• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.358-362
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• 1988

Aqueous two-phase fermentation system was tested for the overproduction of extracellular enzyme through $\alpha$-amylase fermentation by Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. By employing aqueous two-phase system $\alpha$-amylase activity showed 25% increase compared to the result using regular medium and no deactivation of the enzyme was observed. The presence of polyethylene glycol was observed to promote the enzyme production, while to inhibit the growth of the microorganism. It is recommended that polyethylene glycol be added during the log-growth phase and dextran be added after the enzyme activity reaches Its maximum for efficient $\alpha$-amylase fermentation and in situ recovery of the enzyme.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.409-427
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• 2010

Psychological research on the relationships between creativity and knowledge can be divided into two main streams, called tension view and foundation view. However most of the studies in this area have been too much focused on creative products which had a limit in investigating creative processes. In this study, to identify the relationships, we employed neuro-scientific approaches to investigating EEG (electroencephalogram) activity from professional computer programmers(n=10). Also the EEG alpha TRP (task related power) was compared with each other. The procedures including resting conditions with eye closed were followed by ordinary thinking process, creative thinking processes in a professional domain and a nonprofessional domain. As a result of EEG activity analysis, alpha deactivation was observed mainly in temporal lobe, especially in left-temporal lobe during creative thinking process of professional domain. The findings suggest that neuro-scientific approach supports the tension view, suggesting that the knowledge could hinder creativity.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.51-57
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• 2019

Objectives : Nypa fruticans Wurmb. (NF) have been used as a traditional medicine to treat inflammatory diseases in East-South Asia. However, it is largely undiscovered whether NF water extract could exhibit anti-inflammatory activities against tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ (TNF-${\alpha}$)-induced inflammatory responses on human keratinocytes, HaCaT cells. Therefore, this study was aimed to investigate the anti-inflammatory activity of NF water extract on TNF-${\alpha}$-induced inflammatory responses in HaCaT cells. Methods : To investigate the anti-inflammatory activites of NF water extract in HaCaT cells, the inflammatory model of HaCaT cells was established under a suitable concentration (10 ng/ml) of human TNF-${\alpha}$ (hTNF-${\alpha}$). HaCaT keratinocyte cells were pre-treated with NF water extract for 1 h, and then stimulated with hTNF-${\alpha}$. Then, the cells were harvested to measure the inflammatory mediators such as inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 and prostaglandin $E_2$ ($PGE_2$), and pro-inflammatory cytokine including TNF-${\alpha}$ and interleukin (IL)-6. In addition, we examined the inhibitory mechanisms of NF, mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and inhibitory kappa B alpha ($I{\kappa}-B{\alpha}$) Results : The treatment of NF inhibited the hTNF-${\alpha}$-induced elevation of iNOS, COX-2, and $PGE_2$ in HaCaT cells. In addition, NF treatment inhibited the hTNF-${\alpha}$-induced elevation of TNF-${\alpha}$ and IL-6. Furthermore, NF treatment inhibited the activation of MAPKs but not degradation of $I{\kappa}-B{\alpha}$. Conclusions : Taken together, our result suggest that treatment of NF could inhibit the hTNF-${\alpha}$-induced inflammatory responses via deactivation of MAPKs in HaCaT cells. This study could suggest that NF could be a beneficial agent to prevent skin damage or inflammation.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.99-111
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• 2022

Objectives: Rehmanniae Radix Preparata (RRP) has been used as a traditional remedy to treat gynecology and endocrine diseases. Recently, studies on antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of RRP have been reported, so it was judged that RRP extracts would have an anti-depressive effect. Methods: We investigated the anti-neuroinflammatory and anti-depressive effect of RRP on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced depression and LPS-stimulated BV2 microglia. RRP inhibited the LPS-stimulated excessive release of nitrite in the BV2 cells. RRP also significantly inhibited the inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, interleukin (IL)-1beta and IL-6 in LPS-stimulated BV2 microglial cells. Results: RRP significantly suppressed the LPS-induced mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPKs) and nuclear factor (NF)-𝜅B activation. In addition, administration of RRP not only inhibited the immobility time in the forced swimming test (FST) but also increased the total travel distance in the open field test (OFT). Also, RRP inhibited the elevation of TNF-alpha, IL-1beta, and IL-6 in brain of LPS-injected mice. Conclusions: Considering the overall results, our study showed that RRP exhibited the anti-neuroinflammatory and anti-depressive activities via deactivation of MAPKs and NF-𝜅B.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.187-193
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• 2013

