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>

5,7-dihydroxy-3,4,6-trimethoxyflavone inhibits the inflammatory effects induced by <i>Bacteroides fragilis</i> enterotoxin via dissociating the complex of heat shock protein 90 and I&kgr;B&agr; and I&kgr;B kinase-&ggr; in intestinal epithelial cell cultu

Kim, J. M.,Lee, D. H.,Kim, J. S.,Lee, J. Y.,Park, H.-G.,Kim, Y.-J.,Oh, Y.-K.,Jung, H. C.,Kim, S. I. Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2009 Clinical and experimental immunology Vol.155 No.3

<P>Summary</P><P>Enterotoxin produced by enterotoxigenic <I>Bacteroides fragilis</I> (BFT) has been associated with mucosal inflammation and diarrhoeal diseases. In this study, the anti-inflammatory molecular mechanism of 5,7-dihydroxy-3,4,6-trimethoxyflavone (eupatilin) was characterized in an HT-29 intestinal epithelial cell line stimulated with BFT. Pre-treatment of HT-29 cells with eupatilin decreased the production significantly of both interleukin (IL)-8 and prostaglandin E<SUB>2</SUB> induced by BFT in a dose-dependent manner. BFT-activated nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-&kgr;B) signals in HT-29 cells and pretreatment with eupatilin suppressed NF-&kgr;B activation that resulted in the significant inhibition of IL-8 and cyclo-oxygenase-2 expression. BFT-induced phosphorylation of both I&kgr;B&agr; and I&kgr;B kinase (IKK) signals was prevented in eupatilin-pretreated HT-29 cells. Transfection of siRNA for IKK-&agr; and IKK-&bgr; decreased the production of IL-8 and prostaglandin E<SUB>2</SUB>; however, the transfection of IKK-&bgr; siRNA showed a more significant reduction of BFT-induced I&kgr;B&agr; phosphorylation compared with that of IKK-&agr; siRNA. In addition, herbimycin A, a specific inhibitor of heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90), decreased the BFT-induced activation of IKK and NF-&kgr;B, suggesting that Hsp90 is associated with a pathway of IKK-NF-&kgr;B-IL-8/cyclo-oxygenase-2 gene signalling. Furthermore, eupatilin dissociated the complex between Hsp90 and IKK-&ggr; in BFT-stimulated HT-29 cells. These results suggest that eupatilin can suppress the NF-&kgr;B signalling pathway by targeting the Hsp90-IKK-&ggr; complex in intestinal epithelial cells and may attenuate BFT-induced inflammatory responses.</P>

Polymorphisms in the neurokinin-2 receptor gene are associated with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor-induced cough

Kim, T.-B.,Oh, S.-Y.,Park, H.-K.,Jeon, S.-G.,Chang, Y.-S.,Lee, K.-Y.,Cho, Y. S.,Chae, I.-H.,Kim, Y.-K.,Cho, S.-H.,Moon, H.-B.,Min, K.-U.,Kim, Y.-Y. Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2009 Journal of clinical pharmacy and therapeutics Vol.34 No.4

<P>Summary</P><P>Background and objective: </P><P>Treatment with angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors can induce chronic cough in many patients. Genetic variations in the neurokinin 2 receptor gene (NK2R) are significantly associated with cough sensitivity to capsaicin.</P><P>Methods: </P><P>This study assessed the relationship between genetic polymorphisms in the NK2R gene and chronic cough in 91 patients taking ACE inhibitors. Patients included in the study did not have chest abnormalities, postnasal drip, gastroesophageal reflux or a recent history of upper respiratory infection.</P><P>Results: </P><P>We detected two single nucleotide polymorphisms in the NK2R gene (i.e., Gly231Glu and Arg375His). The allelic frequencies at amino acid 231 were 36·3% for Gly/Gly, 49·5% for Gly/Glu and 14·3% for Glu/Glu. The allelic frequencies at amino acid 375 were 74·7% for Arg/Arg, 24·2% for Arg/His and 1·1% for His/His. The prevalence of chronic cough in patients with the amino acid 231 genotype was 33·3% in Gly/Gly homozygotes, 24·4% in Gly/Glu heterozygotes and 0% in Glu/Glu homozygotes. There was a statistically significant association between chronic cough and the Glu/Glu allele (<I>P</I> = 0·028) when the data were analyzed with a recessive model. In addition, there was a significant inverse linear association between the number of Glu231 alleles and ACE inhibitor-related cough (<I>P </I>=<I> </I>0·026). The prevalence of chronic cough in patients with the amino acid 375 genotype was 22·1% in Arg/Arg homozygotes, 31·8% in Arg/His heterozygotes and 0% in His/His homozygotes, although none of these association were statistically significant.</P><P>Conclusion: </P><P>Our findings indicate that the Gly231Glu polymorphism is associated with a lower prevalence of ACE inhibitor-related cough.</P>

