• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.207-213
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• 1998

On the basis of the previous study[1], miscibility were investigated and intermolecular interaction strength for the miscibility were relatively compared for the blends poly{2,2-(m-phenylene)-5,5'-bibenzimidazole}(PBI) with two aromatic polyimides (PIs) synthesized by another dianhydride. Aromatic PAAs were prepared by the reaction of condensation of two diamines, 4,4'-methylene dianiline(4,4'-MDA) and 4,4'-oxydianiline(4,4'-ODA) with 3,3',4,4'-diphenylsulfone tetracarboxylic dianhydride(DSDA) using DMAc, and then converted into PIs after curing. PBI/PAA blends were prepared by solution blending. Cast films or precipitated powders of the PBI/PAA blends were cared at a high temperature to transform into PBI/PIs blends. Miscibility and specific intermolecular interaction for miscibility in the blends were investigated, and compared with previous polyimide structures of PBI/PIs blends [1]. Two blends, PBI/DSDA+4,4'-MDA(Blend-V) and PBI/DSDA+4,4'-ODA(Blend-VI), were found miscible : the evidences were optically clear films, synergistic single composition dependent $T_g{\prime}s$, and frequency shifts of N-H stretching band as much as $39{\sim}40cm^{-1}$, and of C=O stretching band near 1730 and $1780cm^{-1}$, 5~6 and $3{\sim}4cm^{-1}$, respectively. The specific intermolecular interactions existing between PBI and PIs were relatively analyzed with the area(A) formed between the $T_g{\prime}s$ of the measured and that of the calculated by the Fox equation at all compositions, the ${\kappa}$ values in Gordon-Taylor equation obtained from the measured $T_g{\prime}s$, and differences of the frequency shifts in the functional N-H and carbonyl stretching band. From the results, the area(A) and the ${\kappa}$ values for Blend-V and VI were smaller than those for Blend-III and IV used in previous study[1]. Differences of the frequency shifts in the functional groups(N-H and C=O) also showed similar tendency. Thus, specific intermolecular interaction strength in terms of hydrogen bonding of PBI/PI blends is dependent upon chemical structures of PIs, that is, PIs it seems that $SO_2$ group in dianhydride(DSDA) has weaker hydrogen bond strength than those of C=O in BTDA. In other words, it implies that the former occupied bulk space than the latter due to the sterric effect.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.208-218
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• 2018

Autophagy is a cellular process whereby cytosolic materials or organelles are taken up in a double-membrane vesicle structure known as an autophagosome and transported into a lysosome for degradation. Although autophagy has been studied at the genetic, cellular, or biochemical level, systematic ultrastructural quantitative analysis of autophagosomes during the autophagy process by using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has not yet been reported. In this study, we performed ultrastructural analysis of autophagosomes in wild-type (WT) mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) and autophagy essential gene (atg5) knockout (KO) MEFs. First, we performed ultrastructural analysis of autophagosomes in WT MEFs compared to atg5 KO MEFs in basal autophagy or starvation-induced autophagy. Although we observed phagopore, early, late autophagosomes, or autolysosomes in WT MEFs, atg5 KO MEFs had immature autophagosomes that showed incomplete closure. Upon starvation, late autophagosomes accumulated in WT MEFs while the number of immature autophagosomes significantly increased in atg5 KO MEF indicating that atg5 plays an important role in the maturation of autophagosomes. Next, we examined autophagosomes in the cell model expressing polyQ-expanded N-terminal fragment of huntingtin. Our TEM analysis indicates that the number of late autophagosomes was significantly increased in the cells expressing the mutant huntingtin, indicating that improving the fusion of autophagosome with lysosome may be effective to enhance autophagy for the treatment of Huntington's disease. Taken together, the results of our study indicate that ultrastructural and quantitative analysis of autophagosomes using TEM can be applied to various human cellular disease models, and that they will provide an important insight for cellular pathogenesis of human diseases associated with autophagy.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.64-72
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• 1980

