• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.11
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• pp.1819-1826
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• 2015

Poly(ε-ʟ-lysine) (ε-PL) is a novel bioactive polymer secreted by filamentous bacteria. Owing to lack of a genetic system for most ε-PL-producing strains, very little research on enhancing ε-PL biosynthesis by genetic manipulation has been reported. In this study, an effective genetic system was established via intergeneric conjugal transfer for Streptomyces albulus PD-1, a famous ε-PL-producing strain. Using the established genetic system, the Vitreoscilla hemoglobin (VHb) gene was integrated into the chromosome of S. albulus PD-1 to alleviate oxygen limitation and to enhance the biosynthesis of ε-PL in submerged fermentation. Ultimately, the production of ε-PL increased from 22.7 g/l to 34.2 g/l after fed-batch culture in a 5 L bioreactor. Determination of the oxygen uptake rate, transcriptional level of ε-PL synthetase gene, and ATP level unveiled that the expression of VHb in S. albulus PD-1 enhanced ε-PL biosynthesis by improving respiration and ATP supply. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on enhancing ε-PL production by chromosomal integration of the VHb gene in an ε-PL-producing strain, and it will open a new avenue for ε-PL production.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.76-81
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• 2009

A novel design method of time-interleaved subranging ADC is presented. We use the bisection method to let only half of comparators in typical subranging ADC working in every clock cycle. Thus, we are able to reduce the number of comparators by half. It is possible to reduce the die size. An example of 8-bit time-interleaved subranging ADC operates at 40MHz sampling rate and 1.8V supply voltage is demonstrated. The power consumption of the proposed circuit is only 10mV with SPECTRE simulation. Compared with the typical subranging ADC, our bisection method is able to reduce up to 40% in die size.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.189-197
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• 2014

This work proposes a 12b 100 MS/s $0.11{\mu}m$ CMOS three-step hybrid pipeline ADC for high-speed communication and mobile display systems requiring high resolution, low power, and small size. The first stage based on time-interleaved dual-channel SAR ADCs properly handles the Nyquist-rate input without a dedicated SHA. An input sampling clock for each SAR ADC is synchronized to a reference clock to minimize a sampling-time mismatch between the channels. Only one residue amplifier is employed and shared in the proposed ADC for the first-stage SAR ADCs as well as the MDAC of back-end pipeline stages. The shared amplifier, in particular, reduces performance degradation caused by offset and gain mismatches between two channels of the SAR ADCs. Two separate reference voltages relieve a reference disturbance due to the different operating frequencies of the front-end SAR ADCs and the back-end pipeline stages. The prototype ADC in a $0.11{\mu}m$ CMOS shows the measured DNL and INL within 0.38 LSB and 1.21 LSB, respectively. The ADC occupies an active die area of $1.34mm^2$ and consumes 25.3 mW with a maximum SNDR and SFDR of 60.2 dB and 69.5 dB, respectively, at 1.1 V and 100 MS/s.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.34 no.9
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• pp.1826-1835
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• 2024

Paracoccus denitrificans has been identified as a representative strain with heterotrophic nitrificationaerobic denitrification capabilities (HN-AD), and demonstrates strong denitrification proficiency. Previously, we isolated the DYTN-1 strain from activated sludge, and it has showcased remarkable nitrogen removal abilities and genetic editability, which positions P. denitrificans DYTN-1 as a promising chassis cell for synthetic biology engineering, with versatile pollutant degradation capabilities. However, the strain's low stability in plasmid conjugation transfer efficiency (PCTE) hampers gene editing efficacy, and is attributed to its restriction modification system (R-M system). To overcome this limitation, we characterized the R-M system in P. denitrificans DYTN-1 and identified a DNA endonuclease and 13 DNA methylases, with the DNA endonuclease identified as HNH endonuclease. Subsequently, we developed a plasmid artificial modification approach to enhance conjugation transfer efficiency, which resulted in a remarkable 44-fold improvement in single colony production. This was accompanied by an increase in the frequency of positive colonies from 33.3% to 100%. Simultaneously, we cloned, expressed, and characterized the speculative HNH endonuclease capable of degrading unmethylated DNA at 30℃ without specific cutting site preference. Notably, the impact of DNA methylase M9 modification on the plasmid was discovered, significantly impeding the cutting efficiency of the HNH endonuclease. This revelation unveils a novel R-M system in P. denitrificans and sheds light on protective mechanisms employed against exogenous DNA invasion. These findings pave the way for future engineering endeavors aimed at enhancing the DNA editability of P. denitrificans.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.19-30
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• 2017

