• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.230-240
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• 2022

Drug regeneration technology is an efficient strategy than the existing new drug development process, which requires large costs and time by using drugs that have already been proven safe. In this study, we recognize the importance of the new drug regeneration aspect of new drug development and research in predicting functional similarities through the basic molecular structure that forms drugs. We test four string-based algorithms by using SMILES data and searching for their similarities. And by using the ATC codes, pair them with functional similarities, which we compare and validate to select the optimal model. We confirmed that the higher the molecular structure similarity, the higher the ATC code matching rate. We suggest the possibility of additional potency of random drugs, which can be predicted through data that give information on drugs with high molecular similarities. This model has the advantage of being a great combination with additional data, so we look forward to using this model in future research.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.379-383
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• 1997

Cyclosporin A, an potent immunosuppressant, has been known to be one of the modulators of drug resistance as well as a cytostatic drug. Despite many attempts to basic or clinical application of cyclosporin A, there are few reports on the inhibition of brain tumor cells. In the present experiment, the possibility of cyclosporin A as synergic adjuvant was investigated by MTT assay, $[^{3}H]$ thymidine uptake and through flowcytometric anaysis. Sole treatment of cyclosporin A on the CRT and CH235-MG glioma cell line revealed dose dependent cytotoxicity within a range of tested dose. Combined treatment of cyclosporin A with ACNU, BCNU and hydroxyurea on various glioma cancer cell line led to a significant synergistic cytotoxicity as well as inhibition of DNA synthesis with dose-dependency. In addition, cyclosporin A alone or combined treatment caused discernible changes of cell cycle in the tested cells. These data provide that cyclosporin A could potentiate the effect of nitrosourea compounds in vitro on human glioma cells.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.121-133
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• 2003

The purpose of this study was to find out the status of and attitudes on drug abuse in primary school students, to provide basic data for preventing the youth from their drug abuse and contributing to improve their health. 36.0% of the students had an experience of the education to prevent from drug abuse, the students wanted to have an education on drug abuse in primary school, 71% of the subjects preferred to school nurses as the education about drug abuse, and 2.9% of the students show their intention to use drug when their friends recommend to take drug. For the experience of drinking, there was a significant difference to the degree of satisfaction at their school($x^2$=23.29, p=.001), their association with father's smoking ($x^2$=13.16, p=.001), and mother's ($x^2$=5.60, p=.018) smoking. The experience of drinking showed no significant differences according to the grade and the experience of prevention education on drug abuse. Attitudes on drug abuse according to the general characteristics showed significant differences according to the grade (t=4.10, p=.007), the degree of satisfaction at the school(t=8.86, p=.000), their association with any father's drinking(t=3.18, p=.002) and mother's(t=5.23, p=.000), father's smoking(t=3.21, p=.001) and mother's(t=31.87, p=.000), the state of drug use during the pain(t=7.18, p=.000).

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.41-49
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• 2010

Statins are competitive inhibitors of hydroxy-3-methyl glutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase and used most frequently to reduce plasma cholesterol levels and to decrease cardiovascular events. However, statins also have been reported to have undesirable side effects such as myotoxicity and hepatotoxicity associated with their intrinsic efficacy mechanisms. Clinical studies recurrently reported that statin therapy elevated the level of liver enzymes such as ALT and AST in patients suggesting possible liver toxicity due to statins. This observation has been drawn great attention since statins are the most prescribed drugs and statin-therapy was extended to a larger number of high-risk patients. Here we employed rat primary hepatocytes and microarray technique to understand underlying mechanism responsible for statin-induced liver toxicity on cell level. We isolated genes whose expressions were commonly modulated by statin treatments and examined their biological functions. It is of interest that those genes have function related to response to stress in particular immunity and defense in cells. Our study provided the basic information on cellular mechanism of statin-induced cytotoxicity and may serve for finding indicator genes of statin -induced toxicity in rat primary hepatocytes.

