• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.225-232
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• 2022

Fine dust threatens human health in various forms, depending on the particle size, such as by causing respiratory, cardiovascular, and brain diseases, after entering the body via the lungs. The aim of this study was to correlate fine dust exposure with changes in brain blood flow in Sprague Dawley rats by using micro-positron emission tomography and elucidate the possibility of developing cerebrovascular diseases caused by fine dust. The subjects were exposured to an average fine dust (particulate matter 2.5) of 206.2 ± 7.74 to ten rats four times a day, twice a day for 90 min. Before the experiment, they were maintained at NPO to the maximize the intake of ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxy glucose(¹⁸F-FDG) and minimize changes in the ¹⁸F-FDG biomass depending on the ambient environment and body temperature of the rats. PET images were acquired in the list mode 40 min after injecting ¹⁸F-FDG 44.4 MBq into the rats tail vein using a micro-PET scanner pre and post exposure to fine dust. We found that the whole brain level of ¹⁸F-FDG standardized uptake value in rats averaged 5.21 ± 0.52 g/mL pre and 4.22 ± 0.48 g/mL post exposure to fine dust, resulting in a statistically significant difference. Fine dust was able to alter brain activity after entering the body via the lungs in various forms depending on the particle size.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.134-140
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• 2010

Readily available high resolution brain MRI scans allow detailed visualization of the brain structures. Researchers have focused on developing methods to quantify shape differences specific to diseased scans. We have developed a novel method to quantify shape information for a specific population based on Multidimensional scaling(MDS). MDS is a well known tool in statistics and here we apply this classical tool to quantify shape change. Distance measures are required in MDS which are computed from pair-wise image registrations of the training set. Registration step establishes spatial correspondence among scans so that they can be compared in the same spatial framework. One benefit of our method is that it is quite robust to errors in registrations. Applying our method to 13 brain MRI showed clear separation between normal and diseased (Cushing's syndrome). Intentionally perturbing the image registration results did not significantly affect the separability of two clusters. We have developed a novel method to quantify shape based on MDS, which is robust to image mis-registration.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.124-128
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• 2006

Astrocyte has emerged as an active regulator of brain function, which connects between blood vessels and neurons as well as is a structural component of the blood-brain barrier, From its structural characteristics, astrocyte seems to sensitively respond to oxygen tension, and, in turn, generate diverse cellular cascades. Therefore, to reveal astrocytlc events by oxygen change, we screened genes whose expressions are upregulated under reoxygenation after hypoxic stress using cDNA representational difference analysis (RDA) technique. Meteorin that regulates glial differentiation was isolated from primary cultured rat astrocytes as a hypoxia/reoxygenation regulatory factor. We cloned rat version of Meteorin (rMe-teorin) and determined full-size sequences of rMeteorin. In addition, RT-PCR analysis revealed that Meteorin was increased under reoxygenation in astrocytes and highly expressed in the developing brain. Collectively, these results suggest that Meteorin may regulate astrocyte-mediated effects in response to the change of oxygen tension in the pathophysiological states.

• BMB Reports
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.87-93
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• 2002

Neural cell survival is an essential concern in the aging brain and many diseases of the central nervous system. Neural transplantation of the stem cells are already applied to clinical trials for many degenerative neurological diseases, including Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, and strokes. A critical problem of the neural transplantation is how to reduce their apoptosis and improve cell survival. Neurotrophic factors generally contribute as extrinsic cues to promote cell survival of specific neurons in the developing mammalian brains, but the survival factor for neural stem cell is poorly defined. To understand the mechanism controlling stem cell death and improve cell survival of the transplanted stem cells, we investigated the effect of plausible neurotrophic factors on stem cell survival. The neural stem cell, HiB5, when treated with PDGF prior to transplantation, survived better than cells without PDGF. The resulting survival rate was two fold for four weeks and up to three fold for twelve weeks. When transplanted into dorsal hippocampus, they migrated along hippocampal alveus and integrated into pyramidal cell layers and dentate granule cell layers in an inside out sequence, which is perhaps the endogenous pathway that is similar to that in embryonic neurogenesis. Promotion of the long term-survival and differentiation of the transplanted neural precursors by PDGF may facilitate regeneration in the aging adult brain and probably in the injury sites of the brain.

