• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2022.10a
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• pp.212-212
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• 2022

Soluble starch synthase (SS) IV-2 is one of the starch synthase gene family members and responsible for starch chain elongation interacting with other rice eating and cooking quality controlling genes (e.g., AGPlar and PUL). SSIV-2 is mainly expressed in leaves, especially at grain-filling stage and its alleles can significantly affect rice quality. Here, we investigated the genetic diversity and population structure analyses of SSIV-2 gene by using 374 rice accessions. This rice set was grouped into 320 cultivated bred (subsequently classified into temperate japonica, indica, tropical japonica, aus, aromatic and admixture) and 54 wild rice. Haplotyping of cultivated rice accessions provided a total of 7 haplotypes, and only three haplotypes are functional indicating four substituted SNPs in two exons of chromosome 5: T/A and G/T in exon 4, and C/G and G/A in exon 13. Including the wild, a highest diverse group (0.0041), nucleotide diversity analysis showed temperate japonica (0.0001) had a lowest diversity value indicating the origin information of this gene evolution. Higher and positive Tajima5s D value of indica (1.9755) indicate a selective signature under balancing selection while temperate japonica (-0.9018) was in lowest Tajima's D value due to a recent selective sweep by positive selection. We found the most diverse genetic components of the wild in PCA but shared in some portion with other cultivated groups. Fixation index (F_ST-values) and phylogenetic analysis indicate a closer relationship of the wild with indica (F_ST=0.256) than to its association to both of temperate japonica (F_ST=0.589). Structure analysis shows a clear separation of cultivated subpopulations at every K value, but genetic components were admixed within the wild illustrating the same genetic background with japonica and indica in some proportion.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2023.04a
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• pp.56-56
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• 2023

The cone of Pinus rigida × Pinus taeda (PRT), a plant in the Pinaceae family, has long been used in traditional medicine to treat hemostasis, bruises, and burns. Previous research has shown that regulating oxidation-reduction reactions in reactive oxygen species can help inhibit melanogenesis, the process of melanin synthesis, which is a common target for addressing hyperpigmentation. Inhibiting tyrosinase is also known to be effective in this regard. Based on these findings, we conducted an investigation into the inhibitory effect of the ethyl acetate fraction of PRT (ERT) on melanogenesis in B16 F10 cells. We know that the expression levels of melanin biosynthesis-related proteins, including tyrosinase, TRP-1, and TRP-2, are regulated by MITF (microphthalmia-associated transcription factor) and cAMP, with cAMP affecting the activity of protein kinase A (PKA). PKA can reduce melanogenesis, and CREB reduces the phosphorylation of melanin-producing enzymes. In addition, the MAPK signaling pathway, composed of ERK, JNK, p38, and other factors, is also known to play a role in the inhibition of melanogenesis in melanocytes. Our immunoblotting results showed that ERT inhibited the expression of melanin production-related proteins (tyrosinase, TRP-1, TRP-2, and MITF) that were significantly increased by a-MSH treatment to promote melanin production. Furthermore, the phosphorylation levels of factors related to cAMP/PKA/CREB and MAPK signaling pathways were significantly reduced without affecting the total form. In conclusion, we believe that treatment with ERT can inhibit melanin synthesis by modulating the phosphorylation of cAMP/PKA/CREB and MAPK signaling pathways at the cellular level. These findings suggest the potential of ERT as a raw material for functional cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, thanks to its antioxidant activity and ability to inhibit melanogenesis. We thought that these findings of ERT as a natural plant resource will inspire further research and development in this area.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.30.1-30.13
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• 2023

