• Nutrition Research and Practice
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.165-171
• /
• 2014

BACKGROUND: Groundwater is believed to possess many beneficial effects due to its natural source of various minerals. In this study, we examined the effects of natural Jeju groundwater S1 (Samdasoo$^{TM}$), S2 and S3 pumped up from different locations of Jeju Island, Korea, along with local tap water, on body weight gain, serum lipids and lipoproteins, and liver histopathology in high-fat diet-induced hyperlipidemic rats. MATERIALS/METHODS: Rats were randomly and equally divided into 6 groups. Different water samples were supplied to the hyperlipidemic rats as their daily drinking water and the widely-used anti-hyperlipidemic drug simvastatin was used as a positive control. Body weight, serum lipids and lipoproteins were measured weekly. Liver weight, liver index and liver histopathology were examined after the execution of the rats. RESULTS: After drinking Jeju groundwaters for two months, S2 but not S3 significantly reduced weight growth and serum triglycerides levels and increased high density lipoprotein-C (HDL-C) without affecting total cholesterol or LDL-C. S1 and particularly S2 significantly reduced the severity of liver hypertrophy and steatosis. All Groundwaters had much higher contents of vanadium (S3>S2>S1>>tap water) whereas S1 and S2 but not S3 markedly blocked autoxidation of ferrous ions. CONCLUSION: Jeju Groundwater S1 and particularly S2 exhibit protective effects against hyperlipidemia and fatty liver and hypothesize that the beneficial effect of Jeju Groundwaters may be contributed from blockade of autoxidation of ferrous ions rather than their high contents of vanadium.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.6
• /
• pp.2641-2646
• /
• 2014

Background: To evaluate efficacy and side effects of glycididazole sodium (CMNa) combined with chemotherapy (cisplatin plus 5-FU/folic acid, PLF) and radiotherapy in treating patients with locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Materials and Methods: Patients with III~IV stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC),were randomly divided into treatment group (46 patients) and control group (45 patients). Both groups received radiotherapy concomitant with PLF chemotherapy. The treatment group at the same time cwas given CMNa ($800mg/m^2$ before radiotherapy), by l h intravenous drip, three times a week. Results: When the dose of radiation was over 60 Gy, complete response rates of nasopharyngeal tumor and lymph node metastases in treatment group were significantly higher than in the control group (93.5% vs 77.8%; 89.1% vs 93.5%, p<0.05). Three months after radiotherapy, complete response rate of nasopharynx cancer and lymph node metastases in treatment group was both 97.8%, again higher than in the control group (84.4% and 82.2%) (p<0.05). In the treatment group, 1, 3, 5 year disease-free survival rates were 95.7%, 86.7% and 54.5%; and in control group, the corresponding disease-free survival rates were 93.3%, 66.2% and 38.6%, respectively, the difference being statistically significant (log-rank =5.887, p=0.015). One, 3, 5 year overall survival rates in two groups of patients were 97.8%, 93.5%, 70.4% and 95.5%, 88.07%, 48.4%, respectively, again with a statistically significant difference (log-rank=6.470, p=0.011). Acute toxicity and long-term radiotherapy related toxicity in the two groups did not differ (p>0.05). Conclusions: Glycididazole sodium could improve curative effects without increasing adverse reactions when treating paitents with locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.9
• /
• pp.3977-3980
• /
• 2015

Background: To investigate the effects of preemptive analgesia with parecoxib sodium on haemodynamics and plasma stress hormones in surgical patients with thyroid carcinoma. Materials and Methods: Fifty-seven patients with thyroid carcinoma who underwent thyroidectomy selectively in Laiwu Hospital Affiliated to Taishan Medical University and Binzhou People's Hospital were selected and randomly divided into three groups, 19 cases in each group. The control group was intravenously injected 0.9% sodium chloride injection before anesthesia induction; trial group I was intravenously injected with parecoxib sodium 20 min before anesthesia induction; based on trial group I, trial group II was injected with parecoxib sodium again 12 h after surgery. The levels of plasma norepinephrine (NE), cortisol (Cor) and blood glucose before, 12 and 24 h after surgery and changes of haemodynamics before surgery, at the end of surgery and 12, 24 and 48 h after surgery were compared in the three groups. Besides, visual analogue scale (VAS) scores were recorded 4, 8, 12 and 24 h after surgery. Results: 12 and 24 h after surgery, the levels of plasma NE and Cor in three groups rose dramatically (P<0.05 or (P<0.01); The levels of plasma NE and Cor in trial groups I and II were evidently lower than in control group (P<0.05 or P<0.01), and those in trial group II slightly lower than in trial group I. 12 h after surgery, the heart rates (HR) and systolic pressures (SBP) in trial groups I and II increased obviously by comparison to surgery before (P<0.05 or P<0.01), but gradually returned to the preoperative level. HR, SBP and diastolic pressures (DBP) in trial groups I and II at the end of surgery and 12 h after surgery were all lower than in the control group, and significant differences were present (P<0.05 or (P<0.01). At 4, 8, 12 and 24 h after surgery, VAS scores in trial groups I and II were markedly lower than in the control group (P<0.05 or (P<0.01), the scores in trial group II being the lowest. Conclusions: Combined application of parecoxib sodium for preemptive analgesia before anesthesia and after surgery can effectively reduce the levels of plasma stress hormones and improve analgesic effects in surgical patients with thyroid carcinoma, and without conspicuous impact on haemodynamics.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.11
• /
• pp.6363-6367
• /
• 2013

