• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.180-186
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• 2012

Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a Gram-negative bacterium, is an ubiquitous and opportunistic human pathogen, which expresses many virulence factors through quorum sensing (QS) regulation. QscR, one of the QS signal receptors of P. aeruginosa, has unique features that make it possible to distinguish QscR from other QS receptors. In the present study, we focused on amino acid residues responsible for such a broad signal specificity of QscR. Thus we constructed mutant QscRs: $QscR_{T72I}$, $QscR_{R132M}$, and $QscR_{T140I}$ by substituting $72^{nd}$ threonine, $132^{nd}$ arginine, and $140^{th}$ threonine residues with isoleucine, methionine, and isoleucine, respectively by site-directed mutagenesis. When we examined the activity of these mutant QscRs, $QscR_{R132M}$ failed to respond to N-3-oxododecanoyl homoserine lactone (3OC12-HSL), but $QscR_{T72I}$ and $QscR_{T140I}$ remained the ability to respond to 3OC12-HSL despite much reduction of the sensitivity. When we treated a variety of acyl-HSLs with different structure, $QscR_{T72I}$ and $QscR_{T140I}$ showed better responsiveness to N-decanoyl HSL (C10-HSL) or N-dodecanoyl HSL (C12-HSL) that has no oxo-moiety at $3^{rd}$ carbon of acyl group than to 3OC12-HSL, and $QscR_{R132M}$ showed no responsiveness to any acyl-HSLs tested here. In addition, $QscR_{T72I}$ and $QscR_{T140I}$ were inhibited by 5f, a QscR inhibitor as similarly as wild type QscR was. These results suggest that while the $130^{th}$ arginine is crucial in both activity and acyl-HSL binding of QscR, the $72^{nd}$ and $140^{th}$ threonines are important in the activity, but they are little responsible for the discrimination of acyl-HSLs or competitive inhibitor.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.323-332
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• 2003

This study was carried out to provide information for the present status of soil pollution near abandoned old-zinc mining area through analysis of bound form and 0.1 N-HCl extractable concentrations of heavy metals in soils and plants. Feasibility of endemic plants for phytoremediation was evaluated by the investigation of vegetation in soils. Cd contents of the selected samples near old-zinc mining soils ranged from 0.2 to $42mg\;kg^{-1}$. Nonagricultural soils near the mining area contained great amounts of Zn, Pb, Cd, and Cu than the paddy and upland soils. Some Korean wild plants, Artemisia princeps, Artemisia montana, Erigeron canadensis, and Pueraria thunbergiana, were found to grow vigorously in the studied area. Among them, Artemisia princeps was selected as a possible phytoremediator for cleaning heavy metal contaminated soils. Artemisia princeps contained about 43 and $52mg\;kg^{-1}$ of Cd in their root and shoot as dry weight, respectively. Average contents of Cd in the rhizosphere soil, $15.68mg\;kg^{-1}$, was slightly higher than the soil-root interface soils, $14.1mg\;kg^{-1}$. Sequential extraction of Cd contaminated soils showed that average $2.4mg\;kg^{-1}$ (about 7%) of cadmium existed as exchangeable form and the average amounts increased as follows : adsorbed < organically bound < exchangeable << oxide carbonate << sulfide residual fractions. Amendment of organic by-product fertilizer in metal-contaminated soils promoted the growth of roots significantly as compared with the other treatments containing chemical fertilizer.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.353-360
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• 2011

