• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.285-292
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• 2015

LIM kinases belong to the serine/Threonine kinase family. The members of the LIM kinase (LIMK) family include LIMK 1 and 2 which are involved in the regulation of actin polymerisation and microtubule disassembly. LIMK1 was shown to be involved in cancer metastasis, while LIMK2 activation promotes cells cycle progression. Since LIMK2 plays a vital role in many disease conditions such as pulmonary hypertension, cancer and viral diseases, and till date there are not much selective inhibitors been reported, LIMK2 becomes an interesting therapeutic target among the kinases. 3D QSAR study was carried out on a series of pyrrolopyrimidines based derivatives as LIMK2 inhibitors. A reasonable CoMFA ($q^2$=0.888; ONC=3; $r^2$=0.974) with good statistical values was developed. The developed model was validated using 1000 runs of boostrapping and was found to be predictable. The results of CoMFA contour map analysis suggested that the bulky substitution at $R_4$ and $R_5$ position are highly desirable to increase the activity. Similarly, positive substitution at $R_3$ position is also required to increase the activity. It is also noted that bulky substitution at $R_1$ position must be avoided. Our results could provide valuable information to enhance the activity of the LIMK2 inhibitors and to design potent pyrrolopyrimidines derivatives.

• Korean Journal of Bronchoesophagology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.60-66
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• 2003

Although there is a wide range of diseases caused by gastric acid reflux and the number of cases is on the rise, it is difficult for the laryngologist to make the correct diagnosis. The treatment for laryngopharyngeal reflux can be grouped into 3 categories - changes in lifestyle, medication, and surgery. The medication used to treat laryngopharyngeal reflux are prokinetic agents and acid supressive agents such as antacids, H2 blockers, and PPIs(Proton pump inhibitor). Rabeprazole sodium($Pariet^{\circledR}$) is a newly developed agent belonging to the PPI group, but in contrast with the existing drugs such as omeprazole, lansoprazole, pantoprazole, has a low dependency on CYP2C19 during the metabolic cycle. Thus, it is known to have a quick but fixed antiacid effect and less individual differences. We analyzed 2166 patients from 32 hospitals who were prescribed $Pariet^{\circledR}$ from May, 2001 to April, 2002. The patients were divided into 4 groups according to the duration of treatment - Group 1: 1-14 days, Group 2: 15-28 days, group 3: 29-56 days, Group 4: more than 56 days. The cases were then analyzed for improvement of 8 symptoms(heart bum, regurgitation, chronic cough, hoarseness, globus sensation, chronic throat clearing, sore throat, and dysphagia), improvement on laryngoscope, usefulness to the doctor, and complication development. Of the total of 2116 patients, 1627(75.1%) cases showed at least 50% improvement of symptoms and the amount of improvement increased according to the duration of medical treatment. Most of the patients showed objective improvement on the laryngoscope, with 32.9% showing significant improvement and 38.7% showing moderate improvement. 37.6% of the doctors questioned replied that $Pariet^{\circledR}$ was very useful and 50.3% said it was useful, showing that most were satisfied with the treatment results. The complications known to develop after taking PPI are headache, nausea, diarrhea, abdominal pain, constipation, dizziness, fatigue, and of these, only a small percentage of the patients complained of mild headache. $Pariet^{\circledR}$ has shown to be a relatively safe and effective drug for the treatment of laryngopharyngeal reflux.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.231-245
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• 2006

Purpose : To investigate and compare the characteristics of menstruation in the shift workers and the day workers, and present guidelines for health promotion of the shift-working women. Methods : Questionnaires including general health condition and QSCC II were distributed to shift-working women and day-working women in one university hospital in Gyeonggi-do and 36 questionnaires of shift-working women and 33 of day-working women were analyzed. Results : Day workers were about 5 years older than shift workers on average. There was more irregularity of menstrual cycle and period in day-working group but it is thought to incorrect because of the age problem. There were more women who have dysmenorrhea in day-working group, but the proportion of dysmenorrhea which continues more than 72 hours -which is very suggestive of secondary dysmenorrhea- was higher in shift-working group. Average VAS of dysmenorrhea was nearly the same in two groups. The life of shift-working group was lesser satisfactory than that of day-working group. There were more sleep disturbances in the shift-working group. Sasang constitution was analyzed in both group using QSCC II, and Taeumin were more in shift-working group. Conclusion : As the number of shift-working women increases, needs for oriental medical treatments would increase because it is more natural and lesser invasive managements which women are very interested in. So it is thought to be necessary to understand health problems of shift-working women, and prepare guidelines for managements and treatments to promote the health of shift-working women.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.107-115
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• 2017

