Search

Smoking cessation aids in restoring lung function. However, whether long-term cessation can fully restore lung function has not been studied thoroughly, especially in Asian countries. This study aimed to evaluate the association between smoking cessation status and obstructive spirometry pattern among Koreans aged 40–79 years. In total, 6,298 men and 8,088 women aged 40–79 years from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2015–2019) were analyzed for smoking cessation status, including the duration after quitting. Current-smokers showed a higher likelihood of having an obstructive spirometry pattern than never-smokers among both men (odds ratio [OR]: 3.15, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.32–4.29) and women (OR: 2.60, 95% CI: 1.59–4.23). In men, the effect tended to decrease with longer duration after cessation, but male ex-smokers who had quit smoking ≥ 20 years ago still showed a higher likelihood of having an obstructive spirometry pattern than male never-smokers (OR: 1.40, 95% CI: 1.05–1.89). In female ex-smokers, there was no significant association with the obstructive spirometry pattern, compared to that in female never-smokers. This study emphasizes the benefits of smoking cessation, possibility of long-lasting harm to lung function due to tobacco smoking, and importance of smoking prevention.

Smoking cessation aids in restoring lung function. However, whether long-term cessation can fully restore lung function has not been studied thoroughly, especially in Asian countries. This study aimed to evaluate the association between smoking cessation status and obstructive spirometry pattern among Koreans aged 40–79 years. In total, 6298 men and 8088 women aged 40–79 years from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2015–2019) were analyzed for smoking cessation status, including the duration after quitting. Current-smokers showed a higher likelihood of having an obstructive spirometry pattern than never-smokers among both men (odds ratio [OR]: 3.15, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.32–4.29) and women (OR: 2.60, 95% CI: 1.59–4.23). In men, the effect tended to decrease with longer duration after cessation, but male ex-smokers who had quit smoking ≥ 20 years ago still showed a higher likelihood of having an obstructive spirometry pattern than male never-smokers (OR: 1.40, 95% CI: 1.05–1.89). In female ex-smokers, there was no significant association with the obstructive spirometry pattern, compared to that in female never-smokers. This study emphasizes the benefits of smoking cessation, possibility of long-lasting harm to lung function due to tobacco smoking, and importance of smoking prevention.

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between cardiovascular disease risk and alcohol consumption according to facial flushing after drinking among Korean men. Methods: The subjects were 1,817 Korean men (non-drinker group, 283 men; drinking-related facial flushing group, 662 men; non-flushing group, 872 men) >30 years who had undergone comprehensive health examinations at the health promotion center of a Chungnam National University Hospital between 2007 and 2009. Alcohol consumption and alcohol-related facial flushing were assessed through a questionnaire. Cardiovascular disease risk was investigated based on the 2008 Framingham Heart Study. With the non-drinker group as reference, logistic regression was used to analyze the relationship between weekly alcohol intake and cardiovascular disease risk within 10 years for the flushing and non-flushing groups, with adjustment for confounding factors such as body mass index, diastolic blood pressure, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, and exercise patterns. Results: Individuals in the non-flushing group with alcohol consumption of ≤4 standard drinks (1 standard drink = 14 g of alcohol) per week had significantly lower moderate or high cardiovascular disease risk than individuals in the nondrinker group (adjusted odds ratio, 0.51; 95% confidence interval, 0.37 to 0.71). However, no significant relationship between the drinking amount and cardiovascular disease risk was observed in the flushing group. Conclusion: Cardiovascular disease risk is likely lowered by alcohol consumption among non-flushers, and the relationship between the drinking amount and cardiovascular disease risk may differ according to facial flushing after drinking, representing an individual’s vulnerability.

Zanthoxylum schinifolium (Z. schinifolium) and the seed oil of Z. schinifolium has been widely used as culinary applications and traditional medicine for epigastric pain in Korea, China, and several Asia nations and the components or extracts of Z. schinifolium have been reported to have pharmaceutical effects such as anti-platelet aggregation, inhibitory activities against monoamine oxidase, antioxidant and anticancer activities, and anti-inflammatory activity. In this study we got the results that 200 mg/kg/day seed oil of Z. schinifolium oral administration for 13 weeks enhances most immune-related cells and is biologically safe. However as B cell population was increased by Z. schinifolium seed oil administration but B cell function was not changed by that, ultimately we deduced that Z. schinifolium seed oil doesn’t have the modulation effect about B cell. To evaluate the biological safety of repeated Z. schinifolium seed oil administration the index of biological safety such as CBC, hematological enzymes, and especially histopathological morphologies was measured but no changes related with Z. schinifolium seed oil administration had been shown. Conclusively Z. schinifolium seed oil is one of the safe candidates to modulate immunity.

