Effects of oxygen tension and IGF-I on HIF-1α protein expression in mouse blastocysts.

Purpose: Hypoxia inducible factors (HIFs) are key regulators of oxygen homeostasis in response to reduced oxygenation in somatic cells. In addition, HIF-1α protein can be also induced by insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) treatment in various cell lines under normoxic condition. However, the expression and function of HIF-1α in embryogenesis are still unclear.

CUX1 is a haploinsufficient tumor suppressor gene on chromosome 7 frequently inactivated in acute myeloid leukemia.

Loss of chromosome 7 and del(7q) [-7/del(7q)] are recurring cytogenetic abnormalities in hematologic malignancies, including acute myeloid leukemia and therapy-related myeloid neoplasms, and associated with an adverse prognosis. Despite intensive effort by many laboratories, the putative myeloid tumor suppressor(s) on chromosome 7 has not yet been identified.We performed transcriptome sequencing and SNP array analysis on de novo and therapy-related myeloid neoplasms, half with -7/del(7q).

Application of two different synthetic sequential media for the human IVF-ET program: a prospective, randomized, and comparative study.

Objective: Since IVF program was first established, various types of media and culture systems have been developed either in-house or commercially. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of in-house Maria Research Center (MRC) media to that of commercially available Sydney IVF media in human day 3 embryo transfer cycles.

Methods: Three hundred sixty nine couples were included in this prospective, randomized, and comparative study.

Effect of emotional intelligence on patient-physician interaction scores of clinical performance examination.

Purpose: The patient-physician interaction (PPI) is a critical part of the clinical encounter. Recent studies have emphasized the importance of the emotional intelligence (EI) of physician in the PPI. Despite emphasizing the EI, previous studies offer limited evidence regarding the effect of a student's EI on the PPI.

In vivo scintigraphic imaging of antitumor effects by combined radioiodine therapy and human sodium iodide symporter gene immunotherapy.

In a previous study, we demonstrated that pcDNA3.1/hNIS (human sodium iodide symporter) vaccination generated hNIS-associated CD8+IFN-gamma+ (interferon-gamma) T cells, which are known to be involved in antitumor immunity. However, the immune response induced was insufficient to control tumor growth in vivo, which required a novel approach to potentiate hNIS vaccination effects.

Faculty observer and standardized patient accuracy in recording examinees' behaviors using checklists in the clinical performance examination.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to examine the recording accuracy of faculty observers and standardized patients (SPs) on a clinical performance examination (CPX).

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of a fourth-year medical students' CPX that was held at a medical school in Seoul, Korea. The CPX consisted of 4 cases and was administered to 118 examinees, with the participation of 52 SP and 45 faculty observers.

Development and validation of a questionnaire to evaluate medical students' evidence-based medicine competencies.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to develop and validate a questionnaire to evaluate medical students' knowledge of, attitude towards and practice of evidence-based medicine (EBM).

Methods: The participants of the study were 418 medical students enrolled in the Kyung Hee University School of Medicine in Seoul, Korea. To examine construct validity of the questionnaire, an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed with 118 participants; a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted with the remaining 281 participants.

MHC independent anti-tumor immune responses induced by Hsp70-enriched exosomes generate tumor regression in murine models.

The ideal cancer vaccine should work regardless of MHC types but currently the barrier generated by MHC specificity hampers the development of human cancer vaccines, requesting to identify strong immunogenic molecules that can induce anti-cancer immune responses without being affected by MHC polymorphism. Tumor-derived exosomes are small membrane vesicles containing tumor antigens as well as other immunologically important molecules such as MHC molecules and heat shock proteins (HSPs). Because of their potential immunogenicity, the plausible utility of tumor-derived exosomes as an MHC independent cancer vaccine was proposed.

Suppression of E-protein activity interferes with the development of BCR-ABL-mediated myeloproliferative disease.

E-proteins are a class of helix-loop-helix (HLH) proteins, which play multiple roles throughout lymphoid development. The DNA binding activities of the E-proteins are regulated by a distinct class of antagonistic HLH proteins, named Id1-4. Here we demonstrate that Id2 deficient mice in a C57BL/6 genetic background exhibit increased cellularity in the granulocyte/myeloid progenitor compartment and show significantly higher numbers of maturing neutrophils.

Molecular host-pathogen interaction in brucellosis: current understanding and future approaches to vaccine development for mice and humans.

Brucellosis caused by Brucella spp. is a major zoonotic disease. Control of brucellosis in agricultural animals is a prerequisite for the prevention of this disease in human beings.

Virulence criteria for Brucella abortus strains as determined by interferon regulatory factor 1-deficient mice.

Interferon regulatory factor 1-deficient (IRF-1(-/-)) mice infected with virulent Brucella abortus 2308 at 5 x 10(5) CFU developed acute hepatitis similar to many natural hosts but, unlike natural hosts, IRF-1(-/-) mice were unable to resolve infection and died. In contrast, IRF-1(-/-) mice survived when infected at 5 x 10(5) CFU with several attenuated Brucella strains (S19, RB51, cbp, and cyd). The survival of infected IRF-1(-/-) mice is likely a function of the level of virulence of each Brucella strain and the extent of retained immunity.

Susceptibility of IFN regulatory factor-1 and IFN consensus sequence binding protein-deficient mice to brucellosis.

IFN-gamma is a key cytokine controlling Brucella infection, and the diverse functions of this cytokine are mediated by IFN regulatory factors (IRFs) such as IRF-1, IRF-2, and IFN consensus sequence binding protein (ICSBP). However, the roles of these three IRFs in Brucella infection have not been investigated. The infection of each IRF-deficient mouse strain provides an opportunity to determine not only the significance of each IRF molecule but also the crucial immune components necessary for host defense during in vivo infection, because respective IRF-deficient mouse strains contain unique immunodeficient phenotypes.