• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.186-196
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• 2010

Introduction: The first aim of this study was to isolate the dental tissue-derived stem cells from the dental follicle (DF), dental pulp (DP), and root apical papilla (RAP) of the extracted wisdom teeth. Second was to evaluate their characterization with the expressions of transcription factors and cell surface markers. Finally, their ability of the in vitro multi-lineage differentiations into osteogenic and adipogenic cells were compared, respectively. Materials and Methods: Dental tissues, including dental follicle, dental pulp, and root apical papilla, were separated in the extracted wisdom teeth. These three dental tissues were cultured in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM) with supplements, respectively. After passage 3, the homogeneous shaped dental tissue-derived cells were analyzed the expression of transcription factors (Oct-4, Nanog and Sox-2) and cell surface markers (CD44, CD90 and CD105) with reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis. In order to evaluate in vitro multi-lineage differentiations, the culture media were changed to the osteogenic and adipogenic induction mediums when the dental tissue-derived cells reached to passage 3. The characteristics of these three dental tissue-derived cells were compared with immunohistochemistry. Results: During primary culture, heterogenous and colony formatted dental tissue-derived cells were observed in the culture plates. After passage 2 or 3, homogenous spindle-like cells were observed in all culture plates. Transcription factors and mesenchymal stem cell markers were positively observed in all three types of dental tissue-derived cells. However, the quantity of expressed transcription factors was most large in RAP-derived cells. In all three types of dental tissue-derived cells, osteogenic and adipogenic differentiations were observed after treatment of specific induction media. In vitro adipogenic differentiation was similar among these three types of cells. In vitro osteogenic differentiation was most strongly and frequently observed in the RAP-derived cells, whereas rarely osteogenic differentiation was observed in the DP-derived cells. Conclusion: These findings suggest that three types of human dental tissue-derived cells from extracted wisdom teeth were multipotent mesenchymal stem cells, have the properties of multi-lineage differentiations. Especially, stem cells from root apical papilla (SCAP) have much advantage in osteogenic differentiation, whereas dental follicle cells (DFCs) have a characteristic of easy adipogenic differentiation.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.69-81
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• 2022

This study was performed to screen the efficacy of antagonistic bacterial isolates from various sources against the bacterial fruit blotch (BFB) causing pathogen (Acidovorax citrulli) in cucurbit crops. In addition, plant growth promoting traits of these antagonistic bacterial isolates were characterized. Two thousand seven hundred ninety-four microorganisms were isolated from the collected samples. Molecular identification revealed two A. citrulli out of 2,794 isolates. In vitro antagonistic results showed that, among the 28 antagonistic bacterial isolates, 24 and 14 bacterial isolates exhibited antagonism against HPP-3-3B and HPP-9-4B, respectively. Antagonistic and growth promotion characterization of the antagonistic bacterial isolates were further studied. Results suggested that, 4 antagonistic bacteria commonly showed both antagonism and growth promotion phenotypes. Moreover, 3 isolates possessed growth promoting activities. Overall results from this study suggests that BFB causing bacterial pathogen (A. citrulli) was suppressed in in vitro antagonism assay by antagonistic bacterial isolates. Furthermore, these antagonistic bacterial isolates possessed growth promotion and antagonistic enzyme production ability. Therefore, data from this study can provide useful basic data for the in vivo experiments which ultimately helps to develop the eco-friendly agricultural materials to control fruit rot disease in cucurbit crops in near future.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.426-437
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• 2024

Objective: Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) is a diagnostic tool that provides precise and reproducible information about cardiac structure, function, and tissue characterization, aiding in the monitoring of chemotherapy response in patients with light-chain cardiac amyloidosis (AL-CA). This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of CMR in monitoring responses to chemotherapy in patients with AL-CA. Materials and Methods: In this prospective study, we enrolled 111 patients with AL-CA (50.5% male; median age, 54 [interquartile range, 49-63] years). Patients underwent longitudinal monitoring using biomarkers and CMR imaging. At follow-up after chemotherapy, patients were categorized into superior and inferior response groups based on their hematological and cardiac laboratory responses to chemotherapy. Changes in CMR findings across therapies and differences between response groups were analyzed. Results: Following chemotherapy (before vs. after), there were significant increases in myocardial T2 (43.6 ± 3.5 ms vs. 44.6 ± 4.1 ms; P = 0.008), recovery in right ventricular (RV) longitudinal strain (median of -9.6% vs. -11.7%; P = 0.031), and decrease in RV extracellular volume fraction (ECV) (median of 53.9% vs. 51.6%; P = 0.048). These changes were more pronounced in the superior-response group. Patients with superior cardiac laboratory response showed significantly greater reductions in RV ECV (-2.9% [interquartile range, -8.7%-1.1%] vs. 1.7% [-5.5%-7.1%]; P = 0.017) and left ventricular ECV (-2.0% [-6.0%-1.3%] vs. 2.0% [-3.0%-5.0%]; P = 0.01) compared with those with inferior response. Conclusion: Cardiac amyloid deposition can regress following chemotherapy in patients with AL-CA, particularly showing more prominent regression, possibly earlier, in the RV. CMR emerges as an effective tool for monitoring associated tissue characteristics and ventricular functional recovery in patients with AL-CA undergoing chemotherapy, thereby supporting its utility in treatment response assessment.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.47-54
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• 2012

