• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.222-228
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• 2013

Although the role of ${\alpha}$-synuclein aggregation on Parkinson's disease is relatively well known, the physiological role and the regulatory mechanism governing the expression of ${\alpha}$-synuclein are unclear yet. We recently reported that ${\alpha}$-synuclein is expressed and secreted from cultured astrocytes. In this study, we investigated the effect of valproic acid (VPA), which has been suggested to provide neuroprotection by increasing ${\alpha}$-synuclein in neuron, on ${\alpha}$-synuclein expression in rat primary astrocytes. VPA concentration-dependently increased the protein expression level of ${\alpha}$-synuclein in cultured rat primary astrocytes with concomitant increase in mRNA expression level. Likewise, the level of secreted ${\alpha}$-synuclein was also increased by VPA. VPA increased the phosphorylation of Erk1/2 and JNK and pretreatment of a JNK inhibitor SP600125 prevented the VPA-induced increase in ${\alpha}$-synuclein. Whether the increased ${\alpha}$-synuclein in astrocytes is involved in the reported neuroprotective effects of VPA awaits further investigation.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.274-278
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• 2013

Background: Coronary involvement in Takayasu's arteritis is a rare but fatal disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the early and mid-term results of Takayasu's arteritis patients who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Materials and Methods: Of 2,280 patients who underwent isolated CABG from January 1998 to June 2012, Takayasu's arteritis was identified in 5 patients. There were 3 female patients, and the mean age was $58{\pm}9$ years. Takayasu's arteritis was diagnosed during preoperative evaluation for coronary artery disease in 4 patients, and the initial manifestation was angina pectoris in 4 patients. All of the patients underwent anaortic off-pump CABG (OPCAB) using the in situ left or right internal thoracic arteries (ITA); 3 patients had severe stenosis of the proximal left subclavian artery and the in situ right ITA was used instead. Medical treatment for inflammatory arteritis during the perioperative and follow-up period was performed if indicated. Early, 1-year, and 5-year angiographic results and clinical outcomes were analyzed. Results: There was no surgical mortality, and all of the patients were discharged without complications on postoperative $8{\pm}2$ days. Early postoperative (postoperative $2{\pm}1$ days) angiography demonstrated a graft patency of 100% (12 of 12 distal anastomoses). One-year ($13{\pm}3$ months) angiography was performed in 4 patients, and all of the grafts were patent (100%, 9 of 9 distal anastomoses). Conclusion: By performing anaortic OPCAB in patients with Takayasu's arteritis, we were able to avoid complications associated with manipulating an atherosclerotic and severely calcified ascending aorta. The early and mid-term graft patency of OPCAB in Takayasu's arteritis was maintained when concomitant with medical treatment.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.81-89
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• 1989

Alunite occurs as massive, cavity-filling and veinlets in the Cretaceous Hwangsan Formation in the Sungsan mine, Korea. It is a hydrothermal alteration product of rhyolitic tuffs, and associated with dickite, quartz and barite. The average chemical formula of alunite in the mine is $(K_{0.93}Na_{0.07})_{1.00}Al_{3.00}(SO_4)_{2.00}(OH)_6$. Atomic percentage of Na substituting for K in A site of the alunite structure varies from 5.9 to 9.2. Unit-cell volume and c dimension decrease with increasing Na atomic percentage. On the basis of thermal and high temperature XRD analyses, the decomposition of alunite into $KAl(SO_4)_2$ and $NaAl(SO_4)_2$ concomitant with the liberation of structural water (12.86%) occurs at about $550^{\circ}C$. The reconstruction of $KAl(SO_4)_2$ and $NaAl(SO_4)_2$ to $Al_2(SO_4)_3$, arcanite and thenardite, and the crystallization of ${\gamma}-Al_2O_3$ take place at about $720^{\circ}C$. The destruction of $Al_2(SO_4)_3$ structure takes place at about $760^{\circ}C$ removing 3/4 of total $SO_3$ (27.32%).

