can be formed during heating, which would be beneficial to the health. Degree of degradation and formation of the functional components depends on the cooking method, cooking temperature and time, lipid matrix containing the components, and the presence of other materials. Although it is clear that the content of each functional component varies during long-heating in a model system consisting of small numbers of components, the real foods cooked in a small scale for a limited cooking time do not show highly significant differences in the functional components contents from raw food materials.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.411-422
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• 2013

G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) are the largest superfamily of receptors responsible for signaling between cells and tissues, and because they play important physiological roles in homeostasis, they are major drug targets. New technologies have been developed for the identification of new ligands, new GPCR functions, and for drug discovery purposes. In particular, intercellular lipid mediators, such as, lysophosphatidic acid and sphingosine 1-phosphate have attracted much attention for drug discovery and this has resulted in the development of fingolimod (FTY-720) and AM095. The discovery of new intercellular lipid mediators and their GPCRs are discussed from the perspective of drug development. Lipid GPCRs for lysophospholipids, including lysophosphatidylserine, lysophosphatidylinositol, lysophosphatidylcholine, free fatty acids, fatty acid derivatives, and other lipid mediators are reviewed.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.57-64
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• 2002

Phenanthrene-induced changes in blood organic components. transaminase and ALP activities of Paralichthys oIivaceus were investigaled. The aim of this study was to obtain a holistic view of the toxic responses, and compensations of fish exposed to waterborne phenanthrene. Fish were exposed to 0, 0.5, 1, 2$\mu$M of phenanthrene for 4 weeks. The most noticeable changes were concentration-dependent increase in levels of blood GOT and GPT activities. At concentrations 1.0 and 2.0 $\mu$M of phenanthrene GOT, GPT and ALP enzyme activities in plasma were increased. Plasma albumin concentration was stable in phenanthrene-exposed fish, however, plasma total protein level was reduced significantly at the 4-week sampling points (2.0$\mu$M). Plasma glucose levels were found to be increased significantly over the cootrol throughout duration of the experiment with phenanthrene. Overall the results suggest that phenanthrene has the potential to alter some physiological functions in olive flounder.

• BMB Reports
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.353-357
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• 2008

LRR family proteins play important roles in a variety of physiological processes. To facilitate their production and crystallization, we have invented a novel method termed "Hybrid LRR Technique". Using this technique, the first crystal structures of three TLR family proteins could be determined. In this review, design principles and application of the technique to protein crystallization will be summarized. For crystallization of TLRs, hagfish VLR receptors were chosen as the fusion partners and the TLR and the VLR fragments were fused at the conserved LxxLxLxxN motif to minimize local structural incompatibility. TLR-VLR hybridization did not disturb structures and functions of the target TLR proteins. The Hybrid LRR Technique is a general technique that can be applied to structural studies of other LRR proteins. It may also have broader application in biochemical and medical application of LRR proteins by modifying them without compromising their structural integrity.