• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.47 no.5
• /
• pp.439-446
• /
• 2003

Surface-enhanced Raman(SER) spectroscopy was utilized to investigate the adorption orientation of the 4-biphenylcarboxylic acid(BPCA) derivatives, such as 4'-cyano-BPCA(c-BPCA), 4'-mercapto-BPCA(m-BPCA), and 4'-amino-BPCA(a-BPCA), which were adsorbed on Au and Ag colloid monolayers. For the systematic approach, information regarding the adsorption behavior of benzoic acid, biphenyl, and BPCA was applied to the target molecules. From the spectral behaviors of benzene ring, C-H stretching, carboxylate anion, and the other finger printing vibrational modes, it was concluded that only the m-BPCA was adsorbed tilt with thiol group being adsorbed on Au surface, whereas the other molecules were adsorbed flat on both Au and Ag surfaces.

• Biomedical Science Letters
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.69-76
• /
• 2008

${\gamma}$-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system, and its actions are mediated by subtypes of GABA receptors named as $GABA_A$, $GABA_B,\;and\;GABA_C,\;GABA_A$, receptor consisting of ${\alpha},\;{\beta},\;{\gamma}\;and\;{\delta}$ subunits is a heterooligomeric ligand-gated chloride channel. This study was performed to investigate regulation of $GABA_A$ receptor by protein kinase C(PKC). Ion currents were recorded using gramicidine-perforated patch and whole cell patch clamp. mRNA encoding the subunits of PKC expressed in major pelvic ganglion (MPG) neurons was detected by using RT-PCR. The GABA-induced inward current was increased by PKC activators and decreased by PKC inhibitors, respectively. These effects were not associated with intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ and GAG (1-oleoyl-2-acetyl-sn-glycerol), a membrane permeable diacylglycerol (DAG) analogue. These results mean that the subfamily of PKC participating in activation of $GABA_A$ receptor would be an atypical PKC (aPKC). Among theses, ${\xi}$ isoform of aPKC was detected by RT-PCR. Taking together, we suggest that excitable $GABA_A$ receptor in sympathetic MPG neuron seemed to be regulated by aPKC, particular in ${\xi}$ isoform. The regulatory roles of PKC on excitatory $GABA_A$ receptors in sympathetic neurons of MPG may be an important factor to control the functional activity of various pelvic organs such as bowel movement, micturition and erection.

• Nutritional Sciences
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.13-19
• /
• 2001

This study was designed to investigate the effects of Coriandrum Sativum L. on lipid metabolism in rats with hypertriglyceridemia. Also, we compared the effects of the leaf, seed and root of Coriandrum Sativum L. on lipid metabolism in rats with hypertriglyceridemia. Hypertriglyceridemia was induced in 32 male Sprague-Dawley rats weighting 108$\pm$13 g through the feeding of high-fat diets containing 20% fat and 5% cellulose for ten days. The rats were divided into four groups as follows : control (C), leaf (L), seed (S) and root (R) groups. For the five-week experimental period, the C group was fed the above diet an the L, S and R groups were fed Coriandrum Sativum L. diets containing 5% dry leaf, seed and root of Coriandrum Sativum L., respectively. Intake of diet and weight gain were significantly lower in the C group than in the L, S and R groups. But there was no significant difference among the L, S and R groups. Because of weight differences among the groups, all obtained data was adjusted to weight. The level of plasma total cholesterol was not significantly different among the four groups. But after adjusting to weight differences, the level of plasma triglyceride was significantly higher in the C groups than in the L and S groups. These results suggest that dietary Coriandrum Sativum L. may increase appetite and have an inhibitory effect on the lipid metabolism of rats with hypertriglyceridemia. Also, those effects may be partly different (leaf, root and seed) from those of Coriandrum Sativum L.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.19 no.8
• /
• pp.774-780
• /
• 2009

