• BMB Reports
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.184-189
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• 2015

Src homology 2-containing protein tyrosine phosphatase 2 (SHP-2) is known to protect neurons from neurodegeneration during ischemia/reperfusion injury. We recently reported that ROS-mediated oxidative stress promotes phosphorylation of endogenous SHP-2 in astrocytes and complex formation between caveolin-1 and SHP-2 in response to oxidative stress. To examine the region of SHP-2 participating in complex formation with caveolin-1, we generated three deletion mutant constructs and six point mutation constructs of SHP-2. Compared with wild-type SHP-2, binding of the N-SH2 domain deletion mutant of SHP-2 to p-caveolin-1 was reduced greatly, using flow cytometric competitive binding assays and surface plasmon resonance (SPR). Moreover, deletion of the N-SH2 domain of SHP-2 affected $H_2O_2$-mediated ERK phosphorylation and Src phosphorylation at Tyr 419 in primary astrocytes, suggesting that N-SH2 domain of SHP-2 is responsible for the binding of caveolin-1 and contributes to the regulation of Src phosphorylation and activation following ROS-induced oxidative stress in brain astrocytes.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.400-410
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• 1999

Five experiments were conducted using finishing pigs (PIC L326 sires $\times$ C15 dams) to examine the effects of expander operating conditions on nutrient digestibility in finishing pigs. The effects of different expanding conditions (0, 11.7, 24.4, $32.5kg/cm^2$) for corn-SBM based diets (Exp. 1), wheat meddlings diet (Exp. 2), sorghum-SBM based diets (Exp. 3) and wheat-SBM based diet (Exp. 4). Exp. 5 was conducted as a $2{\times}4$ factorial arrangement and factors examined were 2 soy products (raw soybean and SBM) and 4 expanding conditions (0, 14.1, 28.1, $42.2kg/cm^2$). In experiment 1, total production rates (p>0.10) were similar among treatments. The amount of fines decreased (cubic effect, p<0.001) as cone pressure was increased from 0 to $11.7kg/cm^2$, with smaller differences as cone pressure was further increased to $35.2kg/cm^2$. Nutrient digestibilities increased (p<0.02) as the feed was subjected to higher cone pressures. Digestibilities of DM, N, and GE were maximized at $24.4kg/cm^2$ cone pressure. The DE of the diet expanded at 24.4 and $35.2kg/cm^2$ increased by 172 and 109 kcal/kg, respectively, compared to the diet processed at $0kg/cm^2$ cone pressure. In experiment 2, total production and screened pellets production rates were similar among the processing treatments (p>0.21). The amount of fines decreased (quadratic effect, p<0.03) by 9 kg/h as cone pressure was increased from 0 to $11.7kg/cm^2$. Digestibilities of DM (p<0.02), N (p<0.001), and GE (p<0.002) were increased as cone pressure was increased from 0 to $35.2kg/cm^2$. DM, N, and GE digestibility in the pigs fed the midds-based diet increased by 8, 13, and 10%, respectively, at the highest processing cone pressure compared to the diets without any cone pressure. In experiment 3, the conditioned mash moistures for the treatments were numerically similar around 15% moisture. As the expander cone pressure was increased from 0 to $11.7kg/cm^2$, energy consumption for the pellet mill decreased (quadratic effect, p<0.004) from 14.1 to 12.0 kWh/t. Dry matter and gross energy digestibility increased (cubic effects, p<0.006) as cone pressure was increased from 0 to $35.2kg/cm^2$ with the largest improvement occurring as cone pressure was increased from 0 to $11.7kg/cm^2$. Nitrogen digestibility increased (cubic effect, p<0.001) from 78.3 to 81.0% as the feed was subjected to the higher cone pressures, with N digestibility being maximized at $24.4kg/cm^2$ cone pressure. The DE of the diet increased (cubic effect, p<0.001) by 225 kcal/kg as cone pressure was increased from 0 to $11.7kg/cm^2$. In experiment 4, pellet moisture decreased and moisture loss increased as cone pressure was increased from 0 to $35.2kg/cm^2$. Also, starch gelatinization of the wheat-based diets increased from 16.8 to 49.1% as the diets were processed at 0 and $35.2kg/cm^2$ cone pressure. Nutrient digestibilities were not affected (p>0.18) by any increase in cone pressure. In experiment 5, pellet moisture decreased as cone pressure was increased 0 to $35.2kg/cm^2$. The amount of moisture loss for the diets expanded at $42.2kg/cm^2$ was 3.0 and 3.8% for the SBM and raw soybean (RB) diets, respectively. Starch gelatinization for the SBM diets were 19% greater than the RB diets. The RB diets had lower DM, N and GE digestibilities as compared to the SBM diets. The DE of the RB diets were lower (p<0.02) than the SBM diets. DM (p<0.06), N (p<0.02), and GE (p<0.001) digestibilities of the dietary treatments increased as cone pressure was increased 0 to $42.2kg/cm^2$.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.136-142
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• 2015

