• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.65 no.2
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• pp.99-104
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• 2008

Background: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is ultimately an inflammatory state. The erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) level are inflammatory markers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the value of the ESR, CRP and APACHE II score as prognostic factors for patient with ARDS. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of 87 ARDS patients. The predictors (APACHE II score, ESR and CRP) and outcomes (mortality and length of the total hospital stay, the ICU stay and mechanical ventilator care) were obtained from the patients' records. The patients were grouped according to survival as the Survivor and Non survivor groups. We compared the APACHE II score, the ESR and the CRP level between the survivor group and the nonsurvivor group. We evaluated the correlation between the predictors and the outcomes. The initial ESR, CRP level and APACHE II score were checked at the time of ICU admission and the second ESR and CRP level were checked $3.3{\pm}1.2$ days after ICU admission. Results: Thirty-eight (43.7%) patients remained alive and 49 (56.3%) patients died. The APACHE II score was significantly lower for the survivor group than that for the non survivor group ($14.7{\pm}7.6$ vs $19.6{\pm}9.1$, respectively, p=0.006). The initial ESR and CRP level were not different between the survivor and non-survivor groups (ESR $64.0{\pm}37.8mm/hr$ vs $63.3{\pm}36.7mm/hr$, respectively, p=0.93, CRP $15.5{\pm}9.6mg/dl$ vs $16.3{\pm}8.5mg/dl$, respectively, p=0.68). The decrement of the CRP level for the survivor group was greater than that for the non survivor group ($-8.23{\pm}10.0mg/dl$ vs $-1.46{\pm}10.1mg/dl$, respectively, p=0.003). Correlation analysis revealed the initial ESR was positively correlated with the length of the total hospital stay and the ICU stay (correlation coefficient of the total hospital days: R=0.43, p=0.001, correlation coefficient of the ICU stay: R=0.39, p=0.014). Conclusion: The initial APACHE II score can predict the mortality of ARDS patients, and the degree of the early CRP change can be a predictor of mortality for ARDS patients. The initial ESR has positive correlation with the ARDS patients' duration of the total hospital stay and the ICU stay.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.97-102
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• 2006

Purpose: The prognosis for patients with a Borrmann type IV gastric cancer is extremely poor despite an aggressive surgical approach. We evaluated the clinicopathological features for Borrmann type IV cancers to find treatment strategy. Materials and Methods: The 1098 patients with advanced gastric cancer who underwent surgical resection between 1990 and 2001 were analyzed. These patients were divided into two groups: 81 patients with a Borrmann type IV carcinoma, and 1017 patients with all other types of gastric carcinomas. Results: Patients with a Borrmann type IV carcinoma were younger than those with other types, and female was prevalent (p=0.000). Of the patients with a Borrmann type IV gastric carcinoma, 68 patients (84%) were classified as stage III or IV at the initial diagnosis. The histologic type was commonly undifferentiated and serosal infiltration; nodal involvement and lymphatic invasion were more frequent in patients with a Borrmann type IV than in those with other types of cancer. Multivariate analysis confirmed that the extent of lymph node metastasis was a negative prognostic factor for Borrmann type IV gastric carcinomas. The curability for a Borrmann type IV carcinoma was only 53.1%, and peritoneal dissemination rate was 25.9%. The predominant pattern of recurrence for a Borrmann type IV gastric carcinoma was peritoneal dissemination, and it was significantly different with other types (93.1% vs 55.8%, P<0.05). The 5-year survival rate of patients with a Borrmann type IV gastric carcinoma was significantly lower than those of patients with other types of cancer, even though a curative resection had been accomplished (26% vs 63%, p<0.005). The 5-year survival rates of patients with a Borrmann type IV carcinoma following a curative resection were 44.9%, 24%, and 0% for stages II, III and IV, respectively (p<0.05). Conclusion: Because the prognosis for patients of a Borrmann type IV gastric cancer is extremely poor despite a curative resection, preoperative and/or intraperitoneal chemotherapy should be considered. And diagnostic laparoscopy and peritoneal cytology may be used to play an important role in accurate staging workup. (J Korean Gastric Cancer Assoc 2006;6:97-102)

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.34-40
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• 2008

