• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.647-655
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• 2011

The neurotoxicity of aggregated amyloid ${\beta}$ ($A{\beta}$) has been implicated as a critical cause in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). It can cause neurotoxicity in AD by evoking a cascade of apoptosis to neuron. Here, we investigated the neuroprotective effects of cilostazol, which acts as a phosphodiesterase III inhibitor, on $A{\beta}_{25-35}$-induced cytotoxicity in mouse neuronal cells and cognitive decline in the C57BL/6J AD mouse model via peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-${\gamma}$ activation. $A{\beta}_{25-35}$ significantly reduced cell viability and increased the number of apoptotic-like cells. Cilostazol treatment recovered cells from $A{\beta}$-induced cell death as well as rosiglitazone, a PPAR-${\gamma}$ activator. These effects were suppressed by GW9662, an antagonist of PPAR-${\gamma}$ activity, indicative of a PPAR-${\gamma}$-mediated signaling. In addition, cilostazol and rosiglitazone also restored PPAR-${\gamma}$ activity levels that had been altered as a result of $A{\beta}_{25-35}$ treatment, which were antagonized by GW9662. Furthermore, cilostazol also markedly decreased the number of apoptotic-like cells and decreased the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio. Intracerebroventricular injection of $A{\beta}_{25-35}$ in C57BL/6J mice resulted in impaired cognitive function. Oral administration of cilostazol (20 mg/kg) for 2 weeks before $A{\beta}_{25-35}$ injection and once a day for 4 weeks post-surgery almost completely prevented the $A{\beta}_{25-35}$-induced cognitive deficits, as did rosiglitazone. Taken together, our findings suggest that cilostazol could attenuate $A{\beta}_{25-35}$-induced neuronal cell injury and apoptosis as well as promote the survival of neuronal cells, subsequently improving cognitive decline in AD, partly because of PPAR-${\gamma}$ activation. The phosphodiesterase III inhibitor cilostazol may be the basis of a novel strategy for the therapy of AD.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.82-87
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• 2008

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is characterized by chronic relapsing inflammation and is associated with hyper-production of immunoglobulin E (IgE). Recent studies have suggested that one of the treatments to alleviate symptoms of AD could be a supplementation of probiotics, Lactobacillus, Rhamnosus, Bifidus, etc. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of probiotics on immune parameters in NC/Nga mice treated with 1-chloro-2,4-dinitro-benzene (DNCB). To induce atopic dermatitis, DNCB was treated to the back of mice for 2 weeks. Then, NC/Nga mice were divided into the four experimental groups randomly. Probiotics fragment, probiotics with other complex (Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, Bifidobacterium lactis Bb-12LbL, L. plantarum K8, L. plantarum K8 fragment, ${\gamma}$-linolenic acid), antihistamine, and distilled water were administrated orally to the NC/Nga mouse for 4 weeks of experimental period. The groups were probiotics fragment group (DPF), probiotics with other complex group (DPOC), antihistamine group (DAH) and distilled water group (DDW) as a control group. The levels of serum IgE, interlukin-4 (IL-4), interlukin-5 (IL-5), interferon-gamma (IFN-${\gamma}$) and spleenocyte IgE were measured. The levels of serum IgE were significantly different among the four experimental groups. Before the treatment, there was no differences among the groups. However, from the first through the third week of the treatments, the levels of serum IgE in the probiotics (DPF, DPOC) and antihistamine (DAH) groups were lower than those of control group (p < 0.05). The levels of serum IL-4 of DPOC group was significantly lower than that of control group (p < 0.05) and serum IL-5 levels of DPF, DPOC, and DAH groups were significantly lower than that of control group. The levels of serum IFN-${\gamma}$ were not different among the four experimental groups. The levels of serum IgE in supernatant of spleen lymphocytes were not significantly different among the groups. These results suggest that probiotics supplementation showed partial effectiveness in the DNCB treated NC/Nga mice via modulation of IgE level and IL-4, IL-5 production. Based on these findings, probiotics exhibited the inhibitory effect via IL-4 production thereby inhibited the production of IgE in atopic animal model NC/Nga mice.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.39-52
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• 1998

The pupose of the present paper is to estimate the effects of constraint condition of pile head, ground condition(dry unit weight. $\gamma_4$) and embedded pile lengths on the behavior of single pile which is embedded in normally consolidated clay. BBperiment functions can be quantified to these effects obtained from the results of model teats. The ground of model tests is normally consolidated( NC ) clay under three kinds of effective vertical stress. The results of the model tests using the steel pile of two different embedded pile length and of free-head and fired-head show that the lateral load-deflection relationship is to be elasto plastic behavior below $\gamma_d/\gamma_{dmax}$: 0.84 and that the reduction of lateral load of beyond maximum lateral load($Q_{max}$) at each model test is significantly time-dependent. In this study, it is shown that the displacement relationship can be fitted to exponential function of time by model best results. The effect of ground conditions on the ultimate and yield lateral load is fitted to exponential function including the ratio of dry unit weight to maximum dry unit weight. When tests by results are compared with those from Broms and Budhu et at., the predicted results are over-estimated about 27-87 ayo. In effectivity of constraint condition of pile head on the lateral load-deflection response, the $Q_{fixed}/Q_{gree}-y/D$ relationship is highly non-linear and fitted to parabolic function.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.521-531
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• 2014

