• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.9
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• pp.1324-1331
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• 2010

Mifepristone (MIF) and Tamoxifen (TAM) have been used in the treatment of prostate cancer and breast cancer for more than a decade. MIF can induce apoptosis in both AR-positive and negative prostate cancer cells. Because of its pleiotropic ligand-receptor properties, TAM exerts cytotoxic activity in estrogen (ER)-positive and various ER.negative cancer cells. However, the molecular mechanisms of these two substances are not yet clear. In the present work, we report that the cytotoxic effects of MIF and TAM are due to the modulation of intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ level in DU-145, androgen-insensitive cells. When the cells were treated with micromolar concentrations of either MIF or TAM, the growth and viability were significantly decreased in a dose- and time-dependent manner. The apoptosis induced by MIF or TAM was further proved and analyzed by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS). In the cells cultivated in a normal 1.5 mM $Ca^{2+}$ medium, both MIF and TAM also induced an increase of the intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ level in a dose-dependent fashion. Since a change in calcium level could not be found in cells of the $Ca^{2+}$-free medium, the increase of intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ level might be due to an increase in extracellular calcium uptake. Our results show that the apoptotic effect was more prominent in TAM treatment compared to MIF treatment in DU-145 cells. The above findings might be due to the difference in the uppermost pathways of apoptosis induced by either MIF or TAM. When we checked the level of procaspase-8 activation, TAM showed minor level of activation, as opposed to MIF, which exerted strong activation. In both treatments, the levels of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 decreased, and pro-apoptotic protein Bax level increased more than 2-fold. The activation of caspase-3, a key protease enzyme in the downstream pathway of apoptosis, was much higher in the cells treated with TAM, compared to the MIF treatment. The overall apoptotic activity shown in the present work was closely related to intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ concentration levels. Therefore, the cytotoxic activity induced by MIF and TAM might have been due to intracellular calcium modulation.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.9 no.10
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• pp.951-955
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• 1999

Two-phase Al-21Ti-23Cr alloy containing 20 vol.% $\textrm{Cr}_{2}\textrm{Al}$ as a second phase in the $Ll_2$ matrix is located in the two- phase region of the Al- Ti- Cr phase diagram at $1150^{\circ}C$, while in the three-phase region at $1000^{\circ}C$. Based on this result, the mechanical properties of the A1-21Ti-23Cr alloy were enhanced through the refined precipitation of the third phase in the $Ll_2$ matrix by aging the alloy below $1000^{\circ}C$. It was observed that a several ,m of the third phase precipitated in the $Ll_2$ matrix through aging at $800^{\circ}C$ and $1000^{\circ}C$, but the precipitation was not observed below $600^{\circ}C$. Furthermore, the third phase was more finely precipitated at $800^{\circ}C$ than at $1000^{\circ}C$. Although the third phase precipitated at $800^{\circ}C$ and at $1000^{\circ}C$, the compressive yield strength increased rapidly at $800^{\circ}C$ only. This is probably attributable to the refined precipitation of the third phase in the $Ll_2$ matrix. It is expected that the precipitation of the third phase. which was confirmed to be the TiAlCr phase, improves the mechanical properties by preventing crack propagation in the $Ll_2$ matrix.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.65-74
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• 1992

The tegumental ultrastructure of juvenile and adult Echinostoma cinetorchis (Trematoda: Echinostomatidae) was observed by scanning electron microscopy. Three-day (juvenile) and 16-day (adult) worms were harvested from rats (Sprague-Dawley) experimentally fed the metacercariae from the laboratory-infected fresh water snail, Hippeutis cantori. The worms were fifed with 2.5% glutaraldehyde, processed routinely, and observed by an ISI Korea DS-130 scanning electron microscope. The 3-day old juvenile worms were elongated and ventrally curved, with their ventral sucker near the anterior two-fifths of the body. The head crown was bearing 37∼38 collar spines arranged in a zigzag pattern. The lips of the oral and ventral suckers had 8 and 5 type II sensory papillae respectively, and bewteen the spines, a few type III papillae were observed. Tongue or spade-shape spines were distributed anteriorly to the ventral sucker, whereas peg-like spines were distributed posteriorly and became sparse toward the posterior body. The spines of the dorsal surface were similar to those of the ventral surface. The 16-day old adults were leaf-like, and their oral and ventral suckers were located very closely. Aspinous head crown, oral and ventral suckers had type II and type III sensory papillae, and numerous type I papillae were distributed on the tegument anterior to the ventral sucker. Scale-like spines, with broad base and round tip, were distributed densely on the tegument anterior to the ventral sucker but they became sparse posteriorly. At the dorsal surface, spines were observed at times only at the anterior body. The results showed that the tegument of E. cinetorchis is similar to that of other echinostomes, but differs in the number and arrangement of collar spines, shape and distribution of tegumenal spines, and type and distribution of sensory papillae.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.137-147
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• 2014

