• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.873-880
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• 2009

A novel xylanase gene, Kxyn, was cloned from Kocuria sp. Mn22, a bacteria isolated from the deep sea of the east Pacific. Kxyn consists of 1,170 bp and encodes a protein of 390 amino acids that shows the highest identity (63%) with a xylanase from Thermohifida fusca YX. The mature protein with a molecular mass of approximately 40 kDa was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). The recombinant Kxyn displayed its maximum activity at $55^{\circ}C$ and at pH 8.5. The $K_m,\;V_{max}$, and $k_{cat}$ values of Kxyn for birchwood xylan were 5.4 mg/ml, $272{\mu}mol/min{\cdot}mg$, and 185.1/s, respectively. Kxyn hydrolyzed birchwood xylan to produce xylobiose and xylotriose as the predominant products. The activity of Kxyn was not affected by $Ca^{2+},\;Mg^{2+},\;Na^+,\;K^+$, ${\beta}$-mercaptoethanol, DTT, or SDS, but was strongly inhibited by $Hg^{2+},\;Cu^{2+},Zn^{2+}$, and $Pb^{2+}$. It was stable over a wide pH range, retaining more than 80% activity after overnight incubation at pH 7.5-12. Kxyn is a cellulase-free xylanase. Therefore, these properties make it a candidate for various industrial applications.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.638-644
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• 2018

In this study, the immobilization of xylanase using a protein-inorganic hybrid nanoflower system was assessed to improve the enzyme properties. The synthesis of hybrid xylanase nanoflowers was very effective at $4^{\circ}C$ for 72 h, using 0.25 mg/ml protein, and efficient immobilization of xylanase was observed, with a maximum encapsulation yield and relative activity of 78.5% and 148%, respectively. Immobilized xylanase showed high residual activity at broad pH and temperature ranges. Using birchwood xylan as a substrate, the $V_{max}$ and $K_m$ values of xylanase nanoflowers were 1.60 mg/ml and $455{\mu}mol/min/mg$ protein, compared with 1.42 mg/ml and $300{\mu}mol/min/mg$ protein, respectively, for the free enzyme. After 5 and 10 cycles of reuse, the xylanase nanoflowers retained 87.5% and 75.8% residual activity, respectively. These results demonstrate that xylanase immobilization using a proteininorganic hybrid nanoflower system is an effective approach for its potential biotechnological applications.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.107-115
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• 2017

Over the last decade, physiologically based pharmacokinetics (PBPK) application has been extended significantly not only to predicting preclinical/human PK but also to evaluating the drug-drug interaction (DDI) liability at the drug discovery or development stage. Herein, we describe a case study to illustrate the use of PBPK approach in predicting human PK as well as DDI using in silico, in vivo and in vitro derived parameters. This case was composed of five steps such as: simulation, verification, understanding of parameter sensitivity, optimization of the parameter and final evaluation. Caffeine and ciprofloxacin were used as tool compounds to demonstrate the "fit for purpose" application of PBPK modeling and simulation for this study. Compared to caffeine, the PBPK modeling for ciprofloxacin was challenging due to several factors including solubility, permeability, clearance and tissue distribution etc. Therefore, intensive parameter sensitivity analysis (PSA) was conducted to optimize the PBPK model for ciprofloxacin. Overall, the increase in $C_{max}$ of caffeine by ciprofloxacin was not significant. However, the increase in AUC was observed and was proportional to the administered dose of ciprofloxacin. The predicted DDI and PK results were comparable to observed clinical data published in the literatures. This approach would be helpful in identifying potential key factors that could lead to significant impact on PBPK modeling and simulation for challenging compounds.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.393-399
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• 2013

