• Title/Summary/Keyword: Critical Science Research

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Cytochalasin B Modulates Macrophage-Mediated Inflammatory Responses

  • Kim, Mi-Yeon;Kim, Jong-Hoon;Cho, Jae Youl
    • Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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    • v.22 no.4
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    • pp.295-300
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    • 2014
  • The actin cytoskeleton plays an important role in macrophage-mediated inflammatory responses by modulating the activation of Src and subsequently inducing nuclear factor (NF)-${\kappa}B$ translocation. In spite of its critical functions, few papers have examined how the actin cytoskeleton can be regulated by the activation of toll-like receptor (TLR). Therefore, in this study, we further characterized the biological value of the actin cytoskeleton in the functional activation of macrophages using an actin cytoskeleton disruptor, cytochalasin B (Cyto B), and explored the actin cytoskeleton's involvement in morphological changes, cellular attachment, and signaling events. Cyto B strongly suppressed the TLR4-mediated mRNA expression of inflammatory genes such as cyclooxygenase (COX)-2, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-${\alpha}$, and inducible nitric oxide (iNOS), without altering cell viability. This compound also strongly suppressed the morphological changes induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a TLR4 ligand. Cyto B also remarkably suppressed NO production under non-adherent conditions but not in an adherent environment. Cyto B did not block the co-localization between surface glycoprotein myeloid differentiation protein-2 (MD2), a LPS signaling glycoprotein, and the actin cytoskeleton under LPS conditions. Interestingly, Cyto B and PP2, a Src inhibitor, enhanced the phagocytic uptake of fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-dextran. Finally, it was found that Cyto B blocked the phosphorylation of vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein (VASP) at 1 min and the phosphorylation of heat shock protein 27 (HSP27) at 5 min. Therefore, our data suggest that the actin cytoskeleton may be one of the key components involved in the control of TLR4-mediated inflammatory responses in macrophages.

Simulation of Elastic Wave Propagation in Anisotropic Materials (이방성 재료에서의 탄성파 전파 과정에 대한 시뮬레이션)

  • Kim, Young-H.;Lee, Seung-S.
    • Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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    • v.17 no.4
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    • pp.227-236
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    • 1997
  • Quantitative analysis and imaging of elastic wave propagation are very important for the materials evaluation as well as flaw detection. The elastic wave propagation in an anisotropic media is more complex, and analysis and imaging become essential for flaw detection and materials evaluation. In the anisotropic media, the wave velocity is dependent on the propagation direction. In addition, the direction of group velocity is different from that of phase velocity, the direction of energy flow is not same as the propagation direction of wavefront (beam skewing effect). Especially, this effect becomes critical for the large anisotropic media such as fiber composite materials, and the results using elastic waves for those materials have to be analyzed considering the wave propagation mechanism. Since the analytical approach for the wave propagation in the anisotropic materials is limited, the numerical analysis such as finite difference method (FDM) have been used for these case. Therefore, 2-dimensional FDM program for the elastic wave propagation is developed, and wave propagation in anisotropic media are simulated.

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Recognition and Consumption of Meal Alone and Processed Food according to Major of College Students (대학생의 혼자식사와 가공식품에 대한 인식 및 섭취 실태 조사)

