• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.77-97
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• 1993

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.759-770
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• 2022

Background: Aerobic cellular respiration provides chemical energy, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), to maintain multiple cellular functions. Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) can deacetylate peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1 alpha (PGC-1α) to promote mitochondrial biosynthesis. Targeting energy metabolism is a potential strategy for the prevention and treatment of various diseases, such as cardiac and neurological disorders. Ginsenosides, one of the major bioactive constituents of Panax ginseng, have been extensively used due to their diverse beneficial effects on healthy subjects and patients with different diseases. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of total ginsenosides (GS) on energy metabolism remain unclear. Methods: In this study, oxygen consumption rate, ATP production, mitochondrial biosynthesis, glucose metabolism, and SIRT1-PGC-1α pathways in untreated and GS-treated different cells, fly, and mouse models were investigated. Results: GS pretreatment enhanced mitochondrial respiration capacity and ATP production in aerobic respiration-dominated cardiomyocytes and neurons, and promoted tricarboxylic acid metabolism in cardiomyocytes. Moreover, GS clearly enhanced NAD⁺-dependent SIRT1 activation to increase mitochondrial biosynthesis in cardiomyocytes and neurons, which was completely abrogated by nicotinamide. Importantly, ginsenoside monomers, such as Rg1, Re, Rf, Rb1, Rc, Rh1, Rb2, and Rb3, were found to activate SIRT1 and promote energy metabolism. Conclusion: This study may provide new insights into the extensive application of ginseng for cardiac and neurological protection in healthy subjects and patients.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.105-114
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• 2020

Background: Exploring the pharmacokinetic (PK) changes of various active components of single herbs and their combinations is necessary to elucidate the compatibility mechanism. However, the lack of chemical standards and low concentrations of multiple active ingredients in the biological matrix restrict PK studies. Methods: A putative multiple reaction monitoring strategy based on liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC-MS) was developed to extend the PK scopes of quantification without resorting to the use of chemical standards. First, the compounds studied, including components with available reference standard (ARS) and components lacking reference standard (LRS), were preclassified to several groups according to their chemical structures. Herb decoctions were then subjected to ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry analysis with appropriate collision energy (CE) in MS² mode. Finally, multiple reaction monitoring transitions transformed from MS² of ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry were used for ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry to obtain the mass responses of LRS components. LRS components quantification was further performed by developing an assistive group-dependent semiquantitative method. Results: The developed method was exemplified by the comparative PK process of single herbs Radix Ginseng (RG), Radix Polygala (RP), and their combinations (RG-RP). Significant changes in PK parameters were observed before and after combination. Conclusion: Results indicated that Traditional Chinese Medicine combinations can produce synergistic effects and diminish possible toxic effects, thereby reflecting the advantages of compatibility. The proposed strategy can solve the quantitative problem of LRS and extend the scopes of PK studies.

• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.3 no.5
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• pp.458-465
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• 2019

The thermal effect and the light output of a laser crystal under different pumping depths were reported., Based on the thermal model of a single-ended pumped Tm:YAP crystal, the thermal stress coupled model used Comsol to theoretically calculate the effect of changing the pump spot size and pump depth on crystal heat distribution and stress distribution. The experimental results showed that the laser output power first increased and then decreased with increasing pump spot size. As the depth of focus increased, the laser output power first increased and then decreased. The experimental results were consistent with the theoretical simulation results. The theory of pump spot radius and depth of focus in this paper provided an effective simulation method for mitigating thermal effects, and provided theoretical supports for laser crystals to obtain higher laser output power.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.500-509
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• 2016

Integrating spheres play a central role in the radiometric calibration of remote sensors. With the development of the wide field of view (FOV) remote sensors, aperture diameters of remote sensors are becoming larger and larger. To satisfy the radiometric calibration requirements of full FOV and full aperture, an 8000mm diameter large aperture integrating sphere uniform source with a variable exit port was designed and manufactured. This integrating sphere will be used for pre-launch test and radiometric calibration of remote satellites. In this paper, optical theories were used to design the output spectral radiance. The LightTools software based on ray-tracing simulation method was used to determine the best combination and distribution of inner light sources. A spectral experiment was made to verify the spectral radiance design. To reduce the influence of longtime power-on, a new characteristic measurement method was developed to obtain the radiation characteristic of the integrating sphere, which could greatly improve the measuring efficiency. This method could also be applied to measure other large aperture uniform sources. The obtained results indicate that the spatial uniformity is 98.35%, and the angular uniformity at center position is 98.78%.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.247-255
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• 2015

Poly(1,2-propylene glycol adipate) (PPA) was used as an environmentally friendly plasticizer in flexible poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC). Thermal, mechanical, and rheological properties of the PVC/PPA blends were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry, dynamic mechanical analysis, tensile test, scanning electron microscopy and small amplitude oscillatory shear rheometry. The results showed that PPA lowered the glass transition temperature of PVC. The introduction of PPA could decrease tensile strength and Young's modulus of the PVC/PPA blends; however, elongation-at-break was dramatically increased due to the plastic deformation. The plasticization effect of PPA was also manifested by the decrease of dynamic storage modulus and viscosity in the melt state of the blends. The results indicated that PPA had a good plasticizing effect on PVC.

