• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.94-101
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• 2013

Amorphous silica particles, whose applications are increasing in many biomedical fields, are known to be less toxic than crystalline silica. In this study, the inflammatory effects of amorphous silica nanoparticles were investigated using 30-nm amorphous silica nanoparticles and human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) or purified monocytes. As a result, production of IL-$1{\beta}$ and IL-8 were increased. In addition, the mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) was detected, which may lead to mitochondrial membrane disruption. Most importantly, inflammasome formation was observed. Therefore, these results provide immunological information about amorphous silica nanoparticles and suggest that amorphous silica nanoparticles can evoke innate immune reactions in human monocytes through production of IL-$1{\beta}$ and IL-8.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.254-256
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• 2009

The performances of proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysis depend on many factors such as materials, geometries, fabrication methods, operating conditions, and so forth. The fabrication method is concerned, membrane electrode assemblies (MEA) are a most important part to show different performances by different fabrication methods. The performance change of PEM water electrolysis was experimentally measured according to the fabrication differences of the anode electrodes. One point of view is the catalyst intrusion rate to the anode gas diffusion layer (GDL), and the other point of view is the catalyst loading distribution in depth of the anode GDL. Results show that the performances of MEA with deep intrusion of the catalysts are better in the range of low current densities but worse at higher current densities. The catalyst loading distribution does not affect significantly to the performance of PEM water electrolyser.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 2004.05b
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• pp.180-183
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• 2004

Gas separation membranes are now used in a wide variety of application areas as oxygen enrichment, hydrogen recovery, acid gas treatment, and natural gas dehydration etc [1]. Since polymeric membranes offer attractive properties for gas separation application, they have been variously studied [2-4].(omitted)

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.75-78
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• 2009

The performances of proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysis depend on many factors such as materials, geometries, fabrication methods, operating conditions, and so forth. The fabrication method is concerned, membrane electrode assemblies (MEA) are a most important part to show different performances by different fabrication methods. The performance change of PEM water electrolysis was experimentally measured according to the fabrication differences of the anode electrodes. One point of view is the catalyst intrusion rate to the anode gas diffusion layer (GDL), and the other point of view is the catalyst loading distribution in depth of the anode GDL. Results show that the performances of MEA with deep intrusion of the catalysts are better in the range of low current densities but worse at higher current densities. The catalyst loading distribution does not affect significantly to the performance of PEM water electrolyser.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.52-58
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• 2013

In order to overcome the cost issue for commercialization of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), this research was conducted for replacing platinum cathode catalyst with non-precious metal catalyst. The non-precious metal catalyst (Co-PANI-C) was synthesized by the simple reduction method with polyaniline (PANI), carbon black, and cobalt precursor without any heat treatment. Characterization of new Co-PANI-C composite catalysts was done by the measurement of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) for structure analysis and performed by rotating disk electrode (RDE) and rotating ring disk electrode (RRDE) for electrochemical analysis. As a result, Co-PANI-C catalyst showed 60 mV lower on-set potential for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) than Pt/C catalyst, but the overall reduction current of Co-PANI-C catalysts by ORR was still smaller than that of Pt/C. In addition, the ORR behavior of Co-PANI-C catalysts depending on the rotation speed of electrode and the stability of Co-PANI-C catalyst under potential cycling and the performance of fuel cell conditions are also discussed.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.790-798
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• 2016

Chlamydiae, obligate intracellular bacteria, are associated with a variety of human diseases. The chlamydial life cycle undergoes a biphasic development: replicative reticulate bodies (RBs) phase and infectious elementary bodies (EBs) phase. At the end of the chlamydial intracellular life cycle, EBs have to be released to the surrounded cells. Therefore, the interactions between Chlamydiae and cell death pathways could greatly influence the outcomes of Chlamydia infection. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain elusive. Here, we investigated host cell death after Chlamydia infection in vitro, in L929 cells, and showed that Chlamydia infection induces cell necrosis, as detected by the propidium iodide (PI)-Annexin V double-staining flow-cytometric assay and Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release assay. The production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), an important factor in induction of necrosis, was increased after Chlamydia infection, and inhibition of ROS with specific pharmacological inhibitors, diphenylene iodonium (DPI) or butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), led to significant suppression of necrosis. Interestingly, live-cell imaging revealed that Chlamydia infection induced lysosome membrane permeabilization (LMP). When an inhibitor upstream of LMP, CA-074-Me, was added to cells, the production of ROS was reduced with concomitant inhibition of necrosis. Taken together, our results indicate that Chlamydia infection elicits the production of ROS, which is dependent on LMP at least partially, followed by induction of host-cell necrosis. To our best knowledge, this is the first live-cell-imaging observation of LMP post Chlamydia infection and report on the link of LMP to ROS to necrosis during Chlamydia infection.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.2171-2178
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• 2016