  • Choi, Byung Bum
    • The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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    • v.29 no.6
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    • pp.911-922
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    • 2016
  • This study was conducted to assess the recognition and consumption of meal alone and processed food according to major of college students in Seoul Metropolitan area and Chungcheong province, Republic of Korea. To accomplish this, a survey was conducted to investigate 353 college students (171 food & nutrition majors and 182 non-majors) regarding their general characteristics, dietary behaviors, meal alone issues, and the purchase and consumption of processed food. Most major and non-major students skipped breakfast. The main reason for skipping was not having time. Majors and non-majors put great importance on their lunch and evening meal, respectively. Nutrition information routes for majors were 'college class' (62.5%) and 'TV radio' (17.5%). However, the routes for non-majors to obtain nutrition information were 'internet smart phones' (41.1%) and 'TV radio' (28.3%). These results suggest the need to provide correct information concerning nutrition to college students. Most major and non-major students tend to have 0 to 2 times of meal alone per week. The main reason for meal alone was schedule unsuitable for eating with family or friends. The most critical factors for majors and non-majors when they chose menu to have meal alone were personal taste and money, respectively. The primary consideration for choosing processed food was price and the main purchase route was convenience store. The main reason for consuming processed food was easy-to-cook. Of processed foods, the most favored ones were noodles and fish products. Meal alone frequency was positively correlated with age (p<0.05), grade (p<0.05) and monthly allowance (p<0.05). Preference and consumption frequency of processed food were negatively correlated with concern about nutrition (p<0.05) and meal frequency (p<0.05), respectively. Based on these results, greater efforts should be made to provide meaningful information regarding programs for nutrition education to improve their dietary habits. Research and development of processed food specifically for college students eating alone should be increased.

An innovative approach for the numerical simulation of oil cooling systems

  • Carozza, A.
    • Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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    • v.2 no.2
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    • pp.169-182
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    • 2015
  • Aeronautics engine cooling is one of the biggest problems that engineers have tried to solve since the beginning of human flight. Systems like radiators should solve this purpose and they have been studied extensively and various solutions have been found to aid the heat dissipation in the engine zone. Special interest has been given to air coolers in order to guide the air flow on engine and lower the high temperatures achieved by the engine in flow conditions. The aircraft companies need faster and faster tools to design their solutions so the development of tools that allow to quickly assess the effectiveness of an cooling system is appreciated. This paper tries to develop a methodology capable of providing such support to companies by means of some application examples. In this work the development of a new methodology for the analysis and the design of oil cooling systems for aerospace applications is presented. The aim is to speed up the simulation of the oil cooling devices in different operative conditions in order to establish the effectiveness and the critical aspects of these devices. Steady turbulent flow simulations are carried out considering the air as ideal-gas with a constant-averaged specific heat. The heat exchanger is simulated using porous media models. The numerical model is first tested on Piaggio P180 considering the pressure losses and temperature increases within the heat exchanger in the several operative data available for this device. In particular, thermal power transferred to cooling air is assumed equal to that nominal of real heat exchanger and the pressure losses are reproduced setting the viscous and internal resistance coefficients of the porous media numerical model. To account for turbulence, the k-${\omega}$ SST model is considered with Low- Re correction enabled. Some applications are then shown for this methodology while final results are shown in terms of pressure, temperature contours and streamlines.

Design of an USB Security Framework for Double Use Detection (이중사용 방지를 위한 USB 보안 프레임워크의 설계)

  • Jeong, Yoon-Su;Lee, Sang-Ho
    • Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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    • v.16 no.4
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    • pp.93-99
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    • 2011
  • Recently, the development of internet technology makes user's personal data used by being saved in USB. But there is a critical issue that personal data can be exposed with malicious purpose because that personal data doesn't need to be certificate to use. This paper proposes USB security framework to prevent a duplicate use of personal data for protecting the data which in USB. The proposed USB security framework performs certification process of user with additional 4bite of user's identification data and usage choice of USB security token before certification data when the framework uses USB security product in different network. It makes communication overhead and service delay increased. As a result of the experiment, packet certification delay time is more increased by average 7.6% in the proposed USB security framework than simple USB driver and USB Token, and procedure rate of certification server on the number of USB is also increased by average 9.8%.

