• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.10
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• pp.885-897
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• 2021

Schisandrae Fructus (SF) and Corni Fructus (CF) have been used for a long time for the prevention and treatment of various diseases. Although reports have highlighted the possibility of inhibiting the onset and progression of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), studies on related mechanisms are still lacking. In this study, we investigated the potential of SF and CF in improving BPH by using a dihydrotestosterone (DHT)-induced in vitro BPH model using LNCaP prostate carcinoma cells. According to our results, water and ethanol extracts of SF and CF significantly inhibited the proliferation of LNCaP cells by DHT treatment and markedly downregulated the expression of DHT-induced BPH biomarkers and growth factors. They also regulated the expression of apoptosis regulatory factors and significantly reduced DHT-mediated oxidative stress. In addition, the protective effect on major factors involved in the pathogenesis of BPH was more effective in the ethanol extract treatment group than in the water extract group. Furthermore, the improvement effect on BPH was higher in the 1:1 combined treatment group than in the ethanol extract alone treatment group of SF and CF, and 60% ethanol extracts showed a better effect than 40% ethanol extracts. Therefore, our findings demonstrate that SF and CF can protect against BPH by preventing the hyperproliferation of prostate cells through the inhibition of the androgen signaling pathway, which was correlated with their antioxidant activities. Therefore, SF and CF extracts may be useful in the clinical treatment of BPH, and the combination of these two extracts can be synergistic.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1639-1644
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• 2012

The aim of this study was to investigate the expression and significance of microsomal prostaglandin synthase-1 (mPGES-1) and Beclin-1 in the development of prostate cancer (PCa). Immunohistochemistry was performed on paraffin-embedded sections with rabbit polyclonal against mPGES-1 and Beclin-1 in 40 PCa, 40 benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and 10 normal prostate specimens for this purpose. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was applied for mRNA expression of mPGES-1 and Beclin-1, while MTT assays were used to ascertain the best working concentration of the mPGES-1 inhibitor (CAY10526). The effect of CAY10526 treatment on expression of Beclin-1 in DU-145 cells was studied using Western blot analysis. Localization of Beclin-1 and mPGES-1 was in endochylema. Significant differences in expression was noted among PCa, BPH and normal issues (P<0.05). Beclin-1 expression inversely correlated with mPGES-1 expression in PCa tissue (P<0.05). CAY10526 could significantly block mPGES-1 expression and the proliferation of DU-145 cells (P<0.05), while increasing Beclin-1 levels (P<0.05). Overexpression of mPGES-1 could decrease the autophagic PCa cell death. Inhibiting the expression of mPGES-1 may lead to DU-145 cell death and up-regulation of Beclin-1. The results suggest that inhibition of mPGES-1 may have therapeutic potential for PCa in the future.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.14
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• pp.5967-5970
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• 2015

Background: The prevalence of prostate cancer is considered high in many countries, and screening tests are very important in order to detect prostate cancer in its early stages; however false positivity with these screening tests means that a lot of patients undergo unnecessary biopsy, which is an invasive procedure, for the confirmatory test. The purpose of this study was to estimate the frequency of unnecessary biopsy cases in patients referred for prostate biopsy in one of the most important and overload cancer centers in Syria. Materials and Methods: Retrospective data for a period of four years between January 2009 and December 2012 were collected in Al-Bayrouni University Medical hospital in Damascus, Syria. The patients from whom data were collected were referred to our histopathological department because of elevated prostate specific antigen (PSA) serum or an abnormal digital rectal examination (DRE). All patients underwent prostatic TRUS-guided biopsies. Diagnosis of prostate cancer (PCa) or benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) was based on histopathological examination and prostate cancers cases were graded and scored according to the Gleason score system. Results: For the 406 patients referred to biopsy, the $mean{\pm}SD$ age was $58.4{\pm}23.3$ years. The $mean{\pm}SD$ PSA level was $49.2{\pm}21.5ng/ml$. Of the total we found 237 patients diagnosed with PCa (58. 4%), 166 patients with BPH (40.9%) and 3 cases were unable to be diagnosed (0.7%) because of biopsy collection errors. Conclusions: Our study shows that a high percentage of patients are undergoing unnecessary biopsy, which suggests that the performed screening tests had a high level of false positive and may need re-evaluation.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.550-558
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• 2021

Fructus Corni, the fruit of Cornus officinalis, has long been used for the prevention and treatment of various diseases. We recently suggested that it was effective against benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). In this study, we investigated the inhibitory effect of Corni Fructus (CF) water extract on BPH induced by testosterone propionate (TP) in noncastrated and castrated animal models. BPH was induced in Sprague Dawley rats by an intramuscular injection of TP in castrated or noncastrated rats. Finasteride (FINA) treatment was used as a positive control for inhibition of BPH. According to our results, CF administration inhibited excessive enlargement of development of the prostate in both the noncastrated and castrated groups compared to the control and FINA-treated groups. The inhibitory effect of CF on BPH was associated with inhibition of expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α, 5α-reductase type 2, steroid receptor coactivator-1, androgen receptor (AR), and prostate-specific antigen. Serum levels of the stress hormone cortisol increased during BPH induction by TP in both the noncastrated and castrated groups, but they were attenuated significantly by CF administration. However, insulin and IGF-1 levels were not increased in the BPH-induced groups and CF, and no effective results were found by CF administration. These results point to a beneficial effect of CF on BPH through inhibition of AR signaling pathway activity and imply that CF shows excellent potential as a therapeutic agent for the prevention and treatment of BPH.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.551-555
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• 2014

