• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.1652-1660
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• 2004

Apoptosis of vascular smooth muscle cells(VSMCs) is essential in atherogenesis, being a factor that modulates its early progression rather than a terminal event in the course of the disease. Various stimuli, including oxide lipoproteins, altered hemodynamic stress and free radical, can induced VSMCs apoptosis in vitro. The protective effects of Sophorae Radix (SR) on apoptotic cell death induced by H₂O₂ were investigated in VSMCs. The viability of VSMCs was markedly decreased by H₂O₂. Sophorae Radix protected the H202-induced apoptotic death of VSMCs, which was characterized as nuclear fragmentation and increase of sub-G0/G1 fraction .. Sophorae Radix decreased the activation of caspase-3 like protease induced by H₂O₂ and recovered control level from H202-induced PARP, Bak, Bcl-XL and mitochondrial membrane potential. These results suggest that Sophorae Radix protected VSMCs apoptotic death induced by H₂O₂ via inactivation of caspase-3 and modulation of mitochondrial function. Also, the expression profile of proteins by using two-dimensional (2-D) gel electrophoresis was screened. Future investigations will need to explore the use of an anti atherosclerotic therapy of Sophorae Radix, which relies on inhibition of the proapoptotic activation of the vascular smooth muscle cells.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.118-124
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• 1984

Congenital Cystic Adenomatiod Malformation (C.C.A.M.) is rare, but one of the most common congenital pulmonary anomalies that cause acute respiratory distress in the newborn infants. It is characterized and differentiated from the diffuse pulmonary cystic disease pathologically, i.e. adenomatoid appearance due to marked proliferation of the terminal respiratory components. An 2/12 year old male patient was suffered from respiratory distress and cyanosis on crying since birth, but no specific therapy was given. With progression of symptoms, he came to Korea University Hospital for further evaluation and then transfered to Dept. of Chest Surgery for operative correction under the impression of Congenital Obstructive Emphysema suggested by a pediatrician. On gestational and family history, there was nothing to be concerned such as congenital anomaly. Physical examinations showed; moderate nourishment and development (Wt. 5.5kg), cyanosis on crying, both intercostal and lower sternal retraction on inspiration, Lt. chest building with tympany, Rt. shifting of cardiac dullness, decreased breathing sound with expiratory wheezing on entire Lt. lung field, decreased breathing sound on Rt. upper lung filed, and tachycardia. The remainders were nonspecific. Laboratory findings were normal except WBC $14000/mm^3$ (lymphocyte 70%), Hgb 9.8m%, Hct 28%, negative Mantaux test, and sinus tachycardia and counter-clockwise rotation on EKG. Preoperative simple Chest PA revealed marked hyperlucent entire Lt. lung, herniation of Lt. upper lobe to Rt., collapsed Rt. upper lobe, tracheal deviation and mediastinal shifting to Rt., and no pleural reaction. At operation, after Lt. posterolateral thoracotomy, 4th rib was resected. Operative findings were severe emphysematous changes limited to both lingular segmentectomy was done. The resected specimen showed slight solidity, measuring $8{\times}4.5{\times}2cm$ in size, and small multiple cystic spaces filled with air. Microscopically, entire tissue structures were glandular in appearance, cyst were lined by ciliated columnar epithelium, and occasional cartilages were noted around the cystic spaces. Bronchial elements were dilated but normal pattern on histologically. The patient had a good postoperative courses clinically and radiologically, and discharged on POD 10th without event. The authors report a case of Cogenital Cystic Adenomatoid Malformation (C.C.A.M.)

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.211-221
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• 2019

The death toll for every 10,000 cars registered in Korea is 1.4, which is still the lowest among OECD members, and the need for rescue and response systems is emerging. In response, the company is developing a vehicle ICT-based emergency rescue system (e-Call) that can handle accidents such as rapid and accurate life saving by automatically sending accident detection and related information to the central center in the event of a traffic accident. However, ordinary citizens are negative about the installation and cost of e-Call services. To solve these problems, various introduction and operation methods of e-Call were proposed for activation of terminal distribution. In addition, the effect of introducing e-Call was analyzed by predicting the penetration rate of e-Call terminals. Analysis shows that 463 to 926 deaths and 3,335 to 6,66.9 billion won will be saved in 10 years after the introduction of e-Call terminals.