Ephs belong to the largest family of receptor tyrosine kinase and are highly conserved both sequentially and structurally. The structural organization of Eph is similar to other receptor tyrosine kinases; constituting the extracellular ligand binding domain, a fibronectin domain followed by intracellular juxtamembrane kinase, and SAM domain. Eph binds to respective ephrin ligand, through the ligand binding domain and forms a tetrameric complex to activate the kinase domain. Eph-ephrin regulates many downstream pathways that lead to physiological events such as cell migration, proliferation, and growth. Therefore, considering the importance of Eph-ephrin class of protein in tumorigenesis, 7,620 clinically reported missense mutations belonging to the class of variables of unknown significance were retrieved from cBioPortal and evaluated for pathogenicity. Thirty-two mutations predicted to be pathogenic using SIFT, Polyphen-2, PROVEAN, SNPs&GO, PMut, iSTABLE, and PremPS in-silico tools were found located either in critical functional regions or encompassing interactions at the binding interface of Eph-ephrin. However, seven were reported in nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Considering the relevance of receptor tyrosine kinases and Eph in NSCLC, these seven mutations were assessed for change in the folding pattern using molecular dynamic simulation. Structural alterations, stability, flexibility, compactness, and solvent-exposed area was observed in EphA3 Trp790Cys, EphA7 Leu749Phe, EphB1 Gly685Cys, EphB4 Val748Ala, and Ephrin A2 Trp112Cys. Hence, it can be concluded that the evaluated mutations have potential to alter the folding pattern and thus can be further validated by in-vitro, structural and in-vivo studies for clinical management.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.37 no.7
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• pp.1289-1302
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• 2024

Objective: There is a strong relationship between the content of beneficial fatty acids in milk and milk fat metabolic activity in the mammary gland. To improve milk quality, it is therefore necessary to study fatty acid metabolism in bovine mammary gland tissue. In adipose tissue, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARG), the core transcription factor, regulates the fatty acid metabolism gene network and determines fatty acid deposition. However, its regulatory effects on mammary gland fatty acid metabolism during lactation have rarely been reported. Methods: Transcriptome sequencing was performed during the prelactation period and the peak lactation period to examine mRNA expression. The significant upregulation of PPARG drew our attention and led us to conduct further research. Results: According to bioinformatics prediction, dual-luciferase reporter system detection, real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting, miR-130a and miR-130b could directly target PPARG and inhibit its expression. Furthermore, triglyceride and oil red O staining proved that miR-130a and miR-130b inhibited milk fat metabolism in bovine mammary epithelial cells (BMECs), while PPARG promoted this metabolism. In addition, we also found that the coexpression of miR-130a and miR-130b significantly enhanced their ability to regulate milk fat metabolism. Conclusion: In conclusion, our findings indicated that miR-130a and miR-130b could target and repress PPARG and that they also have a functional superposition effect. miR-130a and miR-130b seem to synergistically regulate lipid catabolism via the control of PPARG in BMECs. In the long-term, these findings might be helpful in developing practical means to improve high-quality milk.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.67 no.3
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• pp.364-375
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• 2024

Objective : Kinesin family member C1 (KIFC1), a non-essential kinesin-like motor protein, has been found to serve a crucial role in supernumerary centrosome clustering and the progression of several human cancer types. However, the role of KIFC1 in glioma has been rarely reported. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate the role of KIFC1 in glioma progression. Methods : Online bioinformatics analysis was performed to determine the association between KIFC1 expression and clinical outcomes in glioma. Immunohistochemical staining was conducted to analyze the expression levels of KIFC1 in glioma and normal brain tissues. Furthermore, KIFC1 expression was knocked in the glioma cell lines, U251 and U87MG, and the functional roles of KIFC1 in cell proliferation, invasion and migration were analyzed using cell multiplication, wound healing and Transwell invasion assays, respectively. The autophagic flux and expression levels matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP2) were also determined using imaging flow cytometry, western blotting and a gelation zymography assay. Results : The results revealed that KIFC1 expression levels were significantly upregulated in glioma tissues compared with normal brain tissues, and the expression levels were positively associated with tumor grade. Patients with glioma with low KIFC1 expression levels had a more favorable prognosis compared with patients with high KIFC1 expression levels. In vitro, KIFC1 knockdown not only inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion of glioma cells, but also increased the autophagic flux and downregulated the expression levels of MMP2. Conclusion : Upregulation of KIFC1 expression may promote glioma progression and KIFC1 may serve as a potential prognostic biomarker and possible therapeutic target for glioma.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.8-15
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• 2008

