• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.105-113
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• 2009

Dentin, a major component of teeth, is formed by odontoblasts which produce the dentin matrix beneath the dental epithelium and induce the mineralization of dentin. To date, the biochemical properties of dentin matrix proteins have been well characterized, but upstream regulators of these proteins are not yet well known. Recently in this regard, several transcription factors have been identified as potential regulators of matrix proteins. Most transcription factors are generally involved in diverse biological processes and it is essential to identify those that are odontoblast-specific transactivators to further understand the process of dentin formation. We thus analyzed the expression pattern of dentin matrix proteins and the activities of established transactivators containing a Cre-locus. Expression analyses using in situ hybridization showed that dentin matrix proteins are sequentially expressed in differentiating odontoblasts, including type-I collagen, Dmp-1 and Dspp. The activities of the transactivators were evaluated using ${\beta}$-galactosidase following the generation of double transgenic mice with each transactivator and the ROSA26R reporter line. The ${\beta}$-galactosidase activity of each transactivator paralled the expression of the matrix proteins. These results thus showed that these transactivators could be utilized for odontoblastspecific conditional gene targeting. In addition, time- and tissue-specific conditional gene targeting might also be achieved using a combination of these transactivators. Odontoblast-specific conditional gene targeting with these transactivators will likely also provide new insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying dentin formation.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.285-297
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• 1995

The mammalian oviduct is a place where ontogeny of an animal begins. Nowadays, however, it is possilbe to manipulate a part of physiological events occurring in the oviduct so that fertilization of gametes and early embryonic development of zygotes could proceed outside oviductal environment. Rabbit zygotes readily develop to blastocysts in a conventional culture condition. Most of the mouse fertilized eggs do so when cultured under a specific environment, e.g., in a medium containing ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid. Similarly, a significant number of zygotes from rat, sheep, pig or cattle can develop to blastocysts if they are cultured in the presence of particular component which appear to be somewhat species-specific. Instead of changing the components of medium, somatic cells including oviductal epithelial cells, have widely been used to improve mammalian embryonic development in vitro. Many investigators have reported that mammalian zygotes, whether fertilized in vivo or in vitro, could develop to blastocysts when they were cultured on a monolayer of various kinds of somatic cells or even in a somatic cell-conditioned medium. While little is known about the nature of embryotrophic factor(s) produced in vitro by somatic cells, the existence fo oviduct-specific protein(s) has consistently been demonstrated in many laboratories. Some of these proteins are reported to be associated with oviductal eggs. However, the physiological role of these proteins has still to be determined. Recently we observed that the perivitelline space of mouse oocytes was fluorescently stained with various fluorochrome-protein conjugates following ovulation into the oviducts or upon their expossure to oviductal extracts. Furthermore, it was also found that cattle or pig oviductal fluid gave similar results when examined using mouse ghost ZP. These observations lead to suggest that mammalian oviduct induces changes of biochemical properties of oocytes. Further studies are needed to clarify the nature of oviductal factor(s) and the physiological meaning of the reaction.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.277-281
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• 2006

Fourier transform - infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) provides biochemical profiles containing overlapping signals from a majority of the compounds that are present when whole cell extracts are analyzed. We attempted to determine the ripeness of strawberry fruit flesh by FT-IR. Fruit ripeness was divided into four developmental stages based on fruit skin color: 'yellow-green', 'pink-green', 'pink', and 'red' stages. Principal component analysis of FT-IR data of inside fruit flesh extracts clustered samples of four different developmental stages into three discrete groups: (1) 'yellow-green' group, (2) 'pink-green' group, and (3) 'pink' and 'red' group. The most remarkable difference between four different developmental stages was found in the carbohydrate fingerprint region $(1,000-1,100cm^{-1})$ of the FT-IR spectrum, indicating that differences in carbohydrate compounds represented the ripeness of strawberry fruit. Overall results indicate that FT-IR in combination with PCA enables discrimination of the ripeness of strawberry fruit flesh.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.364-372
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• 2020

