• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.57-64
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• 2005

At diagnosis, the majority of patients with gastric cancer are found to have local invasion or distant organ metastasis, even though the sole measure for a complete cure is a curative resection. A curative resection is hardly applicable for those with invasion and metastasis; thus, trials with neoadjuvant chemotherapy for downstaging the cancer should be considered. Docetaxel is a semisynthetic taxane that promotes tubulin polymerization and inhibits microtubule depolymerization. In recent studies, many metastatic gastric cancers were treated using neoadjuvant chemotherapy with docetaxel, and the response rates were reported. We report here two cases of locally advanced, non-resectable gastric cancer that were candidates for a curative resection after induction chemotherapy with docetaxel and cisplatin.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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• 2016.05a
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• pp.11-11
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• 2016

Penicillium species are commonly isolated from various outdoor and indoor environments, including marine environments such as sponges, algae and sand. Penicillium is especially important because numerous bioactive compounds have been isolated. Penicillium was the most common species in intertidal zone in Korea, however the diversity and ecological roles of Penicillium in intertidal zone are not clarified. We explored diversity and ecological roles of marine-derived Penicillium from tidal flat and sea sand in Korea. The diversity of marine-derived Penicillium from Korea was investigated using both culture-dependent and culture-independent approach by ${\beta}$-tubulin sequence. In addition, we evaluated optimal temperature, halo-tolerance, and enzyme activity of Penicillium strains, such as extracellular alginase, endoglucanase, ${\beta}$-glucosidase, and protease. For culture-dependent approach, a total of 182 strains of 62 Penicillium species were isolated, with 53 species being identified. The most common species was Penicillium oxalicum, followed by P. crustosum, P. brasilianum, P. koreense, and P. griseofulvum. Species richness and composition were not significantly different by season, substrates, and seaside. For culture-independent approach using Illumina sequencing, 73 OTUSs were detected. The most frequently observed species was P. antarcticum, followed by P. koreense, P. crustosum, and P. brevicompactum. Diversity of Penicillium was higher during winter season than during summer season and in western sea than in southern sea, respectively. Community structure was significantly different by season and sea side. 52 species were detected by both methods. Unique species were isolated from each of methods - 10 from culture methods and 21 from Illumina sequencing. Furthermore, salinity adaption of the Penicillium varied depending on species. Many Penicillium species showed endoglucanase, ${\beta}$-glucosidase, and protease activity. Some species including P. paneum and P. javanicum degraded the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Thus, our results demonstrate that intertidal zone in Korea harbors diverse Penicillium community and marine-derived Penicillium play important ecological roles as decomposers of organic material in marine environments.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.12
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• pp.1740-1748
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• 2012

A home-made meju sample contaminated naturally with aflatoxins was used for isolation of fungal strains. Overall, 230 fungal isolates were obtained on dichloran rosebengal chloramphenicol (DRBC) and dichloran 18% glycerol (DG18) agar plates. Morphological characteristics and molecular analysis of a partial ${\beta}$-tubulin gene and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of rDNA were used for the identification of the isolates. The fungal isolates were divided into 7 genera: Aspergillus, Eurotium, Penicillium, Eupenicillium, Mucor, Lichtheimia, and Curvularia. Three strains from 56 isolates of the A. oryzae/flavus group were found to be aflatoxigenic A. flavus, by the presence of the aflatoxin biosynthesis genes and confirmatory aflatoxin production by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The predominant isolate from DRBC plates was A. oryzae (42 strains, 36.2%), whereas that from DG18 was A. candidus (61 strains, 53.5%). Out of the 230 isolates, the most common species was A. candidus (34.3%) followed by A. oryzae (22.2%), Mucor circinelloides (13.0%), P. polonicum (10.0%), A. tubingensis (4.8%), and L. ramosa (3.5%). A. flavus and E. chevalieri presented occurrence levels of 2.2%, respectively. The remaining isolates of A. unguis, P. oxalicum, Eupenicillium cinnamopurpureum, A. acidus, E. rubrum, P. chrysogenum, M. racemosus, and C. inaequalis had lower occurrence levels of < 2.0%.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.349-360
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• 2018