Saussurea lappa (SL) has been used to reduce abdominal pain and tenesmus in traditional oriental medicine. SL and major compounds of SL, sesquiterpene lactones, have been suggested to possess various biological effects, including anti-tumor, anti-ulcer, anti-inflammatory, anti-viral and cardiotonic activities. Recently, it has been reported that ethanol extracts from roots of SL have antiproliferative effects on gastric cancer cells. To explore the possibility that SL has chemopreventive effects on prostate cancer, we examined whether the hexane extract of SL (HESL) inhibits the growth of LNCaP human prostate cancer cells. Cells were incubated with various concentrations ($0{\sim}4$ mg/L) of HESL in DMEM/F12 containing 5% charcoal stripped fetal bovine serum. HESL substantially decreased viable cell numbers and induced apoptosis of LNCaP cells in dose-dependent manners. HESL increased the levels of cleaved caspase-8, -9, -7 and -3, and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase. HESL increased the levels of the pro-apoptotic Bak and truncated-Bid proteins whereas it had no effect on the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, or Mcl-1. The present results indicate that HESL inhibits the growth of human prostate cancer cells by inducing apoptosis, which involves the activation of the caspase cascades.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.1447-1451
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• 2007

Through the screening of marine natural compounds that inhibit cancer cell proliferation, we previously reported that pectenotoxin-2 (PTX-2) isolated from marine sponges exhibits selective cytotoxicity against several cell lines in p53-deficient tumor cells compared to those with functional p53. However, the molecular mechanisms of its anti-proliferative action on malignant cell growth are not completely known. To further explore the mechanisms of its anti-cancer activity and to test whether the status of p53 in liver cancer cells correlates with their chemo-sensitivities to PTX-2, we used two well-known hepatocarcinoma cell lines, p53-deficient Hep3B and p53-wild type HepG2. We have demonstrated that PTX-2 markedly inhibits Hep3B cell growth and induces apoptosis whereas HepG2 cells are much more resistant to PTX-2 suggesting that PTX-2 seems to act by p53-independent cytotoxic mechanism. The apoptosis induced by PTX-2 in Hep3B cells was associated with the modulation of DNA fragmentation factor (DFF) family proteins, up-regulation of pro-apoptotic Bcl-2 family members such as Bax and Bcl-xS and activation of caspases (caspase-3, -8 and -9). Blockade of the caspase-3 activity by caspase-3 inhibitor, z-DEVD-fmk, prevented the PTX-2-induced growth inhibition in Hep3B cells. Moreover, treatment with PTX-2 also induced phosphorylation of AKT and extracellular-signal regulating kinase (ERK), but not c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MARK). Specific inhibitors of PI3K inhibitor (LY294002) and ERK1/2 inhibitor (PD98059) significantly blocks PTX-2-induced-anti-proliferative effects, whereas a JNK inhibitor (SP600125) and a p38 MAPK inhibitor (SB203580) have no significant effects demonstrating that the pro-apoptotic effect of PTX-2 mediated through activation of AKT and ERK signal pathway in Hep3B cells.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.69-76
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• 2000

