• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.437-440
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• 2011

Babesia spp. were detected from 4 asymptomatic pukus captured on a game ranch in central Zambia in October 2008. Blood smears were examined in 4 species of aymptomatic free-ranging antelopes, namely the puku (Kobus vordanii), reedbuck (Redunca arundinum), bushbuck (Tragelaphus sylvaticus), and kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros), and showed the presence of Babesia parasites only in the puku. In the puku, the prevalence of babesiosis was estimated at 33.3% (n=12), while the overall prevalence in all examined animals was 8.5% (n=47). The parasites showed morphological characteristics of paired ring-like stages with the length varying between $1.61{\mu}m$ and $3.02{\mu}m$ ($mean=2.12{\mu}m$, n=27; $SD=0.76{\mu}m$). Both the infected and non-infected pukus showed good body condition scores (BCS), while the dominant tick species detected from all animals were Rhipicephalus appendiculatus, Rhipicephalus spp., and Boophilus spp. To our knowledge this is the first report of Babesia spp. infection in pukus in Zambia. These findings suggest that wildlife could play an important role in the epidemiology of babesiosis in Zambia.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.1309-1312
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• 2016

Inflammation can play an important role in cancer progression and the prognostic importance of neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), a marker of inflammation, in cancer is a current investigation topic. In the present study, we aimed to determine whether there is a prognostic link between NLR and metastatic gastric cancer (mGC). A total of 143 patients from the Akdeniz University and Antalya Training and Research Hospital database were retrospectively analyzed. The median NLR value was 3.34. The median overall survival (OS) and median progression-free survival (PFS) were 11.6 and 7.9 months, respectively, in patients with NLR<3.34 while these values were 8.3 and 6.2 months respectively in patients with NLR>3.34 (p<0.001 and p=0.011, respectively). Our study showed that increased NLR is an independent prognostic factor associated with short survival in patients with mGC.

• The Korean Journal of Zoology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.209-216
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• 1991

To examine the effed of Insulin on neuronal differentiation, telencephalic neuroblasts from chick embryonic brains were cultured in a serum-free medium. Indirect immunofluorescence microscopic studies revealed that the spedfic protein, MAP-2, was localized in both cell bodies and neurites of developing neuroblasts. Furthermore, treatinent of increasing concentration of Insulin promoted the MAP-2 synthesis as well as the neurite outgrowth activity. Thus, the enhancement of the morphological and biochemical parameters for neuronal differentiation appears to he closely correlated, and the neurotrophic effect of insulin may play a crucial role in neuronal process formation.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.239-246
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• 1997

In the present study, liver regeneration rate (%) was increased up to 70% 3 days after partial hepatectomy (PH). Nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity in liver tissue as well as serum nitrite/ nitrate content had no timed response, revealing no significant difference between shamoperated and partially hepatectomized rat liver. Contents of free methylarginines in liver tissue were increased biphasically in a time-dependent manner after PH. However, those in serum did not exhibit the same patterns as in liver. Taken together, the results suggest that $N^{G}$-monomethyl-L-arginine (MMA) and $ N^{G}, N^{G}$-dimethylarginine (DMA) play a role in inhibiting nitric oxide (NO) synthesis in regenerating rat liver because the increase of their contents was synchronized with NOS expression.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.36-42
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• 2013

Objectives: Shengmaisan (SMS) is a traditional Chinese medicine prescription widely used for the treatment of diverse organs in Korea. The interstitial cells of Cajal (ICCs) are pacemaker cells that play an important role in the generation of coordinated gastrointestinal (GI) motility. We have aimed to investigate the effects of SMS in the ICCs in the mouse small intestine. Methods: To dissociate the ICCs, we used enzymatic digestions from the small intestine in a mouse. After that, the ICCs were identified immunologically by using the anti-c-kit antibody. In the ICCs, the electrophysiological whole-cell patch-clamp configuration was used to record pacemaker potentials in the cultured ICCs. Results: The ICCs generated pacemaker potentials in the mouse small intestine. SMS produced membrane depolarization with concentration-dependent manners in the current clamp mode. Pretreatment with a $Ca^{2+}$ free solution and thapsigargin, a $Ca^{2+}$-ATPase inhibitor in the endoplasmic reticulum, stopped the generation of the pacemaker potentials. In the case of $Ca^{2+}$-free solutions, SMS induced membrane depolarizations. However, when thapsigargin in a bath solution was applied, the membrane depolarization was not produced by SMS. The membrane depolarizations produced by SMS were inhibited by U-73122, an active phospholipase C (PLC) inhibitors. Furthermore, chelerythrine and calphostin C, a protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitors had no effects on SMS-induced membrane depolarizations. Conclusions: These results suggest that SMS might affect GI motility by modulating the pacemaker activity through an internal $Ca^{2+}$- and PLC-dependent and PKC-independent pathway in the ICCs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.119-119
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• 2010

We report strong exciton transition and exciton-phonon couplings in photoluminescence (PL) of ZnO thin films grown on MgO/sapphire (buffer/substrate) by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The PL spectra at 10 K showed the intensity of the dominant emission, donor-bound exciton transition of front surface (top surface, the latter part in growth) is found to be about 100 times higher than that of back surface (in-depth bottom area, the initial part), while the room temperature PL spectra showed dominant contributions from the free exciton emissions and phonon-replicas of free excitons for front surface and back surface, respectively, It could be attributed to the strong contributions of exciton-phonon coupling. Time resolved PL spectra reveal that the life time of exciton recombination from the front surface are longer than those from back surface. This is most probably due to the fact that reduction of non-radiative recombination in the front surface. This investigation indicates that the existence of native defects or trap centers which can be reduced by the proper initial condition in growth and the exciton-phonon interaction couplings play an important role in optical properties and crystal quality of ZnO thin films.