In order to develop the application method of pig compost (PC) and liquid manure (LM) for whole crop barley cultivation, experiments were conducted at Munpo series (coarse loamy, mixed, nonacid, mesic family of Typic Fluvaquents) soil in Gyehwa-reclaimed land, six plots, a LM applied rate as N% ; non-application, chemical fertilizer (CF)100, 100, 50+50, 50+CF50 and (PC30+LM40)+LM50 as basal and additional fertilizer. $NO_3^-$-N content in soil was decreased as along with the growth of plant, highest in LM100% as basal fertilization at early growth stage and highest in (PC30%+LM40%)+LM40% and CF100% at last growth stage. Amount of $NO_3^-$-N and $NH_4^+$-N in soil was high in (PC30%+LM40%)+LM40% and CF100% of top soil but in subsoil significant difference was little in all treatment. Amount of OM, $A_V.P_2O_5$, T-N, exchangeable Ca and Na in soil was higher (PC30%+LM40%)+LM40% than non-application after harvest. Amount of nutrient uptake in plant was higher in CF100% and split application of LM than LM 100% application. Nitrogen utilization rate was in the order of CF100% >LM50%+LM50%=LM50%+CF50%>(PC30%+LM40%)+LM40% >LM100%. The yield of whole crop barley in (PC30%+LM40%)+LM40% and CF100% was 3.2 times more than in non-application ($309kg\;10a^{-1}$). Feed values such as crude protein and TDN was increased 1.0% ~ 1.4% in LM as split application than basal 100% treatment. Accordingly, in order to increase yield of a whole crop barley with application PC+LM in reclaimed land treat split application rather than to treat LM 100% into the land.

• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.367-376
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• 2022

This study is a preliminary step to understand the reaction between various liquids and zeolite in the subduction zone environment. Stilbite, NaCa₄(Al₉Si₂₇)O₇₂·28(H₂O), was selected and high pressure study was conducted on compressional behavior by the pressure-transmitting medium (PTM). Water and NaHCO₃ solution that can exist in the subduction zone was used as PTM, and samples were pressurized from ambient to a maximum of 2.5 GPa. Below 1.0 GPa, both experiments show a low linear compressibility in the range of 0.001 to 0.004 GPa^-1 and a high bulk modulus of 220(1) GPa. This is presumably because the structure of the stilbite becomes very dense due to insertion of water molecules or cations into the channel. On the other hand, at 1.0 GPa or higher, the trends of the two experiments are different. In the water run, the linear compressibility of the c-axis is increased to 0.006(1) GPa^-1. In the NaHCO₃ run, the linear compressibility of the b- and c-axis is increased to 0.006(1) GPa^-1. The bulk modulus after 1.0 GPa shows values of 40(1) and 52(7) GPa in water and NaHCO₃ run, respectively, confirming that stilbite becomes more compressible than that before 1.0 GPa. It is caused by the migration of cations and water molecules inside the channel, as the water molecules in the PTM start to freeze and stop to insert toward the channel at 1.0 GPa or more. In the NaHCO₃ run, it is assumed that the distribution of extra-framework species inside the structure is changed by substitution of the Na⁺ cation. It can be expected from tendency of the relative intensity ratio of the (001) and (020) peaks which show a different from that of the water run.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.298-305
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• 1999

Purpose: N-(3-[$^{18}F$]Fluoropropyl)-$2{\beta}$-carbomethoxy-$3{\beta}$-(4-iodophenyl)nortropane [$^{18}F$]FP-CIT) has been shown to be very useful for imaging the dopamine transporter. However, synthesis of this radiotracer is somewhat troublesome. In this study, we used a new method for the preparation of [$^{18}F$]FP-CIT to increase radiochemical yield and effective specific activity. Materials and Methods: [$^{18}F$]FP-CIT was prepared by N-alkylation of nor-${\beta}$-CIT (2 mg) with 3-bromo-1-[$^{18}F$]fluoropropane in the presence of $Et_3N$ (5-6 drops of $DMF/CH_3CN$, $140^{\circ}C$, 20 min). 3-Bromo-1-[$^{18}F$]fluoropropane was synthesized from $5{\mu}L$ of 3-bromo-1-trifluoromethanesulfonyloxypropane (3-bromopropyl-1-triflate) and $nBu_4N^{18}F$ at $80^{\circ}C$. The final compound was purified by reverse phase HPLC and formulated in 13% ethanol in saline. Results: 3-Bromo-1-[$^{18}F$]fluoropropane was obtained from 3-bromopropyl-1-triflate and $nBu_4N^{18}F$ in 77-80% yield. N-Alkylation of nor-${\beta}$-CIT with 3-bromo-1-[$^{18}F$]fluoropropane was carried out at $140^{\circ}C$ using acetonitrile containing a small volume of DMF as the solvents. The overall yield of [$^{18}F$]FP-CIT was 5-10% (decay-corrected) with a radiochemical purity higher than 99% and effective specific activity higher than the one reported in the literature based on their HPLC data. The final [$^{18}F$]FP-CIT solution had the optimal pH (7.0) and it was pyrogen-free. Conclusion: In this study, 3-bromopropyl-1-triflate was used as the precursor for the [$^{18}F$]fluorination reaction and new conditions were developed for purification of [$^{18}F$]FP-CIT by HPLC. We established this new method for the preparation of [$^{18}F$]FP-CIT, which gave high effective specific activity and relatively good yield.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.27-34
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• 2004

