• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.77-89
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• 1999

Background: High-dose chemotherapy is increasingly employed in many refractory malignant diseases. This therapy has been reported to increase response rate and survival benefits but it is also associated with higher treatment-related morbidity and mortality. We evaluated clinical characteristics and course of the pulmonary toxicity following high-dose chemotherapy with peripheral blood stem cell transplantation. Methods: Ninety-seven patients who had received high-dose chemotherapy with peripheral blood stem cell transplantation were evaluated. Five patients who developed lung lesions which were not related to infection nor primary malignant disease underwent transbronchial lung biopsy. The patients' clinical characteristics, treatments, and prognosis were reviewed retrospectively. Results: Five patients(5.1%) developed idiopathic pneumonia syndrome. The high dose chemotherapy regimens employed were cyclophosphamide, BCNU, and cisplatin in 3 cases, one case of BCNU, etoposide, Ara-C, and cyclophosphamide combination, and a regimen consisting of BCNU, etoposide, Ara-C, and melphalan. The total dose of BCNU used was 300-400 mg/$m^2$ and that of cyclophosphsmide was 6,000 mg/$m^2$. All of 5 patients received radiation therapy before this treatment. After an average duration of 14 weeks (4-26 weeks) of high-dose chemotherapy, patients developed cough, dyspnea and fever. The chest X-rays showed bilateral diffuse infiltration in 3 cases and the focal infiltration in the other 2 cases. All the patients received corticosteroid therapy as a treatment for the lung lesions. Two of them progressed to acute respiratory distress syndrome and died. Three patients recovered without residual lung lesion but one of them died of dilated cardiomyopathy. Conclusion: High-dose chemotherapy with peripheral blood stem cell transplantation especially which containing BCNU regimen may develop idiopathic pneumonia syndrome related to pulmonary toxicity and corticosteroid therapy may be bel1eficial in some cases.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.459-466
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• 2003

Purpose : AOM is the most common bacterial URI in children. The bacteriology and antibiotic Tx of AOM in children has been studied in many countries. But, there is few study of causative pathogens and antibiotic Tx of AOM in our country. In this aspect, we performed prospective clinical study to confirm the causative pathogens and assess the clinical responses of cefprozil in AOM patients. Methods : Thirty three AOM patients enrolled in this study. Tympanocentesis for isolation of causative pathogens were performed before Tx of cefprozil. The study patients received cefprozil with dose of 15 mg/kg/bid.po/day for 10-12 days, and initially assessed the clinical response at 4-5 days after receiving cefprozil and finally at the end visit. In vitro susceptibility tests of cefprozil to isolated pathogens were done by disc diffusion method, and in vitro susceptibility tests of cefaclor and cefixime to isolated pathogens were simultaneously performed. Results : Bacterial pathogens[S. pneumoniae(10), H. influenzae(5), S. aureus(2), M. catarrhalis(1) and Group A stretococcus(1)] were isolated from 19 patients. Clinically, all patients had history of abrupt high fever except one. Tympanic perforation was dominant in pathogens isolated cases, and otalgia was significantly developed in non-pathogens isolated cases. The ages of pathogens isolated cases were usually below 2 years. Eighty four point nine percent of the patients including two cases with isolation of intermediate resistant S. pneumoniae were clinically improved. Antimicrobial in vitro activity to S. pneumoniae of cefprozil were superior than that of cefacor and cefixime. Conclusion : We confirm that bacteria has the causative role in about 60% cases, and S. pneumoniae is the most common pathogen. Clinically, there were some differences in symptoms, signs and ages between pathogens isolated and non-pathogens isolated cases. The clinical responses of cefprozil in our patients revealed similar outcomes to other countries. And we reconfirm that cefprozil may be clinically effective in cases of AOM due to intermediate resistant S. pneumoniae.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.247-256
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• 2008

