• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.177-182
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• 2008

Caveolin proteins are mediators of cell death or the survival of injured cells, and they are inhibitors of various signaling pathways. The expression of caveolin-, which is involved in the protein kinase A (PKA) signaling pathway, was examined in the differentiated mouse vestibular cell line UB/UE-1 after gentamicin ototoxicity. Caveolae in the vestibular hair cell of healthy guinea pigs were observed through an electron microscope. UB/UE-1 cells were cultured at 95% $CO_2$ with 5% $O_2$ at $33^{\circ}C$ for 48 hours and at 95% $CO_2$ with 5% $O_2$ at $39^{\circ}C$ for 24 hours for differentiation. Cells were treated with 1 mM gentamicin, 0.02 mM H89 (PKA inhibitor), and then incubated for 24 hours. Caveolin-1 expression was examined by western blotting and PKA activity by a $PepTag^{(R)}$ assay. Caveolae were observed in the vestibular hair cells of healthy guinea pigs by electron microscopy. Caveolin-1 was expressed spontaneously in differentiated UB/UE-1 cells and increased after gentamicin treatment. PKA was also over-activated by gentamicin treatment. Both gentamicin-induced caveolin-1 expression and PKA over-activation were inhibited by H89. These results indicate that gentamicin-induced caveolin-1 expression is mediated by the PKA signaling pathway. We conclude that caveolae/ caveolin activity, induced via a PKA signaling pathway, may be one of the mechanisms of gentamicin-induced ototoxicity.

• BMB Reports
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.370-376
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• 1998

Src-Homology 2 (SH2) domains have a capacity to bind phosphotyrosine-containing sequence context and play essential roles in various cellular signaling pathways. Due to the specific nature of the binding between SH2 domains and their counterpart proteins, inhibitors of SID domain binding have drawn extensive attention as a potential candidate for therapeutic agents. Here, we describe the binding assay system to screen for the ligands or blockers of the SH2 domains with an emphasis on the $p56^{lck}$ SH2 domain. In our assay system, SID domains expressed and purified as fusion proteins to Glutathione-S-transferase (GST) were covalently attached to 96-well microtitre plates through amide bond formation, which were subsequently allowed to bind the biotinylated phosphotyrosine (pY)containing synthetic pep tides. The binding of biotinylated pY peptides was detected by the horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-conjugated streptavidin. Using the various combinations of SH2 domain-pY peptides, we observed that: (1) The binding of pY-peptides to its counterpart SH2 domain is concentration-dependent and saturable; (2) The binding is highly specific for a particular combination of SH2 domain-pY peptide pair; and (3) The binding of Lck SH2-cognate pY-peptides is specifically competed by the nonbiotinylated peptides with expected relative affinity. These results indicate that the established assay system detects the SH2-pY peptide interaction with reproducible sensitivity and specificity and is suitable for screening the specific inhibitors of $p56^{lck}$ SH2 function.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.939-948
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• 1998

To investigate the relationship between eating behavior and the prevalence of adolescents drug abuse and smoking, this survey was conducted among 349 male students(mean age ; 16.0 $\pm$0.9yrs) at technical high schools in Kyunggi-Do. It was shown that 58.7% of total subjects were smoking and 11.2% were abusing drugs. Drug abusers weighed Less than non-abusers especially, student smokers were 2.7kg lighter than non-smokers despite the same height. Although parents' education showed no relationship with drug abuse, educational level of student smokers' fathers was significantly lower than that of non-smokers' fathers. Drug abusers and smokers showed significantly higher incidence of runaway from home, absence from school without notice, and parents' divorce than non-abusers and non-smokers. Drugs abused were sleeping pills(n=20), bonds and butane gas(n=9), marijuana(n=3), tranquilizer(n=3), morphine and cocaine(n=2), and pep pills like amphetamine(n=2) 76.9% of the drug abusers had their first experience in junior high school and 81% of the smokers stared smoking as early as in junior high school. Also, 44% of the smokers reported that they smoke daily. The drug abusers tended to have more irregular eating habits than the non-abusers. The smokers showed irregular mealtime, ate either too fast or too slow, and especially, often skipped lunch or dinner. The drug abusers and smokers took little vegetable in their meals and often ate bread or noodles instead of rice for staples. In addition, they preferred taste to nutrition when they had meals. The smokers tended to ingest smaller amount of calcium source such as milk or dinner food and fish with bone although they consume more volume of total foods than the non-smokers. All subjects took less in calorie, calcium, iron, vitamin A, vitamin E, riboflavin, and folic acid than the Recommended Dietary Allowance Those findings suggest that drug abuse and smoking cause bad eating habits that influence unbalanced nutritional state. Therefore, nutrition education should be provided to the adolescents so that they can recognize the disadvantages of drug and smoking and its relation to dietary relation. (Korean J Nutrition 31(5) : 939-948, 1998)

