Effects of sevoflurane on collagen production and growth factor expression in rats with an excision wound

LEE, H.-J.,KWON, J.-Y.,SHIN, S.-W.,BAEK, S.-H.,CHOI, K.-U.,JEON, Y.-H.,KIM, W.-S.,BAE, J.-H.,CHOI, H.-J.,KIM, H.-K.,BAIK, S.-W. Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2010 Acta anaesthesiologica Scandinavica Vol.54 No.7

<P>Background</P><P>Sevoflurane is a widely used inhalation anesthetic, but there are no studies on its effect on the wound-healing process. This study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of exposure time to sevoflurane on wound healing.</P><P>Method</P><P>Male Sprague–Dawley rats were used. Two circular full-thickness skin defects 8 mm in diameter were made on the dorsum of the rats. The animals were divided into six groups according to exposed gas type and time: S1 (sevoflurane, 1 h), S4 (sevoflurane, 4 h), S8 (sevoflurane, 8 h), O1 (oxygen, 1 h), O4 (oxygen, 4 h), and O8 (oxygen, 8 h). The surface area of the wounds was measured 0, 1, 3, and 7 days after surgery. Separately, the mean blood pressures (MBP) and arterial oxygen pressures (PaO<SUB>2</SUB>) were monitored during the sevoflurane exposure. Collagen type I production and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) expression on the wound surface were analyzed. Routine histological analysis was also performed.</P><P>Result</P><P>Exposure duration to sevoflurane had no influence on MBP and PaO<SUB>2</SUB>. The reduction in wound size and collagen type I production was delayed in S8. The expression of TGF-β1 and bFGF on the wound surface in S8 was significantly attenuated in S8. The histology of the S8 demonstrated a delayed healing status.</P><P>Conclusions</P><P>Prolonged exposure to sevoflurane might alter the inflammatory phase of the wound-healing process by attenuation of growth factor expression such as TGF-β1 and bFGF and subsequently by reduced collagen production.</P>

Diagnostic usefulness of a T cell-based assay for latent tuberculosis infection in kidney transplant candidates before transplantation

Kim, S.-H.,Lee, S.-O.,Park, I.-A.,Park, S.J.,Choi, S.-H.,Kim, Y.S.,Woo, J.H.,Park, S.-K.,Park, J.S.,Kim, S.C.,Han, D.J. Blackwell Publishing Inc 2010 Transplant infectious disease Vol.12 No.2

<P>S.-H. Kim, S.-O. Lee, I.-A. Park, S.J. Park, S.-H. Choi, Y.S. Kim, J.H. Woo, S.-K. Park, J.S. Park, S.C. Kim, D.J. Han. Diagnostic usefulness of a T cell-based assay for latent tuberculosis infection in kidney transplant candidates before transplantation.Transpl Infect Dis 2010: <B>12:</B> 113–119. All rights reserved</P><P>Background</P><P>The presence of latent tuberculosis (TB) infection (LTBI) should be evaluated before kidney transplantation. Although a new T cell-based assay for diagnosing LTBI gave promising results, this assay has not yet been compared with the tuberculin skin test (TST) for diagnosing LTBI in renal transplant candidates before transplantation.</P><P>Patients and methods</P><P>All adult patients admitted to a single institute for renal transplantation over a 1-year period were prospectively enrolled. A clinically predictive risk of LTBI was defined as: (i) recent close contact with a person with pulmonary TB; (ii) abnormal chest radiography; (iii) a history of untreated or inadequately treated TB; or (iv) a new infection (i.e., a recent conversion of TST).</P><P>Results</P><P>Of 209 renal recipients, 47 (22%) had a positive TST≥5 mm, 21 (10%) had a positive TST≥10 mm, 65 (30%) had a positive T-SPOT.<I>TB</I> test, and 25 (12%) had an indeterminate T-SPOT.<I>TB</I> test. The induration size of TST was significantly associated with a high positivity rate on T-SPOT.<I>TB</I> (<I>P</I><0.001). Agreement between T-SPOT.<I>TB</I> test and TST≥10 mm was fair (<I>k</I>=0.24, 95% confidence interval 0.11–0.36). However, neither univariate nor multivariate analysis showed any association between the clinical risk for LTBI and positivity on T-SPOT.<I>TB</I> or TST.</P><P>Conclusion</P><P>T-SPOT.<I>TB</I> test was more frequently positive than TST in renal transplant candidates. However, further longitudinal studies are awaited to determine whether the ability of T-SPOT.<I>TB</I> assay to detect LTBI in renal transplant recipients can better predict the development of TB than can TST after transplantation.</P>