Direct catalysis of vapors from vacuum pyrolysis of biomass was performed on MCM-41 to investigate the effects of operating parameters including catalyzing temperature, catalyzing bed height and system pressure on the organic yields. Optimization of organic phase yield was further conducted by employing response surface methodology. The statistical analysis showed that operating parameters have significant effects on the organic phase yield. The organic phase yield first increases and then decreases as catalyzing temperature and catalyzing bed height increase, and decreases as system pressure increases. The optimal conditions for the maximum organic phase yield were obtained at catalyzing temperature of $502.7^{\circ}C$, catalyzing bed height of 2.74 cm and system pressure of 6.83 kPa, the organic phase yield amounts to 15.84% which is quite close to the predicted value 16.19%. The H/C, O/C molar ratios (dry basis), density, pH value, kinematic viscosity and high heat value of the organic phase obtained at optimal conditions were 1.287, 0.174, $0.98g/cm^3$, 5.12, $5.87mm^2/s$ and 33.08 MJ/kg, respectively. Organic product compositions were examined using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and the analysis showed that the content of oxygenated aromatics in organic phase had decreased and hydrocarbons had increased, and the hydrocarbons in organic phase were mainly aliphatic hydrocarbons. Besides, thermo-gravimetric analysis of the MCM-41 zeolite was conducted within air atmosphere and the results showed that when the catalyst continuously works over 100 min, the index of physicochemical properties of bio-oil decreases gradually from 1.15 to 0.45, suggesting that the refined bio-oil significantly deteriorates. Meanwhile, the coke deposition of catalyst increases from 4.97% to 14.81%, which suggests that the catalytic activity significantly decreases till the catalyst completely looses its activity.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.67-72
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• 2014

To investigate the alteration of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) activity after myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury (MIRI) and further explore the effect of naloxone postconditioning on MIRI. Forty male Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into five groups: sham operation (sham, n=8); ischemia reperfusion (IR, n=8); IR+naloxone 0.5 mg/kg (Nal L, n=8); IR+naloxone 1.0 mg/kg (Nal M, n=8); IR+naloxone 2.0 mg/kg (Nal H, n=8). Pathological changes of myocardial tissue were visualized by HE staining. The expression of p-JNK, and the apoptosis of cardiomyocytes were investigated with Western blotting and the TUNEL assay, respectively. Irregular arrangement and aberrant structure of myocardial fibers, cardiomyocytes with granular or vacuolar degeneration, and inflammatory cells infiltrating the myocardial interstitial regions characterized MIRI in the IR group. Signs of myocardial injury and inflammatory infiltration were less prominent in the Nal-treated groups. The expression of p-JNK in the sham group and in all Nal-treated groups was significantly lower than that in the IR group (p<0.01). The apoptosis index of cardiomyocytes in the IR group was significantly higher than in the sham group (p<0.01). The apoptosis indices of cardiomyocytes in all Nal-treated groups were significantly reduced to 55.4%, 26.2%, and 27.6%, respectively, of the IR group (p<0.01). This study revealed that Naloxone postconditioning before reperfusion inhibits p-JNK expression and decreases cell apoptosis, thus alleviating MIRI.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.1908-1917
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• 2016

