• Korean Journal of Clinical Oncology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.80-86
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• 2013

Purpose: Hypermethylation of human mut L homologue 1 (hMLH1) promoter region is known to cause sporadic microsatellite instability (MSI) colorectal cancers. 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) is the key enzyme in folate metabolism, acting as a methyl donor for DNA methylation. In this study, we investigate whether the polymorphism of MTHFR 677C>T plays a role in the alteration of the promoter-specific hypermethylation, predisposing to MSI colorectal cancers. Methods: Total of 487 sporadic colorectal cancer patients in CHA Bundang Medical Center were collected. MSI was identified when two or more are positive among five microsatellite markers (BAT25, BAT26, D17S250, D5S346, D2S123). The others were classified as microsatellite stable (MSS). Polymorphism of MTHFR 677C>T was genotyped by the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). Results: MSI was observed in 65 of 487 patients (12.73%). MSI colorectal cancers showed similar clinicopathological features with previously reported; younger age onset, right-sided preponderance, mucinous and poorly differentiated histology, lower stage, fewer lymph node metastases than MSS tumors (each P<0.05). The frequency of MTHFR 677TT genotype was 17.7% in the MSI group higher than 14.6% in the MSS group (P=0.17). Although not statistically significant, compared to the MTHFR 677CC referent, MTHFR 677 CT+TT genotype was more likely to have MSI than MSS (odds ratio, 1.81; 95% confidence interval, 0.94 to 3.68; P=0.06). Conclusion: This study demonstrated higher frequency of MTHFR 677TT genotype in MSI colorectal cancers. Furthermore, individuals with MTHFR 677CT+TT variant type might potentially develop MSI rather than MSS colorectal cancers.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.87-87
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• 2009

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.213-217
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• 1996

Medullary carcinoma of the thyroid gland is a malignant neuroendocrine tumor arising from calcitonin producing-parafollicular cells. The tumor is clinically divided into sporadic and familial form, constituting about 80% and 20%, respectively. Recently, we experienced a case of unilateral and solitary sporadic medullary carcinoma of the left thyroid gland. The patient was a 9 year-old female, who presented with a palpable mass on the anterior lateral neck of 8 months duration without any familial and personal history of neuroendocrine disease. The cytopathologic findings showed spindle cells and plasmacytoid cells in the background of colloid-like materal. The nuclei were eccentrically located, mildly hyperchromatic and pleomorphic, showing speckled chromatin pattern without nuclear inclusion or prominent nucleoli. The cytoplasm was abundant and had a pale granular cyanophilic appearance. No amyloid materal could be identified.

• BMB Reports
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.233-244
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• 2010

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease, and 5-10% of the PD cases are genetically inherited as familial PD (FPD). LRRK2 (leucine-rich repeat kinase 2) was first reported in 2004 as a gene corresponding to PARK8, an autosomal gene whose dominant mutations cause familial PD. LRRK2 contains both active kinase and GTPase domains as well as protein-protein interaction motifs such as LRR (leucine-rich repeat) and WD40. Most pathogenic LRRK2 mutations are located in either the GTPase or kinase domain, implying important roles for the enzymatic activities in PD pathogenic mechanisms. In comparison to other PD causative genes such as parkin and PINK1, LRRK2 exhibits two important features. One is that LRRK2's mutations (especially the G2019S mutation) were observed in sporadic as well as familial PD patients. Another is that, among the various PD-causing genes, pathological characteristics observed in patients carrying LRRK2 mutations are the most similar to patients with sporadic PD. Because of these two observations, LRRK2 has been intensively investigated for its pathogenic mechanism (s) and as a target gene for PD therapeutics. In this review, the general biochemical and molecular features of LRRK2, the recent results of LRRK2 studies and LRRK2's therapeutic potential as a PD target gene will be discussed.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.31 no.4B
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• pp.255-269
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• 2006

The differentiated services(DiffServ) architecture provides packet level service differentiation through the simple and predefined Per-Hop Behaviors(PHBs). The Assured Forwarding(AF) PHB proposed as the assured services uses the RED-in/out(RIO) approach to ensusre the expected capacity specified by the service profile. However, the AF PHB fails to give good QoS and fairness to the TCP flows. This is because OUT(out- of-profile) packet droppings at the RIO buffer are unfair and sporadic during only network congestion while the TCP's congestion control algorithm works with a different round trip time(RTT). In this paper, we propose an Adaptive Regulating Drop(ARD) marker, as a novel dropping strategy at the ingressive edge router, to improve TCP fairness in assured services without a decrease in the link utilization. To drop packets pertinently, the ARD marker adaptively changes a Temporary Permitted Rate(TPR) for aggregate TCP flows. To reduce the excessive use of greedy TCP flows by notifying droppings of their IN packets constantly to them without a decrease in the link utilization, according to the TPR, the ARD marker performs random early fair remarking and dropping of their excessive IN packets at the aggregate flow level. Thus, the throughput of a TCP flow no more depends on only the sporadic and unfair OUT packet droppings at the RIO buffer in the core router. Then, the ARD marker regulates the packet transmission rate of each TCP flow to the contract rate by increasing TCP fairness, without a decrease in the link utilization.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.1165-1173
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• 2014

