• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.280-286
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• 2013

This study was performed to investigate the effect of types of microorganisms on the antioxidant activity of soybean yogurt by a single or mixed culture of Bacillus subtilis and Lactobacillus plantarum isolated from chunggukjang and kimchi. The fermented soybean milk by Bacillus subtilis exhibited the highest values of total polyphenol, DPPH radical scavenging activity, reducing power and nitrite scavenging activity compared to those of Lactobacillus plantarum or mixed culture of Bacillus subtilis/Lactobacillus plantarum. As the amount of tomato extract was added to the soybean milk, various antioxidant parameters, such as total polyphenol, DPPH radical scavenging activity, reducing power and nitrite scavenging activity, were linearly increased.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.1114-1123
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• 2015

Bushing is the key link to connect outer and inner insulating systems and also the essential electric accessory in electric power system, especially in the high voltage engineering (AC 1000kV, DC 800kV). This paper presented the experimental research of thermal aging characteristic of oil-paper insulation used in bushing. A thermally accelerated aging experiment at 90℃ was performed. The bushing models containing five layers of paper were sealed into the aging vessels and further aged for 250 days. Then several important parameters associated with the aging were observed and evaluated. The results showed that the degree of polymerization (DP) of papers gradually decreased. The DP values of outermost layer and middle layer fit well into the second-order kinematic model and first-order kinematic model, respectively. Less deterioration speed of the inter-layer paper than outer layer was confirmed by the variation of DP. Hydrolysis was considered as the main cause to this phenomenon. In addition, the logarithm of the furfural concentrations in insulation oil was found to have good linear relationship with DP of papers. Interestingly, when the aging time is about 250 days and DP is 419, the aging process reaches an inflection point at which the DP approaches the leveling off degree of polymerization (LODP) value. Both tanδ and acid number of oils increased, while surface and volume resistivity of papers decreased. The obtained results demonstrated that thermal aging and moisture absorbed in papers brought great influence to the degradation of insulating paper, leading to rapid decrease of DP and increase of the tanδ. Thus, the bushing should be avoided from damp and real-time monitoring to the variation of tanδ and DP values of paper is an effective way to evaluate the insulation status of bushing.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.413-417
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• 2017

Concrete is a material popularly used in construction. Due to the load-bearing and external environmental factors during utilization or manufacturing, its surface is prone to flaws, such as crack and leak. To repair these superficial defects and ultimately and avoid the deterioration of the concrete's durability, numerous concrete surface protective coatings and crack repair products have been developed. Currently, studies are endeavoring to exploit the mineralization property of microbial strains for repairing concrete cracks be the repairing material for crack rehabilitation. This research aims to use bacteria, specifically B. pasteurii, in crack rehabilitation to enhance the flexural and compression strength of the repaired concrete. Serial tests at various bacterial concentrations and the same $Urea-CaCl_2$ medium concentration of 70% for crack rehabilitation were executed. The results prove that the higher the concentration of the bacterial broth, the greater the amount of calcium carbonate precipitate was induced, while using B. pasteurii broth was for crack rehabilitation. The flexural and compression strengths of the repaired concrete test samples were the greatest at 100% bacterial concentration. Compared to the control group (bacterial concentration of 0%), the flexural strength had increased by 32.58% for 1-mm crack samples and 51.01% for 2-mm crack samples, and the compression strength had increased by 28.58% and 23.85%, respectively. From the SEM and XRD test results, a greater quantity of rectangular and polygonal crystals was also found in samples with high bacterial concentrations. These tests all confirm that using bacteria in crack rehabilitation can increase the flexural and compression strength of the repaired concrete.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.9
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• pp.1363-1370
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• 2016

