• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.196-202
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• 2007

Mutations in the cystathionine ${\beta}$-synthase (CBS) gene cause homocystinuria, the most frequent inherited disorder in sulfur metabolism. CBS is the unique enzyme using both heme and pyridoxal 5-phosphate (PLP) for activity. Among the reported 140 mutations, one of the most common disease-causing alterations in human CBS is G307S mutation. To investigate the pathogenic mechanism of G307S by spectroscopic methods, we engineered the full length and the truncated G247S mutation of yeast CBS that is corresponding mutation to human G307S. Yeast CBS does not contain heme and thus gives a merit to study the spectroscopic properties. The UV-visible spectra of the purified full length and the truncated G247S yeast CBSs showed the total absence of PLP in the protein. The absence of PLP in G247S mutation was also confirmed by the PLP-cyanide adduct formation experiment, which was conducted by the incubation of the purified enzyme with KCN. The adducts were detected using a circular dichroism (CD) and a spectrofluorimeter. Radio isotope activity assay of full length and truncated G247S proteins also gave no activity. Our yeast G247S mutation data suggested that G307S might make the distortion of the active site so that cofactor PLP and substrate can not fit inside the active site. Our yeast CBS study addressed the reason why the G307S mutation in human CBS makes the enzyme inactive that consequently leads to severe clinical phenotype.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.404-415
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• 1998

Background: Sleep apnea syndrome, which occurs in 1~4 % of the adult population, frequently has different cardiovascular complications such as hypertension, ischemic heart disease, cardiac arrythmia as well as sleep-wake disorder such as excessive daytime hypersomnolence or insomnia. Mortality and vascular morbidity are reported to be significantly higher in sleep apnea syndrome patients than in normal population. According to the recent studies, autonomic dysfunction as well as hypoxemia, hypercapneic acidosis, and increased respiratory effort, may playa role in the high prevalence of cardiovascular complications in patients with sleep apnea syndrome. However the cause and mechanism of autonomic neuropathy in patients with sleep apnea syndrome are not well understood. We studied the existence of autonomic neuropathy in patients with sleep apnea syndrome and factors which influence the pathogenesis of autonomic neuropathy. Method: We used the cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy(CAN) test as a method for evaluation of autonomic neuropathy. The subjects of this study were 20 patients who diagnosed sleep apnea syndrome by polysomnography and 15 persons who were normal by polysomnography. Results: Body mass index and resting systolic blood pressure were higher in sleep apnea group than control group. Apnea index(Al), respiratory disturbance index(RDI) and snoring time percentage were significantly higher in sleep apnea group compared with control group. But there were no significant differences in saturation of oxygen and sleep efficiency in two groups. In the cardiac autonomic neuropathy test, the valsalva ratio was significantly low in sleep apnea group compared with control group but other tests had no differences between two groups. The CAN scores and corrected QT(QTc) interval were calculated significantly higher in sleep apnea group, but there were no significant correlations between CAN scores and QTc interval. There were no significant data of polysomnography to correlate to the CAN score. It meant that the autonomic neuropathy in patients with sleep apnea was affected by other multiple factors. Conclusion: The cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy test was a useful method for the evaluation of autonomic neuropathy in patients with sleep apnea syndrome and abnormalities of cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy were observed in patients with sleep apnea syndrome. However, we failed to define the factors that influence the pathogenesis of autonomic neuropathy of sleep apnea syndrome. This study warrants futher investigations in order to define the pathogenesis of autonomic neuropathy in patients with sleep apnea syndrome.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.400-410
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• 1999

Five experiments were conducted using finishing pigs (PIC L326 sires $\times$ C15 dams) to examine the effects of expander operating conditions on nutrient digestibility in finishing pigs. The effects of different expanding conditions (0, 11.7, 24.4, $32.5kg/cm^2$) for corn-SBM based diets (Exp. 1), wheat meddlings diet (Exp. 2), sorghum-SBM based diets (Exp. 3) and wheat-SBM based diet (Exp. 4). Exp. 5 was conducted as a $2{\times}4$ factorial arrangement and factors examined were 2 soy products (raw soybean and SBM) and 4 expanding conditions (0, 14.1, 28.1, $42.2kg/cm^2$). In experiment 1, total production rates (p>0.10) were similar among treatments. The amount of fines decreased (cubic effect, p<0.001) as cone pressure was increased from 0 to $11.7kg/cm^2$, with smaller differences as cone pressure was further increased to $35.2kg/cm^2$. Nutrient digestibilities increased (p<0.02) as the feed was subjected to higher cone pressures. Digestibilities of DM, N, and GE were maximized at $24.4kg/cm^2$ cone pressure. The DE of the diet expanded at 24.4 and $35.2kg/cm^2$ increased by 172 and 109 kcal/kg, respectively, compared to the diet processed at $0kg/cm^2$ cone pressure. In experiment 2, total production and screened pellets production rates were similar among the processing treatments (p>0.21). The amount of fines decreased (quadratic effect, p<0.03) by 9 kg/h as cone pressure was increased from 0 to $11.7kg/cm^2$. Digestibilities of DM (p<0.02), N (p<0.001), and GE (p<0.002) were increased as cone pressure was increased from 0 to $35.2kg/cm^2$. DM, N, and GE digestibility in the pigs fed the midds-based diet increased by 8, 13, and 10%, respectively, at the highest processing cone pressure compared to the diets without any cone pressure. In experiment 3, the conditioned mash moistures for the treatments were numerically similar around 15% moisture. As the expander cone pressure was increased from 0 to $11.7kg/cm^2$, energy consumption for the pellet mill decreased (quadratic effect, p<0.004) from 14.1 to 12.0 kWh/t. Dry matter and gross energy digestibility increased (cubic effects, p<0.006) as cone pressure was increased from 0 to $35.2kg/cm^2$ with the largest improvement occurring as cone pressure was increased from 0 to $11.7kg/cm^2$. Nitrogen digestibility increased (cubic effect, p<0.001) from 78.3 to 81.0% as the feed was subjected to the higher cone pressures, with N digestibility being maximized at $24.4kg/cm^2$ cone pressure. The DE of the diet increased (cubic effect, p<0.001) by 225 kcal/kg as cone pressure was increased from 0 to $11.7kg/cm^2$. In experiment 4, pellet moisture decreased and moisture loss increased as cone pressure was increased from 0 to $35.2kg/cm^2$. Also, starch gelatinization of the wheat-based diets increased from 16.8 to 49.1% as the diets were processed at 0 and $35.2kg/cm^2$ cone pressure. Nutrient digestibilities were not affected (p>0.18) by any increase in cone pressure. In experiment 5, pellet moisture decreased as cone pressure was increased 0 to $35.2kg/cm^2$. The amount of moisture loss for the diets expanded at $42.2kg/cm^2$ was 3.0 and 3.8% for the SBM and raw soybean (RB) diets, respectively. Starch gelatinization for the SBM diets were 19% greater than the RB diets. The RB diets had lower DM, N and GE digestibilities as compared to the SBM diets. The DE of the RB diets were lower (p<0.02) than the SBM diets. DM (p<0.06), N (p<0.02), and GE (p<0.001) digestibilities of the dietary treatments increased as cone pressure was increased 0 to $42.2kg/cm^2$.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.403-410
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• 2013

