• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.225-230
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• 2016

Objectives: Mellitine, a major component of bee venom (BV, Apis mellifera), is more active against gram positive than gram negative bacteria. Moreover, BV has been reported to have multiple effects, including antibacterial, antivirus, and anti-inflammation effects, in various types of cells. In addition, wasp venom has been reported to have antibacterial properties. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antibacterial activity of BV against selected gram positive and gram negative bacterial strains of medical importance. Methods: This investigation was set up to evaluate the antibacterial activity of BV against six grams positive and gram negative bacteria, including Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), Salmonella typhimurium, Escherichia coli (E. coli) O157:H7, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Burkholderia mallei and Burkholderia pseudomallei. Three concentrations of crude BV and standard antibiotic (gentamicin) disks as positive controls were tested by using the disc diffusion method. Results: BV was found to have a significant antibacterial effect against E. coli, S. aureus, and Salmonella typhyimurium in all three concentrations tested. However, BV had no noticeable effect on other tested bacteria for any of the three doses tested. Conclusion: The results of the current study indicate that BV inhibits the growth and survival of bacterial strains and that BV can be used as a complementary antimicrobial agent against pathogenic bacteria. BV lacked the effective proteins necessary for it to exhibit antibacterial activity for some specific strains while being very effective against other specific strains. Thus, one may conclude, that Apis mellifera venom may have a specific mechanism that allows it to have an antibacterial effect on certain susceptible bacteria, but that mechanism is not well understood.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.6-9
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• 1990

Specific activities of ADC and ODC from 2-4 year old ones were higher than that from seedlings whereas those activities were not changed significantly from 2 to 4 years. Generally, activity of ADC was predorminant compared to that of ODC. Free arginine content in roots was much higher than that of leaves. And arginase specific activity from roots was higher than that of leaves. Cumulative results suggest that putrscine formation from ornithine in roots may be more effective than leaves and contribute to putrescine biosynthesis to some extract.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.155-160
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• 2002

A series of modified oligonucleotides containing a phosphorothioate (P=S) backbone and a six-membered azasugar (6-AZS) as a sugar substitute in a nucleotide were synthesized and tested for their ability to inhibit the human immunodeficiency virus type I(HIV-l) in vitro without the aid of any transfecting agents. While P=S oligonucleotides with natural nucleotides had little anti-HIV-l activity, the six-membered azasugar nucleotide (6-AZN)-containing P=S oligonucleotides (AZPSONs) potently inhibited the HIV-l/SHIV replication and syncytium formation (ECso = 0.02-0.2 /lM) without cytotoxicity up to 100 /lM. DBM-2198, the most effective in anti-HIV-l activity among the AZPSONs, consists of random sequence and five 6¬AZNs evenly distributed in 18 nucleotides. DBM-2198 showed strong antiviral activity against, not only laboratory strains, but also primary isolates and even drug-resistant strains of HIV-I. DBM-2198 was much more effective than ddI or ddC in its anti-HIV-l activity in vitro. Particularly noteworthy is that the anti-HIV-l activity of DBM-2198 was better than that of AZT with respect to its long-lasting efficacy after a single treatment. Nevertheless, the antiviral activity of the AZPSONs was very specific to HIV-I. Poliovirus, or even simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), was not inhibited by the AZPSONs. Taken together, our results strongly suggest that AZPSON can be used as a safe and effective AIDS-therapeutic drug against a broad spectrum of HIV -1 strains.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.247-257
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• 2008

To understand the activity of non-specific defence factors in cultured Sebastes, the antibacterial effect of the serum, skin mucus and homogenate of various organs from cultured oblong rockfish (Sebastes oblongus) and rockfish(Sebastes schlegeli) against pathogenic bacteria, Aeromonas hydrophila, Edwardsiella tarda, Vibrio anguillarum, and Streptococcus sp. was compared with that of flounder(Paralichthys olivaceus) and seabass(Leteolabrax japonicus). And the activities of proteolytic enzyme, chitinolytic enzyme and haemolycin as non-specific defence factor were investigated on the oblong rockfish and rockfish. Samples from oblong rockfish showed the highest antibacterial activity by lysoplate assay on agar plate mixed with pathogens, followed in descending order by rockfish, seabass, and flounder. Turbidimetric assay was carried to evaluate the lysozyme activity of fish samples against lyophilized cells of Micrococcus lysodeiktikus. The serum, kidney, liver, stomach, intestine and eyeball of oblong rockfish and the mucus and gill of rockfish appeared to have the highest lysozyme activity among the fish strains investigated. All samples except skin mucus, liver, and eyeball of oblong rockfish and rockfish showed proteolytic enzyme activity. Chitinolytic enzyme activity was showed in random sampling and haemolytic activity was remarkable in oblong rockfish. Therefore, Sebastes strain was proved to have effective defense mechanisms based on the antibacterial activities, and lysozyme, proteolytic enzyme, chitinolytic enzyme, and haemolycin were considered to act as the non-specific defence factor of Sebastes.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.30-33
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• 2013

Previously we showed that biodegradable nanoparticles containing poly-IC or CpG oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN) together with ovalbumin (OVA) were efficient at inducing MHC-restricted presentation of OVA peptides in dendritic cells. The CTL-inducing activities of the nanoparticles were examined in the present study. Nanoparticles containing poly-IC or CpG ODN together with OVA were prepared using biodegradable polymer poly(D,L-lactic acid-co-glycolic acid), and then were opsonized with mouse IgG. The nanoparticles were injected into the tail vein of mice, and 7 days later the OVA-specific CTL activities were measured using an in vivo CTL assay. Immunization of mice with the nanoparticles containing poly-IC or CpG ODN together with OVA elicited potent OVA-specific CTL activity compared to those containing OVA only. In accordance with these results, nanoparticles containing poly-IC or CpG ODN together with OVA exerted potent antitumor activity in mice that were subcutaneously implanted with EG7.OVA tumor cells. These results show that encapsulation of poly-IC or CpG ODN together with antigen in biodegradable nanoparticles is an effective approach for the induction of potent antigen-specific CTL responses in vivo.