Asian populations are thought to receive significant health benefits from traditional diets rich in soybeans due to high isoflavone contents. However, available epidemiologic data only weakly support this hypothesis. The present study was carried out to assess the pharmacokinetics of isoflavones in South Korean women after ingestion of soy-based foods. Twenty-six healthy female volunteers (20-30 y old) consumed three different soy products (i.e., isogen, soymilk, and fermented soybeans) with different aglycone/glucoside ratios. Plasma and urine isoflavone concentrations were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) after ingestion of one of the soy products. Pharmacokinetic parameters were determined using the WinNonlin program. The area under the curve (AUC) for plasma daidzein levels of the soymilk group ($2,101{\pm}352ng{\cdot}h/mL$) was significantly smaller than those of the isogen ($2,628{\pm}573ng{\cdot}h/mL$) and fermented soybean ($2,593{\pm}465ng{\cdot}h/mL$) groups. The maximum plasma concentration ($C_{max}$) of daidzein for the soymilk group ($231{\pm}44$ ng/mL) was significantly higher than those of the isogen ($160{\pm}32$ ng/mL) and fermented soybean ($195{\pm}35$ ng/mL) groups. The half-lives of daidzein and genistein in the soymilk group (5.9 and 5.6 h, respectively) were significantly shorter than those in the individuals given isogen (9.6 and 8.5 h, respectively) or fermented soybean (9.5 and 8.2 h, respectively). The urinary recovery rates of daidzein and genistein were 42% and 17% for the isogen group, 46% and 23% for the fermented soybean group, and 33% and 22% for the soymilk group. In conclusion, our data indicated that soy products containing high levels of isoflavone aglycone are more effective for maintaining plasma isoflavone concentrations. Additional dose-response, durational, and interventional studies are required to evaluate the ability of soy-based foods to increase the bioavailability of isoflavones that positively affect human health.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.483-493
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• 2011

An acid phosphatase (HppA) activated by $NH_4Cl$ was purified 192- and 34-fold from the periplasmic and membrane fractions of Helicobacter pylori, respectively. SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed that HppA from the latter appears to be several kilodaltons larger in molecular mass than from the former by about 24 kDa. Under acidic conditions (pH${\leq}$4.5), the enzyme activity was entirely dependent on the presence of certain mono- and/or divalent metal cations (e.g., $K^+$,$ NH_4{^+}$, and/or $Ni^{2+}$). In particular, $Ni^{2+}$ appeared to lower the enzyme's $K_m$ for the substrates, without changing $V_{max}$. The purified enzyme showed differential specificity against nucleotide substrates with pH; for example, the enzyme hydrolyzed adenosine nucleotides more rapidly at pH 5.5 than at pH 6.0, and vice versa for CTP or TTP. Analyses of the enzyme's N-terminal sequence and of an $HppA^-$ H. pylori mutant revealed that the purified enzyme is identical to rHppA, a cloned H. pylori class C acid phosphatase, and shown to be the sole bacterial 5'-nucleotidase uniquely activated by $NH_4Cl$. In contrast to wild type, $HppA^-$ H. pylori cells grew more slowly. Strikingly, they imported $Mg^{2+}$ at a markedly lowered rate, but assimilated urea rapidly, with a subsequent increase in extracellular pH. Moreover, mutant cells were much more sensitive to extracellular potassium ions, as well as to metronidazole, omeprazole, or thiophenol, with considerably lowered MIC values, than wild-type cells. From these data, we suggest that the role of the acid phosphatase HppA in H. pylori may extend beyond 5'-nucleotidase function to include cation-flux as well as pH regulation on the cell envelope.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.255-259
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• 2005

Financial standing of National Health Insurance has been experiencing a grave deterioration during the last 4-5 years, and the yearly amount paid by the insurance for drug expense rose up to 4 trillion won recently. Furthermore, the ratio of drug expenses in the total expenditure of the insurance reached about $25\%$, showing the tendency to be levelled off. As a measure to improve the financial deterioration of the insurance and to encourage generic substitution among the health professionals, we compared pharmacokinetic parameters of brand name drug (Lamisil) and generic drug (Muzonal) containing terbinafine HCl in healthy volunteers. The area under the curve (AUC) of the two drugs showed $2220.4\pm784.7\;and\;2143.1\pm861.6hr{\cdot}ng/ml$ in the corresponding order and no statistically significant difference was identified. The peak concentration $(C_{max})$ of the generic drug demonstrated $566.6\pm246.2 ng/ml$ compared to $550.8\pm204.0$ of brand name drug, which was not significantly different either. Time to reach peak concentration showed about 6 minutes difference between the drugs, which has no clinical significance to the treatment of dermatomycosis and dermatophytosis.

• 한국태양에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.227-232
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• 2008

Stirling engine for solar thermal power is an essential part of Dish-Stirling system which generates electricity by using direct normal irradiation and will go into commercialization in near future. For the Stirling engine used in this study is Solo 161 model the capacity of which is 10 kWe and was already used for the Dish-Stirling system of KIER in Jinhae. The receiver of Stirling engine absorbes concentrated solar radiation and transfer it to working fluid of Hydrogen. The working condition of striling engine is high temperature and high pressure to make high efficiency. Therefore the receiver should stand against high temperature of above 800 $^{\circ}C$ and high pressure of max. 150 bar with good performance of heat transfer. The receiver is composed of 78 Inconel tubes of 1/8" with thickness of 0.71 mm and two reserviors which is connected with two cylinders. In order to know the charaterristics of heat transfer of Stirling engine receiver, simulation on the heat transfer of the receiver of Solo 161 is conducted by using CFD code of Fluent. The heat flux on the receiver surface has a shape of Gaussian distribution so, it is necessary to simulate a whole receiver. However, It is difficult and time consuming to simulate the whole receiver that one tube with different heat flux conditions are considered in this study. From the simulation results, heat transfer charateristics of receiver are observed and tube wall and fluid temperature and heat transfer coefficient are obtained and compared with the calculated results from Dittus-Boelter's correlation.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.269-276
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• 1990

