• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.653-658
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• 2016

Poly(ether-block-amide)(PEBAX$_{(R)}$) resin is a thermoplastic elastomer combining linear chains of hard-rigid polyamide block interspaced soft-flexible polyether block. It was believed that the hard polyamide block provides the mechanical strength and permselectivity, whereas gas transport occurs primarily through the soft polyether block. The objective of this work was to investigate the gas permeation properties of carbon dioxide and methane for PEBAX$^{(R)}$-1657 membrane, and compare with those obtained for other grade of pure PEBAX$^{(R)}$, PEBAX$^{(R)}$-2533 and PEBAX$^{(R)}$ based hybrid membranes. The hybrid membranes based PEBAX$^{(R)}$ were obtained by a sol-gel process using GPTMS ((3-glycidoxypropyl) trimethoxysilane) as the only inorganic precursor. Molecular structure and morphology of membrane were analyzed by $^{29}Si$-NMR, DSC and SEM. PEBAX$_{(R)}$-2533 membrane exhibited higher gas permeability coefficients than PEBAX$^{(R)}$-1657 membrane. This was explained by the increase of chain mobility. In contrast, ideal separation factor of $CO_2/CH_4$ for PEBAX$^{(R)}$-1657 membrane was higher than PEBAX$^{(R)}$-2533 membrane. It was explained by the decrease of diffusion selectivity caused by increase of chain mobility. For PEBAX$^{(R)}$/GPTMS hybrid membrane, gas permeability coefficients were decreased with reaction time. Gas permeability coefficient of $CH_4$ was more significantly decreased than $CO_2$. It can be explained by the reduction of chain mobility caused by the sol-gel process, and strong affinity of PEO segment with $CO_2$. Comparing with pure PEBAX$^{(R)}$-1657 membrane, ideal separation factor of $CO_2/CH_4$ for PEBAX$^{(R)}$/GPTMS hybrid membrane has decreased to 4.5%, and gas permeability coefficient of $CO_2$ has increased 3.5 times.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.307-313
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• 2018

Alopecia cause psychological stress due to their effect on appearance. Thus, the global market size of the alopecia treatment products are growing quickly. Timosaponin A III is the well known active ingredient of Anemarrhenae Rhizoma. In this study, we investigated and compared the binding affinity of timosaponin A III with finasteride (5-beta reductase antagonist) and minoxidil (androgen receptor antagonist) on the target protein active site by in silico computational docking studies. The three dimensional crystallographic structure of 5-beta reductase (PDB ID : 3G1R) and androgen receptor (PDB ID: 4K7A) was obtained from PDB database. In silico computational autodocking analysis was performed using PyRx, Autodock Vina, Discovery Studio Version 4.5, and NX-QuickPharm option based on scoring functions. The timosaponin A III showed optimum binding affinity (docking energy) with 5-beta reductase as -12.20 kcal/mol as compared to the finasteride (-11.70 kcal/mol) and with androgen receptor as -9.00 kcal/mol as compared to the minoxidil (-7.40 kcal/mol). The centroid X, Y, Z grid position of the timosaponin A III on the 5-beta reductase was similar (overlap) to the finasteride, but the X, Y, Z centroid grid of the timosaponin A III on the androgen receptor was significantly far from the minoxidil centroid position. These results significantly indicated that timosaponin A III could be more potent antagonist to the 5-beta reductase and androgen receptor. Therefore, the extract of Anemarrhenae Rhizoma or timosaponin A III containing biomaterials can substitute the finasteride and minoxidil and can be applied to the alopecia protecting product and related industrial fields.

• The korean journal of orthodontics
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• v.33 no.6 s.101
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• pp.485-497
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• 2003

