• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.620-628
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• 2015

A fungal strain, R9, was isolated from the South Atlantic sediment sample and identified as Aspergillus fumigatus. An antifungal protein, AfAFP_R9, was purified from the culture supernatant of Aspergillus fumigatus R9. AfAFP_R9 was identified to be restrictocin, which is a member of the ribosome-inactivating proteins (RIPs), by MALDI-TOF-TOF-MS. AfAFP_R9 displayed antifungal activity against plant pathogenic Fusarium oxysporum, Alternaria longipes, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Paecilomyces variotii, and Trichoderma viride at minimum inhibitory concentrations of 0.6, 0.6, 1.2, 1.2, and 2.4 μg/disc, respectively. Moreover, AfAFP_R9 exhibited a certain extent of thermostability, and metal ion and denaturant tolerance. The iodoacetamide assay showed that the disulfide bridge in AfAFP_R9 was indispensable for its antifungal action. The cDNA encoding for AfAFP_R9 was cloned from A. fumigatus R9 by RT-PCR and heterologously expressed in E. coli. The recombinant AfAFP_R9 protein exhibited obvious antifungal activity against C. gloeosporioides, T. viride, and A. longipes. These results reveal the antifungal properties of a RIP member (AfAFP_R9) from marine-derived Aspergillus fumigatus and indicated its potential application in controlling plant pathogenic fungi.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.478-483
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• 2017

The expression profiles of low-temperature-related genes were examined in in vitro potatoes exposed to a cold condition for 1-3 days. The expression levels of PPI1 and CI21B genes were lineraly elevated from day 1 to day 3, while the opposite trend was observed for CBF4 and CI21A. In addition, the expression of the genes CI21A and CI21B varied, along with specific tissues (leaf, stem, and tuber) and the treatment periods. Therefore, potato shoot tips were cryopreserved with LS and PVS2 containing different oncentrations of AFP. It can thus be inferred that the presence of AFP in LS and PVS2 was likely to elevate expression pattern of the genes. Furthermore, the concentration of AFP (1,500 ng/ml for LS and 500 ng/mg for PVS2) was the best for the cryopreservation of potatoes.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.159-169
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• 2011

Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) have ice binding affinity, depress freezing temperature and inhibit ice recystallization which protect cellular membranes in polar organisms. Recent structural studies of antifreeze proteins have significantly expanded our understanding of the structure-function relationship and ice crystal growth inhibition. Although AFPs (Type I-IV AFP from fish, insect AFP and Plant AFP) have completely different fold and no sequence homology, they share a common feature of their surface area for ice binding property. The conserved ice-binding sites are relatively flat and hydrophobic. For example, Type I AFP has an amphipathic, single ${\alpha}$-helix and has regularly spaced Thr-Ala residues which make direct interaction with oxygen atoms of ice crystals. Unlike Type I AFP, Type II and III AFP are compact globular proteins that contain a flat ice-binding patch on the surface. Type II and Type III AFP show a remarkable structural similarity with the sugar binding lectin protein and C-terminal domain of sialic acid synthase, respectively. Type IV is assumed to form a four-helix bundle which has sequence similarity with apolipoprotein. The results of our modeling suggest an ice-binding induced structural change of Type IV AFP. Insect AFP has ${\beta}$-helical structure with a regular array of Thr-X-Thr motif. Threonine residues of each Thr-X-Thr motif fit well into the ice crystal lattice and provide a good surface-surface complementarity. This review focuses on the structural characteristics and details of the ice-binding mechanism of antifreeze proteins.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.302-307
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• 1996