Purpose : Preeclampsia is a major cause of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity and is considered to be a multifactorial disorder involving a genetic predisposition and environmental factors. Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a potent vasoconstrictor peptide, and alterations in the ET-1 system are thought to play a role in triggering the vasoconstriction seen with preeclampsia. The aim of this study was to examine the frequency of the 4 common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (c.1370T>G, c.137_139delinsA, c.3539+2T>C, and c.5665G>T) of the ET-1 gene in normotensive and preeclamptic pregnancies and to investigate whether these SNPs are associated with preeclampsia in pregnant Korean women. Methods : We analyzed blood samples from 206 preeclamptic and 216 normotensive pregnancies using a commercially available SNapShot kit and an ABI Prism 3100 Genetic analyzer. Results : There were no significant differences in genotype or allele frequencies of the 4 SNPs in the ET-1 gene between preeclamptic and normotensive pregnancies. The respective frequencies of the 3 haplotypes (TDTG, GDCT, and TICT; >10% haplotype frequency) were 61%, 13% and 13%, respectively, in preeclampsic pregnancies and 62%, 14% and 12%, respectively, in normotensive pregnancies. The frequencies of these haplotypes were similar for both groups. Using multiple logistic regression analysis, we did not observe an increase in the risk of preeclampsia for the 4 SNPs of the ET-1 gene under either a recessive or dominant model. Conclusion : This study suggests that the 4 SNPs of the ET-1 gene are not associated with an increased risk for preeclampsia in pregnant Korean women.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.105-110
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• 2008

Purpose: Preecalmpsia is a pregnancy-specific disorder that reflects widespread endothelial dysfunction resulting from increases of adhesion molecule expression. Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) is involved in the pathogenetic mechanisms responsible for preeclampsia, and ICAM-1 plasma levels and/or function is genetically influenced. Therefore, we evaluated the distribution of ICAM-1 gene K469E polymorphism in pregnant Korean women with preeclampsia and evaluated the association between this polymorphism and preeclampsia. Methods: The K469E polymorphism was analyzed in peripheral blood samples from 197 preeclamptic pregnancies and 193 normotensive pregnancies by a SNapShot kit and an ABI Prism 3100 Genetic analyzer. Results: Genotypic and allelic frequencies of ICAM-1 gene polymorphism (K469E) did not differ between preeclamptic and normotensive pregnancies. The distributions of the KK, KE, and EE genotypes were 40.6%, 43.7%, and 15.7%, respectively, in preeclamptic pregnancies and 38.9%, 45.1%, and 16.1%, respectively, in normotensive pregnancies. The frequencies of K and E alleles were 0.62 and 0.38, respectively, in preeclamptic pregnancies and 0.61 and 0.39, respectively, in normotensive pregnancies. By multiple logistic regression analysis, there was no increased risk of preeclampsia in subjects with ICAM-1 KE (OR, 1.08; P=0.74) or EE (OR, 1.07; P=0.88) genotypes. Conclusion: This study suggests that the ICAM-1 gene K469E polymorphism does not associate with an increased risk of preeclampsia in pregnant Korean women.

• The Korean Journal of Malacology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.153-160
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• 2009

Pisidium (Neopisidium) coreanum is a freshwater snail and lives in spring water near mountain areas. Interestingly, this snail has been traditionally regarded as medicinal food, and thus has been used as folk remedies for healing broken bones. Recently, alpha classification on Pisidium (Neopisidium) coreanum through redescription has been conducted. However, not much attention has been made in beta classification. In this study, we performed the beta classification based on metallothionein (MT) genes found from various organisms. To this end, the complete cDNA sequences were obtained from the Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) sequencing project of Pisidium (Neopisidium) coreanum. The coding region (315 bp) encoded an amino acid sequence of 105 residues. The combined results from BLAST analyses, multiple sequence alignment and molecular phylogenetic study of Pc-MT gene indicate that Pisidium (Neopisidium) coreanum has similarity to freshwater bivalve such as Dreissena polymorpha (zebra mussel), Unio tumidus (swollen river mussel) and Crassostrea ariakensis (suminoe oyster).

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.225-236
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• 2001

