• BMB Reports
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.481-485
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• 2005

The response of Spirulina (Arthrospira) platensis to high salt stress was investigated by incubating the cells in light of moderate intensity in the presence of 0.8 M NaCl. NaCl caused a decrease in photosystem II (PSII) mediated oxygen evolution activity and increase in photosystem I (PSI) activity and the amount of P700. Similarly maximal efficiency of PSII (Fv/Fm) and variable fluorescence (Fv/Fo) were also declined in salt-stressed cells. Western blot analysis reveal that the inhibition in PSII activity is due to a 40% loss of a thylakoid membrane protein, known as D1, which is located in PSII reaction center. NaCl treatment of cells also resulted in the alterations of other thylakoid membrane proteins: most prominently, a dramatic diminishment of the 47-kDa chlorophyll protein (CP) and 94-kDa protein, and accumulation of a 17-kDa protein band were observed in SDS-PAGE. The changes in 47-kDa and 94-kDa proteins lead to the decreased energy transfer from light harvesting antenna to PSII, which was accompanied by alterations in the chlorophyll fluorescence emission spectra of whole cells and isolated thylakoids. Therefore we conclude that salt stress has various effects on photosynthetic electron transport activities due to the marked alterations in the composition of thylakoid membrane proteins.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.117-122
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• 2014

As a Chinese herbal medicine used in East Asia for thousands years, Cortex Magnoliae Officinalis (CMO) was observed to possess a protective effect against OH-induced DNA damage in the study. To explore the mechanism, the antioxidant effects and chemical contents of five CMO extracts were determined by various methods. On the basis of mechanistic analysis, and correlation analysis between antioxidant effects & chemical contents, it can be concluded that CMO exhibits a protective effect against OH-induced DNA damage, and the effect can be attributed to the existence of phenolic compounds, especially magnolol and honokiol. They exert the protective effect via antioxidant mechanism which may be mediated via hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) and/or sequential electron proton transfer (SEPT). In the process, the phenolic-OH moiety in phenylpropanoids is oxidized to the stable quinine-like form and the stability of quinine-like can be ultimately responsible for the antioxidant.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.50-56
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• 2012

Nickel modified NiOOH electrodes were used for the electrocatalytic oxidation of ethanol in alkaline solutions where the methods of cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronoamperometry (CA) were employed. In CV studies, in the presence of ethanol, an increase in the current for the oxidation of nickel hydroxide is followed by a decrease in the corresponding cathodic current. This suggests that the oxidation of ethanol is being catalysed through mediated electron transfer across the nickel hydroxide layer comprising of nickel ions of various valence states. Under the CA regime the reaction followed a Cottrellian behavior and the diffusion coefficient of ethanol was found to be $1{\times}10^7cm^2s^{-1}$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.560-560
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• 2012

We report a one-step fabrication method of Poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene) (PFO) nanowire array with pronounced ${\beta}$-Phase. We use liquid-bridge-mediated nanotransfer molding (LB-nTM) which is a new direct nano-patterning method based on the direct transfer of various materials from a mold to a substrate via liquid layer. The formation of the ${\beta}$-phase morphology in the resulting PFO nanowire array was evidenced by the presence of an absorption peak at 435nm. With the collection polarizer oriented parallel to the wire long axis, the PL emission was most intense and an emission dichroic ratio, DRE, of 3.7 was determined. The nanowire array have been investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Also, we simply fabricated structure of device of ITO/PFO nanowire arrays/Al and the electroluminescence spectra were recorded at various applied voltage.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.97-102
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• 2000

To increase thennotolerance of forage crops, transgenic rice plants as a model for transformation of monocots were generated. A cDNA encoding the chloroplast-localized small heat shock protein (small HSP) of rice, Oshsp21, was introduced into rice plants via Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer system. Calli induced from scutella were co-cultivated with a A. tumefaciens strain EHAlOl canying a plasmid, pIGhsp21. A large number of transgenic plants were regenerated on a medium containing hygromycin. Integration of Oshsp2l gene was confirmed by PCR and Southern blot analyses with genomic DNA. Northern blot and immunoblot analyses revealed that the Oshsp21 gene was constitutively expressed and accumulated as mature protein in transgenic plants. Effects of constitutive expression of the OshspZl on thermotolerance were first probed with the chlorophyll fluorescence. Results indicate that inactivation of electron transport reactions in photosystem I1 (PSII), were mitigated by constitutive expression of the Oshsp21. These results suggest that the chloroplast small HSP plays an important role in protecting photosynthetic machinery during heat stress. (Key words : Thermotolerance, Rice, Transgenic, cDNA)

