• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.9
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• pp.973-980
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• 2014

This study was conducted to explore new nutraceutical resources from the plant kingdom possessing biological activities. To fulfill this purpose, the anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory activities of Decaisnea insignis ethanol extract (DIEE) were evaluated. First, DIEE possessed potent scavenging activity against 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH), similar to ascorbic acid used as a positive control. Moreover, DIEE inhibited lipopolysaccharide (LPS)- and hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$)-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) in RAW 264.7 cells. Furthermore, DIEE induced the expression of an anti-oxidative enzyme, heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1), and its upstream transcription factor, nuclear factor-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), in a dose-dependent manner. The modulation of the HO-1 and Nrf2 expressions might be regulated by mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and their upstream signaling pathways. On the other hand, DIEE suppressed LPS-induced nitric oxide (NO) formation without cytotoxicity. The inhibition of the NO formation was the result of the downregulation of inducible NO synthase (iNOS) by DIEE. The suppression of NO and iNOS by DIEE might be modulated by their upstream transcription factors, nuclear factor ${\kappa}B$ ($NF-{\kappa}B$), and activator protein 1 (AP-1) pathways. Taken together, these results provide important new insights that D. insignis possesses anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory activities. Therefore, it might be utilized as a promising material in the field of nutraceuticals.

• Journal of Radiopharmaceuticals and Molecular Probes
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.49-55
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• 2023

Tumors are encircled by various non-cancerous cell types in the extracellular matrix, including fibroblasts, endothelial cells, immune cells, and cytokines. Fibroblasts are the most critical cells in the tumor stroma and play an important role in tumor development, which has been highlighted in some epithelial cancers. Many studies have shown a tight connection between cancerous cells and fibroblasts in the last decade. Regulatory factors secreted into the tumor environment by special fibroblast cells, cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), play an important role in tumor and vessel development, metastasis, and therapy resistance. This review addresses the development of FAP inhibitors, emphasizing the first, second, and latest generations. First-generation inhibitors exhibit low selectivity and chemical stability, encouraging researchers to develop new scaffolds based on preclinical and clinical data. Second-generation enzymes such as UAMC-1110 demonstrated enhanced FAP binding and better selectivity. Targeted treatment and diagnostic imaging have become possible by further developing radionuclide-labeled fibroblast activation protein inhibitors (FAPIs). Although all three FAPIs (01, 02, and 04) showed excellent preclinical and clinical findings. The final optimization of these FAPI scaffolds resulted in FAPI-46 with the highest tumor-to-background ratio and better binding affinity.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.247-253
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• 2024

The separation of zirconium and hafnium using tributyl phosphate (TBP)-Dodecane extractants in nitric acid medium was performed. Zirconium oxychloride, used as extraction feed, was obtained from the synthesis of Kalimantan zircon sand concentrate smelted using NaOH. The extraction process was carried out by dissolving chloride-based metals in nitric acid media in the presence of sodium nitrate using TBP-Dodecane as an extractant. Some of the extraction parameters carried out in this study include variations in organic phase and aqueous phase (O/A), variations in contact time, and variations in nitric acid concentration. Extraction was carried out using a mechanical shaker according to the parameter conditions. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) was used for elemental (Zr and Hf) composition analysis of the aqueous solution. The results showed that zirconium was separated from hafnium at optimum conditions with an organic/aqueous ratio of 1:5, contact time of 75 min, and an HNO₃ concentration of 7 M. The resulting separation factor of zirconium and hafnium using TBP-Dodecane was 14.4887.

• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.29-36
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• 2019

Here we analyze a case of redesigned course named "Prospect of Nuclear Engineering" as an example of student-entered education which came to the fore of university education innovation. This course was reformed from lecture-based to student-centered class by changing the context as follows: Stimulating students by addressing various problems or episodes behind scientific and mathematical concepts in the history; Offering experimental project to perceive the importance of differential equations; Exploring the research status and issues of nuclear engineering and the ways of attacking them by discipline; Discussing the public acceptance of nuclear power plants. Small group activities using 'small group discussion' and 'peer-learning' have been applied in this course to enhance students' critical and creative ability. In the survey, students rated highly in the fact that they could actively interact with the peers and that they could think for themselves through 'small group discussion' and 'peer-learning' which is not just the way of conveying knowledge.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.58 no.3
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• pp.249-255
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• 2020

Toxoplasma gondii, a ubiquitous, intracellular parasite of the phylum Apicomplexa, infects an estimated one-third of the human population as well as a broad range of warm-blooded animals. We have observed that some tyrosine kinase inhibitors suppressed the growth of T. gondii within host ARPE-10 cells. Among them, afatinib, human epithermal growth factor receptor 2 and 4 (HER2/4) inhibitor, may be used as a therapeutic agent for inhibiting parasite growth with minimal adverse effects on host. In this report, we conducted a proteomic analysis to observe changes in host proteins that were altered via infection with T. gondii and the treatment of HER2/4 inhibitors. Secreting proteins were subjected to a procedure of micor basic reverse phase liquid chromatography, nano-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, and ingenuity pathway analysis serially. As a result, the expression level of heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein K, semaphorin 7A, a GPI membrane anchor, serine/threonine-protein phosphatase 2A, and calpain small subunit 1 proteins were significantly changed, and which were confirmed further by western blot analysis. Changes in various proteins, including these 4 proteins, can be used as a basis for explaining the effects of T. gondii infections and HER2/4 inhibitors.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.147-155
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• 2024

