• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.80-84
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• 2003

Objective : Bipolar disorder is known to have strong genetic background and cellular immune activation. Based on the hypothesis that abnormalities of normal inhibitory control of T cell immunity can contribute to the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder, we investigated the relationship between the first exon at position +49(A/G) polymorphism of cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen 4(CTLA4) gene and bipolar disorder. Method : Among the Korean patients diagnosed as bipolar disorder according to DSM-IV, 90 patients without serious medical illness, neurologic illness, hormonal disorder, or concomitant mental illness were selected. The normal control group consisted of 149 age-and sex-matched subjects without current or past history of autoimmune diseases or mental disorder. DNA was extracted from whole blood and the exon 1 region of CTLA-4 gene was amplified by polymerase chain reaction. Gene typing was performed using single strand conformation polymorphism. Results : There were no significant differences in genotype frequencies of G/G, G/A, and A/A between the patients with bipolar disorder and the control group(48.9% vs 46.3%, 44.4% vs 39.6%, and 6.7% vs 14.1%, respectively). There were no significant differences in allelic frequencies of G and A between the patients with bipolar disorder and the control group(71.1% vs 66.1%, and 28.9% vs 33.9%, respectively). Conclusion : This study did not show the association of exon 1 polymorphism of CTLA-4 gene with bipolar disorder.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.55-60
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• 2007

Objectives : There have been many association studies of panic disorder. However, studies about the dopaminergic function in panic disorder have been few. This study was aimed to examine the possible association of dopamine transporter gene(DAT1) polymorphism and panic disorder in Korean population. Methods : Ninety-eight patients with panic disorder(43 male(46.9%), mean age $42.13{\pm}10.88$ years) and one hundred and thirteen comparison subjects(67 male(40.7%), mean age $33.14{\pm}8.55$ years) were tested for DAT1 polymorphism. Genotypes of DAT1 with variable number of tandem repeats(VNTR) were determined using polymerase chain reaction. The differences of allelic frequency and genotype frequency distribution between patient and the control group were tested with Fisher-Freeman-Halton test. Results : There was association between DAT1 polymorphism and panic disorder(allele : p<0.03, genotype : p<0.05). The frequency of 10/10 homozygotes of DAT1 was significantly higher in control group(${\chi}^2$=4.452, df=1, p=0.035). Conclusion : These results in our Korean samples suggest that DAT1 polymorphism might be associated with the vulnerability of panic disorder. Possible association of dopaminergic genes and panic disorder should be investigated with future studies using larger and different population.

• Kidney Research and Clinical Practice
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.53-56
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• 2015

MYH9-related disorder is an autosomal dominant disease caused by a mutation in the MYH9 gene, which encodes nonmuscle myosin heavy chain IIA (NMMHC-IIA). This disease is characterized by giant platelets, thrombocytopenia, granulocyte inclusion bodies, proteinuria, and high-pitch sensorineural deafness. Nephropathy has been observed in 30% of patients with MYH9-related disorder. The characteristic features are early onset proteinuria and rapidly progressing renal disorder. However, the prognosis of MYH9 nephropathy remains unclear. Herein, we describe a 36-year-old woman who presented with proteinuria and was diagnosed with MYH9 nephropathy via renal biopsy and gene analysis. Her proteinuria improved after administration of an angiotensin II receptor blocker, but was aggravated after changing to a calcium channel blocker.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.134-139
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• 2012

Objectives : Proinflammatory process has been implicated as an underlying mechanism of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Previous studies have suggested a possible role of lymphotoxin alpha (LTA) gene in the development of schizophrenia and have prompted further investigation in bipolar patients. Association of the LTA +252A/G polymorphism with susceptibility to bipolar I disorder itself as well as with vulnerability among a subset of psychotic bipolar patients were tested. Methods : DNA extraction was done by a standard method and genotyping was carried out by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method in 114 Korean patients with bipolar I disorder and 202 healthy controls. SPSS v18.0 was used for statistical analysis. Comparisons of the genotype and allele distributions in LTA +252A/G polymorphism were made using a chi-square test. The genotype and allele associations were also evaluated using odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Statistical significance was accepted when p was < 0.05. Results : No significant association was found between the LTA +252A/G polymorphism and bipolar disorder. However, LTA +252G allele was present with significantly higher frequency among bipolar patients with psychotic features compared to those without (${\chi}^2$ = 4.69, p = 0.034, OR = 2.495, 95% CI = 1.069-5.827). Conclusion : The results suggest that the allele LTA +252G of the polymorphism may be associated with the psychotic subset of bipolar disorder but not with bipolar I disorder itself. Adequately powered subsequent studies should be conducted.

• Proceedings of the Korean Magnestics Society Conference
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.61-61
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• 2010

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.57-79
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• 1993