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.191.2-191.2
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• 2015

Details of carrier dynamics in self-assembled quantum dots (QDs) with a particular attention to nonradiative processes are not only interesting for fundamental physics, but it is also relevant to performance of optoelectronic devices and the exploitation of nanocrystals in practical applications. In general, the possible processes in such systems can be considered as radiative relaxation, carrier transfer between dots of different dimensions, Auger nonradiactive scattering, thermal escape from the dot, and trapping in surface and/or defects states. Authors of recent studies have proposed a mechanism for the carrier dynamics of time-resolved photoluminescence CdTe (a type II-VI QDs) systems. This mechanism involves the activation of phonons mediated by electron-phonon interactions. Confinement of both electrons and holes is strongly dependent on the thermal escape process, which can include multi-longitudinal optical phonon absorption resulting from carriers trapped in QD surface defects. Furthermore, the discrete quantized energies in the QD density of states (1S, 2S, 1P, etc.) arise mainly from ${\delta}$-functions in the QDs, which are related to different orbitals. Multiple discrete transitions between well separated energy states may play a critical role in carrier dynamics at low temperature when the thermal escape processes is not available. The decay time in QD structures slightly increases with temperature due to the redistribution of the QDs into discrete levels. Among II-VI QDs, wide-gap CdZnTe QD structures characterized by large excitonic binding energies are of great interest because of their potential use in optoelectronic devices that operate in the green spectral range. Furthermore, CdZnTe layers have emerged as excellent candidates for possible fabrication of ferroelectric non-volatile flash memory. In this study, we investigated the optical properties of CdZnTe/ZnTe QDs on Si substrate grown using molecular beam epitaxy. Time-resolved and temperature-dependent PL measurements were carried out in order to investigate the temperature-dependent carrier dynamics and the activation energy of CdZnTe/ZnTe QDs on Si substrate.

• ALGAE
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.261-273
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• 2017

Fine dust (FD) particles have become a major contributor to air pollution causing detrimental effects on the respiratory system and skin. Although some studies have investigated the effects of FD on the respiratory system, their possible effects on the skin remain under-explored. We investigated the FD mediated inflammatory responses in keratinocytes, present in the outer layers of skin tissues and the transfer of inflammatory potential to macrophages. We further evaluated the anti-inflammatory effects of the polyphenolic derivative, diphlorethohydroxycarmalol (DPHC) isolated from Ishige okamurae against FD-induced inflammation. Size distribution of FD particles was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy. FD particles induced the production of cyclooxygenase-2, prostaglandin E2 ($PGE_2$), interleukin (IL)-$1{\beta}$, and IL-6 in HaCaT keratinocytes and the expression of nitric oxide (NO), inducible nitric oxide synthases (iNOS), $PGE_2$, tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ expression in RAW 264.7 macrophages. Further, we evaluated the inflammatory potential of the culture medium of inflammation-induced HaCaT cells in RAW 264.7 macrophages and observed a marked increase in the expression of NO, iNOS, $PGE_2$, and proinflammatory cytokines. DPHC treatment markedly attenuated the inflammatory responses, indicating its effectiveness in suppressing a broad range of inflammatory responses. It also showed anti-inflammatory potential in in-vivo experiments using FD-stimulated zebrafish embryos by decreasing NO and reactive oxygen species production, while eventing cell death caused by inflammation.