• KIPS Transactions on Software and Data Engineering
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.49-54
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• 2013

Activity recognition using smartphone accelerometer suffers from the user dependency problem that acceleration patterns of one user differ from those of others for the same activity. Moreover, it also suffers from the position dependency problem since a smartphone may be placed in any pockets or hands. In order to overcome these problems, this paper proposes an effective activity recognition method which is less dependent with both specific users and specific positions of the smartphone. Based on the proposed method, we implement a real-time activity recognition system working on an Android smartphone. Throughout some experiments with 6642 examples collected from different users and different positions, we investigate the performance of our activity recognition system.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 1996

A one-stage, continuous-flow bioreactor with both immobilized and suspended cells was used to investigate the roles of lipid supplements in ethanol production by Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The reactor performance and the level of alcohol dehydrogenase(ADH) activities of the suspended cells, grown under various conditions, were measured. When ergosterol and/or oleic acid were added with surfactants to the yeast culture grown under non-aerated conditions, remarkable increases in ethanol production and cell growth was achieved, but specific ADH activities were not affected. Especially, no difference of specific ADH activities of the suspended cells grown under aerated and non-aerated condition was observed. The addition of the surfactant as a supplement also resulted in significant increases in ethanol production, cell growth, and specific ADH activity. When ergosterol and oleic acid were added to the yeast culture exposed to higher ethanol concentration($>40\;g/{\ell}$) level, ethanol production, cell growth, and specific ADH activity were increased, but the addition of surfactant was as effective as at lower ethanol concentration level. The results indicated that lipid supplements were more effective at higher ethanol concentration level than at lower ethanol concentration level during ethanol production. ADH isozyme patterns of the yeast cultures grown under various conditions on starch gel electrophoresis showed only one major band, probably ADH I. The migrating distance of the major isozyme, however, varied slightly according to the culture conditions of the cells. No apparent correlation was found between specific ADH activity and amount of ethanol produced. Cell mass was more important factor for ethanol production than specific ADH activity of the cells.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.211-218
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• 2007

The objectives of this study have been carried out to investigate the solubilization of municipal sewage sludge by single and dual frequency ultrasonic pretreatment, and the methane production characteristics of pretreated sewage sludge by specific methanogenic activity test for sewage sludge reduction. The waste activated sludge was collected from thickened tank of Suyoung sewage treatment plant in Busan city, and its concentration was adjusted to 1.0% total solids. Ultrasonic frequency was varied 15, 20, 15+20 kHz, and acoustic density was used a maximum 176W/L. The dual frequency ultrasonic pretreatment was found to be more effective than single frequency ultrasonic in the solubilization rate and methane production. The $SCOD_{Cr}/TCOD_{Cr}$, rate were 15.2%, 13.9%, 17.0% with single frequency of 15 kH2, 20 kHz, dual frequency of 15+20 kHz, respectively. The application of dual frequency ultrasound for sewage sludge pretreatment can be interest for sewage treatment plants having problems in sludge treatment and disposal.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.932-941
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• 2013

This work aimed to classify Aspergillus (8 species, 28 strains) by using a secondary metabolite profile-based chemotaxonomic classification technique. Secondary metabolites were analyzed by liquid chromatography ion-trap mass spectrometry (LC-IT-MS) and multivariate statistical analysis. Most strains were generally well separated from each section. A. lentulus was discriminated from the other seven species (A. fumigatus, A. fennelliae, A. niger, A. kawachii, A. flavus, A. oryzae, and A. sojae) with partial least-squares discriminate analysis (PLS-DA) with five discriminate metabolites, including 4,6-dihydroxymellein, fumigatin, 5,8-dihydroxy-9-octadecenoic acid, cyclopiazonic acid, and neosartorin. Among them, neosartorin was identified as an A. lentulus-specific compound that showed anticancer activity, as well as antibacterial effects on Staphylococcus epidermidis. This study showed that metabolite-based chemotaxonomic classification is an effective tool for the classification of Aspergillus spp. with species-specific activity.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.340-347
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• 1999

Dendritic cells (DCs) are potent professional antigen-presenting cells (APC) capable of inducing the primary T cell response to antigen. Although tumor cells express target antigens, they are incapable of stimulating a tumor-specific immune response due to a defect in the costimulatory signal that is required for optimal activation of T cells. In this work, we describe a new approach using tumor-DC coculture to improve the antigen presenting capacity of tumor cells which does not require a source of tumor-associated antigen. Immunization of a weakly immunogenic and progressive tumor cocultured with none marrow-derived DCs generated an effective tumor vaccine. Immunization with the cocutured DCs was able to induce complete protectiv immunity against tumor challenges and was effective for the induction of tumor-specific CTL (cytotoxic T lymphocyte) activity. Furthermore, high NK cell activity was observed in mice in which tumors were rejected. In addition, immunization with tumor-pulsed DC s induced delayed tumor growth, but not tumor eradication in tumor-bearing mice. Our results demonstrate that coculture of DCs with tumors generated antitumor immunity due to the NK cell activation as well as tumor-specific T cell. This approach would be used for designing tumor vaccines using DCs when the information about tumor antigens is limited.