• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2017

About 20 chemical elements are nutritionally essential for humans with defined molecular functions. Several essential and nonessential biometals are either functional nutrients with antidiabetic actions or can be diabetogenic. A key question remains whether changes in the metabolism of biometals and biominerals are a consequence of diabetes or are involved in its etiology. Exploration of the roles of zinc (Zn) in this regard is most revealing because 80 years of scientific discoveries link zinc and diabetes. In pancreatic ${\beta}$- and ${\alpha}$-cells, zinc has specific functions in the biochemistry of insulin and glucagon. When zinc ions are secreted during vesicular exocytosis, they have autocrine, paracrine, and endocrine roles. The membrane protein ZnT8 transports zinc ions into the insulin and glucagon granules. ZnT8 has a risk allele that predisposes the majority of humans to developing diabetes. In target tissues, increased availability of zinc enhances the insulin response by inhibiting protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B, which controls the phosphorylation state of the insulin receptor and hence downstream signalling. Inherited diseases of zinc metabolism, environmental exposures that interfere with the control of cellular zinc homeostasis, and nutritional or conditioned zinc deficiency influence the pathobiochemistry of diabetes. Accepting the view that zinc is one of the many factors in multiple gene-environment interactions that cause the functional demise of ${\beta}$-cells generates an immense potential for treating and perhaps preventing diabetes. Personalized nutrition, bioactive food, and pharmaceuticals targeting the control of cellular zinc in precision medicine are among the possible interventions.

• Ceramist
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.16-26
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• 2020

Recently, polymer-metal composite (IPMC)-based ionic artificial muscle has been drawing a huge attention for its excellent soft actuator performance having outstanding soft actuator performance with efficient conversion of electrical energy to mechanical energy under low working voltage. In addition, light, flexible and soft nature of IPMC and high bending strain response enabled development of versatile sensor application in association with soft actuator. In this paper, current issues of IPMC were discussed including standardizing preparation steps, relaxation under DC bias, inhibiting solvent evaporation, and improving poor output force. Solutions for these drawbacks of IPMC have recently been suggested in recent studies. After following explanation of the IPMC working mechanism, we investigate the main factors that affect the operating performance of the IPMC. Then, we reviewed the optimized IPMC actuator fabrication conditions especially for the preparation process, additive selection for a thicker membrane, water content, solvent substitutes, encapsulation, etc. Lastly, we considered the pros and cons of IPMCs for sensor application in a theoretical and experimental point of view. The strategies discussed in this paper to overcome such deficiencies of IPMCs are highly expected to provide a scope for IPMC utilization in soft robotics application.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.181-187
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• 2017

The use of practical management factors to maximize pig health improvement cannot guarantee freedom from diseases. Moreover, because of health safety concerns, the use of antibiotics has been restricted in livestock, including pigs. Therefore, the swine industry has been looking for various alternatives to antibiotics to improve pig's health and performance. Clay is a dietary factor generally accepted for improving pig health. It is a naturally occurring material and is primarily composed of fine-grained minerals. It has a specific structure with polar attraction. Because of this structure, clay has the ability to lose or gain water reversibly. In addition, clay has beneficial physiological activities. First, clay has anti-diarrheic and antibacterial effects by penetrating the cell wall of bacteria or inhibiting their metabolism. Second, it can protect the intestinal tract by absorbing toxins, bacteria, or even viruses. When added to the diet, clay has also been known to bind some mycotoxins, which are toxic secondary metabolites produced by fungi, namely in cereal grains. Those beneficial effects of clay can improve pigs' health and performance by reducing pathogenic bacteria, especially pathogenic Escherichia coli, in the intestinal tract. Therefore, it is suggested that clay has a remarkable potential as an antibiotics alternative.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.58-65
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• 2014

We developed a low-cost automatic diagnosis system for water quality in cooling towers to measure the concentrations of key ingredients such as $Ca^{2+}$, $Cl^-$, $PO{_4}^{3-}$, and $Fe^{2+}$. $Ca^{2+}$, and $Cl^-$ are the main factors that cause the generation of scale, corrosion, and sludge in water pipes. $PO{_4}^{3-}$ prevents corrosion, sludge and scale by inhibiting the ions (i.e., $Ca^{2+}$, $Cl^-$) from sticking to the pipes. $Fe^{2+}$ is an indicator of pipe corrosion. The proposed system consists of a microprocessor, a specimen container and heater, a precision pump, relays and valves, LED optical sources, and photo detectors. It automatically collects water samples and carries out pretreatment for determining the concentration of each chemical, and then estimates the concentration of each ion using low-cost LED optical sources and detectors. Experimental results showed that the accuracy of the proposed system is sufficiently high for water quality diagnosis and management of cooling towers, demonstrating the possibility of the proposed system's wide usage in real environments.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.10
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• pp.1614-1625
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• 2018

