In recent years, there has been a rapid global decline in amphibian populations, and infectious diseases have been associated with this decline. Diseased Gold-spotted pond frogs (Rana plancyi chosenica) were collected from a frog farm in Korea and identif

This study was carried out to investigate effect of herbal extracts mixtures on hair growth in an alopecia model of C57BL/6 mice. There were 4 experimental groups including distilled water (DW, negative control), 25% ethanol(EtOH, vehicle control) and two herbal extract mixtures (HE-1 and HE-2). HE-1 included Polygonum and Brassica campestris extracts and HE-2 included Mulberry root and Gardenia extracts. The 6 weeks-old C57BL/6 male mice were shaved with an electric clipper and the test compounds were topically treated with 0.2 ml per mouse daily for 3 weeks. The hair re-growth was photographically determined at days 0, 4, 7, 10, 14, 17, and 21. The number of mast cells which is an important modulator of hair growth was counted in 1 cm of dorsal skin section of mice. There were no clinical signs in all experimental groups. As the results of photometric analysis, the topical application of the herbal extracts (HE-1 & 2) for 2 weeks to dorsal skin accelerated hair re-growth remarkably faster than that of DW group (p＜0.05). Activity of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) was significantly increased in EtOH group compared to DW group (p＜0.05). Both herbal extract mixtures also increased the ALP activity, but it was not significantly different from DW. Treatment of mice with HE-2 significantly increased mast cell population compared to EtOH. Taken together, these results suggest that herbal extract mixtures used in this study may have hair-growth promoting activities and can be useful for treatment for male pattern baldness or alopecia in humans.

The study was conducted to gather basic information on the occurrence of phytophagous nematodes for the establishment of nematode management strategy in major highland crop production such as chinese cabbage, carrot and potato. Soil samples were collected from five areas in 48 fields in the highland and sub-highland (425m to 1136m asl) areas in 2006. Majority (88%) of the soil samples contained the root-knot nematodes, Meloidogyne hapla. The average density of the root-knot nematodes in chinese cabbage, carrot and potato fields were 8.3, 18.0 and 25.9 nematodes/100g soil, respectively. Helicotylenchus sp., Pratylenchus sp. and Dorylaimida sp. were also detected but in low densities.Root-knot nematode damage was not detected in potato growth and harvest at 0, 2, 12, 23 nematodes/100g soil densities.

In the process of bone remodeling, mineral phase of bone is dissolved by osteoclasts, resulting in elevation of calcium concentration in micro-environment. This study was performed to explore the effect of high extracellular calcium (Cα²+e) on mineralized nodule formation and on the expression of progressive ankylosis (Ank), plasma cell membrane glycoprotein-1 (PC-1) and osteopontin by primary cultured mouse calvarial cells. Osteoblastic differentiation and mineralized nodule formation was induced by culture of mouse calvarial cells in osteoblast differentiation medium containing ascorbic acid and β-glycerophosphate. Although Ank, PC-1 and osteopontin are well known inhibitors of mineralization, expression of these genes were induced at the later stage of osteoblast differentiation during when expression of osteocalcin, a late marker gene of osteoblast differentiation, was induced and mineralization was actively progressing. High Cα²+e(10 mM) treatment highly enhanced mRNA expression of Ank, PC-1 and osteopontin in the late stage of osteoblast differentiation but not in the early stage. Inhibition of p44/42 MAPK activation but not that of protein kinase C suppressed high Cα²+e- induced expression of Ank, PC-1 and osteopontin. When high Cα²+e (5 mM or 10 mM) was present in culture medium during when mineral deposition was actively progressing, matrix calcifiation was significantly increased by high Cα²+e. This stimulatory effect was abolished by pyrophosphate (5 mM) or levamisole (0.1-0.5 mM), an alkaline phosphatase inhibitor. In addition, probenecid (2mM), an inhibitor of Ank, suppressed matrix calcification in both control and high Cα²+e- treated group, suggesting the possible role of Ank in matrix calcification by osteoblasts. Taken together, these results showed that high Cα²+e stimulates expression of Ank, PC-1 and osteopontin as well as matrix calcification in late differentiation stage of osteoblasts and that p44/42 MAPK activation is involved in high Cα²+e- induced expression of Ank, PC-1 and osteopontin.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the nutrient intake status of elderly dementia patients. We surveyed the dietary intake of 50 demented elderly patients receiving a regular diet, who were hospitalized in a geriatric hospital in Yongin, Gyeonggi-do. The average age of the subjects was 79.6 土6.5 for the males and 80.5 土6.3 for the females. The average heights were 169.5 土6.0 cm (males) and 154.6 土5.2 cm (females), and the average weights were 58.5 土7.4 (males) and 51.7 土8.9 kg (females). Depending on the type of dementia, the male patients showed significant differences in their intakes of vegetable protein, fiber, total iron, and non-heme iron between the Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and the vascular dementia (VD) groups, and the female patients showed significant differences in their intakes of total protein, phosphorus, zinc, and vitamin B6 between the two groups. The male patients showed significant differences in their intakes of animal-source calcium and carotene according to ability to self-feed. According to physical activity, the male patients showed significant differences in vegetable fat and vitamin A intake, and the females showed significant differences in their intakes of total protein, animal protein, fiber, ash, total calcium, vegetable-source calcium, animal-source calcium, phosphorous, total iron, non-heme iron, heme iron, sodium, vitamins B1, B2, B6, niacin, vitamin C, folate, and potassium. We found that the patients consumed excessive protein, but low amounts of calcium, vitamin B2, and folate. Also, the patients’ physical activity abilities appeared to affect their nutrient intakes.