Industrial wastes from pulp and food plants were treated with microorganisms to clarify organic waste-water and to produce cells as animal feed, and results were summarized as follows. (1) Waste-water from pulp, beer, bread yeast, and ethanol distillation plants contained $1.4{\sim}1.5%$ of total sugar, $0.25{\sim}0.35%$ nitrogen, and biological oxygen demand (BOD) was $400{\sim}25,000$, chemical oxygen demand (COD), $500{\sim}28,000$, and pH, $3.8{\sim}7.0$. The BOD and COD were highest in waste-water from ethanol distillation plants among others. (2) Bacterial and yeast counts were $4{\times}10^4-1{\times}10^9,\;2{\times}10^2-7{\times}10^4/ml$ in waste-water. (3) Bacteria grew better in pulp waste and yeasts in beer, bread yeast, and ethanol distillation waste. (4) Saccharomyces cerevisiae SAFM 1008 and Candida curvata SAFM 70 were the most suitable microorganisms for clarification of ethanol distillation waste. (5) When liquid and solid waste from ethanol distillation were treated with microbial cellulase, xylanase, and pectinase, solid waste was reduced by 36%, soluble waste was increased, and recuding sugar content was increased by 1.3 times which provided better medium than untreated waste for cultivation of yeasts. (6) Optimum growth conditions of the two species of yeast in ethanol distillation waste were pH 5.0, $30^{\circ}C$, and addition of 0.2% of urea, 0.1% of $KH_2PO_4$ and 0.02% of $MgSO_4$. (7) Minimum number of yeast for proper propagation was $1.8{\times}10^5/ml$. (8) C. curvata70 was better than cerevisae for the production of yeast cells from ethanol distillation waste treated with microbial enzymes. (9) S. cerevisiae produced 16 g of dried cell per 1,000ml of ethanol distillation waste and reduced BOD by 46%. C. curvata produced 17.6g of dried cell and reduced BOD by 52% at the same condition. (10) Yeast cells produced from the ethanol distillation waste contained 46-52% protein indicating suitability as a protein source for animal feed.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.98-109
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• 2007

Over the last twenty years, farmers in Western Australia have begun to change land management practices to minimise the effects of salinity to agricultural land. A farm plan is often used as a guide to implement changes. Most plans are based on minimal data and an understanding of only surface water flow. Thus farm plans do not effectively address the processes that lead to land salinisation. A project at Broomehill in the south-west of Western Australia applied an approach using a large suite of geospatial data that measured surface and subsurface characteristics of the regolith. In addition, other data were acquired, such as information about the climate and the agricultural history. Fundamental to the approach was the collection of airborne geophysical data over the study area. This included radiometric data reflecting soils, magnetic data reflecting bedrock geology, and SALTMAP electromagnetic data reflecting regolith thickness and conductivity. When interpreted, these datasets added paddock-scale information of geology and hydrogeology to the other datasets, in order to make on-farm and in-paddock decisions relating directly to the mechanisms driving the salinising process. The location and design of surface-water management structures such as grade banks and seepage interceptor banks was significantly influenced by the information derived from the airborne geophysical data. To evaluate the effectiveness ofthis planning., one whole-farm plan has been monitored by the Department of Agriculture and the farmer since 1996. The implemented plan shows a positive cost-benefit ratio, and the farm is now in the top 5% of farms in its regional productivity benchmarking group. The main influence of the airborne geophysical data on the farm plan was on the location of earthworks and revegetation proposals. There had to be a hydrological or hydrogeological justification, based on the site-specific data, for any infrastructure proposal. This approach reduced the spatial density of proposed works compared to other farm plans not guided by site-specific hydrogeological information.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.293-300
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• 2011

