• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.90-95
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• 2009

Sludge pre-treatment utilizing cavitation is one of the commercialized methods at present. Cavitation can be generated by two different methods, sonotrode and hydrodynamic principle, and there has been no direct comparison between the two methods. In this study, solubilization efficiency, changes in sludge size distribution, and the methane production potential after pre-treatment by the two methods were compared. The maximum solubilization efficiency per unit energy input with the two methods was similar, and was 302 mg ${\Delta}SCOD/g$ TS at the energy input of 0.18 kWh/L. Break-up of sludge flocs were dominant during the early period of pre-treatment, while cell disintegration continued through the pre-treatment with the increase in the number of particles with less than 1 ${\mu}m$. BMP test results indicated that the methane potential increased up to 24.3% without differences between the two pre-treatments, and the increase in methane potential did not proportional to energy input. Although the energy efficiency of the two methods was quite similar, hydrodynamic methods might be a better choice for field application considering the operation and maintenance cost, and its potential improvement in energy efficiency.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.39-44
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• 2010

Purpose: Bone tissues for clinical application can be improved by studies on osteoblast differentiation. Runx2 is known to be an important transcription factor for osteoblast differentiation. However, bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-2 treatment to stimulate Runx2 is not sufficient to acquire enough bone formation in osteoblasts. Therefore, it is necessary to find other regulatory factors which can improve the transcriptional activity of Runx2. The erythroblast transformation-specific (ETS) transcription factor family is reported to be involved in various aspects of cellular proliferation and differentiation. Methods: We have noticed that the promoters of osteoblast differentiation markers such as alkaline phosphatase (Alp), osteopontin (Opn), and osteocalcin (Oc) contain Ets binding sequences which are also close to Runx2 binding elements. Luciferase assays were performed to measure the promoter activities of these osteoblast differentiation markers after the transfection of Runx2, myeloid Elf-1-like factor (MEF), and Runxs+MEF. Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction was also done to check the mRNA levels of Opn after Runx2 and MEF transfection into rat osteoblast (ROS) cells. Results: We have found that MEF, an Ets transcription factor, increased the transcriptional activities of Alp, Opn, and Oc. The addition of Runx2 resulted in the 2- to 6-fold increase of the activities. This means that these two transcription factors have a synergistic effect on the osteoblast differentiation markers. Furthermore, early introduction of these two Runx2 and MEF factors significantly elevated the expression of the Opn mRNA levels in ROS cells. We also showed that Runx2 and MEF proteins physically interact with each other. Conclusions: Runx2 interacts with MEF proteins and binds to the promoters of the osteoblast markers such as Opn nearby MEF to increase its transcriptional activity. Our results also imply that osteoblast differentiation and bone formation can be increased by activating MEF to elicit the synergistic effect of Runx2 and MEF.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.353-361
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• 2009

Recent in vitro and in vivo animal studies have reported that statin, a cholesterol-lowering drug, stimulate osteogenic differentiation. In the present study, we investigated the effect of simvastatin on osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation in primarily cultured human adipose-derived stem cells (hADSCs). The simvastatin treatment significantly increased the positive cell numbers in alkaline phosphatase and von Kossa staining, and enhanced the expression levels of bone morphogenic protein (BMP)-2, core binding factor alpha 1 (cbfa1), collgen type I and osteonectin mRNAs. Lastly, hADSCs were cultured in the adipogenic media with or without simvastatin to examine the effect of simvastatin on adipogenic differentiation. In the RT-PCR analysis, there were notable decreases in mRNA expression of aP1, C/EBP-$\alpha$ and PPAR-$\gamma$ in hADSCs cultivated in simvastatin-added medium, compared to those in simvastatin-free medium. It suggests that the adipogenic differentiation was significantly inhibited by simvastatin treatment. These observations indicate that simvastatin induces osteogenic differentiation and suppresses adipogenic differentiation in hADSCs.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.1635-1642
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• 2004

The aim of this study was to find out the effectiveness on germinated Rhynchosia Volubilis for Female Bone Morphogenesis. For this purpose, experiments using germinated Rhynchosia Volubilis(GRV) according to germinating days were conducted to measure the polyphosphate contents and to examine the effects of the transcription activity of gene related to bone morphogenesis on the formation of bone in female. The quantitative analysis of the polyphosphate contents showed that 1 day geminated Rhynchosia Volubilis(GRV) group is treble better contents of polyphosphate than non-germinated Rhynchosia Volubilis, 2 day and 3 day GRV groups. The active of the COL1, OTN, MGP, BMP genes was less than the increase of the polyphosphate contents.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.40-45
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• 2010

In this study, methane production by reuse of screened soil of landfill was estimated and the effect of application of landfarming for the reduction of methane was investigated. The study soil sampled from S closed landfill contains VS 9.8~12.8% and its BOD/COD is 0.31~0.33 which is more than three times over 0.1, the BOD/COD stabilization criteria of Ministry of Environment. The effective remediation technology for the reduction of organics of soil, landfarming was applied to the screened soil for 60 days. VS and TPH removal showed 5.2~8.3% and 67~74% respectively, and the reduction of VS until 30 day charged 70% of the total reduction. BMP test showed 27.77~30.46 mL $CH_4$/g VS and total methane production from total screened soil for remediation is expected about 260.4 $CH_4$ ton. Expected amount of methane production of the screened soil by landfarming application is 12.9 $CH_4$ ton, which shows 95% gas reduction effect and landfarming is effective for the reduction of methane production from screened soil of landfill.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.1 no.2 s.2
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• pp.60-72
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• 2005