The effect of Korean red ginseng (KRG) on diabetic renal damage was investigated using streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. The diabetic rats showed loss of body weight gain, and increases in kidney weight and urine volume, whereas the oral administration of KRG at a dose of 100 or 250 mg/kg of body weight per day for 28 d prevented these diabetes-induced physiological abnormalities. Among the kidney function parameters, elevated plasma levels of urea nitrogen and creatinine in diabetic control rats tended to be lowered in KRG-treated rats. In addition, administration of KRG at a dose of 100 mg/kg body weight in the diabetic rats showed significant decreases in serum glucose and tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ (TNF-${\alpha}$), implying that KRG might prevent the pathogenesis of diabetic complications caused by impaired glucose metabolism and oxidative stress. KRG also significantly reduced advanced glycation end product (AGE) formation and secretion from kidney of diabetic rats. Furthermore, KRG decreased the levels of N-(carboxymethyl) lysine and expression of AGE receptor. KRG also reduced the overexpression of cyclooxygenase-2 and inducible nitric oxide synthase in the kidney via deactivation of nuclear factor-kappa B. We also found that KRG prevented STZ-induced destruction of glomerular structure and significantly suppressed high glucose-induced fibronectin production. Taken together, KRG ameliorates abnormalities associated with diabetic nephropathy through suppression of inflammatory pathways activated by TNF-${\alpha}$ and AGEs. These findings indicate that KRG has a beneficial effect on pathological conditions associated with diabetic nephropathy.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.151-158
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• 1996

For the effective ethanol fermentation, the high concentration of sugar as the substrate of microbial fermentation is required. The most important reason in the inefficient hydrolysis; the easy deactivation of enzyme by temperature or shear stress and the severe inhibition effects of its products. In our work, we comprehended the kinetic characteristics of cellulose and ${\beta}$-glucosidase in the progress of hydrolysis, and observed the potential inhibitory effects of the hydrolyzed products and the deactivation of enzymes. We also tried to present the kinetic model of enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose, which is applicable to process at the high concentration of sugar. Cellulase and ,${\beta}$-glucosidase exhibit diverse kinetic behaviors. At a level of only 5g/$\ell$ of glucose, the ${\beta}$-glucosidase activity was reduced by more than 70%. This result means that ${\beta}$-glucosldase was the most severely inhibited by glucose. Also at l0g/$\ell$ of cellobiose, the cellulose lost approximately 70% of its activity. ${\beta}$-glucosldase was more sensitive to deactivation than cellulose by about 1.6 times. The comprehensive kinetic model in the range of confidence was obtained and the agreement between the model prediction and the experimental data was reasonably good, testifying to the validity of the model equations used and the associated parameters.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.14-21
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• 2001

To investigate the changes of carbohydrate metabolism in the senescing leaves of Zea mays during dark-induced senescence, the changes in the contents of reducing sugar, sucrose and starch as well as the activities of sucrose synthase, three isozymes of invertase, and ${\alpha}$-amylase were measured. In the senescing leaves, the content of reducing sugars temporarily increased at 4 d and rapidly decreased thereafter, whereas sucrose contents gradually decreased thereafter, whereas sucrose contents gradually decreased until 3 d of senscence and significantly decreased thereafter. The activities of intracellular invertases such as soluble acid and alkaline formed gradually enhanced until 4 d of leaf senescence and significantly declined thereafter. The extracellular invertase activity showed no significant changes during leaf senescence. The deactivation of sucrose synthase was observed within 3 d of leaf senscence. On the other hand, the starch contents gradually declined during 2 d of leaf senescence, and showed a temporary increase at 3 d, which is similar to the pattern of sucrose synthase activity., These results imply that sucrose in the senescing leaves. The major enzymes which correlated to the breakdown of sucrose during dark-induced senescence were soluble acid and alkaline invertases, not sucrose and ABA accelerated leaf senescence by inducing the accumulation of reducing sugar. These result, therefore, that leaf senescence may be mediated by the temporary quantitative changes of reducing sugar induced by the activation of intracellualr inveertases.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.101-105
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• 2005