The belief that stress leads to illness has a long history. A number of the orofacial disease are also closely associated with stress. Despite research in the relationship of stress and the orofacial diseases leading to statistically significant correlations, the pathology remains vague. In the present study, the expression of clusterin, a stress protein responsible for antiapoptosis and cytoprotection, under restraint stress condition was observed in the submandibular gland, one of the major salivary glands. Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 2 groups: normal group and restraint stress group. The rats of restraint stress group were placed in the stress cages and then sacrificed at day 0, 3 and 5 day of the experiment. After that, the submandibular glands of all the rats were excised immediately. The levels of clusterin proteins and mRNA in the tissues were measured by immunohistochemistry and Northern blot analyses, respectively. The results were as follows: 1. In the immunohistochemistry, clusterin protein was detected only immediately after the application of restraint stress. 2. In the restraint stress group, at day 3 and 5, histologically apoptosis was induced with karyorrhectic and pyknotic changes. 3. By the restraint stress, acinic cells were destructed earlier than ductal cells. 4. In the Northern blot, mRNA of clusterin was expressed only immediately after the application of restraint stress. The overall results suggest that as an early response to stress, clusterin is expressed in the glands to protect the glandular cells from the stress. But if stress is so strong and prolonged that it can exceed the stress adaptability of the cells, then the cells may undergo apoptosis instead of producing clusterin. An Epidemiologic Study of Symptoms of Temporomandibular Disorders in Korean College Students.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.210-220
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• 2015

Athletic performance is an important criteria used for the selection of superior horses. However, little is known about exercise-related epigenetic processes in the horse. DNA methylation is a key mechanism for regulating gene expression in response to environmental changes. We carried out comparative genomic analysis of genome-wide DNA methylation profiles in the blood samples of two different thoroughbred horses before and after exercise by methylated-DNA immunoprecipitation sequencing (MeDIP-Seq). Differentially methylated regions (DMRs) in the pre-and post-exercise blood samples of superior and inferior horses were identified. Exercise altered the methylation patterns. After 30 min of exercise, 596 genes were hypomethy-lated and 715 genes were hypermethylated in the superior horse, whereas in the inferior horse, 868 genes were hypomethylated and 794 genes were hypermethylated. These genes were analyzed based on gene ontology (GO) annotations and the exercise-related pathway patterns in the two horses were compared. After exercise, gene regions related to cell division and adhesion were hypermethylated in the superior horse, whereas regions related to cell signaling and transport were hypermethylated in the inferior horse. Analysis of the distribution of methylated CpG islands confirmed the hypomethylation in the gene-body methylation regions after exercise. The methylation patterns of transposable elements also changed after exercise. Long interspersed nuclear elements (LINEs) showed abundance of DMRs. Collectively, our results serve as a basis to study exercise-based reprogramming of epigenetic traits.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.519-528
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• 2002

Background : Steroid therapy has been shown to improve the clinical outcome in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) patients with histological evidence of fibroproliferation in the lung tissue and no identifiable source of infection. Because the histopathological features of acute interstitial pneumonia(AIP) are identical with that of ARDS, early steroid therapy was used in AIP patients who had histological evidence of fibroproliferation in the lung tissue and no identifiable source of infection. We analyzed seven years of our experience to evaluate the efficacy of early steroid therapy in AIP. Materials and Methods : A retrospective review was performed on AIP patients who received steroid therapy within 7 days of mechanical ventilatory support in Dankook university Hospital between May 1995 and May 2002. AIP was diagnosed clinically by ARDS without a known cause of the etiology and pathologically by a lung biopsy showing a fibroproliferative stage of diffuse alveolar damage. The clinical response and physiologic parameters were evaluated during steroid therapy. Results : Five AIP patients received intravenous methylprednisolone (1-2 mg/kg every 6 hours) after $0.6{\pm}1.7$ days of mechanical ventilatory support. Lung biopsies were performed after $1.8{\pm}1.4$ days of mechanical ventilatory support. Four patients(80%) survived and were extubated after $2.8{\pm}0.4$ days of steroid therapy with improvement in the $PaO_2/FiO_2$ ratio ($127.4{\pm}10.0$ at day 0 to $223.8{\pm}37.6$ at day 7) by steroid therapy. However, one patient(20%) died of respiratory failure after 15 days of steroid therapy. Conclusion : Early steroid therapy sppears to be beneficial in AIP patients without evidence of infection. However, as our study group was too small, further large scale studies to define the effectiveness of steroids are required.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.441-452
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• 2002

