Comparison of 90‐day case‐fatality after ischemic stroke between two different stroke outcome registries using propensity score matching analysis

Yu, K‐,H.,Hong, K‐,S.,Lee, B‐,C.,Oh, M‐,S.,Cho, Y‐,J.,Koo, J‐,S.,Park, J‐,M.,Bae, H‐,J.,Han, M‐,K.,Ju, Y‐,S.,Kang, D‐,W.,Appelros, P. Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2011 Acta neurologica Scandinavica Vol.123 No.5

<P>Yu K‐H, Hong K‐S, Lee B‐C, Oh M‐S, Cho Y‐J, Koo J‐S, Park J‐M, Bae H‐J, Han M‐K, Ju Y‐S, Kang D‐W, Appelros P, Norrving B, Terent A. Comparison of 90‐day case‐fatality after ischemic stroke between two different stroke outcome registries using propensity score matching analysis. 
Acta Neurol Scand: 2011: 123: 325–331. 
© 2010 John Wiley & Sons A/S.</P><P><B>Background – </B> It has not been clarified whether the disparity in ischemic stroke outcome between populations is caused by ethnic and geographic differences or by variations in case mix. Propensity score matching (PSM) analysis can overcome some analytical problems but is rarely used in stroke outcome research. This study was to compare the ischemic stroke case‐fatality between two PSM cohorts of Sweden and Korea.</P><P><B>Methods – </B> Prognostic variables related to baseline characteristics and stroke care were included in our PSM model. Then, we selected 7675 Swedish and 1220 Korean patients with ischemic stroke from each stroke registers and performed one‐to‐one matching based on propensity scores of each patient.</P><P><B>Results – </B> After PSM, all measured variables were well balanced in 1163 matched subjects, and the 90‐day case‐fatality was identical 6.2% (HR 0.997, 95%CI 0.905–1.099) in Sweden and Korea.</P><P><B>Conclusions – </B> No difference is found in the 90‐day case‐fatality in propensity score‐matched Swedish and Korean patients with ischemic stroke.</P>

CK2α/CSNK2A1 Phosphorylates SIRT6 and Is Involved in the Progression of Breast Carcinoma and Predicts Shorter Survival of Diagnosed Patients

Bae, J.S.,Park, S.H.,Jamiyandorj, U.,Kim, K.M.,Noh, S.J.,Kim, J.R.,Park, H.J.,Kwon, K.S.,Jung, S.H.,Park, H.S.,Park, B.H.,Lee, H.,Moon, W.S.,Sylvester, K.G.,Jang, K.Y. American Association of Pathologists and Bacteriol 2016 The American journal of pathology Vol.186 No.12

<P>Recently, the roles of sirtuins (SIRTs) in tumorigenesis have been of interest to oncologists, and protein kinase CK2 alpha 1 (CSNK2A1) has been shown to be involved in tumorigenesis by phosphorylating various proteins, including SIRT1. Therefore, we evaluated the roles of CSNK2A1, SIRT6, and phosphorylated SIRT6 and their relationships in breast carcinoma. Nuclear expression of CSNK2A1 and SIRT6 predicted shorter overall survival and relapse-free survival by multivariate analysis. Inhibition of CSNK2A1 decreased the proliferative and invasive activity of cancer cells. In addition, CSNK2A1 was bound to SIRT6 and phosphorylated SIRT6; evidence for this is provided from immunofluorescence staining, co-immunoprecipitation of CSNK2A1 and SIRT6, a glutathione S-transferase pull-down assay, an in vitro kinase assay, and transfection of mutant CSNK2A1. Knockdown of SIRT6 decreased the proliferation and invasiveness of cancer cells. Overexpression of SIRT6 increased proliferation, but mutation at the Ser338 phosphorylation site of SIRT6 inhibited the proliferation of MCF7 cells. Moreover, both knockdown of SIRT6 and a mutation at the phosphorylation site of SIRT6 decreased expression of matrix metallopeptidase 9, beta-catenin, cyclin D1, and NF-kappa B. Especially, SIRT6 expression was associated with the nuclear localization of B-catenin. This study demonstrates that CSNK2A1 and SIRT6 are indicators of poor prognosis for breast carcinomas and that CSNK2A1-mediated phosphorylation of SIRT6 might be involved in the progression of breast carcinoma.</P>

The circulating sphingosine-1-phosphate level predicts incident fracture in postmenopausal women: a 3.5-year follow-up observation study

Bae, S. J.,Lee, S. H.,Ahn, S. H.,Kim, H. M.,Kim, B. J.,Koh, J. M. Springer Science + Business Media 2016 Osteoporosis International Vol.27 No.8

