• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.305-310
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• 2023

This study aimed to determine the human androgen receptor (AR)-mediated endocrine disrupting potential of parabens and triclosan in food and household products using a cell-based assay in the OECD TG No.458, the 22Rv1/MMTV_GR-KO transcriptional activation assay. Four parabens (methyl-, ethyl-, propyl-, and butyl-) are determined as AR antagonists in OECD TG No.458. However, their AR antagonistic effects were not exhibited in the presence of the S9 hepatic fraction. Triclosan is also classified as an AR antagonist, and the AR antagonistic effect induced by triclosan significantly decreased in the presence of the phase I + II S9 fraction. Regarding the mechanism of AR antagonism induced by parabens and triclosan, the AR-mediated endocrine disrupting effects were exhibited through suppressing the translocation of ligand-bound AR to the nucleus via blocking of AR dimerization in the cytosol. These results indicate that the four parabens and triclosan have AR-mediated endocrine disrupting potential through an AR antagonistic effect via inhibiting AR dimerization; however, their endocrine disrupting effects deceased in the presence of hepatic metabolic enzymes.

• BMB Reports
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.379-384
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• 1999

Taxol, a natural product with significant anti-tumor activity, stabilizes microtubules and arrests cells in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle. It has been reported that taxol has additional effects on the cell such as an increase in tyrosine phosphorylation of proteins and activation of mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase. This phosphorylated kinase translocates into the nucleus and phosphorylates its substrate c-jun, c-fos, ATF2, and ATF3. The MAP kinase family is comprised of key regulatory proteins that control the cellular response to both proliferation and stress signals. First examination was cytotoxicity and apoptosis-induced concentration with paclitaxel in HeLa cell. A half-maximal inhibition of cell proliferation ($IC_{50}$) occurred at 13 nM paclitaxel. When DNA fragmentation was analyzed by agarose gel electrophoresis, a nucleosomal ladder became evident 24 h after a taxol (50 nM) addition to the cells. In addition, an apoptotic body was detected by electron microscopy. Taxol-treated cells were arrested at the S phase at 10 nM. Treatment of 50 nM taxol activated the extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (ERK1), and a fraction of the activated MAP kinases entered the nucleus. It was also discovered that nucleus substrates c-jun was phosphorylated and activated in the cell. The activated ERK1 could subsequently translocate into the nucleus and phosphorylate its substrate c-jun as well. This study suggests that taxol-induced apoptosis might be related with signal transduction via MAP kinases.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.263-266
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• 2012

Isolation of iron and calcium-binding peptides derived from cottonseed meal protein (CMP) hydrolysates was investigated. The degree of hydrolysis of CMP by Flavourzyme was monitored using trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid method and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Enzymatic hydrolysis of CMP for 12 h was sufficient for the preparation of CMP hydrolysates, and the hydrolysates were membrane-filtered under 3 kDa as a molecular weight. The filtered solution was fractionated using Q-Sepharose fast flow, Sephadex G-15, and reversed phase-high performance liquid chromatography for iron and calcium-binding peptides. As a result, F51 fraction was obtained as the best candidate for calcium and iron chelation, and the isolated iron and calcium-binding peptides can be used as functional food additives, similar to iron and calcium supplements.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.9-17
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• 1994

It is well recognized recently that ultrasonic technique is one of the most widely used methods of nondestructive evaluation to characterize material properties of nonconventional engineering materials. Therefore it is very important to understand physical phenomenon on propagation behavior of elastic wave in these materials, which is directly associated with ultrasonic signals in the test. In this study, the theoretical analysis on multi-scattering of harmonic elastic wave due to the particulate with interface between matrix and fiber in metal matrix composites(MMCs) was done on the basis of Lax's quasi-crystalline approximation and extinction theorem. SiC particulate (SiCp) reinforced A16061-T6 composite material was chosen for this analysis. From this analysis, frequency dependences of phase velocity and amplitude attenuation of effective plane wave due to the change of volume fraction of SiC particulate were clearly found. It was also shown that the interface condition between matrix and fiber in MMCs gives a direct effect on the variation of phase velocity of plane wave in MMCs.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.169-176
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• 2001