Polyester cloth (PC) was selected as a prospective inexpensive substitute separator material for microbial fuel cells (MFCs). PC was compared with a traditional Nafion proton exchange membrane (PEM) as an MFC separator by analyzing its physical and electrochemical properties. A single layer of PC showed higher mass transfer (e.g., for $O_2/H^+/ions$) than the Nafion PEM; in the case of oxygen mass transfer coefficient ($k_o$), a rate of $50.0{\times}10^{-5} cm{\cdot}s^{-1}$ was observed compared with a rate of $20.8{\times}10^{-5}cm/s$ in the Nafion PEM. Increased numbers of PC layers were found to reduce the oxygen mass transfer coefficient. In addition, the diffusion coefficient of oxygen ($D_O$) for PC ($2.0-3.3{\times}10^{-6}cm^2/s$) was lower than that of the Nafion PEM ($3.8{\times}10^{-6}cm^2/s$). The PC was found to have a low ohmic resistance ($0.29-0.38{\Omega}$) in the MFC, which was similar to that of Nafion PEM ($0.31{\Omega}$); this resulted in comparable maximum power density and maximum current density in MFCs with PC and those with Nafion PEMs. Moreover, a higher average current generation was observed in MFCs with PC ($104.3{\pm}15.3A/m^3$) compared with MFCs with Nafion PEM ($100.4{\pm}17.7A/m^3$), as well as showing insignificant degradation of the PC surface, during 177 days of use in swine wastewater. These results suggest that PC separators could serve as a low-cost alternative to Nafion PEMs for construction of cost-effective MFCs.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.1458-1465
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• 2016

We investigated the neuroprotective effect of an ethanol extract from Asparagus cochinchinensis (AC) against glutamate-induced toxicity in the HT22 hippocampal cell, which is an ideal in vitro model for oxidative stress. The neuroprotective effects of AC in HT22 cells were evaluated by analyzing cell viability, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), flow cytometry for cell death types, reactive oxygen species (ROS), mitochondria membrane potential (MMP), and Western blot assays. In the cell death analysis, AC treatment resulted in significantly attenuated glutamate-induced loss of cell viability with a decrease in LDH release. AC treatment also reduced glutamate-induced apoptotic cell death. In the ROS and MMP analysis, AC treatment inhibited the elevation of intracellular ROS induced by glutamate exposure and the disruption of MMP. In oxidative stress-related proteins analysis, AC treatment inhibited the expression of poly ADP ribose polymerase and heme oxygenase-1 by glutamate. These results indicate that AC exerts a significant neuroprotective effect against glutamate-induced hippocampal damage by decreasing ROS production and stabilizing MMP. Thus, AC potentially provides a new strategy for the treatment of oxidative stress-related diseases.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.94-100
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• 1987

Plant mitochondria, irradiated with blue-colored $sunlight(350{\sim}500nm)$ under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, were assayed as to the electron transfer activity of respiratory enzyme system, and compared with those irradiated with orange-colored light(white sunlight minus blue-colored light). The respiratory activity of mitochondria was most seriousely inhibited by illumination with blue-colored light under aerobic condition. Deaeration of mitochondrial suspension resulted in substantial decrease of the photoinhibition by blue-colored light. Meanwhile, orange-colored light demonstrated much less effectiveness-almost ineffectiveness-in causing the inhibition of mitochondrial respiration system. The results of enzymatic assay revealed a strong possibility that FMN in NDH and heme group at least in cytochrome c oxidase, but not FAD in SDH, are the photodynamic sensitizers in mitochondrial inner membrane. Also worthwhile to note is the significant difference from the others of SDH in its photoinhibitory response to the light quality of visible light; that the inhibition of SDH by irradiation was not affected by atmospheric condition and that orange-colored light gave rise to considerable extents of inhibition to the enzyme. This observation was tentatively interpreted in terms of photosensitized reaction not involving molecular oxygen possibly catalyzed by Fe-S centers in the enzyme. The superoxide production and the membrane peroxidation of mitochondria under various treatments also indicated that there was blue-light photodynamic reaction in mitochondria involving active oxygens.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.143-151
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• 2001

We have fabricated mixed-ionic conducting membranes, L $a_{0.6}$S $r_{0.4}$ $Co_{0.2}$F $e_{0.8}$ $O_{3-}$$\delta$/ and L $a_{0.7}$S $r_{0.3}$G $a_{0.6}$F $e_{0.4}$ $O_{3-}$$\delta$/ by the solid state method. Ceramic membranes consisted of perovskite-type structures and exhibited high relative density, >95%. Especially, dense L $a_{0.6}$S $r_{0.4}$Co $O_{3-}$$\delta$/ layer was coated on the L $a_{0.7}$S $r_{0.3}$G $a_{0.6}$F $e_{0.4}$ $O_{3-}$$\delta$/ membranes by using screen printing technique in order to improve oxygen ion flux. We measured oxygen ion flux on uncoated L $a_{0.6}$S $r_{0.4}$ $Co_{0.2}$F $e_{0.8}$ $O_{3-}$$\delta$/, uncoated L $a_{0.7}$S $r_{0.3}$G $a_{0.6}$F $e_{0.4}$ $O_{3-}$$\delta$/, and coated L $a_{0.7}$S $r_{0.3}$G $a_{0.6}$F $e_{0.4}$ $O_{3-}$$\delta$/ membranes. The L $a_{0.6}$S $r_{0.4}$ $Co_{0.2}$F $e_{0.8}$ $O_{3-}$$\delta$/ membranes showed the highest flux, 0.26 mL/min.$\textrm{cm}^2$ at 90$0^{\circ}C$, after steady state had been reached. The oxygen flux of coated L $a_{0.7}$S $r_{0.3}$G $a_{0.6}$F $e_{0.4}$ $O_{3-}$$\delta$/ membranes showed higher value, 0.19 mL/min.$\textrm{cm}^2$ at 95$0^{\circ}C$. This flux was as much as 2 or 3 times higher than those of uncoated L $a_{0.7}$S $r_{0.3}$G $a_{0.6}$F $e_{0.4}$ $O_{3-}$$\delta$/ membranes. 3-$\delta$/ membranes.X> 3-$\delta$/ membranes.membranes.