• Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.48-54
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• 2022

Parthenogenesis is maternally uniparental reproduction through the embryonic development of oocytes without fertilization. Artificial activation of mature oocytes could generate homozygous haploid embryos with the extrusion of the second polar body. However, the haploid embryos showed low embryo development in preimplantation embryos. In this study, we investigated whether the electronic fusion of the haploid embryos could enhance embryo development and ESC establishment in mice. Haploid embryos showed the developmental delay from 4-cell to the blastocyst stage. The haploid blastomeres of the 2-cell stage were fused electronically, resulting in that the fused embryos showed a significantly higher rate of blastocysts compared to non-fused haploid embryos (55% vs. 37%). Further, the embryonic stem cells (ESCs) derived from the fused embryos were confirmed to be diploid. The rate of ESC establishment in fused embryos was significantly higher compared to non-fused ones. Based on the results, we concluded that the electronic fusion of haploid embryos could be efficient to generate homozygous ESCs.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.283-292
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• 2023

Currently, spray coating has attracted interest in the mass production of anode catalyst layers for proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE). The solvent in the spray ink is a critical factor for the catalyst dispersion in ink, the microstructure of the catalyst layer, and the PEMWE performance. Herein, various pure organic solvents were examined as a substitute for conventional isopropanol-deionized water (IPA-DIW) mixture for ink solvent. Among the polar solvents that exhibited better IrO₂ dispersion over nonpolar solvents, 2-butanol (2-BuOH) was selected as a suitable candidate. The PEMWE single cells were fabricated using 2-BuOH at various ionomer contents, spray nozzle types, and drying temperatures, and their performance was compared to the cells fabricated using a conventional IPA-DIW mixture. The PEMWE single cells with 2-BuOH solvent showed good performances comparable to the conventional IPA-DIW mixture case and highly durable performances under accelerated degradation tests.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 1997

The present study was conducted to investigate the influence of embryo cell stage at 18h post-fusion and oocyte preactivation on sebsequent in vitro developmental potential in the nuclear transplant rabbit embryos. The embryos of 16-cell stage were collected and synchronized to G$_1$ phase of 32-cell stage. The recipient cytoplasms were obtained by removing the first polar body and chromosome rnass from the oocytes collected by non-dis-ruptive microsurgery procedure. The separated G$_1$ phase blastomeres of 32-cell stage were injected into non-preactivated recipient cytoplasms. Otherwise, the enucleated recipient cytoplasms were preactivated by electrical stimulation at 18h post-hCG injection and the separated G$_1$ phase blastomeres of 32-cell stage were injected. Mter culture until 20h post-hOG injection, the nuclear transplant oocytes were electrofused by electrical stimulation. The fused nuclear transplant embryos were classified into 3~4-cell, 2-cell and 1-cell stage at 18 hrs post-fusion and cultured until the embryos reached blastocyst stage. The developmental rate to blastocyst stage was significantly (P <0.05) higher in all the reconstituted embryos of 3~4-cell stage(58.0%) than in 2 and icell stage. The developmental rate to blastocyst stage in the embryos of 3~4-cell stage at 18 hrs post-fusion was significantly (P<0.05) higher in the reconstituted without oocyte preactivation(77.8%) than in the oocyte-preactivated embryos (33.3%). These results indicated that the higher rate of in the in vitro development to blastocyst stage might be obtained form the embryos which were reconstituted with nuclear donor of G$_1$ phase and non-preactivated oocyte, and developed more rapidly for 18 hrs post-fusion.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.15 no.2 s.69
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• pp.202-210
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• 2005

Following ingestion, Salmonella must adhere to and colonize the intestinal epithelium of the host in order to establish infection. S. typhimurium synthesize several appendages that are believed to mediate attachment. These include type 1 fimbriae, plasmid-encoded (PE) fimbriae, long polar (LP) fimbriae, and thin aggregative fimbriae. However, the precise roles of these putative adhesins remain unclear, due to conflicting data in the literature. We constructed strains lacking four different fimbriae including type 1 fimbriae, PE fimbriae, LP fimbriae, and thin aggregative fimbriae, as well as strains lacking each fimbriae alone. In cell culture adhesion assays, these mutants adhered to several mammalian cell lines as well as wild-type S. typhimurium. These strains were also screened for virulence in mice, and all strains were virulent or nearly as virulent as their wild-type parents. In contrast, When a strain lacking four fimbriae was screened for virulence in chicks, it was found to be highly attenuated. This suggests a role for either type 1 fimbriae, PE fimbriae, LP fimbriae or thin aggregative fimbriae or a combination of thease fimbriae in the colonization of chicks. It also suggests that differences exist with respect to the surface structures that mediate attachment of Salmonella in chicks as compared with mice.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.289-293
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• 2004

To investigate whether VacA (vacuolating toxin) produced by Helicobacter pylori Korean stain 99 induces intestinal secretion, purified VacA was added to T84 cell monolayers mounted in Ussing chambers, and electrical parameters were monitored. Mucosal addition of low pH-pretreated VacA increased short circuit current (Isc). The effect was time- and dose-dependent and saturable. The time-to-peak Isc was concentration-dependent. Chloride channel inhibitors, niflumic acid or 5-nitro-2-(3-phenylpropylamino)-benzoate (NPPB), inhibited VacA-stimulated Isc. Carbachol (CCh)-induced increase of Isc was prolonged by the addition of VacA to the mucosal side only. The effect was unaltered by the addition of niflumic acid. VacA did not show cytopathic effects. These studies indicate that VacA is a nonlethal toxin that acts in a polar manner on T84 monolayers to potentiate $Cl^-$ secretion and the response to CCh secretion without decrease in monolayer resistance. VacA may contribute to diarrhea diseases in human intestinal epithelial cells.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.2729-2734
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• 2012