Atractylis lancea (Thunb.) DC. (AL), an important medicinal herb in Asia, has been shown to have anti-tumor effects on cancer cells, but the involved mechanisms are poorly understood. This study focused on potential effects and molecular mechanisms of AL on the proliferation of the Hep-G2 liver cancer cell line in vitro. Cell viability was assessed by MTT test in Hep-G2 cells incubated with an ethanol extract of AL. Then, the effects of AL on apoptosis and cell cycle progression were determined by flow cytometry. Telomeric repeat amplification protocol (TRAP) assays was performed to investigate telomerase activity. The mRNA and protein expression of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) and c-myc were determined by real-time RT-PCR and Western blotting. Our results show that AL effectively inhibits proliferation in Hep-G2 cells in a concentrationand time-dependent manner. When Hep-G2 cells were treated with AL after 48h,the $IC_{50}$ was about 72.1 ${\mu}g/mL$. Apoptosis was induced by AL via arresting the cells in the G1 phase. Furthermore, AL effectively reduced telomerase activity through inhibition of mRNA and protein expression of hTERT and c-myc. Hence, these data demonstrate that AL exerts anti-proliferative effects in Hep-G2 cells via down-regulation of the c-myc/hTERT/telomerase pathway.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.10
• /
• pp.6007-6012
• /
• 2013

ANXA2, a member of the annexin family, is overexpressed and plays important roles in tumor development. However, the significance of ANXA2 expression in gastric carcinoma has not been clarified.To elucidate its roles in growth of gastric cancer, ANXA2 expression in SGC-7901 cells was inhibited with a designated siRNA, then cell proliferation, cell cycling, apoptosis and motility were determined by MTT assay, flow cytometry, Hoechst 33342 staining and wound healing assay, respectively. To further assess the behavior of ANXA2 deleted SGC-7901 cells, changes of microstructures were observed under fluorescence microscopy, laser scanning confocal microscopy and electron microscopy. We found that inhibition of ANXA2 expression caused cell proliferation to decrease significantly with G1 arrest, motility to be reduced with changes in pseudopodia/filopodia structure and F-actin and ${\beta}$-tubulin expression, and apoptosis to be enhanced albeit without significance. At the same time, ANXA2 deletion resulted in fewer pseudopodia/filopodia, non-stained areas were increased, contact inhibition among cells reappeared, and expression of F-actin and ${\beta}$-tubulin was decreased, with induction of polymerized disassembled forms. Taken together, these data suggest that ANXA2 overexpression is important to maintain the malignancy of cancer cells, and this member of the annexin family has potential to be considered as a target for the gene therapy of gastric carcinoma.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.8
• /
• pp.3301-3306
• /
• 2015