• The korean journal of orthodontics
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.360-368
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• 2006

Objective: Surface characteristics of dental materials play an important role in bacterial adhesion. The purpose of this study was to investigate surface characteristics of 5 different light-cured orthodontic adhesives (1 fluoride-releasing composite, 3 non-fluoride-releasing composites, and f resin-modified glass ionomer). Methods: Surface roughness was measured using a confocal laser scanning microscope. Contact angle and surface free energy components were analyzed using the sessile drop method. Results: Surface roughness was significantly different between adhesives despite a relatively small variation (less than $0.05\;{\mu}m$). Lightbond and Monolok2 were rougher than Enlight and Transbond XT. There were also significant differences in contact angles and surface free energy components between adhesives. In particular, considerable differences in contact angles and surface free energy components were found between resin modified glass ionomer and the composites. Resin modified glass ionomer showed significantly smaller contact angles in 3 different probe liquids and had higher total surface free energy and stronger polarity, with notably stronger basic property than the composites. Conclusion: Resin modified glass ionomer may provide a more favourable environment for bacterial adhesion than composite adhesives.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.116-126
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• 2008

In gas hydrate survey, seismic amplitude and frequency characteristics play a very important role in determining whether gas hydrate exists. According to the variation of source frequency and scatterer size, we study seismic amplitude characteristics using elastic modeling applied at staggered grids. Generally speaking, scattering occurs in proportion to the square of source frequency and the scatterer volume, which has an effect on seismic amplitude. The higher source frequency is, the more scattering occurs in gas hydrate bearing zone. Therefore, BSR is hardly observed in high frequencies. On the other side, amplitude blanking zone and BSR is clearly observed in lower frequencies although the resolution is poor as a whole. Seismic reflections traveling through free-gas layer below gas hydrate bearing zone decay so severely a high frequency component that a low frequency term is dominant. Amplitude anomaly of BSR result from high acoustic impedance contrast due to free-gas, which is a very crucial factor to estimate gas hydrate bearing zone. Seismic frequency analysis is carried out using wavelet transform method that frequency component could be decomposed with time variation. In application of wavelet transform to the seismic physical experiments data, we can observe that reflections traveling through air layer, which corresponds to the free-gas layer, decay a high frequency component.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.65 no.5
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• pp.573-585
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• 2018

This article presents strain gradient elasticity-based procedures for static bending, free vibration and buckling analyses of functionally graded rectangular micro-plates. The developed method allows consideration of smooth spatial variations of length scale parameters of strain gradient elasticity. Governing partial differential equations and boundary conditions are derived by following the variational approach and applying Hamilton's principle. Displacement field is expressed in a unified way to produce numerical results in accordance with Kirchhoff, Mindlin, and third order shear deformation theories. All material properties, including the length scale parameters, are assumed to be functions of the plate thickness coordinate in the derivations. Developed equations are solved numerically by means of differential quadrature method. Proposed procedures are verified through comparisons made to the results available in the literature for certain limiting cases. Further numerical results are provided to illustrate the effects of material and geometric parameters on bending, free vibrations, and buckling. The results generated by Kirchhoff and third order shear deformation theories are in very good agreement, whereas Mindlin plate theory slightly overestimates static deflection and underestimates natural frequency. A rise in the length scale parameter ratio, which identifies the degree of spatial variations, leads to a drop in dimensionless maximum deflection, and increases in dimensionless vibration frequency and buckling load. Size effect is shown to play a more significant role as the plate thickness becomes smaller compared to the length scale parameter. Numerical results indicate that consideration of length scale parameter variation is required for accurate modelling of graded rectangular micro-plates.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.1-8
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• 2018

In the soldering industry, a variety of lead-free solders have been developed as a part of restricting lead in electronic packaging. Sn-Ag-Cu (SAC) lead-free solder is regarded as one of the most superior candidates, owing to its low melting point and high solderability as well as the mechanical property. On the other hand, the mechanical property of SAC solder is directly influenced by intermetallic compounds (IMCs) in the solder joint. Although IMCs in SAC solder play an important role in bonding solder joints and impart strength to the surrounding solder matrix, a large amount of IMCs may cause poor strength, due to their brittle nature. In other words, the mechanical properties of SAC solder are of some concern because of the formation of large and brittle IMCs. As the IMCs grow, they may cause poor device performance, resulting in the failure of the electronic device. Therefore, new solder technologies which can control the IMC growth are necessary to address these issues satisfactorily. There are an advanced nanotechnology for microstructural refinement that lead to improve mechanical properties of solder alloys with nanoparticle additions, which are defined as nano-reinforced solders. These nano-reinforced solders increase the mechanical strength of the solder due to the dispersion hardening as well as solderability of the solder. This paper introduces the nano-reinforced solders, including its principles, types, and various properties.