This paper is a study for behaviour of cavern type anchorage tunnels for suspension bridges with cable tension. Anchorage behaviour, design method for anchorage, and failure surface angle, ${\delta}$ are analyzed by comparing numerical analysis results and ultimate pullout capacities($P_u$) using bilinear corelation equation. Results show that design depths for cavern type anchorage tunnels are easily checked with linear relationships for $P/{\gamma}/H$ vs. displacement and $P_u/{\gamma}/H$ vs. H/b. The analysis results of maximum shear strain distribution and plastic status show that failure shapes are closer to circular arc model than soil cone model which frequently used. To an easy calculation of the ultimate pullout capacity, we propose a simple bilinear failure model in this study. The calculated ultimate pullout capacities from the proposed bilinear corelation equation using two failure angles results are similar to the ultimate pullout capacities from numerical analysis.

• Journal of the Institute of Convergence Signal Processing
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.53-59
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• 2006

Dynamic neural networks have been applied to diverse fields requiring temporal signal processing such as system identification and signal prediction. This paper proposes the gamma neural network(GAM), which uses gamma memory kernel in the hidden layer of feedforward multilayered network, to improve dynamics of networks and then describes nonlinear adaptive prediction using the proposed network as an adaptive filter. The proposed network is evaluated in nonlinear signal prediction and compared with feedforword(FNN) and recurrent neural networks(RNN) for the relative comparison of prediction performance. Simulation results show that the GAM network performs better with respect to the convergence speed and prediction accuracy, indicating that it can be a more effective prediction model than conventional multilayered networks in nonlinear prediction for nonstationary signals.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.7-10
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• 2014

This study was designed to evaluate the protective effect of silkworm hemolymph against ${\gamma}-irradiation$ induced damage in the liver of mice. Female Balb/C mice (6 weeks old) were exposed to ${\gamma}-irradiation$ (6 Gy) and administered orally to silkworm hemolymph ($5ml\;kg^{-1}$ BW) for 7 days post-irradiation. The body weight, spleen index, plasma aspartate transaminase (AST), plasma alanine transaminase (ALT), and liver malondialdehyde (MDA) levels were determined. Compared with irradiated control mice, the activity of plasma AST and the level of MDA were significantly decreased in mice treated silkworm hemolymph. These results show that silkworm hemolymph is found to have a protective effect against ${\gamma}-irradiation$ induced damage in mice.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.33 no.12
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• pp.1014-1021
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• 2009

A new eddy viscosity equation was formulated from assumption of turbulence length scale equation and specific dissipation ratio equation. Then, a set of turbulence model equations for the turbulent kinetic energy ${\kappa}$, the viscosity ${\nu}_t$, and the intermittency factor ${\gamma}$ is proposed by considering the entrainment effect. Closure coefficients are determined by experimental data and resorting to numerical optimization. Present model has been applied to compute four representative cases of free shear flows and successfully compared with experimental data. In particular, the spreading rate, the centreline mean velocity and the profiles of intermittency are calculated with improved accuracy. Also, the proposed ${\nu}_t-{\kappa}-{\gamma}$ model was applied to channel flow by considering the wall effect and the results show good agreements with the Direct Numerical Simulation data.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Navigation and Port Research Conference
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• 2013.06a
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• pp.474-476
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• 2013

위기허용수준(RAC)은 시스템의 안전성 평가를 위한 확률적인 기준으로, 소형 해상 부유체의 롤, 피치, 히브 등 세 가지 동적운동의 위험수준 평가에 적용할 수 있다. 부유체의 동적운동 값들은 모델을 통해서 획득한 후, 이에 관한 누적확률분포함수를 추론하여 상대적인 위기수준을 결정하게 된다. 이 연구는 모델에서 획득한 세가지 동적운동에 대한 최적의 누적확률분포함수 선정에 관한 것이 목적이다. Exponential, Extreme Value, Gamma, Lognormal, Normal, Poisson 등 6가지 대표적인 누적확률분포함수를 세가지 동적운동에 적용하여 평가한 결과, 롤과 히브 운동의 경우는 Beta 누적분포함수가 최적임을 나타냈고, 피치 운동의 경우는 Gamma 누적분포함수로 대표하는 것이 최적임을 나타냈다. 아울러 향후 본 연구 결과의 적용방법에 대해서도 검토하였다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Information Science Society Conference
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• 2000.10b
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• pp.520-522
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• 2000

