• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.19-26
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• 2021

Background: Prolotherapy is a proliferation therapy as an alternative medicine. A combination of dextrose solution and lidocaine is usually used in prolotherapy. The concentrations of dextrose and lidocaine used in the clinical field are very high (dextrose 10%-25%, lidocaine 0.075%-1%). Several studies show about 1% dextrose and more than 0.2% lidocaine induced cell death in various cell types. We investigated the effects of low concentrations of dextrose and lidocaine in fibroblasts and suggest the optimal range of concentrations of dextrose and lidocaine in prolotherapy. Methods: Various concentrations of dextrose and lidocaine were treated in NIH-3T3. Viability was examined with trypan blue exclusion assay and 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. Migration assay was performed for measuring the motile activity. Extracellular signal-regulated kinase (Erk) activation and protein expression of collagen I and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) were determined with western blot analysis. Results: The cell viability was decreased in concentrations of more than 5% dextrose and 0.1% lidocaine. However, in the concentrations 1% dextrose (D1) and 0.01% lidocaine (L0.01), fibroblasts proliferated mildly. The ability of migration in fibroblast was increased in the D1, L0.01, and D1 + L0.01 groups sequentially. D1 and L0.01 increased Erk activation and the expression of collagen I and α-SMA and D1 + L0.01 further increased. The inhibition of Erk activation suppressed fibroblast proliferation and the synthesis of collagen I. Conclusions: D1, L0.01, and the combination of D1 and L0.01 induced fibroblast proliferation and increased collagen I synthesis via Erk activation.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.44.1-44.15
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• 2021

Tumor peptides associated with MHC class I molecules or their synthetic variants have attracted great attention for their potential use as vaccines to induce tumor-specific CTLs. However, the outcome of clinical trials of peptide-based tumor vaccines has been disappointing. There are various reasons for this lack of success, such as difficulties in delivering the peptides specifically to professional Ag-presenting cells, short peptide half-life in vivo, and limited peptide immunogenicity. We report here a novel peptide vaccination strategy that efficiently induces peptide-specific CTLs. Nanoparticles (NPs) were fabricated from a biodegradable polymer, poly(D,L-lactic-co-glycolic acid), attached to H-2K^b molecules, and then the natural peptide epitopes associated with the H-2K^b molecules were exchanged with a model tumor peptide, SIINFEKL (OVA_257-268). These NPs were efficiently phagocytosed by immature dendritic cells (DCs), inducing DC maturation and activation. In addition, the DCs that phagocytosed SIINFEKL-pulsed NPs potently activated SIINFEKL-H2K^b complex-specific CD8⁺ T cells via cross-presentation of SIINFEKL. In vivo studies showed that intravenous administration of SIINFEKL-pulsed NPs effectively generated SIINFEKL-specific CD8⁺ T cells in both normal and tumor-bearing mice. Furthermore, intravenous administration of SIINFEKL-pulsed NPs into EG7.OVA tumor-bearing mice almost completely inhibited the tumor growth. These results demonstrate that vaccination with polymeric NPs coated with tumor peptide-MHC-I complexes is a novel strategy for efficient induction of tumor-specific CTLs.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.440-445
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• 2018

To control the electrical properties of a SiC heating element, we sintered $SiC-ZrB_2$composites by using the spark plasma sintering method. The addition of $ZrB_2$ particles with lower electrical conductivity to the SiC matrices with comparatively higher electrical resistivity lowers the electrical resistivities of the composite material. The $ZrB_2$ particles aggregate to form large particles and 3-1, 3-2, and 3-3 networks, i.e., conduction paths. In our study, about $1-{\mu}m$-sized $ZrB_2$ powders start to form the conduction path at about 10 vol.% of addition, namely the threshold volume. The Joule heating experiment shows that 20 vol.% $ZrB_2$-added SiC heating element has outstanding heating efficiency.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.333-338
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• 2019

In the field of radiotherapy, the Quality Assurance(QA) procedure to verify the safety of treatment is considered to be very important. However, due to various problems of the conventional dosimeters used for the QA, researches on these dosimeters have been actively carried out to replace them. In this study, to maximize the sensitivity by visible light(VL) emitted from phosphors, blended hybrid sensors were fabricated by blending various weight percent(wt%) of $Gd_2O_2S:Tb$ which is a phosphor with excellent fluorescence efficiency into $PbI_2$. Then, the electrical properties to high energy radiation from the blended sensors and the pure $PbI_2$ sensor were compared and evaluated. As a result of the sensitivity evaluation, the sensor of 3wt% showed the highest value with more than 40% difference from the other sensors, and gradual decreasing in sensitivity was observed with increasing wt% except for the sensor of 3wt%. Also, in the reproducibility evaluation, the pure $PbI_2$ sensor exhibited a large variation in coefficient of variation(CV)>0.015, while all the blended sensors showed CV<0.015.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.1949-1958
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• 2023

The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) Publication 116 was released to provide a comprehensive dataset of the dose coefficients (DCs) for external exposures produced with the adult reference voxel phantoms of ICRP Publication 110. Although an advanced skeletal dosimetry method for photons and neutrons using fluence-to-dose response functions (DRFs) was introduced in ICRP Publication 116, the ICRP-116 skeletal DCs were calculated by using the simple method conventionally used (i.e., doses to red bone marrow and endosteum approximated by doses to spongiosa and/or medullary cavities). In the present study, the photon and neutron DRFs were used to produce skeletal DCs of the ICRP-110 reference phantoms, which were then compared with the ICRP-116 DCs. For photons, there were significant differences by up to ~2.8 times especially at energies <0.3 MeV. For neutrons, the differences were generally small over the entire energy region (mostly <20%). The general impact of the DRF-based skeletal DCs on the effective dose calculations was negligibly small, supporting the validity of the ICRP-116 effective DCs despite their skeletal DCs derived from the simple method. Meanwhile, we believe that the DRF-based skeletal DCs could be beneficial in better estimates of skeletal doses of individuals for risk assessments.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.231-240
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• 2009