Ethyl-branched polyethylene[PE(2)] containing 2mole% ethyl branch and three ethylene-propylene rubbers(EPR's) haying the same ethylene(E)-propylene(P) molar ratio(E/P=50/50) with different stereoregularity, that is, random EPR(r-EPR), alternating-EPR(alt-FPR) and isotactic-alternating-EPR(iso-alt-EPR) were mixed for the investigation of their properties depending on the stereoregurarity. The three blends were immiscible at room temperature, and showed the simple additivity effect in density behavior. The melting point depression with blend composition increased in order of PE(2)/r-EPR>PE(2)/alt-EPR>PE(2)/iso-alt-EPR. In the tensile test, this blend systems have the lowest value or the breaking strength at FE(2) fraction of 0.5. This phenomenon results from the greastest separated phase morphology at this blend composition.

• Nano
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.1850137.1-1850137.9
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• 2018

A series of silica surface-capped with hexamethyldisilazane (denoted as $H-SiO_2$) were prepared by liquid-phase in-situ surface-modification method. The as-obtained $H-SiO_2$ was incorporated into acrylic amino (AA) baking paint to obtain AA/$H-SiO_2$ composite extinction paints and/or coatings. $N_2$ adsorption-desorption tests were conducted to determine the specific surface area as well as pore size and pore volume of $H-SiO_2$. Moreover, the effects of $H-SiO_2$ matting agents on the physical properties of AA paint as well as the gloss and transmittance of AA-based composite extinction coatings were investigated. Results show that $H-SiO_2$ matting agents possess a large specific surface area and pore volume than previously reported silica obtained by liquid-phase method. Besides, they have better dispersibility in AA baking paint than the unmodified silica. Particularly, $H-SiO_2$ with a silica particle size of $6.7{\mu}m$ and the dosage of 4% (mass fraction) provides an extinction rate of 95.2% and a transmittance of 79.3% for the AA-based composite extinction coating, showing advantages over OK520, a conventional silica matting agent. Along with the increase in the silica particle size, $H-SiO_2$ matting agents cause a certain degree of increase in the viscosity of AA paint as well as a noticeable decrease in the gloss of the AA-based composite extinction coating, but they have insignificant effects on the hardness and adhesion to substrate of the AA-based composite coatings. This means that $H-SiO_2$ matting agents could be well applicable to preparing low-viscosity and low-gloss AA-based matte coatings.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.10
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• pp.1351-1360
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• 2023

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are compounds that disturb hormonal homeostasis by binding to receptors. EDCs are metabolized through hepatic enzymes, causing altered transcriptional activities of hormone receptors, and thus necessitating the exploration of the potential endocrine-disrupting activities of EDC-derived metabolites. Accordingly, we have developed an integrative workflow for evaluating the post-metabolic activity of potential hazardous compounds. The system facilitates the identification of metabolites that exert hormonal disruption through the integrative application of an MS/MS similarity network and predictive biotransformation based on known hepatic enzymatic reactions. As proof-of-concept, the transcriptional activities of 13 chemicals were evaluated by applying the in vitro metabolic module (S9 fraction). Identified among the tested chemicals were three thyroid hormone receptor (THR) agonistic compounds that showed increased transcriptional activities after phase I+II reactions (T3, 309.1 ± 17.3%; DITPA, 30.7 ± 1.8%; GC-1, 160.6 ± 8.6% to the corresponding parents). The metabolic profiles of these three compounds showed common biotransformation patterns, particularly in the phase II reactions (glucuronide conjugation, sulfation, GSH conjugation, and amino acid conjugation). Data-dependent exploration based on molecular network analysis of T3 profiles revealed that lipids and lipid-like molecules were the most enriched biotransformants. The subsequent subnetwork analysis proposed 14 additional features, including T4 in addition to 9 metabolized compounds that were annotated by prediction system based on possible hepatic enzymatic reaction. The other 10 THR agonistic negative compounds showed unique biotransformation patterns according to structural commonality, which corresponded to previous in vivo studies. Our evaluation system demonstrated highly predictive and accurate performance in determining the potential thyroid-disrupting activity of EDC-derived metabolites and for proposing novel biotransformants.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.57-65
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• 2012