Nucleolin (C23) is an important anti-apoptotic protein that is ubiquitously expressed in exponentially growing eukaryotic cells. In order to understand the impact of C23 in radiation therapy, we attempted to investigate the relationship of C23 expression with the radiosensitivity of human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells. We investigated the role of C23 in activating the catalytic subunit of DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PKcs), which is a critical protein for DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) repair. As a result, we found that the expression of C23 was negatively correlated with the radiosensitivity of NSCLC cell lines. In vitro clonogenic survival assays revealed that C23 knockdown increased the radiosensitivity of a human lung adenocarcinoma cell line, potentially through the promotion of radiation-induced apoptosis and adjusting the cell cycle to a more radiosensitive stage. Immunofluorescence data revealed an increasing quantity of ${gamma}$-H2AX foci and decreasing radiation-induced DNA damage repair following knockdown of C23. To further clarify the mechanism of C23 in DNA DSBs repair, we detected the expression of DNA-PKcs and C23 proteins in NSCLC cell lines. C23 might participate in DNA DSBs repair for the reason that the expression of DNA-PKcs decreased at 30, 60, 120 and 360 minutes after irradiation in C23 knockdown cells. Especially, the activity of DNA-PKcs phosphorylation sites at the S2056 and T2609 was significantly suppressed. Therefore we concluded that C23 knockdown can inhibit DNA-PKcs phosphorylation activity at the S2056 and T2609 sites, thus reducing the radiation damage repair and increasing the radiosensitivity of NSCLC cells. Taken together, the inhibition of C23 expression was shown to increase the radiosensitivity of NSCLC cells, as implied by the relevance to the notably decreased DNA-PKcs phosphorylation activity at the S2056 and T2609 clusters. Further research on targeted C23 treatment may promote effectiveness of radiotherapy and provide new targets for NSCLC patients.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.24
• /
• pp.10879-10882
• /
• 2015

Objective: To investigate the effect of intraoperative glucose fluctuation and postoperative interlukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ (TNF-${\alpha}$), C-reactive protein (CRP) levels on the short-term prognosis of patients with intracranial supratentorial neoplasms. Materials and Methods: Eighty-six patients undergoing intracranial excision were selected in The Second Hospital of Jilin University. According to the condition of glucose fluctuation, the patients were divided into group A (glucose fluctuation <2.2 mmol/L, n=57) and group B (glucose fluctuation ${\geq}2.2mmol/L$, n=29). Glucose was assessed by drawing 2 mL blood from internal jugular vein in two groups in the following time points, namely fasting blood glucose 1 d before operation ($T_0$), 5 min after anesthesia induction ($T_1$), intraoperative peak glucose ($T_2$), intraoperative lowest glucose ($T_3$), 5 min after closing the skull ($T_4$), immediately after returning to intensive care unit (ICU) ($T_5$) and 2 h after returning to ICU ($T_6$). 1 d before operation and 1, 3 and 6 d after operation, serum IL-6 and TNF-${\alpha}$ levels were detected with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and CRP level with immunoturbidimetry. Additionally, postoperative adverse reactions were monitored. Results: There was no statistical significance between two groups regarding the operation time, anesthesia time, amount of intraoperative bleeding and blood transfusion (P>0.05). The glucose levels in both groups at $T_1{\sim}T_6$ went up conspicuously compared with that at $T_0$ (P<0.01), and those in group B at $T_2$, $T_4$, $T_5$ and $T_6$ were significantly higher than in group A (P<0.01). Serum IL-6, TNF-${\alpha}$ and CRP levels in both groups 1, 3 and 6 d after operation increased markedly compared with 1 d before operation (P<0.01), but the increased range in group A was notably lower than in group B (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Postoperative incidences of hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia and myocardial ischemia in group A were significantly lower than in group B (P<0.05), and respiratory support time obviously shorter than in group B (P<0.01). Conclusions: The glucose fluctuation of patients undergoing intracranial excision is related to postoperative IL-6, TNF-${\alpha}$ and CRP levels and those with small range of glucose fluctuation have better prognosis.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.14
• /
• pp.5773-5779
• /
• 2014

Background: Since cervical cancer can be prevented and controlled through human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination, it is important to train health care providers and provide them with appropriate knowledge. This study aimed to understand the level of HPV related knowledge among medical students and correlates in Southwest China in order to address any potential gap in their knowledge base. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey among medical students in six selected universities across Southwest China based on a pretested questionnaire regarding HPV infection, cervical cancer, and HPV vaccines. Results: We successfully surveyed 1, 878 medical students, of whom 32.1% were males and 67.9% were females. Their mean age was 20.8 (standard deviation: 1.3) years. 91.8% of them were ethnic Han Chinese, and 43.8% were students in clinical medicine. While 76.5% had heard of HPV only 48.8% knew that the prevention of cervical cancer was possible through HPV vaccination. Only 42.9% of the male and 49.2% of the female students correctly answered over 10 out of 22 questions on HPV related knowledge. Female students appeared to know more about HPV and HPV vaccination (OR: 1.39; 95% CI: 1.11-1.75). In addition, the student knowledge improved with the grade (p<0.001). University courses were the most selected source of knowledge about HPV vaccination (66.4%). 83.6% of males and 91.4% of females were willing to have more HPV related education by experts (p<0.001). Only 10.1% of the students acknowledged that people had asked for their advice regarding HPV vaccination. Conclusions: Our survey indicates that medical students from Southwest China have poor knowledge of HPV and HPV vaccination, but are willing to receive more relevant information. Targeted education should be incorporated into school courses to inform these future health care providers and ensure success of programs for cervical cancer control and prevention.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
• /
• v.31 no.1
• /
• pp.25-42
• /
• 2017

