• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.5231-5235
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• 2013

Objective: NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) is activated in several human malignancies. However, the role of Nrf2 in gastric cancer (GC) remains incompletely understood. In this study, we therefore analyzed associations of Nrf2 expression status with clinical features and chemotherapeutic resistance in GC. Materials and Methods: A total of 186 samples from GC patients who underwent gastrectomy were used for prognostic assessment. A further 142 samples from GC cases who received first-line combination chemotherapy were applied for investigation of chemoresistance. The Nrf2 expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry in GC samples, and its relationship with clinicopathological parameters and chemotherapy sensitivity was analyzed. The effect of Nrf2 gene silencing on chemotherapy resistance was also examined by cell viability assay in vivo. Results: Of the 186 patients with GC, 104/186 (55.9%) showed high expression for Nrf2. The overexpression of Nrf2 was an independent predictor of overall survival [OS, hazard ratio (HR) 3.9; P=0.011] and disease-free survival (DFS, HR 4.3; P=0.002). The gene silencing of Nrf2 reduced resistance to cell death induced by 5-FU in GC cell lines. Conclusion: Our data show that Nrf2 is an independent prognostic factor in GC. Furthermore, Nrf2 confers resistance to chemotherapeutic drug 5-FU in GC cells. Taken together, Nrf2 is a potential prognostic marker and predictive for 5-FU resistance in GC.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.110-115
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• 2004

This study was undertaken to develop PCR primers for the simultaneous detection of Fusobacterium nucleatum and Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, using two species-specific reverse primers in combination with a single conserved forward primer. These primers target the variable and conserved regions of the 16S rDNA. The primer specificity was tested against (i) four F. nucleatum and three A. actinomycetemcomitans strains and (ii) seven representatives of the different species of oral bacteria. The primer sensitivity was determined by testing serial dilutions of the purified genomic DNA of F. nucleatum and A. actinomycetemcomitans. The data indicate that species-specific amplicons could be obtained for all the F. nucleatum and A. actinomycetemcomitans strains tested, which were not found in the seven other species. The multiplex PCR could detect as little as 4 fg of chromosomal DNA of F. nucleatum and A. actinomycetemcomitans simultaneously. These findings suggest that these PCR primers are highly sensitive and are suitable for applications in epidemiological studies, diagnosis, and monitoring F. nucleatum and A. actinomycetemcomitans after the treatment of periodontitis.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.367-372
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• 1997

Excessive water stress is one of major limiting factors affecting soybean yield, especially when soybean is grown in converted upland from paddy field. The present study was undertaken to know the genotypic variation in yield response of soybean to different environments in combination with soil texture and underground water table depth. Eight recommended soybean varieties in Korea and two supernodulating soybean mutants introduced from USA were planted in the lysimeter which was filled with two different soil types(sandy loam and clay loam). Of three underground water table depths(10, 30, and 50 cm) during whole growth stage, the lowest 10 cm was included to create excessive water stress. Yield was significantly different according to the underground water table depth and soybean genotypes, whereas soil type did not affect yield. There were significant interaction effects of soybean yield among soil type, soybean genotype, and underground water table depth. Yield of nts 1116 showed the highest across environments. Based on the regression analysis, the most stable variety was Sobaeknamulkong(bi=1.09). Jangsukong was fairly stable and high in yield, when compared to other soybean genotypes. However, nts 1116 was the most desirable ($D_i=228$) mainly due to the highest yield rather than the greater stability over environments. Multiple regression analysis revealed that shoot dry weight and nodule number were major factors affecting yield in the combined data over three water table depths and two soil types.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.212-228
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• 2008