Trichomonas vaginalis, a causative agent of trichomoniasis, may trigger symptomatic or asymptomatic non-gonococcal urethritis and chronic prostatitis in men. Despite the availability of highly sensitive diagnostic tests, such as nucleic acid amplification tests, including PCR, few prospective studies present data on male T. vaginalis infection in South Korea. In the present study, the prevalence of T. vaginalis and associated clinical conditions were evaluated in 201 male patients from a primary care urology clinic in South Korea. The prevalence of T. vaginalis infection in our cohort was 4% (8/201) by PCR. T. vaginalis infection was common in men older than 40 years (median age, 52 years). Among the 8 Trichomonas-positive patients, 87.5% (7/8) had prostatic diseases, such as prostatitis and benign prostatic hyperplasia, and 25.0% (2/8) and 12.5% (1/8) were coinfected with Chlamydia trachomatis and Mycoplasma genitalium, respectively. Our results suggest that T. vaginalis infection is not rare in men attending primary care urology clinics in South Korea, especially in those older than 40 years, in whom it may explain the presence of prostatic disease. The possibility of T. vaginalis infection should be routinely considered in older male patients with prostatic diseases in South Korea.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.139-147
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• 2006

Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) affect self-assessed quality of life. The prevalence of LUTS is commonly high in the elderly. The purpose of urodynamic investigation is to obtain information on the function of the urinary system. One of the most frequently used measurement procedures in urodynamics is filling and voiding cystometry. But in this system transurethral catheter is used and it makes patients uncomfortable. The aim of this study is to implement the system that could evaluate noninvasively the function of urinary tract. A new system has been developed to analyze urine flow rate and vesical pressure during voiding. These signals were recorded simultaneously and transmitted to a PC. For system evaluation, a model for the lower urinary system of men was constructed. From the evaluation of the model, vesical pressure was correlated with the occlusion degree. In a pilot study with five male subjects, maximum of standard deviation was 1.26, error rate was 3.49 and coefficient of variation was 3.48.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.58 no.8
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• pp.1638-1643
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• 2009

Uroflowmetry is a convenient clinical test to screen the benign prostatic hyperplasia(BPH) common in the aged men. A load cell is located beneath the urine container to measure the weight of urine. However, it is sensitive to the impact applied on the bottom of the container by the urine stream, which could be a noise source lowering the reliability of the system. With this aim, our study proposed a noise reduction technique by computing ensemble average of the weighted signals that were acquired from three-load cells forming a regular triangle beneath the urine container. Simulated urination experiment was performed with three different collection methods, all of which demonstrated significant noise reduction by ensemble averaging. Furthermore, the best results can be obtained without any special urine collection devices. Thus, our novel method can be usefully applied to uroflowmetry for enhancing measurement in terms of accuracy and reliability.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.445-451
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• 2005

As a selective ${\alpha}_{1A}-adrenoreceptor$ antagonist, tamsulosin has been used clinically for urinary obstructed patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia. The single and multi-layered pellets containing tamsulosin hydrochloride were prepared in an effort to control the drug release, avoiding dose-dependent side effects of tamsulosin hydrochloride upon oral administration. The drug release from multi-layered pellets was substantially controlled, compared with single layered pellets. The drug release from coated pellets with single or multi layer was affected by the nature of coating agent, the percentage of coating level and the presence of hydrophilic material in coating layer. In conclusion, the controlled release oral delivery system using multi-layered pellet is very useful for tamsulosin hydrochloride, resulting in improvement of patient compliance and therapeutic drug levels for a longer period of time.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.22
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• pp.9841-9846
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• 2014

Objectives: To compare the metabolic indices, lipid profile, androgens, and prostate specific antigen between prostate cancer and BPH and between grades of prostate cancer in a cross-sectional study. Materials and Methods: The study enrolled 95 cases of prostate cancer and 95 cases of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Prostate gland volume was measured using transrectal ultrasound. We compared insulin, testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, prostate specific antigen levels and lipid profile between prostate cancer of different grades and BPH. Further, prostate cancer patients were classified into low grade and high grade. Unpaired t-test for normally distributed variables and Man-Whitney U test for non-normal variables were used to assess differences. Results: We found that prostate cancer patients had significantly higher levels of insulin, testosterone, PSA, cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) in comparison to their BPH counterparts. Higher levels of these parameters also correlated with a higher grade of the disease. Conclusions: We conclude that higher levels of insulin, testosterone, PSA, and cholesterol correlate with a higher risk of prostate cancer, and also with a higher grade of the disease.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems Conference
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.386-389
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• 2005

우리나라는 노령화사회로 진행되어 감에 따라 노인성 만성질환이 증가하는 추세이다. 특히 노인성 만성질환 중 전립선비대증 질환의 경우 지속적인 관리가 필요한 질환이다. 전립성비대중의 경우 생명에 큰 지장이 없으면서 주기적으로 자주 의사를 찾아야 하는 번거로움이 있고, 또한 진단 및 투약결정이 상대적으로 복잡하지 않은 질환이다. 이 논문에서는 모바일 단말기를 이용하여 환자가 자신의 관찰데이터를 병원에 전송하도록 하고, 병원의 환자관리시스템에서 분석을 통해 환자를 모니터링하면서 의사의 직접진찰 시기를 조정할 수 있도록 설계된 전립선만성질환 환자에 대한 관리시스템에 대해서 소개한다.