• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.42-48
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• 2014

A specific and sensitive liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry method (LC-ESI-MS/MS) was developed and validated for the simultaneous quantification of porphyrins (coproporphyrin, pentacarboxylporphyrin, hexacarboxylporphyrin, heptacarboxylporphyrin, and uroporphyrin) in human plasma and urine. Acidified plasma samples and urine samples were prepared by using liquid-liquid extraction using ethyl acetate and protein precipitation with acetonitrile, respectively. The separation was achieved onto a Synergi Fusion RP column ($150mm{\times}2.0mm$, $4{\mu}m$) with a gradient elution of mobile phase A (0.1% formic acid in 2 mmol/L ammonium acetate, v/v) and mobile phase B (20% methanol in acetonitrile, v/v) at a flow rate of $450{\mu}L$/min. Porphyrins and the internal standard (IS), coproporphyrin I-$^{15}N_4$, were detected by a tandem mass spectrometer equipped with an electrospray ion source operating in positive ion mode. Multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) transitions of the protonated precursor ions and the related product ions were optimized to increase selectivity and sensitivity. The proposed method was validated by assessing selectivity, linearity, limit of quantification (LOQ), precision, accuracy, recovery, and stability. The calibration curves were obtained in the range of 0.1-100 nmol/L and the LOQs were estimated as 0.1 nmol/L for all porphyrins. Results obtained from the validation study of porphyrins showed good accuracy, precision, recovery, and stability. Finally, the proposed method was successfully applied to clinical studies on the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis of 203 Korean children.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.176-188
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• 1999

Objective : The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of alcohol on neurocognitive function, psychomotor performance and subjective response in healthy Korean adults with different ALDH2 genotypes. Method : A total of 24 males, half with active $ALDH2^*1/2^*1$ and the other with inactive $ALDH2^*1/2^*2$, was selected through genotyping using restriction fragment length polymorphism. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled cross-over design, each subject consumed 0.5g/kg dose of alcohol, given as a mixture of 40% vodka and orange juice, and placebo(orange juice) on two separate occasions on an average of weekly intervals. The blood alcohol concentrations(BACs) were measured using a breath analyzer at baseline and at 30, 60 minutes after drinking. P300s were measured at baseline and at 30 minutes after alcohol and placebo intake. Vital signs and psychomotor performance[Critical Flicker Fusion Threshold(CFFT), Choice Reaction Time (CRT), Digit Symbol Substitution(DSS)] were measured at baseline and at 60 minutes after alcohol and placebo intake. Subjective responses were measured at the end of the study. The statistical analysis focused on whether there were any differences between groups with different ALDH2 genotypes. Results : The major results are as follows. 1) BACs in the inactive group were overall equivalent to those in the active group. Only in terms of time, BACs were significantly higher overall at 30 minutes than at 60 minutes after alcohol intake. 2) Pulse rates were significantly increased after alcohol intake compared with placebo, and the increase was greater in the inactive than in the active group. 3) P300 latencies in leads Fz(frontal), Cz(cental) and Pz(parietal) were significantly increased after alcohol intake compared to placebo, and the increase was greater in the inactive than in the active group. P300 amplitudes in leads Cz and Pz were significantly decreased overall after alcohol intake compared to placebo. 4) Compared with placebo, alcohol produced significant effect on the psychomotor performance : impairment in the inactive group, improvement in the active group. 5) Compared with placebo, alcohol significantly induced a negative or an intense effect on the subjective responses in the inactive group, but little negative and even a somewhat positive effect in the active group. Conclusions : These results suggest that ALDH isozyme variance might be an important factor to determine the effects of acute dose of alcohol on the various psychobehavioural functions and also to determine the alcohol use pattern and to predict the future development of alcohol overuse and/or abuse.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.61-71
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• 2000

By screening a cDNA library of auxin-treated mung bean (Vigna radiata L.) hypocotyls, we have isolated two full-length cDNA clones, pVR-ACS6 and pVR-ACS7, for 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) synthase, the rate-limiting enzyme in the ethylene biosynthetic pathway. While PVR-ACS6 corresponds to the previously identified PCR fragment pMBA1, pVR-ACS7 is a new cDNA clone. A comparison of deduced amino acid sequences among auxin-induced ACC synthases reveal that these enzymes share a high degree of homology (65-75%) to VR-ACS6 and VR-ACS7 polypeptides, but only about 50% to VR-ACS1 polypeptide. ACS6 and ACS7 are specifically induced by auxin, while ACS1 is induced by cycloheximide, and to lesser extent by excision and auxin treatment. Results from nuclear run-on transcription assay and RNA gel blot studies revealed that all three genes were transcriptionally active displaying unique patterns of induction by IAA and various hormones in etiolated hypocotyls. Particularly, 24-epibrassinolide (BR), an active brassinosteroid, specifically enhanced the expression of VR-ACS7 by distinct temporal induction mechanism compared to that of IAA. In addition, BR synergistically increased the IAA-induced VR-ACS6 and VR-ACS7 transcript levels, while it effectively abolished both the IAA- and kinetin-induced accumulation of VR-ACS1 mRNA. In light-grown plants, VR-ACS1 was induced by IAA in roots, whereas W-ACS6 in epicotyls. IAA- and BR-treatments were not able to increase the VR-ACS7 transcript in the light-grown tissues. These results indicate that the expression of ACC synthase multigene family is regulated by complex hormonal and developmental networks in a gene- and tissue-specific manner in mung bean plants. The VR-ACS7 gene was isolated, and chimeric fusion between the 2.4 kb 5'-upstream region and the $\beta$-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene was constructed and introduced into Nicotiana tobacum. Analysis of transgenic tobacco plants revealed the VR-ACS7 promoter-driven GUS activity at a highly localized region of the hypocotyl-root junction of control seedlings, while a marked induction of GUS activity was detected only in the hypocotyl region of the IAA-treated transgenic seedlings where rapid cell elongation occurs. Although there was a modest synergistic effect of BR on the IAA-induced GUS activity, BR alone failed to increase the GUS activity, suggesting that induction of VR-ACS7 occurs via separate signaling pathways in response to IAA and BR.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.356-363
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• 2015

