• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.27-33
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• 2024

Objective : Obesity is a disease caused by energy imbalance and increases the risk of complications such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. Additionally, a recent study reported that excessive production of ROS stimulates the expression of transcription factors related to adipogenesis, such as PPAR-𝛾, C/EBP-𝛼 and 𝛽, in 3T3-L1 cells. In this study, Paeonia anomala L. (PAL) was selected as a candidate for improving and preventing obesity from Mongolian medical literature, and its effect on fat metabolism was observed in vitro. Methods : The activity of PAL extract against lipid accumulation was measured in 3T3-L1 cells through Oil red O staining. Additionally, the expression of lipid metabolism-related proteins was measured by western blot. Results : Intracellular lipid accumulation was significantly lower in the treatment group than in the control group. In addition, pAMPK/AMPK protein expression in the treatment group tended to increase in a concentration-dependent manner, and PPAR-𝛾 protein expression in the treatment group showed a significant decrease in a concentration-dependent manner compared to the control group. Conclusion : These results suggest that PAL extract may have an anti-obesity effect, and it is believed that it can be used to develop functional materials for the treatment of obesity.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.17
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• pp.7413-7417
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• 2014

Background: Development of gastric cancer (GC) is a multistep process that requires alterations in the expression of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, occurring over several decades. The p53 tumor suppressor protein is involved in cell-cycle control, apoptosis and DNA repair. One of the most important regulators of p53 is MDM2, which acts as a negative regulator in the p53 pathway. Based on the key role of p53 and MDM2 in tumor suppression, polymorphisms that cause change in their function might affect cancer risk. We therefore elevated associations of the polymorphisms of p53 (R72P) and MDM2 (SNP309) with GC in Iran. Materials and Methods: A total of 104 patients with gastric cancer and 100 controls were recruited. Genomic DNA was extracted from fresh gastric samples. Genotyping of the p53 and MDM2 genes was performed using allele specific PCR (AS-PCR). Results: There was no significant difference between the p53 codon 72 polymorphism distribution in control and patient groups (p=0.54), but the G allele of MDM2 was found to be over-represented in patients (p=0. 01, Odds Ratio=2. 08, 95% Confidence Interval= 1.37-4.34). Conclusions: The p53 R72P seems not to be a potential risk factor for development of GC among Iranian patients, but our data suggest that MDM2 SNP309 might modify the risk related to GC.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.1787-1791
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• 2012

Objective: The p53 tumor suppressor pathway plays an important role in gastric cancer (GC) development. Auto-regulatory feedback control of p53 expression is critical to maintaining proper tumor suppressor function. So far, several studies between p53 Arg72Pro polymorphism and GC have generated controversial and inconclusive results. Methods: To better assess the purported relationship, we performed a meta-analysis of 19 publications. Eligible studies were identified by searching the Pubmed database. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated to assess any link. Results: Overall, a significant association was detected between the p53 Arg72Pro polymorphism and GC risk (Pro-allele vs. Arg-allele: OR = 1.05, 95%CI = 1.01-1.08; Pro/Pro vs. Arg/Arg: OR = 1.13, 95%CI = 1.04-1.22). Moreover, on stratified analysis by race, significantly increased risk was found for Asian populations (Pro-allele vs. Arg-allele: OR = 1.06, 95%CI = 1.02-1.10; Pro/Pro vs. Arg/Arg: OR = 1.16, 95%CI = 1.07-1.26; Pro/Pro+Pro/Arg vs. Arg/Arg: OR = 1.58, 95%CI = 1.09-2.27). Conclusions: Our study provided evidence that the p53 72Pro allele may increase GC risk in Asians. Future studies with larger sample size are warranted to further confirm this association in more detail.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.2753-2758
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• 2013

Various studies examining the relationship between Ezrin overexpression and response to chemotherapy and clinical outcome in patients with osteosarcoma have yielded inconclusive results. We accordingly conducted a meta-analysis of 7 studies (n = 318 patients) that evaluated the correlation between Ezrin and histologic response to chemotherapy and clinical prognosis (death). Data were synthesized in receiver operating characteristic curves and with fixed-effects and random-effects likelihood ratios and risk ratios. Quantitative synthesis showed that Ezrin is not a prognostic factor for the response to chemotherapy. The positive likelihood ratio was 0.538 (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 0.296- 0.979; random-effects calculation), and the negative likelihood ratio was 2.151 (95% CI, 0.905- 5.114; random-effects calculations). There was some between-study heterogeneity, but no study showed strong discriminating ability. Conversely, Ezrin positive status tended to be associated with a lower 2-year survival (risk ratio, 2.45; 95% CI, 1.26-4.76; random-effects calculation) with some between-study heterogeneity that disappeared when only studies that employed immunohistochemistry were considered (risk ratio, 2.97; 95% CI, 2.01- 4.40; fixed-effects calculation). To conclude, Ezrin is not associated with the histologic response to chemotherapy in patients with osteosarcoma, whereas Ezrin positivity was associated with a lower 2-year survival rate regarding risk of death at 2 years. Expression change of Ezrin is an independent prognostic factor in patients with osteosarcoma.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.218-225
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• 2010