Stem cell technologies are particularly attractive in Parkinson’s disease (PD) research although they occasionally need long-term treatment for anti-parkinsonian activity. Unfortunately, 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) widely used as a model for PD has several limitations, including the risk of dose-dependent mortality and the difficulty of maintenance of PD symptoms during the whole experiment period. Therefore, we tested if our novel MPTP regimen protocol (2 mg/kg for 2 consecutive days and 1 mg/kg for next 3 consecutive days) can be maintained stable parkinsonism without mortality for long-term stem cell therapy. For this, we used small-bodied common marmoset monkeys (Callithrix jacchus) among several nonhuman primates showing high anatomical, functional, and behavioral similarities to humans. Along with no mortality, the behavioral changes involved in PD symptoms were maintained for 32 weeks. Also, the loss of jumping ability of the MPTP-treated marmosets in the Tower test was not recovered by 32 weeks. Positron emission tomography (PET) analysis revealed that remarkable decreases of bindings of 18F-FP-CIT were observed at the striatum of the brains of the marmosets received MPTP during the full period of the experiment for 32 weeks. In the substantia nigra of the marmosets, the loss of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunoreactivity was also observed at 32 weeks following the MPTP treatment. In conclusion, our low-dose MPTP regimen protocol was found to be stable parkinsonism without mortality as evidenced by behavior, PET, and TH immunohistochemistry. This result will be useful for evaluation of possible long-term stem cell therapy for anti-parkinsonian activity.

Zanthoxylum schinifolium has been used as culinary applications in Asia and some of its elements have been elucidated to have various pharmaceutical effects such as anti-platelet aggregation, inhibitory activities against monoamine oxidase, antioxidant and anticancer activities, and anti-inflammatory activity. In this study 21-day repeated Zanthoxylum schinifolium oral administration (250 mg/kg/day, once a day) modulated B cell-related immunity and biologically safe. After 21-day repeated oral administration, the expression of CD19 bound cells was significantly increased compared to those of the other surface molecules and the percentages of Alamar Blue® reduction were in LPS-treated splenocytes higher than in no treated but it was not different with in Con A-treated splenocytes and in no treated. Twenty-one-day repeated Z. schinifolium administration could not change the index of biological safety such as CBC, hematological enzymes, and especially histopathological morphologies. From the results Z. schinifolium-repeated administration enhances B cell immunity and is biological safe. Conclusively Z. schinifolium is one of the safe candidates to modulate immunity.

Lead (Pb) is a ubiquitously occurring environmental heavy metal which is widely used in industry and human life. Possibly due to a global industrial expansion, recent studies have revealed the prevalent human exposure to Pb and increased risk of Pb toxicity. Once ingested by human, 95% of absorbed Pb is accumulated into erythrocytes and erythrocytes are known to be a prime target for Pb toxicity. Most of the studies were however, focused on Pb2+ whereas the effects of Pb4+, another major form of Pb on erythrocytes are poorly understood yet. In this study, we investigated and compared the effects of Pb4+, Pb2+ and other heavy metals on procoagulant activation of erythrocytes, an important factor for the participation of erythrocytes in thrombotic events in an effort to address the cardiovascular toxicity of Pb4+. Freshly isolated erythrocytes from human were incubated with Pb4+, Pb2+, Cd2+ and Ag+ and the exposure of phosphatidylserine (PS), key marker for procoagulant activation was measured using flow cytometry. As a result, while Cd2+ and Ag+ did not affect PS exposure, Pb4+ and Pb2+ induced significantly PS exposure in a dose-dependent manner. Of a particular note, Pb4+ induced PS exposure with a similar potency with Pb2+. PS bearing microvesicle (MV), another important contributor to procoagulant activation was also generated by Pb4+. These PS exposure and MV generation by Pb4+ were well in line with the shape change of erythrocyte from normal discocytes to MV shedding echinocytes following Pb4+ treatment. Meanwhile, nonspecific hemolysis was not observed suggesting the specificity of Pb4+-induced PS exposure and MV generation. These results indicated that Pb4+ could induce procoagulant activation of erythrocytes through PS exposure and MV generation, suggesting that Pb4+ exposure might ultimately lead to increased thrombotic events.