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.335-342
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• 2009

The effects of bacterial lysis on the rate of quartz dissolution were investigated under pH 7 condition using Bacillus subtilis cells which were either irradiated or non-irradiated with gamma ray. The amount of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) which resulted from bacterial lysis increased in slurries of quartz and bacteria mixture over experimental period. Lysis of non-irradiated bacteria led to the elevated concentration of dissolved silicon when compared with abiotic control. Concomitant increase in the amounts of DOC and dissolved silicon over time indicated that lixiviation of silicon from quartz was due to bacterial lysis. Higher amounts of DOC and dissolved silicon were present in the irradiated bacterial slurries than those of non-irradiated bacteria. The enhancement of quartz dissolution in the irradiated bacterial slurries was likely attributed to disruption of organic molecules in the bacterial cells by gamma ray and formation of effective ligands for quartz dissolution. The results suggest that the effects of bacterial lysis on mineral weathering rate should be considered for prediction of time for released radionuclides to migrate to surface biosphere in high level radioactive waste disposal site.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.15 no.3 s.70
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• pp.397-405
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• 2005

Sulforaphane, an isothiocyanate derived from hydrolysis of glucoraphanin in broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables, was shown to induce phase II detoxification enzymes and inhibit chemically induced mammary tumors in rodents. Recently, sulforaphane is known to induce cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in human cancer cells, however its molecular mechanisms are poorly understood. In the present study, we demonstrated that sulforaphane acted to inhibit proliferation and induce morphological changes of human cervical carcinoma HeLa cells. Treatment of HeLa cells with $10{\mu}M\;or\;15{\mu}M$ sulforaphane resulted in significant G2/M cell cycle arrest as determined by flow cytometry. Moreover, $20{\mu}M$ sulforaphane significantly induced the population of sub-G1 cells (9.83 fold of control). This anti-proliferative effect of sulforaphane was accompanied by a marked inhibition of cyclin A and cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk)4 protein and concomitant induction of Cdc2, Cdk inhibitor p16 and p21. However, sulforaphane did not affect the levels of cyelooxygenases and telomere-regulatory gene products. Although further studies are needed, the present work suggests that sulforaphane may be a potential chemoprevetive/ chemotherapeutic agent for the treatment of human cancer cells.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.527-533
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• 1992

The optimal conditions for cellulase and xylanase production by Trichoderma reesei 28217 were studied for enzymatic deinking of old newspaper. The amounts of cellulase and xylanase from the strain was varied by initial medium pH, Tween 80, inoculum size of spore suspension, and carbon and nitrogen sources. The optimal conditions for cellulase production were pH 5.0-6.5, 0.02% of Tween 80, 0.5-1.0% of inoculum size of spore suspension ($1{\times}10^{7}$/ml). cottonseed meal as nitrogen source, and corn flour as carbon source. On the other hand, the optimal conditions for xylanase production were pH 6.5, 0.01% of Tween 80, corn steep liquor as nitrogen source, and disintegrated old newspaper as carbon source. The inoculum size for xylanase production was the same as for cellulase production. The concomitant production of cellulase and xylanase in shake flask culture was efficiently induced in the medium containing 0.5% cottonseed meal as nitrogen source and 1.0% old newspaper and 2.0% corn flour as carbon sources. In this case the activities of cellulase and xylanase produced were 6.11-7.22 IU/mJ and 97.7 IU/ml. respectively. However, the cellulase production in $5{\ell}$ fermentor scale was slightly decreased compared with that in flask scale. Moreover, xylanase production was severely reduced in a fermentor scale. The study for the reason of decreased enzyme production in fermentor is further needed.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.69-77
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• 2020

The tumor suppressor gene, p53, is inactivated in the human hepatocellular carcinoma cells line, Hep3B. Berberine has been reported to inhibit the proliferation of cancer cells. This study examined whether apoptosis was induced in berberine-treated Hep3B cells and observed the association between apoptosis and the expression of p53 and DNA methyltransferase (DNMT). The cell viability was measured using an MTT assay. Apoptosis of Hep3B was measured using annexin V flow cytometry. Berberine-treated cells were examined for their DNMT enzymatic activity, mRNA expression, and protein synthesis. The p53 levels were examined by Western blot analysis. The berberine treatment resulted in increased Hep3B cell death and apoptosis in a time- and dose-dependent manner. The DNMT3b activity, mRNA expression, and protein levels all decreased after the berberine treatment. In contrast, the p53 protein levels increased with a concomitant decrease in DNMT3b. No change in the expression of ERK was observed, but the P-ERK levels decreased in a dose dependent manner. These results indicate that a treatment of Hep3B cells with berberine can reduce the expression of DNMT3b, leading to an increase in the tumor suppressant gene p53 and an increase in cell apoptosis. This shows that berberine can effectively suppress the proliferation of liver cancer cells.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.371-376
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• 1992

