• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.249-255
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• 2009

Esculetin, a coumarin compound, has been known to inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis in several types of human cancer cells. However, the molecular mechanisms involved in esculetin-induced apoptosis are still uncharacterized in human leukemia cells. In this study, we have investigated whether esculetin exerts anti-proliferative and apoptotic effects on human leukemia U937 cells. It was found that esculetin could inhibit cell viability in a time-dependent manner, which was associated with the induction of apoptotic cell death such as increased populations of apoptotic- sub G1 phase. Apoptosis of U937 cells by esculetin was associated with an inhibition of Bcl-2/Bax binding activity, formation of tBid, down-regulation of X-linked inhibitor of apoptotic protein (XIAP) expression, and up-regulation of death receptor 4 (DR4) and FasL expression. Esculetin treatment also induced the degradation of ${\beta}$-catenin and DNA fragmentation factor 45/inhibitor of caspase-activated DNase (DFF45/ICAD). Furthermore, a caspase-3 specific inhibitor, z-DEVD-fmk, significantly inhibited sub-G1 phase DNA content, morphological changes and degradation of ${\beta}$-catenin and DEE45/ICAD. These results indicated that a key regulator in esculetin-induced apoptosis was caspase-3 in human leukemia U937 cells.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.319-322
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• 2003

Integrated coastal management (ICM) requires robust indicators that gauge the 'health' of the coast in relation to environmental, social and economic activities. Biological indicators(bio-indicators) offer a signal of the biological condition in an ecosystem. Using bio-indicators as an early warning of pollution or degradation in an ecosystem can help sustain critical resources. This review examines the rationale and value of selecting species as bio-indicators of human induced changes within estuaries, using examples from both the western and southern coast. It include a range of biological parameters relating to particular species, groups of species and biological processes. The use of these indicators is critically reviewed and the presence or absence of a relevant framework for their use in Korean ICM programs is discussed.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.124-131
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• 2008

The biodegradable hyaluronic acid membranes cross-linked with lactide using the crosslinking agent, 1,3-butadiene diepoxide (BD), were prepared as a potential biocompatible material for tissue engineering. The degree of lactide and BD reaction of the crosslinked membrane was determined by the analysis of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy 6% of growth inhibition was observed in case of high BD concentration but the value is low enough not to affect cell growth. As the crosslinking reaction temperature increased, elongation increased and swelling ratio decreased. The rate of degradation was found to increase with the crosslinking temperature. The drug release experiment showed that the transport of drug through the membrane decreased with the crosslinking temperature.

• Composites Research
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.264-269
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• 2023

Spent coffee grounds (SCG) are a ubiquitous byproduct of coffee consumption, representing a significant waste management challenge, as well as an untapped resource for economic development and sustainability. Improper disposal of SCG can result in environmental problems such as methane emissions and leachate production. This study aims to investigate the physicochemical properties of SCG and their potential as a reinforcement material in polypropylene (PP) to fabricate an eco-friendly composite via extrusion and injection molding, with SCG filler ratios ranging from 5-20%. To evaluate the effect of SCG on the morphological and mechanical properties of the bio- composite, thermogravimetric analysis, SEM, tensile, flexural, and impact tests were conducted. The results demonstrated that the addition of SCG lead to a slight increase in brittleness of the composite but did not significantly affect its mechanical properties. Impressively, the presence of a significant organic component in SCG contributed to the enhanced thermal performance of PP/SCG composites. This improvement was evident in terms of increased thermal stability, delayed onset of degradation, and higher maximum degradation temperature as compared to pure PP. These findings suggest that SCG has potential as a filler material for PP composites, with the ability to enhance the material's properties without compromising overall performance.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.182-191
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• 2007

Bioabsorbable devices have been utilized and experimented in many aspects of orthopaedic surgery. Depending upon their constituent polymers, these materials can be tailored to provide sufficient rigidity to allow bone healing, retain mechanical strength for certain period of time, and then eventually begin to undergo degradation. The objective of this study was to estimate extent in which Poly-L-latic acid (PLLA) implants had bioabsorbability and biocompatibility with bone and soft tissue in dogs and also to develop bioabsorbable, biocompatible materials with the appropriate strength and degradation characteristics to allow for regular clinical use for treating orthopedic problems in humans as well as animals. Eighteen dogs were used as experimental animals and were inserted two types of PLLA implants. PLLA rods were inserted into subcutaneous tissue of back or the abdomen wall. And the rods were tested for material properties including viscosity, molecular weight, melting point, melting temperature, crystallinity, flexural strength, and flexural modulus over time. PLLA screws were inserted through cortical bone into bone marrow in the femur of the dogs and stainless steel screw was inserted in the same femur. Radiographs were taken after surgery to observe locations of screw. Histological variations including cortical bone response, muscular response, bone marrow response were analyzed over the time for 62weeks. The physical properties of PLLA rods had delicate balances between mechanical, thermal and viscoelastic factors. PLLA screws did not induce any harmful effects and clinical complications on bone and soft tissue for degradation period. These results suggest that PLLA implants could be suitable for clinical use.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.310-316
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• 2009

