• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.298-307
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• 2010

Objectives : This study was designed to investigate the effectiveness of adjunctive herbal therapy combined with conventional therapy on antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD) treatment. Methods : The medical records of 25 patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at Kyunghee Oriental Medical Center between January 1, 2009 and January 30, 2010 were reviewed. The charts were analyzed for the general characteristics, site of infection, predominant bacteria, antibiotic treatment, herbal medicine treatment, effect on liver and kidney functions, and the effect of therapy on diarrheal duration. Results : 48% of the 25 patients were male while 52% were female. The average age was 67.2 years old. The most commonly used antibiotic was fluoroquinolone (40.0%) and the most commonly used herbal medicine was Samchulkunbi-tang (24.0%). The average diarrheal duration was 8.9 days. No significant change in hepatic and renal function was discovered before and after treatment with herbal medicine. Conclusions : The results suggest that herbal therapy would be a safe and effective treatment for AAD. Further study investigating the usage of herbal medicine in AAD treatment is anticipated.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.23-27
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• 2001

Fanconi-Bickel Syndrome (FBS) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder of carbohydrate metabolism recently demonstrated to be caused by mutations in the GLUT 2 gene for the glucose transporter protein 2 expressed in liver, pancreas, intestine, and kidney. This disease is characterized by hepatorenal glycogen accumulation, both fasting hypoglycemia as well as postprandial hyperglycemia and hyperglactosemia, and generalized proximal renal tubular dysfunctions. We report the first Korean patient with FBS diagnosed based on clinical manifestations and identification of a novel mutation in the GLUT 2 gene. She was initially diagnosed having a neonatal diabetes mellitus due to hyperglycemia and glycosuria at 3 days after birth. In addition, newborn screening for galactosemia revealed hypergalactosemia. Thereafter, she has been managed with lactose free milk, insulin therapy. However, she failed to grow and her liver has been progressively enlarging. Her liver functions were progressively deteriorated with increased prothrombin time. Liver biopsy done at age 9 months indicated micronodular cirrhosis with marked fatty changes. She succubmed to hepatic failiure with pneumonia at 10 months of age. Laboratory tests indicated she had generalized proximal renal tubular dysfuctions; renal tubular acidosis, hypophosphatemic rickets, and generalized aminoaciduria. Given aforementioned findings, the diagnosis of FBS was appreciated at age of 2 months. The DNA sequencing analysis of the GLUT 2 gene using her genomic DNA showed a novel mutation at 5th codon; Lysine5 Stop (K5X).

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.89-95
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• 2012

Poncirus trifoliata fruit (PTF) affects the digestive and cardiovascular systems, and kidney function. The authors studied the effects of ethyl acetate (EtOAc) extract of PTF on the activities of osteoblasts and in an animal model. The main compounds of the EtOAc extract, naringin and poncirin have been confirmed by HPLC and NMR analysis. Effects of osteoblastic differentiation were measured by alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, osteopontin (OPN) protein expression and osteoprotegerin (OPG) mRNA expression in MC3T3-E1 cells. Also, osteoclast differentiation was measured by multinucleated cells (MNCs) formation through tartrate resistance acid phosphatase (TRAP)-positive staining. Bone mineral density (BMD) was measured before and after treatment with EtOAc extract of PTF in prednisolone-induced osteoporotic mice. Dexamethasone (DEX) decreased OPN and OPG expression level in MC3T3-E1 cells and ALP activity was decreased by DEX dose-dependently. EtOAc extract of PTF recovered the levels of ALP activity, and the expression of OPN and OPG in MC3T3-E1 cells treated with DEX. In osteoclast differentiation, multinucleated TRAP-positive cell formation was significantly suppressed by the EtOAc extract of PTF. Total body BMD was restored by EtOAc extract of PTF in prednisolone-induced osteoporotic mice. In conclusion, EtOAc extract of PTF recovered DEX-mediated deteriorations in osteoblastic and osteoclastic functions, and increased BMD in glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.99-101
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• 2005

