• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제27권3호
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• pp.471-479
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• 2017

White spot syndrome virus (WSSV) is a major threat to the shrimp farming industry and so far there is no effective therapy for it, and thus early diagnostic of WSSV is of great importance. However, at the early stage of infection, the extremely low-abundance of WSSV DNA challenges the detection sensitivity and accuracy of PCR. To effectively detect low-abundance WSSV, here we developed a pre-amplification PCR (pre-amp PCR) method to amplify trace amounts of WSSV DNA from massive background genomic DNA. Combining with normal specific PCR, 10 copies of target WSSV genes were detected from ${\sim}10^{10}$ magnitude of backgrounds. In particular, multiple target genes were able to be balanced amplified with similar efficiency due to the usage of the universal primer. The efficiency of the pre-amp PCR was validated by nested-PCR and quantitative PCR, and pre-amp PCR showed higher efficiency than nested-PCR when multiple targets were detected. The developed method is particularly suitable for the super early diagnosis of WSSV, and has potential to be applied in other low-abundance sample detection cases.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제30권8호
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• pp.1252-1260
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• 2020

(R)-2-(4-hydroxyphenoxy)propionic acid (HPOPA) is a key intermediate for the preparation of aryloxyphenoxypropionic acid herbicides (R-isomer). In order to improve the HPOPA production from the substrate (R)-2-phenoxypropionic acid (POPA) with Beauveria bassiana CCN-A7, static cultivation and H₂O₂ addition were attempted and found to be conducive to the task at hand. This is the first report on HPOPA production under static cultivation and reactive oxygen species (ROS) induction. On this premise, the cultivation conditions and fermentation medium compositions were optimized. As a result, the optimal carbon source, organic nitrogen source, and inorganic nitrogen source were determined to be glucose, peptone, and ammonium sulfate, respectively. The optimal inoculum size and fermentation temperature were 13.3% and 28℃, respectively. The significant factors including glucose, peptone, and H₂O₂, identified based on Plackett-Burman design, were further optimized through Central Composite Design (CCD). The optimal concentrations were as follows: glucose 38.81 g/l, peptone 7.28 g/l, and H₂O₂ 1.08 g/l/100 ml. Under the optimized conditions, HPOPA titer was improved from 9.60 g/l to 19.53 g/l, representing an increase of 2.03-fold. The results obtained in this work will provide novel strategies for improving the biosynthesis of hydroxy aromatics.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• 제21권3호
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• pp.287-292
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• 2017

Vitiligo is an intriguing depigmentary disorder and is notoriously difficult to be treated. The ultimate goal of vitiligo treatment is to replenish the lost melanocytes by immigration from hair follicle and to restore the normal function of melanogenesis by residual melanocytes. There are two types of topical calcineurin inhibitors called tacrolimus and pimecrolimus, and are recommended as the first-line treatments in vitiligo. Although pimecrolimus is efficacious for the repigmentation of vitiligo, its intrinsic mechanisms have never been investigated in vitro. This research aimed to study the ability of pimecrolimus on stimulating melanogenesis, melanocyte migration and MITF (microphthalmia associated transcription factor) protein expression. Results showed that pimecrolimus at the dosages of 1, 10, $10^2$nM were neither mitogenic nor cytotoxic to melanocytes. The addition of pimecrolimus at 10, $10^2$ and $10^3nM$ significantly increased intracellular tyrosinase activity, which was consistent with the elevated content of melanin content at the same concentrations. The peak effect was seen at 72 h in response to $10^2$nM pimecrolimus. Results of the wound scratch assay and Transwell assays indicate that pimecrolimus is effective in facilitating melanocyte migration on a collagen IV-coated surface. In addition, MITF protein yield reached the highest by pimecrolimus at $10^2nM$. In brief, pimecrolimus enhances melanin synthesis as well as promotes migration of melanocytes directly, possibly via their effects on MITF protein expression.

