• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.14
• /
• pp.6155-6158
• /
• 2015

Background: The human leukocyte antigen-G (HLA-G) gene is highly expressed in cancer pathologies and is one strategy used by tumor cells to escape immune surveillance. A 14-bp insertion/deletion (InDel) polymorphism of the HLA-G gene has been suggested to be associated with HLA-G mRNA stability and the expression of HLA-G. The aim of present study was to assess any genetic association between this polymorphism and breast cancer among Iranian-Azeri women. Materials and Methods: In this study 227 women affected with breast cancer, in addition to 255 age-sex and ethnically matched healthy individuals as the control group, participated. Genotyping was performed using polymerase chain reaction and electrophoresis assays. The data were compiled according to the genotype and allele frequencies, compared using the Chi-square test. Statistical significance was set at P<0.05. Results: In this case-control study, no significant difference was found between the case and control groups at allelic and genotype levels, although there is a slightly higher allele frequency of HLA-G 14bp deletion in breast cancer affected group. However,when the stage I subgroup was compared with stage II plus stage III subgroup of affected breast cancer, a significant difference was seen with the 14 bp deletion allele frequency. The stage II-III subgroup patients had higher frequency of deletion allele (57.4% vs 45.8%) than stage I cases (${\chi}^2=4.16$, p-value=0.041). Conclusions: Our data support a possible action of HLA-G 14bp InDel polymorphism as a potential genetic risk factor for progression of breast cancer. This finding highlights the necessity of future studies of this gene to establish the exact role of HLA-G in progression steps of breast cancer.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.12 no.6
• /
• pp.424-437
• /
• 2012

As to the increase of crime against children, the importance of safety in school area is more emphasized ever. Safety in school area can be achieved by the well-organized combination of physical, managemental and spatial planning factors. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the spatial planning direction to prevent crimes for the schools and their surroundings on the viewpoint of CPTED(crime prevention through environmental design). Field survey using checklist drawn up with 5 major CPTED principles was conducted for 7 schools(primary, middle and high schools) located at Noen New-town, Daejeon Korea. Problems derived from field survey were categorized to 5 CPTED principles and countermeasures were suggested together with computer graphic simulation. CPTED design principles and guidelines for spatial planning can make school area safer because these can assure natural surveillance, territoriality, natural access control, etc.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.556-562
• /
• 2014

The occurrence of human norovirus (NoV) genogroup I (GI) and genogroup II (GII) strains was investigated in Korea. Between 2007 and 2010, 265 samples were collected from 89 Korean water source locations. NoV GI was detected in 4.5% and NoV GII in 1.5%. Samples collected in winter had the highest occurrence; 9.4% for NoV GI and 6.3% for NoV GII. NoV GI detection was highest in groundwater, with the next highest in river water and the lowest in lake water (5.9%, 5.4%, and 1.6%, respectively), and NoV GII was found only in river water. When three representative Korean basin systems (Han (H)-, Geum/Seom (G/S)-, and Nakdong (N)-river basins) were compared, both NoV genogroups were high in the G/S-, but absent in the H- river basin. The most prevalent genotypes within the GI and GII groups were GI.5 and GII.4, respectively. The NoVs found in surface water were identical to those found in patients and those found in groundwater. The NoVs appeared to be transmitted from the patient to the surface water, and then to the groundwater, suggesting a fecal-oral route of transmission. This is the first nationwide surveillance of NoV in major Korean water sources.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.33 no.7
• /
• pp.864-874
• /
• 2023

Natural killer (NK) cell dysfunctions against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in a hypoxic environment. Many solid tumors are present in a hypoxic condition, which changes the effector function of various immune cells. The transcription of hypoxic-inducible factors (HIFs) in cancer cells make it possible to adapt to their hypoxic environment and to escape the immune surveillance of NK cells. Recently, the correlation between the transcription of HIF-1α and pro-inflammatory cytokines has been reported. Interleukin (IL)-6 is higher in cancers with a highly invasive ability, and is closely related to the metastasis of cancers. This study showed that the expression of HIF-1α in HCC cells was associated with the presence of IL-6 in the environment of HCC-NK cells. Blocking of IL-6 by antibody in the HCC-NK interaction changed the production of several cytokines including TGF-β, IL-1, IL-18 and IL-21. Interestingly, in a co-culture of HIF-1α-expressed HCC cells and NK cells, blocking of IL-6 increased the production of IL-21 in their supernatants. In addition, the absence of IL-6 significantly enhanced the cytotoxic ability and the expression of the activating receptors (NKG2D, NKp44, and NKG2C) in NK cells to HIF-1α-expressed HCC cells. These effects might be made by the decreased expression of HIF-1α in HCC cells through the inhibited phosphorylation of STAT3. In conclusion, the absence of IL-6 in the interaction of HIF-1α-expressed HCC cells and NK cells could enhance the antitumor activity of NK cells to HCC cells.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.42 no.4
• /
• pp.269-278
• /
• 2023