Purpose: Although the American Academy of Pediatrics provides clinical guidelines for urinary tract infection (UTI) infants, guidelines are not appropriate for neonates and infants less than 2 months of age due to insufficient data. The aim of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of neonates and young infants less than 2 months old (group 1) with UTI compared to older infants from 2 to 12 months old (group 2). Methods: We reviewed UTI patients aged 0 to 12 months admitted to the pediatric department in the last 5 years. Clinical characteristics such as age, sex, fever duration, recurrence, progression to acute pyelonephritis (APN), malformations like hydronephrosis and vesicoureteral reflux (VUR), and laboratory results were compared between group 1 and group 2. Results: 615 patients were included in this study. Group 1 had 94 cases and group 2 had 521 cases. Escherichia coli was the most commonly isolated pathogen in urine cultures. Fever duration was shorter in group 1 (vs.) 2 ($1.91{\pm}1.43$ days vs. $3.42{\pm}2.40$ days, P<0.05). As compared to group 2, group 1 had a higher proportion of patients with antenatal hydronephrosis and hydronephrosis found after admission (10.6% vs. 3.6% and 75.5% vs. 55.9%, P<0.05). There were differences between two groups in white blood cell (WBC) count (Group 1: $13,694{\pm}5,315/{\mu}L$, Group 2: $15,271{\pm}6,130/{\mu}L$, P<0.05) and C-reactive protein (Group 1: $32.02{\pm}35.17mg/L$, Group 2: $46.51{\pm}46.63mg/L$, P<0.05). Conclusion: Compared to older infants, UTI in neonates and young infants shows milder clinical manifestations except higher rates of hydronephrosis but outcome is alike.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2014.11a
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• pp.273-273
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• 2014

Quantum-dot sensitized solar cells (QDSCs) are an emerging class of solar cells owing to their easy fabrication, low cost and material diversity. Despite of the fact that the maximum conversion efficiency of QDSCs is still far less than that of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (>12 %), their unique characteristics like Multiple Exciton Generation (MEG), energy band tune-ability and tendency to incorporate multiple co-sensitizers concurrently has made QDs a suitable alternative to expensive dyes for solar cell application. Lead Sulfide (PbS) Quantum dot sensitized solar cells are theoretically proficient enough to have a photo-current density ($J_{sc}$) of $36mA/cm^2$, but practically there are very few reports on photocurrent enhancement in PbS QDSCs. Recently, $Hg^{2+}$ incorporated PbS quantumdots and Cadmium Sulfide (CdS) co-sensitized PbS solarcells are reported to show an improvement in photo-current density ($J_{sc}$). In this study, we explored the efficacy of $In_2S_3$ as an interfacial layer deposited through SILAR process for PbS QDSCs. $In_2S_3$ was chosen as the interfacial layer in order to avoid the usage of hazardous CdS or Mercury (Hg). Herein, the deposition of $In_2S_3$ interfacial layer on $TiO_2$ prior to PbS QDs exhibited a direct enhancement in the photo-current (Isc). Improved photo-absorption as well as interfacial recombination barrier caused by $In_2S_3$ deposition increased the photo-current density ($J_{sc}$) from $13mA/cm^2$ to $15.5mA/cm^2$ for single cycle of $In_2S_3$ deposition. Increase in the number of cycles of $In_2S_3$ deposition was found to deteriorate the photocurrent, however it increased $V_{oc}$ of the device which reached to an optimum value of 2.25% Photo-conversion Efficiency (PCE) for 2 cycles of $In_2S_3$ deposition. Effect of Heat Treatment, Normalized Current Stability, Open Circuit Voltage Decay and Dark IV Characteristics were further measured to reveal the characteristics of device.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea TC
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.9-16
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• 2012