Antifungal compounds from Bacillus polyfermenticus CJ6 were purified using SPE, preparative HPLC, and reverse phase-HPLC. Antifungal compounds from B. polyfermenticus CJ6 were separated into three fractions (8, B, C) using preparative HPLC. LC/MS analysis of antifungal peaks suggested that B. polyfermenticus CJ6 produces lipopeptides; two kinds of iturin A ($C_{14}$, $C_{15}$), three kinds of surfactins ($C_{13}$, $C_{14}$, $C_{15}$), four kinds of fengycin A ($C_{14}$, $C_{15}$, $C_{16}$, $C_{17}$) and two kinds fengycin B ($C_{16}$, $C_{17}$). The antifungal activity of fraction 8, which was presumed as inturin A, was found to be stable after the pH, heat or proteolytic enzyme treatment, but it was unstable at 50-$70^{\circ}C$ for 24 hr. The antifungal activity of fraction B, which presumed as surfactins and fengycin A, was found to be stable after the heat treatment, but it was unstable in the pH 3.0 and after the protease (type I) or ${\alpha}$-chymotrypsin treatment. The antifungal activity of fraction C, which was presumed as fengycin A and B, was found to be stable in the pH 3.0-9.0 range and the heat treatment, but it was unstable with the treatment of protease (type I). The amino acid composition of the purified peaks 8-1 and 8-2 were Asx, Tyr, Gln, Pro, and Ser in a molar ratio of 3:1:1:1:1, which showed the same amino acid composition as iturin. From these results, we confirmed that antifungal compounds from B. polyfermenticus CJ6 most likely belonged to iturin A as well as surfactins and fengycins. As lipopeptides are known to act in a synergistic manner, the antifungal compounds from B. polyfermenticus CJ6 might have potential uses in biotechnology and biopharmaceutical applications.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.1459-1464
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• 2004

The purpose of this research was to investigate the potential use of cheese whey protein (CWP), a cheese by-product. The physiological activity of calcium-binding peptides in CWP may be used as a food additive that prevents bone disorders. This research also examined the characteristics of calcium-binding peptides. After the CWP was heat treated, it was hydrolyzed by trypsin. Then calcium-binding peptides were separated and purified by ion-exchange chromatography and reverse phase HPLC, respectively. To examine the characteristics of the purified calcium-binding peptides, amino acid composition and amino acid sequence were analyzed. Calcium-binding peptides with a small molecular weight of about 1.4 to 3.4 kDa were identified in the fraction that was flowed out from 0.25 M NaCl step gradient by ion-exchange chromatography of tryptic hydrolysates. The results of the amino acid analysis revealed that glutamic acid in a calcium-binding site took up most part of the amino acids including a quantity of proline, leucine and lysine. The amino acid sequence of calcium-binding peptides showed Phe-Leu-Asp-Asp-Asp-Leu-Thr-Asp and Ile-Leu-Asp-Lys from $\alpha$-LA and Ile-Pro-Ala-Val-Phe-Lys and Val-Tyr-Val-Glu-Glu-Leu-Lys from ${\beta}$-LG.

• International Journal of Automotive Technology
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• v.7 no.7
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• pp.867-872
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• 2006

Fuel cells are devices that convert chemical energy directly into electrical energy. Owing to the high efficiency of the fuel cells, a large number of research work have been done during these years. Among many kinds of the fuel cells, a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell is such kind of thing which works under low temperature. Because of the specialty, it stimulated intense global R&D competition. Most of the major world automakers are racing to develop polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell passenger vehicles. Unfortunately, there are still many problems to be solved in order to make them into the commercial use, such as the thermal and water management in working process of PEMFCs. To solve the difficulites facing the researcher, the analysis of the inner mechanism of PEMFC should be implemented as much as possible and mathematical modeling is an important tool for the research of the fuel cell especially with the combination of experiment. By regarding some of the assumptions and simplifications, using the finite element technique, a two-dimensional electrochemical mode is presented in this paper for the further comparison with experimental data. Based on the principals of the problem, the equations of electronic charge conservation equation, gas-phase continuity equation, and mass balance equation are used in calculating. Finally, modeling results indicate some of the phenomenon in a unit cell, and the relationships between potential and current density.