• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.157-166
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• 2007

Objective : The aim of this study was to investigate anti-arthritic effects of Honghwa-ja herbal acupuncture extract through inhibitory MIF activation. Methods: After Rheumatoid arthritis(RA) knee joint was induced by lipopolysaccharide(LPS) in vivo, Honghwa-ja herbal acupuncture solution was applied on $ST_{35}$(犢鼻) and $EX-LE_{202}$(內膝眼) coresponding human body. To research the effect on the expression of MIF, COX-2, MMP-9 mRNA, RT-PCR was performed on LPS-stimulated Raw 264.7 cells. Results: In the Honghwa-ja herbal acupuncture solution treated Raw 264.7 cell, the mRNA expression of cytokines, RA related inflammation factors, such as the MIF, COX-2, and MMP-9 reduced concentration dependently. Positive reaction of RA-related cytokines MIF, $IL-6R-{\alpha}$, STAT3, COX-2, MMP-9 was reduced. Conclusion : Honghwa-ja herbal acupuncture extract has significant protecting ability against acute progressive RA by inhibiting the production of MIF, as a top in cytokines related to inflammation.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.193-201
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• 2006

Cephalexin, one of most widely prescribed cephalosporin, has been reported to cause acute renal failure as a side effect in human and experimental animals. Although numerous animal studies have been reported for the cephalosporin nephrotoxicity, the molecular and cellular nephrotoxic mechanisms of cephalexin are still unknown. This investigation evaluated the time-dependent gene expression profile of kidney in mouse during cephalexin induced nephrotoxicity. C57BL/6 female mice were administered either saline or 1,000 mg/kg cephalexin intraperitoneally. Mice were sacrificed at 3, 6, and 24 hr after administration. Blood biochemical and histopathological results indicated cephalexin induced nephrotoxicity. Microarray experiment carried out using Affymetrix $GeneChip^{(R)}$. There were 198 informative genes that were significantly expressed >5-fold versus control at 3, 6, and 24 hr (p<0.01), of which 156 and 42 were up-and down-regulated, respectively. Major classes of up-regulated genes at 3, 6 hr included those involved in MAPK/Jak-STAT signaling pathway and immune response such as cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction and complement and coagulation cascades. At 24 hr, up-regulated genes were mainly involved in regeneration/repair and immune response; down-regulated genes were generally associated with transporters and intermediary metabolism. Among the up-regulated genes at 24 hr, several potential biomarkers on nephrotoxicity such as Kim-1, Fga, Timp1, and Slc34a2 were clustered in a same category. In addition, Tnfrsf12a and Lcn2 which were consistently up-regulated (>5 fold) were also included as potential biomarkers. These results may provide clues for elucidating the mechanism of cephalexin induced nephrotoxicity and evaluating potential biomarkers to assess nephrotoxicity.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.50-57
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• 2014

NF-${\kappa}B$ is a transcriptional factor which is involved in many biological processes including immunity, inflammation, and cell survival. Many investigators studied on the mechanism involved in activation of NF-${\kappa}B$ signalling pathway via ubiquitination and degradation of $I{\kappa}B$ regarding skin disease. Some specific molecules including Akt, MEK, p38 MAP Kinase, Stat3, et al. represent convergence points and key regulatory proteins in signaling pathways controlling cellular events such as growth and differentiation, energy homeostasis, and the response to stress and inflammation. Ultraviolet (UV) irradiation has many adverse effects on skin, including inflammation, alteration in the extracellular matrix, cellular senescence, apoptosis and skin cancer. Prunus mume, a naturally derived plant extract, has beneficial biological activities as blood fluidity improvement, anti-fatigue action, antioxidative and free radical scavenging activities, inhibiting the motility of Helicobacter pyolri. Previous reports on various beneficial function prompted us to investigate UVB-induced or other immunostimulated biological marker regarding P. mume extract. P. mume extract suppresses UVB-induced cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression in mouse skin epidermal JB6 P+ cells. The activation of activator protein-1 and nuclear factor-${\kappa}B$ induced by UVB was dose-dependently inhibited by P. mume extract treatment. This results suggest that P. mume extracts might be used as a potential agents for protection of inflammation or UVB induced skin damage.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.29-42
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• 2017