Purpose : This study was performed to evaluate the characteristics of rat mesenchymal stem cells (RMSCs) transduced with human ferritin gene and investigate $in$ $vitro$ MRI detectability of ferritin-transduced RMSCs. Materials and Methods: The RMSCs expressing both myc-tagged human ferritin heavy chain subunit (myc-FTH) and green fluorescence protein (GFP) were transduced with lentiviurs. Transduced cells were sorted by GFP expression using a fluorescence-activated cell sorter. Myc-FTH and GFP expression in transduced cells were detected by immunofluorescence staining. The cell proliferative ability and viability were assessed by MTT assay. The RMSC surface markers (CD29+/CD45-) were analyzed by flow cytometry. The intracellular iron amount was measured spectrophotometically and the presence of ferritin-iron accumulation was detected by Prussian blue staining. $In$ $vitro$ magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study of cell phantoms was done on 9.4 T MR scanner to evaluate the feasibility of imaging the ferritin-transduced RMSCs. Results: The myc-FTH and GFP genes were stably transduced into RMSCs. No significant differences were observed in terms of biologic properties in transduced RMSCs compared with non-transduced RMSCs. Ferritin-transduced RMSCs exhibited increased iron accumulation ability and showed significantly lower $T_2$ relaxation time than non-transduced RMSCs. Conclusion: Ferritin gene as MR reporter gene could be used for non-invasive tracking and visualization of therapeutic mesenchymal stem cells by MRI.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.32 no.4B
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• pp.253-259
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• 2012

Wastewater-adapted microalgae such as Chlorella vulgaris AG10032, Ankistrodesmus gracilis SAG278-2 and Scenedesmus quadricauda AG10308 are useful biological resources for recovering biofuel and other bio-based materials from wastewater because of their efficient removals of nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater and their high fatty acid contents in biomass. Although the concentrations of phosphorus typically vary in wastewater environment, very little is known about the effect of phosphorus concentration, especially phosphorus starvation, on microalgal fatty acid synthesis. This is partially due to the lack of methodological establishment for algal fatty acid analysis. In this study, we compared the analysis performances of microalgal fatty acids by two different methods; one is a non-polar GC (gas chromatography) column based method, which is generally used for microbial fatty acids, and the other is a polar WAX-type GC column method, which is typically used for plant fatty acids. And then, we explored the effect of phosphorus concentration levels on fatty acid production in microalgae cultivated from wastewater. As results, the polar WAX-type column method has better ability to separate poly unsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) including $C_{18:3}$ (linolenic acid), and was found to be more applicable in analyzing fatty acids from wastewater-cultivated microalgae than the non-polar column method. The fatty acid characterization by the WAX-type column method revealed little effect of phosphorus starvation on the quantity and composition of fatty acids from wastewater-cultivated microalgae.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.34 no.10
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• pp.664-670
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• 2012

A study on the in situ regeneration effect of commercial deactivated SCR catalyst which had been exposed to the off gas from the heavy oil fired power plant for a long time was carried out in a simulated in situ conditions by washing with distilled water and various acid solutions in a short time. The catalytic performance test of the regenerated SCR catalysts was carried out in the micro reactor with simulated off gas of the heavy oil fired power plant and all prepared catalysts were characterized by BET, Porosimeter, EDX (Energy Dispersive X-ray spectrometer) and ICP (Inductively Coupled Plasma) to investigate correlations between catalytic activity and surface characteristics of them. The characterization results of the regenerated catalysts showed that the specific surface area was restored 95% more than that of fresh catalyst. Under this study, the activity of the regenerated catalysts with acid solution (3~6 M) without using ultrasonic wave in a simulated in situ conditions was restored 90% more than that of the fresh catalyst. It was found that improved activity of regenerated catalyst was caused by removing the deactivating materials from the surface of the deactivated SCR catalyst through acid washing.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.123-148
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• 2013

The nonlinear finite element method with eight noded isoparametric quadrilateral element for concrete and two noded element for reinforcement is used for the prediction of the behavior of reinforcement concrete structures. The disturbed state concept (DSC) including the hierarchical single surface (HISS) plasticity model with associated flow rule with modifications is used to characterize the constitutive behavior of concrete both in compression and in tension which is named DSC/HISS-CT. The HISS model is applied to shows the plastic behavior of concrete, and DSC for microcracking, fracture and softening simulations of concrete. It should be noted that the DSC expresses the behavior of a material element as a mixture of two interacting components and can include both softening and stiffening, while the classical damage approach assumes that cracks (damage) induced in a material treated acts as a void, with no strength. The DSC/HISS-CT is a unified model with different mechanism, which expresses the observed behavior in terms of interacting behavior of components; thus the mechanism in the DSC is much different than that of the damage model, which is based on physical cracks which has no strength and interaction with the undamaged part. This is the first time the DSC/HISS-CT model, with the capacity to account for both compression and tension yields, is applied for concrete materials. The DSC model allows also for the characterization of non-associative behavior through the use of disturbance. Elastic perfectly plastic behavior is assumed for modeling of steel reinforcement. The DSC model is validated at two levels: (1) specimen and (2) practical boundary value problem. For the specimen level, the predictions are obtained by the integration of the incremental constitutive relations. The FE procedure with DSC/HISS-CT model is used to obtain predictions for practical boundary value problems. Based on the comparisons between DSC/HISS-CT predictions, test data and ANSYS software predictions, it is found that the model provides highly satisfactory predictions. The model allows computation of microcracking during deformation leading to the fracture and failure; in the model, the critical disturbance, Dc, identifies fracture and failure.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.13-21
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• 2014