Periodontitis, which is a severe inflammatory disease caused by endotoxins secreted from oral pathogens, destructs gingival tissue and alveolar bone. Curcuma xanthorrhiza, commonly called Java turmeric, has been shown to possess anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory activities. The present study evaluated the inhibitory effect of C. xanthorrhiza supercritical extract (CXS) standardized with xanthorrhizol on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced periodontitis in an animal model. LPS was topically injected into the periodontium of Sprague-Dawley rats to induce periodontitis and CXS (30 and $100mg{\cdot}kg^{-1}{\cdot}day^{-1}$) was orally administered after day 12. Histologically, CXS inhibited the collapse of gingival tissue by preventing cell infiltration. CXS significantly downregulated the expression of matrix metalloproteases (MMPs) and inflammation-related biomarkers, such as nuclear factor-kappa B ($NF-{\kappa}B$) and interleukin-1 beta ($IL-1{\beta}$) in gingival tissue. CXS also improved bone remodeling by downregulating osteoclastic transcription factors, such as nuclear factor of activated T-cells c1 (NFATc1), tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP), and cathepsin K. In addition, CXS upregulated osteoblast differentiation-related markers, alkaline phosphate (ALP) and collagen type I alpha (COLA1). Thus, CXS can ameliorate periodontitis by inhibiting inflammation and improving bone remodeling.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.212-215
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• 2006

Several reports have suggested a possible relationship between blood coagulation factors and schizophrenia. Plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1) belongs to a serine protease inhibitor family, which regulates fibrinolysis and proteolysis by inhibiting plasminogen activation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association of polymorphisms of the PAI-1 gene with schizophrenia in Korean population. Two important polymorphisms (-675 4G/5G and -844 G/A) located on promoter region of the PAI-1 gene were analyzed on 178 schizophrenia patients and 226 controls. The genotypic and allelic associations of -675 4G/5G were found significant. Furthermore, haplotype analysis revealed significant result, which suggests that -675 4G/5G polymorphism might confer increased susceptibility for schizophrenia in Korean population.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.123-130
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• 2008

To avoid some protection systems such as firewall, P2P applications have recently used to apply dynamic port numbers. Reliable estimates of P2P traffic require examination of packet payload, a methodological land mine from legal, privacy technical, logistic, and fiscal perspectives. Indeed, access to user payload is often rendered impossible by one of these factors, inhibiting trustworthy estimation of P2P growth and dynamics. Despite various methods such as port-based and signature-based techniques, it still dose not satisfy the method which uses both qualitative and quantitative aspects. In this paper, a method using SVM mechanism which discriminate the P2P traffic from non-P2P traffics using differences between P2P and other application traffics is suggested. This is a systematic methodology to identify P2P networks, and without relying on packet payload.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.265-276
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• 1986

The bovine serum factor influencing the growth of swine testicle (ST) cell and the END effect of hog cholera SN test was studied. Throughout the experimental studies. following results were obtained and summarized. 1. Bovine whole serum of 16(76.2%) and 4(19.0%) samples out of 21 have shown a positive ST cell growth and the END effect, respectively. However, all of 21(100%) and 8(38.1%) samples out of 21 serum supernatant fractions, prepared from the bovine whole serum, have shown positive ST cell growth and END effect, respectively. 2. In the SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic analysis of the bovine whole serum and the supernatant fractions, ST cell growth inhibiting factor was proved present in globulin fraction and in whole gel plate as a diffusible component. 3. The END ineffective component present in the whole serum and its supernatant fraction was proved to be BVDV neutralizing antibody. 4. The difference of osmolarity, optical density, pH, degree of precipitant formation following heat cold treatment, A/G ratio as we11 as electrophoretic pattern and NDV SN index of the samples were not correlated to the degree of 57 cell growth and to the END effectiveness.

• BMB Reports
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.126-133
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• 2018

Hippo signaling plays critical roles in regulation of tissue homeostasis, organ size, and tumorigenesis by inhibiting YES-associated protein (YAP) and PDZ-binding protein TAZ through MST1/2 and LATS1/2 pathway. It is also engaged in cross-talk with various other signaling pathways, including WNT, BMPs, Notch, GPCRs, and Hedgehog to further modulate activities of YAP/TAZ. Because YAP and TAZ are transcriptional coactivators that lack DNA-binding activity, both proteins must interact with DNA-binding transcription factors to regulate target gene's expression. To activate target genes involved in cell proliferation, TEAD family members are major DNA-binding partners of YAP/TAZ. Accordingly, YAP/TAZ were originally classified as oncogenes. However, YAP might also play tumor-suppressing role. For example, YAP can bind to DNA-binding tumor suppressors including RUNXs and p73. Thus, YAP might act either as an oncogene or tumor suppressor depending on its binding partners. Here, we summarize roles of YAP depending on its DNA-binding partners and discuss context-dependent functions of YAP/TAZ.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.309-319
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• 2017

The research investigates the inhibition of fatty acid biosynthesis of the human Acetyl-CoA Carboxylase enzyme by the aromatic-structure inhibitors (also known as ligands) containing variables of substituents, contributing an important role in the treatment of fatty-acid metabolic syndrome expressed by the group of cardiovascular risk factors increasing the incidence of coronary heart disease and type-2 diabetes. The effective interoperability between ligand and enzyme is characterized by a 50% concentration of enzyme inhibitor ($IC_{50}$) which was determined by experiment, and the factor of geometry structure of the ligands which are modeled by quantum mechanical methods using HyperChem 8.0.10 and Gaussian 09W softwares, combining with the calculation of quantum chemical and chemico-physical structural parameters using HyperChem 8.0.10 and Padel Descriptor 2.21 softwares. The result data are processed with the combination of classical statistical methods and modern bioinformatics methods using the statistical softwares of Department of Pharmaceutical Technology - Jadavpur University - India and R v3.3.1 software in order to accomplish a model of the quantitative structure - activity relationship between aromatic-structure ligands inhibiting fatty acid biosynthesis of the human Acetyl-CoA Carboxylase.