Objectives : Atopic dermatitis accompanies with severe pruritus and collapse of skin barrier, inflammation. Maifanite could be used as an ointment for skin disease. However, there have been few studies about maifanite uses for atopic dermatitis. We report the anti-inflammatory and promoting skin recovery effects of ionized maifanite on damaged skin barrier with experimentally elicited atopic dermatitis. Methods : Nc/Nga mice were divided into 3 groups: control group(CON), atopic dermatitis elicited group(AE group), ionized maifanite treated group after atopic dermatitis elicitation(MT group). After 5% SDS was applied D. pteronyssinus crude extract also applied for 3 weeks to elicit atopic dermatitis-like skin disease. MT group was treated for 3 weeks with ionized maifanite. Ionized maifanite was applied once a day and voluntarily administrated. AE group and control group were treated with normal saline in the same way. Results : In MT group, skin lesions like eczema were more improved than AE group. p-ERK1/2 positive reaction was reduced in MT group. MMP-9 and substance P positive reaction at dermal papillae was also reduced in MT group. With skin angiogram, capillary vessel decreased in MT group. Also, IL-4 positive reaction cell and STAT-6 positive reaction cell reduced more in MT group than in AE group. $NF-{\kappa}B$ p65 positive reaction cell and iNOS positive reaction cell also declined more in MT group than in AE group. Conclusions : It is supposed that ionized maifanite has anti-inflammatory effects on NC/Nga mice's atopic dermatitis with suppressing IL-4 production and Th2 cell differentiation, and controlling $NF-{\kappa}B$ activation.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.273-278
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• 2002

Two-step fed-batch fermentations were carried out to overproduce Bacillus licheniformis maltogenic amylase (BLMA) in recombinant Escherichia coli. The first step was to increase the cell mass by controlling the feeding of a glucose solution, while the second step was designed to improve the amylase expression efficiency by supplementing organic nitrogen sources. The linear gradient feeding method was successfully adopted to maintain the glucose concentration below 0.2 g/l during the fed-batch mode, as effectively minimizing acetic acid formation. When the dissolved oxygen (DO) level became limiting, an accumulation of acetic acid and drastic decrease in specific BLMA productivity were observed. Glucose and organic nitrogen sources consisting of yeast extract and casein hydrolysate were simultaneously supplied in the pH-stat mode to further increase the specific BLMA expression efficiency. An organic nitrogen source consisting of 200 g/1 yeast extract and 100 g/1 casein hydrolysate was found to be the best among the various combinations tested. The feeding of an organic nitrogen source in the second-step fed-batch period was highly beneficial in enhancing the BLMA production. The optimized two-step fed-batch culture resulted in 78 g/l maximum dry cell mass and 443 U/ml maximum BLMA activity, corresponding to 1.5-fold increase in the dry cell mass and 3.7-fold enhancement in BLMA production, compared with the simple fed-batch fermentation.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.1898-1903
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• 2007

We attempted to modulate the overall protein expression rate through the addition of a repressor against the araBAD promoter system of Escherichia coli, in which glucose was used as a repressor. Therefore, 0.5% L-arabinose was initially contained as an inducer in culture medium, and either 2% glucose or 2% glycerol was used as a carbon source, and it was found that the expression of recombinant interferon-${\alpha}$ could be observed at the beginning of the batch culture when glycerol was used as a carbon source. However, when glucose was used, the initiation of recombinant interferon-${\alpha}$ expression was delayed compared with that when glycerol was used. Furthermore, when the addition of 0.5% glucose was carried out once or twice after 0.5% L-arabinose induction during DO-stat fed-batch culture, the distributions of soluble and insoluble recombinant interferon-${\alpha}$ were modulated. When glucose was not added after the induction of L-arabinose, all of the expressed recombinant interferon-${\alpha}$ formed an inclusion body during the later half of culturing. However, when glucose was added after induction, the expressed recombinant interferon-${\alpha}$ did not all form an inclusion body, and about half of the total recombinant interferon-${\alpha}$ was expressed in a soluble form. It was deduced that the addition of glucose after the induction of L-arabinose might lower the cAMP level, and thus, CAP (catabolite activator protein) might not be activated. The transcription rate of recombinant interferon-${\alpha}$ in the araBAD promoter system might be delayed by the partial repression. This inhibition of the transcription rate probably resulted in more soluble interferon-${\alpha}$ expression caused by the reduction of the protein synthesis rate.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.295-307
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• 1997

This study was performed to investigate the reproductibility of eccentric mandibular movements according to preferred chewing side, range of mouth opening, type of lateral guidance and involvement of temporomandibular disorders. 50 patients with temporomandibular disorders and 65 dental students without any signs and symptoms were randomly selected for this study as the patients group and the control group, respectively. For recording and observation of eccentric mandibular movement trajectory, BioEGN$^\textregistered$ of Biopak$^\textregistered$ system (Bioresearch Inc., USA) was used. Each eccentric movement to anterior, right and left side was performed three times similar to the movement pattern for Pantronic Reproducibility Index. mandibular path was analyzed by three dimensional positional change and the three paths from one direction were compared with one another. From this, reproducibility index of one-directional lateral movement could be calculated, and total reproducibility index, named BioEGN reproducibility index(BERI), was also computed from three-directional eccentric movement likewise. BioEGN reproducibility Index could have four value of score by small or large scale, and by outgoing or incoming movement. The data were analyzed by SAS/stat program and the results obtained were as follows: 1. Right side chewing subjects showed more consistent pattern In reproducibility index in comparison between patients group and control group than left chewing subjects have done, and reproducibility was low in patients group. However, there was no difference between the two stoups in bilateral chewing subjects. 2. There were no difference in reproducibility index between preferred chewing side and contralateral side in unilateral chewing subjects whereas reproducibility index in left side on outgoing movement were higher than in right side in bilateral chewing subjects. 3. Difference in total reproducibility index(BERI) between canine guidance group and non-canine guidance group were not observed though difference in reproducibility index on lateral movement were observed in part. 4. There were no difference in reproducibility index between affected side and contralateral side in unilaterally affected patients, and between unilaterally affected patients and bilaterally affected patients in patients group. 5. Highly significant positive correlationship were shown among the four 쇼pes of total reproducibility index(BERI) in total subjects, and range of clinical mouth opening was negatively correlated with BEBI on outgoing movements and with index on outgoing movement to preferred side.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.327-339
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• 1997