디지털영상을 상향표본추출(upsanpling)의 방법으로 확대하여 해상도를 높이는 경우에 확대한 영상은 확대 전의 영상에 비해 해상도는 높아지지만 흐려지거나 계단현상이 생기게 되어 영상의 품질은 저하된다. 본 연구에서는 확대된 영상에서 생기는 이와 같은 문제점을 보완하는 상향표본추출 모델을 제안한다. 제안된 모델은 8-이웃(8-neighborhood)과 가우시안 필터(Gaussian filter)를 이용하여 확대된 영상의 증가된 픽셀들의 픽셀값을 부여하여 확대 전 영상이 가진 특성이 확대 후에도 균질하게 유지될 수 있도록 하고 계단현상도 완화한다. 그리고 감마 교정(Gamma correction)을 이용하여 영상의 흐름 정도를 개선한다.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.51-66
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• 2004

Objectives : The matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) that participate in the extracellular matrix metabolism play a important role in the progression of pulmonary fibrosis. The effects of the MMPs are regulated by several factors including Th-1 cytokines, $interferon-{\gamma}$ ($IFN-{\gamma}$). Up to now, $IFN-{\gamma}$ is known to inhibit pulmonary fibrosis, but little is known regarding the exact effect of $IFN-{\gamma}$ on the regulation of the MMPs. This study investigated the effects of $interferon-{\gamma}$ on the pulmonary fibrosis and the expression of the lung MMP-2,-9, TIMP-1,-2, and Th-2 cytokines in aa rat model of bleomycin induced pulmonary fibrosis. Materials and methods : Male, specific pathogen-free Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to an intratracheal bleomycin instillation. The rats were randomized to a saline control, a bleomycin treated, and a bleomycin+$IFN-{\gamma}$ treated group. The bleomycin+$IFN-{\gamma}$ treated group was subjected to an intramuscular injection of $IFN-{\gamma}$ for 14 days. At 3, 7, 14, and 28 days after the bleomycin instillation, the rats were sacrificed and the lungs were harvested. In order to evaluate the effects of the $IFN-{\gamma}$ on lung fibrosis and inflammation, the lung hydroxyproline content, inflammation and fibrosis score were measured. Western blotting, zymography and reverse zymography were performed at 3, 7, 14, 28 days after bleomycin instillation in order to evaluate the MMP-2,-9, and TIMP-1,-2 expression level. ELISA was performed to determine the IL-4 and IL-13 level in a lung homogenate. Results : 1. 7 days after bleomycin instillation, inflammatory changes were more severe in the bleomycin+$IFN-{\gamma}$ group than the bleomycin group (bleomycin group : bleomycin+$IFN-{\gamma}$ group=$2.08{\pm}0.15:2.74{\pm}0.29$, P<0.05), but 28 days after bleomycin instillation, lung fibrosis was significantly reduced as a result of the $IFN-{\gamma}$ treatment (bleomycin group : bleomycin+$IFN-{\gamma}$ group=$3.94{\pm}0.43:2.64{\pm}0.13$, P<0.05). 2. 28 days after bleomycin instillation, the lung hydroxyproline content was significantly reduced as a result of $IFN-{\gamma}$ treatment (bleomycin group : bleomycin+$IFN-{\gamma}$ group=$294.04{\pm}31.73{\mu}g/g:194.92{\pm}15.51{\mu}g/g$, P<0.05). 3. Western blotting showed that the MMP-2 level was increased as a result of the bleomycin instillation and highest in the 14 days after bleomycin instillation. 4. In zymography, the active forms of MMP-2 were significantly increased as a result of the $IFN-{\gamma}$ treatment 3 days after the bleomycin instillation, bleomycin+$IFN-{\gamma}$ group (bleomycin group : bleomycin+$IFN-{\gamma}$ group=$209.63{\pm}7.60%:407.66{\pm}85.34%$, P<0.05), but 14 days after the bleomycin instillation, the active forms of MMP-2 were significantly reduced as a result of the $IFN-{\gamma}$ treatment (bleomycin group : bleomycin+$IFN-{\gamma}$ group=$159.36{\pm}20.93%:97.23{\pm}12.50%$, P<0.05). 5. The IL-4 levels were lower in the bleomycin and bleomycin+$IFN-{\gamma}$ groups but this was not significant, and the IL-13 levels showed no difference between the experiment groups. Conclusion : The author found that lung inflammation was increased in the early period but the pulmonary fibrosis was inhibited in the late stage as a result of $IFN-{\gamma}$. The inhibition of pulmonary fibrosis by $IFN-{\gamma}$ appeared to be associated with the inhibition of MMP-2 activation by $IFN-{\gamma}$. Further studies on the mechanism of the regulation of MMP-2 activation and the effects of MMP-2 activation on pulmonary fibrosis is warranted in the future.