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Biomedical subjects

Younghee Kim

Publications and source records attributed to Younghee Kim.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2007

Aquatic toxicity of acetaminophen, carbamazepine, cimetidine, diltiazem and six major sulfonamides, and their potential ecological risks in Korea.

Pharmaceuticals are manufactured and used for specific biological functions in veterinary and human medicine. Their detection in the environment and their bioactivity have resulted in concern for potential adverse effects on non-target species. Notwithstanding recent attention for their occurrence in the environment, there are significant research gaps for existing pharmaceuticals with regard to their potential ecological consequences. In this study, the four most abundantly used pharmaceuticals in Korea, namely acetaminophen, carbamazepine, cimetidine, and diltiazem, and six sulfonamide related antibiotics, including sulfamethoxazole, sulfachlorpyridazine, sulfathiazole, sulfamethazine, sulfadimethoxine, and trimethoprim were examined for their acute aquatic toxicity employing a marine bacterium (Vibrio fischeri), a freshwater invertebrate (Daphnia magna), and the Japanese medaka fish (Oryzias latipes). In general, Daphnia was the most susceptible among the test organisms. The most acutely toxic among the chemicals tested in this study was diltiazem, with a median lethal concentration of 8.2 mg/L for D. magna. The resulting acute toxicity of these pharmaceuticals was reasonably predicted by physicochemical descriptors such as pH-dependent distribution coefficient and EHOMO-ELUMO gap. Predicted environmental concentrations (PECs) derived for the test pharmaceuticals in Korea ranged between 0.14 and 16.5 microg/L. Hazard quotients derived from PECs and predicted no effect concentrations (PNECs) for sulfamethoxazole and acetaminophen were 6.3 and 1.8, respectively, suggesting potential environmental concerns and a need for further investigation.

Acetaminophen↗
PubMed2004

Cloning and expression of a lipase gene from rice (Oryza sativa cv. Dongjin).

Lipases are useful enzymes that are primarily responsible for the hydrolysis of acylglycerides during lipid processing. We have cloned a lipase gene from a rice seed coat cDNA library (Oryza sativa cv. Dongjin). The cDNA was 1,445 bp in length and encoded 361 amino acid residues (GenBank accession No. AY580163). The deduced amino acid sequence had 82 and 56% identity to Oryza sativa (cv. Chuchung) and Arabidopsis thaliana lipase genes, respectively, and there was a GxSxG consensus motif near the catalytic triad at the active serine site. The deduced sequence had little homology to mammalian and microbial lipases. When the Oryza sativa lipase gene was expressed in Escherichia coli with the pET expression system, activity was found mainly in the pellet fraction. The purified product had lipolytic activity towards tributyrin and was about 40 kDa in size.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2004

BMI and metabolic disorders in South Korean adults: 1998 Korea National Health and Nutrition Survey.

OBJECTIVE: The prevalence of overweight, obesity, and metabolic disorders and their relationship with BMI were studied in South Korean adults. The appropriate BMI categories for overweight and obesity for Koreans were evaluated. RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES: The 1998 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey was the first such survey, to our knowledge, conducted on a cross-sectional and nationally representative population. The survey provided data on body weight; height; fasting serum glucose; triacylglycerol; total, low-density lipoprotein, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; blood pressure; and various other questions that were incorporated into this study. A total of 39,060 persons over the age of 1 year from 12,283 households participated in the Health and Nutrition Interview Survey. Of these, 10,876 people over the age of 10 years old participated in the Health Examination. We analyzed data from 7962 adults over the age of 20 years old. RESULTS: The overweight (BMI, >/=25.0 to <30.0) and obesity (BMI, >/=30) rates were low among Korean adults: 23.4% and 1.7% in men and 24.9% and 3.2% in women, respectively. However, the prevalences of diabetes, hypertension, and abnormal concentrations of serum triacylglycerol and total, low-density lipoprotein, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were high at 10.5%, 27.1%, 29.0%, 34.5%, 28.4%, and 37.4%, respectively. These disorders were age dependent, and, in general, there was a strong linear relationship between BMI and the disorders. The relative risk of disorders doubled at a BMI of 23.0 to 24.0 and tripled at a BMI of 26.0, compared with a baseline BMI of 18.5 to 22.0. DISCUSSION: High rates of diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia were noted in middle-aged and elderly Koreans even at relatively low BMI. It might be appropriate to lower the BMI classification from the current >/=25.0 for overweight and >/=30.0 for obesity for this group of Koreans.

Age Factors↗
PubMed2003

Effectiveness of service learning and learning through service in dietetics education.

Positive assessments of service learning as a teaching methodology have stimulated colleges and universities to adopt service learning in their curricula. This study was undertaken to determine whether service learning could be implemented effectively as a teaching methodology in dietetics education. A total of 49 undergraduate students who were enrolled in Nutrition for the Aging course participated in a service learning project. During 5 weeks of the service learning project, students interacted with and assisted clients of the federal Elderly Nutrition Program (Title IIIc). Orientation to the project, reflection on the experience, and evaluation were important components of this project. Evaluation indicated that service learning was an effective teaching method in the dietetics curriculum. Students reported that they were able to integrate the classroom content with real-life experience and learned more while doing so. Service learning had a positive effect on learning by bringing additional personal, professional, and spiritual context to the subject content taught in the classroom and on an understanding of community resources and needs.

Aged↗
PubMed2002

Gene expression profile analysis in human hepatocellular carcinoma by cDNA microarray.

We performed gene expression profiling of normal and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) liver tissues using a high-density microarray that contained 3,063 human cDNA. The results of a microarray hybridization experiment from eight different HCC tissues were analyzed and classified by the Cluster program. Among these differentially-expressed genes, the galectin-3, serine/threonine kinase SGK, translation factor eIF-4A, -4B, -3, fibroblast growth factor receptor, and ribosomal protein L35A were up-regulated; the mRNAs of Nip3, decorin, and the insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 were down-regulated in HCC. The differential expression of these genes was further confirmed by an RT-PCR analysis. In addition, our data suggest that the gene expression profile of HCC varies according to the histological types.

Carcinoma, Hepatocellular↗