• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.203-210
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• 2015

AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a key regulator of energy metabolism. Previous studies have shown that activation of AMPK results in suppression of cardiac myocyte hypertrophy via inhibition of the p70S6 kinase (p70S6K) and eukaryotic elongation factor-2 (eEF2) signaling pathways. Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), the major polyphenol found in green tea, possesses multiple protective effects on the cardiovascular system including cardiac hypertrophy. However, the molecular mechanisms has not been well investigated. In this study, we found that EGCG could significantly reduce natriuretic peptides type A (Nppa), brain natriuretic polypeptide (BNP) mRNA expression and decrease cell surface area in H9C2 cardiomyocytes stimulated with phenylephrine (PE). Moreover, we showed that AMPK is activated in H9C2 cardiomyocytes by EGCG, and AMPK-dependent pathway participates in the inhibitory effects of EGCG on cardiac hypertrophy. Taken together, our findings provide the first evidence that the effect of EGCG against cardiac hypertrophy may be attributed to its activation on AMPK-dependent signaling pathway, suggesting the therapeutic potential of EGCG on the prevention of cardiac remodeling in patients with pressure overload hypertrophy.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.209-211
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• 2002

The simultaneous sensing of nitric oxide (NO) and its metabolite, nitrite $(NO_2^-)$ has been studied by Osteryoung square-wave voltarnmetery (OSWV) in physiological pH solution (0.1 M phosphate buffer solution, pH 7.2). Using an electrochemically pretreated glassy carbon (GC) electrode, OSWV was successfully applied to observe the well-separated oxidation peaks at ca. 0.58 and 0.80V vs. Ag/AgCI for NO and $(NO_2^-)$, respectively. This clear separation between the NO and $(NO_2^-)$ oxidation peaks may be due to the formation of surface oxides (e.g., quinone (C=O) or carboxylic $(COO^-)$ group) and surface defects introduced by the electrochemical pretreatment of GC electrodes.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.488-493
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• 2008

A mathematical model of molten steel level for continuous casting process is presented, where the molten steel level, input and output flow in the mold, the relation between stopper position and input flow etc. are considered. The mathematical model is implemented and simulated by using MATLAB. Comparing the result of molten steel level from the simulator with that of real plant, the performance of the model is shown to be reasonable. By using this simulator, it is shown that PI controller with variable P gain, adjusted by fuzzy logic system, has better control result than conventional PI controller.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.169-175
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• 2012

Ginseng has been used as a traditional medicine for treatment of many diseases and for general health maintenance in people of all ages. Ginseng is also used to ameliorate menopausal systems. We investigated the estrogenic activity of Korean red ginseng (KRG) in a transient transfection system, using estrogen receptor (ER) and estrogen-responsive luciferase plasmids in MCF-7 cells. The extract activated both ER${\alpha}$ and ER${\beta}$. KRG modulated the mRNA levels of estrogen-responsive genes such as pS2 and ESR1 and decreased the protein level of ER${\alpha}$. In order to examine in vivo estrogenic activity of KRG, sixteen female Sprague-Dawley rats separated into four groups were studied for nine weeks: non-ovariectomized (OVX) rats treated with olive oil, OVX rats treated with olive oil, OVX rats treated with 17-${\beta}$-estradiol (E2) in olive oil, and OVX rats treated with KRG extract in olive oil. The experiments were repeated for three times and the data of twelve rats were combined. Body weight of OVX rats was greater than that of sham-operated control rats and was decreased by E2 treatment. Uterine weight increased after E2 treatment compared to OVX rats. However, no difference in body or uterine weight was observed with KRG intake. KRG induced reductions in total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol/total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol/total cholesterol, and low density lipoprotein cholesterol/high density lipoprotein cholesterol, but not to the same degree as did E2 intake. These results show that KRG does contain estrogenic activity as manifested by in vitro study but the activity is not strong enough to elicit physiological responses.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.439-446
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• 2014

