• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.353-358
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• 2023

Sepsis and septic shock affect millions of people worldwide each year with high clinical mortality rates. At present, basic research on sepsis has emerged in an endless stream, but there are few effective clinical translation results. Ginseng, a medicinal and edible representative of Araliaceae plants, contains a variety of biologically active compounds including ginsenosides, alkaloids, glycosides, polysaccharides, and polypeptides. Neuromodulation, anticancer activity, blood lipid regulation, and antithrombotic activity have been linked to ginseng treatment. At present, basic and clinical research have suggested various applications of ginseng in sepsis. In view of the different effects of various ginseng components on the pathogenesis of sepsis, and in order to further understand and develop the possible value of ginseng in sepsis, this manuscript reviews the application of various components of ginseng in the treatment of sepsis in recent years.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.101-112
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• 2002

In this study, a new methodology fur the assessment of liquefaction potential is proposed and characteristics of the proposed methodology are verified. The experimental parameter of this methodology, that is, the plastic shear strain trajectory, is compared with the dissipated energy. It is shown that this parameter can express the liquefaction behavior which is generated by excess pore water pressure. This methodology takes advantage of the shear strain time history determined from the site response analysis based on the real time history of earthquake. In this site response analysis, shock type and vibration type records of similar predominant frequency are inputted. The liquefaction safely factors based on the proposed methodology and Korean detailed assessment related to the classical method are calculated from the results of the site response analysis and laboratory dynamic tests. Through this study, it is found that the proposed methodology can not only simulate the liquefaction behavior of saturated soils hut also express the seismic characteristics reasonably : leading type, predominant frequency, maximum acceleration, duration time.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.3-26
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• 1992

The pupose of this paper is to construct a price determination model of the Korean economy and to find out the propogation mechanism of monetary and fiscal policies. The model is a small-size macroeconometric model consisted of ten core equations : consumption, investment, exports, imports, consumer price index, wage rate, corporate bond rate, potential GNP, capital stock, and GNP identity. The model is a Keynesian model : consumer price index is determined by markup over costs, and wage rate is expressed by Phillipse curve ralation. Two features of the model, however, distinguish this model from other macroeconometric models of the Korean economy. First of all, the estimation of potential GNP and the capital stock is endogenized as suggested by Haque, Lahiri, and Montiel (1990). This allows us to calculate the level of excess demand, which is defined as the difference between the actual GNP and the potential GNP. Second, interest rate, inflation and wages are all estimated as endogenous variables. Moreover, all quantity variables include price variables as important determinants. For instance, interest rate is an important determinant of consumption and investment. Exports and imports are determined by the real effective exchange rate. These two features make the interactions between excess demand and prices the driving forces of this model. In the model, any shock which affects quantity variable(s) affects excess demand, which in turn affects prices. This strong interaction between prices and quantities makes the model look like a classical model over the long run. That is, increases in money supply, government expenditures, and exchange rate (the price of the U.S. dollar in terms of Korean won) all have expansionery effects on the real GNP in the short run, but prices, wage, and interest rate all increase as a result. Over the long run, higher prices have dampenning effects on output. Therefore the level of real GNP turns out to be not much different from the baseline level ; on the other hand, the rates of inflation, wage and interest rate remain at higher levels.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.19-28
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• 2022

Purpose: One of the methods for preventing disasters such as fire, explosion, and electric shock caused by electricity is to perform grounding. In case of the grounding current includes a frequency component having a high, it is preferable to measure grounding impedance rather than grounding resistance. This study proposes countermeasures to reduce grounding impedance to suppress an ground potential rise due to a grounding current having a frequency component of several kHz or more. Method: General grounding rods and needles-typed grounding rods were buried in the ground, and grounding resistance and grounding impedance were measured, respectively. The characteristics of grounding impedance according to frequency were identified. Result: There was little difference in the measurement results of the grounding resistance between general grounding rods and needles-typed grounding rods. In a frequency range lower than 62.5kHz, there was little difference in the measurement results of the grounding resistance between general grounding rods and needles-typed grounding rods. In a frequency range higher than 62.5kHz, the grounding impedance of needles-typed grounding rods was reduced by about 15% than the grounding impedance of general grounding rods. Conclusion: In the commercial frequency domain, it is effective to connect several grounding rods (common grounding) to lower the grounding resistance value. In the frequency domain of several kHz or more, it is expected that needles-typed grounding rods can effectively reduce the ground potential rise due to the grounding current.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.637-645
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• 2011

Production of recombinant proteins by excretory expression has many advantages over intracellular expression in Escherichia coli. Hyperexpression of a secretory exoglucanase, Exg, of Cellulomonas fimi was previously shown to saturate the SecYEG pathway and result in dramatic cell death of E. coli. In this study, we demonstrated that overexpression of the PspA in the JM101(pM1VegGcexL-pspA) strain enhanced excretion of Exg to 1.65 U/ml using shake-flask cultivation, which was 80% higher than the highest yield previously obtained from the optimized JM101(pM1VegGcexL) strain. A much higher excreted Exg activity of 4.5 U/ml was further achieved with high cell density cultivation using rich media. Furthermore, we showed that the PspA overexpression strain enjoyed an elevated critical value (CV), which was defined as the largest quotient between the intracellular unprocessed precursor and its secreted mature counterpart that was still tolerable by the host cells prior to the onset of cell death, improving from the previously determined CV of 20/80 to the currently achieved CV of 45/55 for Exg. The results suggested that the PspA overexpression strain might tolerate a higher level of precursor Exg making use of the SecYEG pathway for secretion. The reduced lethal effect might be attributable to the overexpressed PspA, which was postulated to be able to reduce membrane depolarization and damage. Our findings introduce a novel strategy of the combined application of metabolic engineering and construct optimization to the attainment of the best possible E. coli producers for secretory/excretory production of recombinant proteins, using Exg as the model protein.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.444-454
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• 2016

