• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.391-398
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• 2011

After a concrete is poured, reinforced concrete structures were distressed by physical and chemical factor over time. It is in need to define important variables related to structural behavior for effectively conducting seismic analysis of structures with age-related degradation. In this study, a sensibility analysis using the first-order second moment method was performed to analyze an important variables for the reinforced concrete shear wall with age-related degradation. Because the seismic capacity of aging structures without a concrete hardening effect can be underestimated, the sensibility of analysis variables was analyzed according to the concrete hardening. Important variables for RC shear wall with age-related degradation was presented by using the tornado diagram.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.131-138
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• 2013

The high damping rubber bearings contributed to reduce a seismic force transmitted to upper structures, the material properties of rubber changes with time and the rubber with age-related degradation can affect the seismic response of structures and equipments. Therefore the seismic response of structure considering age-related degradation of isolators should be evaluated. In this paper, the stiffness and damping for isolators were defined using the aging data proposed by other researchers. The reactor containment building and the auxiliary building were selected to conduct the nonlinear analysis and the natural frequency, maximum responses, floor response spectrum(FRS) were evaluated with time using the four earthquakes with different frequency contents. According to the analysis results, the seismic responses are increased by the age-related degradation of isolators and the detail inspections should be conducted up to 20 years because it was presented that the change of FRS was high during this period.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.526-535
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• 2024

This paper proposes a safety-critical standby component unavailability model that contains aging effects caused by the elapsed time from installation, component degradation due to surveillance tests, and imperfect maintenance actions. An application of the model to a Motor-Operated Valve and a Motor-Driven Pump involved in the HPIS of a VVER/1000-V446 nuclear power plant is demonstrated and compared with other existing models at component and system levels. In addition, the effects of different unavailability models are reflected in the NPP's risk criterion, i.e., core damage frequency, over five maintenance periods. The results show that, compared with other models that do not simultaneously consider the full effects of degradation and maintenance impacts, the proposed model realistically evaluates the unavailabilities of the safety-related components and the involved systems as a plant age function. Therefore, it can effectively reflect the age-dependent CDF impact of a given testing and maintenance policy in a specified time horizon.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.81-88
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• 2022

It is necessary to better understand the effect of age-related degradation on the performance of reinforced concrete shear walls in nuclear power plants in order to ensure their structural safety in the event of earthquakes. Therefore, this paper studies seismic fragility of the typical shear wall in nuclear power plants under earthquake excitation Reinforced concrete shear wall is composed of wall, horizontal and vertical flanges. Due to characteristics of its geometry, it is difficult to predict the ultimate behavior of shear wall under earthquake excitation. In this study, for more realistic numerical simulation, the Latin Hyper-Cube (LHC) simulation technique was used to generate uncertain variables for the material properties of concrete shear walls. The effects of crack, characteristics of inelastic behavior of concrete, and loss of cross section were considered in the nonlinear finite element analysis. The effects of aging-related deterioration were investigated on the performance of reinforced concrete shear walls through analysis of undegraded concrete shear walls and degraded concrete shear walls. The resulting seismic fragility curves present the change of performance of concrete shear wall due to age-related degradation.

• BMB Reports
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• v.48 no.9
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• pp.525-530
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• 2015

Activation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway plays a pathogenic role in age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and is thus a potential target for the development of therapeutics for this disease. Here, we demonstrated that Wnt5a antagonized β-catenin response transcription (CRT) induced with Wnt3a by promoting β-catenin phosphorylation at Ser33/Ser37/Thr41 and its subsequent degradation in human retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells. Wnt5a decreased the levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α), and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), which was up-regulated by Wnt3a. Furthermore, Wnt5a increased E-cadherin expression and decreased cell migration by down-regulating Snail expression, thereby abrogating the Wnt3a-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in human RPE cells. Our findings suggest that Wnt5a suppresses the pathogenic effects of canonical Wnt signaling in human RPE cells by promoting β-catenin phosphorylation and degradation. Therefore, Wnt5a has significant therapeutic potential for the treatment of AMD. [BMB Reports 2015; 48(9): 525-530]

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.10
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• pp.7078-7088
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• 2015

This study examined effects of health behaviors and sleep related factor on cognitive function in the elderly hypertensive patients. Data were collected through a face to face interview survey with structured questionnaire form 140 elderly with hypertension ($age{\geq}65years$) from February 5 to May 1, 2013. Research instruments included Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index(PSQI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale(ESS) and Korean version the Mini-Mental State Examination(MMSE-K). Cognitive function was negatively related to degradation in quality of sleep(r=-.29, p<.001). Sleep duration were negatively related to body mass index(r=-.18, p=.032) and degradation in quality of sleep(r=-.59, p<.001). Sleep duration was positively related to daytime sleepiness(r=.22, p=.008). Hierarchical multiple regression showed that age, education levels and living arrangement were associated with cognitive function(F=8.56, p<.001, Adjusted $R^2=.14$). After controlling for demographic characteristics and health behaviors, degradation in quality of sleep(${\beta}=-.27$, p=.008) was identified as significant predictors of cognitive function. This final model explained 17.0% of the cognitive function in the elderly hypertensive patients(F=4.09, p<.001). Therefore, as a strategy improving cognitive function of the elderly with hypertension, therapeutic intervention should be developed to improve quality of sleep considering age, education levels and living arrangement.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.46 no.11
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• pp.675-687
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• 2023