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.870-879
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• 2006

The present study describes the formation of succinic acid by a nonvirulent, highly osmotolerant Klebsiella pneumoniae strain SAP (succinic acid producer), its profile of metabolites, and enzymes of the succinate production pathway. The strain produced succinate along with other metabolites such as lactate, acetate, and ethanol under aerobic as well as anaerobic growth conditions. The yield of succinate was higher in the presence of $MgCO_3$ under $N_2$ atmosphere as compared with that under $CO_2$ atmosphere. Analysis of intracellular metabolites showed the presence of a smaller PEP pool than that of pyruvate. Oxaloacetate, citrate, and $\alpha$-ketoglutarate pools were considerably larger than those of isocitrate and fumarate. In order to understand the synthesis of succinate, the enzymes involved in end-product formation were studied. Levels of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, fumarate reductase, pyruvate kinase, and acetate kinase were higher under anaerobic growth conditions. Based on the profiles of the metabolites and enzymes, it was concluded that the synthesis of succinate took place via oxaloacetate, malate, and fumarate in the strain under anaerobic growth conditions. The strain SAP showed potential for the bioconversion of fumarate to succinate under $N_2$ atmosphere in the presence of $MgCO_3$. At an initial fumarate concentration of 10 g/l, 7.1 g/l fumarate was converted to 7 g/l succinate with a molar conversion efficiency of 97.3%. The conversion efficiency and succinate yield were increased in the presence of glucose. Cells grown on fumarate contained an 18-fold higher fumarate reductase activity as compared with the activity obtained when grown on glucose.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.1070-1083
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• 2015

A gene (GT-SM3B) encoding a thermostable secreted oligoendopeptidase (GT-SM3B) was cloned from the thermophile Geobacillus thermoleovorans DSM 15325. GT-SM3B is 1,857 bp in length and encodes a single-domain protein of 618 amino acids with a 23-residue signal peptide having a calculated mass of 67.7 kDa after signal cleavage. The deduced amino acid sequence of GT-SM3B contains a conservative zinc metallopeptidase motif (His⁴⁰⁰-Glu⁴⁰¹-X-XHis⁴⁰⁴). The described oligopeptidase belongs to the M3B subfamily of metallopeptidases and displays the highest amino acid sequence identity (40.3%) to the oligopeptidase PepF_Ba from mesophilic Bacillus amyloliquefaciens 23-7A among the characterized oligopeptidases. Secretory production of GT-SM3B was used, exploiting successful oligopeptidase signal peptide recognition by Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). The recombinant enzyme was purified from the culture fluid. Homodimerization of GT-SM3B was determined by SDS-PAGE. Both the homodimer and monomer were catalytically active within a pH range of 5.0–8.0, at pH 7.3 and 40℃, showing the K_m, V_max, and k_cat values for carbobenzoxy-Gly-Pro-Gly-Gly-Pro-Ala-OH peptidolysis to be 2.17 ± 0.04 × 10^-6 M, 2.65 ± 0.03 × 10^-3 µM/min, and 5.99 ± 0.07 s^-1, respectively. Peptidase remained stable at a broad pH range of 5.0–8.0. GT-SM3B was thermoactive, demonstrating 84% and 64% of maximum activity at 50℃ and 60℃, respectively. The recombinant oligopeptidase is one of the most thermostable M3B peptidase, retaining 71% residual activity after incubation at 60℃ for 1 h. GT-SM3B was shown to hydrolyze a collagenous peptide mixture derived from various types of collagen, but less preferentially than synthetic hexapeptide. This study is the first report on an extracellular thermostable metallo-oligopeptidase.

• The KIPS Transactions:PartC
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• v.14C no.7
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• pp.597-602
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• 2007

In conventional cooperative communication data rate is 1/2 than non cooperative protocols. In this paper, we propose a full data rate DF (Decode and Forward) cooperative transmission scheme. Proposed scheme is based on time division multiplexing (TDM) channel access. When DF protocol has full data rate, it can not obtain diversity gain under the pairwise error probability (PEP) view point. If it increases time slot to obtain diversity gain, then data rate is reduced. The proposed algorithm uses orthogonal frequency and constellation rotation to obtain both full data rate and diversity order 2. Moreover, performance is analyzed according to distance and optimized components that affect the system performance by using computer simulation. The simulation results revealed that the cooperation can save the network power up to 7dB over direct transmission and 5dB over multi-hop transmission at BER of $10^{-2}$. Besides, it can improve date rate of system compared with the conventional DF protocol.