Flammulina velutipes is a popular edible basidiomycete mushroom found in East Asia and is commonly known as winter mushroom. Mushroom development showing dramatic morphological changes by different environmental factors is scientifically and commercially interesting. To create a genetic database and isolate genes regulated during mushroom development, cDNA libraries were constructed from three developmental stages of mycelium, primordium, and fruit body in F. velutipes. We generated a total of 5,431 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from randomly selected clones from the three cDNA libraries. Of these, 3,332 different unique genes (unigenes) were consistent with 2,442 (73%) singlets and 890 (27%) contigs. This corresponds to a redundancy of 39%. Using a homology search in the gene ontology database, the EST unigenes were classified into the three categories of molecular function (28%), biological process (29%), and cellular component (6%). Comparative analysis found great variations in the unigene expression pattern among the three different unigene sets generated from the cDNA libraries of mycelium, primordium, and fruit body. The 19-34% of total unigenes were unique to each unigene set and only 3% were shared among all three unigene sets. The unique and common representation in F. velutipes unigenes from the three different cDNA libraries suggests great differential gene expression profiles during the different developmental stages of F. velutipes mushroom.

• Journal of Digital Contents Society
• /
• v.10 no.4
• /
• pp.579-585
• /
• 2009

In [9], Tyrtshnikov proposed a preconditioned approach to derive a general solution from a Toeplitz linear system. Furthermore, the process of selecting a preconditioner matrix from symmetric Toeplitz matrix, which has been used in previous studies, is introduced. This research introduces a new method for finding the preconditioner in a Toeplitz system. Also, through analyzing these preconditioners, it is derived that eigenvalues of a symmetric Toeplitz are very close to eigenvalues of a new preconditioner for T. It is shown that if the spectrum of the preconditioned system $C_0^{-1}T$ is clustered around 1, then the convergence rate of the preconditioned system is superlinear. From these results, it is determined to get the superliner at the convergence rate by our good preconditioner $C_0$. Moreover, an advantage is driven by increasing various applications i. e. image processing, signal processing, etc. in this study from the proposed preconditioners for Toeplitz matrices. Another characteristic, which this research holds, is that the preconditioner retains the properties of the Toeplitz matrix.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
• /
• v.13 no.5
• /
• pp.778-789
• /
• 2011

The natural dyeing of silk fabrics with guava leaf extract was investigated. Mixed components of flavonoid and tannin seem to be the components of guava leaf extract. The temperature and time for dyeing of silk fabrics with guava leaf extract were $40^{\circ}C$ and $90^{\circ}C$ for eighty minutes, respectively. The dyeing equilibrium was shown at the fourth time of repeated dyeing. The highest K/S value was recorded at pH 3. Fe-mordanted fabrics showed the highest K/S value. High K/S values were shown in the post-mordanting of dyed fabrics at $40^{\circ}C$ and the pre-mordanting of dyed fabrics at $90^{\circ}C$. After repeated dyeing and mordanting, various color change occurred with mordant treatment. Surface colors were changed to YR color in alkaline water extract and to Y color in acidic water and ethanol extract, respectively. The washing fastness was level 3-4 for Sn-mordanted fabrics and level 4 for Fe-mordanted fabrics, and the dry cleaning fastness also showed very excellent result with level 4-5. The rubbing fastness was satisfactory with level 3-4. The light fastness was above level 4 only when Fe-mordanting was conducted, and the rest of dyed fabrics was not fast enough. In the antibacterial activity, the powder of guva leaf extract showed 99.9% of high antibacterial activity and Staphylococcus aureus showed 99.6% in dyed fabric. All dyed fabrics showed higher deodorization and UV protection rate than control fabric.

• Toxicological Research
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.179-185
• /
• 2012

Paecilomyces sinclairiis (PS) is known as a functional food or human health supplement. However concerns have been raised about its kidney toxicity. This study was performed to investigate the kidney toxicity of PS by 13 week-oral administration to rats. Blood urea nitrogen (BUN), serum creatinine, and kidney damage biomarkers including beta-2-microglobulin (${\beta}2m$), glutathione S-transferase alpha (GST-${\alpha}$), kidney injury molecule 1 (KIM-1), tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase 1 (TIMP-1), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), calbindin, clusterin, cystatin C, neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) and osteopontin were measured during or after the treatment of PS. BUN, creatinine and kidney damage biomarkers in serum were not changed by PS. However, kidney cell karyomegaly and tubular hypertrophy were observed dose-dependently with higher severity in males. KIM-1, TIMP-1 and osteopontin in kidney and urine were increased dose dependently in male or at the highest dose in female rats. Increased urinary osteopontin by PS was not recovered at 2 weeks of post-exposure in both genders. Cystatin C in kidney was decreased at all treatment groups but inversely increased in urine. The changes in kidney damage biomarkers were more remarkable in male than female rats. These data indicate that the PS may provoke renal cell damage and glomerular filtration dysfunction in rats with histopathological lesions and change of kidney damage biomarkers in kidney or urine. Kidney and urinary KIM-1 and cystatin C were the most marked indicators, while kidney weight, BUN and creatinine and kidney damage biomarkers in serum were not influenced.