The effect of alkaline pre-treatment on the solubilization of waste activated sludge(WAS) was investigated, and the biodegradability of WAS, pretreated WAS, [PWAS], food waste and two types of mixture were estimated by biochemical methane potential [BMP] test at $35^{\circ}C$. The biodegradability of PWAS and mixture waste were significantly improved due to the effect of alkaline hydrolysis of WAS. An alkaline pre-treatment was identified to be one of the useful pre-treatment for improving biodegradability of WAS and mixture waste. In high-rate anaerobic co-digestion system coordinate with an alkaline pre-treatment in process, the digesters were operated at the HRT of 5, 7, 10 and 13 days with a mixture of FW $50\%\;and\;PWAS\;50\%,\;$In term of $CH_4$ content, VS removal and specific methane production [SMP] which are the parameters in the performance of digester, the optimum operating condition was found to be a HRT of 7 days and a OLR of 4.20g/L-day with the highest SMP of 0.340 L $CH_4/g$ VS.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.185-193
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• 2009

A complete cDNA, which encodes for a myostatin-like protein (Es-MSTN), was isolated from the Chinese mitten crab, Eriocheir sinensis. Es-MSTN was composed of 2,397 nucleotides and the open reading frame (ORF) specified a protein containing 468 amino acids. Es-MSTN exhibited 32% amino acid sequence identity and 52% similarity to human myostatin. Multiple sequence alignment analysis indicated that Es-MSTN possessed the conserved proteolytic cleavage site (RXXR) for maturation of the protein and nine cysteine residues for disulfide bridges. Besides the conserved structural features, Es-MSTN also exhibits its unique characters; a longer N-terminal domain which is involved in protein folding and latent form of myostatin and absence of the cleavage site for BMP-1/tolloid family of metalloproteinase to activate mature myostatin. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that Es-MSTN showed the closely related to both vertebrate myostatin and GDF11. Es-MSTN is expressed highly in the claw muscle, leg muscle, thoracic muscle and heart, and moderately in the hindgut suggesting that Es-MSTN may play important roles in the muscle tissues. As homolog of mammalian myostatin and GDF11, Es-MSTN may be involved in development of muscular tissue and further study will help to produce high-quality seafood.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.99-108
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• 2012

Soil erosion and sediment from agricultural farmland has caused various negative impacts on environment in recent years. The effect of rice straw mat on soil erosion has been investigated by many researchers these days. In this study, the SWAT model was applied to Hongcheon watershed to evaluate SWAT flow and sediment, and the effect of rice straw mat on sediment yield at watershed outlet was evaluated. The Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency (NSE) and coefficient of determination ($R^2$) values for flow simulation (calibration period) were 0.66 and 0.67, and the NSE values for sediment was 0.90. The calibrated parameters were used to analyze the reduction of sediment yield in the farmland with rice straw mat. Average daily sediment yield without rice straw mat was 49.8 ton/day and sediment yield with rice straw mat was 25.5 ton/day, and the reduction rate was 38.7 %. Also, average daily sediment yield with/without rice straw mat were 97.5 ton/day and 190.7 ton/day during the rainy season (Jun. 2008 - Aug. 2009), with the reduction rate 46.3 %.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.13 no.3B
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• pp.3-13
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• 1999

The diffusion characteristics of the high temperature and salinity water discharged in Chinhae Bay under BMP(Barge-Mounted Plants) desalination processes were simulated to access environmental impact. The 3-D baroclinic flow model is formulated by integrating the basic equations with respect to each control volume and by transforming them into a finite difference form using the space-staggered grid system. With a 3-D baroclinic flow model, the tide-induced and density-induced current was computed and confirmed by comparing with observed data. From the results of numerical experiment, it is expected that the maximum diffusion lengths of the high temperature and salinity which increase $0.6^{circ}C$ and 0.2 after discharging are 1 km and 3.5km, respectively. It may be expected that the discharge has an effect on surrounding area of discharge, but not an effect on whole area of Chinhae Bay.

• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.179-184
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• 2014

Purpose: This study was performed to investigate the release behavior of bioactive materials as a BMP-2 embedding on the porous titanium implant. Methods: Porous Ti implant samples were fabricated by sintering of spherical Ti powders in a high vacuum furnace. Specimens diameter and height were 4mm and 10mm. Embedding materials were used to stamp ink. Sectional images, porosity and release behavior of porous Ti implants were evaluated by scanning electron microscope(SEM), mercury porosimeter and UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometer. Results: Internal pore structure was formed fully open pore. Average pore size and porosity were $8.993{\mu}m$ and 8.918%. Embedding materials were released continually and slowly. Conclusion: Porous Ti implant was fabricated successfully by sintering method. Particles are necking strongly each other and others portions were vacancy. Therefore bioactive materials will be able to embedding to porous Ti implants. If the development of the fusion implant of the bioactive material will be able to have the chance to several patients.