The form and function of the craniofacial structure critically depend on genetic information. With recent advances in the molecular technology, genes that are important for normal growth and morphogenesis of the craniofacial skeleton are being rapidly uncovered, shaping up modem craniofacial biology. One of them is fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2). Specific point mutations in the. FGFR2 gene have been linked to Apert syndrome, which is characterized by premature closure of cranial sutures and craniofacial anomalies as well as limb deformities. To study pathogenic mechanisms underlying craniosynostosis phenotype of Apert syndrome, we used a transgenic approach; an FGFR2 minigene construct containing an Apert mutation (a point mutation that substitute proline at the position 253 to arginine; P253R) was introduced into fertilized mouse germ cells by DNA microinjection. The injected cells were then allowed to develop into transgenic mice. We used a bone-specific promoter (a DNA fragment from the type I collagen gene) to confine the expression of mutant FGFR2 gene to the bone tissue, and asked whether expression of mutant FGFR2 in bone is sufficient to cause the craniosynostosis phenotype in mice. Initial characterization of these mice shows prematurely closed cranial sutures with facial deformities expected from Apert patients. We also demonstrate that the transgene produces mutant FGFR2 protein with increased functional activities. Having this useful mouse model, we now can ask questions regarding the role of FGFR2 in normal and abnormal development of cranial bones and sutures.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.264-272
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• 2008

The lactate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.27, LDH) isozymes in tissues from Acanthogobius hasta were characterized by biochemical, immunochemical and kinetic methods. The activities of LDH in skeletal muscle and eye tissues were 65.30 and 53.25 units, but LDH activities in heart and liver tissues were very low. LDH/CS (EC 4.1.3.7, citrate synthase) in skeletal muscle was the highest as 22.29. Specific activities of LDH in brain, eye and skeletal muscle were 56.45, 38.04 and 11.0 units/mg, respectively. The LDH isozymes in tissues were separated by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis after immunoprecipitation with antiserum against $A_4,\;B_4$ eye-specific $C_4$ and liver-specific $C_4$. LDH $AC_4$ isozymes were detected predominantly in skeletal muscle, brain and eye tissues, and $B_4$ isozyme was detected in heart. Anodal eye-specific $C_4$ and cathodal liver-specific $C_4$ were coexpressed in A. hasta. The eye-specific $C_4$ isozyme showed higher activity in eye tissue, but liver-specific $C_4$ isozyme showed lower activity in liver. As a result, one part of molecular structures in $A_4\;and\;C_4,\;A_4\;and\;B_4$, and eye-specific $C_4$ and liver-specific $C_4$ were similar, but in $B_4\;and\;C_4$ were different with each other. Therefore the subunit A may be conservative in evolution, and the evolution of subunit B seems to be faster than that of subunit A. The LDH $A_4$ isozyme of skeletal muscle was purified in the fraction from elution with NAD+ containing buffer of affinity chromatography and eye-specific $C_4$ isozyme was eluted right after $A_4$, so the structure of eye-specific $C_4$ isozyme is similar to $A_4$. And LDH activity remained 35.22-43.47% as a result of the inhibition by pyruvate, the Michaelis-Menten constant values for pyruvate was 0.080-0.098 mM, and Vmax were 153.85 units, 35.09 units in skeletal muscle and eye, respectively. Also the $B_4$ isozyme was the thermo-stablest and $C_4$ was stabler than $A_4$ isozyme. The optimum pH of LDH was 6.5. The results mentioned above indicate that isozymes in tissues showed the properties between LDH $A_4\;and\;B_4$ isozyme as A. hasta was adapted to hypoxic conditions. Also LDH seems to function more effectively under anaerobic condition because LDH in skeletal muscle and eye tissues have high affinity for pyruvate.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.437-447
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• 2014

Learning progressions (LP), which describe how students may develop more sophisticated understanding over a defined period of time, can inform the design of instructional materials and assessment by providing a coherent, systematic measure of what can be regarded as "level appropriate." We developed LPs for the nature of matter for grades K-16. In order to empirically test Korean students, we revised one of the constructs and associated assessment items based on Korean National Science Standards. The assessment was administered to 124 Korean secondary students to measure their knowledge and submicroscopic representations, and to assign them to a level of learning progression for the particle nature of matter. We characterized the level of students' understanding and models of the particle nature of matter, and described how students interpret various representations of atoms and molecules to explain scientific phenomena. The results revealed that students have difficulties in understanding the relationship between the macroscopic and molecular levels of phenomena, even in high school science. Their difficulties may be attributed to a limited understanding of scientific modeling, a lack of understanding of the models used to represent the particle nature of matter, or limited understanding of the structure of matter. This work will inform assessment and curriculum materials development related to the fundamental relationship between macroscopic, observed phenomena and the behavior of atoms and molecules, and can be used to create individualized learning environments. In addition, the results contribute to scientific research literature on learning progressions on the nature of matter.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.8-15
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• 2004