• Asian Oncology Nursing
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.5-16
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• 2002

Purpose: This study was to develop a stress-adaptation model for family caregivers of cancer patients that could provide the basis of planning nursing intervention. Method: A hypothetical model was developed using the family adaptation model proposed by Haley et al. (1987). In the literature, the stressor was identified as patient's characteristics, caregiver's characteristics, duration of illness, and family life events. It affected stress appraisal, family resources, family coping and finally caregiver's adaptation. In this model, 18 paths were constructed. Data were collected from 241 caregivers, whose family members were in treatment between June and August 2000, at 3 university hospitals and were analyzed by SPSS and LISREL programs. Results: 1) The overall fitness indices of the hypothetical model were x 2=267.78 (P= .0), GFI= .92, AGFI= .87, NFI= .93, NNFI= .93, PNFI= .64, PGFI= .55, and RMR= .43. Ten of the eighteen paths proved to be significant. 2) To improve the model fitness, the hypothetical model was modified considering modification indices and the paths proved not significant. Final model excluded 3 paths demonstrated to be improved by x2=161.96 (P= .00), GFI= .95, AGFI= .91, NFI= .96, NNFI= .96, and RMR= .23. Twelve of fifteen paths proved to be significant. 3) Stress appraisal was influenced by disease related characteristics and duration of illness and was explained 22% of the variance. Family resources were influenced by stress appraisal and was explained 57% of variance. Family coping was influenced by disease related characteristics, caregiver's characteristics, duration of illness, family life event, and stress appraisal and was explained 57% of variance. Family caregiver adaptation was influenced by disease related characteristics, caregiver's characteristics, stress appraisal, and family coping and was explained 31% of variance. Twelve of fifteen paths were significant. Conclusion: Based on this study, to help family caregivers to adapt, individual intervention is necessary with consideration of disease related and caregiver's characteristics and duration of illness. The intervention should include efforts to raise the family resources and to identify positively the stress they encounter, and there is a need to establish an adaptation model that considers emotional aspects of family caregivers. Since there is a difference in emotional status depending on the disease stage, a study needs to be done to analyze the differences among the disease stages (diagnosis, treatment, recurrence, and terminal stages).

• Journal of The Geomorphological Association of Korea
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.133-143
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• 2012

To evaluate the kinetic energy of the raindrops, the drop size distribution and the terminal velocity of the raindrops had been measured from January to September 2010 using the laser-optical disdrometer in KIGAM, Daejeon, Korea. The relationship between kinetic energy (KE) and rainfall intensity (I) was computed as logarithmic and exponential model, respectively, under the rainfall intensity of about 142mm/h. The exponential model is more suitable for the relationship of KE-I than the logarithmic model, because the exponential model presented better fit for KE over 50mm/h of rainfall intensity. Meanwhile, the differences of the total kinetic energy existed in rainfall events with almost same total rainfall depth, and KE values of Daejeon at high rainfall intensity underestimated rather than the others under temperate climate. Therefore, these differences of KE in rainfall events and geographical regions imply the result from the variations of rainfall intensity within a rainfall event.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.337-343
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• 2021

Background: Chromogranin A (CgA) levels have been reported to predict mortality in patients with heart failure. However, information on the prognostic value and clinical availability of CgA is limited. We compared the prognostic value of CgA to that of previously proven natriuretic peptide biomarkers in patients with acute heart failure. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 272 patients (mean age, 68.5±15.6 years; 62.9% male) who underwent CgA test in the acute stage of heart failure hospitalization between June 2017 and June 2018. The median follow-up period was 348 days. Prognosis was assessed using the composite events of 1-year death and heart failure hospitalization. Results: In-hospital mortality rate during index admission was 7.0% (n=19). During the 1-year follow-up, a composite event rate was observed in 12.1% (n=33) of the patients. The areas under the receiver-operating characteristic curves for predicting 1-year adverse events were 0.737 and 0.697 for N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and CgA, respectively. During follow-up, patients with high CgA levels (>158 pmol/L) had worse outcomes than those with low CgA levels (≤158 pmol/L) (85.2% vs. 58.6%, p<0.001). When stratifying the patients into four subgroups based on CgA and NT-proBNP levels, patients with high NT-proBNP and high CgA had the worst outcome. CgA had an incremental prognostic value when added to the combination of NT-proBNP and clinically relevant risk factors. Conclusion: The prognostic power of CgA was comparable to that of NT-proBNP in patients with acute heart failure. The combination of CgA and NT-proBNP can improve prognosis prediction in these patients.