Background : Anti-apoptotic proteins may be involved in tumor development, progression and the response to treatment, Bcl-2 is by far the most studied anti-apoptotic protein. A novel inhibitor of apoptosis, designated survivin, and the heat shock proteins (HSPs) have recently been found in many human cancers. Immunohistochemical methods were used to determine the expression level of survivin, HSP70 and bcl-2 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) to evaluate their clinical significance. Materials and Methods : Tissue array slides were obtained from 99 surgically resected NSCLCs. Immunohistochemical staining was performed by an immuno-peroxidase technique using an avidin-biotinylated horseradish peroxidase complex. Anti-survivin rabbit polyclonal antibodies, anti-HSP70 mouse monoclonal antibodies and anti-bcl-2 mouse monoclonal antibodies were used as the primary antibodies. Results : Positive staining of survivin was detected in 33.3% of the cases. Survivin positivity is associated with to females and recurrence. A nonstatistically significant trend toward increased survivin expression was observed in non-smokers, and its expression inversely correlated with the number of cigarettes smoked in smokers. HSP70 was detected in 84.8% but this did not correlated with the clinicopathologic characteristics. Bcl-2 was detected in 18.2% and its expression correlated to tumor recurrence. No significant difference in the median survival time was noted in a comparison of all cases with survivin expression and those without. There was no association between HSP70 or bcl-2 expression and survival. Conclusion : Survivin expression was significantly associated with females and tumor recurrence. In addition its expression was inversely associated with the number of cigarettes smoked. However, HSP70 and bcl-2 expression were not associated with the clinical parameters or survival. This suggests that measuring the survivin levels may be useful in identifying patients at high risk for disease recurrence. Therefore, survivin might be a new diagnostic/therapeutic target in cancer.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.265-279
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• 1996

Damage produced by radiation elicits a complex response in mammalian cells, including growth rate changes and the induction of a variety of genes associated with growth control and apoptosis. At doses of 10,000 cGy or greater, the exposed individual was killed in a matter of minutes to a couple of days, with symptoms consistent with pathology of the central nervous system(CNS) including degenerative changes. The nature of the damage in irradiated cells underlies the unique hazards of ionizing radiation. Radiation injury to CNS is a rare event in clinical medicine, but it is catastrophic for the patient in whom it occurs. The incidence of cerebral necrosis has been reported as high as 16% for doses greater than 6,000 cGy. In this study, the effect of radiation on brain tissue was studied in vivo. Jun and p53 genes in the rat brain were induced by whole body irradiation of rat with 600Co in doses between 1 Gy and 100 Gy and analyzed for expression of jun and p53 genes at the postirradiation time up to 6 hours. Northern analyses were done using 1.8 Kb & 0.8 Kb-pGEM-2-JUN/Eco RI/Pst I fragments, 2.0 Kb-php53B/Bam HI fragment and ,1.1 Kb-pBluescript SK--ACTIN/Eco RI fragment as the digoxigenin or [${\alpha}^{32}P$] dCTPlabeled probes for Jun, p53 and ${\beta}$-actin genes, respectively. Jun gene seemed to be expressed near the threshold levels in 1 hour after irradiation of $^{60}$Co in dose less than 1 Gy and was expressed in maximum at 1 hour after irradiation of $^{60}$Co in dose of 30 Gy. Jun was expressed increasingly with time until 5 or 6 hours after irradiation of $^{60}$Co in doses of 1 Gy and 10 Gy. After irradiation of $^{60}$Co in dose between 20 Gr and 100 Gy, the expression of Jun was however increased to peak in 2 hours and decreased thereafter. p53 gene in this study also seemed to be expressed near the threshold levels in 1 hour after irradiation of $^{60}$Co in dose less than 1 Gy and was expressed in maximum at 6 hours after irradiation of $^{60}$Co in dose of 1 Gy, p53 was expressed increasingly with time until 5 or 6 hours after irradiation of $^{60}$Co in dose between 1 Gy and 40 Gy. After irradiation of $^{60}$Co in doses of 50 Gy and 100 Gy, the expression of p53 was however increased to peak in 2 hours and decreased thereafter. The expression of Jun and p53 genes was not correlative in the brain tissue from rats. It seemed to be very important for the establishment of the optimum conditions for the animal studies relevant to the responses of genes inducible on DNA damage to ionizing radiation in mammalian cells. But there are many limitations to the animal studies such as the ununiform patterns of gene expression from the tissue because of its complex compositions. It is necessary to overcome the limitations for development of in situ Northern analysis.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.19-24
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• 2011