Background: Infective endocarditis shows higher operative morbidity and mortality rates than other cardiac diseases. The vast majority of studies on infective endocarditis have been made on aortic endocarditis, with little attention having been paid to infective endocarditis on the mitral valve. This study attempts to investigate the clinical aspects and operative results of infective endocarditis on the mitral valve. Meterial and Method: The subjects of this study consist of 23 patients who underwent operations for infective endocariditis on the mitral valve from June 1995 to May 2003. Among them, 2 patients suffered from prosthetic valvular endocarditis and the other 21 from native valvular endocarditis. The subjects were evenly distributed age-wise with an average age of 44.8$\pm$15.7 (11∼66) years. Emergency operations were performed on seventeen patients (73.9%) due to large vegetation or instable hemodynamic status. In preoperative examinations, twelve patients exhibited congestive heart failure, four patients renal failure, two patients spleen and renal infarction, and two patients temporary neurological defects, while one patient had a brain abscess. Based on the NYHA functional classification, seven patients were determined to be at Grade II, 9 patients at Grade III, and 6 patients at Grade IV. Vegetations were detected in 20 patients while mitral regurgitation was dominant in 19 patients with 4 patients showing up as mitral stenosis dominant on the preoperative echocardiogram. Blood cultures for causative organisms were performed on all patients, and positive results were obtained from ten patients, with five cases of Streptococcus viridance, two cases of methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus, and one case each of Corynebacteriurn, Haemophillis, and Gernella. Operations were decided according to the AA/AHA guidelines (1988). The mean follow-up period was 27.6 $\pm$23.3 (1 ∼ 97) months. Result: Mitral valve replacements were performed on 43 patients, with mechanical valves being used on 9 patients and tissue valves on the other 4. Several kinds of mitral valve repair or mitral valvuloplasty were carried out on the remaining 10 patients. Associated procedures included six aortic valve replacements, two tricuspid annuloplasty, one modified Maze operation, and one direct closure of a ventricular septal defect. Postoperative complications included two cases of bleeding and one case each of mediastinitis, low cardiac output syndrome, and pneumonia. There were no cases of early deaths, or death within 30 days following the operation. No patient died in the hospital or experienced valve related complications. One patient, however, underwent mitral valvuloplasty 3 months after the operation. Another patient died from intra-cranial hemorrhage in the 31st month after the operation. Therefore, the valve-related death rate was 4.3%, and the valve-related complication rate 8.6% on mid-term follow-up. 1, 3-, and 5-year valve- related event free rates were 90.8%, 79.5%, and 79.5%, respectively, while 1, follow-up. 1, 3-, and 5-year valve- related event free rates were 90.8%, 79.5%, and 79.5%, respectively, while 1, 3-, and 5-year survival rates were 100%, 88.8%, and 88.8%, respectively. Conclusion: The findings suggest that a complete removal of infected tissues is essential in the operative treatment of infectious endocarditis of the mitral valve. It is also suggested that when infected tissues are completely removed, neither type of material nor method of operation has a significant effect on the operation result. The postoperative results also suggest the need for a close follow-up observation of the patients suspected of having brain damage, which is caused by preoperative blood contamination or emboli from vegetation, for a possible cerebral vascular injury such as mycotic aneurysm.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.263-270
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• 2006