Purpose: The Pathogenesis of primary noctllrnal enuresis(PNE) is still controversial. Genetic factor and maturational delay of micturition reflex including arousal disorder, lack of nocturnal Arginine Vasopressin(AVP) release and functional bladder capacity have been suggested. We analyzed the risk factors of PNE. Methods: Fifty five children with PNE (20 enuretics diagnosed at school physical examination of the first grade students at Mok-Dong Elementary School and 35 enuretics (Age 6-7 year) diagnosed at Ewha Womans University Mok Dong Hospital) and 221 control students without PNE at school physical examination were included. Genetic, stress and developmental factors, arousability, water intake, urine volume, maximun voiding volume and daytime voiding dysfunction were compared. Results: 1) There was no significant difference between PNE and control group in sex ratio, birth order, percentage of working mothers, parental and child personality, age to start walking, school record and duration of sleep. 2) Family history in the PNE group was significantly higher than control group ($20.0\%\;vs\;2.7\%$)(P<0.05). 3) The difficulty in arousal in the PNE group was significantly more common than the control group ($70.9\%\;vs\;54.3\%$)(P<0.05). 4) Nocturnal water intake in the PNE group was significantly greater than the control group ($330{\pm}158.2\;mL\;vs\;235{\pm}129.5\;mL$). Nocturnal urine volume in the PNE group was significantly greater than the control group ( $390{\pm}61.5\;mL\;vs\;140{\pm}43.2\;mL$)(P<0.05). Daily water intake and daily urine volume did not significantly differ between the two groups. 5) Maximum urine volume per void in the PNE group was significantly lower than the control group ($107{\pm}35.9\;mL\;vs\;236{\pm}41.3\;mL$). Daytime voiding dysfunction in the PNE group was significantly more common than the control group ($80.0\%\;vs\;57.9\%$). The voiding frequency in the PNE group was significantly greater than the control group ($7.0{\pm}3.6\;vs\;5.4{\pm}1.6$)(P<0.05). Conclusion: In addition to genetic factors and maturational delay of micturition reflex (difficulty in arousal, nocturnal polyuria and decreased functional bladder capacity) nocturnal polydypsia was found to be the important risk factors fur PNE. So nocturnal fluid restriction should be encouraged as the first-line management of PNE.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.33-43
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• 2019

Objectives: Bipolar disorder is characterized by repetitive relapses that result in psychosocial dysfunctions. The functioning of bipolar disorder patients is related to the severity of symptoms, quality of sleep, drug compliance, and social support. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between sociodemographic and clinical factors and functional status in bipolar disorder patients. Methods: A total of 52 bipolar disorder patients participated in the study. The following scales were utilized: Korean version of personal and social performance scale (K-PSP), Korean version of Hamilton rating scale for depression (K-HDRS), Korean version of young mania rating scale (K-YMRS), Korean version of pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI-K), Korean version of drug attitude inventory (K-DAI), mood disorders insight scale (MDIS), and multidimensional scale of perceived social support (MSPSS). Results: The K-PSP score showed a negative relationship with K-HDRS score (r = -0.387, p = 0.005), but not with K-YMRS score (r = -0.205, p = 0.145). The K-PSP score showed a negative relationship with global PSQI-K score (r = -0.378, p = 0.005) and overall sleep quality (r = -0.353, p = 0.010). The K-PSP scores were positively associated with the KDAI score (r = 0.409, p = 0.003) and MSPSS score (r = 0.334, p = 0.015). The predictive factors for K-PSP were overall sleep quality and social support from family. Conclusion: Our study showed that depressive symptoms were related to overall function in bipolar disorder. Also, our study suggested that improving sleep quality is important in maintaining functional status. Appropriate social support and positive perception toward the drug may lead to the higher level of functioning. This study is meaningful in that the functional status of bipolar disorder patients is analyzed in a multivariate manner in relation to various variables in psychosocial aspects.

• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.81-96
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• 2023

Objective : This study aimed to examine the association between the structural and functional aspects of social networks and health-promoting behaviors in community-dwelling older adults. Methods : Social networks based on structural and functional aspects and health-promoting behaviors by lifestyle were measured in 226 community-dwelling adults aged 65 years and over. To analyze the collected data, an independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson's correlation analysis, and hierarchical regression were performed. Results : The network size was the highest in the friend network, and the frequency of contact and social support was the highest in the non-living family network. Health-promoting behaviors were highest for activities of daily living and lowest for productive and social activities. All subfactors of social networks showed significant positive correlations with health-promoting behaviors. Hierarchical regression showed social support from neighbors as the variable with a significant effect on health-promoting behaviors; gender and depression were also influencing factors, and this model showed 37% explanatory power. Conclusion : To promote healthy behaviors of older adultsin the community, the development of health promotion programs and related policies considering social networks centering on social support from neighbors is required.