• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.211-217
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• 2004

The sol to gel transition of aqueous solution of block copolymers consisting of methoxy poly (ethylene glycol) (MPEG) and biodegradable polyesters such as $\varepsilon$-caprolactone and L-lactide was investigated as a function of temperature. MPEG-PCL was prepared by ring opening polymerization of $\varepsilon$-caprolactone in the presence of HClㆍEt$_2$O as monomer activator at room temperature. Also, MPEG-PLLA was prepared by ring opening polymerization of L-lactide in the presence of stannous octoate at 115$^{\circ}C$. The properties of block copolymers were investigated by $^1$H-NMR, IR, and GPC as well as the observation of thermo sensitive phase transition in aqueous solution. As the hydrophobic block length increased, the sol to gel transition temperature increased and curve of that steepen to lower concentration. To confirm the gel formation at body temperature, we observed the formation of gel in the mice body after injection of 20 wt% aqueous solution of each block copolymer. After surging, we investigated the gelation in mice. The results obtained in this study confirmed the feasibility as biomaterials of injectable implantation for controlled release of drug and protein delivery.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.46-51
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• 2006

Phosphorus accumulation in fertilized soils becomes serious problem for agriculture and the environment. In this investigation, we conducted a laboratory scale investigation to find the most desirable displacement methods of the adsorbed phosphate onto the soil particle surfaces. Soil samples which contained high amount of phosphate were collected at two different depths (0-10 cm and 10-20 cm) from four locations at the moderate highland located in Nonsan, Chungnam. To observe the mobilization of solid-phase phosphate, soil samples were equilibrated with oxalic acid solutions ranging from $10^{-5}$ to $10^{-1}cmol\;L^{-1}$ with the dilution factors of 1:1, 1:2.5, 1:5, 1:10, and 1:20. The mineralized P sharply increased as the concentration of oxalic acid was greater than $5{\times}10^{-4}cmol\;L^{-1}$ under dilution factors of 1:1, 1:2.5, and 1:5. The breaking concentration of oxalic acid was lowered to $10^{-4}cmol\;L^{-1}$ and $5{\times}10^{-5}cmol\;L^{-1}$ for dilution factors of 1:10 and 1:20, respectively. The curve fit obtained from the graph can be described by exponential growth when the dilution factors were 1:1, 1:2.5, and 1:5 while the sigmoidal shape for 1:10 and 1:20, showing the mineralization of P were significantly dependent on the dilution factor.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.1-4
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• 2006

Method of analyzing sodium alginate in foods was developed using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). HPLC conditions for sodium alginate were: column, MCI GEL $(8\;mm\;i.d{\times}300\;mm)$; mobile phase, deionized water; detector, refractive index detection (sensitivity = 16). Separation of sodium alginate was achieved within 15 min. Sodium alginate showed good linear relationship at 0.1-2.0% range. Correlation coefficient of calibration curve for sodium alginate exceeded 0.999, and detection limit was 0.005%. Recovery rate of sodium alginate in wheat flour dough was 106.67%. This method was successfully applied to analyses of cereals, saccharides, and ice cream, etc. Sodium alginate was detected in chocolate, noodles, and kelp at 0-44.8% range.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.137-142
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• 1986