Five representative reference evapotranspiration(RET) equations were selected, and these equations were compared with pan evaporation by correlation analysis. Pan coefficients were also estimated. Furthermore, five selected RET equations were compared to find the similarity among those at the 21 meteorological stations located in South Korea. Five RET equations selected from 4 different category were Penman(combination approach), FAO Penman-Monteith(FAO P-M) (single source approach), Makkink and Priestley-Taylor (radiation approach) and Hargreaves(temperature approach) equations. In this study, the geographical and topographical conditions were considered for the selection of study stations. The daily meteorological data measured from 1970 at an interval of 5 years were applied in this study. The evapotranspiration estimates obtained by applying evapotranspiration equations were evaluated with numerical and graphical methods. The correlation coefficients between pan evaporation and RET in study stations were above 0.9 indicating very high correlation; however, the slopes of the individual regression lines show the values greater or less than 1.0. Hargreaves equation(temperature approach) shows the most similar evapotranspiration estimates to those of FAO P-M equation from 12 study stations, which are located near to seashore except Daegu station. On the other hand, Priestley-Taylor equation(radiation approach) shows the most similar evapotranspiration estimates to those of FAO P-M equation from 8 study stations, which are located in inland.

• Journal of Korean Society for Geospatial Information Science
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.39-46
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• 2014

Network RTK positioning, one of GNSS positioning systems, is currently very popular due to its easy operation and low cost. However, the network RTK positioning unquestioningly accepts observation result acquired with an ambiguity fixed-solution regardless of different field conditions and situations, and then it is applied to the practice. This paper, therefore, has investigated the effects of field conditions obtained network RTK survey data for the area with obstacles on the variation of positioning accuracy. Being explained in detail, after conducting survey by GPS-only positioning and combined GPS/GLONASS observations giving changes to the distance from obstacles and elevation angles, and then accuracy results of each positioning method were compared each other. As a result, while GPS-only point positioning method showed more stable results than combined GPS/GLONASS method in the areas with no obstacles, combined method gave better result than GPS-only for the areas with presence of obstacles. Based on the results of this experiment, when the further study is conducted with a variety of different field conditions affecting the survey accuracy, it can be expected that the accuracy of network RTK survey method would become to more popular.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.44 no.11
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• pp.1715-1724
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• 2015

The combined effects of a sanitizer mixture solution and antimicrobial ice on the quality of salted Chinese cabbages were examined. Salted Chinese cabbages were treated with a sanitizer mixture (comprised 50 ppm aqueous $ClO_2$ and 0.5% citric acid), packed in 2% brine and antimicrobial ice, and stored for 12 days at 4 and $10^{\circ}C$. Microbiological data on the salted Chinese cabbages after washing with the sanitizer mixture indicated that the populations of total aerobic bacteria, and yeast and molds decreased by 2.20 and 1.28 log CFU/g after treatment with the sanitizer mixture. In addition, coliforms population of salted Chinese cabbage after 12 days storage at $4^{\circ}C$ in the combined mixture of the sanitizer and antimicrobial ice was 3.22 log CFU/g, which was a significantly different from that of control (5.46 log CFU/g). The combined treatment of sanitizer mixture, antimicrobial ice, and low temperature at $4^{\circ}C$ suppressed reduction of pH and elevation of titratable acidity, resulting in delaying the growth of lactic acid bacteria. Differences in salinity, hardness, and Hunter's $L^*$, $a^*$, and $b^*$ values among treatments were negligible during storage at $4^{\circ}C$. Therefore, this study suggests that a combination of sanitizer mixture, antimicrobial ice treatment, and low temperature storage could improve the microbial safety and quality of salted Chinese cabbages during storage.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.26 no.7
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• pp.826-834
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• 2016