Hepatic masses show different enhancing patterns in IV bolus computed tomography: Hepatocellular carcinoma shows high-attenuation in the early enhancing phase and low-attenuation in the late enhancing phase, hemangioma shows peripheral dot-like high-attenuation in the early enhancing phase and central high-attenuation in the late enhancing phase, and metastatic cancer and cholangiocelluar carcinoma show peripheral high-attenuation rim in the early enhancing phase and central portion gradulally high-attenuation in the late enhancing phase. but sometimes enhancing patterns of the hepatic masses are confuse. To evaluate the significance of the AFP level and HBsAg in differentiation of the hepatic masses, we retrospectively analyzed AFP level and HBsAg in 228 pathologically or radiologically confirmed hepatocellular carcinomas, and 137 pathologically nonhepatocellular cacinomas. The results were as follows : In hepatocellular carcinoma, AFP level above 20ng/ml was 77.8% and HBsAg positve was 72.6%. In nonhepatocellular carcinoma, AFP level above 20ng/ml was 3.7% and HBsAg positve was 16.1%. We concluded that AFP level and HBsAg are helpful to distinguish hepatocellular carcinoma from nonhepatocellular carcinoma, when IV bolus computed tomogram finding is uncertain.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.86-93
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• 2008

This study was performed to investigation of the serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels in healthy adults. A total of 2,160 (male 1,415, female 745) health checkup adults were examined for AFP levels by chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA) method, during the period from September, 2007 to August, 2008. The mean serum AFP level was 2.168 (0.605~20.35) ng/mL, and it was 2.309 (0.605~20.35) ng/mL in male, 1.906 (0.605~10.36) ng/mL in female, respectively. 1,816 (male 1,109, female 709) healthy adults were screened for the absence of viral hepatitis and normal alanine amino transferase (ALT) levels. The mean serum AFP level of healthy adult was 2.041 (0.605~7.83) ng/mL, and it was 2.181 (0.605~7.83) ng/mL in male, 1.822 (0.605~6.55) ng/mL in female, respectively. Serum AFP increased with age group, there was a higher level in male compared to female. These results suggests that the use of reference value of AFP in healthy adults in the Jeonbuk. With the reference value now defined, it becomes possible to compare levels in different populations.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.276-281
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• 1999

In order to determine the functional region of the antifungal protein (AFP) isolated from Aspergillus giganteus responsible for growth inhibitory activity and the promotion of phospholipid vesicle aggregation, overlapping peptides covering the complete sequence of AFP were synthesized. The antibiotic activity against bacterial, fungal, and tumor cells, and the vesicle-aggregation activity of the synthetic peptides were investigated. The AFP functional sequence responsible for antibiotic and vesicle-aggregation activity was determined to be located within the region between AFP residues 19 to 32. AFP (19-32) exhibited an a-helical conformation in a cell membrane-like environment. AFP (19-32) displayed potent antibiotic activity against bacterial, fungal, and tumor cells without peptide toxicity as indicated by hemolysis. Accordingly, AFP (19-32) could be used as a good model for the design of effective antibiotic agents with powerful antibiotic activity yet without any cytotoxic effects against the host organism.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.168-174
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• 1997

Alphafetoprotein(AFP) is a glycoprotein synthesized by the fetus early in gestation by the yolk sac and later by the gastrointestinal tract and liver. The concentration of AFP is highest in fetal serum and amniotic fluid around 13th week, and 32nd week in maternal serum. Some conditions are associated with abnormal maternal serum AFP concentration. For examples, neural tube defects, omphalocele, renal anomalies are associated with elevated maternal serum AFP and fetal death, chromosomal trisomies are associated with low level of maternal serum AFP. So maternal serum AFP screening plays a significant role in assessing candidates for prenatal diagnosis and prenatal counselling in pregnant women. This study evaluates the normal ranges of AFP using enzyme immunoassay in normal pregnant women. We studied 500 normal pregnant women who visited the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Yeungnam Medical Center, Yeungnam University during the period through January, 1993 to September, 1996. The group of the study were selected randomly at various gestational ages from 8 to 41 weeks. The results were summarized as follows: 1. The lowest level of AFP in our study group was 2.1ng/ml at 8 weeks of gestation. Thereafter serum alpha-fetoprotein concentrations rose rapidly to reach a peak value at 32nd week. 2. The mean levels of AFP in the primipara and multipara were $166.37{\pm}12.06ng/ml$, and $223.78{\pm}14.00ng/ml$, respectively, showing stastiscally significant difference between these two groups(p<0.01). 3. The mean levels of AFP between mothers who delivered male and female babies were $192.96{\pm}13.00ng/ml$, and $194.29{\pm}13.84ng/ml$, respectively, without statistically significant difference(p>0.05). 4. The normal ranges of maternal serum AFP according to each gestational week were evaluated.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.3877-3880
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• 2013