Cytokine secreted by S100A9 via TLR4 in monocytes delays neutrophil apoptosis by inhibition of caspase 9/3 pathway

Lee, N.R.,Park, B.S.,Kim, S.Y.,Gu, A.,Kim, D.H.,Lee, J.S.,Kim, I.S. Saunders Scientific Publications, W.B. Saunders ; 2016 Cytokine Vol.86 No.-

Dysregulation of neutrophil apoptosis causes pathogenesis and aggravation of allergy. S100A9 exists as one of the proteins in the neutrophils, triggering inflammatory responses by activating the immune cells. In this study, we investigated whether S100A9 affects constitutive neutrophil apoptosis by activating the monocytes in normal and allergic subjects. Supernatant from human monocytic THP-1 cells after treatment with S100A9 suppressed normal neutrophil apoptosis by inhibiting the activations of caspase 9 and caspase 3. S100A9 upregulated the release of MCP-1, IL-6, and IL-8 in THP-1 cells. An increase in cytokine was suppressed by CLI-095, a Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4 inhibitor, PP2, a Src inhibitor, rottlerin, a PKCδ inhibitor, MAP kinase inhibitors, including PD98059, SB202190, and SP600125, and BAY-11-7085, an NF-κB inhibitor. Src, PKCδ, ERK½, p38 MAPK, and JNK were phosphorylated by S100A9. The phosphorylation of Src and PKCδ was suppressed by CLI-095, and the activation of ERK½, p38 MAPK, and JNK was inhibited by CLI-095, PP2, and rottlerin. S100A9 induced NF-κB activity, and the activation was suppressed by CLI-095, PP2, rottlerin, and MAPK kinase inhibitors. In normal and allergic subjects, supernatant from normal and allergic monocytes after stimulation with S100A9 suppressed normal and allergic neutrophil apoptosis, respectively; MCP-1, IL-6, and IL-8 in the supernatant was increased by S100A9. The cytokine secretion induced by S100A9 is related to TLR4, Src, PKCδ, ERK½, p38 MAPK, JNK, and NF-κB. Taken together, S100A9 induces anti-apoptotic effect on normal and allergic neutrophils by increasing cytokine secretion of monocytes. These findings may help us to better understand neutrophil apoptosis regulated by S100A9 and pathogenesis of allergic diseases.

S6K1 Phosphorylation of H2B Mediates EZH2 Trimethylation of H3: A Determinant of Early Adipogenesis

Yi, S.,Um, S.,Lee, J.,Yoo, J.,Bang, S.,Park, E.,Lee, M.,Nam, K.,Jeon, Y.,Park, J.,You, J.,Lee, S.J.,Bae, G.U.,Rhie, J.,Kozma, Sara C.,Thomas, G.,Han, J.W. Cell Press 2016 Molecular Cell Vol.62 No.3

S6K1 has been implicated in a number of key metabolic responses, which contribute to obesity. Critical among these is the control of a transcriptional program required for the commitment of mesenchymal stem cells to the adipocytic lineage. However, in contrast to its role in the cytosol, the functions and targets of nuclear S6K1 are unknown. Here, we show that adipogenic stimuli trigger nuclear translocation of S6K1, leading to H2BS36 phosphorylation and recruitment of EZH2 to H3, which mediates H3K27 trimethylation. This blocks Wnt gene expression, inducing the upregulation of PPARγ and Cebpa and driving increased adipogenesis. Consistent with this finding, white adipose tissue from S6K1-deficient mice exhibits no detectable H2BS36 phosphorylation or H3K27 trimethylation, whereas both responses are highly elevated in obese humans or in mice fed a high-fat diet. These findings define an S6K1-dependent mechanism in early adipogenesis, contributing to the promotion of obesity.

