The hair growth promoting effect of Asiasari radix extract and its molecular regulation.

Background: Hair loss is a distressing condition for an increasing number of men and women. It is of great importance; therefore, to develop new therapies for the treatment of hair loss.

Objective: We examined the effects of 45 plant extracts that have been traditionally used for treating hair loss in oriental medicine in order to identify potential stimulants of hair growth.

Translational repression of C. elegans p53 by GLD-1 regulates DNA damage-induced apoptosis.

p53 is a tumor suppressor gene whose regulation is crucial to maintaining genome stability and for the apoptotic elimination of abnormal, potentially cancer-predisposing cells. C. elegans contains a primordial p53 gene, cep-1, that acts as a transcription factor necessary for DNA damage-induced apoptosis.

Classical dynamics near the triple collision in a three-body Coulomb problem.

We investigate the classical motion of three charged particles with both attractive and repulsive interactions. The triple collision is a main source of chaos in such three-body Coulomb problems. By employing the McGehee scaling technique, we analyze here for the first time in detail the three-body dynamics near the triple collision in 3 degrees of freedom.

Inhibition of mast cell-dependent allergy reaction by extract of black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa).

Black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa) has been used as therapeutics for pain and inflammation in Korean folk medicine. The potential effects of black cohosh extract (BCE) on mast cell-dependent allergy reaction, however, have not been well elucidated yet. In the present study, we investigated the effect of BCE on the allergy reaction using mast cell-dependent in vivo and in vitro models.

Translation repression by GLD-1 protects its mRNA targets from nonsense-mediated mRNA decay in C. elegans.

Previously, we identified multiple in vivo mRNA targets of the maxi-KH/STAR domain protein GLD-1 by their ability to interact with GLD-1 in cytoplasmic extracts and, for all targets tested thus far, GLD-1 functions as a translational repressor. However, here we show that GLD-1 stabilizes the mRNAs of two targets, gna-2 (T23G11.2) and Y75B12B.

Nanoshell-enabled photonics-based imaging and therapy of cancer.

Metal nanoshells are a novel type of composite spherical nanoparticle consisting of a dielectric core covered by a thin metallic shell which is typically gold. Nanoshells possess highly favorable optical and chemical properties for biomedical imaging and therapeutic applications. By varying the relative the dimensions of the core and the shell, the optical resonance of these nanoparticles can be precisely and systematically varied over a broad region ranging from the near-UV to the mid-infrared.

[The significance of urine sodium measurement after furosemide administration in diuretics-unresponsive patients with liver cirrhosis].

Background/aims: The diagnosis of refractory ascites means a poor prognosis for patients with liver cirrhosis. The definition of refractory ascites has already been established, but using the dosage of diuretics that correlates with the definition of refractory ascites in an out-patient department will lower the compliance of the patient, as well as causing serious complications, such as hepatic encephalopathy and hyponatremia, as the dosage of diuretics is increased. Due to this fact, it is very difficult to apply this definition of refractory ascites to patients in a domestic out-patient department.

[Colonic transit time in patient with liver cirrhosis].

Background/aims: The colonic transit time in patients with liver cirrhosis has not been studied extensively in South Korea. Thus, the authors investigated the differences of colonic transit time between cirrhotic patients and normal controls with attention to factors that affect this change.

Methods: Fifteen cirrhotic patients and 15 controls were included in this study.

Analysis of CYP2E1 polymorphism for the determination of genetic susceptibility to gastric cancer in Koreans.

Background: Interindividual genetic differences in susceptibility to chemical carcinogens are among the most important host factors in human cancer. The present study was undertaken to reveal the association between the polymorphism of CYP2E1 (CYP2E1/PstI and CYP2E1/DraI) with genetic susceptibility to gastric cancer development in Koreans.

Methods: In the present study, 120 gastric cancer patients and 145 controls with no history of tumors were analyzed.

Advanced lipid extraction method for the determination of the phospholipase D activity.

