• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.2087-2092
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• 2015

Nowadays herbal-derived medicines are attracting attention as new sources of drugs with few side effects. Silibinin is a flavonoid compound with chemotheraputic effects on different cancers such as examples in the prostate, lung, colon and breast. In the present study, the cytotoxic effects of silibinin on MCF7 breast cancer cells were investigated. Apoptosis was determined by flow cytometry and the impact of silibinin on the expression of pivotal genes including Bak, P53, P21, BRCA1, BCL-X1 and ATM was analyzed. Treatment for 24h had a significant dose-dependent inhibitory effect on cell growth (p<0.05) with dose- and time- dependent induction of apoptosis (p<0.05). In addition, there were significant increases in BRCA1, ATM, Bak and Bcl-XL gene expression at the mRNA level with different concentrations of silibinin for 24 or 48 h (p<0.05). Taken together, the results suggest that silibinin inhibits the proliferation and induces apoptosis of MCF-7 cells by down-regulating Bak, P53, P21, BRCA1, BCL-Xl and thus may be considered as an effective adjuvant drug to produce a better chemopreventive response for the cancer therapy.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.2527-2533
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• 2016

Sensitising cancer cells and at the same time desensitizing normal cells is a double task in cancer management. Agents which can combat the debilitating side effects of cancer therapeutics and simultaneously synergize with anticancer agents in specifically targeting cancer cells are needed. Selenium, a proven anticarcinogen, gains due importance in terms of its efficacy to combat the side effects of cancer therapy. This study is a comparative analysis of the chemoprotective effects of selenium compounds, methyl selenol (generated from organic selenomethionine (5mmol/L ; METase 40U/L)) and sodium selenite (inorganic form)($30{\mu}M$) in peripheral blood human lymphocytes exposed to cisplatin and mitomycin. Biochemical alterations occurring in many cells during apoptosis include loss of plasma membrane phospholipid asymmetry, DNA fragmentation, and activation of caspase-3. The present study demonstrated that the selenium metabolite and selenite are efficient in protecting lymphocytes undergoing DNA damage and exerted their activity by reducing caspase 3 expression. Interestingly organic methylselenol (MeSe) was found to offer more protective effects compared to inorganic selenite (SeL), by reducing the induction of apoptosis by the cytotoxic agents. This suggests that MeSe and to a lesser extent selenite might have potential for assessment in clinical trials and could be considered as strong candidates in pharmacogenomics or in the nutriprotective arena.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.16-23
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• 2010

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of aromatherapy on blood pressure, pulse, fatigue and sleep for patients with allergic rhinitis admitted at a hospital specialized in an oriental medicine. Methods: This research was a single-group pretest-posttest design. Data were collected at admission and discharge from May to December, 2009. The patients selected were received an aroma inhalation therapy via nebulizer with a 2% diluted oil mixture of eucalyptus and peppermint with 10 cc of saline solution in the ratio of 1:1 ones a day for 15 min in the period of 2 weeks. The data were analyzed for the descriptive statistics and paired t-test. Results: There was a statistically significant improvement on physical and psychological symptoms of fatigue and sleep with a increase in systolic blood pressure. Conclusion: Eucalyptus and peppermint blended oil aromatherapy as a sleep induction modality is an effective nursing and therapeutic intervention in conjunction with acupuncture and herbal medicine for symptoms of nasal congestion. However, further well designed research is required in evaluating the effectiveness of the types of clinically available essential oil.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.81-88
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• 2010

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare effects of intravenous fluid warming and forced-air warming on perioperative body temperature, Blood Pressure, Pulse and thermal discomfort after gastrectomy under general anesthesia. Methods: Data collection was performed from October, 2009 to February, 2010. The intravenous fluid warming group (27) was warmed through an IV line by an Animec set to $37^{\circ}C$. The forced-air warming group (27) was warmed by Bair Hugger System. The warming continued from induction of general anesthesia to two hours after completion of surgery. The data was analyzed by t-test, $X^2$, repeated measures ANOVA using SPSS/WIN 17.0. Results: There was a significant difference of body temperature and thermal discomfort between the intravenous fluid warming group and the forced-air warming group. Conclusion: We need to explore the effects combination of the intravenous fluid warming and the forced-air warming, and other warming therapy and the efficiency of modalities with regards to cost benefit is also needed.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.35 no.4 s.139
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• pp.283-287
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• 2004

The effect of water extract from Cnidii Rhizoma (CRW) on proliferation of human breast cancer cells, nitric oxide production, nitric oxide synthase expression, and ornithine decarboxylase activity was tested. CRW inhibited the growth of both estrogen-dependent MCF-7 and estrogen-independent MDA-MB-23I human breast cancer cells. Lipopolysaccharide-induced nitric oxide (NO) production was significantly reduced by CRW at the concentration of 0.5, 1.0 and 5.0 mg/ml. Expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) was also suppressed with the treatment of CRW in Raw 264.7 cells. CRW inhibited induction of ornithine decarboxylase by 12-0-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate, a key enzyme of polyamine biosynthesis, which is enhanced in tumour promotion. Therefore, CRW is worth further investigation with respect to breast cancer chemoprevention or therapy.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.18-24
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• 2006