The degradation characteristics of cross-linked lactide/hyaluronic acid (LA/HA) membranes were investigated for purpose of applying to tissue engineering. The lactide/hyaluronic acid cross-linked with 1,3-butadiene diepoxide (BD) and 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethyl aminopropyl) carbodiimide (EDC) was degradated in deionized water in water bath at $37^{\circ}C$. As the LA/HA mole ratio or crosslinking agent concentration decreased, the degradation rate of the crosslinked membranes increased. In order to investigate the structure change of the membrane in the degradation process, the control sample and 3, 6, 9 days-degradated samples were analysed by the nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. In case of the membranes crosslinked with EDC, the HA-EDC bonding structure was degradated slowly whereas the HA-LA bonding structure was degradated quickly and dissappeared completely after 6 days. In case of the membranes crosslinked with BD, all the crosslinked bonding structure degradated slowly. The HA-BD bonding structure maintained its original state about 89, 83% in case of 3, 6 days-degardated samples respectively whereas the HA-LA bonding structure maintained its original state about 83, 65%. The scanning electron microscopy of the degradated membranes showed that the pore density in the surface, and the structure in the surface and cross section, of the before and after-degradation membranes did not change greatly, so the membranes was shown to be applied to materials for tissue engineering.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.82-93
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• 2014

A starch ball was devised to conveniently supply carbon source to indigenous microorganisms and to enhance biotransformation of explosive compounds(TNT and RDX) in the sediments of settling basins installed in military shooting ranges. To identify optimum dose/sediment ratio for degradation of explosives in the basin, a series of bench scale settling basin experiments were performed for 30 days while monitoring supernatant pH, DO, concentrations of nitrite, nitrate, sulfate, explosive compounds, and acute toxicity measured by bacterial luminescence. Addition of starch ball induced changes in oxidation conditions from oxic to anoxic in the benthic zone of the basin, which resulted in subsequent reductive degradation of both TNT and RDX in the liquid and solid phase of basin. However, fermentation products of excess starch, acetic acid and formic acid, caused acute toxicity in the liquid phase. The optimum ratio of starch ball/sediment for explosive compounds degradation by inducing changes in bio-geochemical environments without increase in acute toxicity, was found to be 0.009~0.017.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.375-380
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• 2016

The use of polyethylene film has a problem such as increasing rural environmental contamination, collection costs and farmers' workload. The objective of this study was to evaluate bio-degradable films in terms of yield of maize and soil environment. Treatments were bio-degradable film A (BDF A), bio-degradable film B (BDF B), high density polyethylene (HDPE), and non-mulched (NM) soil. Daily mean values of soil temperature (10 cm depth) under BDF A, BDF B, and HDPE were higher than in NM soil by 2.2, 2.8, $3.1^{\circ}C$ respectively. In the mulching cultivation of maize, bio-degradable film began to degrade from 50~60days after the planting. The degradation was much progressed in the harvest time and almost decomposed in the following spring. The weight of ear of maize was not shown significantly by mulching treatments. There were little changes of soil chemical properties for the bio-degradable film mulching. After using bio-degradable films, the contents of biomass-C and dehydrogenase activity increased from 92 to $137{\sim}147mg\;kg^{-1}$, and from 87 to $123{\sim}168mg\;kg^{-1}$ respectively.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers D
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• v.55 no.11
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• pp.502-510
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• 2006

In this paper, we describe implementation of a computer access device for the severly motor-disability. Many people with severe motor disabilities need an augmentative communication technology. Those who are totally paralyzed, or 'locked-in' cannot use conventional augmentative technologies, all of which require some measure of muscle control. The forehead is often the last site to suffer degradation in cases of severe disability and degenerative disease. For example, In ALS(Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) and MD(Muscular dystrophy) the ocular motorneurons and ocular muscles are usually spared permitting at least gross eye movements, but not precise eye pointing. We use brain and body forehead bio-potentials in a novel way to generate multiple signals for computer control inputs. A bio-amplifier within this device separates the forehead signal into three frequency channels. The lowest channel is responsive to bio-potentials resulting from an eye motion, and second channel is the band pass derived between 0.5 and 45Hz, falling within the accepted Electroencephalographic(EEG) range. A digital processing station subdivides this region into eleven components frequency bands using FFT algorithm. The third channel is defined as an Electromyographic(EMG) signal. It responds to contractions of facial muscles and is well suited to discrete on/off switch closures, keyboard commands. These signals are transmitted to a PC that analyzes in a time series and a frequency region and discriminates user's intentions. That software graphically displays user's bio-potential signals in the real time, therefore user can see their own bio-potentials and control their physiological signals little by little after some training sessions. As a result, we confirmed the performance and availability of the developed system with experimental user's bio-potentials.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.8-14
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• 2005

The hyaluronic acid (HA) with excellent biocompatibility can be combined with the monomer polylactide with good biodegradability to produce biocompatible materials which can control the period of degradation in a human body. By freeze drying method, HA and the lactic acid, monomer of polylactide, or lactide, the ester dimer of polylactide, were crosslinked with crosslinking agent, l-ethyl-3-(3-dimethyl aminopropyl) carbodiimide. The analysis of infrared spectroscopy showed that the ester linkage was formed and the analysis of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy showed that the ester linkage was due to the reaction of lactic acid and HA. The conversion (6∼32%) and degree of crosslinking (4∼19%) increased but the selectivity was almost constant at 62% as the mole ratio of LA to HA increased from 1 to 10 in the crosslinking reaction. The brittleness became more pronounced and the rate of degradation became faster with more addition of lactic acid resulting from the higher ratio of LA to HA, and the swelling ratio was in the range of 500 to 2000%.