• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.192-201
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• 2008

Erythropoietin-producing human hepatocellular carcinoma receptor B1 (EPHB1) is a member of the Eph family of receptor tyrosine kinases that mediate vascular system development. Eph receptor overexpression has been observed in various cancers and is related to the malignant transformation, metastasis, and differentiation of cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Eph receptors regulate cell migration and attachment to the extracellular matrix by modulating integrin activity. EphrinB1, the ligand of EPHB1, has been shown to regulate HCC carcinogenesis. Here, we sought to determine whether EPHB1 polymorphisms are associated with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-infected liver diseases, including chronic liver disease (CLD) and HCC. We genotyped 26 EPHB1 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 399 Korean CLD, HCC, and LD (CLD+HCC) cases and seroconverted controls (HBV clearance, CLE) using the GoldenGate assay. Two SNPs (rs6793828 and rs11717042) and 1 haplotype that were composed of these SNPs were associated with an increased risk for CLD, HCC, and LD (CLD+HCC) compared with CLE. Haplotypes that could be associated with HBV-infected liver diseases by affecting downstream signaling were located in the Eph tyrosine kinase domain of EPHB1. Therefore, we suggest that EPHB1 SNPs, haplotypes, and diplotypes may be genetic markers for the progression of HBV-associated acute hepatitis to CLD and HCC.

• BMB Reports
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.87-95
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• 2011

Enzymatic catalysis has been pursued extensively in a wide range of important chemical processes for their unparalleled selectivity and mild reaction conditions. However, enzymes are usually costly and easy to inactivate in their free forms. Immobilization is the key to optimizing the in-service performance of an enzyme in industrial processes, particularly in the field of non-aqueous phase catalysis. Since the immobilization process for enzymes will inevitably result in some loss of activity, improving the activity retention of the immobilized enzyme is critical. To some extent, the performance of an immobilized enzyme is mainly governed by the supports used for immobilization, thus it is important to fully understand the properties of supporting materials and immobilization processes. In recent years, there has been growing concern in using polymeric materials as supports for their good mechanical and easily adjustable properties. Furthermore, a great many work has been done in order to improve the activity retention and stabilities of immobilized enzymes. Some introduce a spacer arm onto the support surface to improve the enzyme mobility. The support surface is also modified towards biocompatibility to reduce non-biospecific interactions between the enzyme and support. Besides, natural materials can be used directly as supporting materials owning to their inert and biocompatible properties. This review is focused on recent advances in using polymeric materials as hosts for lipase immobilization by two different methods, surface attachment and encapsulation. Polymeric materials of different forms, such as particles, membranes and nanofibers, are discussed in detail. The prospective applications of immobilized enzymes, especially the enzyme-immobilized membrane bioreactors (EMBR) are also discussed.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.367-373
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• 2004

We have developed a rigorous heat treatment method to improve the biocompatibility of chitosan as a tissue-engineered scaffold. The chitosan scaffold was prepared by the controlled freezing and lyophilizing method using dilute acetic acid and then it was heat-treated at 110$^{\circ}C$ in vacuo for 1-3 days. To explore changes in the physicochemical properties of the heat-treated scaffold, we analyzed the degree of deacetylation by colloid titration with poly(vinyl potassium sulfate) and the structural changes were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, wide-angle X-ray diffractometry (WAXD), and lysozyme susceptibility. The degree of deacetylation of chitosan scaffolds decreased significantly from 85 to 30% as the heat treatment time increased. FT-IR spectroscopic and WAXD data indicated the formation of amide bonds between the amino groups of chitosan and acetic acids carbonyl group, and of interchain hydrogen bonding between the carbonyl groups in the C-6 residues of chitosan and the N-acetyl groups. Our rigorous heat treatment method causes the scaffold to become more susceptible to lysozyme treatment. We performed further examinations of the changes in the biocompatibility of the chitosan scaffold after rigorous heat treatment by measuring the initial cell binding capacity and cell growth rate. Human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs) adhere and spread more effectively to the heat-treated chitosan than to the untreated sample. When the cell growth of the HDFs on the film or the scaffold was analyzed by an MTT assay, we found that rigorous heat treatment stimulated cell growth by 1.5∼1.95-fold relative to that of the untreated chitosan. We conclude that the rigorous dry heat treatment process increases the biocompatibility of the chitosan scaffold by decreasing the degree of deacetylation and by increasing cell attachment and growth.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.844-850
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• 2000

The specific binding and internalization of viral particles is an essential step for the successful infection of viral pathogens. In the case of the hepatitis B virus (HBV), virions bind to the host cell via the preS domain of the viral surface antigen and are subsequently internalized by endocytosis. HBV-preS specific receptors are primarily expressed on hepatocytes, however, viral DNA and proteins have also been detected in extrahepatic sites, suggsting that celluar recepators for HBV may also exist on extrahepatic cells. Recently, an EBV-transformed B-cell line was identified onto which the preS region binds in a receptor-ligand specific manner. In this study, this specific interaction was further characterized, and the binding region within the preS protein was locaized. Also the internalization after host cell attachment was visualized and analyzed by fluorescence-labeled HBV-preS1 proteins using confocal microscopy. Energy depletion by sodium azide treatment effectively inhibited the internalization of the membrane-bound preS1 ligands, thereby indicating an energy-dependent receptor-mediated endocytotic pathway. Accordingly, the interaction of HBV-pres! with this specific B-cell line may serve as an effective model for an infection pathway in extrahepatic cells.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.1028-1033
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• 2009

