• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.7-15
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• 2015

Objectives : Rosa laevigata Michx. has been used for the treatment of renal disease in traditional Korean medicine. In this study, we investigated cytoprotective effect of R. laevigata water extract (RLE) against oxidative stress induced by arachidonic acid (AA) + iron.Methods : To evaluate the protective effects of RLE against AA + iron-induced oxidative stress in HepG2 cell, cell viability and changes on apoptosis-related proteins were assessed by MTT and immunoblot analyses. The effects of RLE on reduced glutathione level, production of reactive oxygen species and mitochondrial membrane potential were also monitored. Furthermore, to verify underlying molecular mechanism, NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) was examined by immunoblot analysis. Additionally, Nrf2 transactivation and its downstream target genes expression were also determined by reporter gene and realtime RT-PCR analyses.Results : RLE pretreatment (30-300 μg/ml) prevented cells from AA + iron-mediated cell death in a concentration dependent manner. In addition, 100 μg/ml RLE inhibited AA + iron-induced glutathione depletion, reactive oxygen species production and mitochondrial dysfunction. RLE accumulated nuclear Nrf2 and also transactivated Nrf2, which was evidenced by antioxidant response element- and glutathione S-transferase A2-driven luciferase activities and mRNA level of glutamate-cysteine ligase catalytic subunit, NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 and sestrin 2. Moreover, protective effect of RLE against AA + iron was abolished in Nrf2 knockout cells.Conclusions : These results indicate that RLE has the ability to protect hepatocyte against oxidative stress through Nrf2 activation.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.29-38
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• 2002

Hypertension is an important public health problem because it increases the risk of stroke, angina, myocardial infarction, heart failure, and end-stage renal disease. If it is not actively treated, morbidity and mortality increase with hypertension-induced complications and quality of life decreases. This study was to evaluate the use of antihypertensive drugs and blood pressure changes and to compare algorithms chosen (or the 1st and 2nd line therapy of hypertension based on the JNC VI recommendations. The medical charts of 222 patients with essential hypertension at St. Vincent's Hospital in Suwon from January 1997 to January 2000 were reviewed retrospectively. Data collection and analysis included baseline BP underlying diseases and complications, administered antihypertensives, BP changes, changes of antihypertensive regimen, and adverse effects with treatments. As results, the higher BP the patients had, the more frequent they had target organ damages and clinical cardiovascular diseases. Mean duration to reduce blood pressure less than 140/90 mmHg was 8 weeks in $85.3\%$ of the patients. The rate of control in BP was $82.4\%$ at 6 months. The major antihypertensive drugs prescribed were calcium channel blockers $(61.8\%)$ , ACE inhibitors $(19.1\%),\;\beta-blockers\;(13.7\%)$ and diuretics $(5.3\%)$ as the 1st-line monotherapy. The methods of treatment used as the 1st-line therapy were monotherapy$(59\%)$ and combination therapy $(41\%)$. Blood pressure change was significantly greater for combination therapy than monotherapy$(-26.2\pm21.4\;vs.\;-18.56\pm16.7$ mmHg for systolic blood pressure; P<0.003, $-16.9\pm13.2\;vs.\;-9.2\pm12.8$ mmHg for diastolic blood pressure; p<0.001). When blood pressure was not completely controlled with the first antihypertensive selected, the 2nd line therapy had 4 options: addition of 2nd agent from different class; $66.2\%$, substitution with another drug, $21.9\%$ increase dose $11.9\%$ continue first regimen $27.9\%$ Calcium channel blockers were the most frequently prescribed agents. This was not comparable to the JNC VI guideline which recommended diuretics and $\beta-blockers$ for the 1st-line therapy. Most of patients achieved the goal BP and maintained it until 6 months, but the remaining patients should be controlled more tightly to improve their BP with combination of life style modification, patient education, and pharmacotherapy.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.639-646
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• 2001

