• BMB Reports
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• 제50권1호
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• pp.49-54
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• 2017

Previously, we reported that vitamin C facilitates the CpG demethylation of Foxp3 enhancer in $CD4^+Foxp3^+$ regulatory T cells (Tregs) by enhancing the activity of a DNA demethylase ten-eleven-translocation (Tet). However, it is not clear whether vitamin C affects other helper T cell lineages like T helper type 17 (Th17) cells which are related with Tregs. Here, we show that the expression of interleukin-17A (IL17) increases with the treatment of vitamin C but not with other antioxidants. Interestingly, the upregulation of IL17 was not accompanied by DNA demethylation in Il17 promoter and was independent of Tet enzymes. Rather, vitamin C reduced the trimethylation of histone H3 lysine 9 (H3K9me3) in the regulatory elements of the Il17 locus, and the effects of vitamin C were abrogated by knockdown of jumonji-C domain-containing protein 2 (jmjd2). These results suggest that vitamin C can affect the expression of IL17 by modulating the histone demethylase activity.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• 제43권1호
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• pp.29-35
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• 2018

It is noted that chalcone derivatives have characteristic diverse pharmacological properties, and that precise evidence has been growing that they could regulate a tumor necrosis $factor-{\alpha}$ ($TNF-{\alpha}$) induced insulin resistance. The purpose of the present investigation is to elucidate the effects of the identified chalcone derivatives on adipogenesis, and to find the underlying mechanism of action in that case. Consequently, we first investigated whether the chalcone derivatives could affect the identified $PPAR{\gamma}$-induced transcriptional activity on the proliferator-activated receptor response elements (PPRE) at target promoters, and find that trans-chalcone most significantly increased the $PPAR{\gamma}$-induced transcriptional activity. Additionally, we confirmed that there were up-regulatory effects of trans-chalcone during the adipogenesis and lipid accumulation, and on the mRNA of adipogenic factors in 3T3-L1 cells. Next, we examined the effect of trans-chalcone on the inhibition induced by $TNF-{\alpha}$ on adipogenesis. To that end, we noted that the treatment with trans-chalcone attenuated the effect of $TNF-{\alpha}$ mediated secretion of various adipokines that are involved in insulin sensitivity. For this reason, we noted that this study clearly demonstrates that trans-chalcone enhanced adipogenesis, in part, by its potent effect on $PPAR{\gamma}$ activation and by its reverse effect on $TNF-{\alpha}$.

• Animal cells and systems
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• 제9권3호
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• pp.107-111
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• 2005

C. elegans DLK-1 has been reported to play an important role in synaptogenesis by shaping the structure of presynaptic terminal. In this study, we investigated the expression pattern and regulation of the dlk-1 gene in C. elegans. To determine the expression pattern, we made a dlk-1::gfp fusion construct, named pPDdg1, which consisted of -2.2 kb 5' upstream region, the first exon, the first intron, and a part of the second exon of the dlk-1 gene. By microinjecting this construct into the worm, we observed that the DLK-1::GFP was expressed mainly in neurons. We next examined the regulatory elements of gene expression by deletion analysis of pPDdg1. Removal of a large portion of the 5' upstream region (${\Delta}-361$ to -2246) of the gene had little effect on the expression pattern, whereas deletion of the first intron led to elimination of the DLK-1::GFP expression in most of the neurons. Our results suggest that the first intron of the C. elegans dlk-1 gene contains the regulatory element critical for gene expression.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• 제13권3호
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• pp.227-243
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• 2022

Purpose - This study surveyed real estate financial consumers and financial company staff regarding the components of the financial consumer protection system to seek detailed improvement plans for the Financial Consumer Protection Act. Design/methodology/approach - The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique is applied. Findings - Both consumers and staff highly evaluated the importance of the preventive measures in the main classification factors. Regarding the sub-classification factors of preventive measures, consumers emphasized the responsible management of investment staff and financial institutions; however, the staff stressed the principle of effectiveness and efficiency. Regarding the elements of ex-post remedies, consumers answered that fast remedy would have a significant effect. At the same time, staff believed that punitive measures hinder free trading and investment activities. Regarding the sub-sub classification factors of prevention measures, the consumers value responsible management of staff and financial companies, while the staff tend to prefer the importance of the self-regulatory governance. Research implications or Originality - Based on the above results, financial regulatory authorities should find a balance between preventive and ex-post components once focusing on preventative measures. Our paper is one of the first research findings in this field of financial consumer protection system in Korea.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• 제71권
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• pp.195-216
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• 2016