[ ${\beta}ig-h3$ ] is a secretory protein that is induced by $TGF-{\beta}$ and implicated in various disease conditions including fibrosis. We have previously reported that ${\beta}ig-h3$ expression is implicated in astrocyte response to brain injury. In this study, we further investigated potential roles of ${\beta}ig-h3$ protein in the injured central nervous system (CNS). We specifically assessed whether the treatment of microglial cells with ${\beta}ig-h3$ can regulate microglial activity. Microglial cells are the prime effector cells in CNS immune and inflammatory responses. When activated, they produce a number of inflammatory mediators, which can promote neuronal injury. We prepared conditioned medium from the stable CHO cell line transfected with human ${\beta}ig-h3$ cDNA. We then examined the effects of the conditioned medium on the LPS- or $IFN-{\gamma}-mediated$ induction of proinflammatory molecules in microglial cells. Preincubation with the conditioned medium significantly attenuated LPS-mediated upregulation of $TNF-{\alpha},\;IL-1{\beta}$, iNOS and COX-2 mRNA expression in BV2 murine microglial cells. It also reduced $IFN-{\gamma}-mediated$ upregulation of $TNF-{\alpha}$ and COX-2 mRNA expression but not iNOS mRNA expression. Assays of nitric oxide release correlated with the mRNA data, which showed selective inhibition of LPS-mediated nitric oxide production. Although the regulatory mechanisms need to be further investigated, these results suggest that astrocyte-derived ${\beta}ig-h3$ may contribute to protection of the CNS from immune-mediated damage via controlling microglial inflammatory responses.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.15-23
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• 1989

The selective separation of hydrogen from gas mixture containing hydrogen was experimentally studied using $LaNi_5$. The capacity and the rate of hydrogen separation, the purity of recovered hydrogen and the optimum condition of the regeneration of deactivated $LaNi_5$ were investigated. The separation rate and the recovery ratio of hydrogen were slowly decreased with the increase of the number of hydrogen absorption cycle. It was found that this result comes from the deactivation of $LaNi_5$ partly because of the blocking of hydrocarbon compounds in the $LaNi_5$ lattice and partly because of the poisoning of $LaNi_5$ surface by carbon monoxide contained in the gas mixture. The optimum condition for the regeneration of deactivated $LaNi_5$ was obtained by heating in a vacuum to about 637 K. The recovery ratio of hydrogen at the optimum condition was observed to be about 80%. The rates of hydrogen separation were measured in the ${\alpha}$-phase and two phase regions. The rate equations could be expressed as follows ; ${\alpha}$ - phase : $$-\frac{dP{_{H_2}}}{dt}=9.836{\times}10^{-3}(P{_{H_2}}_{-P_{eq}})$$ two phase region : $$-\frac{dP_{H{_2}}}{dt}=1.6909{\times}10^2\exp(-17560/RT)(P{_{H_2}}_{-P_{eq}})$$.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.41-47
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• 2022

Objectives : Terminalia chebula (TC) has been used as a traditional remedy to treat gastrointestinal infectious and inflammatory diseases. However, its protective effects and mechanisms against skin inflammation have not been well-elucidated. Thus, the aim of this study is to evaluate the protective effects of the TC water extract and also to suggest a putative mechanism of TC against skin injury on human keratinocytes, HaCaT cells. Methods : HaCaT cells were pre-treated with TC for 1 h and then stimulated with tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) (10 ng/mL each) to induce skin inflammation and injury. After 24 h, the cells were harvested to evaluate the expression of Th2 chemokines, such as C-C motif chemokine ligand 5 (CCL5, also known as RANTES), C-C chemokine ligand 17 (CCL17, also known as TARC) and C-C chemokine ligand 22 (CCL22, also known as MDC). To investigate the regulatory mechanisms of TC, we also assessed the phosphorylation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) signaling pathways in HaCaT cells. Results : Treatment of TC decreased the mRNA levels of RANTES, TARC and MDC with a concentration dependent manner against co-stimulation of TNF-α and IFN-γ. In addition, TC significantly reduced TNF-α and IFN-γ induced phosphorylation of STAT1. Conclusions : In summary, we propose that TC may be a promising candidate for anti-inflammatory skin protector through the inhibition of chemokines via STAT1 deactivation.