Introduction：Test anxiety is a pervasive problem among high school students in Korea. While anxiety in test situations may actually facilitate the performance of some students, more often it is disruptive and leads to performance decrements. Over the past years, many child psychiatrists have become concerned with understanding the nature of test anxiety, but it is not clearly understood yet. In order to understand the nature of test anxiety, the relationship between test anxiety and depression, state anxiety, trait anxiety was examined. In addition, the relationships between the subscores of test anxiety (worry and emotionality) and the subscores of CDI, state anxiety or trait anxiety were examined. Methods：The Test Anxiety Inventory, Chidlren's Depression Inventory, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory were administered to 425 high school students in Seoul. The relationships between test anxiety and other measures were tested using Pearson correlation coefficients and to test the causal ralationship among the variables, regression analysis was performed. Results：The correlation coefficients between test anxiety and depression, state anxiety, trait anxiety were 0.56(p<0.05), 0.75(p<0.05), 0.53(p<0.05) respectively. The correlation coefficients between subscales of test anxiety and depression were all significant. The correlation between subscales of test anxiety and state and trait anxiety were also statistically significant. Conclusions：This study indicates that test anxiety is closely related with depression, state and trait anxiety. In addition, the subscales of test anxiety are significantly related with those of the depression. The correlation coefficients between test anxiety and state-trait anxiety are also statistically significant. Thus, in order to develop the preventive and effective methods for treatment, these psychopathological characteristics should be kept in mind.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.63 no.3
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• pp.239-247
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• 2018

Soybean produces three major types of isoflavones, daidzein, genistein, and glycitein aglycones and their glucosides and malonylglucosides. It has been known that malonylated glucosides are rapidly converted to their corresponding aglycones due to the unstable thermolabile glucoside malonates; therefore, the analytical study of malonylated glucosides has been insufficient. In this study, we analyzed the malonylglucoside content in soybean seeds. Isoflavone analysis of three soybean cultivars revealed that 81.5~90.0% of the total isoflavones were malonylglucosides, whereas aglycones were rarely detected. Moreover, the total isoflavone content increased during a 5-day germination period where growth regulators and coumaric acid treatments tended to yield higher isoflavone content than the normal germination treatment, however the differences were not significant; notably, the isoflavone accumulation trend continued with additional germination days. The content of malonylglucoside was higher than that of other isoflavones, which was 83.7~86.6% of the total isoflavone content in seeds with a 3-day germination period. Furthermore, isoflavones were significantly accumulated in the hypocotyl of seedlings with a 5-day germination period. The content of isoflavone in the hypocotyl of the Pungsannamul-kong was 10,240 ug/g when treated with coumaric acid, which was considerably higher than that of other cultivars and treatments. Additionally, soybean seeds heated at $60^{\circ}C$ for 1 hour produced higher isoflavone content than non-heated soybean seeds. Our results show that it is possible to increase the isoflavone content in soybean seeds through various treatments.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.107-107
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• 2017

Sweet corns are enjoyed worldwide as processed products and fresh ears. Types of sweet corn are based on the gene(s) involved. The oldest sweet corn type has a gene called "sugary (su)". Sugary-based sweet corn was typically named "sweet corn". With its relatively short shelf life and the discovery of a complementary gene, "sugary enhanced (se)", the sweet corn (su only) was rapidly replaced with another type of sweet corns, sugary enhanced sweet corn, which has recessive homozygous su/su, se/se genotype. With the incorporation of se/se genotype into existing su/su genotype, sugary enhanced sweet corn has better shelf life and increased sweetness while maintaining its creamy texture due to high level of water soluble polysaccharide, phytoglycogen. Super sweet corn as the name implies has higher level of sweetness and better shelf life than sugary enhanced sweet corn due to "shrunken2 (sh2)" gene although there's no creamy texture of su-based sweet corns. Distinction between sh2/sh2 and su/su genotypes in seeds is phenotypically possible. The Involvement of se/se genotype under su/su genotype, however, is visually impossible. The genotype sh2/sh2 is also phenotypically epistatic to su/su genotype when both genotypes are present in an individual, meaning the seed shape for double recessive sh2/sh2 su/su genotype is much the same as sh2/sh2 +/+ genotype. Hence, identifying the double and triple recessive homozygous genotypes from su, se and sh2 genes involves a testcross to single recessive genotype, chemical analysis or DNA-based marker development. For these reasons, sweetcorn breeders were hastened to put them together into one cultivar. This, however, appears to be no longer the case. Sweet corn companies began to sell their sweet corn hybrids with different combinations of abovementioned three genes under a few different trademarks or genetic codes, i.g. Sweet $Breed^{TM}$, Sweet $Gene^{TM}$, Synergistic corn, Augmented Supersweet corn. A total of 49 commercial sweet corn F1 hybrids with B73 as a check were genotyped using DNA-based markers. The genotype of field corn inbred B73 was +/+ +/+ +/+ for su, se and sh2 as expected. All twelve sugary enhanced sweet corn hybrids had the genotype of su/su se/se +/+. Of sixteen synergistic hybrids, thirteen cultivars had su/su se/se sh2/+ genotype while the genotype of two hybrids and the remaining one hybrid was su/su se/+ sh2/+, and su/su +/+ sh2/+, respectively. The synergistic hybrids all were recessive homozygous for su gene and heterozygous for sh2 gene. Among the fifteen augmented supersweet hybrids, only one hybrid was triple recessive homozygous (su/su se/se sh2/sh2). All the other hybrids had su/su se/+ sh2/sh2 for one hybrid, su/su +/+ sh2/sh2 for three hybrids, su/+ se/se sh2/sh2 for three hybrids, su/+ se/+ sh2/sh2 for four hybrids, and su/+ +/+ sh2/sh2 for three hybrids, respectively. What was believed to be a classic super sweet corn hybrids also had various genotypic combination. There were only two hybrids that turned out to be single recessive sh2 homozygous (+/+ +/+ sh2/sh2) while all the other five hybrids could be classified as one of augmented supersweet genotypes. Implication of the results for extension service and sweet corn breeding will be discussed.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.452-460
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• 2018

