• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2003

Type II collagen (CII), major component of hyaline cartilage, has been considered as an auto-antigen in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, the clinical and biological significances with regard to the CII autoimmunity need to be clarified in human RA. The presence of antibodies to CII has been identified in sera, synovial fluid, and cartilage of patients with RA. In our study, the increased titer of IgG anti-CII in sera was well correlated with C-reactive protein, suggesting that this antibody may reflect the inflammatory status of RA. The titer of anti-CII antibodies (anti-CII Abs) tended to be higher in early stages of diseases. In our extending study, among 997 patients with RA, 269 (27.0%) were positive for circulatory IgG antibody to CII, those levels were fluctuated over time. It is hard to assess the significant amount of T cell responses to CII and CII (255~274) in RA. By using a sensitive method of antigen specific mixed lymphocyte culture, we can detect the presence of CII-reactive T cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of RA patients. Sixty seven (46.9%) of 143 patients showed positive CII reactive T cell responses to CII or CII (255~274). The frequencies of CII reactive T cells were more prominent in inflamed synovial fluid (SF) than in peripheral blood. These T cells could be clonally expanded after consecutive stimulation of CII with feeding of autologous irradiated antigen presenting cells (APC). Moreover, the production of Th1-related cytokine, such as IFN-${\gamma}$, was strongly up-regulated by CII reactive T cells. These data suggest that T cells responding to CII, which are probably presenting the IFN-${\gamma}$ producing cells, may play an important role in the perpetuation of inflammatory process in RA. To evaluate the effector function of CII reactive T cells, we investigated the effect of CII reactive T cells and fibroblasts-like synoviocytes (FLS) interaction on the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. When the CII reactive T cells were co-cultured with FLS, the production of IL-15 and TNF-${\alpha}$ from FLS were significantly increased (2 to 3 fold increase) and this increase was clearly presented in accord to the expansion of CII reactive T cells. In addition, the production of IFN-${\gamma}$ and IL-17, T cell derived cytokines, were also increased by the co-incubation of CII reactive T cells with FLS. We also examined the impact of CII reactive T cells on chemokines production. When FLS were co-cultured with CII stimulated T cells, the production of IL-8, MCP-1, and MIP-1${\alpha}$ were significantly enhanced. The increased production of these chemokines was strongly correlated with increase the frequency of CII reactive T cells. Conclusively, immune response to CII was frequently found in RA. Activated T cells in response to CII contributed to increase the production of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines, which were critical for inflammatory responses in RA. The interaction of CII-reactive T cells with FLS further augmented this phenomenon. Taken together, our recent studies have suggested that autoimmunity to CII could play a crucial role not only in the initiation but amplification/perpetuation of inflammatory process in human RA.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.75-78
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• 1974

It was planned to investigate, by observing incorporation of $[^3H]$ thymidine into liver cells, the influence of Panax Ginseng upon hepatic DNA synthesis in mice that received ACTH. Thirty male mice $(body\;weight:\;18{\sim}20\;g)$ were divided equally into the ginseng-ACTH and the saline-ACTH groups. Each animal of the ginseng-ACTH and the saline-ACTH groups received every day (subcutaneously) 0.05 m1/10 g body weight of ginseng extract (4 mg of ginseng alcohol extract in 1 ml of saline) and the same amount of saline, respectively, for 5 days. On the 5th experimental day, all animals received 0.01 unit of ACTH intraperitoneally one hour. after the last medication, and $1{\mu}Ci/g$ body weight of $[^3H]$ thymidine after one more hour. Five animals, at a time, of each group were sacrificed 1, 10, and 24 hours after thymidine administration, and their hepatic radioactivity was measured autoradiographically in terms of the % number of radioactive cells in 1,000 cell counts (Radioactive Index, R.1.). Following results were obtained: 1. The hepatic radioactive indices obtained from the saline-ACTH group 1, 10, and 24 hr after $[^3H]$ thymidine administration were $1.50{\pm}0.32,\;2.16{\pm}0.33\;and\;2.79{\pm}0.31\;(mean{\pm}S.D.)$, respectively. 2. The corresponding values obtained from the ginseng-ACTH group $(2.71{\pm}0.22,\;3.85{\pm}0.29,\;and\;5.06{\pm}0.31)$ were significantly higher than the values of the saline-ACTH group. It is inferred from the above results that the ginseng tends to prevent reduction in hepatic DNA synthesis caused by ACTH administration.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.660-668
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• 2007