This study aimed at evaluating tile relationship between pressure pain threshold(PPT) and electromyographic(EMG) activity in 30 healthy volunteers and 30 patients with temporomandibular disorders. PPTs were determined with electric pressure algometry over masseter, temporalis anterior, sternocleidomastoid, and trapezius muscle during resting and clenching. To obtain more reliable result, two examiners measured PPTs two times on each muscles, randomly. Resting and clenching EMG activity and tenderness of all muscles were measured to evaluate the relationship with PPTs. The collected data were processed by SAS/STAT program. The obtained results were as follows : 1. Pressure pain thresholds in tendered muscles were lower than those in non-tendered muscles. This tendency was more prominant in masticatory muscles than in cervical muscles and in clenching than in resting. 2. There ware a tendency of higher PPTs in unaffected side than in affected side, but there were no significant difference statistically. 3. There wert no difference of PPTs between in preferred side and in ipsilateral side, significantly. 4. There was a significantly positive correlation between resting and clenching PPTs, but there were no correlation between PPTs and EMG activities. 5. Comparison of EMG activity between in higher group and in lower group by resting PPTs didn't show any significant difference. But resting EMG activity in the higher group of clenching PPTs were lower, on the contrary, clenching activity were higher than those in lower groups of clenching PPTs. From this results, the author concluded that the clenching PPTs was more important than resting PPTs in diagnosis of muscle dysfunction. And the author recommanded that all of three following test were performed for the proper diagnosis and treatment of orofacial Pain : muscle tenderness, EMG activity, and PPT.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.107-114
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• 2010

Understanding of reflectance of solar concentrators is important for assessing concentration performance. However inaccurate data about refractive indices of constituent materials and dust accumulation on the surface often prevent figuring out reflectance variations. The current study proposes an approach calculating concentrator reflectance based on the refractive index of glass obtained from reflectance and transmittance measurements. This approach improved accuracy of solar-averaged reflectance from 2.9% to 0.4% compared to the use of existing reference data. Reflectance variations with incidence angles are negligible up to $60^{\circ}C$ at various glass thicknesses. When concentrators are contaminated with dust during 2 months specular reflectance loss of vertically exposed concentrators is less than 7%. However for horizontally exposed concentrators the loss significantly increases up to 40% while dependence of reflectance on incidence angles becomes strong. Measurements of hemispherical reflectance indicate that 80 percentage of the loss comes from scattering rather than absorption by dust. Data of refractive index and reflectance provided in the current study will help estimate or model the concentrated solar flux.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.265-277
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• 1996

The aim of this study was to investigate the electromyographic(EMG) activity of masticatory and cervical muscles according to chewing pattern in coronal plane during gum chewing. 70 patients with temporomandibular disorders and 30 dental students without any signs and symptoms of the disorders participated in this study. We measured the activity of masseter (MM), anterior temporalis(TA), sternocleidomastoideus(SCM) and trapezius muscle and recorded the chewing patterns using Biopak system synchronously. Chewing pattern was classified into S- or L-pattern by the midline opening path and short or long type by the lateral distance from midline. Obtained data were analyzed with SAS/STAT Program. The obtained results were as follows : 1. Generally, there was tended to be higher activity in the control group than in the patients group. 2. When comparing EMG activity according to preferred side, the muscle activity was tended to higher on the preferred chewing side than on the contralateral side. However, this difference is insignificant statistically 3. In unilateral affected patients, there was no difference in muscle activity between affected chewing side and unaffected chewing side except for the EMG of the temporalis anterior muscle. 4. Despite the varietal in each of the following variables, there mere no differences in EMG activity during gum chewing: chewing pattern in coronal plane and lateral distance of chewing. 5. The activity of SCM in chewing side was higher than that in contralateral side (p<0.001), but there was no difference in trapezius muscle. 6. In all of the control group, there was appeared L-chewing pattern than not involved the midline during preferred side chewing.