To quantitatively evaluate the influence of ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS) as a supplementary cementitious material on the life-cycle environmental impact of concrete, a comprehensive database including 3395 laboratory mixes and 1263 plant mixes was analyzed. The life-cycle assesment studied for the environmental impact of concrete can be summarized as follows: 1) the system boundary considered was from cradle to pre-construction; 2) Korea life-cycle inventories were primarily used to assess the environmental loads in each phase of materials, transportation and production of concrete; and 3) the environmental loads were quantitatively converted into environmental impact indicators through categorization, characterization, normalization and weighting process. The life-cycle environmental impacts of concrete could be classified into three categories including global warming, photochemical oxidant creation and abiotic resource depletion. Furthermore, these environmental impacts of concrete was significantly governed by the unit content of ordinary portland cement (OPC) and decreased with the increase of the replacement level of GGBS. As a result, simple equations to assess the environmental impact indicators could be formulated as a function of the unit content of binder and replacement level of GGBS.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.95.1-95.1
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• 2010

Transparent conducting ZnO films were deposited to apply DSSC Substrate on glass substrates at $500^{\circ}C$ by ionbeam-assisted deposition. Crystallinity, microstructure, surface roughness, chemical composition, electrical and optical properties of the films were investigated as a function of deposition parameters such as ion energy, and substrate temperature. The microstructure of the polycrystalline ZnO films on the glass substrate were closely related to the oxygen ion energy, arrival ratio of oxygen to Zinc Ion bombarded on the growing surface. The main effect of energetic ion bombardment on the growing surface of the film may be divided into two categories; 1) the enhancement of adatom mobility at low energetic ion bombardment and 2) the surface damage by radiation damage at high energetic ion bombardment. The domain structure was obtained in the films deposited at 300 eV. With increasing the ion energy to 600 eV, the domain structure was changed into the grain structure. In case of the low energy ion bombardment of 300 eV, the microstructure of the film was changed from the grain structure to the domain structure with increasing arrival ratio. At the high energy ion bombardment of 600 eV, however, the only grain structure was observed. The electrical properties of the deposited films were significantly related to the change of microstructure. The films with the domain structure had larger carrier concentration and mobility than those with the grain structure, because the grain boundary scattering was reduced in the large size domains compared with the small size grains. The optical transmittance of ZnO films was dependent on a surface roughness. The ZnO films with small surface roughness, represented high transmittance in the visible range because of a decreased light surface scattering. By varying the ion energy and arrival ratio, the resistivity and optical transmittance of the films were varied from $1.1{\times}10^{-4}$ to $2.3{\times}10^{-2}{\Omega}cm$ and from 80 to 87%, respectively. The ZnO film deposited at 300 eV, and substrate temperature of $500^{\circ}C$ had the resistivity of $1.1{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}cm$ and optical transmittance of 85% in visible range. As a result of experiments, we provides a suggestition that ZnO thin Films can be effectively used as the DSSC substrate Materials.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.39 no.8
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• pp.627-634
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• 1995

Layered double hydroxides ($Mg-Al-CO_3$ systems, LDH), which are hydrotalcite-like anionic clay minerals, having different $Mg^{2+}\;to\;Al^{3+}$ ratio were synthesized by coprecipitation method. The subsequent products were characterized by the following methods; elemental analysis, X-ray powder diffraction, thermal analysis (DSC and TGA), FT-IR and $^{27}$Al-MAS NMR. X-ray powder patterns showed that the products formed were layered structure materials. Two heat absorption peaks were observed around 20 ∼280$^{\circ}C$ (surface water and interlayer water) and 280∼500$^{\circ}C$ (water from lattice hydroxide and carbon dioxide from interlayer carbonate) in DSC diagrams, and they were quantitatively analyzed by TGA diagrams (in case LDH4 16.2% and 28.6% respectively). FT-IR spectra indicate that the interlayer carbonate ions occupied symmetrical sites between two adjacent layers in a parallel direction. $^{27}$Al-MAS NMR spectra show only single resonance (8.6 ppm) of the octahedrally coordinated aluminum similar magnesium. When LDH4 was calcined at 560$^{\circ}C$ for 3 hours in air, its layered structure was destroyed giving a mixed metal oxide. However it readily became rehydrated in aqueous chromate solution to its original structure.