Objective: To explore the expression and significance of tumor specific growth factor (TSGF), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and alpha fetoprotein (AFP) in cancer tissue and serum of patients with colon cancer. Materials and Methods: Radical surgery for colon cancer was performed on 43 patients with laparoscopu under conditions of general anesthesia. The Elisa method was used to detect the levels of serum TSGF, CEA and AFP before and after radical operation, and cancer tissue underwent TSGF, CEA and AFP immunohistochemistry staining after laparoscopic surgery. The decreased conditions of serum TSGF, CEA and AFP in patients with colon cancer at different levels of differentiation and clinical stagings were analyzed, and the relationships of expression rates between histological types, colon cancer morphology, lymph node metastasis and TSGF, CEA as well as AFP in cancer tissue were assessed. Results: Compared with before radical surgery, the levels of serum TSGF, CEA and AFP decreased notably in patients after operations (p<0.01). The decreased degree of TSGF and CEA was the largest in patients with poorly differentiated cancer tissue (p<0.01), while that of AFP was noted in patients with moderately differentiated cancer tissue (p<0.01). The decreased degree of TSGF and AFP was the largest in patients at phase Dukes A (p<0.01), while that of CEA in patients at phase Dukes C (p<0.01). There were no significant differences among the positive expression rates of TSGF, CEA and AFP with different histological types and colon cancer morphologies (p>0.05). The positive expression rates of TSGF and CEA in patients with lymph node metastasis were significantly higher than those without lymph node metastasis (p<0.01). Conclusions: TSGF, CEA and AFP can be used to evaluate the effect of radical operation for colon cancer, and the changed levels of different markers are associated with tumor differentiation, clinical stating and presence or absence of lymph node metastasis.

• Composites Research
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.212-218
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• 2015

A large composite spar was manufactured using an automatic fiber placement (AFP) machine. To verify its structural performance, the weakest part of the structure, which is called 'corner radius', was tested under bending and examined by finite element analysis. Since the application of AFP machine to composite structure fabrication is still in early stage in Korea, this paper presents the summary of whole process for manufacturing composite spar using AFP machine from mandrel design and analysis to verification test. The deflection and stress by mandrel weight and AFP machine force, thermal deformation and natural frequency were all examined for mandrel design. The target structure was composite C-spar and cured in an autoclave. Test results were compared with nonlinear finite element analysis results to show that the structure has the strength close to the theoretical value. It was confirmed that the corner radius of the spar manufactured by AFP process showed deviation less than 20% compared with first ply failure strength. The results indicate that the AFP technology could be used for large scale composite structure production in the near future.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.559-562
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• 2012

Serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is a significant marker for clinical diagnosis and prognosis evaluation in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. However, some proportion of liver cancer patients are AFP-negative (AFP ${\leq}$20ng/ml). In order to study the differences between clinicopathological factors and prognosis of alpha-fetoprotein negative and positive patients, a total of 114 cases (41 AFP-negative and 73 AFP-positive) were selected for our research. By systematically statistical analysis, the results demonstrated that compared with AFP-negative patients, AFP-positive examples were more likely to feature cirrhosis nodules, non-complete neoplasm capsules, and a poor Edmondson-steiner grade. Furthermore, AFP-negative patients demonstrated a favorable long-term prognosis. By univariate analysis and multivariate analysis with Cox's proportional hazards model, multiple tumors were found to be independent risk factors for worse survival of AFP negative patients; however, less tumor-free margins, multiple tumors and Edmondson-steiner grades III/IV, proved to be independent risk factors leading to a poor prognosis of AFP positive cases. Finally, we can infer that high levels of AFP signify a highly malignant tumor and unfavorable prognosis.