• Molecules and Cells
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.263-270
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• 2005

Transactivation of EGF-receptor (EGFR) by G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) is emerging as an important pathway in cell proliferation, which plays a crucial role in the development of atherosclerotic lesion. Angiotensin II (Ang II) has been identified to have a major role in the formation of atherosclerotic lesions, although the underlying mechanisms remain largely unclear. We hypothesize that Ang II promotes the proliferation and migration of smooth muscle cells through the release of heparin-binding epidermal growth factor like growth factor (HB-EGF), transactivation of EGFR and activation of Akt and Erk 1/2, with matrix metalloproteases (MMPs) playing a dispensable role. Primary rat aortic smooth muscle cells were used in this study. Smooth muscle cells rendered quiescent by serum deprivation for 12 h were treated with Ang II (100 nM) in the presence of either GM6001 ($20{\mu}M$), a specific inhibitor of MMPs or AG1478 ($10{\mu}M$), an inhibitor of EGFR. The levels of phosphorylation of EGFR, Akt and Erk 1/2 were assessed in the cell lysates. Inhibition of MMPs by GM6001 significantly attenuated Ang II-stimulated phosphorylation of EGFR, suggesting that MMPs may be involved in the transactivation of EGFR by Ang II receptor. Furthermore Ang II-stimulated proliferation and migration of smooth muscle cells were significantly blunted by inhibiting MMPs and EGFR and applying HB-EGF neutralization antibody, indicating that MMPs, HB-EGF and EGFR activation is necessary for Ang-II stimulated migration and proliferation of smooth muscle cells. Our results suggest that inhibition of MMPs may represent one of the strategies to counter the mitogenic and motogenic effects of Ang II on smooth muscle cells and thereby prevent the formation and development of atherosclerotic lesions.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.25-30
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• 2010

Titanium and titanium alloys are widely used for orthopedic and dental implants for their superior mechanical properties, low modulus, excellent corrosion resistance and good biocompatibility. In this study, corrosion behaviors of nanotube formed on the bone plate of Ti-6Al-4V alloy for dental use have been investigated. $TiO_2$ nanotubes were formed on the dental bone plates by anodization in $H_3PO_4$ containing 0.6 wt % NaF solution at $25^{\circ}C$. Electrochemical experiments were performed using a conventional three-electrode configuration with a platinum counter electrode and a saturated calomel reference electrode. Anodization was carried out using a scanning potentiostat (EG&G Co, Model 263A USA), and all experiments were conducted at room temperature. The surface morphology was observed using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy(EDS). The corrosion behavior of the dental bone plates was examined using potentiodynamic test(potential range of -1500~2000 mV) in a 0.9% NaCl solution by potentiostat (EG&G Co, PARSTAT 2273. USA). The inner diameter of nanotube was about 150~180 nm with wall thickness of about 20 nm. The interspace of nanotube to nanotube was 50 nm. The passive region of the nanotube formed bone plates showed the broad range compared to non-nanotube formed bone plates. The corrosion surface of sample was covered with corrosion products.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SP
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.20-28
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• 2003

Recently we need a faster and more accurate motion vector search algorithm for ASIC(Application Specific IC) or small systems. Block motion estimation using Full Search(FS) algorithm provides the best visual quality and PSNR, but it requires intensive computations. The previously proposed fast algorithms reduced the number of computations by limiting the number of searching locations. This is accomplished at the expense of less accuracy of motion estimation and gives rise to an appreciably higher SAD(Sum of Absolute Difference) for motion compensated images. In this paper we exploit the spatial correlation of motion vectors and present a fast motion estimation scheme which uses the predicted motion vector(PMV). The PMV scheme is more clear and simpler than the previously proposed algorithms which also use adjacent motion vectors. Simulation results with standard video sequences show that the PMV scheme is faster and more accurate than other algorithms such as Nearest-Neighbors Search(NNS) algorithm.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.669-680
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• 2001

Purpose: This study is used to investigate the correlation among a stroke patient family's health, burden and quality of life. Method: Data was collected from one hundred twenty family care-givers registered at K and H Hospital in Seoul. Questionnaire data was drawn up by personal interviews aided by the staff nurses. The analyses of collected data are based on the rate of 100 percentage to the average, t-test, ANOVA, DMR, Pearson Correlation. Result: (1) The influential factors on physical health proved to be age, sex, academic career, matrimonial status, present occupation, economic situation, the relationship with the patient, the patient-caring term, and the family-formation. The psychological health issues were age, final academic career, matrimonial status, the relation with patient and the family-formation. Burdens were shown to be age, matrimonial status, the relation with patient, and the patient-caring term. The quality of life was determined by age, final academic career, matrimonial status, and the relationship with the patient, the patient- caring term, and the family-formation. (2) The rate of the physical condition was 2.87, the psychological condition 2.43, the sense of burden 3.08, and the quality of life was 2.42. (3) The rate of correlation between the burden and the quality of life was (r= -.547), the psychological health and the burden was (r= -.531), the physical health and the burden was (r= -.263), physical health and quality of life was (r= .301), psychological health, and quality of life was (r= .413). Conclusion: It follows from this study that there is a very close correlation among the stroke patient family's health, the burden, and quality of life. Therefore it is necessary that we should find various nursing intervention ways in order to mitigate the burden of family when caring for the stroke patients.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.263-270
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• 2001