A case study on the development and application of flipped learning based clinical dental hygiene curriculum (플립러닝 기반의 임상치위생학 교육과정 개발 및 적용 사례연구)

  • Jeong, Su-Ra;Kim, Mi-Sun;Kim, Eun-Jeong;Choi, Yong-Keum
    • Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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    • v.20 no.2
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    • pp.155-166
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    • 2020
  • Objectives: The purpose of this study is to prove, through the design and operation of a teaching learning model for clinical dental hygiene and practice III, the effectiveness of the flipped learning PARTNER model. Methods: A professional council was formed, composed of three professors of dental hygiene and one professor of education; each member was an expert with a Ph.D. From December 2018 to February 2019. Results: Learning preferences for the clinical learning hygiene curriculum based on flip learning showed that it had higher accessibility than traditional teaching methods. Subjects' motivation to learn was improved through flip learning, their critical thinking ability was improved through active discussion and flip team discussion, and their self-directed learning ability was also improved. Participation increased through flipped learning, and subjects' skill abilities showed their highest score by improving their performance through the whole lecture. A high satisfaction of 4.54 out of 5 points was achieved. Conclusions: It was confirmed that the development and operation of a flipped learning-based clinical hygiene curriculum can provide an effective and satisfactory learning process.

Evaluating Chronic Care of Public Health Centers in a Metropolitan City (만성질환 관리 평가도구를 이용한 보건소 만성질환 관리수준 평가)

  • Choi, Yong-Jun;Shin, Dong-Soo;Kang, Minah;Bae, Sang-Soo;Kim, Jaiyong
    • Health Policy and Management
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    • v.24 no.4
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    • pp.312-321
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    • 2014
  • Background: To evaluate the quality of chronic care provided by public health centers located in a South Korean metropolitan city using a modified Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (ACIC). Methods: We conducted self-evaluation surveys and collected data using a modified ACIC from twenty five public health centers. Cultural validity of the original ACIC was examined by the public health and nursing science experts. Based on expert reviews, cognitive interviews, pre-test results, five items of the original ACIC that were not relevant were deleted. The response scale was changed from twelve-point Likert scale to Guttman scale but its scoring system was maintained. Results: Eighty eight percent of public health centers in this study reported that their overall quality of chronic care was at a limited or basic level. About 68% of the centers reported that the organization was as reasonably good or fully developed to provide chronic care. On the other hand, 96% of the public health centers reported that the clinical information system was at a very limited or basic support level. The decision support, the integration of Chronic Care Model components, the delivery system design, the community linkages, and the self-management support were evaluated as limited or basic level of support by more than half of the public health centers, respectively. Conclusion: In a metropolitan area of South Korea, quality of chronic care in public health centers was not found to reach acceptable levels of services. It is critical to enhance the quality of chronic care in public health centers.

Studies on avian infectious bronchitis: II. Standardization of an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for antibody measurement (닭 전염성 기관지염에 관한 연구: II. 간접 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA)에 의한 항체가 측정)

  • Chang, Chong-ho;Kim, Sun-joong
    • Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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    • v.29 no.4
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    • pp.503-515
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    • 1989
  • Critical parameters affecting sensitivity and specificity of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) for detection of antibodies to avian infections bronchitis virus(IBV) were standardized. By adopting the optimized conditions an equation calculating ELISA antibody titers from the observations at single serum dilution was formulated. The purified antigen of IBV Mass-41 strain was dispensed into polystyrene microplate wells at a concentration of 300ng per well($100{\mu}l$) and the plates were coated by completey drying at $37^{\circ}C$. Diluted chicken serum and horseradish peroxidase conjugated goat anti-chicken IgG were added in order in $100{\mu}l$ volumes per well and allowed to react for 30 minutes each at room temperature. Just before use and after each reaction the plates were washed three times with distilled water. Finally o-phenylenediamine solution was added as an enzyme substrate. After incubation for another 15 minutes at room temperature absorbances were read at 492nm. Hyperimmune serum against Mass-41 strain was used as internal reference positive(IRP) serum. After repeated titration of IRP and negative serum, a constant titer of IRP was determined. Serum titrations were carried out for various sample sera together with IRP and negative sera and the observed titers of sample sera were corrected by reflecting the ratio between observed and constant titers of IRP serum. These corrected titers of the sample sera were plotted against sample/positive(S/P) OD ratios. All the OD's measured in the serum titrations were also corrected by substracting negative serum OD. The following equation was formulated from the above data; $Log_{10}$ ELISA titer=$5.568({\log}_{10}S/P)+4.161$ Thus it was possible to calculate ELISA titer by measuring absorbance at 1/400 single serum dilution. Titer measured by cross ELISA tests employing Mass-41 strain and three local IBV isolates were similar. These results suggest that the ELISA tests standardized in this study can be used for evaluating not only vaccinal immunity but also for infection status against fields IBV's.