This study is conducted to develop an efficient transformation system via particle bombardment with PLBs (Protocorm-like bodies) in Cymbidium. For this, pCAMBIA3301 vector which carries a herbicide-resistant bar gene and gus gene as a reporter gene was used for transformation with Cymbidium cultivars 'Youngflower ${\times}$ masako' line. To select transformants, proper concentration of herbicide, PPT (phosphinotricin), should be determined. As a result, 5 mg/l of PPT was selected as a proper concentration. Further, proper conditions for particle bombardment were determined to obtain a high frequency of transformation. Results showed that 1.0 ${\mu}g$ of DNA concentration, 1,100 and 1,350 psi for helium gas pressure, 1.0 ${\mu}m$ of gold particle and 6 cm of target distance showed the best result for the particle bombardment experiment. Also, pre-treatment with combination 0.2 M sorbitol and 0.2 M mannitol for 4 hrs prior to genetic transformation increased the transformation efficiency up to 2.5 times. Using transformation system developed in this study, 3.2 ~ 4.0 transgenic cymbidium plants can be produced from 100 bombarded PLBs on average. Putative transgenic plants produced in this system confirmed the presence of the bar gene by PCR analysis. Also, leaves from randomely selected five transgenic lines were applied for Basta solution (0.5% v/v) to check the resistance to the PPT herbicide. As a result, three of them showed resistance and one of them showed the strongest resistance with the maintenance of green color as non-transformed plants showed. Using this established transformation system, more genes of interests can be introduced into Cymbidium plants by genetic transformation in the future.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.157-168
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• 2001

Herbicides have been used to control weeds for decades. If detoxification upon exposure to herbicides requires considerable amounts of energy, it could affect the pattern of resource allocation to growth and reproduction of crops. We examined the effects of three levels of a herbicide (Control, Low, and High) on germination, growth and reproductive characters of Glycine max treated twice, i.e., before and after seed germination. Since flowering time of G. max was separated into two groups, flowering time was also considered as a variable in this study. The rate of seed germination tended to be higher at the low level of herbicide compared to other levels. Chlorosis and shape variation of leaves were apparent after the second herbicide treatment, but completely disappeared after six weeks of treatment. The herbicide effects on growth characters were somewhat different between early and late flowering plants, but plants treated with both low and high levels of herbicide reduced their growth compared to those in the control group regardless of flowering time. Plants at the high level of herbicide exhibited the highest growth rate later in the season, suggesting that plants compensated to some extent for reduced growth. However, growth reduction among plants at the high level of herbicide was persistent until the end of growing season. Among plants flowered late in the season, plants in the control level bore a higher number of nodules per plant than those in other levels; such a pattern did not exist among plants flowered early in the season. Plants treated with low and high levels of herbicide produced a lower number of flowers than those in the control. Thus, the herbicide examined affected not only the growth and reproductive characters of non-target crops but also the development and growth of root nodules.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.284-288
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• 2001

Respiratory viruses are one of the most infectious agent in human. Six different respiratory tract viruses were detected from Busan while working on the preventive surveillance in 1997-2000. The isolation rate from suspected specimens were 8.4%. Influenza virus A, B type, parainfluenza virus, adenovirus, mumps virus, and measles virus were examined from throat swabs, serum, and secretions of patients. Influenza A/Sydney/05/97(H3N2)-like, A/Johanesburg/33/94(H3N2)-like, A/Beijing/262/95(H1N1)-like and Influenza B/Beijing/262/95-like, B/Harbin/07/94-like, B/Guangdong/08/93-like were found. Adenovirus serotype 1, 2, 3 and 5 were detected, antibody of mumps both IgM and IgG were shown and outbreaks of measles were confirmed. Different antigenic types of influenza virus were detected every year, one outbreak of parainfluenza in 1999, mumps outbreak in 1999 and 2000, and incidence of measles in 2000 were noticeable. Monthly outbreaks were November through following March with influenza virus, January through June with adenovirus, February through May and December with mumps, April through August and November, December with measles, respectively. The size of isolated viruses were 130 nm with influenza virus B type, non-enveloped, icosahedron with 70 nm with adenovirus, 170 nm with mumps virus and 180 nm with parainfluenza virus in diameter, respectively.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.172-183
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• 1976

