• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.308-314
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• 2005

Both high glucose and glucose degradation products (GDP) have been implicated in alterations of peritoneal membrane structure and function during long-term peritoneal dialysis (PD). The present study examined the role of GDP including methylglyoxal (MGO), acetaldehyde, and 3,4-dideoxyglucosone (3,4-DGE) in HPMC activation with respect to membrane hyperpermeability or fibrosis. The role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and activation of protein kinase C (PKC) in GDP-induced HPMC activation were also examined. Using M199 culture medium as control, growth arrested and synchronized HPMC were continuously stimulated by MGO, acetaldehyde, and 3,4-DGE for 48 hours. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was quantified as a marker of peritoneal membrane hyperpermeability and fibronectin and heat shock protein 47 (hsp47) as markers of fibrosis. Involvement of ROS and PKC was examined by the inhibitory effect of N-acetylcystein (NAC) or calphostin C, respectively. MGO significantly increased VEGF (1.9-fold), fibronectin (1.5-fold), and hsp47 (1.3-fold) secretion compared with control M199. NAC and calphostin C effectively inhibited MGO-induced VEGF upregulation. Acetaldehyde stimulated and 3,4-DGE inhibited VEGF secretion. Fibronectin secretion and hsp47 expression in HPMC were not affected by acetaldehyde or 3,4-DGE In conclusion, MGO upregulated VEGF and fibronectin secretion and hsp47 expression in HPMC, and PKC as well as ROS mediate MGO-induced VEGF secretion by HPMC. This implies that PKC activation and ROS generation by GDP may constitute important signals for activation of HPMC leading to progressive membrane hyperpermeability and accumulation of extracellular matrix and eventual peritoneal fibrosis.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.37 no.8
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• pp.492-497
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• 2015

VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) are generally generated in the painting process, or at the company and laundry where use organic solvents. The VOCs consist of various hydrocarbons and has low calorific value due to its dilution with atmospheric air. Therefore, the VOCs are difficult to burn by a conventional fuel combustor. In this study, a novel plasma dump combustor was proposed for the treatment of low calorific VOC gases. This combustor was designed a combination of the characteristics in a plasma burner, a dump combustor and a 3D matrix burner. The combustor has good structure for maintaining enough residence time and reaction temperature for stable flame formation and VOC destruction. For investigating the performance characteristics of the plasma dump combustor, an experiment was achieved for VOC feed rate, VOC injector position, etc. Toluene was used as a surrogate of VOC. The novel combustor gave better performance than a conventional combustor, showing that VOC destruction rate and energy efficiency were 89.64% and 12.27 kg/kWh respectively, at feeding rate of 450 L/min of VOC of 3,000 ppm of toluene concentration.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.303-311
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• 1997

