• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.203-209
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• 2016

Recently, increased attention has been directed toward medicinal extracts and their active ingredients as potential new drug candidates for androgenic alopecia. Resina Pini (RP), a resinous exudation obtained from Pinus sp. (Pinaceae), has been used as a traditional medicine for the treatment of infection, pain related to dental caries, and periodontal disease. Previously, we suggested that RP and its main constituent, abietic acid (abieta-7,13-dien-18-oic acid; AA), may play important roles against androgenic alopecia as $5{\alpha}$-reductase inhibitors. However, to date, there is no evidence that AA has hair growth-promoting effects in vivo. In this study, we found that 10 ~ 300 mg/kg RP and 3 ~ 30 mg/kg AA significantly promoted hair growth in a C3H/HeN mouse model of alopecia. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the hair growth-promoting effects of RP and AA in vivo. From these results, RP and its main constituent AA can promote hair growth in mouse by inhibiting $5{\alpha}$-reductase activity and may be effective alternative therapies for androgenic alopecia.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.73-83
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• 2008

Objectives : The root of Zingiber officinale ROSC. (Zingiberis Rhizoma Recens; Ginger) has been widely used as one of folk remedies and food materials in many traditional preparations. Ginger is known as an effective appetite enhancer and anti-inflammatory agent. This study was performed to investigate the effect of ginger chloroform fraction (GCF) in microglia which play a central role on brain inflammation in neurodegenerative diseases. Methods : Dried ginger was extracted with 80% methanol, and then fractionated with chloroform. BV2 mouse microglial cells were cultured with different concentrations of GCF and then stimulated with LPS (1 ${\mu}g/m{\ell}$) at indicated times. The cell toxicity of GCF was determined by MTT assay. The concentrations of NO, PGE2 and cytokines were measured by Griess assay and enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay. The mRNA and protein expressions of iNOS, COX-2 and cytokines were determined by RT-PCR and Western blotting. The phosphorylation of three MAPKs (p38 MAPK, ERK1/2 and JNK) and $NF-{\kappa}B$ activation were determined by Western blotting. Results : GCF significantly inhibited LPS-induced production of inflammatory mediators, NO, $PGE_2$ and proinflammatory cytokines ($TNF-{\alpha}$ and $IL-1{\beta}$) in a dose-dependent manner. GCF attenuated LPS-induced expression of mRNA and protein of inflammatory enzymes, iNOS, COX-2 and proinflammatory cytokines through suppressing the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and p38 MAPK and the activation of p65 $NF-{\kappa}B$ in BV2 cells. Conclusions : This study suggests that GCF may have an anti-inflammatory property through suppressing the inflammatory mediator production released by activated microglia after the brain injury.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.93-102
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• 2008

Objectives : Forsythiae Fructus (Forsythia koreana Nakai) has been used anti-inflammatory, diuretics, antidote, and antibacterials in traditional herbal medicine. The present study is focused on the inhibitory effect of Forsythiae Fructus ethanol extract (FF-E) on the production of inflammatory mediators such as NO, iNOS and proinflammatory cytokines ($TNF-{\alpha}$, $IL-1{\beta}$ and IL-6) in LPS-stimulated BV-2 cells, a mouse microglial cell line, and investigated the scavenging activity of FF-E. Methods : BV-2 cells were pre-incubated with FF-E for 30 min and then stimulated with LPS (1 ${\mu}g/m{\ell}$) at indicated times. Cell toxicity of GCF was determined by MTT assay. The levels of NO, PGE2 and cytokines were measured by Griess assay and ELISA. The mRNA and protein expressions of iNOS and cytokines were determined by RT-PCR and Western blotting. Free radical scavenging activity of GCF was determined by DPPH assay in tube test. Results : FF-E significantly inhibited the excessive production of NO, $PGE_2$, $TNF-{\alpha}$, and $IL-1{\beta}$ in LPS-stimulated BV-2 cells. In addition, FF-E attenuated the mRNA and protein expressions of iNOS, and proinflammatory cytokines. FF-E also significantly scavenged the DPPH free radicals in a dose-dependent manner. Conclusions : These results indicate that FF-E exhibits anti-inflammatory property by suppressing the transcription of inflammatory mediator genes, suggesting the anti-inflammatory property of FF-E may make it useful as a therapeutic agent for the treatment of human neurodegenerative diseases.

• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.174-181
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• 2009

Pterocarpus marsupium, Clitoria ternatea, and Sanseveiria cylindrica are some of the important and endangered medicinal plant species of India. Despite of medicinal properties, antibacterial potential of the plants have not yet been explored. The present study was designed to optimize the in vitro technique for micropropagation and to screen the extracts from leaves and in vitro raised calli for antibacterial properties. Excised leaf-explants from the parent plants were surface sterilized and cultivated on Murashige & Skoog's (MS) medium containing $N^6$-benzyladenine (BA) in concentrations of 1, 2, 5, and $10{\mu}M$. Optimal growth of calli was noticed at a concentration of $5{\mu}M$, therefore the extracts from calli grown at this concentration were further studied for antibacterial activity. Both alcoholic and aqueous extracts from leaves of respective plants, and their in vitro raised calli were tested for antibacterial activity by agar well diffusion method against a range of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Aqueous extracts showed antibacterial activity against limited number of bacterial species; notably the extracts of C. ternatea which showed antibacterial activity against Streptococcus pyogenes, Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus cereus. Alcoholic extracts of all three plants showed antibacterial activity against a wider range of bacteria. Among the Gram-positive bacteria, extracts from C. ternatea showed strong antibacterial activity against Bacillus spp., whereas the extracts of S. cylindrica showed good antibacterial potential for Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermidis and S. pyogenes. The extracts from all three plants showed antibacterial activity against Gram-negative bacteria, including, Salmonella spp. and Shigella dysenteriae; organisms causing enteric fever and dysentery. In most of the cases, the extracts from respective calli showed comparable, and in some cases better, result in comparison to the extracts from parent leaves. To the best of our knowledge this is the first preliminary report on antibacterial potential, especially through calli extracts, of these plants; and in vitro cultivation of the explants may be used to obtain phytotherapeutic compounds.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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• 2016.05a
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• pp.39-39
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• 2016

There is a growing consumer preference for self-medication, which has resulted in the growth of the Korean functional food market to \1.5 trillion in 2014. Functional foods that can modulate immune responses and enhance liver health are in the top 2 product-specific health functional food categories. The aim of this project was to develop and commercialize new health functional foods incorporated with Cordyceps militaris. Cordyceps genus includes about 400 species, many of which have been used as traditional medicines for many years in Asian countries. C. militaris belongs to the class Ascomycetes and has been used extensively as a crude drug and tonic food in East Asia. Owing to the various physiological activities of its main active constituent, cordyceptin, C. militaris is currently being used for multiple medicinal purposes. Recently, many studies have tried to elucidate the pharmacological mechanisms underlying the activities of Cordyceps spp., which include immune activation, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, and antiviral effects. After continuous attempts and research toward industrialization, C. militaris cultivated using brown rice was developed into a product by a standardized process and mass-cultivating system. It was successfully introduced into the market and was approved as a functional food ingredient for the first time in Korea. Based on this information, C. militaris containing functional food product for strengthening the immune system was released in August 2014 under the brand name "Dongchoong Ilgi." Dongchoong Ilgi is potentially beneficial for improving immune and liver functions and may enhance both the convenience and effectiveness of health functional foods taken by healthy people and patients with minor illness. In addition, the results of our study may be applicable for the development of health functional foods that could lower the risk of diseases such as the common cold and cancer.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.353-357
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• 2009

Spray drying is an effective and stable process, which has been widely used to produce pharmaceutical powders. In the traditional spray drying process, it was not quite easy to control the aggregation and the size of particles. Particularly, the preparation of polymeric particles was relatively hard compared to the preparation of food and pharmaceutical ingredients, typically organic materials of small molecular weights. In this study, modification of a conventional spray dryer was tried to use electrical charge and co-axial nozzles to prepare polymeric particles. Poly(ethylene glycol) and poly (D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) were used as the inner polymeric materials, and lactose as the outer shell materials. The results showed that electrohydrodynamic spray-dried particles had a relatively uniform size and particle morphology, and the aggregation of particles could be suppressed compared to the conventional spray-dried particles. The electrohydrodynamic spray-dried powders consisted of spherical particles of $2{\sim}5{\mu}m$ diameters.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.397-407
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• 1993