Objectives : The potential association between choline acetyltransferase(CHAT) polymorphism and the risk of mild cognitive impairment(MCI) has not been investigated in Korea. We examined the main effect of CHAT polymorphism and its interaction with apolipoprotein E(APOE) polymorphism in the development of MCI in elderly Korean sample. Methods : We analyzed CHAT 2384G > A polymorphism and APOE polymorphism among 149 MCI subjects with MCI and 298 normal controls. We tested the association between MCI and CHAT A allele status using a logistic regression model. In addition, we employed generalized multifactor dimensionality reduction(GMDR) to investigate the interaction between CHAT and APOE with regard to the risk of MCI. Results : The CHAT A allele was associated with AD risk(OR = 1.59, 95% CI = 1.02-2.48, p = 0.042). No significant gene-gene interaction between CHAT and APOE was found in GMDR method(testing balanced accuracy = 0.540, p = 0.055). Conclusion : The CHAT A allele was associated with MCI risk in the Korean elderly. Its interaction with the APOE ${\varepsilon}4$ allele was not significant with regard to the development of MCI.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.1-9
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• 2022

Most factories deal with toxic or flammable chemicals in their industrial processes. These hazardous substances pose a risk of leakage due to accidents, such as fire and explosion. In the event of chemical release, massive casualties and property damage can result; hence, quantitative risk prediction and assessment are necessary. Several methods are available for evaluating chemical dispersion in the atmosphere, and most analyses are considered neutral in dispersion models and under far-field wind condition. The foregoing assumption renders a model valid only after a considerable time has elapsed from the moment chemicals are released or dispersed from a source. Hence, an initial dispersion model is required to assess risk quantitatively and predict the extent of damage because the most dangerous locations are those near a leak source. In this study, the dispersion model for initial consequence analysis was developed with three-dimensional unsteady advective diffusion equation. In this expression, instantaneous leakage is assumed as a puff, and wind velocity is considered as a coordinate transform in the solution. To minimize the buoyant force, ethane is used as leaked fuel, and two different diffusion coefficients are introduced. The calculated concentration field with a molecular diffusion coefficient shows a moving circular iso-line in the horizontal plane. The maximum concentration decreases as time progresses and distance increases. In the case of using a coefficient for turbulent diffusion, the dispersion along the wind velocity direction is enhanced, and an elliptic iso-contour line is found. The result yielded by a widely used commercial program, ALOHA, was compared with the end point of the lower explosion limit. In the future, we plan to build a more accurate and general initial risk assessment model by considering the turbulence diffusion and buoyancy effect on dispersion.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.11
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• pp.1238-1243
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• 2014

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been widely used as cellular therapeutic agents. They have their own characteristic stemness, and thus, they can be used in the treatment of many chronic diseases and in anticancer therapy. MSC therapy has many advantages over chemical therapy. MSC therapy is based on self or homogeneous origin; as such, it is expected to be effective in the treatment of various diseases. In addition, microRNAs in particular have been studied for their structure and function, and they are also expected to prove effective for use as therapeutic agents in cancer or chronic diseases. MicroRNAs are largely associated with metabolism and homeostasis. Therefore, over- or under-expression of microRNAs leads to chronic diseases. Conversely, effective control of the expression of specific microRNAs reduces the risk of many chronic diseases. However, there have been no reports thus far on the synergistic effects of MSCs and microRNAs. Therefore, in this study, we examined the relationship between MSCs and microRNAs using placenta-derived MSCs (PDSCs), bone marrow-derived MSCs (BM-MSCs), and fibroblast (WI-38) cells. We studied the expression of some microRNAs in MSCs and compared the expression in each cell line and cell passage. As a result, we found that the expression of microRNA-34a was higher in PDSCs than in BM-MSCs and that the expression of microRNA-27a, 33a, 33b, and 211 was higher in BM-MSCs than in PDSCs. Therefore, we expect that each MSC line will be used as cell therapy, considering its expressed functional microRNA.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.20
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• pp.8893-8900
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• 2014