This study was conducted to investigate the physiological activities of Houttuynia cordata extracts and fractions. H. cordata extracts were extracted with 50% ethanol and the ethyl acetate fractions were obtained from the extracts. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of the ethyl acetate fraction for S. aureus and B. subtilis were $78{\mu}g/mL$ and $312{\mu}g/mL$, respectively, indicating the high activity against gram-positive bacteria. The free radical scavenging activity ($FSC_{50}$) for 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) was higher in the ethyl acetate fraction with $12.00{\mu}g/mL$ compared to that of $27.15{\mu}g/mL$ for 50% ethanol extract. The total antioxidant activity ($OSC_{50}$) values for reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced in $Fe^{3+}-EDTA/H_2O_2$ system by a luminol-dependent chemiluminescence method were 2.91 and $0.983{\mu}g/ml$ for the 50% ethanol extract and ethyl acetate fraction, respectively. To investigate cellular protective effects on the HaCaT cell, the intracellular ROS scavenging activity was measured after UVB irradiation and the ethyl acetate fraction of H. cordata showed the activity in a concentration-dependent from $1.6{\mu}g/mL$ and a reduction rate of 54.3% at a maximum concentration of $12.5{\mu}g/mL$. Also, HaCaT cell protective effect against $H_2O_2$-mediated decreased the cell viability of the ethyl acetate fraction of H. cordata which significantly increased the cell viability from $0.8{\mu}g/mL$ and the maximum cell viability showed 86.9%. The ethyl acetate fraction of the H. cordata extracts was analyzed by TLC and HPLC. As a result, quercitrin, isoquercitrin, hyperoside, chlorogenic acid, neochlorogenic acid, cryptochlorogenic acid, rutin and afzelin were identified. From the above results, it was suggested that the extracts and fractions of H. cordata have a potential to be applied in the field of cosmetics as a natural antioxidant/preservative capable of protecting the cell membrane from the oxidative stress by eliminating ROS and exhibiting the antimicrobial effect.

• Clinics in Shoulder and Elbow
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.16-24
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• 2012

Purpose: This study was designed to investigate the rate of incidence, location and the clinical value of the rotator cuff retear by analyzing MRI scans, which was taken after an arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. Materials and Methods: This study included a total of 109 patients, who underwent a shoulder MRI scan after an average of 10.6 months later from the arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. We only defined the 'retear' when the Sugaya type IV and V was observed in the sagittal section of the MRI. The location of the retear was divided into the medial and lateral areas by the site, which was 1 cm medial to the anchor insertion. We investigated the incidence rate and the location of the retear, in terms of the age, sex, initial tear size and the suture method. Also, we compared the functional score of the retear group and the non-retear group, after an average of 13.9 months follow-up. Results: There were 38 of the 109 patients that showed the rotator cuff retear. Of these patients, 25 were male patients, and 13 were female patients. Of the 38 patients with the rotator cuff retear, 21 patients were included in the <3 cm retear group, and 17 were included in the ${\geqq}3$ cm retear group. At the end of the follow up period, all 109 patients showed a statistical significant improvement in the shoulder functional score. Conclusion: According to the follow up of the MRI scan, which was taken after the rotator cuff repair, the retear rate reached 34.9 %, and there were no significant differences on the age and the suture method. More rotator cuff retear occurred in male patients, and the initial tear size was positively correlated with the incidence rate of the rotator cuff retear. Also, the retear was more frequently observed at the medial side. That is because when the suture was performed, excessive tension was loaded on the medial side of the suture site.