• BMB Reports
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.584-590
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• 2005

Glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.49) was purified from Aspergillus aculeatus, a filamentous fungus previously isolated from infected tongue of a patient. The enzyme, apparently homogeneous, had a specific activity of $220\;units\;mg^{-1}$/, a molecular weight of $105,000{\pm}5,000$ Dal by gel filtration and subunit size of $52,000{\pm}1,100$ Dal by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The substrate specificity was extremely strict, with glucose 6-phosphate (G6P) being oxidized by nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP) only. At assay pH of 7.5, the enzyme had $K_m$ values of $6\;{\mu}m$ and $75\;{\mu}m$ for NADP and G6P respectively. The $k_{cat}$ was $83\;s^{-1}$. Steady-state kinetics at pH 7.5 produced converging linear Lineweaver-Burk plots as expected for ternary-complex mechanism. The patterns of product and dead-end inhibition suggested that the enzyme can bind NADP and G6P separately to form a binary complex, indicating a random-order mechanism. The enzyme was irreversibly inactivated by heat in a linear fashion, with G6P providing a degree of protection. Phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP), adenosinetriphosphate (ATP), and fructose 6-phosphate (F6P), in decreasing order, are effective inhibitors. Zinc and Cobalt ions were effective inhibitors although cobalt ion was more potent; the two divalent metals were competitive inhibitors with respect to G6P, with $K_i$ values of $6.6\;{\mu}m$ and $4.7\;{\mu}m$ respectively. It is proposed that inhibition by divalent metal ions, at low NADPH /NADP ratio, is another means of controlling pentosephosphate pathway.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1177-1182
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• 2012

Protein kinase C (PKC) has been implicated in carcinogenesis and displays variable expression profiles during cancer progression. Studies of dietary phytochemicals on cancer signalling pathway regulation have been conducted to search for potent signalling regulatory agents. The present study was designed to evaluate any suppressive effect of maslinic acid on PKC expression in human B-lymphoblastoid cells (Raji cells), and to identify the PKC isoforms expressed. Effects of maslinic acid on PKC activity were determined using a PepTag$^{(R)}$ assay for non-radioactive detection of PKC. The highest expression in Raji cells was obtained at 20 nM PMA induced for 6 hours. Suppressive effects of maslinic acid were compared with those of four PKC inhibitors (H-7, rottlerin, sphingosine, staurosporine) and two triterpenes (oleanolic acid and ursolic acid). The $IC_{50}$ values achieved for maslinic acid, staurosporine, H-7, sphingosine, rottlerin, ursolic acid and oleanolic acid were 11.52, 0.011, 0.767, 2.45, 5.46, 27.93 and $39.29\;{\mu}M$, respectively. Four PKC isoforms, PKC ${\beta}I$, ${\beta}II$, ${\delta}$, and ${\zeta}$, were identified in Raji cells via western blotting. Maslinic acid suppressed the expression of PKC ${\beta}I$, ${\delta}$, and ${\zeta}$ in a concentration-dependent manner. These preliminary results suggest promising suppressive effects of maslinic acid on PKC activity in Raji cells. Maslinic acid could be a potent cancer chemopreventive agent that may be involved in regulating many downstream signalling pathways that are activated through PKC receptors.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.873-879
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• 2007

We have implemented a highly efficient 2.14-GHz class-F amplifier using Freescale 4-W peak envelope power(PEP) RF Si lateral diffusion metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor(LDMOSFET). Because the control of the all harmonic contents is very difficult, we have managed only the $2^{nd}\;and\;3^{rd}$ harmonics to obtain the high efficiency with simple harmonic control circuit. In order to design the harmonic control circuit accurately, we extracted the bonding wire inductance and drain-source capacitance which are dominant parasitic and package effect components of the device. And then, we have fabricated the class-F amplifier. The measured drain and power-added efficiency are 65.1 % and 60,3 %, respectively.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.215-221
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• 1990

The solubilization of BSA, pepsin, trypsin and ribonuclease-a in cationic reverse micellar solutions has been investigated. For complete solubilization into reverse micellar solutions, pH values of several pH units above the isoelectric point of each protein were required. Solubilization was observed to decrease with increasing ionic strength of KCI. The size of empty micelles showed no significant change with increasing ionic strength. Trioctylmethyl ammonium chloride (TOMAC) in cyolohexane showed the lowest solubilization for the proteins. The system didodecyl dimethyl ammonium bromide (DDAB)-tetrachloroethylene was capable of solubilizing larger amounts of proteins than the system DDAB-benzene. Cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide(CTAB)-hexanol-isooctane system showed lower solubilization than DDAB-tetrachloroethylene system, while it had higher Wo value.