Accumulation of pathogenic amyloid-β disrupts the tight junction of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), one of its senescence-like structural alterations. In the clearance of amyloid-β, the autophagy-lysosome pathway plays the crucial role. In this context, mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibits the process of autophagy and lysosomal degradation, acting as a potential therapeutic target for age-associated disorders. However, efficacy of targeting mTOR to treat age-related macular degeneration remains largely elusive. Here, we validated the therapeutic efficacy of the mTOR inhibitors, Torin and PP242, in clearing amyloid-β by inducing the autophagy-lysosome pathway in a mouse model with pathogenic amyloid-β with tight junction disruption of RPE, which is evident in dry age-related macular degeneration. High concentration of amyloid-β oligomers induced autophagy-lysosome pathway impairment accompanied by the accumulation of p62 and decreased lysosomal activity in RPE cells. However, Torin and PP242 treatment restored the lysosomal activity via activation of LAMP2 and facilitated the clearance of amyloid-β in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, clearance of amyloid-β by Torin and PP242 ameliorated the tight junction disruption of RPE in vivo. Overall, our findings suggest mTOR inhibition as a new therapeutic strategy for the restoration of tight junctions in age-related macular degeneration.

• Osteoporosis and Sarcopenia
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.117-122
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• 2017

Sarcopenia is the degenerative loss of muscle mass and function with aging. Recently sarcopenia was recognized as a clinical disease by the International Classification of Disease, 10th revision, Clinical Modification. An imbalance between protein synthesis and degradation causes a gradual loss of muscle mass, resulting in a decline of muscle function as a progress of sarcopenia. Many mechanisms involved in the onset of sarcopenia include age-related factors as well as activity-, disease-, and nutrition-related factors. The stage of sarcopenia reflecting the severity of conditions assists clinical management of sarcopenia. It is important that systemic descriptions of the disease conditions include age, sex, and other environmental risk factors as well as levels of physical function. To develop a new therapeutic intervention needed is the detailed understanding of molecular and cellular mechanisms by which apoptosis, autophagy, atrophy, and hypertrophy occur in the muscle stem cells, myotubes, and/or neuromuscular junction. The new strategy to managing sarcopenia will be signal-modulating small molecules, natural compounds, repurposing of old drugs, and muscle-specific microRNAs.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.62 no.2
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• pp.247-262
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• 2020

Birth weight and subsequent weight gain is of critical importance in the survival and performance of piglets on a commercial swine farm setting. Oropharyngeal microbiome could influence immunity, and feeding behavior thus impacting health and weight gain. We used 16S rRNA gene sequencing to profile the composition and predicted metabolic functionality of the oropharyngeal microbiota in 8 piglets (4 with a birthweight ≤ 1.0 kg and 4 with a birthweight ≥ 1.7 kg) at 11, 26, and 63 days of age. We found 9 genera that were significantly associated with average daily gain (ADG) at 11 days (false discovery rate, FDR < 0.05) and 26 days of age (FDR < 0.1), respectively. The microbial functional profile revealed several pathways associated with ADG (FDR < 0.05). Among these, pathways related to degradation of catechols showed a positive association with ADG at 11, 26, and 63 days of age, implying a potential to breakdown the host-derived catecholamines. We also noted that pathways related to the biodegradation of nucleosides and nucleotides increased with ADG during the pre-weaning phase, while those involved in their biosynthesis decreased. Our findings provide insights into the oropharyngeal microbial memberships and metabolic pathways that are involved in a piglet's weight gain. Thus, providing a basis for the development of strategies aimed at improving weight gain in pigs.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.507-528
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• 2014

In the ship and offshore structure design, age-related problems such as corrosion damage, local denting, and fatigue damage are important factors to be considered in building a reliable structure as they have a significant influence on the residual structural capacity. In shipping, corrosion addition methods are widely adopted in structural design to prevent structural capacity degradation. The present study focuses on the historical trend of corrosion addition rules for ship structural design and investigates their effects on the ultimate strength performance such as hull girder and stiffened panel of double hull oil tankers. Three types of rules based on corrosion addition models, namely historic corrosion rules (pre-CSR), Common Structural Rules (CSR), and harmonised Common Structural Rules (CSR-H) are considered and compared with two other corrosion models namely UGS model, suggested by the Union of Greek Shipowners (UGS), and Time-Dependent Corrosion Wastage Model (TDCWM). To identify the general trend in the effects of corrosion damage on the ultimate longitudinal strength performance, the corrosion addition rules are applied to four representative sizes of double hull oil tankers namely Panamax, Aframax, Suezmax, and VLCC. The results are helpful in understanding the trend of corrosion additions for tanker structures.