<i>S100A9</i> and <i>EGFR</i> gene signatures predict disease progression in muscle invasive bladder cancer patients after chemotherapy

Kim, W. T.,Kim, J.,Yan, C.,Jeong, P.,Choi, S. Y.,Lee, O. J.,Chae, Y. B.,Yun, S. J.,Lee, S. C.,Kim, W. J. Oxford University Press 2014 Annals of Oncology Vol.25 No.5

<P>In our previous gene expression profile analysis, IL1B, S100A8, S100A9, and EGFR were shown to be important mediators of muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) progression. The aim of the present study was to investigate the ability of these gene signatures to predict disease progression after chemotherapy in patients with locally recurrent or metastatic MIBC. Patients with locally advanced MIBC who received chemotherapy were enrolled. The expression signatures of four genes were measured and carried out further functional analysis to confirm our findings. Two of the four genes, S100A9 and EGFR, were determined to significantly influence disease progression (P = 0.023, 0.045, respectively). Based on a receiver operating characteristic curve, a cut-off value for disease progression was determined. Patients with the good-prognostic signature group had a significantly longer time to progression and cancer-specific survival time than those with the poor-prognostic signature group (P < 0.001, 0.042, respectively). In the multivariate Cox regression analysis, gene signature was the only factor that significantly influenced disease progression [hazard ratio: 4.726, confidence interval: 1.623-13.763, P = 0.004]. In immunohistochemical analysis, S100A9 and EGFR positivity were associated with disease progression after chemotherapy. Protein expression of S100A9/EGFR showed modest correlation with gene expression of S100A9/EGFR (r = 0.395, P = 0.014 and r = 0.453, P = 0.004). Our functional analysis provided the evidence demonstrating that expression of S100A9 and EGFR closely associated chemoresistance, and that inhibition of S100A9 and EGFR may sensitize bladder tumor cells to the cisplatin-based chemotherapy. The S100A9/EGFR level is a novel prognostic marker to predict the chemoresponsiveness of patients with locally recurrent or metastatic MIBC.</P>

Predicting temporal shifts in the spring occurrence of overwintered Scotinophara lurida (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) and rice phenology in Korea with climate change

Lee, H.,Kang, W. S.,Ahn, M. I.,Cho, K.,Lee, J. H. Springer Science + Business Media 2016 International journal of biometeorology Vol.60 No.1

<P>Climate change could shift the phenology of insects and plants and alter their linkage in space and time. We examined the synchrony of rice and its insect pest, Scotinophara lurida (Burmeister), under the representative concentration pathways (RCP) 8.5 climate change scenario by comparing the mean spring immigration time of overwintered S. lurida with the mean rice transplanting times in Korea. The immigration time of S. lurida was estimated using an overwintered adult flight model. The rice transplanting time of three cultivars (early, medium, and medium-late maturing) was estimated by forecasting the optimal cultivation period using leaf appearance and final leaf number models. A temperature increase significantly advanced the 99 % immigration time of S. lurida from Julian day 192.1 in the 2000s to 178.4 in the 2050s and 163.1 in the 2090s. In contrast, rice transplanting time was significantly delayed in the early-maturing cultivar from day 141.2 in the 2000s to 166.7 in the 2050s and 190.6 in the 2090s, in the medium-maturing cultivar from day 130.6 in the 2000s to 156.6 in the 2050s and 184.7 in the 2090s, and in the medium-late maturing cultivar from day 128.5 in 2000s to 152.9 in the 2050s and 182.3 in the 2090s. These simulation results predict a significant future phenological asynchrony between S. lurida and rice in Korea.</P>

S nutrition alleviates salt stress by maintaining the assemblage of photosynthetic organelles in Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.)