The effect of treatment with pine needle oil upon rat hepatocytes exposed to alcohol was investigated. The body weight gain, ratio of liver and kidney to body weight, and serum biochemistry of rats administered both alcohol and pine needle oil were compared to control rats treated with alcohol alone. Normal untreated control rats, negative control rats with ethanol treatment, positive control rats with both alcohol and the commercially available hangover cure solution (HCS) treatment and the test group with both alcohol and pine needle oil treatment exhibited aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels of $84.43{\pm}47.88\;U/L$, $254.57{\pm}463.20\;U/L$, $70.29{\pm}12.60\;U/L$ and $67.00{\pm}5.06\;U/L$, respectively, and cholesterol levels of $95.71{\pm}6.86\;mg/dl$, $113.80{\pm}38.19\;mg/dl$, $91.57{\pm}6.30\;mg/dl$ and $82.29{\pm}4.98\;mg/dl$, respectively. Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels were $44.00{\pm}9.04\;U/L$ in normal untreated control rats, increased to $215.43{\pm}428.93\;U/L$ with the administration of ethanol, but interestingly were significantly reduced to $37.83{\pm}6.57\;U/L$ in the test group (p<0.05). Triglyceride (TG) levels were $39.57{\pm}8.62\;mg/dl$ in normal untreated rats, increased to $73.71{\pm}61.20\;mg/dl$ in rats administered alcohol, but were reduced to $26.14{\pm}4.82\;mg/dl$ in the test group (p<0.0l). The pine needle oil treatment significantly reduced the levels of AST, ALT and TG compared to the control rats. These results indicate that pine needle oil can positively mediate the effects of alcohol on hepatocytes and general liver functions.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.346-353
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• 2015

Glucocorticoids (GCs) are steroid hormones regulated through responses to stress to maintain diverse metabolic and homeostatic functions. GCs act on the glucocorticoid receptor (GR), a member of the nuclear receptor family. This study identified and characterized the GR gene from the big-belly seahorse Hippocampus abdominalis designating it HaGR. The open reading frame of the HaGR cDNA was 2,346 bp in length, encoding a 782-amino-acid polypeptide with a theoretical isoelectric point of 6.26 and predicted molecular mass of 86.8 kDa. Nuclear receptors share a common structural organization, comprising an N-terminal transactivation domain, DNA-binding domain, and C-terminal ligand-binding domain. The tissue-specific mRNA expression profile of HaGR was analyzed in healthy seahorses using a qPCR technique. HaGR mRNA was expressed ubiquitously in all of the tissues examined, with the highest expression levels in kidney, intestine, stomach, and gill tissues. The mRNA expression in response to immune challenge with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid (poly I:C), Edwardsiella tarda, and Streptococcus iniae revealed that it is inducible in response to pathogen infection. These results suggest that HaGR is involved in the immune response of the big-belly seahorse.

• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.153-161
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• 2015

Gamrosu is a modified fasting therapy beverage (431 kcal/d). A retrospective observational study was conducted to investigate the detoxification feasibility of Gamrosu. Three cases were reviewed which participants have finished the fasting with Garmrosu for 10 consecutive days. Detoxification profiles of Gamrosu were reviewed at pre- and post-fasting sessions. Post-Gamrosu session, -6.3% of average weight, -6.5% of average body fat mass and -6.6% of average muscle mass were reduced with the nutrition indices being improved. The inflammation indices showed the significant diminished profiles. Liver/kidney functions and the standard of electrolytes were maintained within normal range in stable manners, however, marginal elevation of total bilirubin and mild ketoacidosis were observed. The indices of oxidative stress decreased and those of antioxidative activity increased. The fatigue scale scores indicated lower scores except insomnia symptom. Taken together, detoxification profiles of Gamrosu were sufficiently feasible and the observed findings should be considered for further clinical studies.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.210-214
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• 2007

The 90-kDa heat shock protein (HSP90) normally functions as a molecular chaperone participating in folding and stabilizing newly synthesized proteins, and refolding denatured proteins. The HSP90 inhibitor geldanamycin (GA) occupies the ATP/ADP binding pocket of HSP90 so inhibits its chaperone activity and causes subsequent degradation of HSP90 client proteins by proteasomes. Here we show that GA reduces the level of endogenous c-Jun in human embryonic kidney 293 (HEK293) cells in a time and dose dependent manner, and that this decrease can be reversed by transfection of HSP90 plasmids. Transfection of HSP90 plasmids in the absence of GA increases the level of endogenous c-Jun protein, but has no obvious affect on c-Jun mRNA levels. We also showed that HSP90 prolongs the half-life of c-Jun by stabilizing the protein; the proteasome inhibitor N-benzoyloxycarbonyl (Z)-Leu-Leu-leucinal (MG132) blocks the degradation of c-Jun promoted by GA. Transfection of HSP90 plasmids did not obviously alter phosphorylation of c-Jun, and a Jun-2 luciferase activity assay indicated that over-expression of HSP90 elevated the total protein activity of c-Jun in HEK293 cells. All our evidence indicates that HSP90 stabilizes c-Jun protein, and so increases the total activity of c-Jun in HEK293 cells.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.408-420
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• 2016