The luminescence spectra of $Ru(bpy)_3^{2+}$ in poly(methacrylic acid) (PMA) solutions varied sensitively with pH. At pH < 5.5, the emission intensity increased with pH up to 4 times, while it decreased with pH beyond the pH. The enhanced emission intensity was accompanied by blue-shift of the emission maxima as much as 15 nm. The enhancement of emission intensity was attributed to the restricted rotational mobility of ligand of the cation bound to densely coiled PMA molecules at pH < 5.5. The sharp decrease in emission intensity with increasing pH near pH 5.6 was accounted for conformational transition of the polymer to more extended structure, which was also revealed in viscosity measurement. The enhancement of emission intensity became higher as NaCl concentration of the solution increased. The binding constant of $Ru(bpy)_3^{2+}$ with two carboxylate groups of PMA was calculated as $2{\times}10^5\;M^{-1}$ in 0.1 M NaCl at pH 5.2. The pH dependence of luminescence quenching rate of $Ru(bpy)_3^{2+}$ by $Cu^{++}$ also showed maximum near pH 5, and the rate was more than $10^3$ times higher than that in water, whereas the maximum enhancement of quenching rate (about 20 times) in poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) solution occurred at pH 4.5. On the other hand, the pH dependence for neutral water soluble nitrobenzene (NB) exhibited opposite trend to that of $Cu^{++}$. The quenching constant vs pH curve for $MV^{++}$ was composite of those for $Cu^{++}$ and NB. The anomalous high quenching rate for $Cu^{++}$ in PMA solution at pH < 5.5 was attributed to the binding of $Ru(bpy)_3^{2+}$ and $Cu^{++}$ to the same region of PMA, when it conforms densely coiled structure in the pH range. The observation of mininium quenching rate for NB near pH 5.5 indicated that the $Ru(bpy)_3^{2+}$ bound to the densely coiled PMA is not accessible by NB, which is in bulk water phase. The composite nature of the pH dependence of quenching rate for $MV^{++}$ in PMA solution was attributed to the smaller binding affinity of the cation to PMA, compared to that of $Cu^{++}$. The sharp, cooperative conformational transition with pH observed in PMA was not revealed in PAA. But, the pH dependence of quenching rates in this polymer reflected increased charge density and, thus, binding of cations to the polymer, and expansion of the polymer chain with pH.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.52-57
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• 2019

Method development and validation of decursin for the standardization of Angelica gigas Nakai as a functional ingredient and health food were accomplished. The quantitative determination method of decursin as a marker compound of aerial parts of Angelica gigas Nakai extract (AAGE) was optimized by HPLC analysis using a C18 column ($3{\times}150mm$, $3{\mu}m$) with 0.1% TFA in water and acetonitrile as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.5 mL/min and detection wavelength of 330 nm. The HPLC/PDA method was applied successfully to quantification of the marker compound in AAGE after validation of the method with linearity, accuracy, and precision. The method showed high linearity in the calibration curve at a coefficient of correlation ($R^2$) of 0.9994 and the limit of detection and limit of quantitation were $0.011{\mu}g/mL$ and $0.033{\mu}g/mL$, respectively. Relative standard deviation (RSD) values of data from intra- and inter-day precision were less than 1.10% and 1.13%, respectively. Recovery of decursin at 0.5, 1, 5 and $10{\mu}g/mL$ were 92.38 ~ 104.11%. These results suggest that the developed HPLC method is very useful for the determination of marker compound in AAGE to develop a health functional material.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.79 no.6
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• pp.340-347
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• 2018

Purpose: To evaluate value of image subtraction for identifying hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) capsule on gadoxetic acid-enhanced MR images. Materials and Methods: This study involved 108 patients at risk of HCC preoperatively examined using gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI with hepatic resection between May 2015 and February 2017. We evaluated qualities of subtraction images and presence of capsular appearance on portal venous or transitional phases conventional and subtraction images. We assessed effect of capsular appearance on subtraction images on HCC. Results: After excluding 1 patient who had treated by transarterial chemoembolization prior to surgery and 33 patients with unsatisfactory subtraction image qualities, 82 focal hepatic lesions (73 HCC, 5 non-HCC malignancies, and 4 benign) from 74 patients were analyzed. Regarding detection of capsules, sensitivity, accuracy, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) on subtraction images were significantly higher than those on conventional images (95.4%, 89.0%, and 0.80, respectively; p < 0.001), though specificities were same (64.7%). For diagnosis of HCC, sensitivity, accuracy, and AUC on subtraction images were significantly higher than on conventional images (82.2%, 79.3%, and 0.69, respectively; p = 0.011), though specificities were identical (55.6%). Conclusion: Portal venous or transitional phase gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI subtraction images could improve detection of HCC capsule.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.553-561
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• 2022