Human malignant melanoma is an aggressive skin cancer which has been rising at a greater rate than any other cancers. Although various new therapeutic methods have been developed in previous studies, this disease has properties of high proliferation and metastasis rate which remain obstacles that have lead to a poor prognosis in patients. It has been reported that a specific Lactobacillus extract has anti-cancer and -metastasis effect in vitro and in vivo. However, previous research has not specified precisely what effect the Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) extract has had on human malignant melanomas. In this study, we showed that the LGG extract has anti-cancer and -metastasis effects on the human malignant melanoma cell lines, A375P and A375SM. At first, it was found that, while the LGG extract affects human neonatal dermal fibroblasts slightly, it induced the dose-dependent anti-cancer effect on A375P and A375SM by a WST-1 proliferation assay. As a result of a real-time PCR analysis, the expression patterns of several genes related to cell cycle, proliferation, and apoptosis were modulating in a manner that inhibited the growth of both malignant melanoma cell lines after the treatment of the LGG extract. Furthermore, genes related to the epithelial-mesenchymal transition were down-regulated, and migration rates were also decreased significantly by the LGG extract. Our study showed that the LGG extract could be used as a potential therapeutic source.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.21
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• pp.9171-9176
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• 2014

Aim: P53, the most commonly mutated tumor suppressor gene in all types of human cancer, is involved in cell cycle arrest and control of apoptosis. Although p53 contains several polymorphic sites, the codon 72 polymorphism is by far more common. There are divergent reports but many studies suggest p53 pro/pro SNP may be associated with susceptibility to developing various cancers in different regions of the world. The present study aimed to find any correlation between H. pylori infection and progression of carcinogenesis, by studying apoptosis and the p53 gene in gastric biopsies from north Indian population. Materials and Methods: A total of 921 biopsies were collected and tested for prevalence of H. pylori by rapid urease test (RUT), imprint cytology and histology. Apoptosis was studied by the TUNEL method. Analysis of p53 gene polymorphism at codon 72 was accomplished by PCR using restriction enzyme BstU1. Observation: Out of 921 samples tested 56.7% (543) were H. pylori positive by the three techniques. The mean apoptotic index (AI) in the normal group was 2.12, while gastritis had the maximum 4.24 followed by gastric ulcer 2.28, gastropathy 2.22 and duodenal ulcer 2.08. Mean AI in cases with gastric cancer (1.72) was less than the normal group. The analysis of p53 72 SNP revealed that p53 (Arg/Arg), (Pro /Arg) variant are higher (40.59% & 33.66%) as compared to p53 pro/pro variant (25.74%) inthe healthy population. Conclusions: The North Indian population harbors Arg or Pro/Arg SNP that is capable of withstanding stress conditions; this may be the reason of low incidence of gastric disease in spite of high infection with H. pylori. There was no significant association with H. pylori infection and AI. However, there is increased apoptosis in gastritis which may occur independent of H. pylori or p53 polymorphism.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.18
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• pp.8079-8083
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• 2016

Metformin is an oral anti-hyperglycemic agent, which is the most commonly prescribed medication in the treatment of type-2 diabetes mellitus. It is purportedly associated with a reduced risk for various cancers, mainly exerting anti-proliferation effects on various human cancer cell types, such as pancreas, prostate, breast, stomach and liver. This mini-review highlights the risk and benefit of metformin used for cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) prevention and therapy. The results indicated metformin might be a quite promising strategy CCA prevention and treatment, one mechanism being inhibition of CCA tumor growth by cell cycle arrest in both in vitro and in vivo. The AMPK/mTORC1 pathway in intrahepatic CCA cells is targeted by metformin. Furthermore, metformin inhibited CCA tumor growth via the regulation of Drosha-mediated expression of multiple carcinogenic miRNAs. The use of metformin seems to be safe in patients with cirrhosis, and provides a survival benefit. Once hepatic malignancies are already established, metformin does not offer any therapeutic potential. Clinical trials and epidemiological studies of the benefit of metformin use for CCA should be conducted. To date, whether metformin as a prospective chemotherapeutic for CCA is still questionable and waits further atttention.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.73-80
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• 2004