Analysis of 22 Y chromosomal STR haplotypes and Y haplogroup distribution in Pathans of Pakistan

Lee, E.Y.,Shin, K.J.,Rakha, A.,Sim, J.E.,Park, M.J.,Kim, N.Y.,Yang, W.I.,Lee, H.Y. Elsevier Science 2014 FORENSIC SCIENCE INTERNATIONAL GENETICS Vol.11 No.-

We analyzed haplotypes for 22 Y chromosomal STRs (Y-STRs), including 17 Yfiler loci (DYS19, DYS385a/b, DYS389I/II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS437, DY438, DYS439, DYS448, DYS456, DYS458, DYS635 and Y-GATA-H4) and five additional STRs (DYS388, DYS446, DYS447, DYS449 and DYS464), and Y chromosomal haplogroup distribution in 270 unrelated individuals from the Pathans residing in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan using in-house multiplex PCR systems. Each Y-STR showed diversities ranging from 0.2506 to 0.8538, and the discriminatory capacity (DC) was 73.7% with 199 observed haplotypes using 17 Yfiler loci. By the addition of 5 Y-STRs to the Yfiler system, the DC was increased to 85.2% while showing 230 observed haplotypes. Among the additional 5 Y-STRs, DYS446, DYS447 and DYS449 were major contributors to enhancing discrimination. In the analysis of molecular variance, the Pathans of this study showed significant differences from other Pathan populations as well as neighboring population sets. In Y-SNP analysis, a total of 12 Y chromosomal haplogroups were observed and the most frequent haplogroup was R1a1a with 49.3% frequency. To obtain insights on the origin of Pathans, the network analysis was performed for the haplogroups G and Q observed from the Pathans and the Jewish population groups including Ashkenazim and Sephardim, but little support for a Jewish origin could be found. In the present study, we report Y-STR population data in Pathans of Pakistan, and we emphasize the need for adding additional markers to the commonly used 17 Yfiler loci to achieve more improved discriminatory capacity in a population with low genetic diversity.

200 GeV/핵자 유황이온과 핵건판핵의 충돌에 의해 생성된 헬륨 파쇄핵의 극한파쇄 연구

김동철,송진섭,윤천실,정성헌,박인곤,김종오,김철수,김태연,이승희,조재희,천병구,김재률,김준원,김태익,박명렬,장한일,임인택 慶尙大學校 기초과학연구소 1992 基礎科學硏究所報 Vol.8 No.-

고에너지 중이온 원자핵과 핵건판의 충돌에서, 200GeV/핵자 유황이온에 의해 생성된 파쇄 헬륨핵(Z=2)의 실험실계의 방출각 분포는 표적핵에 무관한 회귀공식. dN=exp[a+k exp(η-y_b)]d[exp(η-y_b)]로 잘 표현된다. 여기에서 의사신속도 η=-ln[tan(θ/2)]이고, y_b는 실험실계의 입사입자(^32S)의 신속도이다. 이 공식에 의한 적합에서 k=-0.057±0.008로 얻어진다. 즉, 핵건판과 고에너지 중이온의 충돌에서 파쇄 헬륨핵의 exp(η-y_b)의 분포는 "극한파쇄" 현상을 잘 설명하고 있다. The angular distribution of emission angle θ of helium (Z=2) produced in the collisions of incident particles of 200 GeV/nucleon ^32S in nuclear emulsion is well expressed by dN=exp[a+k exp(η-y_b)]d[exp(η-y_b)] where the pseudorapidity is η=-ln[tan(θ/2)], the laboratory system primary rapidity is y_b, and k=-0.057+0.008. The shape of this frequency of occurrence distributions in terms of exp(η-y_b) attests to the validity of the concept of "limiting fragmentation" for helium projectile fragments produced in the projectile fragmentation regions of heavy ion collisions in nuclear emulsion.