RNA, DNA and other phosphorus fractions were determined in the leaf and root of soybean plants different in phosphorus sensitivity grown in $NH_4-N,\;NO_3-N$ and urea medium. The phosphorus sensitive cultivars contained higher ASIP (acid soluble inorganic phosphorus) than the tolerant cultivars with all nitrogen sources. ASIP was highest in the urea treated plants and lowest in the nitrate treated plants. Total phosphorus content was mostly affected with increase in ASIP. When ASIP increased, acid solsuble organic phosphorus(ASOP), phospholipids (L-P), RNA-P, residual phosphorus (R-P) tended to increase, while DNA-P showed little change. The percent RNA-P or DNA-P of total phosphorus in the nitrate treated plant was twice that in the ammonium treated plant, which were also higher in tolerant cultivars regardless of nitrogen sources. The percent ASOP in total acid soluble phosphorus $(ASOP/ASP{\times}100)$ decreased as phosphorus sensitivity decreased. Indications are that phosphorus sensitivity depends on the relative sizes of phosphorus metabolic pools. Total dry matter yield was negatively correlated with total phosphorus (r=0.84 significant at 0.01P), ASIP (0.84 significant at 0.01P) and residual phosphorus (0.69 significant at 0.05P). ASOP showed positive correlation with L-P, RNA-P and DNA-P but negative with R-P. RNA-P was significanly correlated only with L-P (0.63 at P=0.01). There was significant interaction (0.01) among nitrogen sources, cultivars and phosphorus metabolic pools. Phosphorus sensitivity and ammonium toxicity appear to be same in view of energy metabolism, that is, the former inhibits the conversion of ATP to ADP (energy releasing) through phosphate potential while the latter inhibits ATP formation (energy storing).

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.395-403
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• 1993

Background: The cell cycle is composed of a series of steps which can be negatively or positively regulated by various factors. Alteration or inactivation of p53 by mutations, or by its interactions with oncogene products of DNA tumor viruses, can lead to cancer. Mutations of the p53 gene occur frequently in human primary lung cancers and the wild-type p 53 allele is often concomitantly deleted. These suggest that deprivation of suppressive role of the wild-type p53 may ensure tumor cell growth presumable by the mutant p53 gene. Methods: In an attempt to investigate this hypothesis, a mutant p53 gene was immunohistochemically demonstrated in the formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue sections of lung cancers by using a monoclonal antibody p53 (Ab-3 and clone DO7). Results: The expression of p53 (DO7) was found in all four normal lung tissues, four small cell carcinomas, and four non small cell carcinomas in histologic types of lung cancer. In the six normal lung tissues the expressions of p53 (Ab-3) were not found. Contrarily, the expression of p53 (Ab-3) was found in the nuclei of lung cancers among fifteen (46.9%) of thirty-two cases studied. The expression of p53 (Ab-3) was disclosed in three case (37.5%) of eight small cell carcinomas and twelve cases (50.0%) of twenty-four non small cell carcinomas in histologic types of lung cancer. Conclusion: These findings suggest that expression of the mutant p53 is related to the one of events in the pathogenesis of human lung cancer and the role of the other oncogenes might be also related to the development of lung cancers.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.21 no.1 s.96
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• pp.72-78
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• 2006

This study was carried out to investigate the antimicrobial and antioxidative effects of mycelium cultural extract from mushroom. Mushroom mycelium was grown in a defined synthetic liquid medium and citrus extracts, and the culture extracts were examined for antioxidant and antibacterial activity. Myceliums of Phellinus linteus, Cordyceps militaris, Coriolus versicolor, Sparassic crispa, Agaricus blazei, lnonotus obliquus, Lentinus edodes, Hericium erinacium, Gonoderma lucidium in 10% citrus extract supplemented medium and synthesis medium were incubated in a shaking incubator (120 rpm, $24{\sim}30^{\circ}C$ ) for $7{\sim}15$ days. The antimicrobial activity of the culture fluid of mushroom mycelium grown in submerged liquid culture was tested against 12 microorganisms which were fish pathogens and common bacterial species. The culture extracts showed high activity against Vibrio sp. and had poor effect on Streptocouus sp., S. parauberis, S. iniae. The culture extracts obtained from the synthetic medium showed $30{\sim}93%$ of the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenger activity, the culture extracts obtained from the citrus extracts medium exhibited antioxidant activity up to 55%.