We explored collective behaviors of indicator species to elucidate the effect of the chemical stress. After the treatments of an insecticide, diazinon, at low concentrations (1.0 and 10.0 ${\mu}g/L$), spatial dispersion patterns of Daphnia magna were checked in a test chamber. The I-index was used to characterize the movement data before (0~1 h) and after (1~2 h) the treatments in laboratory conditions. The slopes of the frequency distribution of I-index in semi-log scale decreased significantly, and the test populations appeared to be more dispersed with a lower degree of aggregation after the treatments. The index was feasible in indicating decrease in the ability of the specimens to keep desirable distances with neighbor individuals under chemical stress and showed a possibility of monitoring presence of toxic chemicals in environment through group behavior measurement.

• Journal of information and communication convergence engineering
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.158-161
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• 2006

[ $Bi_2Sr_2Ca_nCu_{n+1}O_y(n{\geq}0)$ ] thin film is fabricatedvia two different processes using an ion beam sputtering method i.e. co-deposition and layer-by-layer deposition. A single phase of Bi2212 can be fabricated via the co-deposition process. While it cannot be obtained by the layer-by-layer process. Ultra-low growth rate in our ion beam sputtering system brings out the difference in Bi element adsorption between the two processes and results in only 30% adsorption against total incident Bi amount by layer-by-layer deposition, in contrast to enough Bi adsorption by co-deposition.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.223-232
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• 2017

Objectives: In response to increased interest in the safety of children's products, a risk management system is being prepared through exposure assessment of hazardous chemicals. To estimate exposure levels, risk assessors are using deterministic and probabilistic approaches to statistical methodology and a commercialized Monte Carlo simulation based on tools (MCTool) to efficiently support calculation of the probability density functions. This study was conducted to analyze and discuss the usage patterns and problems associated with the results of these two approaches and MCTools used in the case of probabilistic approaches by reviewing research reports related to exposure assessment for children's products. Methods: We collected six research reports on exposure and risk assessment of children's products and summarized the deterministic results and corresponding underlying distributions for exposure dose and concentration results estimated through deterministic and probabilistic approaches. We focused on mechanisms and differences in the MCTools used for decision making with probabilistic distributions to validate the simulation adequacy in detail. Results: The estimation results of exposure dose and concentration from the deterministic approaches were 0.19-3.98 times higher than the results from the probabilistic approach. For the probabilistic approach, the use of lognormal, Student's T, and Weibull distributions had the highest frequency as underlying distributions of the input parameters. However, we could not examine the reasons for the selection of each distribution because of the absence of test-statistics. In addition, there were some cases estimating the discrete probability distribution model as the underlying distribution for continuous variables, such as weight. To find the cause of abnormal simulations, we applied two MCTools used for all reports and described the improper usage routes of MCTools. Conclusions: For transparent and realistic exposure assessment, it is necessary to 1) establish standardized guidelines for the proper use of the two statistical approaches, including notes by MCTool and 2) consider the development of a new software tool with proper configurations and features specialized for risk assessment. Such guidelines and software will make exposure assessment more user-friendly, consistent, and rapid in the future.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.218-226
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• 2019

In this study, we investigated the possibility of Kaempferia Galanga(KG) hot water extract on the antioxidant, cytotoxic and anti-inflammatory efficacy as a cosmetic ingredient. Antioxidant effects were evaluated based on DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activity, FRAP assay, and total polyphenol contents. The MTT assay was used to confirm the cell toxicity in mouse macrophage RAW264.7 cells. Anti-inflammatory effects were also investigated in LPS-induced RAW264.7 cells by measuring secretion of NO, $TNF-{\alpha}$ and iNOS, $TNF-{\alpha}$ mRNA expression level. As a result, DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activities were increased in a concentration-dependent manner. The ferric reducing antioxidant power(FRAP) was the highest at 5 mg/mL as 24.5 uM. The measurements of total polyphenol content was $1.28{\pm}0.064mg\;GAE/g$. The cytotoxicity of the KG extract results showed no cytotoxicity at concentration of 0.625 to 2.5 mg/mL. In addition, the extract of KG significantly suppressed the LPS-induced nitrite, $TNF-{\alpha}$ secretion and the mRNA expression of iNOS, $TNF-{\alpha}$ in RAW264.7 cells. Taken together, these data suggest that the KG hot water extracts can be used as a safe and functional cosmetic raw material.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.10 no.12
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• pp.183-190
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• 2020

This study evaluated the possibility of Hoangtonogak Plus extracts as a bioactive ingredients for cosmetic products. Methanol(MN) and hot-water(WN) extracts were analysed by DPPH/ABTS radical scavenging activity, FRAP value for anti-oxidant activity, MTT assay for cell viability, inhibition of NO production and iNOS protein expression for anti-inflammatory effect, paper disc diffusion method for anti-microbial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Escherichia coli.. The contents of total polyphenol of MN and WN extracts were 2.92±0.01 mgGAE/g and 1.67±0.02 mgGAE/g, respectively. DPPH, ABTS and FRAP values of MN extracts were higher than WN at each concentration. No significant cytotoxicity was observed in RAW264.7 cells. Furthermore, NO production of MN and WN at 1 mg/mL concentration was measured as 11.69 μM, 20.4 μM, respectively. In addition, MN extracts showed anti-microbial effect only on S. epidermidis. Also MN extracts suppressed iNOS protein level in a concentration-dependent manner. According to our results, the MN extracts demonstrated its potential as a natural source of antioxidant with anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory properties.