Sung-hwan Park

Immunosuppressive drugs have become the gold standard for the treatment of major organ involvement in systemic lupus erythematosus. The use of immunosuppressive therapy in systemic lupus erythematosus carries significant risks for infection. This article reviews infectious complications in systemic lupus erythematosus, focusing on effects of immunosuppressive therapy. Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus appear to carry an intrinsically increased risk for infection. Recent studies support

CoQ10 exerts a therapeutic effect on OA via pain suppression and cartilage degeneration by inhibiting inflammatory mediators, which play a vital role in OA pathogenesis.

In this article, two models are developed for the adhesion force in railway rolling stocks. The first model is a static model based on a beam model, which is typically used to model automobile tires. The second model is a dynamic model based on a bristle model, in which the friction interface between the rail and the wheel is modeled as contact between bristles. The validity of the beam model and bristle model is verified through an adhesion test using a brake performance test rig. We also devel

The HLA-B51 allele is known to be associated with Behcet's disease (BD) in many ethnic group. However, it has not yet been clarified whether the HLA-B51 gene itself is the pathogenic gene related to BD or whether it is some other gene in linkage disequlibrium with HLA-B51. Recently, the Triplet repeat (GCT/AGC) polymorphism in transmembrane region of the MHC class I chain-related A (MICA) gene was identified. To investigate the association of MICA with BD, we studied the MICA polymorphism in 108

CII-reactive T cells are more abundant in SFMC than in PBMC and are strongly associated with a shift toward Thl cytokine in the inflamed joints of RA patients. Our results suggest that a skewing toward type 1 cytokines by CII-reactive T cells may play an important role in the chronic inflammatory process of RA.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic autoimmune disease characterized by chronic joint inflammation. Red ginseng is a steamed and dried Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer, which has been used as alternative medicine for thousands of years. This study was undertaken to investigate the effects of red ginseng extracts (RGE) on autoimmune arthritis in mice and humans and to delineate the underlying mechanism. RGE was orally administered three times a week to mice with arthritis. Oral administration of RGE

Blowflies, especially species belonging to the subfamily Luciliinae, are the first insects to lay eggs on corpses in Korea. Fast and accurate species identification has been a key task for forensic entomologists. Because conventional morphologic identification methods have many limitations with respect to forensic practice, molecular methods have been proposed to identify fly species of forensic importance. To this end, the authors amplified and sequenced the full length of the cytochrome c oxid

Phytochemical investigation of the branches of Ficus erecta var. sieboldii King resulted in the isolation of eight constituents: p-hydroxybenzoic acid (1), methyl p-hydroxybenzoate (2), vanillic acid (3), methyl vanillate (4), syringic acid (5), β-sitosterol (6), α-amyrin acetate (7), and ethyl linoleate (8). Their chemical structures were identified via spectroscopic means as well as by comparing their data with literature values. Studies on tyrosinase inhibition activities were conducted for t

BACKGROUND: Gabapentin is commonly prescribed for the treatment of neuropathic pain, restless leg syndrome, and partial-onset seizures. Although the most frequent side effects of gabapentin are associated with the central nervous system, gabapentin can also affect the cardiovascular system. Case reports and observational studies have showed that gabapentin can be associated with increased risk of atrial fibrillation. However, all the evidence is concentrated in patients older than 65 years old w

S ystemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease characterized by the production of autoantibodies to components of the cell nucleus with diverse clinical manifestations, predominantly in women during reproductive years. SLE is caused by interaction between susceptibility genes and environmental factors, which result in abnormal immune response. SLE is caused by failure in regulating the production of pathogenic autoantibodies and the formation of immune complex. Abnormalities in the

The introduction of new therapeutic agents in recent years has led the early diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) increasingly important. Therapeutic intervention early in the disease course of RA allows earlier disease control and less joint damage. The 1987 American College of Rheumatology classification criteria for RA, however, does not reach full efficiency for providing clinicians to distinguish RA from other arthritides in the early phase of the disease. Therefore, diagnostic tools are

Objective. To compare the urate-lowering efficacy and the safety of febuxostat, allopurinol and placebo in Korean patients with gout for 4 weeks. Methods. Subjects (n=182) with gout were randomized to febuxostat (40, 80, 120 mg), allopurinol 300 mg, or placebo group. The primary end point was the proportion of subjects whose serum urate concentration fell to less than 6.0 mg/dL after the 4-week treatment. Results. The primary end point was reached at 25.7%, 80.0% and 83.3% of patients receiving