Viruses are obligate intracellular parasites which cause infection by invading and replicating within cells. The immune system has mechanisms which can attack the virus in extracellular and intracellular phase of life cycle, and which involve both non-specific and specific effectors. The survival of viruses depends on the survival of their hosts, and therefore the immune system and viruses have evolved together. Immune responses to viral infection may be variable depending on the site of infection, the mechanism of cell-to-cell spread of virus, physiology of the host, host genetic variation, and environmental condition. Viral infection of cells directly stimulates the production of interferons and they induce antiviral state in the surrounding cells. Complement system is also involved in the elimination of viruses and establishes the first line of defence with other non-specific immunity. During the course of viral infection, antibody is most effective at an early stage, especially before the virus enters its target cells. The virus- specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes are the principal effector cells in clearing established viral infections. But many viruses have resistant mechanism to host immune responses in every step of viral infection to cells. Some viruses have immune evasion mechanism and establish latency or persistency indefinitely. Furthermore antibodies to some viruses can enhance the disease by the second infection. Immune responses to viral infection are very different from those to bacterial infection.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.679-685
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• 2012

The population with massive waist circumference is increasing in comparison with that with obesity in entire bodies in Korea. It is assumed that prevalence of obesity is closely related with changes in marriage status such as divorce or separation by death, and age, educational background, diet habits and living environment depending on presence or absence of spouses. To identify whether there are relations between spouse, BMI and waist circumference under the conditions such as life cycle age, educational level, income, smoking, drinking and walking controlled, this study used data of national health and nutrition research organized by Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The subjects of the study were a total of 7,178: 3,043 men and 4,135 women whose ages were above 19 and married. As a result of controlling independent variables except a factor of spouse, there were no statistically significant relations between presence of spouse, waist circumference and BMI in men, but odds rate of waist circumference was lower, 0.78(95% CI 0.636-0.954) when the female subjects had no spouse than when they had spouse.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.177-181
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• 2016

Purpose: The International Organization for Standardization-5fluorouracil (FU) 10 trial found that bolus 5-FU and l-leucovorin was not inferior to S-1 in the treatment of gastric cancer (GC). Continuous 5-FU and the rapid injection of 5-FU have different anti-cancer effects. Thus, bolus 5-FU and l-leucovorin treatment might be useful for oral FU-resistant GC. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of all patients with S-1 or capecitabine-resistant, unresectable, or recurrent GC treated with bolus 5-FU and l-leucovorin between January 2010 and December 2015 at Hokkaido University Hospital. The bolus 5-FU and l-leucovorin regimen consisted of intravenous l-leucovorin ($250mg/m^2/2h$) and bolus 5-FU ($600mg/m^2$) administered once weekly followed by a 2-week rest period; each cycle was repeated every 8 weeks. Results: A total of 14 patients were identified. The disease control rate was 35.7%. The median progression-free survival was 1.6 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.3~2.0 months), and the median overall survival was 6.3 months (95% CI, 4.7~7.9 months). No patient died from treatment-related causes. The most common severe adverse event associated with bolus 5-FU and l-leucovorin was neutropenia, which occurred in 21.4% of patients. Conclusions: Bolus 5-FU and l-leucovorin treatment might be useful for oral FU-resistant GC. We are planning a multi-center prospective phase II trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of bolus 5-FU and l-leucovorin treatment for pre-treated unresectable or recurrent GC to confirm the results of this limited, retrospective study.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.67-73
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• 2007

Periodontitis is a chronic infectious disease that leads to periodontal destruction, and is one of the major causes of tooth loss in humans. The osteoclast differentiation factor (ODF), which is also known as the receptor activator of the NF-kB ligand (RANKL), is a surface-associated ligand on bone marrow stromal cells and osteoblasts. RANKL activates its cognate receptor, RANK, on osteoclast progenitor cells, which leads to the differentiation of mononucleated precursor cells. Osteoprotegerin (OPG) is a decoy receptor that is released from stromal cells and osteoblasts to inhibit the interaction between RANKL and RANK. Although the precise mechanism of bone loss in periodontitis is unknown, the differentiation and activation of osteoclasts by OPG-ODF-RANK signaling might play the role in periodontal bone destruction. The relationship between the concentration of sex hormones and the expression of ODF and OPG was examined by treating human gingival fibroblasts and periodontal ligament cells with the normal serum concentration of estrogen or progesterone during menstruation or at menopause. The ODF/OPG relative ratio was elevated at the concentration observed during ovulation in human gingival fibroblasts and at the concentration observed between ovulation and menstruation in periodontal ligament cells treated with estrogen. However, the ratio was <1 at all concentrations in both cells treated with progesterone. In the case of menopause simulated by estrogen depletion, the ratio was <1 in human gingival fibroblasts but >1 in periodontal ligament cells.