• Current Research on Agriculture and Life Sciences
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.18-24
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• 2013

This work attempted to fabricate organic/inorganic nanocomposite by combining organic cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs), isolated by 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxy radical (TEMPO)-mediated oxidation of native cellulose with inorganic nanoclay. The morphology and dimension of CNFs, and tensile properties and thermal stability of CNF/clay nanocomposites were characterized by transmission electron microscope (TEM), tensile test, and thermogravimetry (TG), respectively. TEM observation showed that CNFs were fibrillated structure with a diameter of about $4.86{\pm}1.341nm$. Tensile strength and modulus of the hybrid nanocomposite decreased as the clay content of the nanocomposite increased, indicating a poor dispersion of CNFs or inefficient stress transfer between the CNFs and clay. The elongation at break increased at 1% clay level and then continuously decreased as the clay content increased, suggesting increased brittleness. Analysis of TG and derivative thermogravimetry (DTG) curves of the nanocomposites identified two thermal degradation peak temperatures ($T_{p1}$ and $T_{p2}$), which suggested thermal decomposition of the nanocomposites to be a two steps-process. We think that $T_{p1}$ values from $219.6^{\circ}C$ to $235^{\circ}C$ resulted from the sodium carboxylate groups in the CNFs, and that $T_{p2}$ values from $267^{\circ}C$ to $273.5^{\circ}C$ were mainly responsible for the thermal decomposition of crystalline cellulose in the nanocomposite. An increase in the clay level of the CNF/clay nanocomposite predominately affected $T_{p2}$ values, which continuously increased as the clay content increased. These results indicate that the addition of clay improved thermal stability of the CNF/clay nanocomposite but at the expense of nanocomposite's tensile properties.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.151-159
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• 2005

Injury caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS), known as oxidative stress, is one of the major damaging factors in plants exposed to environmental stress. Chloroplasts are specially sensitive to damage by ROS because electrons that escape from the photosynthetic electron transfer system are able to react with relatively high concentration of $O_2$ in chloroplasts. To cope with oxidative stress, plants have evolved an efficient ROS-scavenging enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX), and low molecular weight antioxidants including ascorbate, glutathione and phenolic compounds. To maintain the productivity of plants under the stress condition, it is possible to fortify the antioxidative mechanisms in the chloroplasts by manipulating the antioxidation genes. A powerful gene expression system with an appropriate promoter is key requisite for excellent stress-tolerant plants. We developed a strong oxidative stress-inducible peroxidase (SWPA2) promoter from cultured cells of sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas) as an industrial platform technology to develop transgenic plants with enhanced tolerance to environmental stress. Recently, in order to develop transgenic sweetpotato (tv. Yulmi) and potato (Solanum tuberosum L. cv. Atlantic and Superior) plants with enhanced tolerance to multiple stress, the genes of both CuZnSOD and APX were expressed in chloroplasts under the control of an SWPA2 promoter (referred to SSA plants). As expected, SSA sweetpotato and potato plants showed enhanced tolerance to methyl viologen-mediated oxidative stress. In addition, SSA plants showed enhanced tolerance to multiple stresses such as temperature stress, drought and sulphur dioxide. Our results strongly suggested that the rational manipulation of antioxidative mechanism in chloroplasts will be applicable to the development of all plant species with enhanced tolerance to multiple environmental stresses to contribute in solving the global food and environmental problems in the 21st century.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.29-38
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• 2016

Screen printed carbon electrodes (SPCEs) with immobilized osmium-based hydrogel redox polymer, uricase and PEGDGE can be used to apply uric acid electrochemical detecting. The osmium redox complexes were synthesized by the coordinating pyridine group having different functional group at 4-position with osmium compounds. The synthesized poly-osmium hydrogel complexes are described as PAA-PVI-$[Os(dCl-bpy)_2Cl]^{+/2+}$, PAA-PVI-$[Os(dme-bpy)_2Cl]^{+/2+}$, PAA-PVI-$[Os(dmo-bpy)_2Cl]^{+/2+}$. The different concentrations of uric acid were measured by cyclic voltammetry technique using enzyme-immobilized SPCEs. The prepared SPCEs using PAA-PVI-$[Os(dme-bpy)_2Cl]^{+/2+}$ showed no interference from common physiologic interferents such as ascorbic acid (AA) or glucose. The resulting electrical currents at 0.33 V vs. Ag/AgCl displayed a good linear response with uric acid concentrations from 1.0 to 5.0 mM. Therefore, this approach allowed the development of a simple, point of care in the medical field, disposable electrochemical uric acid biosensor.