• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.924-933
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• 1999

This study investigated the effects of vitamin E supplementation on immune responses and antioxidant status in healthy Korean old and young women. Blood samples were obtained from 15 healthy old women (over 60 years old) and from 15 healthy young women(20 years old) before and 4 weeks after vitamin E( tocopherol acetate) supplementation(400IU/day). Daily nutrient intakes were calculated, and plasma vitamin E concentration, numbers and percentages of white blood cell and their subpopulation, percentages of lymphocytes and subpopulation, NK cell percentages, plasma immunoglobulin A, G, M and C3 concentration, proliferation of PMN with mitogen were measured. Also plasma TBARS concentration and radical scavenger activity of erythrocytes were investigated. Plasma vitamin E concentrations were significantly increased after supplementation in both groups. In elderly women, vitamin E supplementation restored the per centages of neutrophils, lymphocytes, and eosinophils which had been out of normal ranges before supple mentation. And after vitamin E supplementation, helper T cell percentages significantly increased in elderly. Plasma immunoglobulin and complement C3 concentrations were not affected by vitamin E supplementation in both groups. PMN proliferations with mitogen were significantly lower in old women than in young women, and there was no effect of vitamin E supplementation. Vitamin E supplementation significantly decreased plasma TBARS concentrations in old and young women. RSA of erythrocytes was increased in both groups, but the statistical significant was only found in young women group. Therefore, these results suggest that the moderate vitamin E supplementation in old women improves immune responses, especially nonspecific immunity and cell mediated immunity, via protection of oxidant stress.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.72 no.1
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• pp.16-26
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• 1986

Allozyme study on a small pitch pine stand originating and expanded rather rapidly from a few founder trees indicated that the colonization of the pitch pine population was made progressively from the place where the founder trees located to another by moving in cohorts of seeds from a limited number of family or genetically closely related family groups in line with the succeeding generations. This pattern of migration and colonization resulted marked differences in allelic and genotypic frequencies at many of the allozyme loci between the initially colonized subpopulation on the south-facing slope and the lately colonized subpopulation on north-facing slope of a hill. It appeared that gene fixation due to inbreeding and genetic drift occurred at some loci in the pitch pine population or subpopulations. However, even in t 1e inbreeding small pitch pine population or subpopulations, a comparatively large amount of genetic diversity or heterozygosity was maintained due to the high levels of gene recombination at many of the gene loci and natural selections favoring for heterozygotes.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.398-405
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• 1998

We investigated the effects of triterpene acids (TAs), ursolic acid (UA) and oleanolic acid (OA), on the induction of proliferation and differentiation of normal rat mammary epithelial cells (RMEC) or organoids cultured in Matrigel or primary culture system. To elucidate the effects, we tested their differentiation inducing activities with intercellular communication ability, cell cycle patterns, induction of apoptosis, and morphological differentiation in the three dimensional extracellular culture system. To study the changes of RMEC subpopulation in culture, the cultured cells were isolated, immunostained with peanut lectin (PNA) and anti-Thy-1.1 antibody and then analyzed with flow cytometry. Four different subpopulations, such as PNA and Thy-1.1 negative cells (B-), PNA positive cells (PNA+), Thy-1.1 positive cells (Thy-1.1+), PNA and Thy-1.1 positive cells (B+), were obtained and the size of each subpopulation was changed in culture with time in the presence of TAs. Intercellular communication was observed in culture for 7 days in TAs-treated cells, but not in culture for 4 days with scrape-loading dye transfer technique. $G_2$/M phase cells and the number of apoptotic population were increased in TAs-treated groups in cell cycle analyses. S phase fractions were reduced and the change of $G_1$ phase cells was not observed. The colonies with distinct multicelfular structures, such as stellate, ductal, webbed, squamous, lobulo-ductal colonies, were observed in Matrigel culture and the frequencies of each colony were changed in the presence of TAs. These results suggest that UA and OA have differentiation inducing effects on rat mammary epithelial cells in primary or in Matrigel culture.