In determining the content of the FET standard, the tribunals stated protection of investor's legitimate expectations, due process and denial of justice, transparency, discrimination and arbitrariness, good faith, etc. The most major elements of the FET standard is the protection of the investor's legitimate and reasonable expectations. It is necessary to consider whether it is possible to what the expectations of investors are protected as legitimate and it is formed under any circumstances. If host state frustrate investor's legitimate expectations, it found a breach of the FET. The host state's specific assurance may reinforce investor's expectations, but such explicit statement is not always necessary. The host state must preserve a stable environment for investments. However, It must not be understood as the inalterability of the host state's legal framework. It implies that the host state's subsequent changes should be made consistently and predictably. The host state is entitled to exercise a reasonable regulatory authority to respond to changing circumstances in the public purpose. Therefore, whether the violation FET shall be determined through a balanced against the investor's legitimate expectations and the host state's reasonable regulatory exercise in the public interest. And investor should keep in mind that the principle of proportionality is applied unless host state provides stabilization clause or similar commitments to investor. Also host state should establish the basis of an argument about reasonable regulatory authority for public interest.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Embryo Transfer Conference
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• 한국수정란이식학회 2002년도 국제심포지엄
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• pp.71-71
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• 2002

Promoters for milk proteins have been used far producing transgenic animals due to their temporal and spatial expression patterns. ${\beta}$-casein, a calcium-sensitive casein, is a major milk protein that corresponds ca. 30 per cent of total milk protein. Expression of ${\beta}$-casein is controlled by lactogenic hormones such as prolactin (PRL), composite response elements (CoREs) and transcription factors. CoREs are clusters of transcription factor binding sites containing both positive and negative regulatory elements. ${\beta}$-casein gene promoter contains various regions (CoREs) for gene transcription. We analyzed the promoter region by mutagenesis using exonuclease III and linker-scanning. Transcription control elements usually are positioned in 5'-flanking region of the gene. However, in some cases, these elements are located in other regions such as intron 1. The nucleotide sequences of ${\beta}$-casein promote. region has been reported (E12614). However, the properties of the promoter is not yet clear. In this study, we plan to investigate the properties of cis-regulating elements of porcine ${\beta}$-casein by mutation analysis and expression analysis using dual-luciferase repoter assay system.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• 제24권4호
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• pp.171-196
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• 2018

With the development of the web, two-way communication and evaluation became possible and marketing paradigms shifted. In order to meet the needs of consumers, web design trends are continuously responding to consumer feedback. As the web becomes more and more important, both academics and businesses are studying consumer emotions and satisfaction on the web. However, some consumer characteristics are not well considered. Demographic characteristics such as age and sex have been studied extensively, but few studies consider psychological characteristics such as regulatory focus (i.e., emotional regulation). In this study, we analyze the effect of web style on consumer emotion. Many studies analyze the relationship between the web and regulatory focus, but most concentrate on the purpose of web use, particularly motivation and information search, rather than on web style and design. The web communicates with users through visual elements. Because the human brain is influenced by all five senses, both design factors and emotional responses are important in the web environment. Therefore, in this study, we examine the relationship between consumer emotion and satisfaction and web style and design. Previous studies have considered the effects of web layout, structure, and color on emotions. In this study, however, we excluded these web components, in contrast to earlier studies, and analyzed the relationship between consumer satisfaction and emotional indexes of web-style only. To perform this analysis, we collected consumer surveys presenting 40 web style themes to 204 consumers. Each consumer evaluated four themes. The emotional adjectives evaluated by consumers were composed of 18 contrast pairs, and the upper emotional indexes were extracted through factor analysis. The emotional indexes were 'softness,' 'modernity,' 'clearness,' and 'jam.' Hypotheses were established based on the assumption that emotional indexes have different effects on consumer satisfaction. After the analysis, hypotheses 1, 2, and 3 were accepted and hypothesis 4 was rejected. While hypothesis 4 was rejected, its effect on consumer satisfaction was negative, not positive. This means that emotional indexes such as 'softness,' 'modernity,' and 'clearness' have a positive effect on consumer satisfaction. In other words, consumers prefer emotions that are soft, emotional, natural, rounded, dynamic, modern, elaborate, unique, bright, pure, and clear. 'Jam' has a negative effect on consumer satisfaction. It means, consumer prefer the emotion which is empty, plain, and simple. Regulatory focus shows differences in motivation and propensity in various domains. It is important to consider organizational behavior and decision making according to the regulatory focus tendency, and it affects not only political, cultural, ethical judgments and behavior but also broad psychological problems. Regulatory focus also differs from emotional response. Promotion focus responds more strongly to positive emotional responses. On the other hand, prevention focus has a strong response to negative emotions. Web style is a type of service, and consumer satisfaction is affected not only by cognitive evaluation but also by emotion. This emotional response depends on whether the consumer will benefit or harm himself. Therefore, it is necessary to confirm the difference of the consumer's emotional response according to the regulatory focus which is one of the characteristics and viewpoint of the consumers about the web style. After MMR analysis result, hypothesis 5.3 was accepted, and hypothesis 5.4 was rejected. But hypothesis 5.4 supported in the opposite direction to the hypothesis. After validation, we confirmed the mechanism of emotional response according to the tendency of regulatory focus. Using the results, we developed the structure of web-style recommendation system and recommend methods through regulatory focus. We classified the regulatory focus group in to three categories that promotion, grey, prevention. Then, we suggest web-style recommend method along the group. If we further develop this study, we expect that the existing regulatory focus theory can be extended not only to the motivational part but also to the emotional behavioral response according to the regulatory focus tendency. Moreover, we believe that it is possible to recommend web-style according to regulatory focus and emotional desire which consumers most prefer.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제21권5호
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• pp.455-463
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• 2011