Phospholipase D is a ubiquitous enzyme that plays an important role in various lipid mediated cellular signaling pathways and produces rare phospholipids, phosphatidylethanol or phosphatidylbutanol, instead of phosphatidic acid with unique catalytic activity transphosphatidylation in the presence of primary alcohols. The reaction products, phosphatidylethanol or phosphatidylbutanol are used as markers of in vitro phospholipase D activity in many studies. For the sensitive detection of the phospholipase D products, we developed an advanced lipid extraction method that facilitates recovery of the compounds.

Identification of androgen-regulated genes in SV40-transformed human hair dermal papilla cells.

Background: Androgens are major regulators of human hair growth, which exert their effect on follicular epithelium via the mesenchyme-derived dermal papilla (DP) cells. However, very few data are available with regard to the genes regulated by androgen in DP cells.

Objective: To investigate the differentially expressed genes by androgen in DP cells.

Minoxidil-containing dosage forms: skin retention and after-rinsing hair-growth promotion.

Three kinds of topical dosage forms of minoxidil (MXD), namely vesicles, double emulsions, and an inclusion complex with hydoxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin (HP-beta-CD), were prepared. The skin retention of MXD in the preparations was evaluated in vitro using hairless mouse skins. After applying the preparations onto the skin and rinsing it, the amount of the drug left on the skin was determined using HPLC.

Anti-allergic action of buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench) grain extract.

The anti-allergic action of buckwheat grain extract (BGE) was investigated using rodent experimental models. The oral, intraperitoneal and intradermal administration of BGE significantly inhibited the compound 48/80-induced vascular permeability documented by Evans blue extravasation. In addition, BGE showed potent inhibitory effect on passive cutaneous anaphylaxis (PCA) activated by anti-dinitrophenyl (DNP) IgE when orally administered.

[Relationship of propranolol pharmacokinetic parameters with portosystemic shunt in CCl4-induced cirrhotic rats].

Background/aims: This study was designed to determine the relationship of propranolol pharmacokinetic parameters with portosystemic shunt in CCl4-induced cirrhotic rats.

Methods: Cirrhotic rats(n=6) were induced by intramuscular injection of CCl4 in olive oil(two time per weeks) for 12 weeks. Controls (n=6) were injected intramuscularly with the same dose of olive oil for 12 weeks.

[Five-year follow-up of clinical and laboratory data of early liver cirrhosis patients confirmed by liver biopsy].

Background/aims: It is important to evaluate the general status of the liver including the structural and inflammatory aspects, as well as the functional aspects, in order to determine a patient's treatment modality and prognosis.

Methods: 55 Child-Pugh class A liver cirrhosis patients confirmed by liver biopsy have been categorized into 4 groups based on the shunt index and p-value(Y= 3.3431-0.

The hair growth promoting effect of Sophora flavescens extract and its molecular regulation.

In search of natural extracts for hair growth, we found that the extract of dried root of Sophora flavescens has outstanding hair growth promoting effect. After topical application of Sophora flavescens extract onto the back of C57BL/6 mice, the earlier conversion of telogen-to-anagen was induced. The growth of dermal papilla cells cultured in vitro, however, was not affected by Sophora flavescens extract treatment.

Coaction of DNA topoisomerase IIIalpha and a RecQ homologue during the germ-line mitosis in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Background: Among the four RecQ homologues predicted from the Caenorhabditis elegans genomic DNA sequence, T04A11.6 is most similar to Bloom syndrome's protein in humans. To investigate a possible interaction of the protein with topoisomerase IIIalpha (TOP3alpha), as observed between TOP3 and RecQ homologues in yeast and human, the top3alpha gene expression was suppressed by RNA interference (RNAi) in the him-6(e1104) C.

X-chromosome silencing in the germline of C. elegans.

Germline maintenance in the nematode C. elegans requires global repressive mechanisms that involve chromatin organization. During meiosis, the X chromosome in both sexes exhibits a striking reduction of histone modifications that correlate with transcriptional activation when compared with the genome as a whole.