In order to study genetic engineering in trees, the characterization of genes and promoters from trees is necessary. We isolated the promoter region (867 bp) of Pagns-LTP from poplar (P. alba ${\times}$ P. glandulosa) and characterized its activity in transgenic poplar plants using a ${\beta}$-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene. High-level expression of the Pagns-LTP transcript was found in poplar roots, while comparatively low-level expression was found in the young leaves. Pagns-LTP mRNA was not detected in other poplar tissues. Additionally, transgenic poplar plants that contained a Pagns-LTP promoter fused to a GUS reporter gene, displayed tissue-specific GUS enzyme activity localized in root tissue. In silico analysis of the Pagns-LTP promoter sequence reveals the presence of several cis-regulatory elements responsive to phytohormones, biotic and abiotic stresses, as well as those regulating tissue-specific expression. These results demonstrate that the Pagns-LTP promoter has tissue-specific expression activity in poplar roots and leaves that may be involved in organ development and plant resistance to various stresses. Therefore, we anticipate that the Pagns-LTP promoter would be a useful tool to genetically optimize woody plants for functional genomics.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.205-214
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• 2015

In this study, a novel land-cover classification framework for multi-temporal SAR data is presented that can combine multiple features extracted through data transforms and multiple classifiers. At first, data transforms using principle component analysis (PCA) and 3D wavelet transform are applied to multi-temporal SAR dataset for extracting new features which were different from original dataset. Then, three different classifiers including maximum likelihood classifier (MLC), neural network (NN) and support vector machine (SVM) are applied to three different dataset including data transform based features and original backscattering coefficients, and as a result, the diverse preliminary classification results are generated. These results are combined via a majority voting rule to generate a final classification result. From an experiment with a multi-temporal ENVISAT ASAR dataset, every preliminary classification result showed very different classification accuracy according to the used feature and classifier. The final classification result combining nine preliminary classification results showed the best classification accuracy because each preliminary classification result provided complementary information on land-covers. The improvement of classification accuracy in this study was mainly attributed to the diversity from combining not only different features based on data transforms, but also different classifiers. Therefore, the land-cover classification framework presented in this study would be effectively applied to the classification of multi-temporal SAR data and also be extended to multi-sensor remote sensing data fusion.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.33 no.6_1
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• pp.1003-1017
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• 2017

Multispectral image data of high spatial resolution is required to obtain correct information on the ground surface. The multispectral image data has lower resolution compared to panchromatic data. PAN-sharpening fusion technique produces the multispectral data with higher resolution of panchromatic image. Recently the object-based approach is more applied to the high spatial resolution data than the conventional pixel-based one. For the object-based image analysis, it is necessary to perform image segmentation that produces the objects of pixel group. Image segmentation can be effectively achieved by the process merging step-by-step two neighboring regions in RAG (Regional Adjacency Graph). In the satellite remote sensing, the operational environment of the satellite sensor causes image degradation during the image acquisition. This degradation increases variation of pixel values in same area, and results in deteriorating the accuracy of image segmentation. An iterative approach that reduces the difference of pixel values in two neighboring pixels of same area is employed to alleviate variation of pixel values in same area. The size of segmented regions is associated with the quality of image segmentation and is decided by a stopping rue in the merging process. In this study, the image restoration and segmentation was quantitatively evaluated using simulation data and was also applied to the three PAN-sharpened multispectral images of high resolution: Dubaisat-2 data of 1m panchromatic resolution from LA, USA and KOMPSAT3 data of 0.7m panchromatic resolution from Daejeon and Chungcheongnam-do in the Korean peninsula. The experimental results imply that the proposed method can improve analytical accuracy in the application of remote sensing high resolution PAN-sharpened multispectral imagery.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.35-40
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• 2015

