• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1611-1615
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• 2012

Triptolide, a diterpenoid obtained from Tripteryglum wilfordii Hook.f, has attracted interest for its antitumor activities against human tumor cell lines in recent years. This report focuses on anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic activities in human melanoma A375 cells assessed by CCK8 assay, Hoechst 33258 staining and flow cytometry. In addition, triptolide-induced arrest in the S phase was also observed. Caspase assays showed the apoptosis induced by triptolide was caspase-dependent and probably through intrinsic apoptotic pathways. Furthermore, expression of NF-${\kappa}B$ (p65) and its downstream factors such as Bcl-2, Bcl-$X_L$ was down-regulated. Taken together, the data indicate that triptolide inhibits A375 cells proliferation and induces apoptosis by a caspase-dependent pathway and through a NF-${\kappa}B$-mediated mechanism.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.5043-5046
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• 2012

The role of Helicobacter pylori status and serum zinc value in gastric disease patients and healthy controls were investigated. Cases used in this work were 45 gastric cancer patients, 44 with peptic ulcers, 52 suffering gastritis and 64 healthy controls, all diagnosed histologically with the controls undergoing medical checkups. Helicobacter pylori status and serum levels of Zn were determined by 13C-urea breath test and flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer, respectively. Our study showed that Helicobacter pylori infection has no change in gastritis, peptic ulcer and gastric cancer group, on the contrast, serum levels of Zn were significantly reduced in gastritis, peptic ulcer and gastric cancer group, compared with healthy controls, and the higher the Zn levels are, the more increased risk of gastric cancer. Helicobacter pylori infection is a cause of gastritis, peptic ulcers and even gastric cancer, while serum zinc level is an indicator of protection of gastric membranes against damage.

• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.25
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• pp.407-428
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• 2008

The purpose of the study is to examine a new paradigm of Korea labor movement so that Korea labor union may adapt itself to change of labor environment and raise its organizing rate. Examining assignments to have to practice for a new paradigm of a labor union in the 21st century. First, common industrial relations should be constructed. To achieve it, it is necessary that labor and management have a strong partnership as a group sharing common destiny on the basis of mutual confidence. Second, unionism in the side of social reform should be settled down. Labor and capital should grope coexistence and co-prosperity through conversation and negotiation, escaping from opposition and fighting. Third, service function of a labor union should be strengthened. A labor union should offer service as pursuit of diversity, self-management and autonomy in work for laborers. Fourth, labor and management should try to stabilize industrial relations followed by industrial-level negotiations. Fifth, labor and management should try to develop human resources in cooperation between the two. Labor and management should participate in developing human resources on the basis of cooperation. If a labor union has a positive practice for a new paradigm of labor movement as above and recognition about a labor union is changed, industrial relations will realize more developmental relation.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.179-206
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• 1998

The purpose of this study is to discuss the theoretical and practical strategies for the quality management of a union database built in a distributed system. To the end, this study introduces the quality control methods employed for the OCLC union catalog, which has been built in a distributed system and also known as the most typical union DB. The main discussion is about the quality issue of KORDIC's SATURN DB, the most typical union DB in South Korea. The final recommendation includes the management strategies and practical guidelines for the efficient quality control of a union DB built in a distributed system.

• Journal of East Asia Management
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.25-40
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• 2022

This study investigates the effect of labor union and its power on information opacity. Given that the information opacity ultimately leads to the stock price crash, this study examines the relationship between labor unions and future stock price crash risk. Further, by assuming a strike by labor union as the actual power of the unionization in firms, whether labor union's power subrogated by the activity (i.e., a strike) makes a significant difference in the likelihood of future stock price crash between unionized firms is also examined. The work place survey data provided by Korea Labor Institute is used to test the hypotheses. The data is for the periods of 2004 - 2012 on firms listed on Korea Stock Exchange and KOSDAQ. The results show that while labor unionization has a positive impact on future stock price crash risk, on which labor union's power has a negative impact. This means that the existence of labor union itself might facilitate firm's information to be opaque by tolerating manager opportunism, while its power mitigates the managerial opportunism, which leads to lower future stock price crash risk. This study adds to the literature on the role of labor unions as nonfinancial stakeholders and its power in accounting environment, and also on the determinants of stock price crash. It is also valuable to examine the unions' role in terms of the economic consequences of both presence and power of the labor unions.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.426-437
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• 2024