Reproduction and population dynamics of <i>Leptochela gracilis</i> (Decapoda: Pasiphaeidae) on the western coast of Korea, Yellow Sea

Oh, C.W.,Kim, J.Y.,Jeong, I.J.,Suh, H.L.,Cho, Y.K. Cambridge University Press 2006 Journal of the Marine Biological Association of th Vol.86 No.1

<P>Investigations were made on reproduction and population dynamics of <I>Leptochela gracilis</I> on the western coast of Korea, Yellow Sea, between May 2000 and October 2001. The egg volume was significantly larger at later egg stage than at early egg stage. Brood loss did not occur during the incubation period. Based on dry weight, the reproductive output (mass of incubating eggs/mass of female) averaged 0.18. The mature females first appeared in May, reached a peak in July and August, and then did not appear after September. The main breeding season was summer, although slightly different between the two years. A similar pattern could be found in monthly changes of gonadosomatic index (GSI), showing relatively higher GSI during the annual breeding season. A significant difference in ovarian dry weight between females with non-eyed eggs and eyed eggs indicates that ovarian maturation occurred during the embryonic development, suggesting that females were potentially consecutive breeders, capable of multiple spawning within a reproductive season. The size at which 50% of females were mature (CL50) was estimated as 7.63 mm carapace length. Females grew faster and reached a larger size at age than males (<I>L</I>∞=12.43 mm CL and <I>K</I>=0.90 y<SUP>−1</SUP> for females, and <I>L</I>∞=12.22 mm CL and <I>K</I>=0.58 y<SUP>−1</SUP> for males).</P>

Caspase-cleaved tau exhibits rapid memory impairment associated with tau oligomers in a transgenic mouse model

Kim, Y.,Choi, H.,Lee, W.,Park, H.,Kam, T.I.,Hong, S.h.,Nah, J.,Jung, S.,Shin, B.,Lee, H.,Choi, T.Y.,Choo, H.,Kim, K.K.,Choi, S.Y.,Kayed, R.,Jung, Y.K. Blackwell Science ; Academic Press 2016 Neurobiology of disease Vol.87 No.-

<P>In neurodegenerative diseases like AD, tau forms neurofibrillary tangles, composed of tau protein. In the AD brain, activated caspases cleave tau at the 421th Asp, generating a caspase-cleaved form of tau, TauC3. Although TauC3 is known to assemble rapidly into filaments in vitro, a role of TauC3 in vivo remains unclear. Here, we generated a transgenic mouse expressing human TauC3 using a neuron-specific promoter. In this mouse, we found that human TauC3 was expressed in the hippocampus and cortex. Interestingly, TauC3 mice showed drastic learning and spatial memory deficits and reduced synaptic density at a young age (2-3 months). Notably, tau oligomers as well as tau aggregates were found in TauC3 mice showing memory deficits. Further, i.p. or i.c.v. injection with methylene blue or Congo red, inhibitors of tau aggregation in vitro, and i.p. injection with rapamycin significantly reduced the amounts of tau oligomers in the hippocampus, rescued spine density, and attenuated memory impairment in TauC3 mice. Together, these results suggest that TauC3 facilitates early memory impairment in trans genic mice accompanied with tau oligomer formation, providing insight into the role of TauC3 in the AD pathogenesis associated with tau oligomers and a useful AD model to test drug candidates. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.</P>