• Convergence Security Journal
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.93-98
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• 2022

Information service technology continues to develop, and information service continues to expand based on the IT convergence trend. The premeter-based security model chosen by many organizations can increase the effectiveness of security technologies. However, in the premeter-based security model, it is very difficult to deny security threats that occur from within. To solve this problem, a zero trust model has been proposed. The zero trust model requires authentication for user and terminal environments, device security environment verification, and real-time monitoring and control functions. The operating environment of the information service may vary. Information security management should be able to response effectively when security threats occur in various systems at the same time. In this study, we proposed a security policy distribution system in the object reference method that can effectively distribute security policies to many systems. It was confirmed that the object reference type security policy distribution system proposed in this study can support all of the operating environments of the system constituting the information service. Since the policy distribution performance was confirmed to be similar to that of other security systems, it was verified that it was sufficiently effective. However, since this study assumed that the security threat target was predefined, additional research is needed on the identification method of the breach target for each security threat.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.9
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• pp.1206-1212
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• 2023

The Wnt/β-catenin pathway plays essential roles in regulating various cellular behaviors, including proliferation, survival, and differentiation [1-3]. The intracellular β-catenin level, which is regulated by a proteasomal degradation pathway, is critical to Wnt/β-catenin pathway control [4]. Normally, casein kinase 1 (CK1) and glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β), which form a complex with the scaffolding protein Axin and the tumor suppressor protein adenomatous polyposis coli (APC), phosphorylate β-catenin at Ser45, Thr41, Ser37, and Ser33 [5, 6]. Phosphorylated β-catenin is ubiquitinated by the β-transducin repeat-containing protein (β-TrCP), an F-box E3 ubiquitin ligase complex, and ubiquitinated β-catenin is degraded via a proteasome pathway [7, 8]. Colorectal cancer is a significant cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Abnormal up-regulation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway is a major pathological event in intestinal epithelial cells during human colorectal cancer oncogenesis [9]. Genetic mutations in the APC gene are observed in familial adenomatous polyposis coli (FAP) and sporadic colorectal cancers [10]. In addition, mutations in the N-terminal phosphorylation motif of the β-catenin gene were found in patients with colorectal cancer [11]. These mutations cause β-catenin to accumulate in the nucleus, where it forms complexes with transcription factors of the T-cell factor/lymphocyte enhancer factor (TCF/LEF) family to stimulate the expression of β-catenin responsive genes, such as c-Myc and cyclin D1, which leads to colorectal tumorigenesis [12-14]. Therefore, downregulating β-catenin response transcription (CRT) is a potential strategy for preventing and treating colorectal cancer. Plant cytokinins are N⁶-substituted purine derivatives; they promote cell division in plants and regulate developmental pathways. Natural cytokinins are classified as isoprenoid (isopentenyladenine, zeatin, and dihydrozeatin), aromatic (benzyladenine, topolin, and methoxytopolin), or furfural (kinetin and kinetin riboside), depending on their structure [15, 16]. Kinetin riboside was identified in coconut water and is a naturally produced cytokinin that induces apoptosis and exhibits antiproliferative activity in several human cancer cell lines [17]. However, little attention has been paid to kinetin riboside's mode of action. In this study, we show that kinetin riboside exerts its cytotoxic activity against colon cancer cells by suppressing the Wnt/β-catenin pathway and promoting intracellular β-catenin degradation.