• Toxicological Research
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.271-278
• /
• 2007

Several recent studies demonstrated the potential of bioengineering using stem cells in regenerative medicine. Adult mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have the pluripotency to differentiate into cells of mesodermal origin, i.e., bone, cartilage, adipose, and muscle cells; they, therefore, have many potential clinical applications. On the other hand, stem cells possess a self-renewal capability similar to cancer cells. For safety evaluation of MSCs, in this study, we tested tumorigenecity of canine adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells (cAD-MSCs) using Balb/c-nu mice. In this study, there were no changes in mortality, clinical signs, body weights and biochemical parameters of all animals treated. In addition, there were no significant changes between control and treated groups in autopsy findings. These results indicate that cAD-MSC has no tumorigenic potential under the condition in this study.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2010.08a
• /
• pp.311-312
• /
• 2010

The fabricated photovoltaic cells based on PIN heterojunctions, in this study, have a structure of ITO/poly(3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate)(PEDOT:PSS)/donor/donor:C60(10nm)/C60(35nm)/2, 9-dimethyl-4, 7-diphenyl-1, 10-phenanthroline(8nm)/Al(100nm). The thicknesses of an active layer(donor:C60), an electron transport layer(C60), and hole/exciton blocking layer(BCP) were fixed in the organic photovoltaic cells. We investigated the performance characteristics of the PIN organic photovoltaic cells with copper phthalocyanine(CuPc), tetracene and pentacene as a hole transport layer. Discussion on the photovoltaic cells with CuPc, tetracene and pentacene as a hole transport layer is focussed on the dependency of the power conversion efficiency on the deposition rate and thickness of hole transport layer. The device performance characteristics are elucidated from open-circuit-voltage(Voc), short-circuit-current(Jsc), fill factor(FF), and power conversion efficiency($\eta$). As the deposition rate of donor is reduced, the power conversion efficiency is enhanced by increased short-circuit-current(Jsc). The CuPc-based PIN photovoltaic cell has the limited dependency of power conversion efficiency on the thickness of hole transport layer because of relatively short exciton diffusion length. The photovoltaic cell using tetracene as a hole transport layer, which has relatively long diffusion length, has low efficiency. The maximum power conversion efficiencies of CuPc, tetracene, and pentacene-based photovoltaic cells with optimized deposition rate and thickness of hole transport layer have been achieved to 1.63%, 1.33% and 2.15%, respectively. The photovoltaic cell using pentacene as a hole transport layer showed the highest efficiency because of dramatically enhanced Jsc due to long diffusion length and strong thickness dependence.

• Journal of Conservation Science
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.7-20
• /
• 2012

This study was to identify the material characteristics and provenance of the Joseon (the 15th to 17th century) potteries from Ssangyongdong Yongam site in Cheonan. The pottery samples of the kilns and the workshops (habitation) from the study area have grey or red color with similar matrix but various shapes and different hardness, according to firing temperature. All of the pottery and the workshop soils were very similar patterns with characteristics of occurrences, mineralogy and geochemical evolution trend. But soils from around the site does not correspond with them. So the workshop soil that the fine clay is raw clay for making pottery in Yongam site. Firing temperature of soft-type potteries were presumed to be formed around $900^{\circ}C$ based on phase transition of clay minerals and mica. Hard-type pottery, mullite was detected and plagioclase was not detected by X-ray diffraction analysis, which means that potteries had experienced firing between 1,000 to $1,100^{\circ}C$.