In this study, the dynamics of living cells (LC) and dead cells (DC) in a laboratory-scale biofilm membrane bioreactor for waste gas treatment was examined. Toluene was used as a model pollutant. The bacterial cells were enumerated as fluoromicroscopic counts during a 140 operating day period using BacLight nucleic acid staining in combination with epifluorescence and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CSLM). Overall, five different phases could be distinguished during the biofilm development: (A) cell attachment, (B) pollutant limitation, (C) biofilm establishment and colonization, (D) colonized biofilm, and (E) biofilm erosion. The bioreactor was operated under different conditions by applying different pollutant concentrations. An optimum toluene removal of 89% was observed at a loading rate of 14.4 kg $m^{-3}d^{-1}$. A direct correlation between the biodegradation rate of the reactor and the dynamics of biofilm development could be demonstrated. This study shows the first description of biofilm development during gaseous toluene degradation in MBR.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.493-502
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• 2010

The operation time of an encoder is one of the critical implementation issues for satisfying the timing requirements of Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems because the encoder is based on binary operations. In this paper, we propose a design and implementation of a latency efficient encoder for LTE systems. By virtue of 8-bit parallel processing of the cyclic redundancy checking attachment, code block (CB) segmentation, and a parallel processor, we are able to construct engines for turbo codings and rate matchings of each CB in a parallel fashion. Experimental results illustrate that although the total area and clock period of the proposed scheme are 19% and 6% larger than those of a conventional method based on a serial scheme, respectively, our parallel structure decreases the latency by about 32% to 65% compared with a serial structure. In particular, our approach is more latency efficient when the encoder processes a number of CBs. In addition, we apply the proposed scheme to a real system based on LTE, so that the timing requirement for ACK/NACK transmission is met by employing the encoder based on the parallel structure.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.570-574
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• 2014

Magnetic-graphene nanosheets have been synthesized via a simple effective chemical precipitation method followed by heat treatment. The composite nanosheets are super paramagnetic at room temperature and can be separated by an external magnetic field. The prepared magnetic-graphene nanosheets were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Raman spectroscopy, and BET surface area analysis. The results demonstrated the successful attachment of iron oxide nanoparticles to graphene nanosheets. It was found that the attached nanoparticles were mainly $Fe_3O_4$. The magnetic-graphene nanosheets showed near complete methyl orange removal within 10 mintues and would be practically usable for methyl orange separation from water.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.50 no.12
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• pp.627-632
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• 2001

There are claims that ESE(Early streamer emission) Air terminals offer a vastly increased zone of protection over that of traditional lightning rods by causing the emission of an upward streamer/leader that will propagate towards the tip of downward leader at an early stage in the attachment process than would occur for a simple rod in the same geometrical configurations. This paper shows the results of comparing test a particular type of ESE air terminals with a simple rod conducted in the KEH HV laboratory, which are lightning impulse voltage test, flashover direction test and corona emission current measurement. The results from this test show a completely random scattering of flashovers to the conventional and ESE air terminals under identical electrics] and geometrical conditions, and thus shows no advantage of one terminal over the other.

• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.239-247
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• 2018

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the denture attachment status and the denture need of elderly Koreans and to provide basic data for improving the quality of life by developing methods and education programs for the oral health of the elderly. Methods: This study selected 4,340 persons who completed questionnaires and oral examinations among elderly people aged 65 or older only from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data of the 6th period (2013-2015). Results: There was a significant relationship between age, residence, and education level in complete dentures. There was a significant relationship between gender, age, residence, and education level in the partial denture wearing state. In the complete denture need, there was a significant relationship with age. The need for partial denture was found to be significant in gender, age, and residence. Conclusion : Based on the results of this study, it can be used as basic data for oral health education and dental prosthesis related to denture which can improve oral health of the elderly in the future.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.382-395
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• 2016

Purpose: Alendronate has been proposed as a local and systemic drug treatment used as an adjunct to scaling and root planing (SRP) for the treatment of periodontitis. However, its effectiveness has yet to be conclusively established. The purpose of the present meta-analysis was to assess the effectiveness of SRP with alendronate on periodontitis compared to SRP alone. Methods: Five electronic databases were used by 2 independent reviewers to identify relevant articles from the earliest records up to September 2016. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing SRP with alendronate to SRP with placebo in the treatment of periodontitis were included. The outcome measures were changes in bone defect fill, probing depth (PD), and clinical attachment level (CAL) from baseline to 6 months. A fixed-effect or random-effect model was used to pool the extracted data, as appropriate. Mean differences (MDs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. Heterogeneity was assessed using the Cochrane ${\chi}^2$ and $I^2$ tests. Results: After the selection process, 8 articles were included in the meta-analysis. Compared with SRP alone, the adjunctive mean benefits of locally delivered alendronate were 38.25% for bone defect fill increase (95% CI=33.05%-43.45%; P<0.001; $I^2=94.0%$), 2.29 mm for PD reduction (95% CI=2.07-2.52 mm; P<0.001; $I^2=0.0%$) and 1.92 mm for CAL gain (95% CI=1.55-2.30 mm; P<0.001; $I^2=66.0%$). In addition, systemically administered alendronate with SRP significantly reduced PD by 0.36 mm (95% CI=0.18-0.55 mm; P<0.001; $I^2=0.0%$) and increased CAL by 0.39 mm (95% CI=0.11-0.68 mm; P=0.006; $I^2=6.0%$). Conclusions: The collective evidence regarding the adjunctive use of alendronate locally and systemically with SRP indicates that the combined treatment can improve the efficacy of non-surgical periodontal therapy on increasing CAL and bone defect fill and reducing PD. However, precautions must be exercised in interpreting these results, and multicenter studies evaluating this specific application should be carried out.