Wild strain L-6 was subjected to combined mutagenesis, including UV irradiation, atmospheric and room temperature plasma, and ion beam implantation, to increase the yield of 1,3-dihydroxyacetone (DHA). With application of a high-throughput screening method, mutant Gluconobacter oxydans I-2-239 with a DHA productivity of 103.5 g/l in flask-shake fermentation was finally obtained with the starting glycerol concentration of 120 g/l, which was 115.7% higher than the wild strain. The cultivation time also decreased from 54 h to 36 h. Compared with the wild strain, a dramatic increase in enzyme activity was observed for the mutant strain, although the increase in biomass was limited. DNA and amino acid sequence alignment revealed 11 nucleotide substitutions and 10 amino acid substitutions between the sldAB of strains L-6 and I-2-239. Simulation of the 3-D structure and prediction of active site residues and PQQ binding site residues suggested that these mutations were mainly related to PQQ binding, which was speculated to be favorable for the catalyzing capacity of glycerol dehydrogenase. RT-qPCR assay indicated that the transcription levels of sldA and sldB in the mutant strain were respectively 4.8-fold and 5.4-fold higher than that in the wild strain, suggesting another possible reason for the increased DHA productivity of the mutant strain.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.19
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• pp.8225-8228
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• 2014

Glioma is one of the most common tumors in China and chemotherapy is critical for its treatment. Recent studies showed that benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC) could inhibit the growth of glioma cells, but the mechanisms are not fully understood. This study explored the inhibitory effect of BITC on invasion and angiogenesis of U87MG human glioma cells in vitro and in vivo, as well as potential mechanisms. It was found that BITC could inhibit invasion and angiogenesis of human glioma U87MG cells by inducing cell cycle arrest at phase G2/M. It also was demonstrated that BITC decreased expression of cyclin B1, p21, MMP-2/9, VE-cadherin, CD44, CXCR4 and MTH1, the activity of the telomerase and $PKC{\zeta}$ pathway. Microarray analysis was thus useful to explore the potential target genes related to tumorigenic processes. BITC may play important roles in the inhibition of invasion and angiogenesis of human glioma cells.

• Water for future
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.31-43
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• 2002

This study describes results of numerical simulations on river flow response due to global warming. Forecasts of changes in climatic conditions are required to estimate the hydrologic effects of increasing trace gas concentratrions in the atmosphere. However, reliable forecasts of regional climate change are unavailable. In there absense various approaches to the development of scenarios of furture climatic conditions are used. The approach in this study is to prescribe climatic changes for a river basin in a simplified manner. As a rule, such scenarios apecify air temperature increases from $0^{\circ}C$ to $4.0^{\circ}C$ and precipitation change (increase or decrease) in the range of 0% to 15%. On the basis of acceptable supposition of warming scenarios, furute daily stream flow is simulated using rainfall-runoff model in the Andong Dam basin. The numerical experiments have quantitatively revealed the change of discharge at 2010, 2020, 2030 and 1050 for each warming scenarios and compared it with the results for a non-worming scenario.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.3703-3708
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• 2015

Background: The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a strong predictor of mortality in patients with colorectal, lung, gastric cancer, pancreatic and metastatic renal cell carcinoma. We here evaluated whether preoperative NLR is an independent prognostic factor for non-metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Materials and Methods: Data from 327 patients who underwent curative or palliative nephrectomy were evaluated retrospectively. In preoperative blood routine examination, neutrophils and lymphocytes were obtained. The predictive value of NLR for non-metastatic RCC was analyzed. Results: The NLR of 327 patients was $2.72{\pm}2.25$. NLR <1.7 and NLR ${\geq}1.7$ were classified as low and high NLR groups, respectively. Chi-square test showed that the preoperative NLR was significantly correlated with the tumor size (P=0.025), but not with the histological subtype (P=0.095)and the pT stage (P=0.283). Overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were assessed using the Kaplan-Meier method. Effects of NLR on OS (P=0.007) and DFS (P=0.011) were significant. To evaluate the independent prognostic significance of NLR, multivariate COX regression models were applied and identified increased NLR as an independent prognostic factor for OS (P=0.015), and DFS (P=0.019). Conclusions: Regarding patient survival, an increased NLR represented an independent risk factor, which might reflect a higher risk for severe cardiovascular and other comorbidities. An elevated blood NLR may be a biomarker of poor OS and DFS in patients with non-metastatic RCC.