For the field application of dielectric barrier discharge plasma reactor in nutrient solution culture, a filtration-DBD (dielectric barrier discharge) plasma reactor was investigated for the Ralstonia solanacearum which causes bacterial wilt in aquiculture. The filtration-DBD plasma reactor system of this study was consisted of filter, plasma reactor, reservoir. The DBD plasma reactor consisted of a quartz dielectric tube, discharge electrode (inner) and ground electrode (outer). The experimental results showed that the inactivation of R. solanacearum with filter media type in filter reactor ranked in the following order: anthracite > fiber ball > sand > ceramic ball > quartz ceramic. In filtration + plasma process, disinfection effect with the voltage was found to small. In disinfection time of 120 minutes, residual R. solanacearum concentration was 1.17 log (15 CFU/mL). When the continuous disinfection time was 120 minute, disinfection effect was thought to keep the four days. In sporadic operation mode of 30 minutes disinfection - 24 hours break, residual R. solanacearum concentration after five days was 0.3 log (2 CFU/mL). It is considered that most of R. solanacearum has been inactivated substantially.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.43-46
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• 2013

Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) is an X-linked disorder which has diverse constellation of clinical pictures, ranging from the severe childhood cerebral form to adrenocortical insufficiency without neurological manifestations. This disorder is caused by the mutations in the ABCD1 gene encoding the adrenoleukodystrophy protein (ALDP), a transporter in the peroxisome membrane. ALD in most cases is inherited from one parent. Here, we report an incidentally identified sporadic case with ALD after traffic accident. He had adrenocortical insufficiency as well as abnormal findings in brain image. Genetic testing of ABCD1 gene revealed a previously reported mutation. With the description of clinical features of ALD in this patient, we discussed the difficulty in determining an appropriate therapeutic option for ALD patients with minimal neurological manifestation.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1599-1603
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• 2012

Objectives: Since methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) maintains the balance of circulating folate and methionine and blocks the formation of homocysteine, its regulation in relation to different cancers has extensively been studied in different populations. However, information on Pakistani breast cancer patients is lacking. The MTHFR gene has two most common mutations that are single nucleotide additions which result in change of amino acids C677T to Ala222val and A1298C to Glu429Ala. Methodology: 110 sporadic breast patients with no prior family history of cancer or any other type of genetic disorders along with 110 normal individuals were screened for mutations in exons 1 to exon 9 using single strand conformational polymorphism, RFLP and sequencing analyzer. Results: The p values for the 677CC, 677CT, and 677TT genotypes were 0.223, 0.006, and 0.077, respectively. Those for the 1298AA, 1298AC, and 1298CC genotypes were 0.555, 0.009, and 0.003, respectively. Conclusions: We found an overall a significant, weak inverse association between breast cancer risk and the 677TT genotype and an inverse association with the 1298C variant. These results for MTHFR polymorphism might be population specific in sporadic breast cancer affected patients but many other factors need to be excluded before making final conclusions including folate intake, population and disease heterogeneity.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.251-258
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• 2007

Bovine brucellosis has occurred for years in Gyeonggi province under the national test and slaughter scheme. The serum agglutination test (SAT) is a diagnostic tool to confirm the disease despite the argument on its specificity. We selected 8 farms where only one or two individuals were diagnosed as brucellosis through SAT at the primary regular herd check and isolated the causative organism and characterized the species by species-specific PCR. The pathogen isolation was successful in 6 farms out of 8 farms by microbiological culture, showing the successful rate of 75%. The isolation rate of the causative organism represents 70% from supra-mammary lymph node and 60% from uterine tissues. They were characterized as Brucella abortus biovar 1 after biotyping by PCR, showing the fragment of 498 bp. Five of 8 farms were diagnosed as brucellosis two to four times more over the intervals of two or three months. Here in this study we briefly showed the correlation of the sporadic outbreak of brucellosis tested by SAT and the isolation of the causative organism. Moreover one or two reactors against brucellosis among considerable size of herd may indicate that SAT failed to detect potentially infected individuals in the incubation stage or chronic phase of the disease.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.279-283
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• 2001

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis(ALS) is a progressive neurologic disorder resulting from the degeneration of upper and lower motor neurons, and is inherited in 10% of cases. About 20% of familial ALS, clinically indistinguishable from sporadic ALS, is caused by mutations of Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase on chromosome 21q22.21 inherited as an autosomal dominant trait. We now report a new locus in the non-SOD1 dominantly inherited ALS. We screened a large ALS family with 11 affected individuals and one obligate gene carrier with genome-wide ABI polymorphic markers using the ABI 377 automated system. No evidence of linkage was obtained with the autosomal markers. We next screened this family with X chromosome markers as there was no evidence of male-to-male tran-smission of the disease. Linkage was established with several X chromosome markers with a lod score up to 3.8; almost the maximum possible score in this family. Our finding imply that a gene for the dominant expression of a neuronal degeneration is coded on X chromosome and raise the question of the role of X-linked genes that escape inactivation in this pathogenesis. More importantly, our finding that a gene causing ALS is localized on X-chromosome has direct investigational relevance to sporadic ALS, where epidemiological studies show male gender predominance(1.3:1) and earlier onset in men by 5-10 years.