Many studies on methane ($CH_4$) and nitrous oxide ($N_2O$) emissions from livestock industries have revealed that livestock production directly contributes to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through enteric fermentation and manure management, which causes negative impacts on animal environment sustainability. In the present study, three essential values for GHG emission were measured; i.e., i) maximum $CH_4$ producing capacity at mesophilic temperature ($37^{\circ}C$) from anaerobically stored manure in livestock category ($B_{0,KM}$, Korean livestock manure for $B_0$), ii) $EF_{3(s)}$ value representing an emission factor for direct $N_2O$ emissions from manure management system S in the country, kg $N_2O-N$ kg $N^{-1}$, at mesophilic ($37^{\circ}C$) and thermophilic ($55^{\circ}C$) temperatures, and iii) $N_{ex(T)}$ emissions showing annual N excretion for livestock category T, kg N $animal^{-1}$ $yr^{-1}$, from different livestock manure. Static incubation with and without aeration was performed to obtain the $N_2O$ and $CH_4$ emissions from each sample, respectively. Chemical compositions of pre- and post- incubated manure were analyzed. Contents of total solids (% TS) and volatile solid (% VS), and the ratio of carbon to nitrogen (C/N) decrease significantly in all the samples by C-containing biogas generation, whereas moisture content (%) and pH increased after incubation. A big difference of total nitrogen content was not observed in pre- and post-incubation during $CH_4$ and $N_2O$ emissions. $CH_4$ emissions (g $CH_4$ kg VS-1) from all the three manures (sows, layers and Korean cattle) were different and high C/N ratio resulted in high $CH_4$ emission. Similarly, $N_2O$ emission was found to be affected by % VS, pH, and temperature. The $B_{0,KM}$ values for sows, layers, and Korean cattle obtained at $37^{\circ}C$ are 0.0579, 0.0006, and 0.0828 $m^3$ $CH_4$ kg $VS^{-1}$, respectively, which are much less than the default values in IPCC guideline (GL) except the value from Korean cattle. For sows and Korean cattle, $N_{ex(T)}$ values of 7.67 and 28.19 kg N $yr^{-1}$, respectively, are 2.5 fold less than those values in IPCC GL as well. However, $N_{ex(T)}$ value of layers 0.63 kg N $yr^{-1}$ is very similar to the default value of 0.6 kg N $yr^{-1}$ in IPCC GLs for National greenhouse gas inventories for countries such as South Korea/Asia. The $EF_{3(s)}$ value obtained at $37^{\circ}C$ and $55^{\circ}C$ were found to be far less than the default value.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.12
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• pp.1773-1782
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• 2014

The aim of the experiment was to study the effect of feeding system on meat quality characteristics of Small East African (SEA) goats and their crosses with Norwegian ($SEA{\times}N$) goats finished under small scale farming conditions. Twenty four castrated goats at the age of 18 months with live body weight of $16.7{\pm}0.54kg$ from each breed (SEA and $SEA{\times}N$) were distributed in a completely randomized design in a $2{\times}3$ factorial arrangement (two breed, and three dietary treatments). The dietary treatments were; no access to concentrate (T0), 66% access to ad libitum concentrate allowance (T66) and 100% access to ad libitum concentrate allowance with 20% refusal (T100) and the experimental period was for 84 days. In addition, all goats were allowed to graze for 2 hours daily and later fed grass hay on ad libitum basis. Daily feed intakes were recorded for all 84-days of experiment after which the animals were slaughtered. Feed intake of T100 animals was 536 g/d, which was 183 g/d higher than that of T66 group. Supplemented goats had significantly (p<0.05) better feed conversion efficiency. The SEA had higher (p<0.05) hot carcass weight (8.2 vs 7.9 kg), true dressing percentage (54.5 vs 53.3) and commercial dressing percentage (43.3 vs 41.6) compared to $SEA{\times}N$. There was no significant difference (p>0.05) for dressing percentage and carcass conformation among supplemented goats except fatness score, total fat depots and carcass fat which increased (p<0.05) with increasing concentrate levels in the diet. Increasing level of concentrate on offer increased meat dry matter with subsequent increase of fat in the meat. Muscle pH of goats fed concentrate declined rapidly and reached below 6 at 6 h post-mortem but temperature remained at $28^{\circ}C$. Cooking loss and meat tenderness improved (p<0.05) and thawing loss increased (p<0.05) with ageing period. Similarly, meat tenderness improved (p<0.05) with concentrate supplementation. Shear force of muscles varied from 36 to 66, the high values been associated with Semimembranosus and Gluteobiceps muscles. The present study demonstrates that there are differences in meat quality characteristics of meat from SEA goats and their crosses with Norwegian breeds finished under small scale farming conditions in rural areas. Therefore, concentrate supplementation of goats of both breeds improves meat quality attributes.

