• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.327-336
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• 2018

To date, there are no protocols optimized to the effective separation of spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) from testicular cells derived from mouse testes, thus hindering studies based on mouse SSCs. In this study, we aimed to determine the most efficient purification method for the isolation of SSCs from mouse testes among previously described techniques. Isolation of SSCs from testicular cells derived from mouse testes was conducted using four different techniques: differential plating (DP), magnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS) post-DP, MACS, and positive and negative selection double MACS. DP was performed for 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 h, and MACS was performed using EpCAM ($MACS^{EpCAM}$), Thy1 ($MACS^{Thy1}$), or GFR ${\alpha}1$ ($MACS^{GFR{\alpha}1}$) antibodies. The purification efficiency of each method was analyzed by measuring the percentage of cells that stained positively for alkaline phosphatase. DP for 8 h, $MACS^{Thy1}$ post-DP for 8 h, $MACS^{GFR{\alpha}1}$, positive selection double $MACS^{GFR{\alpha}1/EpCAM}$, and negative selection double $MACS^{GFR{\alpha}1/{\alpha}-SMA}$ were identified as the optimal protocols for isolation of SSCs from mouse testicular cells. Comparison of the purification efficiencies of the optimized isolation protocols showed that, numerically, the highest purification efficiency was obtained using $MACS^{GFR{\alpha}1}$. Overall, our results indicate that $MACS^{GFR{\alpha}1}$ is an appropriate purification technique for the isolation of SSCs from mouse testicular cells.

• International Journal of Stem Cells
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.27-35
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• 2023

Background and Objectives: Spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) are the most primitive cells in spermatogenesis and are the only adult stem cells capable of passing on the genome of a given species to the next generation. SSCs are the only adult stem cells known to exhibit high Oct4 expression and can be induced to self-reprogram into pluripotent cells depending on culture conditions. Epigenetic modulation is well known to be involved in the induction of pluripotency of somatic cells. However, epigenetic modulation in self-reprogramming of SSCs into pluripotent cells has not been studied. Methods and Results: In this study, we examined the involvement of epigenetic modulation by assessing whether selfreprogramming of SSCs is enhanced by treatment with epigenetic modulators. We found that second-generation selective class I HDAC inhibitors increased SSC reprogramming efficiency, whereas non-selective HDAC inhibitors had no effect. Conclusions: We showed that pluripotent stem cells derived from adult SSCs by treatment with small molecules with epigenetic modulator functions exhibit pluripotency in vitro and in vivo. Our results suggest that the mechanism of SSC reprogramming by epigenetic modulator can be used for important applications in epigenetic reprogramming research.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.344-351
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• 2021

The purpose of this study was to compare surface hardness between titanium-nitride coated crowns (TiNCs) and stainless steel crowns (SSCs), and to evaluate the corrosion resistance and color sustainability of TiNCs. Ten TiNCs and 10 SSCs were used for the hardness test. Measurement was performed 30 times for each type of crowns, and the mean values were compared. Metallic raw material plates (before being processed into crowns) of TiNCs and SSCs were prepared for the corrosion resistance test. The total amounts of metal ion releases in the test solution were detected by inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry. Five TiNCs were subjected to the color sustainability test by applying repetitive brushing forces. The mean hardness values of TiNC group and SSC group were 395.53 ± 105.90 Hv and 278.70 ± 31.45 Hv respectively. Hardness of TiNCs were significantly higher than that of SSCs. The total amounts of metal ion releases from the materials of TiNCs and SSCs satisfied the criterion in International Organization for Standardization 22674. The results mean that TiNCs and SSCs were not harmful in an acidic environment. The golden coating was stable against the repetitive physical stimulations for a given period time.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.48-57
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• 2018

Configuration management (CM) is the process of identifying and documenting characteristics of plant structures, systems and components (SSCs), and of ensuring that changes to these characteristics are properly assessed, approved, implemented, verified and recorded. The purpose of this study is to examine regulation and technical standards developed under different concepts and level of depth for classification of nuclear SSCs as an essential prerequisite of the CM. In this context, main contents of currently adopted NSSC Notice 2016-10 are reviewed and compared with those in recently published ANSI/ANS 58.14 and IAEA SSG-30. The technical standards were prototypically used for classification of O-rings in two nuclear systems. It is found that ANSI/ANS 58.14 results in different categories taking into account specific features while IAEA SSG-30 leads to same categorization of the O-rings. Key findings will be summarized for Korean regulatory amendment in the future.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.1-15
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• 2018

Despite of safety issues related to radiological hazards, 31 countries around the world are operating more than 450 nuclear power plants (NPPs). To operate NPPs safely, safety regulations from radiation protection organizations were developed and adopted in many countries. However, many cases of radionuclide releases at foreign NPPs have been reported. Almost all commercial NPPs routinely release radioactive materials to the surrounding environments as liquid and gas phases under control. These releases are called 'planned releases' which are planned, regularly monitored, and well documented. Meanwhile, the releases focused in this review, called 'unplanned releases', are neither planned nor monitored by regulatory and/or protection organizations. NPPs are generally composed of various structures, systems and components (SSCs) for safety. Among them, the SSCs near reactors are closely related to safety of NPPs, and typically fabricated to comply with stringent requirements. However, some non-safety related SSCs such as underground pipes may be constructed only according to commercial standards, causing the leakage of radioactive fluids usually containing tritium ($^3H$). This paper discusses SSCs of NPPs and introduces several cases of unplanned releases at foreign NPPs. The current regulation on the environmental radiological surveillance and assessment around the NPPs in South Korea are also examined.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.181-187
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• 2015