Purpose: Several radioisotope-labeled thymidine derivatives such as $[^{11}C]$thymidine was developed to demonstrate cell proliferation in tumor. But it is difficult to track metabolism with $[^{11}C]$thymidine due to rapid in vivo degradation and its short physical half-life. 3'-$[^{18}F]$fluoro-3'-deoxythymidine ($[^{18}F]$FLT) was reported to have the longer half life of fluorine-18 and the lack of metabolic degradation in vivo. Here, we described the synthesis of the 3'-$[^{18}F]$fluoro-3'-deoxythymidine ($[^{18}F]$FLT) and compared with $([^{18}F]FET)\;and\;([^{18}F]FDG)$ in cultured 9L cell and obtained the biodistribution and PET image in 9L tumor hearing rats. Material and Methods: For the synthesis of $[^{18}F]$FLT, 3-N-tert-butoxycarbonyl-(5'-O-(4,4'-dimet hoxytriphenylmethyl)-2'-deoxy-3'-O-(4-nitrobenzenesulfonyl)-${\beta}$-D-threopentofuranosyl)thymine was used as a FLT precursor, on which the tert-butyloxycarbonyl group was introduced to protect N3-position and nitrobenzenesulfonyl group. Radiolabeling of nosyl substitued precursor with $^{18}F$ was performed in acetonitrile at $120^{\circ}C$ and deproteced with 0.5 N HCI. The cell uptake was measured in cultured 9L glioma cell. The biodistribution was evaluated in 9L tumor bearing rats after intravenous injection at 10 min, 30 min, 60 min and 120 min and obtained PET image 60 minutes after injection. Results: The radiochemical yield was about 20-30% and radiochemical purity was more than 95% after HPLC purification. Cellular uptake of $[^{18}F]$FLT was increased as time elapsed. At 120 min post-injection, the ratios of tumor/blood, tumor/muscle and tumor/brain were $1.61{\pm}0.34,\;1.70{\pm}0.30\;and\;9.33{\pm}2.22$, respectively. The 9L tumor was well visualized at 60 min post injection in PET image. Conclusion: The uptake of $[^{18}F]$FLT in tumor was higher than in normal brain and PET image of $[^{18}F]$FLT was acceptable. These results suggest the possibility of $[^{18}F]$FLT at an imaging agent for brain tumor.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.255-272
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• 2011

This work studied the growth and yield of green crops, changes of mineral composition in greenhouse soil and green crops, and infection with wintering green crops cultivation in greenhouse field. At 74 days after seeding of wintering green crops, dry matter was 710kg/10a in rye, 530kg/10a in barley, 230kg/10a in hairy vetch, and 240kg/10a in bean or weeds. Total nitrogen content in green crops was 4.5% in pea and hairy vetch, and 3~4% in barley and rye. $P_2O_5$, CaO, and MgO contents in all green crops were about 1.0%, and $K_2O$ content was the highest level by 4~5% among macro elements. Total nitrogen fixing content in shoot green crops uptaken from soil was 22.1kg/10a in rye, 20.6kg/10a in barley, 10.6kg/10a in hairy vetch, and 9.6kg/10a in pea and giant chickweed. $P_2O_5$ fixing content in shoot green crops uptaken from soil was 8.4kg/10a in rye, 6.3kg/10a in barley, and 2.3 kg/10a in hairy vetch and pea. $K_2O$ fixing content in shoot green crops uptaken from soil was 28kg/10a in rye, 24.7kg/10a in barley, and 11kg/10a in hairy vetch and pea. CaO fixing content in shoot green crops uptaken from soil was 2~3kg/ 10a in all green crops, and MgO fixing content was 1.7~2.6kg/10a in all green crops. Pepper growth in no-tillage was not a significant difference at all green manure crops. The number of fruit and fruit weight were higher in control, pea, hairy vetch and harvest barley than rye and barley. Soil mineral compositions in wintering green crops increased at pH, organic matter, CEC compared with control. Soil chemical compositions were stable level at green crops cultivation according as decreases of EC, available phosphoric acid, Ca, and Mg contents. After no-tillage by green manure crops, pH in soils was higher in green manure crops than control. EC content in soils was lower in green manure crops than control, and was remarkably low level in barley harvest. Organic matter content in soils increased in hairy vetch and barley green manure but decreased by 35% in barley harvest. Total nitrogen and avaliable $P_2O_4$ content in soils remarkably increased but was not a significant difference at all green manure crops. Cation (K, Ca, and Mg) content in soils decreased by 15~20% in K, 2~11% in Ca, and 3~6% in Mg at rye, barley and pea compared with control.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.242-249
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• 1983