Antibiotics either kill or inhibit the growth of bacteria. However, antibiotic-resistant bacteria are difficult to treat with antibiotics. Infections caused by such bacteria often lead to severe diseases. Antibiotic resistance genes (ARG) can be horizontally transmitted across different bacterial species, necessitating a comprehensive understanding of how ARGs spread across various environments. In this study, we analyzed the plasmid sequences of 33 extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBL) producing Escherichia coli isolated from pigs, farms, and their owners. We conducted an antibiotic susceptibility test (AST) with aztreonam and seven other antibiotics, as well as whole genome sequencing (WGS) of the strains using MinION. Our results demonstrated that the plasmids that did not harbor ARGs were mostly non-conjugative, whereas the plasmids that harbored ARGs were conjugative. The arrangement of these ARGs exhibited a pattern of organization featuring a series of ARG cassettes, some of which were identical across the isolates collected from different sources. Therefore, this study suggests that the sets of ARG cassettes on plasmids were mostly shared between pigs and their owners. Hence, enhanced surveillance of ARG should be implemented in farm environments to proactively mitigate the risk of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.71-75
• /
• 2013

Nuclear containment building is used as second blockage to protect us from a radiation leakage caused by the natural disaster or any accidents, so it's safety is important and must be kept with continuous surveillance. In this study, we measured the strain of a nuclear containment building's wall by using FBG sensor and investigated the structural safety of a nuclear containment building. 50 FBG strain sensors and 18 FBG strain sensors were attached on the side wall and upper dome of a nuclear containment building, respectively. We measured the strains of the outside concrete wall during the Structural Integrity Test (SIT) of a nuclear containment building. The strain of an upper dome was larger than that of a side wall, about $200{\mu}{\varepsilon}$. And the very small strain was measured at vertical direction of a side wall. These experimental results were used to evaluate the structural health of nuclear containment building.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.506-523
• /
• 2015

The intent is to determine whether or not the custody transfer is helpful for data transmission in challenging underwater communications when running Bundle protocol or underwater protocols. From the point of view defending side, Underwater Acoustic Network (UAN) will be a serious threat for its strong functionality long rang and high precision of surveillance and detection. Therefore, countermeasures must be taken to weaken its effect. Our purpose is analyzed that how to benefit from the UIoT to learn from, exploit and preserve the natural underwater resources. Delay/Disruption Tolerant Network (DTN) is essential part of the network heterogeneity communication network. The vulnerability and potential security factors of UIoT are studied thereafter. Security mechanisms for an underwater environment are difficult to apply owing to the limited bandwidth. Therefore, for underwater security, appropriate security mechanisms and security requirements must be defined simultaneously. The paper consists of mathematical and security model. Most important point of view in the security challenges of effective Buffer and Storage management in DTN.

• International Journal of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
• /
• v.12 no.3
• /
• pp.156-162
• /
• 2020

Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) field is mainly studied to monitor and characterize large-scale physical environments to track various environmental or physical conditions, such as temperature, pressure, wind speed and humidity. WSN can be used in various applications such as wild surveillance, military target tracking and monitoring, dangerous environmental exploration and natural disaster relief. We design probabilistic mobile models that apply to mobile ad hoc network mobile environments. A probabilistic shift model proposed by dividing the number of moving nodes and the distance of travel into two categories to express node movement characteristics. The proposed model of movement through simulation was compared with the existing random movement model, ensuring that the width and variation rate of the first node node node node (FND) was stable regardless of the node movement rate. In addition, when the proposed mobile model is applied to the routing protocol, the superiority of network life can be verified from measured FND values. We overcame the limitations of the existing random movement model, showing excellent characteristics in terms of energy efficiency and stable in terms of changes in node movement.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
• /
• v.14 no.9
• /
• pp.909-915
• /
• 2008

Recently, the interests in the development and application of unmaned robots are increasing in various fields including surveillance and reconnaissance, planet exploration, and disaster relief. Unmaned robots are usually controlled from distance using radio communications but they should be equipped with an autonomous travelling function to cope with unexpected terrains and obstacles. This means that they should be able to evaluate terrain's characteristics quantitatively using mounted sensors so as to traverse harsh natural terrains autonomously. For this purpose, this paper presents a method for extracting terrain information, that is, slope and roughness from elevation maps as a prior step of traversability analysis. Slope is extracted using the curve fitting based on the least squares method and roughness using three metrics and their weighted average. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified on both a fractal map and the world model map of a real terrain.

• BMB Reports
• /
• v.53 no.4
• /
• pp.173-180
• /
• 2020

Galectin-3 is a carbohydrate-binding protein and regulates diverse functions, including cell proliferation and differentiation, mRNA splicing, apoptosis induction, immune surveillance and inflammation, cell adhesion, angiogenesis, and cancer-cell metastasis. Galectin-3 is also recommended as a diagnostic or prognostic biomarker of various diseases, including heart disease, kidney disease, and cancer. Galectin-3 exists as a cytosol, is secreted in extracellular spaces on cells, and is also detected in nuclei. It has been found that galectin-3 has different functions in cellular localization: (i) Extracellular galectin-3 mediates cell attachment and detachment. (ii) cytosolic galectin-3 regulates cell survival by blocking the intrinsic apoptotic pathway, and (iii) nuclear galectin-3 supports the ability of the transcriptional factor for target gene expression. In this review, we focused on the role of galectin-3 on translocation from cytosol to nucleus, because it happens in a way independent of carbohydrate recognition and accelerates cancer progression. We also suggested here that intracellular galecin-3 could be a potent therapeutic target in cancer therapy.