In this paper, the beamforming and user scheduling scheme for device-to-device (D2D) underlaying celullar networks with partial channel state information is investigated. In the proposed scheme, cellular users whose channels are nearly orthogonal to the channel between base station and D2D receiver are selected for unitary beamforming so as to minimize the interference to the D2D receiver. The interference caused by underlaying D2D communication can be minimized by reducing the D2D transmitter's transmission power. To enhance the cellular users' throughput further, we also investigate codebook generation method in which each code vector belongs to multiple unitary code matrices. From simulation results, we show that the proposed beamforming and user scheduling scheme mitigates D2D interference to the cellular networks and the codebook generation method improves cellular users' throughput.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.47-51
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• 2005

Three-weeks old Commelina communis was transferred to Hoagland solution (Control, 100 μM Cd/sup 2+/, 100 μM Cd/sup 2+/ + 100 μM ABA, 100 μM Cd/sup 2+/+50 mM KCl) and grown for a week in the solution and then a number of physiological activities were investigated. In cases of Cd/sup 2+/ and Cd/sup 2+/ + ABA treatments, the growth of the plants was inhibited to 71 % and 81 %, respectively, when compared with the control, but there were no significant difference of plant growth between Cd/sup 2+/ and Cd/sup 2+/ + KCl- treated plants. In the treatments of Cd/sup 2+/, Cd/sup 2+/ + ABA and Cd/sup 2+/ + KCl total chlorophyll contents were reduced to 32%, 41% and 29%, respectively. In chlorophyll fluorescence experiments, Fv/Fm ratios were also reduced to 14∼20% and about 23%, respectively, according to the light intensity by Cd/sup 2+/ and Cd/sup 2+/+ABA-treated plants. Water stresses were increased by the treatment of Cd/sup 2+/, Cd/sup 2+/ + ABA and Cd/sup 2+/ + KCI. In Cd/sup 2+/ accumulation experiments Cd/sup 2+/ transport into the plant by ABA was not affected, but the accumulation of Cd/sup 2+/ into the roots was elevated to 13% when compared with the control. Cd/sup 2+/ transport into the root was markedly inhibited to 60% by KCl. Therefore, it could be concluded that ABA did not reduce the toxicities of Cd/sup 2+/, but enhanced Cd/sup 2+/ - induced toxicities and KCl showed no effect on Cd/sup 2+/ - induced toxicities.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.94-101
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• 2015

To mitigate the greenhouse gas emission, many carbon capture and storage projects are underway all over the world. In Korea, many studies focus on the storage of $CO_2$ in the offshore sediment. Assurance of safety is one of the most important issues in the geological storage of $CO_2$. Especially, the assessment of possibility of leakage and amount of leaked $CO_2$ is very crucial to analyze the safety of marine geological storage of $CO_2$. In this study, the leakage of injected $CO_2$ through fault was numerically studied. TOUGH2-MP ECO2N was used to simulate the subsurface behavior of injected $CO_2$. The storage site was 150 m thick saline aquifer located 825 m under the continental shelf. It was assumed that $CO_2$ leak was happened through the fault located 1,000 m away from the injection well. The injected $CO_2$ could migrate through the aquifer by both pressure difference driven by injection and buoyancy force. The enough pressure differences made it possible the $CO_2$ to migrate to the bottom of the fault. The $CO_2$ could be leaked to seabed through the fault due to the buoyancy force. Prior to leakage of the injected $CO_2$, the formation water leaked to seabed. When $CO_2$ reached the seabed, leakage of formation water stopped but the same amount of sea water starts to flow into the underground as the amount of leaked $CO_2$. To analyze the effect of injection rate on the leakage behavior, the injection rate of $CO_2$ was varied as 0.5, 0.75, and $1MtCO_2/year$. The starting times of leakage at 1, 0.75 and $0.5MtCO_2/year$ injection rates are 11.3, 15.6 and 23.2 years after the injection, respectively. The leakage of $CO_2$ to the seabed continued for a period time after the end of $CO_2$ injection. The ratios of total leaked $CO_2$ to total injected $CO_2$ at 1, 0.75 and $0.5MtCO_2/year$ injection rates are 19.5%, 11.5% and 2.8%, respectively.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.39-44
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• 2010