Dysregulated expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) has been shown to be closely associated with tumor development, progression, and carcinogenesis. However, their clinical implications for gastric cancer remain elusive. To investigate the hypothesis that genome-wide alternations of miRNAs differentiate gastric cancer tissues from those matched adjacent non-tumor tissues (ANTTs), miRNA arrays were employed to examine miRNA expression profiles for the 5-pair discovery stage, and the quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRTPCR) was applied to validate candidate miRNAs for 48-pair validation stage. Furthermore, the relationship between altered miRNA and clinicopathological features and prognosis of gastric cancer was explored. Among a total of 1,146 miRNAs analyzed, 16 miRNAs were found to be significantly different expressed in tissues from gastric cancer compared to ANTTs (p<0.05). qRT-PCR further confirmed the variation in expression of miR-193b and miR-196a in the validation stage. Down-expression of miR-193b was significantly correlated with Lauren type, differentiation, UICC stage, invasion, and metastasis of gastric cancer (p<0.05), while over-expression of miR-196a was significantly associated with poor differentiation (p=0.022). Moreover, binary logistic regression analysis demonstrated that the UICC stage was a significant risk factor for down-expression of miR-193b (adjusted OR=8.69; 95%CI=1.06-56.91; p=0.043). Additionally, Kaplan-Meier survival curves indicated that patients with a high fold-change of down-regulated miR-193b had a significantly shorter survival time (n=19; median survival=29 months) compared to patients with a low fold-change of down-regulated miR-193b (n=29; median survival=54 months) (p=0.001). Overall survival time of patients with a low fold-change of up-regulated miR-196a (n=27; median survival=52 months) was significantly longer than that of patients with a high fold-change of up-regulated miR-196a (n=21; median survival=46 months) (p=0.003). Hence, miR-193b and miR-196a may be applied as novel and promising prognostic markers in gastric cancer.

• Journal of Breast Cancer
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.406-414
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• 2018

Purpose: T-cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain-containing molecule 3 (TIM-3) is an emerging immune response molecule related to T-cell anergy. There has been tremendous interest in breast cancer targeting immune checkpoint molecules, especially in the triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). This study was designed to investigate TIM-3 expression on tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), its relationships with clinicopathological parameters and expression of programmed death receptor 1 (PD-1)/programmed death receptor ligand 1 (PD-L1), and its prognostic role. Methods: Immunohistochemistry on tissue microarray blocks produced from 109 samples of invasive ductal carcinoma type TNBC was performed with antibodies toward TIM-3, PD-1, PD-L1 and breast cancer-related molecular markers. Associations between their expression and clinicopathological parameters as well as survival analyses were performed. Results: TIM-3 was expressed in TILs from all 109 TNBCs, consisting of 17 cases (<5%), 31 cases (6%-25%), 48 cases (26%-50%), and 13 cases (>51%). High TIM-3 was significantly correlated with younger patients (p=0.0101), high TILs (p=0.0029), high tumor stage (p=0.0018), high PD-1 (p=0.0001) and high PD-L1 (p=0.0019), and tended to be associated with higher histologic grade, absence of extensive in situ components and microcalcification. High TIM-3 expression was significantly associated with a combinational immunophenotype group of high PD-L1 and high PD-1 (p<0.0001). High TIM-3 demonstrated a significantly better disease-free survival (DFS) (p<0.0001) and longer overall survival (OS) (p=0.0001), together with high TILs and high PD-1. In univariate survival analysis, high TIM-3 showed reduced relapse risk (p<0.0001) and longer OS (p=0.0003), together with high PD-1 expression. In multivariate analysis, high TIM-3 was statistically significant in predicting prognosis, showing better DFS (hazard ratio [HR], 0.0994; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.0296-0.3337; p=0.0002) and longer OS (HR, 0.1109; 95% CI, 0.0314-0.3912; p=0.0006). Conclusion: In this study, we demonstrate that TIM-3 expression is an independent positive prognostic factor in TNBC, despite its association with poor clinical and pathologic features.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.141-153
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• 2016

The increase in frequency and scale of natural disasters is the typical negative examples of the global climate change and the change of the human living environment in cities. The damage caused by natural disasters in particular including human and physical damage is directly linked to the safety and properties of citizens. Besides, the damage may occur to SOC facilities directly or indirectly. The SOC facilities damaged by disasters cause infringement of citizens safety rights. Therefore, a plan to provide prompt and effective risk map information by linking a 3D disaster information display system, which handles the information of the damage that may occur to SOC facilities such as bridges, beams, and dams at the time of disasters, with an on-site assistance application is suggested in this study. The prompt provision of risk map information is defined as a dynamic expression technology in this study. Also, disaster information is processed and compressed with a module developed to be linked organically to a system that displays disaster information, a proliferation system that can use the information on site, and a DB system that constructs a relationship with the information. Based on the module, the effective disaster information compression plan will be prepared, and the prompt information transmission system will be secured in the future.