The purpose of this study is to analyze the trend of nursing research related to family support and to provide an effective direction for future research by conducting a review of the Korean nursing literature from 1980 to 2000. A total of 73 studies were analyzed with the following results. 1) The number of studies related to family support has been rapidly increasing since 1984, and 77% of those were conducted in the 1990s. 48 studies, 65% of those analyzed. were degree-based research including 4 doctoral theses (4%) and 45 master's theses (62%). 2) Based on the objective frame of study types developed by Lee et al. (991), the types of studies were analyzed: 56 studies, 76.6% of those reviewed, belonged to factor-relating: 9 studies (12.4%) belonged to factor-isolating: 7 studies (9.6%) belonged to situation-producing: and only 1 study (1.4%) belonged to situation-relating research, respectively. 3) In terms of research design, most studies of analyzed (90.4%) were conducted by non-experimental design, and 7 studies (9.6%) were conducted by experimental design. But, qualitative research related to family support was not found. 4) In terms of research subjects, target populations of experimental studies were patients with arthritis, mental disorder, tuberculosis, coronary artery disease and hypertension. In correlational studies, 51 studies, 69.9% of those analyzed, were conducted to patients with renal failure, cancer and hemiplegia, and 5 studies (6.8%) were conducted to aged people and adolescents. 5) Study concepts used in correlational studies were quality of life, anxiety and depression, self-esteem, hope, role behavior, compliance and self-care activities. The quality of life was most often used among studies with 12.5% of those analyzed. 6) Nursing interventions, including diet therapy, family involving education and supportive care, used in experimental studies mostly showed positive effects on client involvement and home health improvement. However, the nursing interventions of mental health rehabilitation and resistance exercise showed neutral and negative results. The findings of this study provide evidence that more empirical research including experimental or qualitative studies should be conducted actively to improve nursing practice related to family support. Also, to promote more diverse nursing interventions, a family assessment tool especially for Korean families needs to be developed.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.108-115
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• 2010

Hypertension is the most prevalent disease worldwide and is itself a risk factor for cerebral, cardiac, and renal diseases. The inconsistency of candidate genes suggested by previous genomewide association studies (GWASs) may be due to not only differences in study design and genetic or environmental background but also the difference in the power of analysis between continuous traits and discrete traits. We analyzed 352,228 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 8842 unrelated Koreans obtained from Ansan and Ansung cohorts. We performed a series of GWA analyses using three different phenotype models; young hypertensive cases (278 subjects) versus elderly normotensive controls (680 subjects); the upper 25% (2211 hypertensive cases) versus the lower 25% of the SBP distribution (2211 hypotensive controls); and finally SBP and DBP as continuous traits (8842 subjects). The numbers of young hypertensive cases and elderly normotensive controls were not large enough to achieve genomewide significance. The model comparing the upper 25% subjects to the lower 25% of subjects showed a power that was approximate to that of QTL analysis. Two neighboring SNPs of the ATP2B1 gene, rs17249754 (SBP, p=$2.53^{-10}$; DBP, p=$1.28{\times}10^{-8}$) and rs7136259 (SBP, p=$1.30{\times}10^{-9}$; DBP, p=$6.41{\times}10^{-8}$), were associated with both SBP and DBP. Interestingly, a SNP of the RPL6 gene, rs11066280, revealed a significant genomewide association with SBP in men only (p=$3.85{\times}10^{-8}$), and four SNPs located near the MAN2A1 gene showed a strong association with DBP only in elderly men aged 60-70 years (e.g., rs6421827, p=$4.86{\times}10^{-8}$). However, we did not observe any gene variant attaining genomewide significance consistently in the three phenotype models except for the ATP2B1 gene variants. In general, the association signal with blood pressure was stronger in women than in men. Genes identified in GWASs are expected to open the way for prevention, early diagnosis, and personalized treatment of hypertension.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.146-151
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• 2010

