• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.518-524
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• 2014

Heavy metal pollution in agricultural field near at the abandoned metal mines has been a critical issue in Korea. In particular, bioaccumulation in plants can have detrimental effect on human health. Main objective of this research was to examine arsenic (As) concentration in soil with varied extraction methods and to determine bioaccumulation and biological transfer factor in different crops. Results showed that bioaccumulation ratio of As for total contents in soil was ordered leafy and stem vegetables (1.19%) > fruit bearing vegetables (0.79%) > pulses (0.40%) > root vegetables (0.36%) with different crop species. Among 6 different extraction methods, all of extraction methods showed high correlation ($R^2=0.87-0.97$) except DTPA ($R^2=0.25$) when comparing As concentration in soil extracted with different extractants and As concentration in each crops. Calculated biological transfer factor was ranged 0.002-0.018 depending on crop species. Overall, concentration of As in crops can be varied and best management practice for minimizing bioaccumulation of As should be considered depending on crop species.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.43 no.7
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• pp.645-661
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• 2020

Leaf senescence is a developmental process by which a plant actively remobilizes nutrients from aged and photosynthetically inefficient leaves to young growing ones by disassembling organelles and degrading macromolecules. Senescence is accelerated by age and environmental stresses such as prolonged darkness. Phytochrome B (phyB) inhibits leaf senescence by inhibiting phytochrome-interacting factor 4 (PIF4) and PIF5 in prolonged darkness. However, it remains unknown whether phyB mediates the temperature signal that regulates leaf senescence. We found the light-activated form of phyB (Pfr) remains active at least four days after a transfer to darkness at 20℃ but is inactivated more rapidly at 28℃. This faster inactivation of Pfr further increases PIF4 protein levels at the higher ambient temperature. In addition, PIF4 mRNA levels rise faster after the transfer to darkness at high ambient temperature via a mechanism that depends on ELF3 but not phyB. Increased PIF4 protein then binds to the ORE1 promoter and activates its expression together with ABA and ethylene signaling, accelerating leaf senescence at high ambient temperature. Our results support a role for the phy-PIF signaling module in integrating not only light signaling but also temperature signaling in the regulation of leaf senescence.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Embryo Transfer Conference
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• 2000.05a
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• pp.64-75
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• 2000

During the last three decades considerable advances has been made in goat embryo production and transfer technology. The Korean native black goat is the most useful domestic ruminant in this country for biological investigation and application because it has a lot of merits such as relatively short generation period (1 vs 2 year for a cow), easy of handling, well adaptation, high fertility, convenient and inexpensive. This article covers the methods of superovulation, estrus synchronization, embryo collection and transfer techniques, pregnancy diagnosis and subsequent pregnancy and kidding rates for the production of transgenic Korean native black goats. More than one hundred goat kids have been produced as a result of our transgenic goat project via microinjection of foreign gene into pronuclei, in vitro culture, transfer of various stages of fresh and frozen-thawed microinjected embryos into oviducts or uteri of recipient does. We have got two transgenic goats carrying a transgene targeting the expression of recombinant human granulocyte colony stimulating factor (hG-CSF) to the mammary gland so far. Since collection and transfer of embryos in this species is usually accomplished by laparotomy, exteriorization of the reproductive tract for surgical embryo collection leads to the formation of post-operative adhesions. Nonsurgical or laparoscopic technique to reduce adhesions from repeated surgeries has great advantages in improving embryo production and transfer especially from valuable donors. We will discuss this later.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Embryo Transfer Conference
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• 2000.06a
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• pp.64-75
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• 2000

During the last three decades considerable advances has been made in goat embryo production and transfer technology. The Korean native black goat is the most useful domestic ruminant in this country for biological investigation and application because it has a lot of merits such as relatively short generation period(1 vs 2 year for a cow), easy of handling, well adaptation, high fertility, convenient and inexpensive. This article covers the methods of superovulation, estrus synchronization, embryo collection and transfer techniques, pregnancy diagnosis and subsequent pregnancy and kidding rates for the production of transgenic Korean native black goats. More than one hundred goat kids have been produced as a result of our transgenic goat project via microinjection of foreign gene into pronuclei, in vitro culture, transfer of various stages of fresh and frozen-thawed microinjected embryos into oviducts or uteri of recipient does. We have got two transgenic goats carrying a transgene targeting the expression of recombinant human granulocyte colony stimulating factor(hG-CSF) to the mammary gland so far. Since collection and transfer of embryos in this species is usually accomplished by laparotomy, exteriorization of the reproductive tract for surgical embryo collection leads to the formation of post-operative adhesions. Nonsurgical or laparoscopic technique to reduce adhesions from repeated surgeries has great advantages in improving embryo production and transfer especially from valuable donors. We will discuss this later.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.478-483
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• 1998

For the enhanced production of a cardiac glycoside, digoxin, using in situ adsorption by biotransformation from digitoxin in plant cell suspension cultures, selection of proper resins was attempted and the culture conditions were optimized. Among various kinds of resins tested, Amberlite XAD-8 was found to be the best for digoxin production in considering adsorption characteristics as well as the effect on cell growth. Adequate time for resin addition was determined to be 36 h from the beginning of biotransformation and the presence of resins should be as short as possible to increase the productivity. In addition, to prevent the cells from direct contact with resin particles, immobilized systems were designed and examined. Immobilization further improved the advantages of in situ adsorption. It was confirmed that the increase of the contact area for mass transfer was an important factor in utilizing an immobilized system to enhance digoxin production.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.80-87
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• 2022