<P>A high level of circulating sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) is associated with a high incidence of osteoporotic fracture and a high rate of an insufficient response to bisphosphonate therapy. Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) is a significant regulator of bone metabolism. Recently, we found that a high plasma S1P level is associated with low bone mineral density (BMD), high levels of bone resorption markers (BRMs), and a high risk of prevalent vertebral fracture in postmenopausal women. We investigated the possibility that S1P is a predictor of incident fracture. A total of 248 postmenopausal women participated in this longitudinal study and were followed up for a mean duration of 3.5 years (untreated [n = 76] or treated with bisphosphonate or hormone replacement therapy [n = 172]). The baseline plasma S1P level and prevalent and incident fracture occurrence were assessed. A high S1P level was significantly associated with a higher rate of prevalent fracture after adjusting for femoral neck (FN) BMD, BRM, and potential confounders (odds ratio = 2.05; 95 % confidence interval [CI] = 1.03-4.00). Incident fractures occurred more frequently in the highest S1P tertile (T3) than in the lower two tertiles (T1-2) after adjusting for confounders, including baseline FN BMD, prevalent fracture, antiosteoporotic medication, annualized changes in FN BMD, BRM, and potential confounders (hazard ratio = 5.52; 95 % CI = 1.04-56.54). Insufficient response to bisphosphonate therapy occurred more frequently in T3 than T1-2 (odds ratio = 4.43; 95 % CI = 1.02-21.25). The plasma S1P level may be a potential predictor of fracture occurrence and an insufficient response to bisphosphonate therapy in postmenopausal women.</P>

도금슬러지 시멘트고형화에서의 강도 및 안정화 증진

윤현식,강민성,이두진,신응배,배우근,유도윤 漢陽大學校 環境工學硏究所 1997 環境科學論文集 Vol.18 No.-

본 연구에서는 도금폐수처리공정에서 발생하는 실 슬러지를 대상으로 현장에서 적용이 가능한 시멘트고형화 및 안정화효율 증진방안을 찾기 위하여 실내 실험을 통해 1) 슬러지내의 수분이 시멘트의 수화반응에 미치는 영향, 2) 교반시간증가에 의한 고화체의 강도향상 및 용출억제효과, 그리고 3) 첨가제를 이용한 고형화효율 증대를 중점적으로 살펴 보았다. 실슬러지의(습윤슬러지) 자체가 함유한 수분이 시멘트수화반응에 미치는 영향을 살펴보기 위하여 슬러지를 건조시킨 후 물을 첨가하여 시멘트모르터내에 자유수를 증가시킨 결과 습윤슬러지를 그대로 고형화 한 경우보다 동일한 수분에서 2배정도의 높은강도를 얻을 수 있었다. 교반시간을 증가시킬수록 강도와 용출성이 점차 향상되어 10분정도의 교반시간에서 우수한 결과를 얻었으며, 특히 습윤슬러지의 경우 그 효과가 두드러지게 나타났다. 첨가제사용에 따른 효율평가 실험은 Silica fume, 황산반토, Zeolite, EDTA를 대상으로 실시하였으며 이중 Silica fume이 강도와 용출억제면에서 가장 효과가 좋았다. 최적배합비는 습윤슬러지의 경우 첨가비(첨가제/시멘트)0.25∼0.5에서 가장 우수하였고, 0.05∼0.1에서 가장 좋은 용출효과를 나타내었다. 이는 Silica fume이 중금속에 의한 시멘트수화 방해작용을 억제하고 중금속이온을 불용성의 화합물로 고정하기 때문으로 사료된다. The Solidification /Stabilization (S/S) using the cement as a binder is widely used because of its stability and low cost. For cement-based S/S, however, the S/S efficiency in terms of strength and contaminant immobilization varies significantly according to the treated waste types and operational conditions. In this research real planting sludges were choosen for the S/S experiments in order to increase the applicability of the results in the actual site. Especially, the study focused on the effects of 1) the moisture of sludge on the hydration-reaction of cements, 2) the increased mixing time on the enhancement of the strength and immobilization, and 3) using the binder additives on the S/S efficiency. The compressive strength and leachability of the heavy metals (CU, Cd, Pb, Cr, and Zn) from the solidified materials were measured for evaluating the S/S efficiency. Drying the sludge and putting water, keeping the moisture content the same as the original sludge, into the cement mortar for supplying free-water increased the compressive strength of the solidified material by appoximately two times. Prolonged mixing of the sludge-cement mixture increased, particually in the wet sludges, the strength of the solidified material and retarded the mobility of heavy metals from the sludge. Good results obtained at ten minutes of mixing. In the experiments using the additives, silica fume gave superior results with the strength and immobilization to other additives (Al₂(SO₄)₃Zeolite, EDTA) tested. In the wet sludges, the optimum additive/cement ratio was 0.25-0.5 for strength and 0.05-0.1 for immobilization. It was suspected that the silica fume prevented the interference of heavy metals on the hydration reaction of cement and fixed the heavy metal ions into insoluble complexes.