A total of 167,955 microorganisms were isolated from 366,661 clinical specimens. Among them, 6,517 strains of the Candida spp. were isolated from the department of laboratory medicine in "C" hospital from Jan. 1, 2005 to Dec. 31, 2009. All clinical specimens were reviewed by the medical records of patients with Candida by the method of retrospectiveness. From this, we got the some isolated pure cultured yeasts. We identified these yeast by the identification kit system of VITEKII and VITEKII-ID-YST card. The isolation frequencies of Candida spp. were as follows. 56.4%,of C. albicans, 17.7% C tropicalis, 10.7% C glabrata and 9.5% C parapsilosis. The isolated frequency of Candida spp. in 2009 was 1.9 times higher than that in 2005. The clinical materials showing over 10.0% isolation rate were in sputum (30.1%), random urine (25.0%), 15.8% blood (15.8%) and catheterized urine (13.5%) in Candida spp.. The clinical department of showing over 7.0% isolation rate were in pulmonary medicine (20.5%), renal medicine (11.0%), infection disease medicine (10.4%), critical care medicine (10.0%), hematooncology (9.6%), general surgery (7.5%) and gastrointestinal medicine (7.4%) in Candida spp.. In monthly analysis, Candida spp. were most friquency isolated in July (10.6%), but lowest one in February (6.1%). Candida spp. were most frequently isolated in patient of over 50 years old (16.7-40.1%) than those isolated from the patients under the age of 0-49 (1.3-7.5%).

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.212-227
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• 2009

Objective : Membranous nephropathy (MN) is one of the most commonest forms of glomerular disease in man and the most frequent cause of the adult idiopathic nephrotic syndrome. Some investigators recommend no treatment, while others propose aggressive therapy, including prednisolone plus an immunosupressant such as chlorambucil or cyclophosphamide. But a more effective way to treat MN is not defined yet. This study was to evaluate the effects of Patriniae Radix extract (PRE) on the MN induced by cBSA in mice. Methods : Mice were divided into 4 groups. The first group (normal) was injected with saline. The second group (control) was treated with cBSA (10 mg/kg i.p) only. The third group, named PRE-2S0, was treated with cBSA (10 mg/kg i.p) and PRE (250 mg/kg, p.o). The fourth group, PRE-500, was treated with cBSA (10mg/kg i.p) and PRE (500mg/kg, p.o). After cBSA and PRE treatment for 4 weeks, we measured change of body weight, 24hrs proteinuria, serum albumin, total cholesterol, triglyceride, BUN, creatinine, IgG, IgA, IgM, $TNF-\alpha$, $IL-1\beta$, and $IFN-\gamma$ levels and the mRNA expression of $IFN-\gamma$, IL-6, and IL-10. The morphologic changes of renal glomeruli were also observed with a light microscope and an electron microscope. Results : The levels of 24 hrs proteinuria and serum triglyceride. BUN. IgG. $TNF-\alpha$, and $IL-1\beta$ significantly decreased in both PRE groups, while the level of serum albumin significantly increased in both PRE groups. The mRNA expression of IL-10 in splenocytes considerably increased in both PRE groups. The mRNA expression of $IFN-\gamma$ and IL-6 in splenocytes considerably increased in both PRE group. In histological findings of kidney tissue, thickening of GBM decreased in both PRE groups. Conclusions : The present study suggests that PRE is effective when treating mice with MN induced by cBSA. More clinical data and studies are to be done for efficient application.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.264-269
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• 2017

Prunella vulgaris, well-known traditional medicinal plant, is used for the cure of abscess, scrofula, hypertension and urinary diseases. Diabetic nephropathy is the most common cause of end-stage renal disease. The pathological characteristics of diabetic nephropathy are glomerular and tubular basement membrane thickening. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of Prunella vulgaris, on diabetic glomerular injury in streptozotocin-induced diabetes rats. Diabetes mellitus was induced by a single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ; 45 mg/kg) and confirmed by random glucose level higher than ${\leq}300mg/dL$. The experimental rats were divided into five groups: control group (Male SD rats), STZ group (Male SD rats injected STZ), Aminoguanidine group (Male SD rats injected STZ + AG 100 mg/kg/day), Low dose group (Male SD rats injected STZ + APV 100 mg/kg/day), High dose group (Male SD rats injected STZ + APV 300 mg/kg/day). AG or APVs were administered once a day for 8 weeks. Body weight and food/water intake were measured every four weeks. At the end of study, the kidneys were collected and cut into pieces for immunohistochemistry and western blot analysis. Our study showed that body weight and water/food intake were no significant differences between untreated STZ-induced diabetic rat and APV treated-STZ rat. However, phosphorylation of receptor-regulated Smads (Smad3) was significantly decreased in APV treated-STZ rat as compared with the diabetic group. In addition, APV was improved nephrin level in kidney tissue. Therefore, we suggest that APV has a protective effect against STZ-induced diabetic glomerular injury.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.57-67
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• 1995