Purpose: Proton therapy has different relative biological effectiveness (RBE) compared with X-ray treatment, which is the standard in radiation therapy, and the fixed RBE value of 1.1 is widely used. However, RBE depends on a charged particle's linear energy transfer (LET); therefore, measuring LET is important. We have developed a LET measurement method using the inefficiency characteristic of an EBT3 film on a proton beam's Bragg peak (BP) region. Methods: A Gafchromic EBT3 film was used to measure the proton beam LET. It measured the dose at a 10-cm pristine BP proton beam in water to determine the quenching factor of the EBT3 film as a reference beam condition. Monte Carlo (MC) calculations of dose-averaged LET (LET_d) were used to determine the quenching factor and validation. The dose-averaged LETs at the 12-, 16-, and 20-cm pristine BP proton beam in water were calculated with the quenching factor. Results: Using the passive scattering proton beam nozzle of the National Cancer Center in Korea, the LET_d was measured for each beam range. The quenching factor was determined to be 26.15 with 0.3% uncertainty under the reference beam condition. The dose-averaged LETs were measured for each test beam condition. Conclusions: We developed a method for measuring the proton beam LET using an EBT3 film. This study showed that the magnitude of the quenching effect can be estimated using only one beam range, and the quenching factor determined under the reference condition can be applied to any therapeutic proton beam range.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.323-333
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• 2016

Pro-inflammatory cytokines, interleukin-$1{\beta}$(IL1B), IL6, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF), are known to play important roles in regulating the endometrial function in the uterus during the estrous cycle and pregnancy in several species. However, the expression and function of these cytokines and their receptors in the uterine endometrium during the estrous cycle have not been studied in pigs. Thus, this study determined the expression and regulation of IL1B, IL6, TNF and their respective receptors, IL1R1, IL1RAP, IL6R, GP130, TNFRSF1A, and TNFRSF1B during the estrous cycle in pigs. To analyze levels of each gene expression in the uterine endometrium we obtained from endometrial tissues on Days 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18 of the estrous cycle. Real-time RT-PCR analysis showed that levels of IL1B, IL1RAP, IL6R, GP130, TNF, TNFRSF1A, and TNFRSF1B mRNAs were highest on Day 15 or 18 of the estrous cycle, which corresponds to the proestrus period. Levels of IL1R1 were highest on Day 0, while levels of IL6 were biphasic with high levels on Day 6 and Day 15. The abundance of IL1B, IL6, IL6R, and TNF mRNAs was decreased by progesterone, while levels of GP130 were increased by progesterone in endometrial tissue explants. These results showed that expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and their receptors changed stage-specifically during the estrous cycle and regulated by progesterone in the uterine endometrium in pigs, suggesting that these pro-inflammatory cytokines may be involved in the regulation endometrial function during the estrous cycle in pigs.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.735-741
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• 1989

For the accurate prediction of freezing time, probably the most difficult factor to measure and major error source is the surface heat transfer coefficient. In this work, surface heat transfer coefficient were determined for still air freezing and immersion freezing methods by theory of the transient temperature method and confirmed by using a modification of plank's equation to predict the freezing time of ground lean beef. The results showed the cooling rate of immersion freezing was about 11 times faster than that of still air freezing method. A comparison of surface heat transfer coefficient of copper plate and ground lean beef resulted an difference of 25-30% because the food sample surface is not smooth as copper plate. Also, when h-values measured by ground lean beef were applicated to modified model, the accuracy of its results is very high as difference of about 8%.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.9
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• pp.1290-1296
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• 2020

Recently, it was reported that entire mammalian mtDNA genomes could be transplanted into the mitochondrial networks of yeast, where they were accurately and stably maintained without rearrangement as intact genomes. Here, it was found that engineered mtDNA genomes could be readily transferred to and steadily maintained in the mitochondria of genetically modified yeast expressing the mouse mitochondrial transcription factor A (Tfam), one of the mitochondrial nucleoid proteins. The transferred mtDNA genomes were stably retained in the Tfam-expressing yeast cells for many generations. These results indicated that the engineered mouse mtDNA genomes introduced in yeast mitochondria could be relocated into the mitochondria of other cells and that the transferred genomes could be maintained within a mitochondrial environment that is highly amenable to mimicry of the biological conditions in mammalian mitochondria.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2019

Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC) are multipotent stromal cells that have great potential to differentiate into a variety of cell types such as osteocytes, chondrocytes, and myocytes. Although there have been many studies on their clinical availability, little is known about how intracellular signals can be modulated by topographic features of the extracellular matrix (ECM). In this study, we investigated whether and how microwavy-patterned extracellular matrix (ECM) could affect the signaling activity of focal adhesion kinase (FAK), a key cellular adhesion protein. The fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based FAK biosensor-transfected cells are incubated on microwavy-patterned surfaces and then platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) are treated to trigger FAK signals, followed by monitoring through live-cell FRET imaging in real time. As a result, we report that PDGF-induced FAK was highly activated in cells cultured on microwavy-patterned surface with L or M type, while inhibited by H type-patterned surface. In further studies, PDGF-induced FAK signals are regulated by functional support of actin filaments, microtubules, myosin-related proteins, suggesting that PDGF-induced FAK signals in hMSC upon microwavy surfaces are dependent on cytoskeleton (CSK)-actomyosin networks. Thus, our findings not only provide new insight on molecular mechanisms on how FAK signals can be regulated by distinct topographical cues of the ECM, but also may offer advantages in potential applications for regenerative medicine and tissue engineering.