• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.92-98
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• 2012

This study was conducted to determine if YJ-1, a novel herbal complex from a mixture of six oriental herbs (Hydnocarpi Semen, Sesami Semen, Dictamni Radicis Cortex, Momordicae Semen, Xanthii Fructus, and Sophorae Radix), has therapeutic properties for the treatment of atopic dermatitis (AD). Using AD like symptom-induced NC/Nga mice by 1-chloro 2,4-dinitrobenzene (DNCB), the effectiveness of YJ-1 on AD was evaluated. Elidel cream$^{(R)}$ (1% pimecrolimus) was used as a control. Dermal application of YJ-1 reduced major clinical signs of AD such as erythema, pruritus, lichenification, edema/escoriations, and dryness. Interestingly, YJ-1 more improved AD-related symptoms including decrease of spleen weight, IL-4, and IgE level in the serum as well as reduction of scratching counts and clinical skin severity in the NC/Nga AD mouse model. Especially, treatment of YJ-1 at 20% in NC/Nga mice more effected than Elidel cream. These results suggest that the ointment of YJ-1 may enhance the process of AD healing by alleviating allergic reaction and has potential for therapeutic reagent for the treatment of AD.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.11
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• pp.4555-4561
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• 2015

Background: Mammography screening is a method for reducing breast cancer mortality in women over 40 years old. A participation rate of at least 70% is a prerequisite for screening programs. This study aimed at determining the participation rate of women in breast cancer screening in Iran. Materials and Methods: The study population in this prospective research consisted of 35 to 69 years old women in the villages and towns Kerman District, in 2013. The data were collected by a well-validated risk assessment questionnaire. The questionnaires were completed with the help of health workers and technicians in the health centers, who were trained on breast cancer screening program. Results: As a whole, 19,651 women were invited to complete the questionnaire, of whom 15,794 women (80.37%) completed it. In the urban region, of 3150 eligible women 2728 women (86.60%) participated in the study. The acceptance rates for mammography in rural and urban regions were 34.95% and 8.75%, respectively. Conclusions: Finally, 3.8% and 16.34% of 35 to 69 years old women in the urban regions were mammographed, respectively. Conclusion: The low participation of eligible women in breast cancer screening program alerts us against including the program in the health insurance package.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.2593-2598
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• 2011

Polyphenols (PPs) are known as antioxidant compounds having benign biological activities. In this paper, a series of hybrid molecules between the free or acetyl protected polyphenol compounds were synthesized and their in vitro antioxidant activity (DPPH assay) and cholinesterase [acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE)] inhibition activities were evaluated. As expected, free phenolic hybrid compounds (6 and 8) showed better antioxidant activity than acetyl protected hybrid compounds (5 and 7) from DPPH assay. But the contrast result was obtained from BuChE inhibition assay. Acetyl protected hybrid compounds (5 and 7) showed better inhibition activity for BuChE than free phenolic hybrid compounds (6 and 8). Specifically, 10 (AcFA-AcFA) were shown as an effective inhibitor of BuChE ($IC_{50}=2.3{\pm}0.3{\mu}M$) and also had a great selectivity for BuChE over AChE (more than 170 fold). Inhibition kinetic studies with acetyl protected compounds (5, 7, 9, and 10) indicated that 5, 7 and 10 are a hyperbolic mixed-type inhibition and 10 is a competitive inhibition type. The binding affinity (Ki) value of 10 to BuChE is $2.32{\pm}0.15{\mu}M$.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.110-117
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• 2020

Background: The aim of this pilot study was to assess the safety and dosing of scolopendrid pharmacopuncture (SPP). Methods: A total of 40 healthy Sprague-Dawley rats (males and 20 females 20) were selected following a 7-day inspection and acclimation period. SPP was administered via intramuscular injection, over a 2-week period using 3 doses including a high-dose [0.84 mg of scolopendrid per kg of body weight (BW)], a med-dose (0.42 mg/kg BW), and a low-dose (0.21 mg/kg BW). The control group was injected with sterile water into the muscles. Unusual changes caused by administration of the test substance were observed. Weight, feed intake, organ weight, and hematological examinations were compared among the groups. Using the SPSS statistical program, Levene's test was performed to evaluate the homogeneity of variances, and a one-way ANOVA test was subsequently performed to assess the significance between each test group. Results: During the experiment no animals died. Weight change, food consumption, organ weight, hematological test, and blood biochemical tests showed no significant differences in the treatment groups compared to controls. Conclusion: No toxicological changes related to the administration of test substances were observed. Therefore, the LD₅₀ (lethal-dose that kills 50%) of scolopendrid pharmacoupuncture in rats was greater than 0.84 mg/kg.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.135-144
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• 2018