Metallothioneins are a class of small cysteine-rich proteins that have been associated with increased tolerance to metal and oxidative stresses in animals, plants, and fungi. We investigated a metallothionein-like (mt-like) gene shown previously to be upregulated in fruiting bodies of the fungus Agaricus bisporus in response to post-harvest storage. Analysis of an A. bisporus genomic DNA cosmid library identified two similar mt-like genes (met1 and met2) arranged as a bidirectional gene pair transcribed from the same promoter region. The promoter contained regulatory elements including 9 metal responsive elements and a CAAT box region 220 bp downstream of met1 that showed striking similarity to a feature in Coprinopsis cinerea mt-like gene promoters. Transcriptional analysis showed that both met genes are significantly and rapidly (within 3 hours) upregulated during post-harvest storage and expression is significantly greater in stipe and cap tissues compared with the gills. However, a strong directionality of the promoter was demonstrated, as transcript levels of met1 were at least two orders of magnitude greater than those of met2 in all samples tested.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• 제6권3호
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• pp.276-282
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• 1998

Retinoids regulate a wide variety of biological processes such as cellular proliferation and differentiation in many cell types. They have also shown to stimulate replication of several viruses including human cytomegalovirus (CMV). Retinoid signalling pathway involves two distinct subfamilies of nuclear receptors, retinoic acid receptors (RARs) and retinoid X receptors (RXRs) that bind to specific retinoic acid response elements (RAREs) in the promoter regions of retinoid-target genes. Here, we characterized RAREs in the regulatory regions of the CMV and of the hepatitis B vi.us (HBV). The viral RAREs, i.e., CMV-RARE and HBV-RARE, are composed of two consensus RARE half-sites (A/GGGTCA) arranged as a direct repeat separated by 5-bp and 1-bp, respectively. The RAREs were activated by both RAR/RXR heterodimers and RXR homodimers in transient transfection experiments. We also found that COUP-TF$\alpha$ (chicken ovalbumin upstream promoter-transcription factor u) and COUP-TF$\beta$ repressed the retinoid response of the viral elements. Further we demonstrated that previously known retinoid antagonist, SRI 1330, repressed retinoid-induced transactivation of the CMV-RARE. These results implicate Vitamin A, it's nuclear receptors and COUP-TFs as important regulators of the CMV and HBV pathogenesis and the SRl1330 as potential negative modulator of such retinoid-dependent processes.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제40권4호
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• pp.269-276
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• 2008

Operational license of WWER-440/213 units at Paks NPP, Hungary is limited to the design lifetime of 30 years. Prolongation by additional 20 years of the operational lifetime is feasible. Moreover, enhancement of the reactor thermal power by 8% will increase both the net power output and the competitiveness of the plant. Paks NPP is a pioneer considering the power up-rate and preparation of long-term operation of WWER-440/213 design. Systematic preparatory work for long-term operation of Paks NPP has been started in 2000. A regulatory framework and a comprehensive engineering practice have been developed. According to the authors view, creation of a gapless engineering system via consequent application of best practices, and feed-back of experiences together with proper consideration of WWER-440/V213 features are the decisive elements of ensuring the safety of long-term operation. That systematic engineering approach is in the focus of recent paper. Key elements of justification and measures for ensuring the safety of long-term operation of Paks NPP WWER-440/213 units are identified and discussed. These are the assessment of plant condition and review of adequacy of ageing management programmes, also the review, validation and reconstitution of time limited ageing analyses as core tasks of licence renewal.