Letter to the Editor : The Clinical Efficacy of Azathioprine in Korean Patients with Atopic Dermatitis

( Hemin Lee ),( Jung U Shin ),( Kwang Hoon Lee ) 대한피부과학회 2015 Annals of Dermatology Vol.27 No.6

FCP 4 : Prediction of MED in vitiligo patients using melanin index for individualization of NUVB starting dose

( Hemin Lee ),( Yoon Jee Kim ),( Sang Ho Oh ) 대한피부과학회 2013 대한피부과학회 학술발표대회집 Vol.65 No.2

Background: Narrow band ultraviolet B (NUVB) is a commonly used treatment option for vitiligo although there is difficulty choosing the appropriate starting dose. Objectives: In search of an efficient tool for setting up a starting dose for NUVB, we measured melanin index of lesional and non-lesional skin of vitiligo along with MED values. Methods: We selected 10 Korean patients with SPT III-IV. All patients denied of sun exposure or treatment for vitiligo in the past 3 months. Prior to performing photo test, we measured melanin index from both lesional and non-lesional area using Mexameter. Results: The average of MED in lesion was 467.5 and non-lesion was 690; MED of lesional area was approximately 67.75% of non-lesional skin. Average of melanin index of lesional skin was 59.3 and 119.9 in non-lesional skin. In addition, there was correlation between lesional MED with melanin index of lesional skin (r=0.730, p=0.017) and non-lesional skin (r=0.651, p=0.042). Non-lesional MED value and non-lesional melanin index (r=0.745, p=0.013) also showed correlation Conclusion: Our study observed MED and melanin index among Korean population with relatively similar SPT and a wide range of melanin index values were observed. Based on correlation between MED and melanin index, we believe that lesional MED can be predicted from lesional melanin index of each individual. Furthermore, if such prediction be possible, melanin index can be applied as a practical tool in deciding individualized starting dosage.

Exploration on clinical, histological, and skin microbiome characteristics in atopic head and neck dermatitis

( Hemin Lee ),( Howard Chu ),( Jung U Shin ),( Kwang Hoon Lee ) 대한피부과학회 2015 대한피부과학회 학술발표대회집 Vol.67 No.2

Background: Head and neck dermatitis (HND) is a unique subtype of atopic dermatitis (AD) which commonly manifests in late adolescence or adulthood. However, HND is often underappreciated in clinics and detailed studies characterizing this specific AD subtype is very limited. Objectives: This study sought to analyze the clinical, histological, and microbiome characteristics of HND patients. Methods: A database of 5007 AD patients visiting a single university level hospital was analyzed for clinical analysis. For histological analysis, facial lesions from 3 normal and 3 HND patients were chosen and underwent imageanalysis and immunohistochemistry. Microbiome analysis was performed on HND, non-HND AD patients, and control, 5 patients for each group with 16S rRNA PCR amplification and sequencing. Results: The results showed HND patients comprising approximately 2.4% of AD patients in an outpatient clinic setting. Histologically, HND specimen showed thickened epidermis with increased vascular components and dermal inflammatory infiltrates. Lastly, the microbiome analysis of HND in comparison to N-HND AD and NL subjects showed no significant difference in the diversity of bacterial community. Conclusion: This study reaffirm that HND is a clinical subtype of AD that needs distinction from classical AD. In the future, further investigation of skin microbiome and inflammatory factors involved in vasculatures of AD facial regions will lead to development of potential therapeutic targets.

Maximal chain of ideals and $n$-maximal ideal

Hemin A. Ahmad,Parween A. Hummadi 대한수학회 2023 대한수학회논문집 Vol.38 No.2

In this paper, the concept of a maximal chain of ideals is introduced. Some properties of such chains are studied. We introduce some other concepts related to a maximal chain of ideals such as the $n$-maximal ideal, the maximal dimension of a ring $S$ $(M.\dim(S))$, the maximal depth of an ideal $K$ of $S$ $(M.d(K))$ and maximal height of an ideal $K(M.d(K))$.

Clinical, histological, and skin microbiome characteristics of head and neck dermatitis in adult atopic dermatitis

( Hemin Lee ),( Howard Chu ),( Jungsoo Lee ),( Jung U Shin ),( Chang Ook Park ),( Ji Yeon Noh ),( Seo Hyung Kim ),( Ji Hye Kim ),( Kwang Hoon Lee ) 대한피부과학회 2015 대한피부과학회 학술발표대회집 Vol.67 No.2