Park, S. H.,Lee, B. R.,Lee, J. H.,Kim, T. H. Springer Science + Business Media 2016 Plant growth regulation Vol.79 No.3

<P>To assess the roles of sulfur (S) nutrition in salt stress tolerance in Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.). The plants grown in S-supplied or S-deprived condition for 4 weeks were exposed to salt stress with 100 mM NaCl or non-salt stress, respectively, for 21 days. Osmotic potential was significantly decreased by salt stress from day 14. Photosynthetic pigments such as chlorophyll and carotenoid were decreased by salt stress which was more severe in the absence of S, but their content was largely recovered in the presence of S-nutrition. The proteomic analysis of multi-protein complexes in the thylakoid by BN-PAGE showed that the expression of PSI, PSII and RuBisCo level was repressed under salt stress in the absence of S, whereas their expression was largely recovered by S supply. Enzymatic activity confirmed the responses of RuBisCo, estimated by the BN-PAGE, showing a decreased activity in S-deprived and/or salt stressed levels. The decreased RuBisCo activity was significantly related to S content as affected by S nutrition and/or salt stress. Significant relationship between S content and Na, K, Fe content was also observed. These results indicate that S-nutrition modulates the negative responses to salt stress tolerance in photosynthetic organelles of P. pratensis.</P>

Investigation of the electrical and optical properties of InAs/InGaAs dot in a well solar cell

Lee, S.H.,Han, I.S.,Sohn, C.W.,Jo, H.J.,Kim, J.S.,Lee, S.J.,Noh, S.K.,Kim, J.O. Elsevier 2015 Current Applied Physics Vol.15 No.11

The electroreflectance (ER) and current-voltage (J-V) of InAs/InGaAs dots in a well (DWELL) solar cell (SC) were measured to examine the optical and electrical properties. To investigate the carrier capturing and escaping effects in the quantum dot (QD) states the above and below optical biases of the GaAs band gap were used. In the reverse bias region of the J-V curve, the tunneling effect in the QD states was observed at low temperature. The ideality factors (n) were calculated from the J-V curves taken from various optical bias intensities (I<SUB>ex</SUB>). The changes in the ideality factor (n) and short circuit current (J<SUB>SC</SUB>) were attributed mainly to carrier capture at low temperature, whereas the carrier escaping effect was dominant at room temperature. ER measurements revealed a decrease in the junction electric field (F<SUB>J</SUB>) due to the photovoltaic effect, which was independent of the optical bias source at the same temperature. At low temperature, the reduction of photovoltaic effect could be explained by the enhancement carrier capturing effect due to the strong carrier confinement in QDs.

Reactivities of organic isothiocyanates and thiocyanates toward dialkyl bis(phosphine) complexes of palladium(II) and platinum(II)

Lee, S.G.,Choi, K.Y.,Kim, Y.J.,Park, S.,Lee, S.W. Pergamon Press 2015 Polyhedron Vol.85 No.-