Twenty-four hours, acute toxicity and the histopathological effect of formaline to flounder, Paralichthys olivaceus larvae were examined. The $LC_{50}$ values obtained to farmaline were 2,520 ppm in 1 hour treatment. 1.610 ppm in 2 hours treatment, 868 ppm in 4 hours treatment and 141 ppm in 24 hours treatment. Many pathological features such as hypertrophy of mucous and epithelial cells in secondary gill lamella, hyaline droplet degeneration of tubular epithelial cells in the proximal convoluted segment of renal tubules, focal or massive necrosis in liver cells and pycnotic nucleus in heart cells were recognized. The above results were discussed in relation to the application of formaline as therapeutic agent in flounder disease.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.85-93
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• 2001

Background: The number of glomerulus has been considered one of the etiologic factors especially for focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. However, glomeruli are too many to calculate them correctly. Although the fractionator method has became convinced, in which they used selected sections, not whole kidney sections, with same intervals, it is also very hard to get good results. Because it is still very time-consuming and laborous work which leads to make big observers' biases. Methods and Materials: We designed the index for glomerular number to estimate the tendency of increase or decrease of the number of it in different kidneys and which was evaluated by other conventional methods including fractionator method. Index was based upon the theory by Nyengaard; "the number of glomerulus correlates with the weight of kidney, which is positively correlated with body weight". Calculating formula is the number of glomeruli/surface areas of cortices, which contain calculated glomeruli multiplies by kidney weight/body weight. Results: We applied this index to kidneys of FGS/Kist mouse and those of RFM/Nga mouse. The former is spontaneous glomerulosclerosis model with heavy protein uria and renal failure and the latter is the mother side of FGS/Kist mouse but has no glomerular disease or protein uria. The number of glomerulus of FGS/Kist mouse was decreased by 30% to those of RFM/Nga mouse. Conclusion: This index was useful and reliable for estimating the relative glomerular number between two groups.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.32-40
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• 2021

This study examined the association between hypertension (HTN), estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), and urine microalbumin/creatinine ratio (ACR) in Korean adults. Data for 8,922 adults (3,941 men and 4,981 women) aged ≥20 years from the Sixth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey VI (2013~2014) were analyzed. In men, after adjusting for the related variables, the odds ratios (ORs) of HTN [systolic blood pressure (SBP) ≥140 mmHg, diastolic blood pressure (DBP) ≥90 mmHg, or use of HTN medications] were significantly higher in the decreased eGFR group [eGFR <60 mL/min/1.73 ㎡, 1.98 (95% CI, 1.21~3.24)], elevated ACR group [ACR ≥30 mg/g, 2.03 (95% CI, 1.54~2.69)], and decreased eGFR plus elevated ACR group [eGFR <60 mL/min/1.73 ㎡ and ACR ≥30 mg/g, 6.03 (95% CI, 2.82~12.92)] than in the normal group (eGFR ≥60 mL/min/1.73 ㎡ and ACR <30 mg/g). In women, after adjusting for the related variables, the ORs of HTN were significantly higher in the decreased eGFR group (2.29, 95% CI, 1.27~4.13), elevated ACR group (2.22, 95% CI, 1.68~2.94), and decreased eGFR plus elevated ACR group (10.77, 95% CI, 3.89~29.82) than the normal group. In conclusion, HTN was associated with a decreased eGFR and elevated ACR in Korean men and women. In addition, the prevalence of HTN increased greatly when a decreased eGFR and elevated ACR occurred simultaneously.