Proliposomal patch of clenbuterol, ${\beta}_2-agonist$ bronchodilator, was prepared and its feasibility as a novel transdermal drug delivery system was examined. Proliposomal granules containing clenbuterol was prepared by a standard method using sorbitol and lecithin with (Rx 2) or without cholesterol (Rx 1). The porous structure of sorbitol in the proliposomes was maintained allowing tree flowability of the granules. Following contact with water, the granules were converted probably to liposomes almost completely within several minutes. It indicates that proliposomes may be hydrated, when they are applied on the skin under occlusive condition in vivo, by the sweat to form liposomes. Clenbuterol release from Rx 1 and Rx 2 proliposomes to pH 7.4 isotonic phospate buffer (PBS) across cellulose membrane (mol. wt. cut-off of 12000-14000) was retarded significantly compared with that from the mixture of clenbuterol powder and blank proliposomes. Interestingly, proliposomes prepared with lecithin and cholesterol (i.e., Rx 2 proliposomes) showed much more retarded release of clenbuterol than proliposomes prepared only with lecithin (i.e.. Rx 1 proliposomes), indicating that clenbuterol release from proliposomes can be controlled by the addition of cholesterol to the proliposomes. Proliposomal patches were prepared using PVC film as an occlusive backing sheet, two sides adhesive tape (urethane, 1.45 mm thickness) as a reservoir for proliposome granules and Millipore MF-membrane (0.45 mm pore size) as a drug release-controlling membrane. Rx 1 or Rx 2 proliposomes containing 4.6 mg of clenbuterol were loaded into the reservoir of the patch. Clenbuterol release from the patches to pH 7.4 PBS was determined using USP paddle (50 rpm)-over-disc release method. Clenbuterol release from the proliposomal patches was much more retarded even than from a matrix type clenbuterol patch (Boehringer Ingelheim ltd). Being consistent with clenbuterol release from the proliposomal granules, the release from the patches was highly dependent on the presence of cholesterol in the proliposomes : Patches containing Rx 2 proliposomes showed several fold slower drug release than patches containing Rx 1 proliposomes. When the patch containing Rx 1 proliposomes was applied on to the back of a hair-removed rat, clenbuterol concentration in the rat blood was maintained during 6-72 hrs. Transdermal absorption of clenbuterol from the patch was accelerated when the patch was prehydrated with 50 ml of pH 7.4 PBS before topical application. Above results indicate that sustained transdermal delivery of clenbuterol is feasible using proliposomal patches if the cholesterol content and pore size of the release rate-controlling membrane of patches, for example, are appropriately controlled.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.66-70
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• 2007

Lactobacillus fermentum YL-3 was encapsulated to increase acid tolerance and its total viability. After micro-encapsulation of L. fermentum YL-3 cells with sodium alginate and soybean oil, the morphology of the microcapsule was observed using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) after staining with pyronin Y and fluorescein isothiocyanate. The sizes of the microcapsules were 120-126 ${\mu}m$, 444-486 ${\mu}m$ and 401-463 ${\mu}m$ when manufactured at pH 2, 3 and 4, respectively. The microcapsule could hold live cells of L. fermentum YL-3 up to $1.2{\times}10^{7}$, $8.1{\times}10^{7}$ and $1.1{\times}10^{8}$ CFU/mL at pH 2, 3 and 4, respectively. The acid tolerance and preservative ability of L. fermentum YL-3 in microcapsule and macrocapsule at $4^{\circ}C$ and $25^{\circ}C$ were tested. L. fermentum YL-3 cells were evenly located in the alginate capsule matrix structure and the firmness of microcapsule was highest at pH 2. Micro-encapsulation showed the most effective acid tolerance at pH 2.0 and preservation of viability at $4^{\circ}C$. However, at $25^{\circ}C$, the macrocapsules showed more effective cell protection than the microcapsules. The application range for microcapsules could be wider than for macrocapsules in the food industry.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.81-87
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• 2006

The industrial systems contain many sites and components susceptible to biofilms formation. Biofilms play an important role in microbial growth and industrial fouling. Thus, the control of the biofilms in industrial systems has been emphasized, however, the efficient controlling method was not provided yet. Since silver compounds have no residual and corrosion problem, the interest for silver compounds as a biofilm control disinfectant has been increased. In this study, we attempted to examine the disinfection ability of silver compounds. The disinfection efficiency of two silver compounds(silver ion and silver oxide) were evaluated for biofilms in comparison with suspended cells using well known indicator microorganisms(E. coli, P. aeruginosa) and compared with that of chlorine. Silver compounds were found to be effective in inactivating E. coli and P. aeruginosa biofilms. The reason for superiority of silver compounds as biofilm disinfectant was suggested by that silver can penetrate into the inner biofilm matrix faster than chlorine without consumption. This study reports that the disinfectant which is highly effective in inactivating the suspended cells in water becomes the less effective for controlling biofilm because of its high reactivity. This results imply that the effective strategy for biofilm control can be achieved by considering thoroughly the chemical nature of disinfects and biofilm structure and the reactivity between them.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.24-30
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• 2014

