• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.8 no.7
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• pp.237-243
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• 2017

Recently, the Korean government is planning to create ICT-centered clusters that will lead the fourth industrial revolution in the Yangjae-Umyeun area. In order for a cluster to be successful, innovation environments such as support systems and institutions should be appropriately prepared. In this study, we present a hierarchical model of ICT SME support measures after comprehending the support measures for existing SMEs and the factors needed for clustering, and then deriving the priorities of support measures. The questionnaire was distributed to 9 ICT SMEs and R&D experts. A total of 6 copies were collected. The priority of the support measures in this study is expected to be utilized for the successful development of R&CD cluster and the allocation of the support budget.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.8 no.7
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• pp.265-272
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• 2017

The Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning(MSIP) are promoting the creation of "R & CD clusters" in the Yangje area as a base for future growth engines that will lead the fourth industry. The Yangje area has many large enterprise research institutes and ICT SMEs, and is located in the south part of Seoul and has geographical advantages such as traffic, education, and leisure life. As an initial research for the successful cluster of the Yangje area, quantitative analysis was carried out to identify the status of ICT SMEs in Yangje area using the Korean company information DB and contents of "Korea SMTp 2017 DVD ROM". Qualitative analysis conducted a questionnaire from December 8, 2016 to January 7, 2017 to investigate the R & D activities of ICT companies. Finally, implications for strengthening the R & D capacity of ICT firms in Yangjae area were derived.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.298-306
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• 2017

Background: Compound K (CK) is a bioactive derivative of ginsenoside Rb1 in Panax ginseng (Korean ginseng). Its biological and pharmacological activities have been studied in various disease conditions, although its immunomodulatory role in innate immunity mediated by monocytes/macrophages has been poorly understood. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the regulatory role of CK on cellular events mediated by monocytes and macrophages in innate immune responses. Methods: The immunomodulatory role of CK was explored by various immunoassays including cell-cell adhesion, fibronectin adhesion, cell migration, phagocytic uptake, costimulatory molecules, reactive oxygen species production, luciferase activity, and by the measurement of mRNA levels of proinflammatory genes. Results: Compound K induced cell cluster formation through cell-cell adhesion, cell migration, and phagocytic activity, but it suppressed cell-tissue interactions in U937 and RAW264.7 cells. Compound K also upregulated the surface expression of the cell adhesion molecule cluster of differentiation (CD) 43 (CD43) and costimulatory molecules CD69, CD80, and CD86, but it downregulated the expression of monocyte differentiation marker CD82 in RAW264.7 cells. Moreover, CK induced the release of reactive oxygen species and induced messenger RNA expression of proinflammatory genes, inducible nitric oxide synthase, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha by enhancing the nuclear translocation and transcriptional activities of nuclear factor kappa-B and activator protein-1. Conclusion: Our results suggest that CK has an immunomodulatory role in innate immune responses through regulating various cellular events mediated by monocytes and macrophages.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.236-241
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• 1994

The crystal structures of $Cd_6-A$ evacuated at $2{\times}10^{-6}$ Torr and 750$^{\circ}$C (a=12.216(l) ${\AA}$), and of the product of its reaction with Rb vapor (a= 12.187(l) ${\AA}$), have been determined by single-crystal x-ray diffraction techniques in the cubic space group Pm$\bar{3}$m at 21(l)$^{\circ}$C. Their structures were refined to the final error indices, $R_1$=0.055 and $R_2$=0.067 with 191 reflections, and $R_1$=0.066 and $R_2$=0.049 with 90 reflections, respectively, for which I>3${\sigma}$(I). In dehydrated $Cd_6-A$, six $Cd^{2+}$ ions are found at two different threefold-axis sites near six-oxygen ring centers. Four $Cd^{2+}$ ions are recessed 0.50 ${\AA}$ into the sodalite cavity from the (111) plane at O(3), and the other two extend 0.28 ${\AA}$ into the large cavity from this plane. Treatment at 250 $^{\circ}$C with 0.1 Torr of Rb vapor reduces all $Cd^{2+}$ ions to give $Rb_{13.5^-}$A. Rb species are found at three crystallographic sites: three $Rb^+$ ions lie at eight-oxygen-ring centers, filling that position, and ca. 10.5 $Rb^+$ ions lie on threefold axes, 8.0 in the large cavity and 2.5 in the sodalite cavity. In this structure, ca. 1.5 Rb species more than the 12 $Rb^+$ ions needed to balance the anionic charge of zeolite framework are found, indicating that sorption of $Rb^0$ has occurred. The occupancies observed can be most simply explained by two "unit cell" compositions, $Rb_{12^-}A{\cdot}Rb$ and $Rb_{12^-}A{\cdot}2Rb$, of approximately equal population. In sodalite cavities, $Rb_{12^-}A{\cdot}Rb$ would have a $(Rb_2)^+$ cluster and $Rb_{12^-}A{\cdot}2Rb$ would have a triangular $(Rb_3)^+$ cluster. Each of the atoms of these clusters must bind further through a six-oxygen ring to a large cavity $Rb^+$ to give $(Rb_4)^{3+}$ (linear) and $(Rb_6)^{4+}$ (trigonal). Other unit-cell compositions and other cationic cluster compositions such as $(Rb_8)^{n+}$ may exist.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.1451-1462
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• 2007