Calcium concentration in the bone resorption lacunae is high and is in the mM concentration range. Both osteoblast and osteoclast have calcium sensing receptor in the cell surface, suggesting the regulatory role of high extracellular calcium in bone metabolism. In vitro, high extracellular calcium stimulated osteoclastogenesis in coculture of mouse osteoblasts and bone marrow cells. Therefore we examined the genes that were commonly regulated by both high extracellular calcium and 1.25(OH)₂vitaminD₃(VD3) by using mouse oligo 11 K gene chip. In the presence of 10 mM [Ca²+]e or 10 nM VD3, mouse calvarial osteoblasts and bone marrow cells were co-cultured for 4 days when tartrate resistant acid phosphatase-positive multinucleated cells start to appear. Of 11,000 genes examined, the genes commonly regulated both by high extracellular calcium and by VD3 were as follows; 1) the expression of genes which were osteoclast differentiation markers or were associated with osteoclastogenesis were up-regulated both by high extracellular calcium and by VD3; trap, mmp9, car2, ctsk, ckb, atp6b2, tm7sf4, rab7, 2) several chemokine and chemokine receptor genes such as sdf1, scya2, scyb5, scya6, scya8, scya9, and ccr1 were up-regulated both by high extracellular calcium and by VD3, 3) the genes such as mmp1b, mmp3 and c3 which possibly stimulate bone resorption by osteoclast, were commonly up-regulated, 4) the gene such as c1q and msr2 which were related with macrophage function, were commonly down-regulated, 5) the genes which possibly stimulate osteoblast differentiation and/or mineralization of extracellular matrix, were commonly down-regulated; slc8a1, admr, plod2, lox, fosb, 6) the genes which possibly suppress osteoblast differentiation and/or mineralization of extracellular matrix, were commonly up-regulated; s100a4, npr3, mme, 7) the genes such as calponin 1 and tgfbi which possibly suppress osteoblast differentiation and/or mineralization of extracellular matrix, were up-regulated by high extracellular calcium but were down-regulated by VD3. These results suggest that in coculture condition, both high extracellular calcium and VD3 commonly induce osteoclastogenesis but suppress osteoblast differentiation/mineralization by regulating the expression of related genes.

The inhibition of cell recovery might be proceeded via either the damage of the mechanism of the recovery itself or via the formation of irreversible damage which could not be repaired at all. Both these processes may take place at the same time. Any of t

Hereditary dentin defects consists of dentin dysplasia(DD) and denti nogenesis imperfecta(Dr) ‘ The Dl associated with osteogenesis imperfecta has been classified as DI type 1. whereas isolated inherited defects have been categori zed as DI types II and III , However‘ whether DI type III should be considered a distinct phenotype 01' a variation of DI type 1I is debatable , Recent genetic findings have focused attention on the role of the dentin sialo phosphoprotein(DSPP) gene in the etiology of inherited defects of tooth dentin, We have identified novel mlltation( c,727G - > A, p,D243N) at the 243th codon of exon 4 of the DSPP gene in a Korean patient with DI type III The radiographic and histologic features of the patient revealed the classic phenotype of shell teeth These findings sllggest that DI type II and III are not separate diseases bllt rather the phenotypic variation 01' a s ingle disease