• Mycobiology
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.376-384
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• 2021

Agaricus bisporus is a popular edible mushroom that is cultivated worldwide. Due to its secondary homothallic nature, cultivated A. bisporus strains have low genetic diversity, and breeding novel strains is challenging. The aim of this study was to investigate the genetic diversity and population structure of globally collected A. bisporus strains using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Agaricus bisporus strains were divided based on genetic distance-based groups and model-based subpopulations. The major allele frequency (MAF), number of genotypes (NG), number of alleles (NA), observed heterozygosity (HO), expected heterozygosity (HE), and polymorphic information content (PIC) were calculated, and genetic distance, population structure, genetic differentiation, and Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) were assessed. Strains were divided into two groups by distance-based analysis and into three subpopulations by model-based analysis. Strains in subpopulations POP A and POP B were included in Group I, and strains in subpopulation POP C were included in Group II. Genetic differentiation between strains was 99%. Marker AB-gSSR-1057 in Group II and subpopulation POP C was confirmed to be in HWE. These results will enhance A. bisporus breeding programs and support the protection of genetic resources.

• Journal of Mushroom
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.323-330
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• 2020

Agaricus bisporus is an important edible mushroom that is used as a functional food. In this study, European A. bisporus strains were analyzed for genetic diversity, population structure, and genetic differentiation using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. European A. bisporus strains were divided into four groups by distance-based analysis and two subpopulations by model-based analysis. The SSR markers used in this study did not group European A. bisporus strains by geographical region or pileus color. Genetic diversity was high in Group 4 based on distance-based analysis and Pop. 2 based on model-based analysis. A. bisporus strains showed very low genetic differentiation. The results of this study can be used for breeding A. bisporus in the future.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.62-69
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• 2022

Objective: This study aimed to describe a distinct subpopulation of azoospermic patients with isolated elevation of follicle-stimulating hormone (iFSH) and poor outcomes of microdissection testicular sperm extraction (microTESE). Methods: A retrospective analysis of microTESE outcomes was conducted among 565 patients with non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA). Testicular pathology was assessed by the dominant histological pattern and Bergmann-Kliesch score (BKS). Descriptive statistics were presented for the iFSH subgroup. Inhibin B levels, the sperm retrieval rate (SRR), and BKS were compared in iFSH patients and other NOA patients. Results: The overall SRR was 33.3% per microTESE attempt. The median BKS was 0.6 (interquartile range, 0-2). Of all NOA patients, 132 had iFSH, and microTESE was successful only in 11 of those cases, with an SRR of 8.3%, while the total SRR in other NOA patients was 38.1% (p<0.001). iFSH had a sensitivity of 32.1% (95% confidence interval [CI], 27.4%-36.8%) and specificity of 94.1% (95% CI, 90.8-97.5%) as a predictor of negative microTESE outcomes. Conclusion: Patients with iFSH may harbor a distinct testicular phenotype with total loss of the germ cell population and poor outcomes of surgical sperm retrieval.

• Journal of Practical Agriculture & Fisheries Research
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.25-31
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• 2022

Low-temperature germinability (LTG) is an important trait for the direct seeding of rice in temperate and high altitudes regions. Water temperature of rice fields at sowing season is frequently under 15℃ in Korea, resulting in poor seedlings establishment. The objective of this study was to phenotypically and genetically evaluate 600 rice germplasm composed of six rice subpopulations. In the phenotypic evaluation, aus (AUS) showed the highest visual rating (VR) and germination rate (GR) of 5 and 83.1%, respectively, than other subpopulations. The lowest value of VR (7.1) and GR (53.1%) was observed in aromatic (ARO) subpopulation. Association of the phenotype for LTG with the genotype for qLTG3-1, a major QTL for LTG, and other three SNP markers (LTG_8, qLTG4b-1, qLTG2-6) was conducted. The results suggested that the allele distribution of two markers, qLTG3-1 and qLTG2-6, affects the difference in VR and GR between subpopulations. qLTG4b-1 and LTG_8 were also highly significant with LTG in all subpopulations except that qLTG4b-1 did now show significance in AUS. Therefore, the combination use of these four markers might be effective for evaluation of LTG in rice germplasm.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.364-372
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• 2023