3-Amino-1,2,4-triazole (ATA) (2.5 and 5.0 phr) was incorporated into a immiscible maleated ethylene propylene diene rubber(mEPDM)/maleated high density polyethylene(mHDPE) (50 wt%/50 wt%) blend by melt mixing. Effects of the ATA on structure, mechanical and rheological properties of the blend was investigated. FT-IR and DMA results revealed that supramolecular hydrogen bonding interactions between the polymer chains occur by reaction of ATA with maleic anhydride grafted onto the component polymers in the blend, which induces the physical crosslinks in the blend. FE-SEM analysis showed that mEPDM forms a dispersed phase in continuous mHDPE matrix, and the blend with the ATA has finer phase morphology as compared to the blend without the ATA. By the addition of ATA in the blend, there were significant increases in tensile strength, modulus and elongation-at-break as well as elastic recoverability. Melt rheology studies revealed that ATA induced substantial increase in storage modulus and complex viscosity of the blend at the melt state.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.694-698
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• 2008

In hydrology, it is a difficult task to deal with multivariate time series such as modeling streamflows of an entire complex river system. Normal distribution based model such as MARMA (Multivariate Autorgressive Moving average) has been a major approach for modeling the multivariate time series. There are some limitations for the normal based models. One of them might be the unfavorable data-transformation forcing that the data follow the normal distribution. Furthermore, the high dimension multivariate model requires the very large parameter matrix. As an alternative, one might be decomposing the multivariate data into independent components and modeling it individually. In 1985, Lins used Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The five scores, the decomposed data from the original data, were taken and were formulated individually. The one of the five scores were modeled with AR-2 while the others are modeled with AR-1 model. From the time series analysis using the scores of the five components, he noted "principal component time series might provide a relatively simple and meaningful alternative to conventional large MARMA models". This study is inspired from the researcher's quote to develop a multivariate simulation model. The multivariate simulation model is suggested here using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Independent Component Analysis (ICA). Three modeling step is applied for simulation. (1) PCA is used to decompose the correlated multivariate data into the uncorrelated data while ICA decomposes the data into independent components. Here, the autocorrelation structure of the decomposed data is still dominant, which is inherited from the data of the original domain. (2) Each component is resampled by block bootstrapping or K-nearest neighbor. (3) The resampled components bring back to original domain. From using the suggested approach one might expect that a) the simulated data are different with the historical data, b) no data transformation is required (in case of ICA), c) a complex system can be decomposed into independent component and modeled individually. The model with PCA and ICA are compared with the various statistics such as the basic statistics (mean, standard deviation, skewness, autocorrelation), and reservoir-related statistics, kernel density estimate.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2018.10a
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• pp.73-73
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• 2018

Bacterial leaf blight(BLB), caused by X. oryzae pv. oryzae(Xoo), is one of the most destructive diseases of rice due to its high epidemic potential. Understanding BLB resistance at a genetic level is important to further improve the rice breeding that provides one of the best approaches to control BLB disease. In the present investigation, a collection of 192 accessions was used in the genome-wide association study (GWAS) for BLB resistance loci against four Korean races of Xoo that were represented by the prevailing BLB isolates under Xoo differential system. A total of 192 accessions of rice germplasm were selected on the basis of the bioassay using four isolated races of Xoo such as K1, K2, K3 and K3a. The selected accessions was used to prepare 384-plex genotyping by sequencing (GBS) libraries and Illumina HiSeq 2000 paired- end read was used for GBS sequencing. GWAS was conducted using T ASSEL 5.0. The T ASSEL program uses a mixed linear model (MLM). T he results of the bioassay using a selected set of 192 accessions showed that a large number of accessions (93.75%) were resistant to K1 race, while the least number of accessions (34.37%) resisted K3a race. For races K2 and K3, the resistant germplasm proportion remained between 66.67 to 70.83%. T he genotypic data produced SNP matrix for a total of 293,379 SNPs. After imputation the missing data was removed, which exhibited 34,724 SNPs for association analysis. GWAS results showed strong signals of association at a threshold of [-log10(P-value)] more than5 (K1 and K2) and more than4 (K3 and K3a) for nine of the 39 SNPs, which are plausible candidate loci of resistance genes. T hese SNP loci were positioned on rice chromosome 2, 9, and 11 for K1 and K2 races, whereas on chromosome 4, 6, 11, and 12 for K3 and K3a races. The significant loci detected have also been illustrated, NBS-LRR type disease resistance protein, SNARE domain containing protein, Histone deacetylase 19, NADP-dependent oxidoreductase, and other expressed and unknown proteins. Our results provide a better understanding of the distribution of genetic variation of BLB resistance to Korean pathogen races and breeding of resistant rice.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.201-208
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• 2013