The "Master Plan for the Revitalization of Water in the Nakdong River" is designed for the fundamental improvement of water quality in the Nakdong River. The water quality and flow of the Nakdong River system tributaries was monitored in this study. Among the living environmental standard parameters of 195 rivers, BOD (Biochemical oxygen demand), T-P (Total phosphorus) and TOC (Total organic carbon) were assessed to analyze the water quality from 2012 to 2019. We examined the role of TOC. It was found that 12 rivers exceeded the water quality of the second grade (3.0 mg/L BOD standard, 0.1 mg/L T-P standard, 4.0 mg/L TOC standard) based on BOD and T-P concentrations: the Gumi stream, Gisegok stream, Yongha stream, Yongho stream, Changnyeong stream, Gajwa stream, Gwangok stream, Yeongsan stream, Toerae stream, Hwapo stream, Sangnam stream and Hogye stream. These rivers require strategies to improve the quality of the Nakdong River. Based on the ongoing project, it is possible to supplement the "Master Plan for the Revitalization of Water in the Nakdong River" and manage it after verifying it as a component of people's life and therefore used to establish water quality control measures.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.81-92
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• 1999

This study discussed the appropriateness of organic matter indexes such as biochemical oxygen demand(BOD) and chemical oxygen demand with potassium permanganate($COD_{Mn}$) in water quality environmental standard of streams and lakes and the applicability of the items to water quality environmental standard to add or substitute COD with potassium dichromate ($COD_{Cr}$) and total organic carbon(TOC) being used as index of organic matter. And indexes of organic matter content and organic carbon concentration were distinguished between dissolved and particulate component in water sample to estimate their effect on pollutants loading in lake and stream. The ratio of $COD_{Cr}$/BOD was 5.1 under BOD concentration 3mg/L in river water quality environmental standard II, and 2.67 above it. This ratio was diminished to 2.04 when BOD concentration was more than 8mg/L, in river quality environmental standard IV. Also the ratio of $COD_{Mn}$/BOD showed 2.16 under 3mg/L(BOD), and 1.1 above it. This ratio is also diminished to 0.84 over 8mg/L(BOD). Accordingly, we should apply this ratio depending on the concentration level to add and change organic matter index of water quality environmental standard newly. The ratio $COD_{Cr}/COD_{Mn}$ both in lake and stream shows 2.37(r=0.986, p<0.001). But the ratios showed range of 2.34~2.50, which is no much difference of this ratio according to $COD_{Mn}$ concentration.

• Journal of KIISE:Software and Applications
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• v.32 no.11
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• pp.1071-1083
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• 2005

By estimating probability distributions of the good solutions in the current population, some researchers try to find the optimal solution more efficiently. Particularly, finite mixtures of distributions have a very useful role in dealing with complex problems. However, it is difficult to choose the number of components in the mixture models and merge superior partial solutions represented by each component. In this paper, we propose a new continuous evolutionary optimization algorithm with distribution estimation by variational Bayesian mixtures of factor analyzers. This technique can estimate the number of mixtures automatically and combine good sub-solutions by sampling new individuals with the latent variables. In a comparison with two probabilistic model-based evolutionary algorithms, the proposed scheme achieves superior performance on the traditional benchmark function optimization. We also successfully estimate the parameters of S-system for the dynamic modeling of biochemical networks.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.213-220
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• 1999

In this study, we measured the absorption coefficient of the tissues of mouse (brain, heart, liver, muscle and tumor) and human brain (normal and tumor) in the wavelength between 500nm~900nm. The optical coefficient is a representative of the characteristics of the materials. So, we can characterize the biological tissue with the optical coefficients. Using the spectrograph monometer and PDA(Photo Diode Array), we experimented with quick-frozen sectioned specimens. Because the optical coefficient is concerned with the conformation and biochemical component of the biological tissue, we experimented as the wavelength between 500nm~900nm on the normal and tumor samples of the animal and human. For the mouse, there are distinctive differences of the absorption coefficients between normal tissues and tumor. The absorption coefficient of the normal tissue varies 0.1~0.2cm$^{-1}$ with wavelength. But, the absorption coefficient of the brain tumor is changed round about 0.4~0.5cm$^{-1}$ as the wavelength. The absorption coefficients we measured can be a useful implement to detect diseases.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.12-25
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• 2015

