• Rapid Communication in Photoscience
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.21-24
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• 2012

Influence of gamma rays on the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 cells was investigated in terms of a bidirectional hydrogenase, which is encoded by hoxEFUYH genes and responsible for biohydrogen production. Irradiated cells revealed a substantial change in stoichiometry of photosystems at one day after gamma irradiation at different doses. However, as evaluated by the maximal rate of photosynthetic oxygen evolution, maximal photochemical efficiency of photosystem II, and chlorophyll content, net photosynthesis or photosynthetic capacity was not significantly different between the control and irradiated cells. Instead, transcription of hoxE, hoxH, or lexA, which encodes a subunit of bidirectional hydrogenase or the only transcriptional activator, LexA, for hox genes, was commonly enhanced in the irradiated cells. This transcriptional enhancement was more conspicuously observed immediately after gamma irradiation. In contrast, hydrogenase activities were found to somewhat lower in the irradiated cells. Therefore, we propose that transcription of hox genes should be enhanced by gamma irradiation in a LexA-mediated and possibly photosynthesis-independent manner and that this enhancement might not induce a subsequent increase in hydrogenase activities, probably due to the presence of post-transcriptional and/or post-translational regulatory mechanisms.

• Rapid Communication in Photoscience
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.70-72
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• 2014

Visible-light irradiation of MeCN solution containing di(hydroxo)metallo(tetraphenyl)porphyrin complex $(tppM(OH)_2$: 1a; $M=Sb(V)^+Br^-$, 1b; $M=P(V)^+Cl^-$, 1c; M=Ge(IV)) and 2-mercaptoethanol (2-ME) as a substrate under aerated condition gave bis(2-hydroxyethyl)disulfide (2-HEDS) as an oxidative product of 2-ME. It is indicated that the oxidation of 2-ME should proceed with a photocatalytic process by 1, because the turn over number (TON) for the formation of 2-HEDS was over unit. The TON was determined to be 642 as a maximum value when 1a was used as a sensitizer. The formation of 2-HDES was extremely slow under argon atmosphere. The fluorescence of 1 was not quenched by 2-ME at all, and the free energy change (${\Delta}G$) with electron transfer (ET) from 2-ME to excited triplet state of $1(^31^*)$ was estimated as a negative value. The quenching rate constant ($k_r$) of $^31^*$ by 2-ME, obtained by the kinetics for the formation of 2-HEDS, strongly depends on ${\Delta}G$. These findings indicate that 1-sensitized oxidation was initiated by photoinduced ET from 2-ME to $^31^*$ to generate both radical cation of 2-ME ($2-ME^{+\bulle}$) and porphyrin radical anion ($1^{-\bulle}$), resulting that the formation of 2-HEDS can be proceeded by the dimerization of $2-ME^{+\bulle}$, and through a catalytic cycle due to returning to 1 by the ET from $1^{-\bulle}$ to molecular oxygen.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.16-26
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• 2018

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between neuroticism, pain catastrophizing, and experimentally induced pain threshold and pain tolerance in a healthy adult sample from two regions of the country of Croatia: the island of Korcula and city of Split. Methods: A total of 1,322 participants were enrolled from the Island of Korcula (n = 824) and the city of Split (n = 498). Participants completed a self-reported personality measure Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and pain catastrophizing questionnaire Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), followed by a mechanical pain pressure threshold and tolerance test. We have explored the mediating role of catastrophizing in the relationship between neuroticism and pain intensity. Results: The results showed that pain catastrophizing partially mediated the relationship between neuroticism and pain intensity, suggesting the importance of pain catastrophizing in increasing vulnerability to pain. The results also indicated gender-related differences, marked by the higher pain threshold and tolerance in men. Conclusions: This study adds to the understanding of the complex interplay between personality and pain, by providing a better understanding of such mechanisms in healthy adults.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.182-190
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• 2003

As DNA microarrays are widely used recently, the amount of microarray data is exponentially increasing. Until now, however, no domestic system is available for the efficient management of such data. Because the number of experimental data in a specific laboratory is limited, it is necessary to avoid redundant experiments and to accumulate the results using a shared data management system for microarrays. In this paper, a system named WEMA (WEb management of Micro Arrays) was designed and implemented to manage and process the microarray data. WEMA system was designed to include the basic feature of MIAME (Minimal Information About a Microarray Experiment), and general data units were also defined in the system in order to systematically manage the data. The WEMA system has three main features: efficient management of microarray data, integration of input/ouput data, and metafile processing. The system was tested with actual microarray data produced by a molecular biology laboratory, and we found that the biologists could systematically manage and easily analyze the microarray data. As a consequence, the researchers could reduce the cost of data exchange and communication.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.2395-2400
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• 2016