Rennet, a complex of enzymes found in the stomachs of ruminants, is an important component for cheese production. In our study, we described that yak chymosin gene recombinant Pichia pastoris strain could serve as a novel source for rennet production. Yaks total RNA was extracted from the abomasum of an unweaned yak. The yak preprochymosin, prochymosin, and chymosin genes from total RNA were isolated using gene specific primers based on cattle chymosin gene sequence respectively and analyzed their expression pattern byreal time-polymerase chain reaction. The result showed that the chymosin gene expression level of the sucking yaks was 11.45 times higher than one of adult yaks and yak chymosin belongs to Bovidae family in phylogenetic analysis. To express each, the preprochymosin, prochymosin, and chymosin genes were ligated into the expression vector $pPICZ{\alpha}A$, respectively, and were expressed in Pichia pastoris X33. The results showed that all the recombinant clones of P. pastoris containing the preprochymosin, prochymosin or chymosin genes could produce the active form of recombinant chymosin into the culture supernatant. Heterologous expressed prochymosin (14.55 Soxhlet unit/mL) had the highest enzyme activity of the three expressed chymosin enzymes. Therefore, we suggest that the yak chymosin gene recombinant Pichia pastoris strain could provide an alternative source of rennet production.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.2115-2120
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• 2012

The presence of lung cancer cells in anoxic zones is a key cause od chemotherapeutic resistance. Thus, it is necessary to enhance the sensitivity of such lung cancer cells. However, loss of efficient gene therapeutic targeting and inefficient objective gene expression in the anoxic zone in lung cancer are dilemmas. In the present study, a eukaryotic expression plasmid pUC57-HRE-JAB1 driven by a hypoxia response elements promoter was constructed and introduced into lung cancer cell line A549. The cells were then exposed to a chemotherapeutic drug cis-diamminedichloroplatinum (C-DDP). qRT-PCR and western blotting were used to determine the mRNA and protein level and flow cytometry to examine the cell cycle and apoptosis of A549 transfected pUC57-HRE-JAB1. The results showed that JAB1 gene in the A549 was overexpressed after the transfection, cell proliferation being arrested in G1 phase and the apoptosis ratio significantly increased. Importantly, introduction of pUC57-HRE-JAB1 significantly increased the chemotherapeutic sensitivity of A549 in an anoxic environment. In conclusion, JAB1 overexpression might provide a novel strategy to overcome chemotherapeutic resistance in lung cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.677-682
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• 2014

Resveratrol has been examined in several model systems for potential effects against cancer. Adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is reported to suppress proliferation in most eukaryocyte cells. Whether resveratrol via AMPK inhibits proliferation of oesophageal adenocarcinoma cells (OAC) is unknown. The aim of this study was to determine the roles of AMPK in the protective effects of resveratrol in OAC proliferation and to elucidate the underlying mechanisms. Treatment of cultured OAC derived from human subjects or cell lines with resveratrol resulted in decreased cell proliferation. Further, inhibition of AMPK by pharmacological reagent or genetical approach abolished resveratrol-suppressed OAC proliferation, reduced the level of $p27^{Kip1}$, a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, and increased the levels of S-phase kinase-associated protein 2 (Skp2) of $p27^{Kip1}$-E3 ubiquitin ligase and 26S proteasome activity reduced by resveratrol. Furthermore, gene silencing of $p27^{Kip1}$ reversed resveratrol-suppressed OAC proliferation. In conclusion, these findings indicate that resveratrol inhibits Skp2-mediated ubiquitylation and 26S proteasome-dependent degradation of $p27^{Kip1}$ via AMPK activation to suppress OAC proliferation.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.3011-3015
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• 2013

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the expression of B7-H4 in human thyroid cancer and determine any association with patient clinicopathological parameters and survival. Methods: B7-H4 expression in 64 clinical thyroid cancer specimens was assessed with immunohistochemistry. Moreover, B7-H4 mRNA expression in 10 fresh resected specimens were evaluated by the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Immunohistochemical staining of CD3 was performed to assess the number of tumor infiltrating T lymphocytes (TILs) in thyroid cancers. Results: Positive B7-H4 immunohistochemical staining was observed in 61 out of 64 (95.3%) specimens of thyroid cancer tissues. Significantly more B7-H4 mRNA copies were found in thyroid cancer tissue than that adjacent normal tissue. Moreover, B7-H4 expression in human thyroid cancer tissues was significantly correlated with patient TNM stages and extrathyroidal extension (P<0.05), being inversely correlated with the number of TILs (P<0.05). The overall survival rate of the patients with higher B7-H4 expression was significantly worse than that of the patients with lower B7-H4 expression. Conclusions: This present study suggests that high B7-H4 expression is associated with cancer progression, reduced tumor immunosurveillance and worse patient outcomes in human thyroid cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.2783-2787
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• 2013