This study was performed to evaluate the microbiological contamination level of raw beef from retail markets in Seoul, Korea. The sampling and laboratory test were performed according to the procedure of "Standard for processing and ingredients specification of livestock product" and "Korean food code". Enterotoxin of Staphylococcus aureus isolates were detected using VIDAS$^{(R)}$ and PCR-based methods. Listeria monocytogenes serotyping and genotyping were carried out using Listeria antisera and L. monocytogenes Fingerprinting kit, respectively. A total of 48 samples were collected from 16 retail markets (butcher's shop: 5, department store: 6, supermarket: 5) in 2011. The level of total bacteria counts in the butcher's shop, department store and supermarket were $4.4{\times}10^3$ CFU/g, $3.9{\times}10^5$ CFU/g and $1.0{\times}10^4$ CFU/g, respectively. The concentrations of Escherichia coli of these three retail markets were $6.4{\times}10$ CFU/g, 7.6 CFU/g and $2.0{\times}10$ CFU/g, respectively. Salmonella species was not detected on all samples. However, S. aureus was isolated in the 3 samples (6.25%) from each type of three retail markets. L. monocytogenes was isolated in the 4 samples (8.3%) from department stores. The level of contamination of these foodborne bacteria was less than 100 CFU/g. The enterotoxin-encoding genes of S. aureus isolates were sea, seh, sei and sep gene. The gene similarity of L. monocytogenes isolated from two retail markets by Rep-PCR showed 57.8-98.1% and 68.1-98.1%, respectively. These results suggest that the HACCP guideline for environmental control in slaughterhouse and retail markets should be provided to prevent cross contamination and manage foodborne pathogens such as L. monocytogenes and S. aureus.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.393-401
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• 1998

Based on clinical observations, it is suspected that the bone-tendon origin is the site where piratical failure, leading to pathophysiological changes in the humeral epicondyle after repetitive loading, is initiated Mechanical properties and failure patterns of the common extensor and flexor tendons of the humeral epicondyle under static and repetitive loading have not been well documented. Our goal was to determine mechanical properties of failure strength and strain changes, to correlate strain changes and the number of cyclic repetitions, and to identify the failure pattern of bone-tendon specimens of common extensor and flexor tendons of the humeral epicondyle. Mechnaical properties of human cadaver bone-tendon specimens of the common extensor and flexor tendons of the humeral epicondyle were tested under two different loading rates. No statistically significant difference in ultimate tensile strength was found between male and female specimens or between slow (10 mm/sec) and fast elongation (100 mm/sec) rates. However, a statistically significant difference in ultimate tensile strength between the common extensor (1190.0 N/$cm^2{\pm}$388.8) and flexor 1922.0 N/$cm^2{\pm}$764.4)tendons was found (p<0.05). When loads of 25%, 33%, and 41% of the ultimate tensile strength of their contralateral sides were applied, the number of cycles required to reach 24% strain change for the common extersor and flexor tendons were approximately 8,893, 1,907, and 410, respectively. The relationship between cycles and loads was correlated ($R^2$=0.46) Histological observation showed that complete or partial failure after tensile or cyclic loadings occurred at the transitional zone, which is the uncalcified fibrocartilage zone between tendon and bone of the humeral epicondyle. Sequential histological sections revealed that failure initiated at the upper, medial aspect of the extensor carpi radialis brevis tendon origin. Biomechanical and hstological data obtained in this study indicated that the uncalcified fibrocartilage zone at the bone-tendon origin of the common extensor and flexor tendons is the weak anatomical structure of the humeral epicondyle.