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to analyze the medical cost for patients with vertigo and to examine associations between chronic vertigo and mental disorder using 2014 Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service-National Patients Sample (HIRA-NPS). Methods: We analyzed sociodemographic characteristics, medical cost and medical care use pattern for vertigo patients. We used hierarchical multiple logistic regression analysis to examine odds ratio between chronic vertigo and mental disorder. Results: A total of 46,502 people and 118,504 claims data were identified for vertigo cases. Characteristics of vertigo patients have significant differences on proportion of female patients (68.36%), patients' average age (54.98) and proportion of medical assistance (5.76%) compared with non-vertigo patients. Results revealed that Korean medicine are one of frequent methods among total treatments for vertigo patients. Total days of medical care and total costs are 2.78 days and 111,362 won, respectively, and days for outpatients in Korean medical care (mean: 2.26 days) are more than those (mean: 5.05 days) in Western medical care. There is significant difference relative to sex between acute vertigo and chronic vertigo. The odds ratio between chronic vertigo and mental disorder is estimated as 1.34, that means risk of becoming chronic is 34% higher for vertigo patients with mental disorder. Conclusions: This study assessed socio-demographic characteristics, medical care use and expenses related to vertigo, and estimated associations between chronic vertigo and mental disorder. Findings provide a basis for economic evaluation studies on vertigo patients and development of clinical practice guidelines for vertigo patients with mental disorder.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.404-410
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• 2017

Benzylideneacetophenone derivative (1E)-1-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl) hept-1-en-3-one (JC3) elicited cytotoxic effects on MDA-MB 231 human breast cancer cells-radiation resistant cells (MDA-MB 231-RR), in a dose-dependent manner, with an $IC_{50}$ value of $6{\mu}M$ JC3. JC3-mediated apoptosis was confirmed by increase in sub-G1 cell population. JC3 disrupted the mitochondrial membrane potential, and reduced expression of anti-apoptotic B cell lymphoma-2 protein, whereas it increased expression of pro-apoptotic Bcl-2-associated X protein, leading to the cleavage of caspase-9, caspase-3 and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase. In addition, JC3 activated mitogen-activated protein kinases, and specific inhibitors of these kinases abrogated the JC3-induced increase in apoptotic bodies. JC3 increased the level of intracellular reactive oxygen species and enhanced oxidative macromolecular damage via lipid peroxidation, protein carbonylation, and DNA strand breakage. Considering these findings, JC3 is an effective therapy against radiation-resistant human breast cancer cells.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.216-223
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• 2008

It has been reported that bone marrow (BM)-side population (SP) cells, with hematopoietic stem cell activity, can transdifferentiate into cardiomyocytes and contribute to myocardial repair. However, this has been questioned by recent studies showing that hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) adopt a hematopoietic cell lineage in the ischemic myocardium. The present study was designed to investigate whether BM-SP cells can in fact transdifferentiate into functional cardiomyocytes. Phenotypically, BM-SP cells were $19.59%{\pm}9.00\;CD14^+$, $8.22%{\pm}2.72\;CD34^+$, $92.93%{\pm}2.68\;CD44^+$, $91.86%{\pm}4.07\;CD45^+$, $28.48%{\pm}2.24\;c-kit^+$, $71.09%{\pm}3.67\;Sca-1^+$. Expression of endothelial cell markers (CD31, Flk-1, Tie-2 and VEGF-A) was higher in BM-SP cells than whole BM cells. After five days of co-culture with neonatal cardiomyocytes, $7.2%{\pm}1.2$ of the BM-SP cells expressed sarcomeric ${\alpha}$-actinin as measured by flow cytometry. Moreover, BM-SP cells co-cultured on neonatal cardiomyocytes fixed to inhibit cell fusion also expressed sarcomeric ${\alpha}$-actinin. The co-cultured BM-SP cells showed neonatal cardiomyocyte-like action potentials of relatively long duration and shallow resting membrane potential. They also generated calcium transients with amplitude and duration similar to those of neonatal cardiomyocytes. These results show that BM-SP cells are capable of functional cardiomyogenic differentiation when co-cultured with neonatal cardiomyocytes.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.53-60
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• 2016