We investigated 248 patients who were diagnosed as malignant tumor in the department of Oral and maxillofacial Surgery of Kyungpook National University from 1999 to 2006, and following results were obtained. 1. Among 248 patients who have malignant tumor, 164 were men and 84 were women, which made the ratio of male to female 1.95:1. 2. The average age of oral cancer patients was 58.3. 3. As of the primary origin site, lower alveolus and gingiva were the greatest with 70 cases(28.2%), followed by tongue(l6.9%), upper alveolus and gingiva(14.9%), palate(13.7%), mouth floor(9.7%), buccal mucosa(4.8%), retromolar trigone(4.4%), Mx. & Mn. bone(3.2%) and lip(2.8%). 4. As of histologic distribution, squamous cell carcinoma was the greatest with 170 cases(68.6%), followed by sarcoma with 17 cases(6.9%), adenoid cystic carcinoma with 17 cases(6.9%), malignant lymphoma with 15 cases(6.0%), mucoepidermoid carcinoma with 13 cases(5.2%), metastatic carcinoma with 6 cases(2.4%) and malignant melanoma with 4 cases(1.6%). 5. Period between recognition of the symptom and the first visit to hospital was less than 3 months for 58.9% of the patients, and more than 3 months for 41% of the patients. 6. Investigation of whether the patients drink or smoke revealed that the number of non-smoking and non-drinking patients was 63 among 170 patients(37.0%) that were able to investigate. The number of patients who smoke only was 29(17.1%) and both drinking and smoking patients were 78(45.9%). 7. In clinical stage order, Stage IV(61.7%) was found th be the largest, followed by stage I(17.2%), stage II(13%) and stage III(7.8%). 8. The 5-year survival rate of the entire oral cancer patients appeared to be 57.7%. The survival rate was higher in younger group and women had higher survival rate but there was no statistical significance to this. In the aspect of stage, the survival rate was Stage I, Stage II, Stage IV and Stage III in decreasing order. The order according to T classification was the same. In N classification, patients with N0 had the highest survival rate and the survival rate decreased in the order of N1 and N2. Survival rate was especially low in patients with N2.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 1999.07a
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• pp.39-42
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• 1999

Perfluoropolymers represent the ultimate resistance to hostile chemical environments and high service temperature, attributed to the presence of fluorine in the polymer backbone, i.e. to the high bond energy of C-F and C-C bonds of fluorocarbons. Copolymers of Tetrafluoroethylene (TEE) and 2, 2, 4Trifluoro-5Trifluorometoxy- 1, 3Dioxole (TTD), commercially known as HYFLON AD, are amorphous perfluoropolymers with glass transition temperature (Tg)higher than room temperature, showing a thermal decomposition temperature exceeding 40$0^{\circ}C$. These polymer systems are highly soluble in fluorinated solvents, with low solution viscosities. This property allows the preparation of self-supported and composite membranes with desired membrane thickness. Symmetric and asymmetric perfluoropolymer membranes, made with HYFLON AD, have been prepared and evaluated. Porous and not porous symmetric membranes have been obtained by solvent evaporation with various processing conditions. Asymmetric membranes have been prepared by th wet phase inversion method. Measure of contact angle to distilled water have been carried out. Figure 1 compares experimental results with those of other commercial membranes. Contact angles of about 120$^{\circ}$for our amorphous perfluoropolymer membranes demonstrate that they posses a high hydrophobic character. Measure of contact angles to hexandecane have been also carried out to evaluate the organophobic character. Rsults are reported in Figure 2. The observed strong organophobicity leads to excellent fouling resistance and inertness. Porous membranes with pore size between 30 and 80 nanometers have shown no permeation to water at pressures as high as 10 bars. However high permeation to gases, such as O2, N2 and CO2, and no selectivities were observed. Considering the porous structure of the membrane, this behavior was expected. In consideration of the above properties, possible useful uses in th field of gas- liquid separations are envisaged for these membranes. A particularly promising application is in the field of membrane contactors, equipments in which membranes are used to improve mass transfer coefficients in respect to traditional extraction and absorption processes. Gas permeation properties have been evaluated for asymmetric membranes and composite symmetric ones. Experimental permselectivity values, obtained at different pressure differences, to various single gases are reported in Tab. 1, 2 and 3. Experimental data have been compared with literature data obtained with membranes made with different amorphous perfluoropolymer systems, such as copolymers of Perfluoro2, 2dimethyl dioxole (PDD) and Tetrafluorethylene, commercialized by the Du Pont Company with the trade name of Teflon AF. An interesting linear relationship between permeability and the glass transition temperature of the polymer constituting the membrane has been observed. Results are descussed in terms of polymer chain structure, which affects the presence of voids at molecular scale and their size distribution. Molecular Dyanmics studies are in progress in order to support the understanding of these results. A modified Theodoru- Suter method provided by the Amorphous Cell module of InsightII/Discover was used to determine the chain packing. A completely amorphous polymer box of about 3.5 nm was considered. Last but not least the use of amorphous perfluoropolymer membranes appears to be ideal when separation processes have to be performed in hostile environments, i.e. high temperatures and aggressive non-aqueous media, such as chemicals and solvents. In these cases Hyflon AD membranes can exploit the outstanding resistance of perfluoropolymers.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.386-392
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• 2017