Background: Head and neck dermatitis (HND) is a unique subtype of atopic dermatitis (AD) which commonly manifests in late adolescence or adulthood. Its presentation of chronic eczematous lesions with diffuse erythema and pruritus is often refractory to therapy and affects patient’s quality of life. However, HND is often underappreciated in clinics and detailed studies characterizing this specific AD subtype is very limited.Objectives: This study sought to analyze the clinical and histological characteristics of HND patients. Methods: Clinical and histological features of HND patients were analyzed. Also, microbiome analysis of HND patients in comparison to non-HND(N-HND) AD andnormal(NL) subjects was performed. Results: Compared to N-HND patients, HND initially presented with increased severity and elevated serum total IgE and serum specific IgE reactivity to Dermatophagoides farinae. Histologically, HND specimen showed thickened epidermis with increased vascular components and dermal inflammatory infiltrates. Although staining intensity did not differ between HND and NL specimen, the absolute number of staining intensity measurement was all higher in HND, supporting a contributory role of pro- inflammatory cytokines, chemokines, and neuroinflammatory factors in the HND pathogenesis. Conclusion: HND is a clinical subtype of AD that needs distinction from classical AD. Further investigation of skin microbiome and inflammatory factors will lead to development of potential therapeutic targets.

Characteristics of Atopic Dermatitis in a Post-childhood Atopic March Group

( Hemin Lee ),( Jung U Shin ),( Jungsoo Lee ),( Howard Chu ),( Kwang Hoon Lee ) 대한피부과학회 2017 大韓皮膚科學會誌 Vol.55 No.2

Background: Little knowledge is available on the characteristic differences between patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) with and without atopic march after childhood. Objective: To observe and compare the phenotypes of patients with AD in regards to atopic march tendency at a single point. Methods: We enrolled patients with AD aged between 10 and 30 years. The patients were divided into the atopic march and non-atopic march groups on the basis of an investigator-designed survey questionnaire, and their serum-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels or results of the skin prick test were compared. Results: In a total of 182 patients enrolled in the study, 93 patients with atopic march and 89 patients with non-atopic march were observed. When their serum-specific IgE levels or results of the skin prick test were compared between the two groups, there was no significant difference, except for a in the atopic march group. Analysis of AD severity, family history of allergic diseases, and total IgE levels between the two groups showed no statistically significant differences. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that although no apparent phenotype characteristics could differentiate the presence of atopic march, the history of the patient`s allergic diseases should be revalidated, and clinicians should watch out for future developments of atopic march when a patient shows a high-class sensitization rate to dust mite. (Korean J Dermatol 2017;55(2):110∼115)

Water Splitting: Engineering Highly Ordered Iron Titanate Nanotube Array Photoanodes for Enhanced Solar Water Splitting Activity (Adv. Funct. Mater. 35/2017)

Zhang, Hemin,Kim, Ju Hun,Kim, Jin Hyun,Lee, Jae Sung Wiley - VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA 2017 Advanced Functional Materials Vol.27 No.35

Hybrid Microwave Annealing Synthesizes Highly Crystalline Nanostructures for (Photo)electrocatalytic Water Splitting

Zhang, Hemin,Lee, Jae Sung American Chemical Society 2019 Accounts of chemical research Vol. No.

<P><B>Conspectus</B></P><P>Hydrogen is regarded as an ideal energy carrier for the <I>hydrogen economy</I> that could replace the current hydrocarbon economy in order to achieve global energy security and mitigate climate change. For this purpose, H<SUB>2</SUB> has to be produced from renewable sources (e.g., solar and wind) without producing global-warming CO<SUB>2</SUB>.</P><P>(Photo)electrolysis of water into H<SUB>2</SUB> and O<SUB>2</SUB> is one of the most promising technologies for the production of renewable H<SUB>2</SUB>, which requires (photo)electrocatalysts of high efficiency, chemical robustness, and scalability. An essential attribute required for high-efficiency (photo)electrodes is high crystallinity with few defects to facilitate charge transfer without recombination. To this end, fabrication of photoelectrodes is usually completed with high temperature thermal annealing in a furnace. However, conventional thermal annealing (CTA) always results in undesirable crystal sintering, which reduces the surface area, and damage to the transparent conducting oxide (TCO) substrate. An emerging alternative method, hybrid microwave annealing (HMA), offers the beneficial effect of the high-temperature annealing (crystallinity) while minimizing its negative effects of sintering and TCO damage, enabling the fabrication of efficient (photo)electrodes for water splitting.</P><P>HMA combines direct microwave heating with additional heating from an effective microwave absorber (called a susceptor), thereby avoiding a nonuniform temperature distribution between the interior and exterior of the synthesized material. More importantly, an extremely high temperature of the entire sample can be reached in only a few minutes. Compared with CTA, HMA has several advantages in the preparation of (photo)electrodes: (i) formation of a high-purity phase; (ii) high crystallinity with fewer defects; (iii) preservation of the original nanostructure; (iv) less damage to the TCO substrate for photoelectrodes; (v) smaller nanocrystals and uniform dispersion of catalyst particles. Overall, HMA is a convenient, ultrafast, and energy-economical technology for the synthesis of efficient (photo)electrodes.</P><P>In this Account, we discuss recent progress made in our laboratory on HMA for preparing photoanodes (Fe<SUB>2</SUB>O<SUB>3</SUB>, BiVO<SUB>4</SUB>, ZnFe<SUB>2</SUB>O<SUB>4</SUB>, and Fe<SUB>2</SUB>TiO<SUB>5</SUB>), photocathodes (Cu<SUB>2</SUB>O and CuFeO<SUB>2</SUB>), and a graphene-based electrocatalyst (MoS<SUB>2</SUB>/graphene composite), which exhibit distinctive behavior and efficient performance in (photo)electrocatalytic water splitting. In particular, we have advanced the HMA technique further to synthesize hematite-based photoanodes with core-shell heterojunction nanorods (Nb,Sn:Fe<SUB>2</SUB>O<SUB>3</SUB>@FeNbO<SUB>4</SUB> and Ta,Sn:Fe<SUB>2</SUB>O<SUB>3</SUB>@FeTaO<SUB>4</SUB>) by solid-solid interface reaction, which simultaneously achieves multiple doping effects (Nb or Ta, Sn) to improve the photoelectrocatalysis of water splitting. Thus, this Account focuses on the synthetic aspects of HMA, which may offer new research opportunities for the synthesis of other metal oxide (photo)electrode materials and hybrid electrocatalysts in the fields of solar energy conversion and storage, secondary batteries, and H<SUB>2</SUB> fuel production.</P> [FIG OMISSION]</BR>