• 한국기술혁신학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국기술혁신학회 2006년도 The 1st China-Korea Conference on Innovation Studies
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• pp.15-41
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• 2006

The increasing popularity of the concept of technology innovation has been driven by greater international competition in a rapidly globalizing economy. Both countries and enterprises are placing more and more emphasis on it in order to gain competitive advantages. This article gives a general introduction about the research and application of technology innovation in China. At the national level, one obvious fact is that the total R&D expenditure increased rapidly during the year 2001 to year 2005 and reached Y 245 billions, and China made 2,452 international patent applications in 2005 and became the world's 10th largest user of the Patent Cooperation Treaty. At the industry and enterprise level, much progress has also been made in China. This article uses the high-tech industry as an example to introduce the industry and enterprise technology innovation respectively. Corresponding to the practice, scholars also did a great amount of research work related to technology innovation. This article sums up all the work done from the macroscopic aspect (such as national technology innovation strategy, regional innovation system, industry technology innovation) and microcosmic aspect (such as enterprise technology innovation strategy, patterns and evaluation standards). Based on the analysis, this article discusses the limitation of current work and research trend about the technology innovation.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• 제55권6호
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• pp.337-342
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• 2014

Objective : To determine deformity correction by postural correction and subsequent balloon inflation in acute vertebral compression fractures (OVCFs) and to examine the effect of bone mineral density on deformity correction. Methods : A totol of 50 acute OVCFs received balloon kyphoplasty. Lateral radiographs were taken and analyzed at five different time points : 1) preoperative, 2) after placing the patient in prone hyperextended position, 3) after balloon inflation, 4) after deposition of the cement, and 5) postoperative. All fractures were analyzed for height restoration of anterior (Ha), middle (Hm) and posterior (Hp) vertebra as well as Cobb angle and Kyphotic angle. The bone mineral density (BMD) of lumbar spine was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. According to the T-score, the patients were divided into two groups which were osteoporosis group and osteopenia group. Results : Postoperative measurements of Ha, Hm and the Cobb angle demonstrated significant reduction of 4.62 mm, 3.66 mm and $5.34^{\circ}$ compared with the preoperative measurements, respectively (each p<0.05). Postural correction significantly increased Ha by 5.51 mm, Hm by 4.35 mm and improved the Cobb angle by $8.32^{\circ}$ (each p<0.05). Balloon inflation did not demonstrate a significant improvement of Ha, Hm or the Cobb angle compared with baseline prone hyperextended. Postural correction led to greater improvements of Ha, Hm and Cobb angle in osteoporosis group than osteopenia group (each p<0.05). Conclusion : In acute OVCFs, the height restoration was mainly attributed to postural correction rather than deformity correction by balloon inflation. BMD affected deformity correction in the process of postural correction.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제40권3호
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• pp.431-451
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• 2011

Time delay inevitably exists in active control systems, and it may cause the degradation of control efficiency or instability of the systems. So time delay needs to be compensated in control design in order to eliminate its negative effect on control efficiency. Today time delay in linear systems has been more studied and some treating methods had been worked out. However, there are few treating methods for time delay in nonlinear systems. In this paper, an active controller for a nonlinear and hysteretic building structure with time delay is studied. The nonlinear and hysteretic behavior of the system is illustrated by the Bouc-Wen model. By specific transformation and augmentation of state parameters, the motion equation of the system with explicit time delay is transformed into the standard state space representation without any explicit time delay. Then the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method and instantaneous optimal control method are applied to the controller design with time delay. Finally, numerical simulations and comparisons of an eight-story building using the proposed time-delay controller are carried out. Simulation results indicate that the control performance will deteriorate if time delay is not taken into account in the control design. The simulations also prove the proposed time delay controller in this paper can not only effectively compensate time delay to get better control effectiveness, but also work well with both small and large time delay problems.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제15권2호
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• pp.745-754
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• 2018

In the analysis of the effects of rock tunnel blasting vibration on adjacent existing buildings, the model of simplified equivalent load produces higher calculation result of vibration, due to the lack of consideration of the millisecond delay effect. This paper, based on the static force equivalence principle of blasting load, proposes a new determination method of equivalent load of blasting vibration. The proposed method, based on the elastic-static force equivalence principle of stress wave, equals the blasting loads of several single blastholes in the same section of millisecond blasting to the triangle blasting load curve of the exploded equivalent elastic boundary surface. According to the attenuation law of stress wave, the attenuated equivalent triangle blasting load curve of the equivalent elastic boundary is applied on the tunnel excavation contour surface, obtaining the final applied equivalent load. Taking the millisecond delay time of different sections into account, the time-history curve of equivalent load of the whole section applied on the tunnel excavation contour surface can be obtained. Based on Sailing Tunnel with small spacing on Sanmenxia-Xichuan Expressway, an analysis on the blasting vibration response of the later and early stages of the tunnel construction is carried out through numerical simulation using the proposed equivalent load model considering millisecond delay effect and the simplified equivalent triangle load curve model respectively. The analysis of the numerical results comparing with the field monitoring ones shows that the calculation results obtained from the proposed equivalent load model are closer to the measured ones and more feasible.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제20권5호
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• pp.795-801
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• 2007