This study was conducted to examine the growth and phytochemical contents of spinach (Spinacia Oleracea L. 'Sushiro') as affected by different fluorescent lamps in a closed-type plant production system. Seeds were sown in a 128-cell plug tray filled in rockwool. The seedlings were transplanted into a DFT (deep floating technique) system with recycling nutrient solution (EC $1.5dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$ and pH 6.5) in a closed-type plant production system. The seedlings were grown under 3 types of fluorescent lamp, #S (NBFHF 32S8EX-D, CH LIGHTING Co. Ltd., China), #O (FHF32SSEX-D, Osram Co. Ltd., Germany), and #P (FLR32SS EX-D, Philips Co. Ltd., The Netherlands) at $150{\mu}mol{\cdot}m-2{\cdot}s^{-1}\;PPFD$ with a photoperiod of 14/10 (light/dark) hours. Plants were cultured under condition of $25{\pm}1^{\circ}C$ temperature and $60{\pm}10%$ relative humidity after transplanting. Thirty plants per each treatment were cultivated for $6^{th}$ week after transplanting. And growth and phytochemical contents were measured at $3^{rd}$ and $6^{th}$ week. At the $3^{rd}$ week after transplanting, the parameter values of plant height and leaf width were higher in the #O than the others. However, fresh and dry weights of root were the greatest in the #P. In addition, total phenolic concentration was the greatest in the #P. At $6^{th}$ week after transplanting, the #O had the greatest growth of spinach in the plant height and fresh and dry weights of shoot. The total phenolic contents significantly increased in the #O and showed significantly difference. However, there was no significant difference all treatments in antioxidant activity. Therefore, these results suggest that the #O was suitable for the growth and phytochemical accumulation of spinach in a closed-type plant production system.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.6
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• pp.868-873
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• 2019

In this study, the evaluation of performance of AORFB using methyl viologen and TEMPOL as organic active materials in neutral supporting electrolyte (NaCl) with various membrane types was performed. Using methyl viologen and TEMPOL as active materials in neutral electrolyte solution, the cell voltage is 1.37V which is relatively high value for AORFB. Two types of membranes were examined for performance comparison. First, when using Nafion 117 membrane which is commercial cation exchange membrane, only the charge process occurred in the first cycle and the single cell couldn't work because of its high resistance. However, when using Fumasep anion exchange membrane (FAA-3-50) instead of Nafion 117 membrane, the result was obtained as the totally different charge-discharge graphs. When current density was $40mA{\cdot}cm^{-2}$ and cut off voltage range was from 0.55 V to 1.7 V, the charge efficiency (CE) was 97% and voltage efficiency (VE) was 78%. In addition, the discharge capacity was $1.44Ah{\cdot}L^{-1}$ which was 54% of theoretical capacity ($2.68Ah{\cdot}L^{-1}$) at $10^{th}$ cycle and the capacity loss rate was $0.0015Ah{\cdot}L^{-1}$ per cycle during 50 cycles. Through cyclic voltammetry test, it seems that this difference in the performance between the full cell using Nafion 117 membrane and Fumasep anion exchange membrane came from increasing resistance due to chemical reaction between membrane and active material, not the capacity loss due to cross-over of active material through membrane.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.1-15
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• 2010

Objectives : This study was performed to evaluate the effects of Hwangryunhaedok-tang(Huanglianjiedu-tang HHT) water extract on locomotor dysfunction induced by spinal cord injury(SCI) in rats. Methods : SCI was induced by mechanical contusion following laminectomy of 10th thoracic vertebra in Sprague-Dawley rats. HHT was orally given once a day for 14 days after SCI. Neurological behavior was examined with the Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan locomotor rating scale. Tissue damage and nerve fiber degeneration were examined with cresyl violet and luxol fast blue staining. Using immunohistochemisty, cellular damage to neurons and nerve fibers were examined against Bax and MAP-2. As inflammatory response markers, iNOS and COX-2 expressions were also examined. Results : 1. HHT ameliorated the locomotor dysfunction of the SCI-induced rats. 2. HHT attenuated the reduction of motor neurons in the ventral horn of the SCI-induced rat spinal cord. 3. HHT significantly reduced the number of Bax positive cells in the peri-lesion of the SCI-induced rat spinal cord. 4. HHT attenuated the reduction of MAP-2 positive cells in the peri-lesion of the SCI-induced rat spinal cord. 5. HHT significantly reduced the number of iNOS and COX-2 positive cells in the peri-lesion of the SCI-induced rat spinal cord. Conclusions : These results suggest that HHT improves the locomotor dysfunction of SCI by protecting motor neurons from cell death through anti-inflammatory effect.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.439-444
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• 2017