The present investigation was undertaken to examine the effectiveness of the combination treatment of an Hsp90 inhibitor and a SIRT1 inhibitor on suppressing the growth of chemo-resistant human cancer cells. We showed that inhibition of SIRT1 effectively potentiated the cytotoxicity of 17-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (17-AAG) and reversed Hsp90 inhibitor resistance in multidrug-resistant (MDR) human ovarian HeyA8-MDR cells. Amurensin G, a potent natural SIRT1 inhibitor, enhanced Hsp90 inhibitor-mediated abrogation of the Hsp90 chaperone function and accelerated degradation of mutated p53 (mut p53), an Hsp90 client protein, by up-regulation of ubiquitin ligase CHIP. Knock-down of CHIP significantly attenuated amurensin G-induced mut p53 degradation. Down-regulation of mut p53 reduced the expression of heat shock factor1 (HSF1)/heat shock proteins (Hsps), a major cause of Hsp90 inhibitor resistance, which led to sensitization of the MDR cells to the Hsp90 inhibitor by the SIRT1 inhibitor. Amurensin G potentiated cytotoxicity of the Hsp90 inhibitor in HeyA8-MDR cells through suppression of 17-AAG-induced Hsp70 and Hsp27 induction via down-regulation of mut p53/HSF1, and it caused activation of PARP and inhibition of Bcl-2. Our data suggests that SIRT1 inhibitors could be used to sensitize MDR cells to Hsp90 inhibitors, possibly through suppression of the mut p53/HSF1-dependent pathway, and a novel mut p53-directed action of SIRT1 inhibition could effectively prevent mut p53 accumulation in MDR cells.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.52 no.spc2
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• pp.765-776
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to provide the legal and institutional guidelines and standards that can be used in the whole river restoration project and to analyze and evaluate the performance of the river project. We constructed an assessment system of four biological taxa that can represent the river environments, namely, evaluation indexes and standards of vegetation and birds, benthic invertebrates and fishes. Specifically, the assessment indicator and criteria of biological characteristics are summarized, so that in case of vegetation community, vegetation diversity, vegetation complexity, and vegetation naturalness can be quantitatively assessed through the combination of three indices. Based on the scientific basis of the advanced techniques, benthic invertebrates, fishes, and birds were proposed to quantitatively evaluate assessment grades according to the classification of biological data. In order to evaluate biological characteristics, which are a part of river environmental naturalness, we proposed a comprehensive biological index and evaluation grade applying the weight of these four biological taxa, and it clearly reflects the characteristics of river environment in test bed.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.50-57
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• 2021

Objectives Clozapine is the most effective atypical antipsychotic agent for the treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS), however, only 40%-70% of TRS patients respond to clozapine. Moreover, TRS encompasses various symptom dimensions. Therefore, augmentation with other medications for clozapine is frequently applied. However, the prescription pattern of clozapine and combined medications in Korea is yet to be examined. This study aims to investigate the maintenance treatment pattern of clozapine and augmentation agents in one Korean tertiary hospital. Methods The patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders under clozapine maintenance, defined as one-year clozapine continuation, were subjected for analysis. Medication data at one-year time-point after clozapine initiation was extracted and analyzed. Results Among total 2897 patients having clozapine prescription experience from January 2000 to December 2018, 1011 patients were on clozapine maintenance. The mean age of clozapine initiation was 30.2 ± 11.3 years, and the maintenance dose of clozapine was 217.8 ± 124.3 mg/day. Combination rate of antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, and antidepressants were 43.5%, 25.3%, 38.6%, respectively. Most frequently prescribed drugs in each category were aripiprazole, valproate, and sertraline. Olanzapine equivalent dose of combined antipsychotics was 10.4 ± 7.7 mg/day. Male patients were prescribed higher dose of combined antipsychotics and higher rate of antidepressants. Female patients had later onset of clozapine prescription. Patients with two or more combined antipsychotics were prescribed higher dose of clozapine and higher rate of antidepressants compared to patients with one combined antipsychotic. Conclusions Taken together, among the patients taking clozapine, a substantial rate of patients were under polypharmacy. The present findings based on the real-world prescription pattern could provide the valuable clinical information on the treatment of TRS-related conditions.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.131-141
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to compare the effects on nursing students' knowledge, performance confidence, and skills from combined virtual IV simulator and mannequin arm IV cannulation training against training with a mannequin arm only. A non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest experimental study was carried out. Ninety-three sophomore nursing students who were just beginning their fundamental skills training were recruited. Participants were divided into two groups (46 for the combined group and 47 for the mannequin-only group). Data were collected from March 18-29. For the experimental group, both virtual IV simulator and mannequin-arm training were provided for 30 minutes (15 minutes each). For the control group, training for 30 minutes with a mannequin arm only was provided. After intervention, there was no statistically significant difference in the knowledge score between the two groups (F=2.52, p=.116). However, there was a significant improvement in performance confidence (t=2.14, p=.035) and nursing skills (t=5.34, p<.001) in the experimental group, compared with the control. Overall, this study provides empirical evidence that the combination of virtual IV simulator and mannequin arm training may further enhance nursing students' performance confidence and nursing skills.