Objectives The goal of this review was to investigate clinical, experimental and literature studies of Korean medicine on atopic dermatitis (AD) of Korean children in Korean medicine literature, seeking for the better research methods for more effective treatments. Methods Electronic investigations were practiced on AKOP (The Association of Korean Oriental Pediatrics, http://www.akop.or.kr) to collect theses which were published by J Pediatr Korean Med. The key word 'Atopy' was used for searching to ensure that every related thesis was collected. The publication date was limited from 1996 to 2016. The selected literatures were assessed mainly according to distributions of study type, publication year, scale, treatment and its efficacy. Results 55 papers were selected from 59 studies. In these collected 55 related theses, there were 29 experimental studies (52.73%), 18 clinical studies (32.73%), 8 review studies (14.55%). In the 29 experimental studies, there were 20 studies (68.97%) using NC/Nga mouse as subjects. The mite antigen was used to trigger AD by 8 studies (27.59%). The studies have been utilizing DNCB and DNFB instead of mite antigen since 2011. All the experimental studies showed that the Korean medicine was effective in AD. In total 18 clinical studies, 3 studies (16.67%) were case reports, only 1 thesis (5.56%) was conducted by case control study and the rest were case series studies. 7 studies (38.89%) of 18 studies diagnosed AD according to Hanifin and Rajka's diagnostic criteria (1980), only 1 study (5.56%) according to the Korean standard and the rest 10 studies (55.56%) didn't mention diagnostic criteria. 12 clinical studies (66.67%) showed efficacy in treating AD. There were 10 studies (55.56%) only employing internal treatments and 1 thesis (5.56%) didn't mention the exact prescription. Naesowhajungtang-kamibang, Saenghyeoryunbue-um were used 3 times (16.67%) as the internal medicine respectively. 5 theses (27.78%) were combined with acupuncture therapy. Hegu (LI4), Sanyinjiao (SP6) were used in 4 theses, and Taichong (LR3), Quchi (LI11), Zusanli (ST36) in 3 theses. The number of acupoints chosen from The Spleen meridian of Foot-Taiyin was the largest. There were 8 review theses. 2 were about the foreign oriental medicine, 3 were about the external medicine or external treatment methods, and 3 other studies were about severity scoring systems, the methodological study in the latest clinical study, overview for pattern and results of herbal medicine-derived AD clinical researches. Conclusions The experimental studies and clinical studies showed the effectiveness of Korean medicine treatments. However, this study still needs improving by conducting more comparative studies and using better research methods, in order to find more effective treatments to improve clinical efficacy.

• Animal Bioscience
• /
• v.36 no.12
• /
• pp.1775-1784
• /
• 2023

Objective: The aim of this study was to reveal the role and regulatory mechanism of miR-188-5p in the proliferation and differentiation of goat muscle satellite cells. Methods: Goat skeletal muscle satellite cells isolated in the pre-laboratory were used as the test material. First, the expression of miR-188-5p in goat muscle tissues at different developmental stages was detected by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). In addition, miR-188-5p was transfected into goat skeletal muscle satellite cells by constructing mimics and inhibitors of miR-188-5p, respectively. The changes of differentiation marker gene expression were detected by qPCR method. Results: It was highly expressed in adult goat latissimus dorsi and leg muscles, goat fetal skeletal muscle, and at the differentiation stage of muscle satellite cells. Overexpression and interference of miR-188-5p showed that miR-188-5p inhibited the proliferation and promoted the differentiation of goat muscle satellite cells. Target gene prediction and dual luciferase assays showed that miR-188-5p could target the 3'untranslated region of the calcium/calmodulin dependent protein kinase II beta (CAMK2B) gene and inhibit luciferase activity. Further functional studies revealed that CAMK2B promoted the proliferation and inhibited the differentiation of goat muscle satellite cells, whereas si-CAMK2B restored the function of miR-188-5p inhibitor. Conclusion: These results suggest that miR-188-5p inhibits the proliferation and promotes the differentiation of goat muscle satellite cells by targeting CAMK2B. This study will provide a theoretical reference for future studies on the molecular mechanisms of skeletal muscle development in goats.