Purpose: Bone tissues for clinical application can be improved by studies on osteoblast differentiation. Runx2 is known to be an important transcription factor for osteoblast differentiation. However, bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-2 treatment to stimulate Runx2 is not sufficient to acquire enough bone formation in osteoblasts. Therefore, it is necessary to find other regulatory factors which can improve the transcriptional activity of Runx2. The erythroblast transformation-specific (ETS) transcription factor family is reported to be involved in various aspects of cellular proliferation and differentiation. Methods: We have noticed that the promoters of osteoblast differentiation markers such as alkaline phosphatase (Alp), osteopontin (Opn), and osteocalcin (Oc) contain Ets binding sequences which are also close to Runx2 binding elements. Luciferase assays were performed to measure the promoter activities of these osteoblast differentiation markers after the transfection of Runx2, myeloid Elf-1-like factor (MEF), and Runxs+MEF. Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction was also done to check the mRNA levels of Opn after Runx2 and MEF transfection into rat osteoblast (ROS) cells. Results: We have found that MEF, an Ets transcription factor, increased the transcriptional activities of Alp, Opn, and Oc. The addition of Runx2 resulted in the 2- to 6-fold increase of the activities. This means that these two transcription factors have a synergistic effect on the osteoblast differentiation markers. Furthermore, early introduction of these two Runx2 and MEF factors significantly elevated the expression of the Opn mRNA levels in ROS cells. We also showed that Runx2 and MEF proteins physically interact with each other. Conclusions: Runx2 interacts with MEF proteins and binds to the promoters of the osteoblast markers such as Opn nearby MEF to increase its transcriptional activity. Our results also imply that osteoblast differentiation and bone formation can be increased by activating MEF to elicit the synergistic effect of Runx2 and MEF.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2010.03a
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• pp.291-294
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• 2010

$CO_2$ is known as the major source of the green house effect and the volume produced from electricity generation and transportation sector in Korea constitutes the large portion. In order to reduce the green house effect, several treatment methods can be the major research topics such as the scheme to fundamentally restrict the production of $CO_2$ creation, to perfectly sequestrate the produced $CO_2$, to reuse the separated $CO_2$, or to permanently dispose $CO_2$ in an appropriate storage site. Among of them, R&D strategy and geotechnical research issues are explored in this paper in an effort to realize geological storage for the sequestrated $CO_2$ in local storage sites. $CO_2$ is known as the major source of the green house effect and the volume produced from electricity generation and transportation sector in Korea constitutes the large portion. In order to reduce the green house effect, several treatment methods can be the major research topics such as the scheme to fundamentally restrict the production of $CO_2$ creation, to perfectly sequestrate the produced $CO_2$, to reuse the separated $CO_2$, or to permanently dispose $CO_2$ in an appropriate storage site. Among of them, R&D strategy and geotechnical research issues are explored in this paper in an effort to realize geological storage for the sequestrated $CO_2$ in local storage sites.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.230-238
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• 2004

The adverse health effects of a number of environment pollutions are related to the formation of free radicals. Induction of antioxidant defensive system in the response to an oxidative attack is an essential element of the cell to survive. CYP2E1 is easily induced by organic solvents and induces continuous formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). ${\gamma}$-Glutamyltranspeptidase (${\gamma}$GT) plays an important role in glutathione metabolism and xenobiotic detoxification. To evaluate the characteristic of oxidative stress which induces GGT expression and to understand human antioxidant defensive response against oxidative stress induced by CYP2E1, we studied regulation of ${\gamma}$GT enzyme expression in response to various oxidative stresses in human HepG2 cells. The ${\gamma}$GT activity was not modified after exposure of acute oxidative stress inducing agents (ferric nitrilotriacetate, cumene hydroperoxide, ADP-Fe, O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate, tumor necrosis factor-alpha). To induce continuous exposure of cells to ROS, HepG2 cells were transfected by human CYP2E1 gene transiently. The CYP2E1 activity was verified with chlorzoxazone hydroxylation. Transfection of CYP2E1 showed continuous 60% increase in intracellular ROS and 240 % increase in microsomal ROS. CYP2E1 overexpressing cells showed increased ${\gamma}$GT activity (2.5-fold). The observed enhancement of ${\gamma}$GT activity correlated with a significant increase of ${\gamma}$GT mRNA (2.1-fold). Treatment with antioxidant strongly prevented the increase in ${\gamma}$GT activity. The CYP2E1 overexpression did not modify toxicity index and increased glutathione levels. These results show that continuous exposure of cells to ROS produced by CYP2E1 up-regulates ${\gamma}$GT; This may be one of the adaptive antioxidant responses of cells to oxidative insult. Present study also suggests that the induction of ${\gamma}$GT could be used as a marker of oxidative stress induced by exposure to organic solvents.