Despite clinical advances in anticancer therapy, there is still a need for novel anticancer metabolites, with higher efficacy and lesser side effects. Oroxylum indicum (L.) Vent. is a small tree of the Bignoniaceae family which is well known for its food and medicinal properties. In present study, the chemopreventive properties of O. indicum hot and cold non-polar extracts (petroleum ether and chloroform) were investigated with MDA-MB-231 (cancer cells) and WRL-68 (non-tumor cells) by XTT assay. All the extracts, and particularly the petroleum ether hot extract (PHO), exhibited significantly (P<0.05) higher cytotoxicity in MDA-MB-231 when compared to WRL-68 cells. PHO was then tested for apoptosis induction in estrogen receptor (ER)-negative (MDA-MB-231) and ER-positive (MCF-7) breast cancer cells by cellular DNA fragmentation ELISA, where it proved more efficient in the MDA-MB-231 cells. Further, when PHO was tested for anti-metastatic potential in a cell migration inhibition assay, it exhibited beneficial effects. Thus non-polar extracts of O. indicum (especially PHO) can effectively target ER-negative breast cancer cells to induce apoptosis, without harming normal cells by cancer-specific cytotoxicity. Hence, it could be considered as an extract with candidate precursors to possibly harness or alleviate ER-negative breast cancer progression even in advanced stages of malignancy.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.73-78
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• 2011

Vibrio parahaemolyticus possesses two flagella systems: polar and lateral flagella for swimming in liquid and swarming on solid surfaces or in viscous environments. To elucidate the pathogenic role of these dual flagella systems, we constructed single- and double-deletion mutants of the lafA and flhAB flagellum genes and investigated their biofilm formation, cell adhesion, and colonization of the small intestine of suckling mice. The double-mutant strain was more impaired in biofilm formation than either of the single-mutant strains. In addition, the lafA, flhAB, and double-mutant strains showed 40%, 45%, and 60%, respectively, lower adherence to HeLa cells than the wild-type strain. Moreover, the lafA, flhAB, and double-mutant strains exhibited 49%, 5.6 and 6.7 times, respectively, lower colonization in a competition assay than the wild-type strain. These findings indicated that polar flagella were more important than lateral flagella for the pathogenesis of V. parahaemolyticus.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics B
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• v.31B no.2
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• pp.69-79
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• 1994

The conventional machine vision system which has uniform rectangular grid requires tremendous amount of computation for processing and analysing an image especially in 2-D image transfermations such as scaling, rotation and 3-D reconvery problem typical in robot application environment. In this study, the imaging system with nonuiformly distributed image sensors simulating human visual system, referred to as Ploar Exponential Grid(PEG), is compared with the existing conventional uniform rectangular grid system in terms of image resolution and computational complexity. By mimicking the geometric structure of the PEG sensor cell, we obtained PEG-like images using computer simulation. With the images obtained from the simulation, image resolution of the two systems are compared and some basic image processing tasks such as image scaling and rotation are implemented based on the PEG sensor system to examine its performance. Furthermore Fourier transform of PEG image is described and implemented in image analysis point of view. Also, the range and heading-angle measurement errors usually encountered in 3-D coordinates recovery with stereo camera system are claculated based on the PEG sensor system and compared with those obtained from the uniform rectangular grid system. In fact, the PEC imaging system not only reduces the computational requirements but also has scale and rotational invariance property in Fourier spectrum. Hence the PEG system has more suitable image coordinate system for image scaling, rotation, and image recognition problem. The range and heading-angle measurement errors with PEG system are less than those of uniform rectangular rectangular grid system in practical measurement range.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.1348-1354
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• 2009

Bioconversion of the isoflavonoid genistein to 2'-hydroxygenistein (2'-HG) was performed using isoflavone 2'-hydroxylase (CYP81E1) heterologously expressed in yeast. A monohydroxylated product was analyzed by liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS) and NMR spectrometry and was identified as 2'-HG. An initial bioconversion rate of 6% was increased up to 14% under optimized conditions. After recovery, the biological activity of 2'-HG was evaluated. Bioconverted 2'-HG showed higher antioxidant activity against 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazine (DPPH) and 2,2'-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radicals than did genistein. Furthermore, 2'-HG exhibited greater antiproliferative effects in MCF-7 human breast cancer cells than did genistein. These results suggest that 2'-hydroxylation of genistein enhanced its antioxidant activity and cell cytotoxicity in MCF-7 human breast cancer cells.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.66-71
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• 2011

Various single solvents were tested to find the effective solvent for the extraction of algae oil from wet-form Chlorella minutissima. In the case of single solvents, their extractabilities for algae oil were increased with their polarity because the water in wet algae cell is to form a solvent shell around the lipids. Based on these results, the wet-form algae samples were treated with a polar alcohol solvent and then a nonpolar solvent was added in algae residue. In the algae oil extraction by ethanol/n-hexane, total lipid contents were 40-50% and composition of triglyceride in extracted oil was 46.50%. Considering solvent toxicity of conventional solvent mixture such as chloroform and methanol for algae oil extraction, the ethanol/n-hexane system was identified as the effective one for the oil extraction from wet-form Chlorella minutissima.