Cortex ulmi pumilae, the cortex of Ulmus davidiana var. japonica, has been used in traditional folk medicine for its anti-inflammatory effect. Although its various bioactivities such as anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, and anti-cancer, have been reported, the anti-adipogenic activity of cortex ulmi pumilae remains unclarified. In the present study, we investigated the effect of cortex ulmi pumilae extract on adipocyte differentiation in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. Treatment with cortex ulmi pumilae extract significantly reduced the formation of lipid droplets and triglyceride content in a dose-dependent manner; this is associated with an inhibition of the adipogenic transcription factors, CCAAT/enhancer binding protein ${\alpha}$ ($C/EBP{\alpha}$), $C/EBP{\beta}$, and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor ${\gamma}$ ($PPAR{\gamma}$). In addition, cortex ulmi pumilae extract treatment during the early stage of adipogenesis showed more efficient anti-adipogenic activity than treatment during other stages of adipogenesis. Cortex ulmi pumilae extract also inhibited cell proliferation and induced G1 arrest of 3T3-L1 cells in the early stage of adipogenesis. This was associated with upregulated expression of Cdk inhibitor p21 and downregulated expression of cyclin E and phospho-Rb, indicating that cortex ulmi pumilae extract blocks mitotic clonal expansion by cell cycle regulation. Taken together, these results suggest that cortex ulmi pumilae extract possesses anti-adipogenic activity through the inhibition of adipocyte differentiation by blocking mitotic clonal expansion.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.137-145
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• 2012

BACKGROUND: Along with the surplus rice production, introduction of upland crop cultivations into newly reclaimed tidal areas has gained public attentions in terms of farming diversification and farmers income increase. However, its impacts on the surroundings have not been well studied yet, especially associated with nutrient balance from reclaimed upland cultivation. The objective of this study was to investigate water and nutrient balance during winter barley cultivation as affected different fertilization methods. METHODS AND RESULTS: TN and TP balance for three different plots treated by livestock compost, chemical fertilizer, and no application were monitored during winter green barley cultivation (2010-2011) at the NICS Kyehwa experimental field in Jeonbuk, Korea. Nutrient content in soil and pore water near soil surface appeared to increase, while sub-soil layer remained similar with no fertilization plot. Livestock compost application appeared to increase organic matter content in surface soil compared to chemical fertilization. Crop yield was the greatest with livestock compost application (10.6 t/ha) followed by chemical fertilization (6.9 t/ha) and no application (1.8 t/ha). The nitrogen uptake rate was also greater with livestock compost (52.4%) than chemical fertilizer (48.1%). Phosphorus uptake rate was much smaller (about 7.0%) compared to nitrogen. Nutrient loss by surface and subsurface runoff seemed to be minimal primarily due to small rainfall amount during the winter season. Most of the remaining nutrients, particularly phosphate seemed to be stored in soil layer. Phosphate accumulation appeared to be more phenomenal in the plot applied by livestock compost with higher phosphorus content. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that livestock compost application to tidal upland may increase barley crop production and also improve soil fertility by supplying organic content. However, excessive phosphorus supply with livestock compost seems likely to cause a phosphate accumulation problem, unless the nitrogen-based fertilization practice is adjusted.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.8-16
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• 2004

An inversion method is presented for the determination of the compressional wave speed, compressional wave attenuation, thickness of the sediment layer and density as a function of depth for a horizontally stratified ocean bottom. An experiment for estimating those properties was conducted in the shallow water of South Sea in Korea. In the experiment, a light bulb implosion and the propagating sound were measured using a VLA (vertical line array). As a method for estimating the geoacoustic properties, a coherent broadband matched field processing combined with Genetic Algorithm was employed. When a time-dependent signal is very short, the Fourier transform results are not accurate, since the frequency components are not locatable in time and the windowed Fourier transform is limited by the length of the window. However, it is possible to do this using the wavelet transform a transform that yields a time-frequency representation of a signal. In this study, this transform is used to identify and extract the acoustic components from multipath time series. The inversion is formulated as an optimization problem which maximizes the cost function defined as a normalized correlation between the measured and modeled signals in the wavelet transform coefficient vector. The experiments and procedures for deploying the light bulbs and the coherent broadband inversion method are described, and the estimated geoacoustic profile in the vicinity of the VLA site is presented.