The common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) is a small-bodied, popular New World monkey and is used widely in reproductive biology, neuroscience, and drug development, due to its comparative ease of handling, high reproductive efficiency, and its unique behavioral characters. In this review, we discuss the marmoset models in Parkinson’s disease (PD), which is a neurological movement disorder primarily resulting from a degeneration of dopaminergic neurons with clinical features of tremor, rigidity, postural instability, and akinesia. The most common PD models involve the administration of 1-methyl-4-phenyl- 1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) or 6-hydroxydopamine to study the pathogenesis and to evaluate novel therapies. Following the systemic or local administration of these neurotoxins, the marmosets with very severe Parkinson’s symptoms are recommended to be placed in an intensive care unit with artificial feeding to increase survival rate. All procedures with MPTP should be conducted in a special room with enclosed cages under negative-pressure by trained researchers with personal protection. Behavioral tests are conducted to provide an external measure of the brain pathology. Along with several biomarkers, including α-synuclein and DJ-1, non-invasive neuroimaging techniques such as positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging are used to evaluate the functional changes associated with PD. With the recent growing interest in potential and novel therapies such as stem cell and gene therapy for PD in Korea, the marmoset can be considered as a suitable non-human primate model in PD research to bridge the gap between rodent studies and clinical applications.

A bleaching catalyst based on manganese complexes, consisting of meso-5,5,7,12,12,14-hexamethyl-1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane and racemic-5,5,7,12,12,14-hexamethyl-1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane ligands, was synthesized and applied at 25°C to cotton fabrics stained with tea, coffee, curry, and sugar beet to examine the bleaching properties. The bleaching performance of this novel catalyst was higher than that of the conventional activator, tetraacetyl ethylenediamine (TAED). Dye and fabric damage were also examined for six differently dyed test fabrics under stressed conditions over 30 wash cycles. The dye damage induced by the catalyst was significantly less than that induced by TAED in direct black 22, reactive blue 225, reactive red 158, and sulfur blue 19. Tensile strength loss measurement, which represents fabric damage, showed less damage for the catalyst in direct black 22, direct blue 71, reactive red 158, and sulfur blue 19. The results indicate that this new bleaching catalyst could potentially be employed for low-temperature bleaching.

Given the strong coupling between the substantia nigra (SN) and striatum (STR) in the early stage of Parkinson's disease (PD), yet only a few studies reported to date that have simultaneously investigated the neurochemistry of these two brain regions in vivo, we performed longitudinal metabolic profiling in the SN and STR of 1-methyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-intoxicated common marmoset monkey models of PD (n = 10) by using proton MRS (1 H-MRS) at 9.4 T. T2 relaxometry was also performed in the SN by using MRI. Data were classified into control, MPTP_2weeks, and MPTP_6-10 weeks groups according to the treatment duration. In the SN, T2 of the MPTP_6-10 weeks group was lower than that of the control group (44.33 ± 1.75 versus 47.21 ± 2.47 ms, p < 0.05). The N-acetylaspartate to total creatine ratio (NAA/tCr) and γ-aminobutyric acid to tCr ratio (GABA/tCr) of the MPTP_6-10 weeks group were lower than those of the control group (0.41 ± 0.04 versus 0.54 ± 0.08 (p < 0.01) and 0.19 ± 0.03 versus 0.30 ± 0.09 (p < 0.05), respectively). The glutathione to tCr ratio (GSH/tCr) was correlated with T2 for the MPTP_6-10 weeks group (r = 0.83, p = 0.04). In the STR, however, GABA/tCr of the MPTP_6-10 weeks group was higher than that of the control group (0.25 ± 0.10 versus 0.16 ± 0.05, p < 0.05). These findings may be an in vivo depiction of the altered basal ganglion circuit in PD brain resulting from the degeneration of nigral dopaminergic neurons and disruption of nigrostriatal dopaminergic projections. Given the important role of non-human primates in translational studies, our findings provide better understanding of the complicated evolution of PD.

The effects of carbon tetrachloride (CCl(4)) treatment on acute liver damage in knock out (heat shock proteins -- HSP70-/-) mice and wild-type (C57BL/6) mice were examined. Acute liver injury was induced by a single intraperitoneal injection of 0.3 ML/kg CCl(4) in olive oil. Mice were sacrificed at 12, 24, 48 and 72 h after treatment. To assess hepatotoxicity, alanine transaminase, neutrophil infiltration and degree of necrosis were measured. Western blot analysis was employed for heat shock proteins. The result revealed that HSP70-/- mice showed higher alanine transaminase levels and a more severe degree of neutrophilic infiltration and necrosis than those of wild-type mice. Furthermore, HSP70-/- mice recovered more slowly from CCl(4) treatment. In HSP70-/- mice, HSP47 was overexpressed. Therefore, HSP70-/- mice could be an adequate model of acute liver toxicity study.