Objective: To investigate changes in the invasive capacity of gastric cancer cells in vitro after expression inhibition of T lymphoma invasion and metastasis inducing factor 1 (Tiam 1) and underlying mechanisms. Methods: Using adhesion selection, two subpopulations with high ($M_H$) or low ($M_L$) invasive capacity were separated from the human gastric cancer cell line MKN-45 ($M_0$). Tiam 1 antisense oligodeoxynucleotide (ASODN) was transfected into $M_H$ cells with liposomes, and expression of Tiam 1 mRNA and protein was determined by RT-PCR and quantitative cellular-ELISA. Changes in the cytoskeleton, invasive capacity in vitro and expression of ras-related $C_3$ botulinum toxin substrate 1 (Rac 1), integrin ${\beta}1$ and matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP 2) between Tiam 1 ASODN transfected $M_H$ cells and non-transfected cells were observed by HE staining, cytoskeletal protein staining, scanning electron microscopy, Boyden chamber tests and cyto-immunohistochemistry. Results: A positive correlation existed between the expression level of Tiam l mRNA or protein and the invasion capacity of gastric cancer cells. After ASODN treatment ($0.43{\mu}M$ for 48 h), Tiam 1 mRNA transcription and protein expression in $M_H$ cells were decreased by 80% and 24% respectively (P < 0.05), compared with untreated controls, while invasive capacity in vitro was suppressed by 60% (P < 0.05). Morphologic and ultrastructural observation also showed that ASODN-treated $M_H$ cells exhibited smooth surfaces with obviously reduced filopodia and microspikes, which resembled $M_0$ and $M_L$ cells. Additionally, cytoskeletal distribution dramatically altered from disorder to regularity with reduced long filament-like structure, projections, pseudopodia on cell surface, and with decreased acitn-bodies in cytoplasm. After Tiam 1 ASODN treatment, the expression of Rac 1 and Integrin ${\beta}1$ in $M_H$ cells was not affected (P > 0.05), but that of MMP 2 in $M_H$ cells was significantly inhibited compared with untreated cells (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Over-expression of Tiam-1 contributes to the invasive phenotype of gastric cancer cells. Inhibition of Tiam 1 expression could impair the invasive capacity of gastric cancer cells through modulating reconstruction of the cytoskeleton and regulating expression of MMP 2.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.44 no.8
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• pp.8-15
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• 2007

In this paper, we fabricated the field emitter display using oxidized porous polysilicon(OPPS). Their field emission characteristics and the brightness were investigated for each pixel. The OPPS emitter was operated to each pixel using passive matrix for application of large panel display. We set up the proper thickness and width of upper electrode. The fine structure of OPPS was analyzed and the field emission characteristics of each pixel were investigated. As a result of field emission characteristics of different upper electrode thickness and width, we confirmed that the most efficient thickness was 2nm/7nm and increased the emission efficiency over the width of 2.5 mm. Even if field emission characteristics of each pixel was a little different but we confirmed the same leakage current and emission current, emission efficiency at each pixel. The leakage current and emission current was decreased according to the time increases but all of each pixel were uniformly decreased. We confirmed that the brightness of each pixel was not different and the brightness of OPPS field emitter was 700 cd/m2 at the Vps=20 V. Accordingly, the patterned OPPS field emitter can be applied to high quality field emission display devices.