To assess the risk of cancer incidence after medical radiation exposure for coronary artery disease (CAD), a retrospective cohort study was conducted based on Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD). Patients with CAD were identified according to the International Classification of Diseases code, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM), and their records of medical radiation procedures were collected from 1997 to 2010. A total of 18,697 subjects with radiation exposure from cardiac imaging or therapeutic procedures for CAD were enrolled, and 19,109 subjects receiving cardiac diagnostic procedures without radiation were adopted as the control group. The distributions of age and gender were similar between the two populations. Cancer risks were evaluated by age-adjusted incidence rate ratio (aIRR) and association with cumulative exposure were further evaluated with relative risks by Poisson regression analysis. A total of 954 and 885 subjects with various types of cancers in both cohorts after following up for over 10 years were found, with incidences of 409.8 and 388.0 per 100,000 person-years, respectively. The risk of breast cancer (aIRR=1.85, 95% confidence interval: 1.14-3.00) was significantly elevated in the exposed female subjects, but no significant cancer risk was found in the exposed males. In addition, cancer risks of the breast and lung were increased with the exposure level. The study suggests that radiation exposure from cardiac imaging or therapeutic procedures for CAD may be associated with the increased risk of breast and lung cancers in CAD patients.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.11
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• pp.1673-1679
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• 2008

In order to study the biological function of gapdh gene in yak, and prove whether the gapdh gene was a useful intra-reference gene that can be given an important role in molecular biology research of yak, the cDNA sequence encoding glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase from yak was cloned by the RT-PCR method using gene specific PCR primers. The sequence results indicated that the cloned cDNA fragment (1,008 bp) contained a 1,002 bp open reading frame, encoding 333 amino acids (AAs) with a molecular mass of 35.753 kDa. The deduced amino acids sequence showed a high level of sequence identity to Bos Taurus (99.70%), Xenopus laevis (94.29%), Homo sapiens (97.01%), Mus musculus (97.90%) and Sus scrofa (98.20%). The expression of yak's gapdh gene in heart, spleen, kidney and brain tissues was also detected; the results showed that the gapdh gene was expressed in all these tissues. Further analysis of yak GAPDH amino acid sequence implied that it contained a complete glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase active site (ASCTTNCL) which ranged from 148 to 155 amino acid residues. It also contained two conserved domains, a NAD binding domain in its N-terminal and a complete catalytic domain of sugar transport in its C-terminal. The phylogenetic analysis showed that yak and Bos taurus were the closest species. The prediction of secondary structures indicated that GAPDH of yak had a similar secondary structure to other isolated GAPDH. The results of this study suggested that the gapdh gene of yak was similar to other species and could be used as the intra-reference to analyze the expression of other genes in yak.

• The korean journal of orthodontics
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.245-252
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• 2015

Objective: To assess the labial and lingual alveolar bone thickness in adults with maxillary central incisors of different inclination by cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). Methods: Ninety maxillary central incisors from 45 patients were divided into three groups based on the maxillary central incisors to palatal plane angle; lingual-inclined, normal, and labial-inclined. Reformatted CBCT images were used to measure the labial and lingual alveolar bone thickness (ABT) at intervals corresponding to every 1/10 of the root length. The sum of labial ABT and lingual ABT at the level of the root apex was used to calculate the total ABT (TABT). The number of teeth exhibiting alveolar fenestration and dehiscence in each group was also tallied. One-way analysis of variance and Tukey's honestly significant difference test were applied for statistical analysis. Results: The labial ABT and TABT values at the root apex in the lingual-inclined group were significantly lower than in the other groups (p < 0.05). Lingual and labial ABT values were very low at the cervical level in the lingual-inclined and normal groups. There was a higher prevalence of alveolar fenestration in the lingual-inclined group. Conclusions: Lingual-inclined maxillary central incisors have less bone support at the level of the root apex and a greater frequency of alveolar bone defects than normal maxillary central incisors. The bone plate at the marginal level is also very thin.