Insomnia is associated with numerous psychiatric and physical conditions, and hyperarousal is known to play an important role in the development of insomnia. There are a lot of limitations to use hypnotic medications for the treatment of insomnia. As psychological factors can greatly affect the development and progress of insomnia, several non-pharmacological treatment methods have been used for insomnia. Biofeedback is effective in the treatment of insomnia and its treatment effect lasts considerably long. Biofeedback together with relaxation techniques can reduce levels of arousal in insomnia patients so that they are effective for induction and maintenance of sleep. In conclusion, biofeedback treatment seems to be very helpful for insomnia patients who show high levels of arousal and have limitations in the use of hypnotic medications.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.2807-2811
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• 2015

Scorpion venom peptides recently have attracted attention as alternative chemotherapeutic agents that may overcome the limitations of current drugs, providing specific cytotoxicity for cancer cells with an ability to bypass multidrug-resistance mechanisms, additive effects in combination therapy and safety. In the present study, BmKn-2 scorpion venom peptide and its derivatives were chosen for assessment of anticancer activities. BmKn-2 was identified as the most effective against human oral squamous cells carcinoma cell line (HSC-4) by screening assays with an $IC_{50}$ value of $29{\mu}g/ml$. The BmKn-2 peptide killed HSC-4 cells through induction of apoptosis, as confirmed by phase contrast microscopy and RT-PCR techniques. Typical morphological features of apoptosis including cell shrinkage and rounding characteristics were observed in treated HSC-4 cells. The results were further confirmed by increased expression of pro-apoptotic genes such as caspase-3, -7, and -9 but decrease mRNA level of anti-apoptotic BCL-2 in BmKn-2 treated cells, as determined by RT-PCR assay. In summary, the BmKn-2 scorpion venom peptide demonstrates specific membrane binding, growth inhibition and apoptogenic activity against human oral cancer cells.

• BMB Reports
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.184-191
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• 2014

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the leading cause of respiratory infection in infants and young children. Severe clinical manifestation of RSV infection is a bronchiolitis, which is common in infants under six months of age. Recently, RSV has been recognized as an important cause of respiratory infection in older populations with cardiovascular morbidity or immunocompromised patients. However, neither a vaccine nor an effective antiviral therapy is currently available. Moreover, the interaction between the host immune system and the RSV pathogen during an infection is not well understood. The innate immune system recognizes RSV through multiple mechanisms. The first innate immune RSV detectors are the pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), including toll-like receptors (TLRs), retinoic acid-inducible gene-I (RIG-I)-like receptors (RLRs), and nucleotide-biding oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptors (NLRs). The following is a review of studies associated with various PRRs that are responsible for RSV virion recognition and subsequent induction of the antiviral immune response during RSV infection.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.15-25
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• 2015

Objectives : In this study, we investigated the anti-proliferative and apoptosis inducing effect of water extract of Chelidonium majus (CM) on human breast cancer cell MDA-MB-231. Methods : The MTT assay was used to assess cell proliferation. The expression of apoptosis related gene was assessed by quantitative Real-time PCR. Cell apoptosis detected by flow cytometry using Annexin-V/PI staining. Results : Our data revealed that CM inhibited the cell growth in a dose dependent manner (0, 62.5, 125, 250, 500 μg/ml). CM increased mRNA expression of pro-apoptotic genes Bax, caspase-3, and caspase-9. Annexin-V/PI staining assays revealed that apoptosis-induced cell death increased in a dose-dependent manner in cells. Conclusions : CM induces cell death in MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cell and shows potentials for use in cancer therapy as apoptosis-inducing agent.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.84-86
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• 2008

The Tetrahymena group I intron has been shown to employ a trans-splicing reaction and has been modified to specifically target and replace human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) RNA with a suicide gene transcript, resulting in the induction of selective cytotoxicity in cancer cells that express the target RNA, in animal models as well as in cell cultures. In this study, we evaluated the target RNA specificity of trans-splicing phenomena by the group I intron in mice that were intraperitoneally inoculated with hTERT-expressing human cancer cells to validate the anti-cancer therapeutic applicability of the group I intron. To this end, an adenoviral vector that encoded for the hTERT-targeting group I intron was constructed and systemically injected into the animal. 5'-end RACE-PCR and sequencing analyses of the trans-spliced cDNA clones revealed that all of the analyzed products in the tumor tissue of the virus-infected mice resulted from reactions that were generated only with the targeted hTERT RNA. This study implies the in vivo target specificity of the trans-splicing group I intron and hence suggests that RNA replacement via a trans-splicing reaction by the group I intron is a potent anti-cancer genetic approach.