• 한국환경농학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.07a
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• pp.273-282
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• 2009

The transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) disease group are fatal neurodegenerative disorders affecting a wide range of hosts. The group includes kuru and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans, scrapie in sheep and goats and Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle. The exact nature of the infectious agent involved in the transmission of these diseases remains controversial. However, a central event in their pathogenesis is the accumulation in infected tissues of an abnormal form of a host-encoded protein, the prion protein (PrP). Whereas the normal cellular protein is fully sensitive to protease ($PrP^{sen}$), the disease-associated prion protein ($PrP^d$) is only partly degraded ($PrP^{res}$), its amino-terminal end being removed. BSE was first reported in the mid-80s in the UK. Ten years later, a new form of human prion disease, variant CJD (vCJD) developed in the wake of the BSE epidemic, and there is now strong scientific evidence that vCJD was initiated by the exposure of humans to BSE-infected tissues, thus indicating a zoonotic disease. However, the ban on the feeding of animal-derived proteins to ruminants, and the apparent lack of vertical transmission of BSE, have led to a decline in the incidence of the disease within cattle herd and therefore, an assumed decreased risk for human contacting vCJD. The origin of the original case(s) of BSE still remains an enigma even though three hypotheses have been raised. Hypotheses are i) sheep- or goat-derived scrapie-infected tissues included in meat and bone meal fed to cattle, ii) a previously undetected sporadic or genetic bovine TSE contaminating cattle feed or iii) originating from a human TSE through animal feed contaminated with human remains. A host cellular membrane protein ($PrP^C$), which is abundant in central nervous system tissue, appear to be conformationally altered in the diseased host into a prion protein ($PrP^{Sc}$). This $PrP^{Sc}$ is detergent insoluble and partially protease-resistant ($PrP^{res}$). The term $PrP^{res}$ is normally used to describe the protein detected after protease treatment, in techniques such as Western immunoblotting, and enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay using fresh/frozen tissue. Immunohistochemistry may performed with formalin-fixed tissues. Also, clinical signs of the BSE are one of the major diagnostic indicators. Recently, atypical forms (known as H- and L-type) of BSE have appeared in several European countries, Japan, Canada and the United States. An unusual case was also reported in a miniature zebu. The atypical BSE fall into two groups based on the relative molecular mass (Mm) of the unglycosylated $PrP^{res}$ band relative to that of classical BSE, one of the higher Mm (H-type) and the other lower (L-type). Both types have been detected worldwide as rare cases in older animals, at a low prevalence consistent with the possibility of sporadic forms of prion diseases in cattle. This raises the unwelcome possibility that vCJD could increase in the human population. Now, active surveillance program against BSE is going on in Korea. In regional veterinary service lab, ELISA is applied to screen the BSE in slaughter and confirmatory tests by Western immunoblotting and immunohistochemisty are carried out if there are positive or suspect in the screening test. Also, the ruminant feed ban is rigorously enforced. Removal of specified risk materials such as brain and spinal cord from cattle is mandatory process at slaughter to prevent the infected material from entering the human food chain.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.98-103
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• 1993

Background: Inactivation of retinoblastoma gene (Rb) has been observed in a variety of human cancers. Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of Rb which is a common mode of allelic inactivation of Rb, has been known as a frequent genetic event in small cell lung cancer but it has been detected less frequently in non-small cell lung cancer. To define the role of Rb deletion in lung cancer, we investigated the genomic DNAs of 43 non-small cell lung cancers and 1 small cell lung cancer paired with normal lung tissues obtained by thoracotomy. Methods: The genomic DNAs were obtained by the digestion with proteinase K followed by phenol-chloroform extraction method. The genomic DNAs were digested by restriction endonuclease (EcoRI), separated by agarose gel electrophoresis, transferred to nylon membrane by Southern blot transfer and then hybridized with labelled Rb 1 probe which contains. 1.4 kb sized DNA sequence containing N-terminal portion of Rb. Results: In 26 squamous cell lung cancers, 16 cases were informative after EcoRI digestion and LOH of Rb was found in 10 cases (62.5%). In 17 adenocarcinomas of lung, 11 cases were informative and LOH of Rb was found in five cases (45.4%). The analysis of clinical parameters revealed no significant differences between the two groups with or without LOH of Rb in the aspects of age, sex, degree of differentiation, stage and smoking amount. Conclusions: These results suggest that Rb inactivation is also significantly involved in the molecular pathogenesis of non-small cell lung cancer.