Objective: Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) is a diagnostic tool that provides precise and reproducible information about cardiac structure, function, and tissue characterization, aiding in the monitoring of chemotherapy response in patients with light-chain cardiac amyloidosis (AL-CA). This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of CMR in monitoring responses to chemotherapy in patients with AL-CA. Materials and Methods: In this prospective study, we enrolled 111 patients with AL-CA (50.5% male; median age, 54 [interquartile range, 49-63] years). Patients underwent longitudinal monitoring using biomarkers and CMR imaging. At follow-up after chemotherapy, patients were categorized into superior and inferior response groups based on their hematological and cardiac laboratory responses to chemotherapy. Changes in CMR findings across therapies and differences between response groups were analyzed. Results: Following chemotherapy (before vs. after), there were significant increases in myocardial T2 (43.6 ± 3.5 ms vs. 44.6 ± 4.1 ms; P = 0.008), recovery in right ventricular (RV) longitudinal strain (median of -9.6% vs. -11.7%; P = 0.031), and decrease in RV extracellular volume fraction (ECV) (median of 53.9% vs. 51.6%; P = 0.048). These changes were more pronounced in the superior-response group. Patients with superior cardiac laboratory response showed significantly greater reductions in RV ECV (-2.9% [interquartile range, -8.7%-1.1%] vs. 1.7% [-5.5%-7.1%]; P = 0.017) and left ventricular ECV (-2.0% [-6.0%-1.3%] vs. 2.0% [-3.0%-5.0%]; P = 0.01) compared with those with inferior response. Conclusion: Cardiac amyloid deposition can regress following chemotherapy in patients with AL-CA, particularly showing more prominent regression, possibly earlier, in the RV. CMR emerges as an effective tool for monitoring associated tissue characteristics and ventricular functional recovery in patients with AL-CA undergoing chemotherapy, thereby supporting its utility in treatment response assessment.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.1136-1145
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• 2015

The diverse microbial communities that colonize distinct segments of the gastrointestinal tract are intimately related to aspects of physiology and the pathology of human health. However, most recent studies have focused on the rectal or fecal microbiota, and the microbial signature of the duodenum is poorly studied. In this study, we compared the microbiota in duodenal and rectal samples to illustrate the characteristic microbial signatures of the duodenum in healthy adults. Nine healthy volunteers donated biopsies and luminal contents from the duodenum and rectum. To determine the composition and diversity of the microbiota, 454-pyrosequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA was performed and multiple bioinformatics analyses were applied. The α-diversity and phylogenetic diversity of the microbiota in the duodenal samples were higher than those of the rectal samples. There was higher biodiversity among the microbiota isolated from rectal biopsies than feces. Proteobacteria were more highly represented in the duodenum than in the rectum, both in the biopsies and in the luminal contents from the healthy volunteers (38.7% versus 12.5%, 33.2% versus 5.0%, respectively). Acinetobacter and Prevotella were dominant in the duodenum, whereas Bacteroides and Prevotella were dominant in the rectum. Additionally, the percentage of OTUs shared in biopsy groups was far higher than in the luminal group (43.0% versus 26.8%) and a greater number of genera was shared among the biopsies than the luminal contents. Duodenal samples demonstrated greater biological diversity and possessed a unique microbial signature compared with the rectum. The mucosa-associated microbiota was more relatively conserved than luminal samples.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.269-279
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• 2017

Today, labor unions have become more serious and have more critical roles in the IT industry. Labor union should enhance the quality of working life in an organization. It is the most important role of the union to satisfy employees. When a labor union enriches its roles, members have a positive attitude to the union. Hence, workers will be more satisfied and make more positive results. Moreover, although members have positive attitudes to the union, when labor and capital have a negative relationship, workers do not make the best performance. Furthermore, although unions and the companies work in close cooperation, when members have a negative attitude to the labor union, workers' performance will also decline. Hence, a positive attitude to labor unions and union-management relations has a mutual benefit for performance. This study explains these relationships with the effect of attitudes to labor unions (satisfaction, trust, and commitment) on organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior, and the moderate effect of union- management cooperation. The purpose of this study is to suggest that labor unions should have a positive relationship with management and win members' recognition in the IT field.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.10
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• pp.4251-4256
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• 2015

Background: Exposure to cigarette may affect human health and increase risk of a wide range of diseases including pulmonary diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, lung fibrosis and lung cancer. However, the molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis induced by cigarettes still remain obscure even with extensive studies. With systemic view, we attempted to identify the specific gene modules that might relate to injury caused by cigarette smoke and identify hub genes for potential therapeutic targets or biomarkers from specific gene modules. Materials and Methods: The dataset GSE18344 was downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and divided into mouse cigarette smoke exposure and control groups. Subsequently, weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was used to construct a gene co-expression network for each group and detected specific gene modules of cigarette smoke exposure by comparison. Results: A total of ten specific gene modules were identified only in the cigarette smoke exposure group but not in the control group. Seven hub genes were identified as well, including Fip1l1, Anp32a, Acsl4, Evl, Sdc1, Arap3 and Cd52. Conclusions: Specific gene modules may provide better understanding of molecular mechanisms, and hub genes are potential candidates of therapeutic targets that may possible improve development of novel treatment approaches.

• BMB Reports
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• v.45 no.11
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• pp.641-646
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• 2012

It has been reported that ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme 9 (Ubc9), the unique enzyme2 in the sumoylation pathway, is up-regulated in many cancers. However, the expression and regulation of UBC9 in glioma remains unknown. In this study, we found that Ubc9 was up-regulated in glioma tissues and cell lines compared to a normal control. UBC9 knockdown by small interfering RNA (siRNA) affected cell proliferation and apoptosis in T98G cells. Further experiments revealed that microRNA (miR)-214 directly targeted the 3' untranslated region (UTR) of UBC9 and that there was an inverse relationship between the expression levels of miR-214 and UBC9 protein in glioma tissues and cells. miR-214 overexpression suppressed the endogenous UBC9 protein and affected T98G cell proliferation. These findings suggest that miR-214 reduction facilitates UBC9 expression and is involved in the regulation of glioma cell proliferation.