Background: Growing evidence suggests that beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB), arginine (Arg), and glutamine (Gln) positively affect wound recovery. This study investigated the effects of long-term administration of HMB/Arg/Gln on pressure ulcer (PU) healing in sedentary older adults admitted to geriatric and rehabilitation care facilities. Methods: This was a pilot retrospective case (standard of care and HMB/Arg/Gln)-control (standard of care alone) clinical study. Outcome measures were relative healing rates and Pressure Ulcer Scale for Healing (PUSH) scores (calculated after 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 weeks) and time to healing. Results: The study subpopulation was comprised of 14 participants (four males, 28.6%) with the median age of 85.5 years (interquartile range [IQR], 82.0-90.2 years). The control subpopulation was comprised of 31 participants (18 males, 58.1%) with the median age of 84.0 years (IQR, 78.0-90.0 years). At the beginning of follow-up, there were no statistically significant demographic (sex and age) and clinical (main diagnosis, baseline area, and PU perimeter) differences between the groups. During the study period, there were no significant differences in the relative healing rates and PUSH scores between the subpopulations. The median time to complete healing in the study and control populations was 170.0 days (95% confidence interval [CI], 85.7-254.3) and 218.0 days (95% CI, 149.2- 286.7) (log-rank, chi-square=3.99; p<0.046), respectively. Conclusion: More than 20 weeks of HMB/Arg/Gln supplementation had a positive effect on difficult PU healing in older adults with multiple comorbidities.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.116-126
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• 2009

This study was carried out focused an ecological characteristics and habitat management of Abeliophyllum distichum subpopulations in the Byeonsanbando National Park, Korea. Among three subpopulations of the target species in the studied area, Gamaso region are known as translocation site due to the dam construction while the wild populations which is located at both the lower terrain of the Buandaem bank and Chongnim-ni, which is designated as Natural Monument No 370, is threat due to an intensive site management likes clearance of scrub amongst the Abeliophyllum plants. Vascular plant taxa in the studied sites were summarized as 182 taxa; 65 families, 143 genera, 164 species, 17 varieties and 1 form, and Gamaso area, the lower terrain of the Buandaem and Cheongnim-ni areas are summarized as 75, 102 and 89 taxa, respectively. The plant species likes persimmon tree, paulownia tree and wild mulberry tree are dominant species in the Gamaso subpopulation, while Quercus variabilis is dominant at the lower terrain of the Buandaem. The intensive site management was applied to the Cheongnim-ni subpopulation, one of the original wild habitats of the species. The population dymanics was varied; the one or two sprouting number of stems was over 87% both at Gamaso area and the lower terrain of the Buandam, while the Cheongnim-ni subpopulation recorded as 74.8%. Also three sprouting number recorded as 16% and as 9.2% for sprouting on numbers of four to eleven. The invaded species likes Chenopodium album, Rumex obtusifolius, Phytolacca americana, Pharbitis nil, Solanum lyratum, Erigeron canadensis and Erigeron annuus, were found at the wild habitat of the species, and those invaded species grow faster than Abeliophyllum plants. Among three habitats of the target species in the studied area, the habitat which in located at the lower terrain of the Buandam and Gamaso region are known as translocated due to the dam construction, and wild subpopulation at Chongnim-ni, which is designated as Natural Monument No 370, is under threatened due to an intensive site management likes clearance of scrub amongst the Abeliophyllumplants. It is one of the evidence that Cuscuta japonica at the population indicated an intensive site management likes clearance of scrub is not proper habitat management protocol. Thus, further researches should be followed to determine the effect of canopy removal and other disturbance factors as management techniques.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.514-516
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• 2008

The cancer stem cell hypothesis posits that tumor growth is driven by a rare subpopulation of cells, designated cancer stem cells (CSC). Studies supporting this theory are based in large part on xenotransplantation experiments wherein human cancer cells are grown in immunocompromised mice and only CSC, often constituting less than 1% of the malignancy, generate tumors. Herein, we show that all colonies derived from randomly chosen single cells in mouse lung and breast cancer cell lines form tumors following allografting histocompatible mice. Our study suggests that the majority of malignant cells rather than CSC can sustain tumors and that the cancer stem cell theory must be reevaluated.