Conventional drug carriers such as liposomes, nanoparticles, polymer micelles, polymeric conjugate and lipid microemulsion for cancer chemotherapy shield normal tissues from toxic drugs to treat cancer cells in tumors. However, inaccurate tumor targeting uncontrolled drug release from the carriers and unwanted accumulation in healthy sites can limit treatment efficacy with current conventional drug carriers with insufficient concentrations of drugs in the tumors and unexpected side effects as a result. Sickle red blood cells show natural tumor preferential accumulation without any manipulation due to the adhesive interaction between molecular receptors on the membrane surface and counter-receptor on endothelial cells. In addition, structural changes of microvascular in tumor sites enhances polymerization of sickle red blood cells. In this research, we examined the use of sickle red blood cells as a new drug carrier with novel tumor targeting and controlled release properties to quantify its therapeutic effects.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.18
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• pp.8271-8279
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• 2016

Background: Hepato-carcinogenesis is multifaceted in its molecular aspects. Among the interplaying agents are altered gap junctions, the proteasome/autophagy system, and mitochondria. The present experimental study was designed to outline the roles of these players and to investigate the tumor suppressive effects of curcumin with or without mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Materials and Methods: Adult female albino rats were divided into normal controls and animals with HCC induced by diethyl-nitrosamine (DENA) and $CCl_4$. Additional groups treated after HCC induction were: Cur/HCC which received curcumin; MSCs/HCC which received MSCs; and Cur+MSCs/HCC which received both curcumin and MSCs. For all groups there were histopathological examination and assessment of gene expression of connexin43 (Cx43), ubiquitin ligase-E3 (UCP-3), the autophagy marker LC3 and coenzyme-Q10 (Mito.Q10) mRNA by real time, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, along with measurement of LC3II/LC3I ratio for estimation of autophagosome formation in the rat liver tissue. In addition, the serum levels of ALT, AST and alpha fetoprotein (AFP), together with the proinflammatory cytokines $TNF{\alpha}$ and IL-6, were determined in all groups. Results: Histopathological examination of liver tissue from animals which received DENA-$CCl_4$ only revealed the presence of anaplastic carcinoma cells and macro-regenerative nodules. Administration of curcumin, MSCs; each alone or combined into rats after induction of HCC improved the histopathological picture. This was accompanied by significant reduction in ${\alpha}$-fetoprotein together with proinflammatory cytokines and significant decrease of various liver enzymes, in addition to upregulation of Cx43, UCP-3, LC3 and Mito.Q10 mRNA. Conclusions: Improvement of Cx43 expression, nonapoptotic cell death and mitochondrial function can repress tumor growth in HCC. Administration of curcumin and/or MSCs have tumor suppressive effects as they can target these mechanisms. However, further research is still needed to verify their effectiveness.

• Rapid Communication in Photoscience
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.37-40
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• 2015

To examine the photosensitized biomolecules damaging activity, dimethoxyP(V)tetrakis(2-naphthyl)porphyrin (NP) and dimethoxyP(V)tetraphenylporphyrin (PP) were synthesized. The naphthyl moiety of NP hardly deactivated the photoexcited P(V)porphyrin ring in ethanol. In aqueous solution, the naphthyl moiety showed the quenching effect on the photoexcited porphyrin ring, possibly through electron transfer and self-quenching by a molecular association. Binding interaction between human serum albumin (HSA), a water soluble protein, and these porphyrins could be confirmed by the absorption spectral change. The apparent association constant of NP was larger than that of PP. It is explained by that more hydrophobic NP can easily bind into the hydrophobic pockets of HSA. The photoexcited PP effectively induced damage of the tryptophan residue of HSA, through electron transfer-mediated oxidation and singlet oxygen generation. NP also induced HSA damage during photo-irradiation and the contributions of the electron transfer and singlet oxygen mechanisms were speculated. The electron transfer-mediated mechanism to the photosensitized protein damage should be advantageous for photodynamic therapy in hypoxic condition. The quantum yield of the HSA photodamage by PP was significantly larger than that of NP. The quenching effect of the naphthyl moiety is considered to suppress the photosensitized protein damage. In conclusion, the naphthalene substitution to the P(V)porphyrins can enhance the binding interaction with hydrophobic biomacromolecules such as protein, however, this substitution may reduce the photodynamic effect of P(V)porphyrin ring in aqueous media.