RIHSA와 131I-Hippuran으로 측정한 심박출량의 비교

김정일,고창순,이안기,길광수,박진영,김동섭 대한핵의학회 1970 핵의학 분자영상 Vol.4 No.2

저자들은 정상성인 남자 11예에서 방사성동위원소인 RIHSA와 (131)^I-Hippuran을 사용하여 체외계측법에 의한 심박출량을 측정하여 다음과 같은 결론을 얻었다. 1) RIHSA를 사용한 심박출량의 측정치는 6750±866ml/min, 심계수의 측정치는 3960±476ml/min./㎡이었다. 2) 131I-Hippuran을 사용한 심박출량의 측정치는 5940±764ml/min, 심계수의 측정치는 3490±396ml/min./㎡이었다. 3) (131)^I-Hippuran에 의한 심박출량의 측정치는 RIHSA를 사용한 심박출량의 측정치의 88%로 나타났으며 양자간의 차이는 통계학적의미를 가지고 있었다(P$lt;0.05). 4) (131)^I-Hippuran을 사용하여 심박출량측정이 가능함을 알 수 있었다. Repeated measurement of cardiac output in the same 11 normal individuals were done with (131)^I-Hippuran and RIHSA. Following results were obtained. 1) The cardiac output measured with RIHSA was 6750±866ml/min. 2) The cardiac output measured with (131)^I-Hippuran was 5940±764ml/min. 3) The relative value of cardiac output measured with (131)^I-Hippuran to that measured with RIHSA was 88 percent, and a statistical significance was found present in the difference.

Fabrication of high temperature oxides dispersion strengthened tungsten composites by spark plasma sintering process

Kim, Y.,Lee, K.H.,Kim, E.P.,Cheong, D.I.,Hong, S.H. MPR Pub. Services 2009 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF REFRACTORY METALS AND HAR Vol.27 No.5

The paper describes the fabrication process of high temperature oxides, such as Y<SUB>2</SUB>O<SUB>3</SUB>, HfO<SUB>2</SUB> and La<SUB>2</SUB>O<SUB>3</SUB>, dispersed tungsten composites by spark plasma sintering. The oxide contents varied from 0 to 5wt% and sintering was conducted for 3min at 1700<SUP>o</SUP>C. Among three kinds of oxides, Y<SUB>2</SUB>O<SUB>3</SUB> is the most efficient element to consolidate W powder. As dispersed up to 5wt% Y<SUB>2</SUB>O<SUB>3</SUB> into the matrix, the relative density of the W composite is increased up to nearly 100% of theoretical value. In order to analyze the effect of Y<SUB>2</SUB>O<SUB>3</SUB> particles on the densification of W powders, the microstructure of W-Y<SUB>2</SUB>O<SUB>3</SUB> composite is observed using the transmission electron microscopy. By this experiment, it is found that dark phases, which had been known as Y<SUB>2</SUB>O<SUB>3</SUB> phase, are composed of W, Y and O. Therefore, during sintering, W atoms move through Y<SUB>2</SUB>O<SUB>3</SUB> phases as well as W grain boundaries, thereby W and Y<SUB>2</SUB>O<SUB>3</SUB> are soluble, and so sinterability of W is enhanced. The hardness of the composite is increased from 350 to 510kg/mm<SUP>2</SUP> with increasing Y<SUB>2</SUB>O<SUB>3</SUB> contents since the relative density is increased and the grain size is reduced from 20 to 4μm. However, in case of HfO<SUB>2</SUB> and La<SUB>2</SUB>O<SUB>3</SUB>, the hardness of the composites is decreased even though the grain size is reduced because of their lower relative densities.

Trypsin inhibitor 결여 大豆品種의 탐색 및 그의 遺傳育種學的 硏究 : I. Trypsin inhibitors의 전기영동 감정방법에 의한 대두 품종별 비교 및 DEAE-cellulose에 의한 분리 I. Soybean trypsin inhibitors: electrophoretic differences among varieties and their fractionation on DEAE-cellulose