Sixteen lactic acid bacterial strains were isolated from silage and cow dung samples, and characterized to identify their potential as silage additives. They were identified as the members of the genera Lactobacillus, Enterococcus, and Weissella, and clustered into nine groups based on the sequences of the genes for 16S rRNA, RNA polymerase alpha subunit, 60-kDa heat shock protein, and phenylalanyl-tRNA synthase alpha subunit. Among them, the three strains which were genetically similar to L. plantarum showed the fastest growth and pH decrease in MRS and rye extract media, the highest numbers of available carbohydrates, and the widest ranges of pH, temperature, and salinity for growth. In addition, they showed no amplified DNA products in the PCR examination targeting the genes for the production of biogenic amines, and the MRS media where they had been cultured showed relatively high inhibition effect against the growth of silage-spoiling microorganisms, including fungi, yeast, and clostridia. The results suggest that these strains are good candidates for silage additives. However, the rye extract media where the lactic acid bacteria had been cultured had no effect on or stimulated the growth of the silage-spoiling microorganisms, and the causes must be established for the practical use of the lactic acid bacteria as silage additives.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.136-143
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• 2008

Infections involved with the oral and maxillofacial area are associated with various anatomical structures. If the proper treatment is not done in an immediate period, the infections will be quite fatal. The causes of the infections are numerous, but the most common cause of odontogenic infections in children is a dental caries. It is known to lead to some kinds of diseases such as periapical abscess, cellulitis, osteomyelitis, Ludwig's angina, toxic shock syndrome and so on. The common pathogenic sequence of fascial abscess is a necrotic pulpal inflammation in the form of dentoalvelor abscess which spreads over and gradually penetrates into the fascial membranes through the cortical bones and finally contracts the potential fascial spaces. If the infections of oral maxillofacial area were penetrated into the surrounding soft tissues, then they would diffuse into the directions of the least tissue resistance along with the connective tissues and the fascial spaces. These infections can be properly cured by tooth extraction, endodontic therapy, surgical treatment including Incision & drainage and antibiotics. The purpose of the cases is to report the satisfactory treatment results in the patients derived from the canine fascial space abscesss or buccal fascial space ones of the odontogenic origin.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.165-172
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• 2020

Heavy metals are common pollutants in the freshwater environment and have toxicological effect in habitat organisms. The heavy metals highly accumulated in sediment and organism, and observed various physiological responses. In this study, we investigated the molecular response to heavy metal toxicity (Al, Aluminum; Cr, Chromium; Cu, copper; Mn, Manganese; Zn, Zinc) through expression of heat shock protein 40, 70, 90 (HSP40, 70, 90), cytochrome 450 (CYP450), Glutathione S-transferase (GST) and Serine-type endopeptidase (SP). HSPs showed up-regulation in Cu and Zn exposures. Furthermore, HSPs expression in treated groups tended to be higher than the control group. The tendency of CYP450 and GST mRNA expression was higher for Cr and Cu than for other exposure group. The expression of SP gene was low at Al exposure and other group were measured to be similar to control. These results suggest that heavy metal toxicity in freshwater ecosystem may affect physiological and molecular process. Also, the comprehensive gene expression in the aquatic midge Chironomus riparius give useful information to potential molecular biomarkers for assessing heavy metal toxicity.

• BMB Reports
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.136-141
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• 2009

Familial Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (FALS) is a progressive neurodegenetative disorder induced by mutations of the SOD1 gene. Heat shock protein 27 (HSP27) is well-defined as a stress-inducible protein, however the its role in ALS protection has not yet been established. To investigate the role HSP27 may have in SOD1 mutant-mediated apoptosis, human SOD1 or HSP27 genes were fused with a PEP-1 peptide in a bacterial expression vector to produce a genetic in-frame fusion protein, which was then transduced into cells. We found the purified PEP-1-HSP27 fusion proteins can be transduced efficiently into neuronal cells and protect against cell death by enhancing mutant SOD1 activity. Moreover, transduced PEP-1-HSP27 efficiently prevents protein aggregation produced by oxidative stress. These results suggest that transduced HSP27 fusion protein may be explored as a potential therapeutic agent for FALS patients.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.1631-1636
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• 2008

Rhei Rhizoma (RR; 大黃) consists of the underground parts (rhizome and root) of Rheum officinale Baill. and Rheum palmatum L. (Polygonaceae), and is widely used in Southeast Asian folk medicine to alleviate liver and kidney damages. In this study, we investigated into the efficacy and mechanism of RR water extract in supporting neuronal survival in a hypoxia model of cultured rat hippocampal neurons. RR exhibited no cytotoxicity up to 10 ${\mu}g$/ml and exhibited neurosupportive effects at 2.5 ${\mu}g$/ml in normoxia. When RR was added to the culture media on 10 days in vitro (DIV10) and given a hypoxic shock (2% $O_2$/5% $CO_2$, 3 hr, $37^{\circ}C$) on DIV13, RR exhibited neuroprotective effects on 5 days post-shock. $H_2DCF$ stainings indicated that RR effectively prevents ROS production in both normoxia and hypoxia. JC-1 stainings showed that RR prevents dissipation of MMP in hypoxia. These results indicate that RR protects neurons by suppressing ROS production and MMP loss.