Room-temperature reactions of trans-[PdEt<SUB>2</SUB>L<SUB>2</SUB>] (L=PMe<SUB>3</SUB>, PEt<SUB>3</SUB>, PMe<SUB>2</SUB>Ph) with organic isothiocyanates [R-NCS; R=benzyl; CH(CH<SUB>3</SUB>)Ph, R-(-) and S-(+); indanyl, S-(+)] afforded the S,S-coordinated Pd(II) complexes [Pd(S<SUB>2</SUB>C?N-R)L<SUB>2</SUB>] containing a dithiocarbonimidato (S<SUB>2</SUB>C?N-R) group. Similar reactions involving allyl isothiocyanates produced the cationic η<SUP>3</SUP>-allyl Pd complex [Pd(η<SUP>3</SUP>-allyl)(PMe<SUB>3</SUB>)<SUB>2</SUB>]<SUP>+</SUP>(NCS)<SUP>-</SUP>. When [Pd(S<SUB>2</SUB>C?N-R)(PMe<SUB>3</SUB>)<SUB>2</SUB>] was treated with 1equiv of a chelating phosphine [L-L=depe (1,2-bis(diethylphosphino)ethane) and dmpe (1,2-bis(dimethylphosphino)ethane)], the corresponding complexes [Pd(S<SUB>2</SUB>C?N-R)(L-L)] were produced. Reactions of trans-[PdEt<SUB>2</SUB>L<SUB>2</SUB>] (L=PMe<SUB>3</SUB>, PMe<SUB>2</SUB>Ph) with organic thiocyanates (R-SCN; R=benzyl, Et) resulted in the formation of [Pd(CN)<SUB>2</SUB>L<SUB>2</SUB>] and an organic disulfide by S-C bond cleavage of R-SCN. However, similar reactions of the dimethyl analogs, trans-[PdMe<SUB>2</SUB>L<SUB>2</SUB>] (L=PMe<SUB>3</SUB>, PEt<SUB>3</SUB>), with benzyl thiocyanate afforded different products, [Pd(NCS)<SUB>2</SUB>L<SUB>2</SUB>] or [PdMe(NCS)L<SUB>2</SUB>]. Treating [Pt(styrene)(PMe<SUB>3</SUB>)<SUB>2</SUB>] with benzyl isothiocyanate gave the S-coordinated dithiocarbonimidato Pt(II) complex, [Pt(S<SUB>2</SUB>C?N-R)(Me<SUB>3</SUB>P)<SUB>2</SUB>] (R=benzyl). In contrast, cis-[PtEt<SUB>2</SUB>(PMe<SUB>3</SUB>)<SUB>2</SUB>] reacted with the isothiocyanate to afford the trialkyl Pt(IV) complex [PtEt<SUB>2</SUB>(SCN)(CH<SUB>2</SUB>Ph)(PMe<SUB>3</SUB>)<SUB>2</SUB>].

Novel dentin phosphoprotein frameshift mutations in dentinogenesis imperfecta type II

Lee, K‐,E,Kang, H‐,Y,Lee, S‐,K,Yoo, S‐,H,Lee, J‐,C,Hwang, Y‐,H,Nam, KH,Kim, J‐,S,Park, J‐,C,Kim, J‐,W Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2011 Clinical genetics Vol.79 No.4

<P>Lee K‐E, Kang H‐Y, Lee S‐K, Yoo S‐H, Lee J‐C, Hwang Y‐H, Nam KH, Kim J‐S, Park J‐C, Kim J‐W. Novel dentin phosphoprotein frameshift mutations in dentinogenesis imperfecta type II.</P><P>The dentin sialophosphoprotein (<I>DSPP</I>) gene encodes the most abundant non‐collagenous protein in tooth dentin and DSPP protein is cleaved into several segments including the highly phosphorylated dentin phosphoprotein (DPP). Mutations in the <I>DSPP</I> gene have been solely related to non‐syndromic form of hereditary dentin defects. We recruited three Korean families with dentinogenesis imperfecta (DGI) type II and sequenced the exons and exon–intron boundaries of the <I>DSPP</I> gene based on the candidate gene approach. Direct sequencing of PCR products and allele‐specific cloning of the highly repetitive exon 5 revealed novel single base pair (bp) deletional mutations (c.2688delT and c.3560delG) introducing hydrophobic amino acids in the hydrophilic repeat domain of the DPP coding region. All affected members of the three families showed exceptionally rapid pulp chambers obliteration, even before tooth eruption. Individuals with the c.3560delG mutation showed only mild, yellowish tooth discoloration, in contrast to the affected individuals from two families with c.2688delT mutation. We believe that these results will help us to understand the molecular pathogenesis of DGI type II as well as the normal process of dentin biomineralization.</P>