This study investigated host range, seasonal occurrence and developmental characteristics of Ceroplastes pseudoceriferus Green on persimmon trees. The host plants covered 34 families and 66 species, including newly recorded species of Chenopodum album var. centrorubrum, Glycine max, Begonia semperflorens, Pharbitis nil, Perilla frutescens var. japonica and Erigeron canadensis. There was one generation of C. pseudoceriferus a year with larval stage expanding from mid-June to mid-October. Average number of eggs laid per female was 1,073$\pm$177.3. Hatching rate was 97.3% and was not affected by temperatures and photoperiods. Stadium varied as 23.4 days in eggs, 128.3 days in larvae and 213.3 days in female adults including overwintering periods at natural condition.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers A
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• v.53 no.11
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• pp.596-603
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• 2004

This paper proposes an expert system based on the pattern recognition method which can enhance the accuracy and effectiveness of real-time bus reconfiguration strategy for the transfer of faulted load when a main transformer fault occurs in the automated substation. The minimum distance classification method is adopted as the pattern recognition method of expert system. The training pattern set is designed MTr by MTr to minimize the searching time for target load pattern which is similar to the real-time load pattern. But the control pattern set, which is required to determine the corresponding bus reconfiguration strategy to these trained load pattern set is designed as one table by considering the efficiency of knowledge base design because its size is small. The training load pattern generator based on load level and the training load pattern generator based on load profile are designed, which are can reduce the size of each training pattern set from max L/sup (m+f)/ to the size of effective level. Here, L is the number of load level, m and f are the number of main transformers and the number of feeders. The one reduces the number of trained load pattern by setting the sawmiller patterns to a same pattern, the other reduces by considering only load pattern while the given period. And control pattern generator based on exhaustive search method with breadth-limit is designed, which generates the corresponding bus reconfiguration strategy to these trained load pattern set. The inference engine of the expert system and the substation database and knowledge base is implemented in MFC function of Visual C++ Finally, the performance and effectiveness of the proposed expert system is verified by comparing the best-first search solution and pattern recognition solution based on diversity event simulations for typical distribution substation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.209-209
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• 2008

$BaTiO_3$는 대표적인 강유전체 재료로서 적층형 세라믹 콘덴서 (MLCC), PTC thermistor, resonator 등 다양한 분야에서 사용되고 있다. $BaTiO_3$ 기본조성으로 하는 PTC 써미스터는 온도가 올라감에 따라 저황이 높아지는 특성을 가지고 있으며, 이러한 PTCR 특성은 작동되는 큐리온도에 따라 그 적용이 달라진다. PTCR 소자는 소결온도, 소결분위기, 불순물, 첨가제 등의 제조공정상의 인자들과 기공률, 결정립 크기 등이 복합적으로 작용해 PTCR 특성에 영향을 미치기 때문에 제조하기에 무척 까다로운 소자로 알려져 있다. 하지만 우수한 특성을 지닌 PTCR 소자를 제조하기 위하여 새로운 조성개발이 이루어지고 있으며, 전기적 특성 개선, 재현성 확보, 제조원가 절감 등의 측면에서 새로운 공정개발이 이루어지고 있다. 본 연구에서는 Sm을 첨가한 $BaTiO_3$계 재료의 PTCR 특성에 미치는 Ti/Ba ratio 등의 변화에 따른 영향을 조사하고 공기 중과 환원분위기 중에서 소결된 시편의 차이점과 재산화 처리에 따른 PTC 특성에 미치는 영향을 R-T 측정으로 고찰하였다. 본 조성은 환원 분위기에서 소결할 경우 그 미세구조는 Ti/Ba ratio비가 높을 때 grain size가 커져 상온 비저항을 낮출 수 있었다. Sm 첨가로 상온 비저항값은 낮출 수 있었으나 공기 중에서 재산화 처리하더라도 jumping ratio$(R_{max}/R_{25^{\circ}C})$는 Ti/Ba ratio와 거의 무관한 것으로 분석되었다.