• BMB Reports
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• v.49 no.8
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• pp.443-448
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• 2016

The arginylation branch of the N-end rule pathway is a ubiquitin-mediated proteolytic system in which post-translational conjugation of Arg by ATE1-encoded Arg-tRNA-protein transferase to N-terminal Asp, Glu, or oxidized Cys residues generates essential degradation signals. Here, we characterized the ATE1^−/− mice and identified the essential role of N-terminal arginylation in neural tube development. ATE1-null mice showed severe intracerebral hemorrhages and cystic space near the neural tubes. Expression of ATE1 was prominent in the developing brain and spinal cord, and this pattern overlapped with the migration path of neural stem cells. The ATE1^−/− brain showed defective G-protein signaling. Finally, we observed reduced mitosis in ATE1^−/− neuroepithelium and a significantly higher nitric oxide concentration in the ATE1^−/− brain. Our results strongly suggest that the crucial role of ATE1 in neural tube development is directly related to proper turn-over of the RGS4 protein, which participate in the oxygen-sensing mechanism in the cells.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.51-58
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• 2016

Recently, with various developments made to smart-phones and other digital devices in the IoT environment, modern people tend to pursue comfort in their own lifestyles. These environment has helped us to obtain any information or data in despite of location and time. But it has caused them to be overly reliant on digital devices in doing any kind of daily work, trusting the digital devices more than oneself. As a result of this over reliance, modern people's memorizing and calculating ability have deteriorated critically. This symptom is known as the Digital Dementia. In this paper, we study the phenomenon of digital dementia caused by smart-phones, and we suggest a method of developing "memorize the phone number" game applications in IoT environment to the problem of digital dementia. Test results show that, through the use of application, not only the users were able to have fun memorizing the numbers, but also, to show improvement in their memorizing ability. Thus, we expect that the application suggested above will help in preventing digital dementia and maintain brain health.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.397-401
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• 2009

Olig2 transcription factor is widely expressed throughout the central nervous system; therefore, it is considered to have multiple functions in the developing, mature and injured brain. In this mini-review, we focus on Olig2 in the forebrain (telencephalon and diencephalon) and discuss the functional significance of Olig2 and the differentiation properties of Olig2-expressing progenitors in the development and injured states. Short- and long-term lineage analysis in the developing forebrain elucidated that not all late Olig2+ cells are direct cohorts of early cells and that Olig2 lineage cells differentiate into neurons or glial cells in a region- and stage-dependent manner. Olig2-deficient mice revealed large elimination of oligodendrocyte precursor cells and a decreased number of astrocyte progenitors in the dorsal cortex, whereas no reduction in the number of GABAergic neurons. In addition to Olig2 function in the developing cortex, Olig2 is also reported to be important for glial scar formation after injury. Thus, Olig2 can be essential for glial differentiation during development and after injury.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.79-88
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to identify the difference of creativity according to the type of brain dominance for deveoping pre-service early childhood teachers's creativity teacher education program. The subjects of this study were 210 pre-service early childhood teachers. The tests were conducted by using the Herrmann' BDI and TTCT: verbal. The study have applied Pearson product-moment correlation to find out relation between the type of brain dominance and creativity, and used multi-variate analysis to find out the difference of creativity according to the type of brain dominance. The results of the study are as follow; first, the upper left brain, lower left limb, and right brains had no relation to fluency, flexibility, originality and overall linguistic creativity. The lower right limb showed a positive correlation with fluency, flexibility, originality, and overall linguistic creativity. Second, the lower left, upper right lower, and lower right limb dominant teachers showed higher fluency, flexibility, originality and overall linguistic creativity than upper left neural dominant teachers. The result of analyzing the language creativity according to the type of brain dominance of the pre-service early childhood teachers will be used as a suggestion to develop the brain-based creativity teacher education program.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.61 no.3
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• pp.319-332
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• 2018

Germline mutations in cancer causing genes result in high risk of developing cancer throughout life. These cancer predisposition syndromes (CPS) are especially prevalent in childhood brain tumors and impact both the patient's and other family members' survival. Knowledge of specific CPS may alter the management of the cancer, offer novel targeted therapies which may improve survival for these patients, and enables early detection of other malignancies. This review focuses on the role of CPS in pediatric high grade gliomas (PHGG), the deadliest group of childhood brain tumors. Genetic aspects and clinical features are depicted, allowing clinicians to identify and diagnose these syndromes. Challenges in the management of PHGG in the context of each CPS and the promise of innovative options of treatment and surveillance guidelines are discussed with the hope of improving outcome for individuals with these devastating syndromes.

• BMB Reports
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.94-105
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• 2002

Apoptotic cell death is a fundamental and highly regulated biological process in which a cell is instructed to actively participate in its own demise. This process of cellular suicide is activated by developmental and environmental cues and normally plays an essential role in eliminating superfluous, damaged, and senescent cells of many tissue types. In recent years, a number of experimental studies have provided evidence of widespread neuronal and glial apoptosis following injury to the central nervous system (CNS). These studies indicate that injury-induced apoptosis can be detected from hours to days following injury and may contribute to neurological dysfunction. Given these findings, understanding the biochemical signaling events controlling apoptosis is a first step towards developing therapeutic agents that target this cell death process. This review will focus on molecular cell death pathways that are responsible for generating the apoptotic phenotype. It will also summarize what is currently known about the apoptotic signals that are activated in the injured CNS, and what potential strategies might be pursued to reduce this cell death process as a means to promote functional recovery.