Heavy metal concentrations in the soil were investigated for the abandoned Samkwang metal mine, Cheongyang-Gun, Chungnam Province, Korea. The concentrations of heavy metal(As, Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn) were determined in mine soils collected at the abandoned mine sites to obtain a general classification and specification of the pollution in this highly polluted region. The results estimated with the normal test and basis statistic on the central tendency and variation showed that the distribution of heavy metal concentration had significantly different at the range of all locations. The range of spatial distribution on the relationship of heavy metal concentration and pH was $4.8{\sim}8.8$ and heavy metal concentration on the type of land use was highest in forest land, and also Ni and Zn in farm and rice field showed the high concentration. The distribution of heavy metal concentration on the depth of a soil showed that the metal concentrations in subsoil were higher than of those in surface soil, while the concentration of Cu and Ni had no significant difference on the depth of soil. Results from the correlation analysis using the data except the extreme and unusual data revel that Zn-Cd(r=0.867), Zn-As(r=0.797), Zn-Pb(r=0.764), Cu-Cd(r=0.673), Cu-As(r=0.614) and Zn-Ni(r=0.605) were the most important parameters in assessing variations of heavy metal in soil. To discriminate pattern differences and similarities among samples, principal factor analysis(PFA) and cluster analysis(CF) were performed using a correlation matrix. This study suggests that PFA and CF techniques are useful tools for identification of important heavy metal and parameters. This study presents the necessity and usefulness of multivariate statistical assessment of complex databases in order to get better information about the quality of soil and gives the basis information to clean up the abandoned mine sites.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.384-393
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• 2017

Purpose: The tumor microenvironment is known to be associated with the metabolic activity of cancer cells and local immune reactions. We hypothesized that glucose metabolism measured by 2-deoxy-2-($^{18}F$)fluoro-D-glucose ($^{18}F-FDG$) positron emission tomography (PET)-computed tomography (CT) ($^{18}F-FDG$ PET-CT) would be associated with local immune responses evaluated according to the presence of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 56 patients who underwent $^{18}F-FDG$ PET-CT prior to gastrectomy. In resected tumor specimens, TIL subsets, including cluster of differentiation (CD) 3, CD4, CD8, Forkhead box P3 (Foxp3), and granzyme B, were subjected to immunohistochemical analysis. The prognostic nutritional index (PNI) was calculated as: ($10{\times}serum$ albumin value)+($0.005{\times}peripheral$ lymphocyte counts). Additionally, the maximum standard uptake value ($SUV_{max}$) was calculated to evaluate the metabolic activity of cancer cells. Results: The $SUV_{max}$ was positively correlated with larger tumor size (R=0.293; P=0.029) and negatively correlated with PNI (R=-0.407; P=0.002). A higher $SUV_{max}$ showed a marginal association with higher CD3 (+) T lymphocyte counts (R=0.227; P=0.092) and a significant association with higher Foxp3 (+) T lymphocyte counts (R=0.431; P=0.009). No other clinicopathological characteristics were associated with $SUV_{max}$ or TILs. Survival analysis, however, indicated that neither $SUV_{max}$ nor Foxp3 held prognostic significance. Conclusions: FDG uptake on PET-CT could be associated with TILs, especially regulatory T cells, in gastric cancer. This finding may suggest that PET-CT could be of use as a non-invasive tool for monitoring the tumor microenvironment in patients with gastric cancer.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.21-29
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• 2014

Follicular helper T ($T_{FH}$) cells are recently highlighted as their crucial role for humoral immunity to infection as well as their abnormal control to induce autoimmune disease. During an infection, na$\ddot{i}$ve T cells are differentiating into $T_{FH}$ cells which mediate memory B cells and long-lived plasma cells in germinal center (GC). $T_{FH}$ cells are characterized by their expression of master regulator, Bcl-6, and chemokine receptor, CXCR5, which are essential for the migration of T cells into the B cell follicle. Within the follicle, crosstalk occurs between B cells and $T_{FH}$ cells, leading to class switch recombination and affinity maturation. Various signaling molecules, including cytokines, surface molecules, and transcription factors are involved in $T_{FH}$ cell differentiation. IL-6 and IL-21 cytokine-mediated STAT signaling pathways, including STAT1 and STAT3, are crucial for inducing Bcl-6 expression and $T_{FH}$ cell differentiation. $T_{FH}$ cells express important surface molecules such as ICOS, PD-1, IL-21, BTLA, SAP and CD40L for mediating the interaction between T and B cells. Recently, two types of microRNA (miRNA) were found to be involved in the regulation of $T_{FH}$ cells. The miR-17-92 cluster induces Bcl-6 and $T_{FH}$ cell differentiation, whereas miR-10a negatively regulates Bcl-6 expression in T cells. In addition, follicular regulatory T ($T_{FR}$) cells are studied as thymus-derived $CXCR5^+PD-1^+Foxp3^+\;T_{reg}$ cells that play a significant role in limiting the GC response. Regulation of $T_{FH}$ cell differentiation and the GC reaction via miRNA and $T_{FR}$ cells could be important regulatory mechanisms for maintaining immune tolerance and preventing autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Here, we review recent studies on the various factors that affect $T_{FH}$ cell differentiation, and the role of $T_{FH}$ cells in autoimmune diseases.