Purpose: To develop a technique for quantifying the $^{13}C$-metabolites by performing frequency-selective hyperpolarized $^{13}C$ magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in vitro which combines simple spectrally-selective excitation with spectrally interleaved acquisition. Methods: Numerical simulations were performed with varying noise level and $K_p$ values to compare the quantification accuracies of the proposed and the conventional methods. For in vitro experiments, a spectrally-selective excitation scheme was enabled by narrow-band radiofrequency (RF) excitation pulse implemented into a free-induction decay chemical shift imaging (FIDCSI) sequence. Experiments with LDH / NADH enzyme mixture were performed to validate the effectiveness of the proposed acquisition method. Also, a modified two-site exchange model was formulated for metabolism kinetics quantification with the proposed method. Results: From the simulation results, significant increase of the lactate peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) was observed. Also, the quantified $K_p$ value from the dynamic curves were more accurate in the case of the proposed acquisition method compared to the conventional non-selective excitation scheme. In vitro experiment results were in good agreement with the simulation results, also displaying increased PSNR for lactate. Fitting results using the modified two-site exchange model also showed expected results in agreement with the simulations. Conclusion: A method for accurate quantification of hyperpolarized pyruvate and the downstream product focused on in vitro experiment was described. By using a narrow-band RF excitation pulse with alternating acquisition, different resonances were selectively excited with a different flip angle for increased PSNR while the hyperpolarized magnetization of the substrate can be minimally perturbed with a low flip angle. Baseline signals from neighboring resonances can be effectively suppressed to accurately quantify the metabolism kinetics.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.517-528
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• 2001

목적: 본 연구의 목적은 미국 아이오와 대학에서 개발된 Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC)을 사용하여 신경기계 병동과 정형외과 병동에 근무하는 간호사들이 가장 빈번히 수행하는 간호중재를 파악함으로서 이러한 부서의 간호중재 리스트를 개발하는데 있다. 그리고 확인된 간호중재의 리스트를 미국 간호협회의 핵심 간호중재 목록과 비교함으로써 양국간의 간호중재의 유사성과 차이를 비교함으로써 한국간호의 발전을 도모하는데 있다. 방법: 8개의3차병원 및 종합병원 근무하는 간호사에게 NIC을 번역하여 소개한 뒤 가장 자주 수행하는 간호중재 30개를 선택하게 하였다. 선택된 간호중재는 빈도와 백분율 이용하여 분석하였고 미국의 핵심간호 중재목록과 영역(domain)별, 분류군 (class)별로 비교하였다. 결과: 신경기계 병동은 30개의 간호중재를 정형외과 병동은 34개를 핵심간호중재로 확인하였다. 한국과 미국의 간호중재를 비교해본 결과 신경기계 병동의 간호중재와 미국American Association of Neuroscience Nurses (AANN) 의 핵심간호중재 목록과는 단지 5개의 간호중재가 일치하였지만 정형외과 병동의 간호중재목록은 미국의 National Association of orthopaedic Nurses (NAON) 의 핵심중재목록과 27개의 간호중재가 일치되어 더 많은 유사성을 나타내었다. 두 나라의 간호중재를 영역(domain)별로 비교해보면 한국 간호사의 간호중재는 미국간호단체의 핵심간호 중재 목록보다 신체적 간호에 보다 많은 편중을 보였다. 결론: 한국간호사의 간호중재가 신체적 간호중재에 집중되어 있으므로 환자간호에 보다 전인적인 간호중재가 수행될 수 있도록 노력해야 할 것이다. 그리고 본 연구를 통해 개발된 핵심 간호중재 목록은 병원의 간호정보시스템을 개발하는데 사용될 수 있으며, 간호지식의 확장이나 staffing, 간호 수가화, 그리고 궁극적으로는 간호의 효과성 연구를 자극할 수 있을 것이다.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.17
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• pp.7409-7414
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• 2015

Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) developed by Notomi et al. (2000) has made it possible to amplify DNA with high specificity, efficiency and rapidity under isothermal conditions. The ultimate products of LAMP are stem-loop structures with several inverted repeats of the target sequence and cauliflower-like patterns with multiple loops shaped by annealing between every other inverted repeats of the amplified target in the similar strand. Because the amplification process in LAMP is achieved by using four to six distinct primers, it is expected to amplify the target region with high selectivity. However, evaluation of reaction accuracy or quantitative inspection make it necessary to append other procedures to scrutinize the amplified products. Hitherto, various techniques such as turbidity assessment in the reaction vessel, post-reaction agarose gel electrophoresis, use of intercalating fluorescent dyes, real-time turbidimetry, addition of cationic polymers to the reaction mixture, polyacrylamide gel-based microchambers, lateral flow dipsticks, fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays and nanoparticle-based colorimetric tests have been utilized for this purpose. In this paper, we reviewed the best-known techniques for evaluation of LAMP amplicons and their applications in molecular biology beside their advantages and deficiencies. Regarding the properties of each technique, the development of innovative prompt, cost-effective and precise molecular detection methods for application in the broad field of cancer research may be feasible.