• Journal of The Korean Association of Information Education
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.380-388
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• 2001

In this Information Age, the needs for the performance evaluation is raising to increase the higher-thought ability for creativity and problem-solving, to improve the quality of the teaching-learning process. However, it is very difficult to carry out the authentic performance evaluation in our educational environment. Therefore, we design and implement the Performance Evaluation Processing System as one of the learning-teaching processes. We study the theoretical base of evaluation types and of learning-teaching methods, and inquire appropriate performance evaluation methods. Among the methods, we focus on the Report, a type of performance evaluation using the most widely in the Society. We constitute a basic form and design the evaluation system of the Report. The evaluation system consist of the teacher's module and the learner's module. Teachers make the form of report, provide it for learners and evaluate the report on teacher's module, Learners make out the report, submit it to the teacher and use it for presentation in class, on learner's module, The teacher and learner can apply this system as follows. The teacher can use the report that have been already made, or that make for themselves as a step for evaluation and they can evaluate learners by the submitted report. The learner not only can see their own result of evaluation but also can use ICT at their presentation.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.479-484
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• 1999

본 연구에서는 사람의 턱 운동과 턱 사이에 작용하는 힘(혹은 압력)을 그대로 나타낼 수 있는 저작로봇을 개발하는 것을 궁극적인 목표로 한다. 이러한 저작로봇이 개발되면, 치과의사가 환자의 턱운동에 나타나는 병변을 진단하고 치료하는데 큰 도움이 될 것으로 사료된다. 또한 , 본 연구에 채택한 병렬기구(parallel mechanism)에대한 순기구학적( forward kinematics)분석은 일반적인 병렬기구의 실계에도 응용될 것으로 기대된다. 본 연구진이 1차적으로 설계한 모델은 베이스와 플랫폼(platform), 그리고 이 둘을 연결하는 3개의 다리로 구성되어 있다. 다리와 플랫폼은 3자유도의 관절로 다리와 베이스는 1자유도의 경첩 관절로 연결되어 있으며, 이 3개의 경첩 관절은 베이스 위의 수평면에서 직선을 따라 움직인다. 경첩 관절의 수평 변위와 세 다리의 길이가 주어졌을 때 플랫폼의 위치와 오리엔테이션을 구하는 순기구학의 해( 解)를 계산해내는 알고리즘을 개발하였다. 이 알고리즘의 특징은 매 순간 오차를 계산하여 이 오차가 줄어드는 방향으로 나아가도록 시간간격(time step)을 조절하는 것이다. 본 알고리즘은 현재 가장 보편적으로 사용되고 있는 뉴튼-렙슨 방법에 비하여 3가지 장점을 나타내고 있다. 우선 , 초기치(initial guess)에 관계없이 수렴한다는 것이다. 또한, 본 알고리즘은 뉴튼-렙슨 방법에 비하여 수렴속도가 훨씬 빠르며, 연산 시간이 매우 짧아져 실제적인 실시간 적용에 적합하다. 마지막으로, 뉴튼-렙슨 방법에서는 여러 개의 해 가운데 어느 곳으로 수렴할 지 예측 할수 없으나 본 알고리즘에서는 초기치에 가장 가까운 해로 수렴한다. 이러한 순기구학의 다중성(multiplicity)문제를 해결하기 위하여 두 개의 조건을 제시하였으며, 이를 적용한 시뮬레이션 결과에 의하면 항상 원하는 해(true solution)에 수렴할 수 있었다.발생량의 감소를 기대 할 수 있는 친환경기술로 유지관리비를 최소화할 수 있는 장점이 있었다. 않은 사람들 중 미래의 검진실행의지에 건강소식지가 영향을 미친 경우는 48.7%였다. 보건교육을 받은 후 유방암 자가검진 실천율은 사업군에서 53.9%로 받기 전의 27.3%보다 증가하였으나 대조군의 경우는 별 차이가 없었다. 연령별로는 60대가 가장 높았고 사업군에서 검진율의 증가분은 30대가 가장 컸다. 교육수준별로는 사업군은 고졸이, 대조군은 전문대졸이 가장 높았고 사업군에서 검진율의 증가분은 고졸에서 가장 컸다. 보건교육 후 유방암과 관련된 건강지식의 정도는 사업군이 3.7점으로 대조군보다 유의하게 높았으며, 유방암 자가검진법을 실천하는 사람들의 동기는 ‘일반 대중매체의 영향’이 가장 많았으며 건강소식지가 동기인 경우도 20.4%였다. 사업군에서 건강소식지가 유방암 자가검진법 실천에 영향을 미친 경우가 79.6%였으며 유방암 자가검진법에 관한 보건교육을 받고 실천하지 않은 사람들 중 미래의 실천의지에 건강소식지가 영향을 미친 경우는 43.6%였다. 이상의 소견에서 지역주민을 대상으로 인쇄매체를 통한 보건교육은 인쇄물만으로도 쉽게 실천 할 수 있는 유방암 자가검진법이 가장 효과적이었으며, 자궁암검진에 관해서도 검진을 받을 수 있도록 지역사회의 보건의료의 하부구조를 정비하여 제도적 장치를 마련하고 정보를 제공한다면 자궁암검진 실천율도 증가할 것이다.고 12.9% 의 발달율을 보여 유의적인 차이를 보이지 않았다. 이상의 결과로 보아 핵이식 수정란을 효율적으로 생산하기 위하여 수핵난자의 세포질에 ionomycin 과 DMAP 의 혼합처리로 탈핵난자의 활성화를 유도하는 것이 효율을 증진시킬 수 있었다고 본다. 또한 공핵수정란을 수정 후 90시간과 114시간 개별 배양하여 할구를 공핵체로 핵이식에 이용하였을 때도 그룹배양에 비하여 효율이 떨어지지 않음을 알 수 있었으며, 수정란의 할구