The growth and cultural characteristics of Bacillus sp. SH-8 and SH-8M were investigated at various pH conditions. Bacillus sp. SH-8 showed normal growth pattern above pH 9.0. However, with the pH adjusted below 7.7, 0.$D_{550}$ decreased rapidly with concomitant reduction in viable cell numbers. In contrast, Bacillus sp. SH-8M demonstrated growth capability at pH 7.7, but with slightly reduced growth rate at pH 6.9. Similar results were obtained when those two strains were cultivated on the solid medium. Both of them showed short rod shapes at pH 10.2. However, at pH 7.7 only Bacillus sp. SH-8 was observed to have elongated rod shape. Extracellular pH of both the strains, when cultured at initial pH of 10.2, reached to 9.0 after the incubation of 28 hours. At the initial pH of 9.0 and 9.6, the extracellular pH was reduced at the beginning of cultivation, but elevated after 12 hours. When cultured at initial pH of 6.9 and 7.7, extracelluar pH of Bacillus sp. SH-8M increased to 8.0 and 8.7, respectively, while that of Bacillus sp. SH8 remained constant pH 7.0. The highest sporulation rate of Bacillus sp. SH-8 and SH-8M was obtained at the initial pH of 10.2 and after the incubation of 3 days with the sporulation rate of 95% and 85%, respectively.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.164-171
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• 2017

Our previous study suggested that S-allylcysteine (SAC) inhibits the proliferation of the human cervical cancer cell line, HeLa, at least in part through the induction of apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. To further analyze the specific molecular mechanism(s) by which SAC mediates its antiproliferative effects, this study examined the role of SAC in regulating the protein expression of initiator caspase (caspase-9), effector caspases (caspase-3 and caspase-7), and poly-ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) in HeLa. Western blot analysis showed that when cells were treated with 50 mM SAC for 48 hr, the expression of procaspase-3, -7, and -9 and PARP was reduced by 94%, 38%, 95%, and 64%, respectively, as compared to the untreated control. In contrast, the expression of caspase-3, -7, and -9 and cleaved-PARP was markedly increased by SAC treatment. The SAC-mediated changes in the expression of these proteins were correlated with the concomitant inhibition of cellular proliferation by SAC. The cell proliferation assay showed that HeLa treatment with more than 20 mM SAC for 6-48 hr resulted in both concentration- and time-dependent inhibition of cellular proliferation. These results indicate that the SAC-induced antiproliferative effect in HeLa may be mediated at least in part through the activation of caspase-9, followed by the activation of caspase-3 and caspase-7 as well as the inactivation of PARP, thus leading to cellular apoptosis.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.714-720
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• 2008

Cordyceps militaris is a medicinal fungus which has been used for patient suffering from cancer in Oriental medicine. It was previously reported that C. militaris extracts are capable of inhibiting tumor growth and inducing apoptosis; however, the anti-poliferative effects of human cancer cells have been poorly understood. In this study, to elucidate the anti-cancer mechanisms of human cancer cells by treatment with aqueous extract of C. militaris (AECM), we investigated the anti-proliferative effects of AECM in human hepatocarcinoma Hep3B cells. AECM treatment inhibited the growth of Hep3B cells and induced the apoptotic cell death in a concentration-dependent manner such as formation of apoptotic bodies and increased populations of apoptotic-sub G1 phase. The induction of apoptosis by AECM was connected with a proteolytic activation of caspase-3 and caspase-8. and concomitant degradation of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) and ${\beta}$-catenin proteins. Furthermore, caspase-3 inhibitor, z-DEVD-fmk, significantly inhibited AECM-induced apoptosis demonstrating the important role of caspase-3 in the bserved cytotoxic effect. Taken together, these findings suggest that AECM-induced inhibition of human hepatocarcinoma cell proliferation is associated with the induction of apoptotic cell death via activation of caspase-3 and C. militaris may have therapeutic potential in human cancer.