Gallium-68-prostate-specific membrane antigen-11 (⁶⁸Ga-PSMA-11) is a positron emission tomography radiopharmaceutical that labels a Glu-urea-Lys-based ligand with ⁶⁸Ga, binding specifically to the PSMA. It is used widely for imaging recurrent prostate cancer and metastases. On the other hand, the preparation and quality control testing of ⁶⁸Ga-PSMA-11 in medical institutions takes over 60 minutes, limiting the daily capacity of ⁶⁸Ge/⁶⁸Ga generators. While the generator provides 1,110 MBq (30 mCi) nominally, its activity decreases over time, and the labeling yield declines irregularly. Consequently, additional preparations are needed, increasing radiation exposure for medical technicians, prolonging patient wait times, and necessitating production schedule adjustments. This study aimed to reduce the ⁶⁸Ga-PSMA-11 preparation time and optimize the automated synthesis system. By shortening the reaction time between ⁶⁸Ga and the PSMA-11 precursor and adjusting the number of purification steps, a faster and more cost-effective method was tested while maintaining quality. The final synthesis time was reduced from 30 to 20 minutes, meeting the standards for the HEPES content, residual solvent EtOH content, and radiochemical purity. This optimized procedure minimizes radiation exposure for medical technicians, reduces patient wait times, and maintains consistent production schedules, making it suitable for clinical application.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.47-60
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to explore the overall structural relationship between the statutory provisions of nuclear energy legislation and to identify the coherence of the nuclear law system using social network analysis. In particular, we analyze the legal structure of the "Nuclear Safety Act", which plays a central role in nuclear safety regulation, to examine the key provisions in legal network structure of Nuclear Safety Act. Therefore, we found the structural problems of the nuclear legal system and suggest the legislative improvement plan for reducing excessive legislative activity and determining the need for legal amendments in nuclear safety management and regulation. This study is expected to provide a analytical framework for making legal system of further policy in other science and technology industries as well as nuclear energy related industries.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.905-913
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• 2017

Advanced reactor designs often feature longer operating cycles between refueling and new concepts of operation beyond traditional baseload electricity production. Owing to this increased complexity, traditional proportional-integral control may not be sufficient across all potential operating regimes. The prototypical advanced reactor (PAR) design features two independent reactor modules, each connected to a single dedicated steam generator that feeds a common balance of plant for electricity generation and process heat applications. In the current research, the PAR is expected to operate in a load-following manner to produce electricity to meet grid demand over a 24-hour period. Over the operational lifetime of the PAR system, primary and intermediate sodium pumps are expected to degrade in performance. The independent operation of the two reactor modules in the PAR may allow the system to continue operating under degraded pump performance by shifting the power production between reactor modules in order to meet overall load demands. This paper proposes a Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy logic-based power distribution system. Two T-S fuzzy power distribution controllers have been designed and tested. Simulation shows that the devised T-S fuzzy controllers provide improved performance over traditional controls during daily load-following operation under different levels of pump degradation.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.573-578
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• 2019

Anisotropic distribution of the turbulent kinetic energy and the near-field excitations are the main causes of the steady state Flow-Induced Vibration (FIV) which could lead to fretting wear damage in vertically arranged supported slender rods. In this article, a combined Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Computational Structural Mechanic (CSM) approach named two-way Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) is used to investigate the modal characteristics of a typical rod's vibration. Performance of an Unsteady Reynolds-Average Navier-Stokes (URANS) and Large Eddy Simulation (LES) turbulence models on asymmetric fluctuations of the flow field are investigated. Using the LES turbulence model, any large deformation damps into a weak oscillation which remains in the system. However, it is challenging to use LES in two-way FSI problems from fluid domain discretization point of view which is investigated in this article as the innovation. It is concluded that the near-wall meshes whiten the viscous sub-layer is of great importance to estimate the Root Mean Square (RMS) of FIV amplitude correctly as a significant fretting wear parameter otherwise it merely computes the frequency of FIV.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.151-175
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• 2015

The general public is a key stakeholder in the science and technology domain. However, traditional approaches require substantial efforts and resources to analyze how does the general public understand science and technology issues. We applied the topic modeling, a form of text clustering, to the texts about the nuclear power which were posted on an online space in order to explore the general public's thoughts on the issue. This study investigates the extent to which macro-level events influence understandings of the general public on the science and technology issues and weather these changes in understandings are sustained over time. It examines the possibility of applying topic modeling in narrowing a perception gap between the general public and the experts through a near-real-time monitoring of the public interests and perceptions about the science and technology issues.