Chuncheon nephrite, which was formed by the polymetasomatic alteration of dolomitic marble, can be classified into pale green, green, dark green, and grey types on the basis of their occurrence, mineralogical and textural characteristics. The nephrites consist obiefly of fibrous or hairlike(length/width ratio>10) cryptocrystalline(crystal width < $2{\mu}m$) tremolite, and include less amounts of micro-crystalline diopside, calcite, clinochlore, and sphene as impurities. The oriented and rather curved crystal aggregate, of nephritic tremolite are densely interwoven, resulting in a massive-fibrous texture which may explain the characteristic toughness of nephritic jade. The characteristic greenish color of the nephrite may be preferably related to Fe rather than Cr and Ni. However, the variation of color and tint in the Chuncheon nephrite also depends on the mineralogical and textural differences such as crystallinity, texture, and impurities. The chemical composition of the nephritic tremolite is not stoichiometric and rather dispersed especially in the abundances of Al, Mg, and Ca. Al content and Mg/Ca ratio for the nephritic tremolite are slightly increased with deepening in greenish color of the nephrite. Fe content in the nephritic tremolite is generally very low, but comparatively richer in the dark green nephrite. In nephritic tremolite, wide-chain pyriboles are irregularly intervened between normal double chains, forming a chain-width disorder. Most nephritic tremolites in the Chuncheon nephrite show various type of chain-width defects such as triple chain(jimthompsonite), quintuple chain (chesterite), or sometimes quadruple chain in HRTEM observations. The degree of chain-width disorder in the nephritic tremolite tends to increase with deepening in greenish color. Triple chain is the most common type, and quadruple chain is rarely observed only in the grey nephrite. The presence of pyribole structure in the nephritic tremolite is closely related to the increase of Al content and Mg/Ca ratio, a rather dispersive chemical composition, a decrease of relative intensity in (001) XRD reflection, and an increase in b axis dimension of unit cell. In addition, the degree and variation of chain-width disorder with nephrite types may support that an increase of metastability was formed by a rapid diffusion of Mg-rich fluid during the nephrite formation.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.188-195
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• 2000

Objective : Essential tremor(ET) is the most common movement disorder, however, there has been little agreement in the neurologic literature regarding diagnostic criteria for ET. Familial ET is an autosomal dominant disorder presenting as an isolated postural tremor. The main feature of ET is postural tremor of the arms with later involvement of the head, voice, or legs. In previous studies, it was reported that ET susceptibility was inherited in an autosomal dominant inheritance. As previous results, it would suggest that ET might be associated with defect of mitochondrial or nuclear DNA. Recent studies are focusing on molecular genetic detection of movement disorders, such as essential tremor and restless legs syndrome. Moreover, authors have analysed mitochondrial DNA(mtDNA) from the blood cell of positive control(PC) and ET patients via long and accurate polymerase chain reaction(LA PCR). Materials & Methods : Blood samples were collected from PC and 9 ET patients. Total DNA was extracted twice with phenol followed by chloroform : isoamylalcohol. For the analysis of mtDNA, LA PCR was performed by mitochondrial specific primers. Results : With this technique, deletions of large quantities were detected within several regions of mtDNA in ET patients except for D-loop and CO I regions. Conclusion : The authors believe that ET is a genentic disorder with deficiency of mitochondrial DNA multicomplexes and mitochondiral dysfunction could be one of major causative factors of ET. Mitochondrial dysfunction may play an important role in the pathogenesis and possibility of disease progression among familial group with ET patients.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.121-125
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• 2003

Objective:Recently, many experimental evidences have been reported that psychiatric diseases are closely related with neurodevelopmental abnormalities and this can be properly explained by apoptosis. It is known that Apo-1/Fas is one of the genes in charge of apoptosis related with neurodevelopmental abnormalities. In this study, the association between bipolar disorder and functional polymorphism in Apo-1/Fas promoter gene has been investigated. Method:For 81 bipolar disorder patients and 217 healthy control subjects, MvaI restriction fragment length polymorphism(RFLP) of Apo-1/Fas promoter gene was analyzed after polymerase chain reaction(PCR) amplification. Result:There was a statistical significant difference in genotypic distribution(${\chi}^2$=16.656, df=2, p=0.0002) and allelic frequencies(${\chi}^2$=14.225, df=1, p=0.0002) between bipolar disorder patients and healthy control subjects. Conclusion:Our results suggest an association between functional polymorphism in Apo-1/Fas promoter gene and bipolar disorder and provide the important genetic information related with the pathogenesis of the disease. Further studies employing larger samples are required to clarify the present results.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.98-100
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• 2015

Short-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (SCAD) deficiency is a rare mitochondrial fatty-acid oxidation disorder that is inherited as an autosomal recessive pattern. SCAD deficiency is caused by mutations in the ACADS gene (Acyl-CoA Dehydrogenase, Short-chain, OMIM #606885), which encodes SCAD, the mitochondrial enzyme that catalyzes the first reaction in the beta-oxidation of fatty acids four to six carbons in length. Here, we describe one Korean pediatric case of SCAD deficiency, which was diagnosed during newborn screening through tandem mass spectrometry. An increased concentration of butyrylcarnitine was detected on the newborn screening test, and the urine organic acid analysis showed increased urinary excretion of ethylmalonic acid. The patient has been asymptomatic and has shown normal growth and development by 8 months of age without any intervention during follow-up period.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.1-4
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• 1999

Large-scale deletions of mitochondrial DNA(mtDNA) have been documented in patients with mitochondrial myopathies and seem to be especially frequent in patients with Kearns-Sayre syndrome (KSS). About one third of all patients shows a 4,977 bp deletion, known as the "common deletion", that removes a segment of DNA that includes several genes encoding for respiratory chain subunits. In this disorder, the population of deleted mtDNA molecules coexists with population of normal, wild-type full length mtDNAs, a situation known as heteroplasmy. We have performed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on paraffin-embedded muscle tissues from two korean KSS patients. The PCR analysis revealed the existence of two amplified fragments, the deleted fragments, the deleted fragment of 123 bp characteristic for common deletion and the wild-type fragment of 152 bp.of 152 bp.