• Journal of Information Processing Systems
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.1145-1157
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• 2020

A convolution neural networks (CNNs) has demonstrated outstanding performance compared to other algorithms in the field of face recognition. Regarding the over-fitting problem of CNN, researchers have proposed a residual network to ease the training for recognition accuracy improvement. In this study, a novel face recognition model based on game theory for call-over in the classroom was proposed. In the proposed scheme, an image with multiple faces was used as input, and the residual network identified each face with a confidence score to form a list of student identities. Face tracking of the same identity or low confidence were determined to be the optimisation objective, with the game participants set formed from the student identity list. Game theory optimises the authentication strategy according to the confidence value and identity set to improve recognition accuracy. We observed that there exists an optimal mapping relation between face and identity to avoid multiple faces associated with one identity in the proposed scheme and that the proposed game-based scheme can reduce the error rate, as compared to the existing schemes with deeper neural network.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.10
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• pp.1253-1261
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• 2022

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) infection causes dramatic harm to human health as well as to livestock development. As an important virulence factor, alpha-hemolysin (hla) is critical in the process of S. aureus infection. In this report, we found that bavachin, a natural flavonoid, not only efficiently inhibited the hemolytic activity of hla, but was also capable of inhibiting it on transcriptional and translational levels. Moreover, further data revealed that bavachin had no neutralizing activity on hla, which did not affect the formation of hla heptamers and exhibited no effects on the hla thermal stability. In vitro assays showed that bavachin was able to reduce the S. aureus-induced damage of A549 cells. Thus, bavachin repressed the lethality of pneumonia infection, lung bacterial load and lung tissue inflammation in mice, providing potent protection to mice models in vivo. Our results indicated that bavachin has the potential for development as a candidate hla inhibitor against S. aureus.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.714-725
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• 2023

Background: Our previous investigation indicated that the preparation of Panax ginseng Meyer (P. ginseng) inhibited melanogenesis. It comprised salicylic acid (SA), protocatechuic acid (PA), p-coumaric acid (p-CA), vanillic acid (VA), and caffeic acid (CA). In this investigation, the regulatory effects of P. ginseng phenolic acid monomers on melanin production were assessed. Methods: In vitro and in vivo impact of phenolic acid monomers were assessed. Results: SA, PA, p-CA and VA inhibited tyrosinase (TYR) to reduce melanin production, whereas CA had the opposite effects. SA, PA, p-CA and VA significantly downregulated the melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R), cycle AMP (cAMP), protein kinase A (PKA), cycle AMP-response element-binding protein (CREB), microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) pathway, reducing mRNA and protein levels of TYR, tyrosinase-related protein 1 (TYRP1), and TYRP2. Moreover, CA treatment enhanced the cAMP, PKA, and CREB pathways to promote MITF mRNA level and phosphorylation. It also alleviated MITF protein level in α-MSH-stimulated B16F10 cells, comparable to untreated B16F10, increasing the expression of phosphorylation glycogen synthase kinase 3β (p-GSK3β), β-catenin, p-ERK/ERK, and p-p38/p38. Furthermore, the GSK3β inhibitor promoted p-GSK3β and p-MITF expression, as observed in CA-treated cells. Moreover, p38 and ERK inhibitors inhibited CA-stimulated p-p38/p38, p-ERK/ERK, and p-MITF increase, which had negative binding energies with MC1R, as depicted by molecular docking. Conclusion: P. ginseng roots' phenolic acid monomers can safely inhibit melanin production by bidirectionally regulating melanin synthase transcription. Furthermore, they reduced MITF expression via MC1R/cAMP/PKA signaling pathway and enhanced MITF post-translational modification via Wnt/mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.338-344
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• 2015

Background: Ginseng (the roots of Panax ginseng Meyer) is a well-known traditional Oriental medicine and is now widely used as a health food. It contains several types of ginsenosides, which are considered the major active medicinal components of ginseng. It has recently been reported that the qualitative and quantitative properties of ginsenosides found in ginseng may differ, depending on cultivation regions, ages, species, and so on. Therefore, it is necessary to study these variations with respect to cultivation ages and regions. Methods: In this study, 3-6-yr-old roots of P. ginseng were collected from three different cultivation regions. The contents of five ginsenosides (Rb1, Rd, Rc, Re, and Rgl) were measured by rapid resolution liquid chromatography coupled with quadruple-time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The Kruskal-Wallis Rank sum test and multiple t test were used for comparative analysis of the data to evaluate the dynamic changes in the accumulation of these ginsenosides affected by cultivation regions and ages. Results: The content and composition of ginsenosides varied significantly among specimens collected from different cultivation regions and having different cultivation ages. For all samples, the content of Rg1 and Re ginsenosides increases with age and this rate of increase is different for each sample. The contents of Rb1, Rc, and Rd varied with cultivation ages in samples from different cultivation regions; especially, Rb1 from a 6-yr-old root showed approximately twofold variation among the samples from three cultivation regions. Furthermore, the content of Rb1 highly correlated with that of Rd (r = 0.89 across all locations and ages). Conclusion: In our study, only the contents of ginsenosides Rg1 and Re were affected by the root age. Ginsenosides Rb1, Rc, and Rd varied widely with ages in samples from different cultivation regions.