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Preparation and characterization of a thermal responsive of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)/chitosan/gelatin hydrogels

  • Baghaei, Shaghayegh;Khorasani, Mohammad T.
    • Biomaterials and Biomechanics in Bioengineering
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    • v.1 no.2
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    • pp.105-116
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    • 2014
  • Synthesis of interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) of chitosan-gelatin (Cs-Ge) (as a primary network) and N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) monomer (as the secondary network) was carried out with different ratio. Its structure was characterized by FT-IR, which indicated that the IPN was formed. The memberanes were studied by swelling, weight loss with time. The interior morphology of the IPN hydrogels was revealed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM); the IPN hydrogels showed a interpenetrated network of NIPAAm/chitosan has layers with more minute stoma and canals compared to interpenetrated network of NIPAAm/gelatin. Lower critical solution temperature (LCST), equilibrium swelling ratio (ESR) and deswelling kinetics were measured. The DSC results noticed that LCST of IPN hydrogels with different ratio of Cs/Ge/PNIPAAm are around $33{\pm}2^{\circ}C$. The ESR obtained results showed that with a ratio of Cs/Ge/NIPAAm: 1/1/6, the swelling ratio increased drastically from room temperature to $36^{\circ}C$ but with a ratio of Cs/Ge/PNIPAAm: 1/3/6, decrease significantly at the same condition. Therefore the hydrogels have been changed from a hydrophilic structure to a hydrophobic structure. Furthermore with an increase in temperature from room to the LCST, the ESR of IPN with higher concentration of (PNIPAAm) and (Ge) decreases but de-swelling kinetics of them are faster. Due to the suitable and different kinetics of de-swelling and the equilibrium swelling ratio (ESR) in various proportions, and because of the morphology inside the mass which confirms other tests, these hydrogels are very appropriate as a smart thermosensitive hydrogels with rapid response.

A model to develop the porosity of concrete as important mechanical property

  • Alyousef, Rayed;Alabduljabbar, Hisham;Mohamed, Abdeliazim Mustafa;Alaskar, Abdulaziz;Jermsittiparsert, Kittisak;Ho, Lanh Si
    • Smart Structures and Systems
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    • v.26 no.2
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    • pp.147-156
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    • 2020
  • This numerical study demonstrates the porosity conditions and the intensity of the interactions with the aggressive agents. It is established that the density as well as the elastic modulus are correlated to ultrasonic velocity The following investigation assessed the effects of cement grade and porosity on tensile strength, flexural and compressive of Ultra High Performance Concrete (UHPC) as a numerical model in PLAXIS 2d Software. Initially, the existing strength-porosity equations were investigated. Furthermore, comparisons of the proposed equations with the existing models suggested the high accuracy of the proposed equations in predicting, cement grade concrete strength. The outcome obtained showed a ductile failure when un-corroded reinforced concrete demonstrates several bending-induced cracks transfer to the steel reinforcement. Moreover, the outcome also showed a brittle failure when wider but fewer transverse cracks occurred under bending loads. Sustained loading as well as initial pre-cracked condition during the corrosion development have shown to have significant impact on the corrosion behavior of concrete properties. Moreover, greater porosity was generally associated with lower compressive, flexural, and tensile strength. Higher cement grade, on the other hand, resulted in lower reduction in concrete strength. This finding highlighted the critical role of cement strength grade in determining the mechanical properties of concrete.