Autophagy has been studied as a therapeutic strategy for cardiovascular diseases. However, insufficient studies have been reported concerning the influence of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) through autophagy regulation. The aim of the present study was to determine the effects of VSMCs on the regulation of autophagy under in vitro conditions similar to vascular status of the equipped micro-tubule target agent-eluting stent and increased release of platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB). Cell viability and proliferation were measured using MTT and cell counting assays. Immunofluorescence using an $anti-{\alpha}-tubulin$ antibody was performed to determine microtubule dynamic formation. Cell apoptosis was measured by cleavage of caspase-3 using western blot analysis, and by nuclear fragmentation using a fluorescence assay. Autophagy activity was assessed by microtubule-associated protein light chain 3-II (LC-II) using western blot analysis. Levels of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) were measured using $H_2DCFDA$. The proliferation and viability of VSMCs were inhibited by microtubule regulation. Additionally, microtubule-regulated and PDGF-BB-stimulated VSMCs increased the cleavage of caspase-3 more than only the microtubule-regulated condition, similar to that of LC3-II, implying autophagy. Inhibitory autophagy of microtubule-regulated and PDGF-BB-stimulated VSMCs resulted in low viability. However, enhancement of autophagy maintained survival through the reduction of ROS. These results suggest that the apoptosis of conditioned VSMCs is decreased by the blocking generation of ROS via the promotion of autophagy, and proliferation is also inhibited. Thus, promoting autophagy as a therapeutic target for vascular restenosis and atherosclerosis may be a good strategy.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.414-422
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• 2016

Eucalyptus dieback disease, caused by Cylindrocladium scoparium, has occurred in last few years in large Eucalyptus planting areas in China and other countries. Rapid, simple, and reliable diagnostic techniques are desired for the early detection of Eucalyptus dieback of C. scoparium prior to formulation of efficient control plan. For this purpose, three PCR-based methods of nested PCR, multiplex PCR, loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) were developed for detection of C. scoparium based on factor 1-alpha (tef1) and beta-tubulin gene in this study. All of the three methods showed highly specific to C. scoparium. The sensitivities of the nested PCR and LAMP were much higher than the multiplex PCR. The sensitivity of multiplex PCR was also higher than regular PCR. C. scoparium could be detected within 60 min from infected Eucalyptus plants by LAMP, while at least 2 h was needed by the rest two methods. Using different Eucalyptus tissues as samples for C. scoparium detection, all of the three PCR-based methods showed much better detection results than regular PCR. Base on the results from this study, we concluded that any of the three PCR-based methods could be used as diagnostic technology for the development of efficient strategies of Eucalyptus dieback disease control. Particularly, LAMP was the most practical method in field application because of its one-step and rapid reaction, simple operation, single-tube utilization, and simple visualization of amplification products.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.565-574
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• 2021

Astrocytes are activated in response to brain damage. Here, we found that expression of Kir4.1, a major potassium channel in astrocytes, is increased in activated astrocytes in the injured brain together with upregulation of the neural stem cell markers, Sox2 and Nestin. Expression of Kir4.1 was also increased together with that of Nestin and Sox2 in neurospheres formed from dissociated P7 mouse brains. Using the Kir4.1 blocker BaCl₂ to determine whether Kir4.1 is involved in acquisition of stemness, we found that inhibition of Kir4.1 activity caused a concentration-dependent increase in sphere size and Sox2 levels, but had little effect on Nestin levels. Moreover, induction of differentiation of cultured neural stem cells by withdrawing epidermal growth factor and fibroblast growth factor from the culture medium caused a sharp initial increase in Kir4.1 expression followed by a decrease, whereas Sox2 and Nestin levels continuously decreased. Inhibition of Kir4.1 had no effect on expression levels of Sox2 or Nestin, or the astrocyte and neuron markers glial fibrillary acidic protein and β-tubulin III, respectively. Taken together, these results indicate that Kir4.1 may control gain of stemness but not differentiation of stem cells.

• Genes and Genomics
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• v.40 no.11
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• pp.1127-1136
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• 2018