The muscarinic antagonist l-[benzilic-4,4'-$^3H$]quinuclidinyl benzilate([$^3H$]QNB) bound to a single class of muscarinic receptor with high affinity in guinea pig ileal membranes. The $K_{D}$ and B$_{max}$ values for [$^3H$]QNB calculated from analysis of saturation isotherms were 54 pM and 156fmol/mg, respectively. H$_{1}$-blockers inhibited [$^3H$]QNB binding to ileal membranes with $K_{i}$ values ranged from 0.008 $\mu{M}$ to 1.6 $\mu{M}$. The pseudo-Hill coefficients of H$_{1}$-blockers for inhibition of [$^3H$]QNB binding to the ileal membranes were close to unit. The $K_{i}$ values for H$_{1}$-blockers were similar to the $K_{M}$ values calculated by Schild plot of functional data obtained from inhibition of the carbachol-induced contraction in guinea-pig ileum, suggesting that binding of H$_{1}$-blockers vs [$^3H$]QNB in ileal membranes represents an interaction with a receptor of physiological relevance. The $K_{H}$ values of H$_{1}$-blockers for H$_{1}$-receptor estimated from inhibition of the histamine-induced contraction were the range of 0.15 nM to 56.5 nM. The $K_{M}$/K$_{H}$ ratio of H$_{1}$-blockers varied over a wide range of 3 to 2300. Thus, the antihistaminic potencies of H$_{1}$-blockers do not correlate with their antimuscarinic potencies, which suggest that antihistamines have different antimuscarinic potencies in therapeutic blood levels causing similar antiallergic effect. Among 13 traditional antihistaminics examined in this study, drug having the highest and the lowest $K_{M}$/K$_{H}$ ratio is triprolidine and diphenidol, respectively. The present results demonstrate that the antimuscarinic property of antihistamines is not necessary for their antiallergic effect, and data on the affinity of antihistamines for muscarinic and H$_{1}$-receptors can be an important parameter in the selection and evaluation of these drugs.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.38-46
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• 2018

Purpose: The aim of this study was to verify the effects of daily 2% chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) bathing on the acquisition of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO) and healthcare-associated infection (HAI) in a medical intensive care unit (MICU). Methods: The study was a randomized controlled group posttest only design, involving 91 patients in MICU at a tertiary hospital (47 patients in the experimental group and 44 patients in the control group). The 2% CHG bathing was performed daily according to bathing protocol to the patients in the experimental group, and traditional bath was performed every three days to those in the control group. Fisher's exact test and x2 test were used to analyze the data. Results: MDRO were found in 6 patients of the experimental group and in 15 patients of the control group. The difference was statistically significant (p= .016). HAI occurred in 2 patients of the experimental group and in 7 patients of the control group. The difference was not statistically significant (p= .084). Conclusion: The results confirmed that daily bathing with CHG was effective in reducing the incidence of MDRO acquisition. Therefore, it is expected that daily bathing with CHG will be used as an effective nursing intervention to reduce the incidence of MDRO acquisition.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.31 no.4 s.85
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• pp.287-293
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• 2005

Pollen has been used for Prevention or treatment of certain diseases such as diabetes, arthritis, or cancer in traditional medicine. In addition, pollen is under investigation as a host cell for a gene expression. This study was undertaken to evaluate the immunologic safety of pollen intake. BALB/c mice were administered with 500, 50,5, or 0.5 mg/kg bw of lily pollen for five times a week for four weeks through gastric intubation. Comparing the control mice administered with distilled water, no significant changes were observed in body weight gain, weight of liver, spleen, lung, and his-topathological findings of liver and kidney of the mice groups administered with the pollen. Plasma level of IgG1, IgG2a, and IgE was not different among the groups. When splenic B lymphocytes were stimulated in vitro with lipopolysaccharides for 7 days, level of IgGl and IgGwa produced in the culture supernatants was not significantly different among the groups. Furthermore, no significant alteration was observed in IL-4 and $IFN{\gamma}$ producing ability with splenic T lymphocytes stimulated in vitro with phytohemagglutinins for 48 hours between the pollen-administered and the control mice. Overall, this study suggests that the lily pollen intake is Inducing no significant modulation of humoral and cell-mediated immunity in mice.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.78-100
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• 2009

This study is to protect peoples' life, minimize the property damage by coping with threats quickly and take more preventive measures in advance against nuclear bomb, CBR, and potential explosive. For this, CBRNE(Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosive) program research was used. Thanks to advance in technology, terrorist groups and even individuals make or keep nuclear and CBR weapons. And also it's likely that disaster and threats from a toxic gas, acute pathogens, accidents in the nuclear power plants and a high explosive could be happened a lot. Recently more organized terrorist groups maintain random attacks for unspecified individuals and also it's highly likely that a large-scale terrorist attack by WMD and CBRNEwill be done. To take strict measures against CBRNE attacks by terrorists is on the rise as an urgent national task. Moreover biological weapons are relatively easy and inexpensive to obtain or produce and cause mass casualties with a small amount. For this reason, more than 25 countries have already possessed them. In the 21 st century, the international safety environment marks the age of complicated threats : transnational threats such as comprehensive security and terror, organized crime, drug smuggling, illegal trade of weapons of mass destruction, and environmental disruption along with traditional security threats. These cause military threats, terror threats, and CBRNE threats in our daily life to grow. Therefore it needs to come up with measures in such areas as research development, policy, training program. Major industrial nations on CBRNE like USA, Canada, Switzerland, and Israel have implemented various educational programs. These researches could be utilized as basic materials for drawing up plans for civil defense, emergency services and worldwide countermeasures against CBRNE.