Engineering Highly Ordered Iron Titanate Nanotube Array Photoanodes for Enhanced Solar Water Splitting Activity

Zhang, Hemin,Kim, Ju Hun,Kim, Jin Hyun,Lee, Jae Sung Wiley (John WileySons) 2017 Advanced Functional Materials Vol.27 No.35

<P>Highly ordered iron titanate (Fe2TiO5) nanotube array photoanode is synthesized on F:SnO2 glass with ultrathin anodized aluminum oxide as a hard template. Highly crystalline, yet the nanotube array morphology-preserved Fe2TiO5 is fabricated by hybrid microwave annealing (HMA). The effects of the synthesis parameters on photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting activity under simulated sunlight are systematically studied including HMA time, pore size, wall thickness, and length of the nanotubes to optimize the nanotube array photoanode. In addition, triple modification strategies of TiO2 underlayer, hydrogen treatment, and FeNiOx cocatalyst loading effectively improve the PEC activity further. The systematically engineered nanotube array photoanode achieves a photocurrent density of 0.93 mA cm(-2) at 1.23 V-RHE under 1 sun (100 mW cm(-2)) irradiation, which corresponds to 2.6 times that of the previous best Fe2TiO5 photoanode. In addition, the photocurrent onset potential shifts cathodically by approximate to 280 mV relative to the pristine nanotube array electrode.</P>

Protein kinase A-dependent phosphorylation of B/K protein

Chin, Hemin,Choi, Sung-Ho,Jang, Yoon-Seong,Cho, Sung-Min,Kim, Ho-Shik,Lee, Jeong-Hwa,Jeong, Seong-Whan,Kim, In-Kyung,Kim, Grace J,Kwon, Oh-Joo Springer Science and Business Media LLC 2006 Experimental and molecular medicine Vol.38 No.2

<P>We have previously isolated a novel protein 'B/K' that contains two C2-like domains. Here, we report the isolation and mRNA distribution of a human B/K isoform, and protein kinase A (PKA)-dependent phosphorylation of the B/K protein. The 1.5 kb human B/K cDNA clone exhibits 89% and 97% identities with rat B/K in the sequences of nucleotide and amino acid, respectively. Human B/K isoform encodes a 474 amino acid protein and shows structural features similar to the rat counterpart including two C2 domains, three consensus sequences for PKA, absence of a transmembrane region, and conservation of the N-terminal cysteine cluster. On Northern and dot blot analyses, a 3.0 kb B/K transcript was abundantly present in human brain, kidney, and prostate. Among the brain regions, strong signals were observed in the frontal and temporal lobes, the hippocampus, the hypothalamus, the amygdala, the substantia nigra, and the pituitary. Recombinant B/K proteins containing three consensus sites for PKA was very efficiently phosphorylated in vitro by PKA catalytic subunit. B/K protein which was overexpressed in LLC-PK1 cells was also strongly phosphorylated in vivo by vasopressin analog DDAVP, and PKA-specific inhibitor H 89 as well as type 2 vasopressin receptor antagonist specifically suppressed DDAVP-induced B/K phosphorylation. These results suggest that B/K proteins play a role as potential substrates for PKA in the area where they are expressed.</P>