• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.15 no.11
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• pp.741-744
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• 2005

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a very promising deposition technique for ZnO thin films. However, there have been very few reports on ZnO grown by ALD. Effects of substrate temperature in both ALD and post annealing on the microstructure and PL properties of ZnO thin films were investigated using X-ray diffraction, photoluminescence, and scanning electron microscopy. The temperature window of ALD is found to be between $130-180^{\circ}C$. The growth rate of ZnO thin film increases as the substrate temperature increases in the temperature range except the temperature window. The crystal quality depends most strongly on the substrate temperature among all the growth parameters of ALD. The crystallinity of the film is improved by increasing the growth thine per ALD cycle or doing post-annealing treatment. The grain size of the film tends to increase and the grain shape tends to change from a worm-like longish shape to a round one as the annealing temperature increases from $600^{\circ}C\;to\;1,000^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Korean Orthopaedic Association
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.372-376
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• 2019

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) caused by pseudogout is an uncommon disease. The authors report a 65-year-old female who complained of sudden pain and neurological symptoms on her left hand. Surgical decompression was performed. In the histologic study, a calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate crystal deposit was confirmed. Her pain and neurological symptoms were relieved. Because CTS caused by pseudogout is rare, it is difficult to differentiate it from other diseases. This paper reports an uncommon case of CTS caused by pseudogout.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.252-265
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• 2022

Kocuria salsicia can survive in extreme environments and cause infections, including catheter-related bacteremia, in humans. Here, we investigated and evaluated the characteristics of nine K. salsicia strains (KS1-KS9) isolated from cheese brine from a farmstead cheese-manufacturing plant in Korea from June to December, 2020. Staphylococcus aureus American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) 29213 was used as a positive control in the growth curve analysis and biofilm-formation assays. All K. salsicia isolates showed growth at 15% salt concentration and temperatures of 15℃, 25℃, 30℃, 37℃, and 42℃. KS6 and KS8 showed growth at 5℃, suggesting that they are potential psychrotrophs. In the biofilm-formation analysis via crystal violet staining, KS6 exhibited the highest biofilm-forming ability at various temperatures and media [phosphate buffered saline, nutrient broth (NB), and NB containing 15% sodium chloride]. At 25℃ and 30℃, KS3, KS6, and KS8 showed higher biofilm-forming ability than S. aureus ATCC 29213. The antimicrobial resistance of the isolates was evaluated using the VITEK^® 2 system; most isolates were resistant to marbofloxacin and nitrofurantoin (both 9/9, 100%), followed by enrofloxacin (7/9, 77.8%). Five of the nine isolates (5/9, 55.6%) showed multidrug resistance. Our study reports the abilities of K. salsicia to grow in the presence of high salt concentrations and at relatively low temperatures, along with its multidrug resistance and tendency to form biofilms.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.40 no.10
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• pp.925-930
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• 2003

The dielectric polarizability-related factors contributing to the $\tau$$_{\varepsilon}$ have been analysed in terms of dielectric permittivity $\varepsilon$, Tolerance Factor (TF), and octahedron tilt angles in (1-x)CaTi $O_3$-x[A(B', B″) $O_3$] (A=Ca, La, Li, B'=Al, Fe, Mg, B″=Nb, Ta) and (S $r_{0.2}$C $a_{0.8}$)( $Ti_{1-x}$ Z $r_{x}$) $O_3$. All the compounds have the orthorhombic Pbnm structure except the end members A(B', B″) $O_3$ and the solid solutions of x$\geq$0.8. The additional dipole field effect is suggested as a dominant factor contributing to $\tau$$_{\varepsilon}$ in CaTi $O_3$-based ceramics having relatively large $\varepsilon$, which has not been generally considered in the previous reports dealing with the $\tau$$_{\varepsilon}$. This study has been focussed on delineating the dipole field effect on the $\tau$$_{\varepsilon}$ in comparison to the octahedron tilt effect in CaTi $O_3$-based ceramics.cs..cs.

• BMB Reports
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• v.42 no.8
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• pp.511-515
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• 2009

Downstream of Bid (DOBI) known as Pus10, has been identified as a modulator of TRAIL-induced cell death using RNAi library screening. The crystal structure of DOBI has revealed that it is a crescent-shaped protein containing the pseudouridine synthase catalytic domain and a THUMP-containing domain. Here, we demonstrated that DOBI is expressed in various tissues such as heart and lung, and is also expressed in various tumor cells such as HeLa and A549. Although ectopic expression of DOBI does not promote TRAIL death signaling in HeLa cells, knock-down of DOBI expression using shRNA inhibited TRAIL death signaling. DOBI is cleaved into a 54 kD cleaved DOBI during cell death, and the recombinant DOBI protein can be directly cleaved by caspases-3, or -8 in vitro. Together, these data suggest that the cleaved DOBI may acquire a new function, possibly by cooperating with tBid in the mitochondrial event of cell death caused by TRAIL.

• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2016

This study reports the results about the petrography of volcanic rocks in Namoo island and Namhyeongje island, off the southern coast of Busan City. The rocks in the Namhyeongje island composed of dacitic crystal-vitric welded tuff, showing phenocrysts of plagioclase, rock fragment with flow structure of elongated and flattened pumice fragments. In thin section it shows pyroclastic texture. The volcanic rocks in Namoo island are mainly dark grey-bluish dacite with phenocrysts of plagioclase and gradually changed to pink-greyish rhyodacite with auto-brecciated. In the northeastern part of the island, the volcanic rocks occurred as aggromerate with a poorly sorted mixture of blocks, lappili and ash and felsic feeder dike intrude the aggromerate. Major element composition of the volcanic rocks in Namhyeongje island and Namoo island are $SiO_2$ 73.6~74.4 wt.% and 65.5~68.3 wt.%, respectively. The volcanic rocks in these island are felsic volcanic rocks.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.379-385
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• 2019

Osteoporosis is a disease that increases the risk of fractures by inducing a decrease in bone strength by the changes in hormones and a decrease in minerals. Recent reports have indicated that the long-term administration of Adefovir dipivoxil (ADV), which is used as a treatment for the hepatitis virus and AIDS, may have osteoporotic side effects. On the other hand, there are few studies on the cytopathic correlation of these causes. In this study, the biological relevance of ADV was evaluated using osteoblast hFOB1.19 and vascular endothelial cell HUVEC. First, the cells were treated with ADV at different concentrations, and DAPI and crystal violet staining were performed for morphological analysis of each cell and nucleus. A CCK-8 assay, real-time PCR, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) staining, and activity was performed to evaluate the drug effects on cell proliferation, gene expression, and osteoblast differentiation. As a result, ADV induced cell hypertrophy in hFOB1.19 cells and HUVEC cells. Furthermore, ADV not only inhibited cell proliferation and TGF-${\beta}$ expression but was also involved in osteoblast differentiation. Overall, these results provide basic data to help better understand the mechanism of ADV-induced osteoporosis and its clinical implications.

• BMB Reports
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.690-696
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• 2007

There are conflicting views for the polymerization process of human UDP-glucose dehydrogenase (UGDH) and no clear evidence has been reported yet. Based on crystal coordinates for Streptococcus pyogenes UGDH, we made double mutant A222Q/S233G. The double mutagenesis had no effects on expression, stability, and secondary structure. Interestingly, A222Q/S233G was a dimeric form and showed an UGDH activity, although it showed increased $K_m$ values for substrates. These results suggest that Ala222 and Ser233 play an important role in maintaining the hexameric structure and the reduced binding affinities for substrates are attributable to its altered subunit communication although quaternary structure may not be critical for catalysis.

• BMB Reports
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• v.49 no.12
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• pp.681-686
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• 2016

Fructose 1,6-bisphosphate aldolase (FBA) is important for both glycolysis and gluconeogenesis in life. Class II (zinc dependent) FBA is an attractive target for the development of antibiotics against protozoa, bacteria, and fungi, and is also widely used to produce various high-value stereoisomers in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry. In this study, the crystal structures of class II Escherichia coli FBA (EcFBA) were determined from four different crystals, with resolutions between $1.8{\AA}$ and $2.0{\AA}$. Native EcFBA structures showed two separate sites of Zn1 (interior position) and Zn2 (active site surface position) for $Zn^{2+}$ ion. Citrate and TRIS bound EcFBA structures showed $Zn^{2+}$ position exclusively at Zn2. Crystallographic snapshots of EcFBA structures with and without ligand binding proposed the rationale of metal shift at the active site, which might be a hidden mechanism to keep the trace metal cofactor $Zn^{2+}$ within EcFBA without losing it.

• BMB Reports
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.323-328
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• 2011

We screened four B. thuringiensis strains whose parasporal inclusions contained the S-layer protein (SLP), and cloned two slp genes from each strain. Phylogenetic analysis indicated these SLPs could be divided into two groups, SLP1s and SLP2s. To confirm whether SLPs were present in the S-layer or as a parasporal inclusion, strains CTC and BMB1152 were chosen for further study. Western blots with isolated S-layer proteins from strains CTC and BMB1152 in the vegetative phase showed that SLP1s and SLP2s were constituents of the S-layer. Immunofluorescence utilizing spore-inclusion mixtures of strains CTC and BMB1152 in the sporulation phase showed that SLP1s and SLP2s were also constituents of parasporal inclusions. When heterogeneously expressed in the crystal negative strain BMB171, four SLPs from strains CTC and BMB1152 could also form parasporal inclusions. This temporal and spatial expression is not an occasional phenomenon but ubiquitous in B. thuringiensis strains.