• Plant Biotechnology Reports
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.177-186
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• 2011

This study describes for the first time in Pinus genus a plant regeneration system via a combined pathway of somatic embryogenesis and organogenesis from immature seeds of radiata pine. Somatic embryos were obtained from embryogenic line 2162 of Pinus radiata D. Don on EDM basal medium containing $60{\mu}M$ ABA and 6% sucrose. The explants used for organogenesis experiments were either freshly collected somatic embryos or somatic embryos germinated for 1 week. Germination medium was half-strength LP medium, supplemented with 0.2% activated charcoal. Different induction periods and BA concentrations were assayed for shoot induction. After induction treatments, explants were elongated on the same medium used for germination stage. Rooting medium was quarter-strength LP medium supplemented with three different auxin treatments: $1.5mg\;L^{-1}$ 1-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA), $1.5mg\;L^{-1}$ indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) and $1mg\;L^{-1}$ IBA with $0.5mg\;L^{-1}$ NAA (MIX). The effect of the photon flux ($120mmol\;m^{-2}\;s^{-1}$ and darkness) in the first week of the explants in the rooting media was also tested. This methodology could offer an alternative to overcome some problems associated with somatic embryogenesis such as the seasonality of embryogenic tissue (ET) initiation or a low embryo production from the ET, a particularly important issue in the case of genetically transformed ETs.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.07b
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• pp.1218-1220
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• 2005

We have developed laser absorption spectroscopy system for the measurement of excited Xe atoms in micro-discharged AC-PDP plasma. In this study, we have measured the absorption signals for the $1S_5$ xenon metastable state in the PDP cell with the various gas mixtures of Ne-Xe(1%), Ne-Xe(4%) and Ne-Xe(10%) under fixed gas pressure of 350 Torr and the eletrode gap distance of 50um. It is found that the maximum excited xenon densities are $1.2^{\ast}10^{12}\;cm^{-3}$, $1.8^{\ast}10^{12}\;cm^{-3}$ and $2.7^{\ast}10^{12}cm^{-3}$ for gas mixtures of Ne-Xe(1%), Ne-Xe(4%) and Ne-Xe(10%) respectively, in this experiment.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2002.08a
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• pp.39-42
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• 2002

The nuclear transmutation technology to Incinerate the long lived radioactive nuclides and produce energy during the incineration process is believed to be one or the best solutions. HYPER(${\underline{HY}}brid {\underline{P}}ower {\underline{E}}xtraction {\underline{R}}$eactor)is the accelerator driven transmutation system which is being developed by KAERI(Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute). Lead-bismuth(Pb-Bi) is adopted as a coolant and spallation target material. In this paper, we performed the thermal-hydraulic analysis of HYPER target using the commercial code FLUENT, and also calculated thermal and mechanical stress of the beam window using the commercial code ANSYS. It is found that there is an optimum value for the window diameter and the maximum allowable beam current can be increased to 17.3 mA for the inner diameter of windows, 40 cm. Finally, the other shapes such as uniform or scanned beam were considered. The results of FLUENT calculations show that the uniform type is preferable to the other shapes of the beam in terms of the window and target cooling and the maximum window temperature is lower than that of the parabolic beam by $58 ^{\circ}C$ for the beam current, 13 mA.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.388-396
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• 2009

The surface properties (water sorption and repellency, adhesion) are closely related to the surface tension of polymer solids. The critical surface tension (${\gamma}_c$) and surface tension (${\gamma}_s$) of a polymer solid were estimated by the contact angle method by our quantitative imaging system. BPDA (3,3',4,4'-biphenyl tetracarboxylic dianhydride)-BAPP (1,3-Bis(4-aminophenoxy) propane) polyimide was successfully synthesized. The ${\gamma}_c$ values were analyzed by a Zisman plot, a Young-$Dupr\acute{e}$-Good-Girifalco plot, and a log ($1+cos{\theta}$) vs log ${\gamma}_L$ plot. The ${\gamma}_s$ value of BPDA-BAPE polyimide was evaluated using the geometric mean equation and our multiple regression analysis. The calculated values of ${{\gamma}_s^d$ (a dispersion component), ${{\gamma}_s^p$ (a polar component), ${{\gamma}_s^h$ (a hydrogen bonding component), and ${\gamma}_s$ were 30.79, 9.32, 0.20, and 40.31 $mN{\cdot}m^{-1}$, respectively. The ${\gamma}_s$ of BPDA-BAPP polyimide containing both a methylene group and an ether group was larger than that of the polyimide containing only a methylene group.