It was identified as a sharp eyespot (Rhizoctonia cerealis) that the isolates from abnormal symptoms in wheat that showed yellowing leaves, necrotic spot on stem base and dead tillers. These isolates have slower growth property and fewer mycelia than Rhizoctonia solani AG-1(1A) (KACC 40106). They showed binuclear cell, same media cultural and DNA characteristics to R. cerealis. They caused same symptoms on leaves and stem base appeared in artificial inoculation test, comparing to diseased wheat fields and also affect to maturing of kernels. They have optimal growth temperature and acidity on the artificial media as $20{\sim}25^{\circ}C$ and pH 5~7, respectively. In the investigation of varietal resistance of Korean winter cereal crops to sharp eyespot, there was no resistant in wheat cultivars that all materials infected over 20% diseased ratio. 12 cultivars including 'Anbaekmil', however, considered to moderate resistance with 20 to 30% infection ratio. The others crops using in feeding, whole crop barley, oat, rye and triticale were resistant below 15% diseased degree except the rye that showed over 50% infection rate. It was the first evaluation to sharp eyespot resistance for the Korean feeding crop cultivars. Most tested Korean barley cultivars for malting and food were moderate and susceptible to the sharp eyespot. Only 3 hulled barley, 'Tapgolbori', 'Albori' and 'Seodunchalbori', showed resistance with less than 10% diseased ratio. All tested naked barley cultivars showed susceptible response to the disease.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.177-183
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• 2004

Purpose: Authors would report the results of sequential CHOP chemotherapy (cyclophosphamide, adriamycin, vincristine, and prednisone) and involved field radiotherapy (IFRT) for early stage nasal natural killer/T-cell Iymphoma (NKTCL). Materials and Methods: Fourteen among 17 patients, who were registered at the Samsung Medical Center tumor registry with stage I and II nasal NKTCL from March 1995 to December 1999 received this treatment protocol. Three to four cycles of CHOP chemotherapy were given at 3 weeks' interval, which was followed by local IFRT including the known tumor extent and the adjacent draining lymphatics. Results: Favorable responses after chemotherapy (before IFRT) were achievable only in seven patients (5 CR's+2 PR's: 50%), while seven patients showed disease progression. There were six patients with local failures, two with distant relapses, and none with regional lymphatic failure. The actuarial overall survival and progression-free survival at 3 years were 50.0% and 42.9%. All the failures and deaths occurred within 13 months of the treatment start. The factors that correlated with the improved survival were the absence of 'B' symptoms, the favorable response to chemotherapy and overall treatment, and the low risk by international prognostic index on univariate analyses. Conclusion: Compared with the historic treatment results by IFRT either alone or followed by chemotherapy, the current trial failed to demonstrate advantages with respect to the failure pattern and survival. Development of new treatment strategy in combining IFRT and chemotherapy is required for improving outcomes.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.208-216
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• 2004

Purpose: DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) is a serine/threonine kinase consisting of a 470 kDa catalytic subunit (DNA-PKcs) and a heterodimeric regulatory complex, called Ku, which is composed of 70 kDa(Ku 70) and 86 kDa (Ku 80) proteins. The DNA-PK has been shown to play a pivotal role in rejoining DNA double-strand-breaks (dsb) in mammalian cells. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the level of Ku expression and radiation sensitivity. Methods and Materials: Nine head and neck, cancer cell lines showed various intrinsic radiation sensitivities. Among the nine, AMC-HN-3 cell was the most sensitive for X-ray irradiation and AMC-HN-9 cell was the most resistance. The most sensitive and resistant cell lines were selected and the test sensitivity of radiation and expression of Ku were measured. Radiation sensitivity was obtained by colony forming assay and Ku protein expression using Western blot analysis. Results: Ku80 increased expression by radiation, wheres Ku70 did not. Overexpression of Ku80 protein increased radiation resistance in AMC-HN9 cell line. There was a correlation between Ku8O expression and radiation resistance. Ku80 was shown to play an important role in radiation damage response. Conclusion: Induction of Ku80 expression had an important role in DNA damage repair by radiation. Ku80 expression may be an effective predictive assay of radiosensitivity on head and neck cancer.