The tributaries of Daechung Lake play an important role in controlling eutrophication in the lake, which is used for agricultural purposes and as potable water. However, water quality properties were not extensively studied in the tributaries of Daechung Lake. The objectives of this study are to investigate spatial and temporal properties of water quality and to characterize streams which could threaten water quality of Daechung Lake. For this study, water samples were weekly or monthly collected from February 2014 to October 2014 in 9 streams. Water quality parameters analyzed in this study include biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen and phosphorus (TN and TP), suspended solids (SS), and chlorophyll a. Based on temporal distribution and principal component analysis, BOD, COD, TOC, SS, and TP were controlled by not only river discharge that increased during summer due to heavy rain fall, but also due to anthropogenic input (e.g., bridge construction and/or agricultural activity). Dilution is also one of the factors explaining TN and conductivity, both of which decreased with increased discharge. Generally, concentrations of contaminants (BOD, COD, TOC, TN and TP) in the tributaries were higher than those of Daechung Lake. However, pollution load indicated that only the main channel of Geum River and Sook Stream may largely influence lake waters, attributed mostly to their large volumes. This implies that the main channel and Sook Stream are the major influences on the water quality of Daechung Lake.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.459-470
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• 2010

In this study, we analyzed fish tolerance guilds in mainstems and tributaries of 65 streams and rivers arid their relations to water quality using dataset sampled from April to November, 2009. For the study, water quality parameters including biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), electric conductivity (EC), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), ammonia nitrogen ($NH_3$-N), nitrate nitrogen ($NO_3$-N) and phosphate phosphorus ($PO_4$-P) were analyzed in the laboratory and also tolerance ranges in 3 category fishes of sensitive, intermediate, and tolerant species with high abundance were analyzed. According to fish guild analysis, tolerant species was 58% of the total community and the proportion of omnivore species was 63% of the total, indicating a degradation of habitats and water quality. Water quality was shown typical longitudinal gradients from the headwater to the down-river; TN and TP increased toward the down-rivers except for the big point-source area and ionic contents, based on, electric conductivity showed same pattern. Tolerance guild analysis of 9 major species with high abundance indicated that sensitive groups had narrower tolerance range in the water quality than the groups of intermediate and tolerant species. In contrast, tolerant groups including Zacco platypus, Carassius auratus, and Opsarichthys uncirostris amurensis had wider tolerance ranges than the groups of sensitive and intermediate species. Thus, each group was evidently segregated from the tolerance levels. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) employed for the relations of water quality to fish species in each groups suggests that water quality had highest eigenvalues with fish species in the 1st axis of the PCA and nitrogen (TN, $NH_3$-N, $NO_3$-N) and phosphorus (TP) were key components differentiating three groups of sensitive, intermediate and tolerance guilds.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.1479-1484
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• 2010

Photosynthesis uses light energy to drive the oxidation of water at an oxygen-evolving catalytic site within photosystem II (PSII). Chlorophyll binding by the photosystem II subunit S protein, PsbS, was found to be necessary for energy-dependent quenching (qE), the major energy-dependent component of non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) in Arabidopsis thaliana. It is proposed that PsbS acts as a trigger of the conformational change that leads to the establishment of nonphotochemical quenching. However, the exact structure and function of PsbS in PSII are still unknown. Here, we clone and express the recombinant PsbS gene from Arabidopsis thaliana in E. coli and purify the resulting homogeneous protein. We used various biochemical and biophysical techniques to elucidate PsbS structure and function, including circular dichroism (CD), fluorescence, and DSC. The protein shows optimal stability at $4^{\circ}C$ and pH 7.5. The CD spectra of PsbS show that the conformational changes of the protein were strongly dependent on pH conditions. The CD curve for PsbS at pH 10.5 curve had the deepest negative peak and the peak of PsbS at pH 4.5 was the least negative. The fluorescence emission spectrum of the purified PsbS protein was also measured, and the ${\lambda}_{max}$ was found to be at 328 nm. PsbS revealed some structural changes under varying temperature and oxygen gas condition.