The mechanical and electrical properties of the hot-pressed and annealed ${\beta}-SiC-TiB_2$,/TEX> electroconductive ceramic composites were investigated as function as functions of the liquid forming additives of $Al_2O_3+Y_2O_3$. The result of phase analysis of composites by XRD revealed ${\alpha}$-SiC(6H), $TiB_2$,/TEX>, and YAG($Al_5Y_3O_{12}$) crystal phase. The relative density and the mechanical properties of composites were increased with increasing $Al_2O_3+Y_2O_3$ contents in pressureless annealing method because YAG of reaction between $Al_2O_3$ was increased. The flexural strength showed the highest value of 458.9 MPa for composites added with 4 wt% $Al_2O_3+Y_2O_3$ additives in pressed annealing method at room temperature. Owing to crack deflection, crack bridging, phase transition and YAG of fracture toughness mechanism, the fracture toughness showed 7.1 MPa ${\cdot}\;m^{1/2}$ for composites added with 12 wt% $Al_2O_3+Y_2O_3$ additives in pressureless annealing method at room temperature. The electrical resistivity and the resistance temperature coefficient showed the lowest value of $6.0{\times}10^{-4}\;{\Omega}\;{\cdot}\;cm(25\'^{\circ}C}$ and $3.0{\times}10^{-3}/^{\circ}C$ for composite added with 12 wt% $Al_2O_3+Y_2O_3$ additives in pressureless annealing method at room temperature, respectively. The electrical resistivity of the composites was all positive temperature coefficient resistance(PTCR) in the temperature ranges from 25 $^{\circ}C$ to 700 $^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.256-263
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• 2012

A strain of bacterium producing antifungal antibiotic was isolated and identification of the strain was attempted. We could identify the bacterium as being a Bacillus sp., based on morphological observation, physiological characteristics, and 16S rDNA sequence analysis, thus leading us to designate the strain as Bacillus sp. AH-E-1. The strain showed potent antibiotic activity against phytopathogenic and human pathogenic fungi by inducing mycelial distortion and swelling and inhibiting spore germination. The antibiotic metabolite produced by the strain demonstrated excellent thermal and pH (2-11) stability, but was labile to autoclaving. From these results, we could find a broader antifungal activity of Bacillus genus. Isolation and characterization of the active agent produced by the strain are under progress.

• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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• v.9 no.4 s.25
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• pp.434-445
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• 2004

Motion Estimation is an essential module in video encoders based on international standards such as H.263 and MPEG. Many fast motion estimation algorithms have been proposed in order to reduce the computational complexity of a well-known full search algorithms(FS). However, these fast algorithms can not work efficiently in DSP processors recently developed for video processing. To solve for this. we propose an efficient motion estimation scheme optimized in the DSP processor like Philips TM1300. A motion vector predictor is pre-estimated and a small search range is chosen in the proposed scheme using strong motion vector correlation between a current macro block (MB) and its neighboring MB's to reduce computation time. An MPEG-4 SP@L3(Simple Profile at Level 3) encoding system is implemented in Philips TM1300 to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. In that processor, we can achieve better performance using our method than other conventional ones while keeping visual quality as good as that of the FS.

• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.392-400
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• 2005

Highly integrated MPEG-4@SP video compression engine, VideoCore, is proposed for mobile application. The primary components of video compression require the high memory bandwidth since they access the external memory frequently. They include motion estimation, motion compensation, quantization, discrete cosine transform, variable length coding, and so on. The motion estimation processor adopted in VideoCore utilizes the small-size local memories such that the video compression system accesses external memory as less frequently as possible. The entire video compression system is divided into two distinct sub-systems: the integer-unit motion estimation part and the others, and both operate concurrently in a pipelined architecture. Thus the VideoCore enables the real-time high-quality video compression with a relatively low operation frequency.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.27-36
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• 2009

PSTN (public switched telephone network) provides voice communication service, whereas IP network provides data oriented service, and we can use IP network for multimedia transport service (e.g. voice over IP service) with economic price. In this paper, we propose RoIP (robot on IP) service scenario, signaling call flow, and implementation to provide home automation and monitoring service for remote site users. In our scheme, we used a extended SIP (session initiation protocol) for signaling protocol between remote site users and home robots. For our bearer transport control, we implemented H.263 video codec over RTP (real-time transport protocol) and additionally DTMF (dual tone multi-frequency) transport for robot actuator control. We implemented our scheme on home robots and experimented with KTF operator network, and it shows good communication quality (average MOS = 9.15) and flexible robot controls.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.254-263
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• 2021

Background: A chronic social defeat stress (CSDS) model has been proposed as relevant to stress-induced behavioral change in humans. In this study, we examined the effect of Korean Red Ginseng (KRG) on CSDS-induced mood disorders and protein expression in an animal model. Methods: To evaluate the effect of KRG on social defeat stress, test mice were exposed in the resident aggressor's home cage compartment for 14 days beginning 1 h after KRG treatment (10, 20, and 40 mg/kg, per oral (p.o.)). After the exposure, behavioral tests to measure anxiety, social interaction, and depression-like behavior were performed. To investigate the underlying mechanism, N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor expression levels in CSDS-induced mice were evaluated using Western blot analysis. Results: CSDS induced anxiety-like behaviors by decreasing central activity in the open-field test and open-arm approach in the elevated plus maze test and led to social avoidance behavior in the social interaction test. CSDS mice showed upregulated NR1, NR2A, and NR2B expression in the hippocampus. KRG 20 and 40 mg/kg ameliorated anxiety-like activities and KRG 20 mg/kg alleviated social avoidance by decreasing time in the corner zone. KRG treatment recovered CSDS-induced NR1, NR2A, and NR2B protein levels in the hippocampus. Conclusion: These results indicate that KRG has a therapeutic effect on CSDS-induced mood disorder by alleviating N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor overexpression in the hippocampus.