Paenibacillus pueri sp. nov., isolated from Pu'er tea

Kim, B.-C.,Jeong, W.-J.,Kim, D. Y.,Oh, H.-W.,Kim, H.,Park, D.-S.,Park, H.-M.,Bae, K. S. Microbiology Society 2009 International journal of systematic and evolutiona Vol.59 No.5

<P>Pu'er tea is a fermented drink made from the leaves of the tea plant, Camellia sinensis. Two novel bacteria, designated strains b09i-3(T) and b13i-1, were isolated during the process of fermentation of this tea. These isolates were Gram-positive, endospore-forming, motile rods that grew at 25-42 degrees C and pH 5.5-10.4. The DNA G+C content was 56.6-58.4 mol%, the predominant isoprenoid quinone was MK-7 and the predominant cellular fatty acid was anteiso-C(15 : 0) (49.0-50 % of the total). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strains b09i-3(T) and b13i-1 shared 99.9 % similarity and were affiliated with a cluster within the family Paenibacillaceae. Strains b09i-3(T) and b13i-1 were related most closely to Paenibacillus ginsengihumi DCY16(T) (97 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity). Levels of DNA-DNA relatedness between the two novel isolates and P. ginsengihumi DCY16(T) were below 56 %. The phylogenetic and phenotypic characteristics of these novel isolates allowed them to be distinguished clearly from recognized species of the genus Paenibacillus. Based on these data, strains b09i-3(T) and b13i-1 are considered to represent a novel species of the genus Paenibacillus, for which the name Paenibacillus pueri sp. nov. is proposed. The type species is b09i-3(T) (=KCTC 13223(T)=CECT 7360(T)).</P>

Site-specific mutagenesis of yeast 2-Cys peroxiredoxin improves heat or oxidative stress tolerance by enhancing its chaperone or peroxidase function

Hong, S. H.,Lee, S. S.,Chung, J. M.,Jung, H. s.,Singh, S.,Mondal, S.,Jang, H. H.,Cho, J. Y.,Bae, H. J.,Chung, B. Y. Springer Science + Business Media 2017 Protoplasma Vol.254 No.1

<P>Yeast peroxiredoxin II (yPrxII) is an antioxidant enzyme that plays a protective role against the damage caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This enzyme consists of 196 amino acids containing 2-Cys Prx with highly conserved two active cysteine residues at positions 48 and 171. The yPrxII has dual enzymatic functions as a peroxidase and molecular chaperone. To understand the effect of additional cysteine residues on dual functions of yPrxII, S79C-yPrxII and S109C-yPrxII, the substitution of Ser with Cys residue at 79 and 109 positions, respectively, was generated. S109C-yPrxII and S79C-yPrxII showed 3.7- and 2.7-fold higher chaperone and peroxidase activity, respectively, than the wild type (WT). The improvement in enzyme activity was found to be closely associated with structural changes in proteins. S109C-yPrxII had increased beta-sheet in its secondary structure and formed high-molecular-weight (HMW) as well as low-molecular-weight (LMW) complexes, but S79C-yPrxII formed only LMW complexes. HMW complexes predominantly exhibited a chaperone function, and LMW complexes showed a peroxidase function. In addition, transgenic yeast cells over-expressing Cys-substituted yPrxII showed greater tolerance against heat and oxidative stress compared to WT-yPrxII.</P>

Caspase-3 activation as a key factor for HBx-transformed cell death

Kim, A.,Kwon, O. S.,Kim, S. O.,He, L.,Bae, E. Y.,Lee, M. S.,Jeong, S. J.,Shim, J. H.,Yoon, D. Y.,Kim, C. H.,Moon, A.,Kim, K. E.,Ahn, J. S.,Kim, B. Y. Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2008 Cell proliferation Vol.41 No.5

<P>Abstract. </P><P><I>Objectives</I>: Nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-&kgr;B) activation has been associated with the tumorigenic growth of hepatitis B virus X protein (HBx)-transformed cells. This study was aimed to find a key target for treatment of HBx-mediated cancers. <I>Materials and methods</I>: NF-&kgr;B activation, endoplasmic reticulum-stress (ER-stress), caspase-3 activation, and cell proliferation were evaluated after Chang/HBx cells permanently expressing HBx viral protein were treated with inhibitors of NF-&kgr;B, proteasome and DNA topoisomerase. <I>Results</I>: Inhibition of NF-&kgr;B transcriptional activity by transient transfection with mutant plasmids encoding Akt1 and glycogen synthase kinase-3&bgr; (GSK-3&bgr;), or by treatment with chemical inhibitors, wortmannin and LY294002, showed little effect on the survival of Chang/HBx cells. Furthermore, I&kgr;Bα (S32/36A) mutant plasmid or other NF-&kgr;B inhibitors, 1-pyrrolidinecarbonidithioic acid and sulphasalazine, were also shown to have little effect on the cell proliferation. By contrast, proteasome inhibitor-1 (Pro1) and MG132 enhanced the HBx-induced ER-stress response and the subsequent activation of caspase-12, -9 and -3 and reduced cell proliferation. Camptothecin (CPT), however, triggered activation of caspase-3 without induction of caspase-12, and reduced cell proliferation. In addition, CPT-induced cell death was reversed by pre-treatment with z-DEVD, a caspase-3-specific inhibitor. <I>Conclusions</I>: Detailed exploitation of the regulators of caspase-3 activation could open the gate for finding an efficient target for development of anticancer therapeutics against HBx-transformed hepatocellular carcinoma.</P>