This study was conducted to discover new phytotoxins which may be used as lead molecules for the development of new herbicides. A total of 187 endophytic fungi were isolated from 11 plant species, which were collected from 8 locations in Korea. Their herbicidal activities were screened in vivo by herbicidal and duckweed bioassays after they were cultured in potato dextrose broth and rice solid media. Both fermentation broth and solid culture extract of Gliocladium catenulatum F0006 isolated from red pine (Pinus densiflora) showed 70% herbicidal activity only against cocklebur (Xanthium strumarium) out of the 10 weeds tested. Solid culture extract of F0034 isolated from arrowroot (Pueraria thunbergiana) exhibited 20 to 100% herbicidal activities against all of the weeds. Especially, shattercane (Sorghum bicolor), barnyardgrass (Echinochloa crus-galli), large crabgrass (Digitaria sanguinalis), and fall pauicum (Panicum dichtomiflorum) were sensitive to the solid culture extract of F0034. In addition, solid culture extract of F0043 isolated from red pine displayed 20% to 70% herbicidal activities only against 5 grass species, but not against 5 broad-leaf plant species. On the other hand, as the results of duckweed assay, 8 fermentation broths showed 100% growth inhibitory activity at concentrations less than 5.0% of culture supernatants and 12 solid cultures had a potent inhibitory activity against duckweed growth. A toxic metabolite was purified from the solid cultures of G. catenulatum F0006 by repeated column chromatography and bioassay. It caused a phytotoxic syndrome only on cocklebur out of the 10 weeds tested; it completely killed cocklebur seedlings at $500\;{\mu}g/ml$ and showed 85% herbicidal activity against cocklebur at $100\;{\mu}g/ml$. The molecular weight of the toxic metabolite is 238 daltons and its structure determination is underway.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.631-646
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• 2011

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are multipotent and can be isolated from diverse human tissues including bone marrow, fat, placenta, dental pulp, synovium, tonsil, and the thymus. They function as regulators of tissue homeostasis. Because of their various advantages such as plasticity, easy isolation and manipulation, chemotaxis to cancer, and immune regulatory function, MSCs have been considered to be a potent cell source for regenerative medicine, cancer treatment and other cell based therapy such as GVHD. However, relating to its supportive feature for surrounding cell and tissue, it has been frequently reported that MSCs accelerate tumor growth by modulating cancer microenvironment through promoting angiogenesis, secreting growth factors, and suppressing anti-tumorigenic immune reaction. Thus, clinical application of MSCs has been limited. To understand the underlying mechanism which modulates MSCs to function as tumor supportive cells, we co-cultured human adipose tissue derived mesenchymal stem cells (ASC) with cancer cell lines H460 and U87MG. Then, expression data of ASCs co-cultured with cancer cells and cultured alone were obtained via microarray. Comparative expression analysis was carried out using DAVID (Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery) and PANTHER (Protein ANalysis THrough Evolutionary Relationships) in divers aspects including biological process, molecular function, cellular component, protein class, disease, tissue expression, and signal pathway. We found that cancer cells alter the expression profile of MSCs to cancer associated fibroblast like cells by modulating its energy metabolism, stemness, cell structure components, and paracrine effect in a variety of levels. These findings will improve the clinical efficacy and safety of MSCs based cell therapy.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.37-51
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• 2000

The present study compared computer users target-selection response patterns when the targets were varied in terms of their relative location and distance from the current position of the cursor. In Experiment 1, where the mouse was used as an input device, the effects of different directions and distances of simple target(small rectangle) on target-selection response were investigated. The results of Experiment 1 can be summarized as follows: (1) Overshooting was more frequent than either undershooting or correct movement and (2) this tendency was more prominent when the targets were presented in the oblique direction or in farther location from the current cursor position. (3) Although the overshooting and undershooting were more frequent in the oblique direction, the degree of deviation was larger in horizontal and vertical direction. (4) Time spent in moving the mouse rather than that spent in planning, calibrating or clicking was found to be the most critical factor in determining total response time. In Experiment 2, effects of the font size and line-height of the target on target-selection response were compared with regard to two types of input devices(keyboard vs. mouse). The results are as follows: (1) Mouse generally yielded shorter target-selection time than keyboard. but this tendency was reversed when the targets were presented in horizontal and vertical directions. (2) In general, target-selection time was the longest in the condition of font size of 10 and line-height of 100%, and the shortest in the condition of font size of 12 and line-height of 150%. (3) When keyboard was used as the input device, target-selection time was shortest in the 150% line-height condition, whereas in the mouse condition, target-selection time tended to be increased as the line-height increased. which resulted in the significant interaction effect between input device and line-height. Finally, several issues relating to human-computer interaction were discussed based on the results of the present study.

• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.84-98
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• 2000

Daejeon-sa basalt in the Mt. Juwang area composed of 12 basalt flows alternate with 9 peperites and each basalt and peperite has the variety of thickness. Peperites yielded in Daejeon-sa basalt are mixed of basalt with reddish shale, of which textural type is globular peperite. Basalts yielded in Daejeon-sa basalt are massive basalt without vesicule, although sometimes vesicules are founded in upper within a flow unit. The basalt has mainly pseudomorph of olivine as phenocryst, and also plagioclase and clinopyroxene phenocryst. Matrix is mainly subophitic texture. The plotting result on the TAS diagram shows these basalts belong to the sub-alkaline, and it can be subdivided into calc-alkaline series on the basis of the diagram of Si02 vs. K20 and of alkali index vs. A1203 diagram. According to plots of wt.% oxides vs. wt.% MgO, abundances of A1203 and CaO increase with decreasing MgO while F ~ dOecre~ase . With decreasing MgO compatible elements decrease while incompatible elements increase. In spider diagram of MORB-normalized trace element patterns, HFS elements are nearly similiar with MORB, but LIL elements are enriched. Especially, contents of Ce, F: and Sm are enriched but Nb is depleted. In the chondrite-normalized REE patterns light REEs are enriched than heavy REEs. Tectomagmatic discrimination diagrams shows basalts in the study area are formed in the tectonomagmatic environment of subduction zone under continental margin. This result accord with characters of chemical composition mentioned above. Cr vs. Y diagram and CeM, vs. Ce diagram show that the primary magma of the basalts may formed by the about 15% partial melting of garnet-peridotite in the mantle wedge. After then, Daejeon-sa basalts may formed from evolved magma undergone mainly olivine fractional crystallization and contarnination of crustal materials before eruption.

• BMB Reports
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.115-119
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• 2005

Replacement of valine by tryptophan or tyrosine at position $\alpha$96 of the $\alpha$ chain ($\alpha$96Val), located in the ${\alpha}_1{\beta}_2$ subunit interface of hemoglobin leads to low oxygen affinity hemoglobin, and has been suggested to be due to the extra stability introduced by an aromatic amino acid at the $\alpha$96 position. The characteristic of aromatic amino acid substitution at the $\alpha$96 of hemoglobin has been further investigated by producing double mutant r Hb ($\alpha$42Tyr$\rightarrow$ Phe, $\alpha$96Val$\rightarrow$Trp). r Hb ($\alpha$42Tyr$\rightarrow$Phe) is known to exhibit almost no cooperativity in binding oxygen, and possesses high oxygen affinity due to the disruption of the hydrogen bond between $\alpha$42Tyr and $\beta$99Asp in the ${\alpha}_1{\beta}_2$ subunit interface of deoxy Hb A. The second mutation, $\alpha$96Val$\rightarrow$Trp, may compensate the functional defects of r Hb ($\alpha$42Tyr$\rightarrow$Phe), if the stability due to the introduction of trypophan at the $\alpha$96 position is strong enough to overcome the defect of r Hb ($\alpha$42Tyr$\rightarrow$Phe). Double mutant r Hb ($\alpha$42Tyr$\rightarrow$Phe, $\alpha$96Val$\rightarrow$Trp) exhibited almost no cooperativity in binding oxygen and possessed high oxygen affinity, similarly to that of r Hb ($\alpha$42Tyr$\rightarrow$Phe). $^1$H NMR spectroscopic data of r Hb ($\alpha$42Tyr$\rightarrow$Phe, $\alpha$96Val$\rightarrow$Trp) also showed a very unstable deoxy-quaternary structure. The present investigation has demonstrated that the presence of the crucible hydrogen bond between $\alpha$42Tyr and $\beta$99Asp is essential for the novel oxygen binding properties of deoxy Hb ($\alpha$96Val$\rightarrow$Trp).