• International journal of advanced smart convergence
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.101-111
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• 2018

Celiac disease (CD) is an immune-mediated enteropathy of small intestine diagnosed in both childhood and adulthood. CD is caused by gluten, which produces gliadorphin during its digestion. The enzyme dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4) breaks gliadorphin down nevertheless the last tripeptide remains and eventually inhibits DPP4, thus slowing down its process. Therefore, the idea is to produce an additional DPP4 enzyme which is crucial. Consequently, the functional DPP4 gene was cloned into pCDNA3 intermediate (FLAG+DPP4) vector and finally a recombinant plasmid pSB1C3 (Andersons promoters+FLAG+DPP4) was constructed using synthetic biology. Normally, a DPP4 inhibitor is used as a cure for diabetes. Another important concern was overexpression of DPP4, which might lead to diabetes, accordingly the work was also performed for the regulation of the DPP4 gene expression. In this regard, three types of Anderson promoters (strong, moderate and weak) were utilized to study the control overexpression. This is the first report of idealistic trial for control the exogenous DPP4 gene-expression by molecular biologic tools.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.186-195
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• 2010

In most self-incompatible plant species, recognition of self-pollen is controlled by a single locus, termed the S-locus. The self-incompatibility (SI) system in Brassica is controlled sporophytically by multiple alleles at a single locus, designated as S, and involves cell-cell communication between male and female. Two highly polymorphic S locus genes, SLG (S locus glycoprotein) and SRK (S receptor kinase), have been identified, both of which are expressed predominantly in the stigmatic papillar cell. Gain-of-function experiments have demonstrated that SRK solely determines S haplotype-specificity of the stigma, while SLG enhances the recognition reaction of SI. The sequence analysis of the S locus genomic region of B. campestris (syn. rapa) has led to the identification of an anther-specific gene, designated as SP11/SCR, which is the male S determinant. Molecular analysis has demonstrated that the dominance relationships between S alleles in the stigma were determined by SRK itself, but not by the relative expression level. In contrast, the expression of SP11/SCR from the recessive S allele was specifically suppressed in the S heterozygote, suggesting that the dominance relationships in pollen were determined by the expression level of SP11/SCR. Furthermore, recent studies on recessive allele-specific DNA methylation of Brassica self-incompatibility alleles demonstrate that DNA methylation patterns in plants can vary temporally and spatially in each generation. In this review, we firstly present overview of self incompatibility system in Brassica and then describe dominance relationships in Brassica self- incompatibility regulated by allele-specific DNA methylation.

• The Journal of the Korean Society for Microbiology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.171-179
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• 1986

The HLA class II region encodes a series of polymorphic glycoproteins that form cell surface heterodimers each consisting of one $\alpha$ and one $\beta$ chain. Thess class II molecules are encoded by genes clustered within three loci. DP, DQ, and DR are functfonally implicated as regulatory signals in intercellular communication during the immune resposes. The phenotypic hallmark of the HLA complex is a high degree of structural and functional polymorphism. Detailed analysis. of such polymorphisms should aid in understanding the molecular basis for associations between HLA and diseases. We have used techniques of restriction enzyme fragment analysis by Southern blotting to investigate polymorphisms associated with DQ $\beta$ class II genes on haplotypes expressing the HLA-DR4 and -DQw3 specificities. The endonucleases Hind III and Bam HI were used to identify a specific DQ $\beta$ genomic polymorphism that precisely corrresponds with the reactivity of a monoclonal antibody A-10-83, previously shown to define a serologic split of DQw3. This study identifies two allelic DQ va. riants. DQw3.1 and DQw3.2. We used these specific genotypic markers to investigate the genomic basis of the association of DR4 with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus(IDDM) and seropositive juvenile rheumatoid arthritis(JRA). The DR4 positive IDDM demonstrate the predominant expression of DQw3.2 and the very rare expression of DQw3.l. However, in haplotype matched siblings from two IDDM families, all of the DR4 positive siblings display a IDDM-associated DQw3.2 allele. Thus, both affected and healthy individuals can carry the same haplotypes and genomic markers, demonstrating that thess specific allelic variants are genetic elements that indicate a increased risk of IDDM but are not in fact disease specific. We contrasted this result with a similar analysis of patients with another DR4-associated disease, JRA. In contrast to the preponderance of the DQw3.2 allele in IDDM, the JRA patients expressed either the DQw3.1 or the DQw3.2 allele and sometimes both, without apparent association with disease expession. The different genomic markers reported here within HLA-DQ region potentially an analysis of HLA-associated function and disease susceptibility.