Objectives:Recently, thread-embedding therapy (TET) has been widely applied in Korean medicine for cosmetic purposes such as reducing skin wrinkles. An inserted thread was reported to have induced continuous stimulation, followed by support for connective tissue regeneration. However, the potential role of TET in hairgrowth has not yet been reported.Methods:We designed this study to evaluate whether TET has a hair-growth-promoting effect. C57 black 6 (C57BL/6) mice were divided into three groups: normal saline-treated, minoxidil-treated, and thread-embedded groups. Normal saline or 5% minoxidil was topically sprayed on the dorsal skin of the mice once a day for 16 days. Medical threads were embedded into the dorsal skin of the mice in a single application. Hair growth activity was evaluated by using dermoscopic and microscopic observations. Sections of the dorsal skin were stained with hematoxylin and eosin. Expressions of bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU), proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), fibroblast growth factor-7 (FGF-7), and fibroblast growth factor-5 (FGF-5) were detected by using immunohistochemical staining. A reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis was adopted to measure the messenger RNA (mRNA) expressions of FGF-7 and FGF-5.Results:TET enhanced anagen development in the hair follicles of C57BL/6 mice. The expressions of BrdU and PCNA, both of which imply active cellular proliferation, were increased by using TET. Moreover, TET increased the expression of FGF-7, an anagen-inducing growth factor, while decreasing the expression of FGF-5, an anagen-cessation growth factor, both at the protein and the mRNA levels.Conclusion:TET enhanced hair re-growth in C57BL/6 mice. TET regulated the expressions of anagen-associated growth factors and activated the proliferation of hair follicular cells in depilated skin lesions. Considering its long-lasting effect, TET may be a good alternative therapeutic for the treatment of alopecia.

Objective:The endpoint of this review is to investigate existing studies of Cervi cornu parvum(CCP) pharmacopuncture within Korean medicine journals in order to present a better research method in the future.Methods:We searched all the papers through six Korean electrical databases that included the title of " Cervi cornu parvum pharmacopuncture" or " Cervi cornu parvum aqua-acupuncture". Articles that had been published until December 2012 were largely divided into experimental studies and clinical studies.Results:Fifty-three (53) experimental studies and six clinical studies were found. The number of published articles has been constantly increasing. Many of the experimental studies demonstrated anti-inflammatory effects for arthritis, and most of the clinical studies dealt with musculoskeletal problems.Conclusion:Various therapeutically significant effects of the CCP pharmacopuncture have been found through this review; however, more systematic clinical studies on the CCP pharmacopuncture seem to be necessary to substantially support its clinical effects.

Objective : To search the trend of studying thread-embedding therapy in Korean medicine academia up to now and to expand the range of using thread-embedding therapy in the future, this study was designed.Methods : Using search portal sites the following; http://oasis.kiom.re.kr, http://www.riss.re.kr, collected 37 articles and devided those three parts and classificated those into four subsection as follows; total analysis, original article, case report.Results : The number of articles are 8 review articles, 14 original articles, 15 case reports. In the year 2013, 14 articles were published and ranked highest(37.8%). The journal of acupuncture & moxibustion medicine society ranked highest(40.5%). 5 persons ranked highest(32.4%) in number of author. Facial beauty care ranked highest(21.6%) in clssification of disease. Remedy item ranked highest(50.0%) in classification of subjects of 8 review articles. No more than 25 persons ranked highest(66.7%) and 6~12months of treatment period ranked highest(33.3%) in 14 original articles.Conclusions : Thread-embedding therapy is considered very useful on various part of Korean medicine clinic. We need to expand application scope of thread-embedding therapy in the future.

Acquired resistance to lapatinib is a highly problematic clinical barrier that has to be overcome for a successful cancer treatment. Despite efforts to determine the mechanisms underlying acquired lapatinib resistance (ALR), no definitive genetic factors have been reported to be solely responsible for the acquired resistance in breast cancer. Therefore, we performed a cross-platform meta-analysis of three publically available microarray datasets related to breast cancer with ALR, using the R-based RankProd package. From the meta-analysis, we were able to identify a total of 990 differentially expressed genes (DEGs, 406 upregulated, 584 downregulated) that are potentially associated with ALR. Gene ontology (GO) function and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis of the DEGs showed that "response to organic substance" and "p53 signaling pathway" may be largely involved in ALR process. Of these, many of the top 50 upregulated and downregulated DEGs were found in oncogenesis of various tumors and cancers. For the top 50 DEGs, we constructed the gene coexpression and protein-protein interaction networks from a huge database of well-known molecular interactions. By integrative analysis of two systemic networks, we condensed the total number of DEGs to six common genes (LGALS1, PRSS23, PTRF, FHL2, TOB1, and SOCS2). Furthermore, these genes were confirmed in functional module eigens obtained from the weighted gene correlation network analysis of total DEGs in the microarray datasets ("GSE16179" and "GSE52707"). Our integrative meta-analysis could provide a comprehensive perspective into complex mechanisms underlying ALR in breast cancer and a theoretical support for further chemotherapeutic studies.

Anthracyclines are among the most effective and commonly used chemotherapeutic agents. However, the development of acquired anthracycline resistance is a major limitation to their clinical application. The aim of the present study was to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and biological processes associated with the acquisition of anthracycline resistance in human breast cancer cells. We performed a meta-analysis of publically available microarray datasets containing data on stepwise-selected, anthracycline‑resistant breast cancer cell lines using the RankProd package in R. Additionally, the gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) databases were used to analyze GO term enrichment and pathways, respectively. A protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was also generated using Cytoscape software. The meta-analysis yielded 413 DEGs related to anthracycline resistance in human breast cancer cells, and 374 of these were not involved in individual DEGs. GO analyses showed the 413 genes were enriched with terms such as 'response to steroid metabolic process', 'chemical stimulus', 'external stimulus', 'hormone stimulus', 'multicellular organismal process', and 'system development'. Pathway analysis revealed significant pathways including steroid hormone biosynthesis, cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, drug metabolism-cytochrome P450, metabolism of xenobiotics by cytochrome P450, and arachidonic acid metabolism. The PPI network indicated that proteins encoded by TRIM29, VTN, CCNA1, and karyopherin α 5 (KPNA5) participated in a significant number of interactions. In conclusion, our meta-analysis provides a comprehensive view of gene expression patterns associated with acquired resistance to anthracycline in breast cancer cells, and constitutes the basis for additional functional studies.