• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.109-127
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• 2011

Atmospheric aerosols, small particles in the atmosphere, are one of the important parameters in climate change and human health. Additionally, accurate estimates of aerosol species are increasingly important in environmental impact assessment studies. Recent advances in global satellite remote sensing provide powerful tool for air quality monitoring. This study explores the potential usage of satellite derived data such as atmospheric aerosols for air quality monitoring as well as climate change study. The objectives of this study is to understand the general features of the global distribution of type dependent aerosols. A detailed spatio-temporal variability of the each different satellite dataset shows the variation of the global zonal average and specific geographical regions where the strong emission sources are located. Especially, significantly large aerosol amounts are observed in Asia and Africa because of the desert dust storm, anthropogenic and biomass burning emissions.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.173-181
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• 2016

Skin basement membrane (BM) is a specialized structure that binds dermis and epidermis of the skin and plays an important role in maintaining skin structure. Structural change and destruction of BM is reported to appear due to UV exposure and aging, which may contribute to skin aging including wrinkle formation and a decrease in elasticity of the skin. One of the key components of the BM is laminin-332 (LN-332), and is a major contributor to epidermal-dermal attachment. In this study, we elucidated the effects of Meladrium firmum hexane fraction (MFHF) on LN-332 expression in HaCaT, a human keratinocyte cell line. Quantitative real-time PCR (RT-PCR) and immunoblot analysis revealed that MFHF induced upregulation of LN-332 gene and protein expression. Next, cells were treated with p38 MAPK inhibitor (SB202190) prior to MFHF treatment to analyze the signaling pathway contributing to LN-332 expression. The mRNA and protein levels of LN-332 expression were suppressed completely by pretreatment with p38 MAPK inhibitor. Furthermore, MFHF also increased the mRNA level of collagen type VII and integrin ${\alpha}6$ of skin BM component. These results collectively suggest that MFHF may have potential as an effective agent to stimulate the synthesis of BM components, and could be used to improve phenomenon of skin aging ascribed to the structural and functional impairments of BM in aged human skin.