• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.197-206
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• 2013

The present study investigated whether leukemia-maintaining cells reside in a differentiation-resistant fraction using a megakaryocytic differentiation model of K562 cells. Treatment with phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA) significantly inhibited the colony-forming efficiency of the K562 cells. At a PMA concentration of 1 nM or higher, colony was not formed, but approximately 40% of K562 cells still survived in soft agar. Approximately 70% of colony-forming cells that were isolated following the removal of PMA after exposure to the agent were differentiated after treatment with 10 nM PMA for 3 days. The differentiation rate of the colony-forming cells was gradually increased and reached about 90% 6 weeks after colony isolation, which was comparable to the level of a PMA-treated K562 control. Meanwhile, imatinib-resistant variants from the K562 cells, including K562/R1, K562/R2, and K562/R3 cells, did not show any colony-forming activity, and most imatinib-resistant variants were CD44 positive. After 4 months of culture in drug-free medium, the surface level of CD44 was decreased in comparison with primary imatinib-resistant variants, and a few colonies were formed from K562/R3 cells. In these cells, Bcr-Abl, which was lost in the imatinib-resistant variants, was re-expressed, and the original phenotypes of the K562 cells were partially recovered. These results suggest that leukemia-maintaining cells might reside in a differentiation-resistant population. Differentiation therapy to eliminate leukemia-maintaining cells could be a successful treatment for leukemia if the leukemia-maintaining cells were exposed to a differentiation inducer for a long time and at a high dose.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.421-430
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• 2004

Clinically, it is almost impossible for a physician to distinguish subtle changes of frequency spectrum by using a stethoscope alone especially in the early stage of thrombus formation. Considering that reliability of mechanical valve is paramount because the failure might end up with patient death, early detection of valve thrombus using noninvasive technique is important. Thus the study was designed to provide a tool for early noninvasive detection of valve thrombus by observing shift of frequency spectrum of acoustic signals with computer aid diagnosis system. A thrombus model was constructed on commercialized mechanical valves using polyurethane or silicon. Polyurethane coating was made on the valve surface, and silicon coating on the sewing ring of the valve. To simulate pannus formation, which is fibrous tissue overgrowth obstructing the valve orifice, the degree of silicone coating on the sewing ring varied from 20％, 40％, 60％ of orifice obstruction. In experiment system, acoustic signals from the valve were measured using microphone and amplifier. The microphone was attached to a coupler to remove environmental noise. Acoustic signals were sampled by an AID converter, frequency spectrum was obtained by the algorithm of spectral analysis. To quantitatively distinguish the frequency peak of the normal valve from that of the thrombosed valves, analysis using a neural network was employed. A return map was applied to evaluate continuous monitoring of valve motion cycle. The in-vivo data also obtained from animals with mechanical valves in circulatory devices as well as patients with mechanical valve replacement for 1 year or longer before. Each spectrum wave showed a primary and secondary peak. The secondary peak showed changes according to the thrombus model. In the mock as well as the animal study, both spectral analysis and 3-layer neural network could differentiate the normal valves from thrombosed valves. In the human study, one of 10 patients showed shift of frequency spectrum, however the presence of valve thrombus was yet to be determined. Conclusively, acoustic signal measurement can be of suggestive as a noninvasive diagnostic tool in early detection of mechanical valve thrombosis.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.78-86
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• 2009

Recently, there seems to besome problems in the urban visual landscape as a result of continuous economic growth and industrial development. At the same time, the public has begun to be aware of the importance of visual resources, and the necessity for visual landscape conservation and improvement. Therefore, the development of evaluative indicators for systematic visual landscape planning and design is urgent. The purpose ofthis study is to discover evaluative models and indicators for the diagnosis of urban visual landscapes. This study included the selection of 18 physical indicators(statistical data) by literature reviews, adoption of field and questionnaire surveys at 12 autonomous districts in Seoul and surrounding major mountain valleys and river streams(i.e. Mt. Nam and Han-River). The content of the questionnaire is scenic beauty. Moreover, the linear regression analysis between the scenic beauty mean scores and the physical indicator scores figure out the scenic beauty prediction model. As this study suggests, the most important indicators in urban visual landscapes are 'Greens', 'Park' and 'the number of apartment buildings(higher than 20 stories).' Based on the results, greens and parks should be priority elements to considerin urban landscape planning and design. Moreover, since the number of apartment buildings that are higher than 20 stories has a negative correlation with the scenic beauty score, it can be used as basic data for landscape planning. For the scenic beauty prediction models and evaluative indicators suggest a direction of urban management, each indicator becomes basic data for visual landscape planning and design. In following studies, if physical indicators and case studies are added, the scenic beauty prediction models and evaluative indicators could be more synthetic and systematic. Moreover, the development of physical indicators in three dimensions(3D)(i.e. results from visual district analysis, view surface analysis) could be expected to obtain more general and varied results.