Progress in the development of heating systems towards long pulse operation for KSTAR

Kwak, J.G.,Bae, Y.D.,Chang, D.H.,Chang, D.S.,Hong, B.G.,Hwang, C.K.,In, S.R.,Jeong, S.H.,Jin, J.T.,Jung, K.S.,Kim, B.R.,Kim, J.,Kim, S.K.,Kim, T.S.,Lee, D.W.,Lee, K.W.,Oh, B.H.,Seo, C.S.,Seo, M.S.,Yoo International Atomic Energy Agency 2007 Nuclear fusion Vol.47 No.5

<P>Construction of the Korea superconducting tokamak advanced research (KSTAR) tokamak is in its final phase. For the long-pulse KSTAR discharges, the ion cyclotron range of frequencies (ICRF) and neutral beam injection (NBI) heating systems are expected to play important roles through a selective heating of ions and electrons, control of the plasma pressure and current profiles, a core fuelling and beam diagnostics for the KSTAR. In addition, the ICRF system is expected to be used for possible discharge cleaning and assisting in the tokamak startup. In this paper, the recent progress in the development of the ICRF and the NBI heating systems is described. The four-strap ICRF antenna has been successfully tested for a voltage up to 41 kV for a pulse length of 300 s (to 46 kV for 20 s) in a test chamber. A prototype KSTAR NBI system has been developed. At present, the system has successfully produced a 1 MW beam power for 200 s and a 3.5 MW output beam power for 4 s.</P>

Measurement of the forward-backward asymmetry in low-mass bottom-quark pairs produced in proton-antiproton collisions

Aaltonen, T.,Amerio, S.,Amidei, D.,Anastassov, A.,Annovi, A.,Antos, J.,Apollinari, G.,Appel, J. A.,Arisawa, T.,Artikov, A.,Asaadi, J.,Ashmanskas, W.,Auerbach, B.,Aurisano, A.,Azfar, F.,Badgett, W.,Bae American Physical Society 2016 Physical Review D Vol.93 No.11

<P>We report a measurement of the forward-backward asymmetry, A(FB), in b (b) over bar pairs produced in proton-antiproton collisions and identified by muons from semileptonic b-hadron decays. The event sample is collected at a center-of-mass energy of root s = 1.96 TeV with the CDF II detector and corresponds to 6.9 fb(-1) of integrated luminosity. We obtain an integrated asymmetry of A(FB)(b (b) over bar) = (1.2 +/- 0.7)% at the particle level for b-quark pairs with invariant mass, m(b (b) over bar), down to 40 GeV/c(2) and measure the dependence of A(FB)(b (b) over bar) on m(b (b) over bar). The results are compatible with expectations from the standard model.</P>

Measurement of theBc±production cross section inpp¯collisions ats=1.96 TeV

Aaltonen, T.,Amerio, S.,Amidei, D.,Anastassov, A.,Annovi, A.,Antos, J.,Apollinari, G.,Appel, J. A.,Arisawa, T.,Artikov, A.,Asaadi, J.,Ashmanskas, W.,Auerbach, B.,Aurisano, A.,Azfar, F.,Badgett, W.,Bae American Physical Society 2016 Physical Review D Vol.93 No.5

<P>We describe a measurement of the ratio of the cross sections times branching fractions of the B-c(+) meson in the decay mode B-c(+) -> J/psi mu(+)nu to the B+ meson in the decay mode B+ -> J/psi K+ in proton-antiproton collisions at center-of-mass energy root s = 1.96 TeV. The measurement is based on the complete CDF Run II data set, which comes from an integrated luminosity of 8.7 fb(-1). The ratio of the production cross sections times branching fractions for B-c(+) and B+ mesons with momentum transverse to the beam greater than 6 GeV/c and rapidity magnitude smaller than 0.6 is 0.211 +/- 0.012(stat)(-0.020)(+0.021)(syst). Using the known B+ -> J/psi K+ branching fraction, the known B+ production cross section, and a selection of the predicted B-c(+) -> J/psi mu(+nu) branching fractions, the range for the total B-c(+) production cross section is estimated.</P>