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a slowly progressing hematopoietic cell disorder. Sphingosine kinase 1 (SPHK1) plays established roles in tumor initiation, progression, and chemotherapy resistance in a wide range of cancers, including leukemia. However, small-molecule inhibitors targeting SPHK1 in CML still need to be developed. This study revealed the role of SPHK1 in CML and investigated the potential anti-leukemic activity of hirsuteine (HST), an indole alkaloid obtained from the oriental plant Uncaria rhynchophylla, in CML cells. These results suggest that SPHK1 is highly expressed in CML cells and that overexpression of SPHK1 represents poor clinical outcomes in CML patients. HST exposure led to G2/M phase arrest, cellular apoptosis, and downregulation of Cyclin B1 and CDC2 and cleavage of Caspase 3 and PARP in CML cells. HST shifted sphingolipid rheostat from sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) towards the ceramide coupled with a marked inhibition of SPHK1. Mechanistically, HST significantly blocked SPHK1/S1P/S1PR1 and BCR-ABL/PI3K/Akt pathways. In addition, HST can be docked with residues of SPHK1 and shifts the SPHK1 melting curve, indicating the potential protein-ligand interactions between SPHK1 and HST in both CML cells. SPHK1 overexpression impaired apoptosis and proliferation of CML cells induced by HST alone. These results suggest that HST, which may serve as a novel and specific SPHK1 inhibitor, exerts anti-leukemic activity by inhibiting the SPHK1/S1P/S1PR1 and BCR-ABL/PI3K/Akt pathways in CML cells, thus conferring HST as a promising anti-leukemic drug for CML therapy in the future.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.92-102
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• 2022

Various numerical analysis models can be used to evaluate the behavior characteristics of tunnel facilities which are representative underground structures. In general, the Mohr-Coulomb model, which is most often used for numerical analysis, is an elastic-perfect plastic behavior model. And the deformation characteristics are the same during the load increase-load reduction phase. So there is a problem that the displacement may appear different from the field situation in the case of excavation analysis. In contrast, the HS-small strain stability model has a wide range of applications for each ground. And it is known that soil deformation characteristics can be analyzed according to field conditions by enabling input of initial elastic modulus and nonlinear curve parameter and so on. However, civil engineers are having difficulty using nonlinear models that can apply material nonlinear properties due to difficulties in estimating ground property coefficients. In this study, the necessity of rational model selection was reviewed by comparing the results of seismic performance evaluation using the Mohr-Coulomb model, which civil engineers generally apply for numerical analysis of tunnels, and the HS Small strain Stiffness model, which can consider ground nonlinearity.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2022

The hydrogen reduction behavior of molybdenum oxides was studied using a horizontal-tube reactor. Reduction was carried out in two stages: MoO₃ → MoO₂ and MoO₂ → Mo. In the first stage, a mixed gas composed of 30 vol% H₂ and 70 vol% Ar was selected for the MoO₃ reduction because of its highly exothermic reaction. The temperature ranged from 550 to 600 ℃, and the residence time ranged from 30 to 150 min. In the second step, pure H₂ gas was used for the MoO₂ reduction, and the temperature and residence time ranges were 700-750 ℃ and 30-150 min, respectively. The hydrogen reduction behavior of molybdenum oxides was found to be somewhat different between the two stages. For the first stage, a temperature dependence of the reaction rate was observed, and the best curve fittings were obtained with a surface reaction control mechanism, despite the presence of intermediate oxides under the conditions of this study. Based on this mechanism, the activation energy and pre-exponential were calculated as 85.0 kJ/mol and 9.18 × 10⁷, respectively. In addition, the pore size within a particle increases with the temperature and residence time. In the second stage, a temperature dependence of the reaction rate was also observed; however, the surface reaction control mechanism fit only the early part, which can be ascribed to the degradation of the oxide crystals by a volume change as the MoO₂ → Mo phase transformation proceeded in the later part.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.17-28
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• 2022

The effect of the soil-structure interaction (SSI) on has been recently evaluated in shaking table tests. However, most of these tests were conducted on single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) superstructures and a single-pile. This study investigates the inertial interaction effect of a multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) superstructure system with a group piles on a large-scale shaking table test. Whereas the SDOF superstructure system shows a single-frequency amplification tendency, the MDOF superstructure system exhibited amplification tendencies of the acceleration phase and frequency responses for multiple frequencies. In addition, the amplification phenomenon between the footing and the column-type superstructure exceeded that between the footing and the wall-type superstructure, indicating a greater inertial interaction effect of the column-type superstructure. The relationship between shear force and inertial force, the relative vertical and horizontal displacements on the footing was figured out. Also, the ananlysis of dynamic p-y curve at each depth was conducted. In summary, the MDOF and SDOP superstructure systems exhibited different behaviors and the column-type superstructure exerted a higher interaction effect than the wall-type superstructure.