This study proposes an alternative approach for the use of chitosan silver-based dressing for the control of foot infection with multidrug-resistant bacteria. Sixty-five bacterial isolates were isolated from 40 diabetic patients. Staphylococcus aureus (37%) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (18.5%) were the predominant isolates in the ulcer samples. Ten antibiotics were in vitro tested against diabetic foot clinical bacterial isolates. The most resistant S. aureus and P. aeruginosa isolates were then selected for further study. Three chitosan sources were tested individually for chelating silver nanoparticles. Squilla chitosan silver nanoparticles (Sq. Cs-Ag⁰) showed the maximum activity against the resistant bacteria when mixed with amikacin that showed the maximum synergetic index. This, in turn, resulted in the reduction of the amikacin MIC value by 95%. For evaluation of the effectiveness of the prepared dressing using Artemia salina as the toxicity biomarker, the LC₅₀ was found to be 549.5, 18,000, and 10,000 μg/ml for amikacin, Sq. Cs-Ag⁰, and dressing matrix, respectively. Loading the formula onto chitosan hydrogel dressing showed promising antibacterial activities, with responsive healing properties for the wounds in normal rats of those diabetic rats (polymicrobial infection). It is quite interesting to note that no emergence of any side effect on either kidney or liver biomedical functions was noticed.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.26
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• pp.5.1-5.11
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• 2011

Objectives: In order to identify the possibility of slender bitterling (SB) (Acheilognathus yamatsutae) being used as a test species for estrogenic endocrine disrupting chemicals (EEDCs), we carried out the cloning and sequence characterization of the estrogen receptor (ER). Methods: The ER from a slender bitterling was obtained by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), 5'- and 3'-rapid amplification of cDNA ends (5'-RACE and 3'-RACE) and T-vector cloning. The expression of ER mRNA was also analyzed in six tissues (brain, liver, kidney, gill, gonad, and intestines) by real-time PCR. Results: We obtained an ER from the slender bitterling. The SB ER cDNA was 2189 base pairs (bp) in length and contained a 1707 bp open reading frame that encoded 568 amino acid residues. The SB ER amino acid sequence clustered in a monophyletic group with the $ER{\alpha}$ of other fish, and was more closely related to zebrafish $ER{\alpha}$(88% identity) than to the $ER{\alpha}$ of other fish. The SB ER cDNA was divided into A/B, C, D, E and F domains. The SB ER has conserved important sequences for ER functions, such as the DNA binding domain (D domain), which are consistent with those of other teleosts. Conclusions: The ER of the slender bitterling could provide basic information in toxicological studies of EEDCs in the slender bitterling.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.177-194
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• 1997

This thesis, deduced from studying eastern and western medical records, deals with geriatric demedtia in modern society. The result were obtained as follows : 1. Dementia is a kind of chronic, progressive, degenerative disease. The chief expression and pathogenic change of the disease is organic: e.g., extensive change such as cerebrum - atrophy, and denaturalization result. in such a situation intellectual capacities and the ability to enjoy daily life deteriorate trenendously. 2. A basic internal cause of the disease is Defficiencies of the heart, liver and kidneys. An exterior cause is an Excessiveness of the 'Dam'(痰), 'Blood Stasis', 'Fung'(風) and 'Fire'. In a Western Medical view, the reason for dementia is due to the onset of Alzheimer's disease and Brain anemia resulting from Multi - infarction or some other reason. If the white - matter of the brain is injured, then dementia easily to results. 3. Disease symptoms result in troubles in intellectual functions : e.g., memory, orientation, intelligence, judgement, common sence and calculating abilities. 4. The proper therapeutic treatment depends on the causes. When the Deficiency is serious, Fortification (heart, liver. and kidney deficiency) is applied and Decrease is follow. When Excessiveness of wrong is serious, the Decrease is tried before the supplement measure is used depending on the deficiency, which generally is used together with 'Fortify Right - Decreace Wrong'. 5. If the disease wasn't caused by some mental reason, it's difficult to be cured of the disease. When the degree of the disease is light and it doesn't continue for a long time, the therapeutic treatment can block the disease's progress and improve the patient's symptoms.