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.53 no.12
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• pp.175-179
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• 2016

Recent advances in technology of medical image have made surgical simulation that is helpful to diagnosis, operation plan, or education. Improving and enhancing the medical imaging have led to the availability of high definition images and three-dimensional (3D) visualization, it allows a better understanding in the surgical and educational field. The Real human field of view is stereoscopic. Therefore, with just 2D images, stereoscopic reconstruction process through the surgeon's head, is necessary. To reduce these process, 3D images have been used. 3D images enhanced 3D visualization, it provides significantly shorter time for surgeon for judgment in complex situations. Based on 3D image data set, virtual medical simulations, such as virtual endoscopy, surgical planning, and real-time interaction, have become possible. This article describes principles and recent applications of newer imaging techniques and special attention is directed towards medical 3D reconstruction techniques. Recent advances in technology of CT, MR and other imaging modalities has resulted in exciting new solutions and possibilities of shoulder imaging. Especially, three-dimensional (3D) images derived from medical devices provides advanced information. This presentation describes the principles and potential applications of 3D imaging techniques, simulation and printing in shoulder and elbow practice.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.9
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• pp.1332-1338
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• 2010

To elucidate the mechanism underlying the regulation of hST8Sia I gene expression in FenR-induced SH-SY5Y cells, we characterized the promoter region of the hST8Sia I gene. Functional analysis of the 5'-flanking region of the hST8Sia I gene showed that the -1146 to -646 region functions as the FenR-inducible promoter of hST8Sia I in SH-SY5Y cells. Site-directed mutagenesis indicated that the NF-&B binding site at -731 to -722 was crucial for the FenR-induced expression of hST8Sia I in SH-SY5Y cells. To investigate which signal transduction pathway was involved in FenR-stimulated induction of hST8Sia I in SH-SY5Y cells, we performed Western blot analysis using phospho-specific antibodies in order to measure their degree of regulatory phosphorylation. Phosphorylations of AKT and RelA (p65) subunit of NF-${\kappa}B$ were significantly elevated in cytosolic and nuclear fractions of FenR-stimulated SH-SY5Y cells, respectively, than in control or DMSO-treated SH-SY5Y cells. These results suggest that FenR induce transcriptional up-regulation of hST8Sia I gene expression through translocation of RelA (p65) subunit of NF-${\kappa}B$ to nucleus by AKT signal pathway in SH-SY5Y cells.