Characterization of microstructures and mechanical properties of 83mm thickness EH36-TM welds produced by the combined flux cored arc (FCA) and electro gas (EG) welding processes has been studied with the two different groove conditions, single-V (SV) and double-V (DV) bevels. The welding consumables used for FCA and EG welding processes were ASME/AWS A5.29 (E81T1-K2) and A5.26 (EG72T), respectively. Experimental results showed that all the mechanical properties of welds such as tensile property, CVN toughness and Vickers hardness met IACS requirements. The tensile strength of EG welded plates were reduced by approximately 4% (DV: 3.8%, SV: 4.2%) compared to the base metal. The hardness value of SV-beveled weld metal was slightly lower than that of DV-beveled one. There were no significant differences as per welding groove conditions except for the weld metal. In addition, at the fusion line, the toughness of SV condition was 20J lower and the weld metal was 40J lower than DV condition, respectively. On the basis of microstructural analysis, grain boundary ferrite (GBF) structures for SV condition were 2 times higher volume fraction than for DV condition and their packet sizes were coarsened to almost double. It was thus suggested that the GBF volume fractions and packet sizes in the weld metal of EH36-TM steel plates are the most important factors affecting the mechanical properties of the combined FCA and EG welded joint. Nevertheless, all the results of welds with both DV and SV conditions were found to be excellent.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.140-146
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• 2009

This study was performed to evaluate the toxicity of cadmium selenide for a period of 28 days in Sprague-Dawley rats. Each of 10 healthy male and females rats per group received daily oral administration for 28-day period at dosage levels 30, 300 and 1,000 mg/kg of body weight. Mortality and clinical signs were checked, and body weight, water intake and food consumption were also recorded weekly. There were no dose-related changes in food consumption or urine volume. All animals survived to the end of study with no clinical signs or differences in body weight gain observed when compared with the control group. At the end of study, all animals including control group, were subjected to necropsy. Blood samples were collected for hematology tests including coagulation time and biochemistry analysis. Blood coagulation time and relative organ weight were unaffected by all received doses. White Blood Cell (WBC) counts significantly increased in the 300 mg/kg administered male animal group when compared to the control. Monocyte (MO) value were also increased significantly in both 300 and 1,000 mg/kg male animal group. However, Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV) were significantly decreased compared with the control in the 1,000 mg/kg dose groups for male and female animals. Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin (MCH) decreased significantly for female in the 300 and 1,000 mg/kg group compared to the control. Blood biochemical values of Inorganic phosphorus (IP) were significantly increased in both the 300 and 1,000 mg/kg dose groups in male animals when compared to the control. Creatinine (CRE) levels indicated significant increase in kidney function for the female, 30 mg/kg dose group when compared with control. There was a significant decrease in thymus absolute organ weight in the female, 1,000 mg/kg dose group when compared with control. Histopathological findings revealed no evidence of injury related to cadmium selenide except for one case of focal hepatic inflammation in the high dose (1,000 mg/kg) group. One case of lung inflammation was also seen in the control group. Basis on these result, the No Observable Adverse Effect Level (NOAEL) of cadmium selenide was determined to be more than 1,000 mg/kg/day for male and female rats under conditions in this study.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.411-423
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• 2020

Localized solar irradiance is normally derived from atmospheric transmission influenced by atmospheric composition and conditions of the target area. Specially, for the area with complex coastal lines such as Taean gun, the accurate estimation of solar irradiance requires for in depth analysis of atmospheric transmission characteristics based on the localized vertical profiles of the key atmospheric parameters. Using MODTRAN (MODerate resolution atmospheric TRANsmission) 6, we report a computational study on clear day atmospheric transmission and direct solar irradiance estimation of Taean gun using the data collected from 3 ground stations and radiosonde measurement over 93 clear days in 2018. The MODTRAN estimated direct solar irradiance is compared with the measurement. The results show that the normalized residual mean (NRM) is 0.28 for the temperature based MODTRAN atmospheric model and 0.32 for the pressure based MODTRAN atmospheric model. These values are larger than 0.1~0.2 of the other study and we understand that such difference represents the local atmospheric characteristics of Taean gun. The results also show that NRM tends to increase noticeably in summer as the temperature increases. Such findings from this study can be very useful for estimation and prediction of the atmospheric condition of the local area with complex coastal lines.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.36 no.5_1
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• pp.653-666
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• 2020

Understanding the vegetation structure is important to manage forest resources for sustainable forest development. With the recent development of technology, it is possible to apply new technologies such as drones and deep learning to forests and use it to estimate the vegetation structure. In this study, the vegetation structure of Gongju, Samchuk, and Seoguipo area was identified by fusion of drone-optical images and LiDAR data using Artificial Neural Networks(ANNs) with the accuracy of 92.62% (Kappa value: 0.59), 91.57% (Kappa value: 0.53), and 86.00% (Kappa value: 0.63), respectively. The vegetation structure analysis technology using deep learning is expected to increase the performance of the model as the amount of information in the optical and LiDAR increases. In the future, if the model is developed with a high-complexity that can reflect various characteristics of vegetation and sufficient sampling, it would be a material that can be used as a reference data to Korea's policies and regulations by constructing a country-level vegetation structure map.