The ability of nematodes to manipulate the immune system of their host towards a Th2 and T regulatory responses has been proposed to suppress the inflammatory response. Clinical trials have proposed a useful effect of helminth infections on improvement of inflammatory disorders. In this study, we investigated the immunomodulatory effect of Syphacia obvelata infection to induce intestinal tolerance in C57BL/6 mice. Mice were infected through the cagemates with self-infected BALB/c mice. Four weeks post-infection, expression levels of $IFN-{\gamma}$, $TNF-{\alpha}$, IL-17, and IL-10 were assessed in the supernatant of mesenteric lymph node (MLN) culture. $Foxp3^+Treg$ were measured in MLN cells by flow cytometry. In the S. obvelata-infected group, the percentage of Tregs ($5.2{\pm}0.4$) was significantly higher than the control ($3.6{\pm}0.5$) (P<0.05). The levels of IL-10 ($55.3{\pm}2.2$ vs $35.2{\pm}3.2$), IL-17 ($52.9{\pm}3.8$ vs $41{\pm}1.8$), $IFN-{\gamma}$ ($44.8{\pm}4.8$ vs $22.3{\pm}2.3$) and $TNF-{\alpha}$ ($71.1{\pm}5.8$ vs $60.1{\pm}3.3$) were significantly increased in infected mice compared to the control group (P<0.05). The above results showed the potential effects of S. obvelata to induce intestinal tolerance. Therefore, it seems that S. obvelata may increase the immunological suppressive function in the intestinal tract.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.49-63
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• 2016

Objectives : This research was performed to investigate the effects of Jodeungsan pharmacopuncture(PA-J) of focal brain ischemia induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion(MCAO) in rats. Methods : The subjects were divided into 4 groups : control, acupuncture, pharmacopuncture PA-J1(11.43 mg / 250 g / $40{\mu}{\ell}$) and pharmacopuncture PA-J2(2.29 mg / 250 g / $40{\mu}{\ell}$). The focal brain ischemia was induced by intraluminal filament insertion into the middle cerebral artery. After 3 days of MCAO, Jodeungsan pharmacopuncture treatment was performed on the GB20, and the day after being treated with pharmacopuncture, the Morris water maze test was carried out on the assigned group. The series of processes were administered 6 times. Thereafter mGluR5, density of neuronal cell and ChAT were measured. Results : The results were as follows. 1. The distance to target significantly decreased in the 2nd trial of the Acu group on the water maze test for short-term memory. 2. The distance to target significantly decreased in the 4th trial of the PA-J2 group on the water maze test for long-term memory. 3. The intensity of mGluR5 significantly increased in the PA-J1 group compared with the control group. 4. The neuroprotective effect on the hippocampal CA1 significantly increased in the PA-J1 and PA-J2 groups compared with the control group. 5. The density of ChAT in the hippocampal CA1 significantly increased in the PA-J1 and PA-J2 groups compared with the control group. Conclusion : These results suggest that Jodeungsan pharmacopuncture may improve memory and cognitive impairment and also have neuroprotective effects on focal brain ischemia.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.145-152
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• 2010

The gel polymer electrolyte(GPE) were prepared by in-situ thermal cross-linking reaction of homogeneous precursor solution of perfluorinated phosphate-based cross-linker and liquid electrolyte. Ionic conductivities and electrochemical properties of the prepared gel polymer electrolyte with the various contents of liquid electrolytes and perfluorinated organophosphate-based cross-linker were examined. The stable gel polymer electrolyte was obtained up to 97 wt% of the liquid electrolyte. Ionic conductivity and electrochemical properties of the gel polymer electrolytes with the various chain length of perfluorinated ethylene oxide and different content of liquid electrolytes were examined. The maximum ionic conductivity of liquid electrolyte was measured to be $1.02\;{\times}\;10^{-2}\;S/cm$ at $30^{\circ}C$ using the cross-linker($PFT_nGA$). The electrochemical stability of the gel polymer electrolyte was extended to 4.5 V. The electrochemical performances of test cells composed of the resulting gel polymer electrolyte were also studied to evaluate the applicability on the lithium polymer batteries. The test cell carried a discharge capacity of 136.11mAh/g at 0.1C. The discharge capacity was measured to be 91% at 2C rate. The discharge capacity decreased with increase of discharge rate which was due to the polarization. After 500th charge/discharge cycles, the capacity of battery decreased to be 70% of the initial capacity.