• Clinical and Experimental Vaccine Research
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.70-76
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• 2023

Purpose: Typhoid remains a major health problem, especially in the developing world. Furthermore, the emergence of multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant strains of Salmonella typhi added a sense of urgency to develop more effective typhoid vaccines, one of which is bacterial ghosts (BGs), prepared by both genetic and chemical means. The chemical method includes incubation with numerous agents for a short time at their minimum inhibitory or minimum growth concentrations. This study included the preparation of BGs by a sponge-like reduced protocol (SLRP). Materials and Methods: Critical concentrations of sodium dodecyl sulfate, NaOH, and H₂O₂ were used. Moreover, high-quality BGs were visualized by scanning electron microscope (SEM). Subculturing was used to confirm the absence of vital cells. Besides, the concentrations of the released DNA and protein were estimated spectrophotometrically. In addition, the integrity of cells was proved by visualizing Gram-stained cells using a light microscope. Furthermore, a comparison between the immunogenicity and safety of the prepared vaccine and the available whole-cell killed vaccine was established. Results: Improved preparation of high-quality BGs of S. typhi, visualized by SEM, revealed punctured cells with intact outer shells. Moreover, the absence of vital cells was confirmed by subculturing. At the same time, the release of respective amounts of proteins and DNA is another evidence of BGs' production. Additionally, the challenge test provided evidence that the prepared BGs are immunogenic and have the same efficacy as the whole cell vaccine. Conclusion: The SLRP provided a simple, economical, and feasible method for BGs preparation.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.229-232
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• 2012

The pharmaceutical industry has an ongoing need for new, safe medicines with genuine biomedical effects. Most of the candidate molecules are far from becomes a drug, because of their pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties. The introduction of bioisostere to improve properties of molecules and to obtain new class of compound is currently increased. Silicon substitution of carbon of existing drugs is an attractive strategy to search a new candidate with improved biological and physicochemical properties. The fundamental differences between carbon and silicon can lead to improved profile of the silicon containing candidate, and could be exploited to get further benefit in drug design process.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.83-83
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• 2013

To date, various nanobiotechnologicalapproaches for biosensors and drug development have been explosively studied. Despite of successful demonstrations, the new technologies hardly enjoyed routine applications in practical nanobiomedicine. Here, researchers trained at the interface of basic sciences and engineering are expected to play critical roles. In this tutorial, I will introduce recent studies which harness graphene derivatives for developing bioanalytical platforms to quantitatively analyze various enzyme activities and biomarkers. The systems rely on attractive interaction between graphene oxide and nucleic acids or phospholipids. Recently, one of the graphene-based bioassay system was applied to anti-viral drug screening and potent hit compounds were identified to treat hepatitis C. This study clearly shows that a new nanobio-technology can be routinely implemented in drug discovery, providing many advantages over conventional methods.

• CELLMED
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.24.1-24.4
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• 2016

The emergence of influenza virus and antigenic drift are potential cause of world-wide pandemic. There are some commercially available drugs in the market to treat influenza. During past decade, however, critical resistances have been raised for biological targets. Because of structural complexity and flexibility of target proteins, applying a computational modeling tool is very beneficial for developing alternative anti-influenza drugs. In this review, we introduced molecular dynamics (MD) simulations approach to reflect full conformational flexibility of proteins during molecular modeling works. Case studies of MD works were summarized for the drug discovery and drug resistance mechanism of anti-influenza pharmaceuticals.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.10
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• pp.4301-4305
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• 2014

Tanshinone IIA is a pharmacologically active ingredient extracted from Danshen, a Chinese traditional medicine. Its molecular mechanisms are still unclear. The present study utilized computational approaches to uncover the potential targets of this compound. In this research, PharmMapper server was used as the inverse docking tool andnd the results were verified by Autodock vina in PyRx 0.8, and by DRAR-CPI, a server for drug repositioning via the chemical-protein interactome. Results showed that the retinoic acid receptor alpha ($RAR{\alpha}$), a target protein in acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), was in the top rank, with a pharmacophore model matching well the molecular features of Tanshinone IIA. Moreover, molecular docking and drug repurposing results showed that the complex was also matched in terms of structure and chemical-protein interactions. These results indicated that $RAR{\alpha}$ may be a potential target of Tanshinone IIA for APL. The study can provide useful information for further biological and biochemical research on natural compounds.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.16-20
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• 2013

G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) superfamily is the largest known receptor family, characterized by seven transmembrane domains and considered to be an important drug target. In this study we focused on an orphan GPCR termed as GPR18. As there is no X-ray crystal structure has been reported for this receptor, we report on a homology model of GPR18. Template structure with high homology was used for modeling and ten models were developed. A model was selected and refined by energy minimization. The selected model was further validated using various parameters. Our results could be a starting point for further structure based drug design.