The experiments were carried out in farmers' field to determine the yield response of corn to fertilizers for the three years (1976-1979) The results are summarized as follow: 1. The optimum application rates of N-P-K fertilizers on corn cultivars was 21.1-11.6-10.6 kg/10a for Suweon 19, 23.0-11.9-15.0 kg/10a for Boggyo 2 and 19.8-10.6-9.1 kg/10a for Hwangok 3, and 23.3-19.1-10.7 kg/10a in drained paddy soil. 2. The optimum application rates of N-P-K fertilizers was 23.4-15.5-13.2 kg/10a in fertile soil comparing with 27.0-15.6-18.8 kg/10a in the soil of low fertility. However yield was lower in soil of low fertility than in fertile soil even under the condition applied optimum amount. 3. Production efficiencies of each kg of N, P, K application for Suweon 19, Boggyo 2, and Hwangok 3 were 26.1-24.5-9.7, 17.8-13.3-2.0, and 14.6-21.5-4.2kg. respectively. 4. The optimum nutrient content in soil and plant to yield 1,000 kg/10a of corn was available phosphorus 200 ppm, exchangeable potassium 0.63 me/100g, potassium saturation rate 5.0% in soil, and nitrogen 2.86%, phosphorus 0.73%, potassium 2.80% in plant at tasseling stage.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2012

Fungicidal activities against phytopathogenic fungi of diarylthiazole compound of 4-[5-(2-cyclopropylaminopyrimidin-4-yl)-4-(4-fluorophenyl)thiazol-5-yl]-1-methylpiperidine (I) have been determined to be excellent and compound I was used as the leading compounds in this study. Furthermore, the compound was synthesized by reacting them with five functional groups, 4-fluoro-3-methylphenyl, 4-fluoro-3-chlorophenyl, 4-chloro-2-fluorophenyl, 4-bromo-3-methylphenyl and 2,4-dichlorophenyl groups instead of 4-fluorophenyl group. Also, 2-amino-, 2-(N-ethoxycarbonyl)piperidin-4-yl-, and 2-piperidin-4-yl-thiazole were introduced as the leads instead of 2-N-methylpiperidine-4-yl-thiazol of compound I. VIII-1~VIII-5 and XIII-1~XV-5 compounds were newly synthesized and their structures were confirmed by $^1H$-NMR-spectrum. The fungicidal activities of all the synthesized compounds against Phytophthora capsici were examined using the whole plant method. Among the VIII-1~VIII-5 and XIII-1~XV-5 chemicals, XIV-3 showed the most potent antifungal activity in vivo. While the $EC_{50}$ and $EC_{90}$ values of the commercial fungicide dimethomorph and I were $4.26{\pm}0.02$, $14.72{\pm}0.05$ and $1.01{\pm}0.11$, $6.31{\pm}0.09mM$, those of 4-[5-(2-cyclopropylaminopyrimidin-4-yl)-4-(4-chloro-2-fluorophenyl)thiazol-5-yl]-1-methylpiperidine (XIV-3) was $0.98{\pm}0.21$ and $5.85{\pm}0.05mM$. Therefore, XIV-3 can be considered as a viable candidate for the control of plant diseases caused by P. capsici, and further studies will be conducted on the mode of action XIV-3.