金秀一,李錫河,李弘石,文亢植,羅志英 서울大學校 農科大學 1985 서울대농학연구지 Vol.10 No.1

대두의 단백추출액을 polyacrylamide gel 전기영동에 의하여 분류하고 trypsin inhibitor (T.I) band를 동정하였다. T.I. band는 전기영동한 gel을 trypsin으로 가수분해하거나 추출액에 trypsin을 처리한 후 전기영동하거나 발색기질을 이용하여 gel을 착색시키거나 또는 gel slice의 T.I.activity를 측정하는 등 네 가지 방법을 사용하여 검정하였다. 이중 추출액을 trypsin으로 처리한 후 전기영동하는 방법과 gel slice의 T.I.activity를 측정하는 방법이 가장 적합하였으며 두 방법의 결과를 비교하여 T.I.band를 검정하는 것이 보다 확실하였다. Sephadex G-75 Chromatography 에서 물로 추출한 대두 단백질은 3 fraction으로 분리하였고 T.I.activity는 제 2 fraction 에만 나타났다. Kunitz 및 Bowman-Birk형 inhibitor는 DEAE-cellulose column chromatography로 분리하였다. Kunitz형은 5개의 fraction으로, Bowman-birk형은 4개의 fraction으로 분리되었다. 단백질 추출액과 DEAE-cellulose chormatography에서 분리된 Kuniz 및 Bowman-Birk T.I.의 polyacryamide gel 전기영동 pattern을 비교하여 본 결과, 확실하게 동정된 T.I.band는 band3과 band4로서 각각 Orf등이 발표한 Ti¹과 Ti2에 해당하였으며, 그 외에 band 6과 band 10이 T.I.로 추정되었고 band 1,2,5,7,8,9는 T.I.가 아닌 것으로 판명되었다. trypsin inhibitor 함유량은 총 trypsin units inhibited 값(T.U.I)으로 볼 때 42품종에서 25에서 76까지 품종 간에 차이가 현저하였으며 시비 및 파종기의 영향은 나타나지 않았다. Ti¹ inhibitor 를 보유하고 있는 것은 37품종이었고, Ti²를 보유하는 것은 7품종이었으며, Ti¹과 Ti²를 같이 가지고 있는 품종은 발견되지 않았다. 이러한 품종의 Ti¹,Ti² 보유 pattern은 재배조건에 의해 변화되지 않았다. 2조합의 pattern은 재배조건에 의해 변화되지 않았다. 2조합의 정역교배에서 얻은 F₁ 종자의 전기영동 pattern을 비교해 본 결과, Ti¹품종끼리의 교배종자에서는 정역교배에 상관없이 Ti¹ inhibitor 만 나타났고 Ti¹품종과 Ti²품종의 교배종자에서는 Ti²를 모본으로 한 종자에서는 Ti¹과 Ti² 두 inhibitor가 검출되었으나 여교배에서는 모본의 Ti¹ inhibitor만 검출되었다. 여교배에서 Ti¹만 나타난 것은 분석시료 종자가 적었고 교배의 여부를 확인할 수 없어 모본의 세포질적 영향에 의한 것인지 또는 자가수정에 의한 것인지 분명치 않았다. The protein extracts from soybean seeds were examined by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and the trypsin inhibitor (T.I) bands were detected. The water-extractable protein was fractionated into three fractions by Sephadex G-75 gel filtration. The T.I activity was found only in the second fraction. Kunitz and Bowman-Birk inhibitors were fractionated by DEAE-cellulose chromatography into seven and six fractions, respectively. In kunitz inhibitor, 5 fractions were found to have T.I activity and 4 fractions in Bowman-Birk inhibitor. From the and patterns of the protein extracts and those of DEAE-cellulose chromatographic fractions, it was found that band 3 and 4 were T.I. band, corresponding to Ti¹ and Ti² band, respectively. In addition, band 6 and 10 were presumed to be T.I. band. Of the 42 varieties sampled, 35 revealed only Ti¹ band and 7 only Ti² band. The T.I. band patterns were not changed by the culture condition. The T.I. content, when expressed as the number of trypsin units inhibited (T.U.I), showed remarkable differences from 25 to 76 between varieties. The seedtime and fertilization condition had no effect on the T.I. content. Judged from the results of F ₁seeds analysis, we assumed that Ti¹ and Ti²band were controlled by codominant allele at a single locus.