The Greater Sudbury Region has been known as one of the most ecologically disturbed areas in Canada for the past century. Plant adaptation to environmental stressors often results in modifications in gene expression at the transcriptional level. The main objective of the present study was to compare the expression of genes associated with nickel resistance in Acer rubrum and Populus tremuloides growing in areas contaminated and uncontaminated with metals. Primers targeting Nramps4, Nas 3, At2G, MRP4 and alpha-tubulin genes were used to amplify cDNA of both species. The expression of the At2G gene, was $2{\times}$ and $9{\times}$ higher in P. tremuloides than in A. rubrum for St. Charles (uncontaminated site) and Kelly Lake (metal contaminated site), respectively. There was a much smaller difference between the two species for the Nramps 4 gene as its expression was $2.5{\times}$ and $3{\times}$ higher in P. tremuloides compared to A. rubrum from St. Charles and Kelly Lake, respectively. The same trend was observed for the MRP4 gene whose expression was $2{\times}$ and $14{\times}$ higher in P. tremuloides than in A. rubrum from St. Charles and Kelly Lake, respectively. For the Nas 3 gene, the expression was similar in both sites. This gene was upregulated $11{\times}$ and $10{\times}$ in P. tremuloides compared to A. rubrum in samples from St. Charles and Kelly Lake, respectively. In general, no significant difference was observed between the metal contaminated and uncontaminated sites for gene expression. In depth analysis revealed that AT2G and MRP4 genes were significantly down regulated in A. rubrum from the metal contaminated sites compared to those from uncontaminated areas, but environmental factors driving this differential gene expression couldn't be established.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.359-367
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• 2018

As an effort to explore fungal diversity, fungal survey was undertaken in 2017 in the vicinity of demilitarized zone (DMZ) located in Yeoncheon-gun, Gyeonggi-do, Korea. For the survey, wild plants and soils were sampled and subjected to fungal isolation. A total of 18 genera and 23 species including five unrecorded fungal species, Mortierella sclerotiella, M. sossauensis, M. verticillate, Eupenicillium saturniforme, and Trichoderma hispanicum, were obtained from the survey. This study described their morphological characteristics including colony features formed on media, light microscopic images and molecular characteristics of nucleotide sequences of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, 18S and 28S rDNA, ${\beta}-tubulin$ gene, calmodulin, and translation elongation factor $1{\alpha}$ ($tef1{\alpha}$) nDNA genes.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.62 no.2
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• pp.153-165
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• 2019

Objective : Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a very serious health problem, usually caused by a trauma and accompanied by elevated levels of inflammation indicators. Stem cell-based therapy is promising some valuable strategies for its functional recovery. Nestin-positive progenitor and/or stem cells (SC) isolated from pancreatic islets (PI) show mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) characteristics. For this reason, we aimed to analyze the effects of rat pancreatic islet derived stem cell (rPI-SC) delivery on functional recovery, as well as the levels of inflammation factors following SCI. Methods : rPI-SCs were isolated, cultured and their MSC characteristics were determined through flow cytometry and immunofluorescence analysis. The experimental rat population was divided into three groups : 1) laminectomy & trauma, 2) laminectomy & trauma & phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), and 3) laminectomy+trauma+SCs. Green fluorescent protein (GFP) labelled rPI-SCs were transplanted into the injured rat spinal cord. Their motilities were evaluated with Basso, Beattie and Bresnahan (BBB) Score. After 4-weeks, spinal cord sections were analyzed for GFP labeled SCs and stained for vimentin, $S100{\beta}$, brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), 2',3'-cyclic-nucleotide 3'-phosphodiesterase (CNPase), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and proinflammatory (interleukin [IL]-6, transforming growth factor $[TGF]-{\beta}$, macrophage inflammatory protein [MIP]-2, myeloperoxidase [MPO]) and anti-inflammatory (IL-1 receptor antagonis) factors. Results : rPI-SCs were revealed to display MSC characteristics and express neural and glial cell markers including BDNF, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), fibronectin, microtubule associated protein-2a,b (MAP2a,b), ${\beta}3$-tubulin and nestin as well as anti-inflammatory prostaglandin E2 receptor, EP3. The BBB scores showed significant motor recovery in group 3. GFP-labelled cells were localized on the injury site. In addition, decreased proinflammatory factor levels and increased intensity of anti-inflammatory factors were determined. Conclusion : Transplantation of PI-SCs might be an effective strategy to improve functional recovery following spinal cord trauma.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.172-177
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• 2019

A duplex PCR method was developed for simultaneous detection and identification of tobacco root rot pathogens Phytophthora nicotianae and Thielaviopsis basicola. The specific primers for P. nicotianae were developed based on its internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of ribosomal gene, ras gene and hgd gene, while the specific primers for T. basicola were designed based on its ITS regions and ${\beta}$-tubulin gene. The specificity of the primers was determined using isolates of P. nicotianae, T. basicola and control samples. The results showed that the target pathogens could be detected from diseased tobacco plants by a combination of the specific primers. The sensitivity limitation was $100fg/{\mu}l$ of pure genomic DNA of the pathogens. This new assay can be applied to screen out target pathogens rapidly and reliably in one PCR and will be an important tool for the identification and precise early prediction of these two destructive diseases of tobacco.