Storm sudden commencements (SSCs) occur due to a rapid compression of the Earth's magnetic field. This is generally believed to be caused by interplanetary (IP) shocks, but with exceptions. In this paper we explore possible causes of SSCs other than IP shocks through a statistical study of geomagnetic storms using SYM-H data provided by the World Data Center for Geomagnetism - Kyoto and by applying a superposed epoch analysis to simultaneous solar wind parameters obtained with the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) satellite. We select a total of 274 geomagnetic storms with minimum SYM-H of less than -30nT during 1998-2008 and regard them as SSCs if SYM-H increases by more than 10 nT over 10 minutes. Under this criterion, we found 103 geomagnetic storms with both SSC and IP shocks and 28 storms with SSC not associated with IP shocks. Storms in the former group share the property that the strength of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), proton density and proton velocity increase together with SYM-H, implying the action of IP shocks. During the storms in the latter group, only the proton density rises with SYM-H. We find that the density increase is associated with either high speed streams (HSSs) or interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs), and suggest that HSSs and ICMEs may be alternative contributors to SSCs.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.319-325
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• 2021

The 2011 East Japan Earthquake caused accidents at a number of nuclear power plants in Fukushima, highlighting the need for a study on the seismic safety of multiple NPP (Nuclear Power Plant) units. In the case of nuclear power plants built on a site that shows a similar seismic response, there is at least a correlation between the seismic damage of structures, systems, and components (SSCs) of nuclear power plants. In this study, a probabilistic seismic safety assessment was performed for the loss of essential power events of twin units. To derive an appropriate seismic damage correlation coefficient, a probabilistic seismic response analysis was performed. Using the external event mensuration system program, we analyzed the seismic fragility and seismic risk by composing a failure tree of multiple loss of essential power events. Additionally, a comparative analysis was performed considering the seismic damage correlation between SSCs as completely independent and completely dependent.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.101-108
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• 2019

The seismic safety of nuclear power plants has always been emphasized by the effects of accidents. In general, the seismic safety evaluation of nuclear power plants carries out a seismic probabilistic safety assessment. The current probabilistic safety assessment assumes that damage to the structure, system, and components (SSCs) occurs independently to each other or perfect dependently to each other. In case of earthquake events, the failure event occurs with the correlation due to the correlation between the seismic response of the SSCs and the seismic performance of the SSCs. In this study, the EEMS (External Event Mensuration System) code is developed which can perform the seismic probabilistic safety assessment considering correlation. The developed code is verified by comparing with the multiplier n, which is for calculating the joint probability of failure, which is proposed by Mankamo. It is analyzed the changes in seismic fragility curves and seismic risks with correlation. As a result, it was confirmed that the seismic fragility curves and seismic risk change according to the failure correlation coefficient. This means that it is important to select an appropriate failure correlation coefficient in order to perform a seismic probabilistic safety assessment. And also, it was confirmed that carrying out the seismic probabilistic safety assessment in consideration of the seismic correlation provides more realistic results, rather than providing conservative or non-conservative results comparing with that damage to the SSCs occurs independently.

• Anatomy and Cell Biology
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.508-517
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• 2023

In cancer patients, chemo/radio therapy may cause infertility by damaging the spermatogenesis affecting the self-renewal and differentiation of spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs). In vitro differentiation of stem cells especially mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) into germ cells has recently been proposed as a new strategy for infertility treatment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the proliferation and differentiation of SSCs using their co-culture with Sertoli cells and conditioned medium (CM) from adipose tissue-derived MSCs (AD-MSCs). Testicular tissues were separated from 2-7 days old neonate Wistar Rats and after mechanical and enzymatic digestion, the SSCs and Sertoli cells were isolated and cultured in Dulbecco's modified eagle medium with 10% fetal bovine serum, 1X antibiotic, basic fibroblast growth factor, and glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor. The cells were treated with the CM from AD-MSCs for 12 days and then the expression level of differentiation-related genes were measured. Also, the expression level of two major spermatogenic markers of DAZL and DDX4 was calculated. Scp3, Dazl, and Prm1 were significantly increased after treatment compared to the control group, whereas no significant difference was observed in Stra8 expression. The immunocytochemistry images showed that DAZL and DDX4 were positive in experimental group comparing with control. Also, western blotting revealed that both DAZL and DDX4 had higher expression in the treated group than the control group, however, no significant difference was observed. In this study, we concluded that the CM obtained from AD-MSCs can be considered as a suitable biological material to induce the differentiation in SSCs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Communication Sciences Conference
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• 1995.06a
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• pp.336-339
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• 1995