Patients with Type I diabetes mellitus have been treated with porcine insulin for several decades and pigs have recently been deemed an ideal source of microencapsulated islet cells for clinical xenotransplantation. In this study, neonatal pigs were anesthetized and sacrificed prior to a pancreatectomy. Islet cells were isolated from pancreas via collagenase digestion. Islet cells were separated and collected by hand under microscopic guidance. These cells were suspended in 1.4% sodium alginate solution and encapsulated by dropping them into 1.1% calcium chloride solution and in which the round gel in size was 250-400 ${\mu}m$ in diameter. Viability of the microencapsulated islet cells cultured in medium at $37^{\circ}C$ was assessed by MTT assay. Furthermore, insulin released in response to glucose challenge was investigated using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Secretion of insulin was low in response to the basal glucose solution (4.4 mM) in medium and was significantly higher in response to the high glucose solution (16.7 mM). The viability of microencapsulated islet cells did not differ significantly over a period of 7 days; that is, the increasing pattern of insulin concentration in the culture medium after glucose stimulation interval day was similar throughout the 7 days cultivation. In summary, experimental evidences indicated that the effects of alginate-microencapsulation prolonged survival of the neonatal porcine islets in vitro cultures and the insulin response to glucose of the islets was maintained.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제22권3호
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• pp.319-327
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• 2009

Follicular fluid meiosis-activating sterol (FF-MAS) has been suggested as a positive factor which could improve the oocyte quality and subsequent embryo development after in vitro fertilization. However, FF-MAS is a highly lipophilic substance and is hard to detect in studying the relationship between MAS and quality of oocyte maturation. The present study focused on the expression of lanosterol 14${\alpha}$-demethylase (LDM), a key enzyme that converts lanosterol to FF-MAS, on mouse oocyte maturation and its potency on development. LDM expression was strong in gonadotropin-primed germinal vesicle stage oocytes, weak after germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD), and then strong in MII stage oocytes. The LDM-specific inhibitor azalanstat significantly inhibited oocyte fertilization (from 79.4% to 68.3%, p<0.05). Also, azalanstat (5 to 50 ${\mu}M$) decreased the percentage of blastocyst development dosedependently (from 78.7% to 23.4%, p<0.05). The specific inhibition of sterol ${\Delta}14$-reductase and ${\Delta}7$-reductase by AY9944 accumulates FF-MAS and could increase blastocyst development rates. Additionally, in the AY9944 group, the rate of inner cell mass (ICM)/ total cells was similar to that of in vivo development, but the rate was significantly decreased in azalanstat treatment. In conclusion, LDM, the key enzyme of FF-MAS production, may play an important role in fertilization and early development of the mouse embryo, especially in vitro.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제17권2호
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• pp.647-653
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• 2016

Background: Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer affecting Malaysian women. Recent statistics revealed that the cumulative probability of breast cancer and related deaths in Malaysia is higher than in most of the countries of Southeast Asia. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in CYP2E1 (rs6413432 and rs3813867), STK15 (rs2273535 and rs1047972) and XRCC1 (rs1799782 and rs25487) have been associated with breast cancer risk in a meta-analysis but any link in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, remained to be determined. Hence, we investigated the relationship between these SNPs and breast cancer risk among Malaysian women in the present case-control study. Materials and Methods: Genomic DNA was isolated from peripheral blood of 71 breast cancer patients and 260 healthy controls and subjected to polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis. Results: Our study showed that the c1/c2 genotype or subjects with at least one c2 allele in CYP2E1 rs3813867 SNP had significantly increased almost 1.8-fold higher breast cancer risk in Malaysian women overall. In addition, the variant Phe allele in STK15 rs2273535 SNP appeared to protect against breast cancer in Malaysian Chinese. No significance association was found between XRCC1 SNPs and breast cancer risk in the population. Conclusions: This study provides additional knowledge on CYP2E1, STK15 and XRCC1 SNP impact of risk of breast cancer, particularly in the Malaysian population. From our findings, we also recommend Malaysian women to perform breast cancer screening before 50 years of age.