• Journal of Life Science
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.496-503
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• 2002

To develop a yeast strain of Pichia pastoris producing an antibacterial peptide, we have attempted the expression and secretion of an insect defensin. The nucleotide sequences corresponding to mature defensin were chemically synthesized by 6 oligomers, assembled in vitro and the synthesized gene was identified by nucleotide sequencing. The prepro sequence of yeast mating factor $\alpha$1 and the defensin gene were recombined into a Pichia expression vector, pPIC9K. The resulting plasmid, pPIDE, was transformed into P. pastoris GSl15 and transformants selected on histidine-deficient minimal plates were tested for antibacterial activity against Micrococcus luteus. Four strains with different antibacterial activity were selected for further analysis. Southern hybridization and RT-PCR verified the defensin gene was maintained and transcribed in a host. Four strains were cultivated in YPD broth for 96 hours to compare cell growth and antibacterial activity, They showed no difference in cell growth, however, each strain showed different antibacterial activity pattern with culture time. The maximal activity was about 550 AU/ $m\ell$.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.981-989
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• 2019

Coffee is a popular beverage worldwide, and the scale of consumption is growing rapidly. Many studies have shown that increased coffee consumption has various effects on human health, including beneficial effects on liver diseases, clinical type 2 diabetes, and Parkinson's disease. However, the influences of coffee or caffeine (a component of coffee) on the gut microbiota have not been examined in detail. Here, we tested whether caffeine could alter the antimicrobial activity of L. casei against E. coli. Interestingly, we found that treatment with 0.3 mg/mL caffeine increased the antimicrobial activity of L. casei against E. coli. This activity was not associated with the release of lactic acid but did appear to be related to a heat-labile factor present in the L. casei culture supernatant. Our analyses suggest that the putative antimicrobial factor found in the culture supernatant of L. casei treated with caffeine may be bacteriocin. Taken together, our results suggest that caffeine, which is an ingredient of coffee, increases the antimicrobial activity of L. casei against E. coli through the enhanced production of bacteriocin. These findings also suggest that coffee consumption affects the ability of beneficial bacteria to decrease pathogenic bacteria and/or prevent the progression of bacterial infection-associated diseases in the gut.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.201-205
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• 2003

Purpose: Telomerase activity is generally absent in primary cell cultures and normal tissues. Telomerase is known to be induced upon immortalization or malignant transformation of human cells. Telomerase activity can be increased in immature lymphocytes and activated lymphocytes, but it is not detected in the peripheral blood of normal persons. The authors analyzed peripheral blood telomerase from patients of gastric cancer to evaluate the possibility of using it for diagnosis and as a prognostic factor. Materials and Methods: We obtained blood samples from 11 inflammatory patients and 64 gastric cancer patients. The telomerase activity was measured using the [PCR-ELISA] method. The results were correlated with the T, N, M stage, cell differentiation, vascular, neural, and lymphatic invasion, tumor size, and tumor location. Results: In the 11 inflammatory patients, telomerase activity was not detected while in the gastric cancer patients, a positive rate of $28.1\%$ was noted. The peripheral telomerase activity was not related with tumor size, tumor site, lymphatic and vascular invasion, stage, or histologic differentiation. Conclusion: The peripheral blood telomerase activity for patients of gastric cancer can be utilized as a marker for the diagnosis of not only advanced gastric cancer, but also relatively early stage gastric cancer, but not as a prognostic factor.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.247-257
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• 2008

To understand the activity of non-specific defence factors in cultured Sebastes, the antibacterial effect of the serum, skin mucus and homogenate of various organs from cultured oblong rockfish (Sebastes oblongus) and rockfish(Sebastes schlegeli) against pathogenic bacteria, Aeromonas hydrophila, Edwardsiella tarda, Vibrio anguillarum, and Streptococcus sp. was compared with that of flounder(Paralichthys olivaceus) and seabass(Leteolabrax japonicus). And the activities of proteolytic enzyme, chitinolytic enzyme and haemolycin as non-specific defence factor were investigated on the oblong rockfish and rockfish. Samples from oblong rockfish showed the highest antibacterial activity by lysoplate assay on agar plate mixed with pathogens, followed in descending order by rockfish, seabass, and flounder. Turbidimetric assay was carried to evaluate the lysozyme activity of fish samples against lyophilized cells of Micrococcus lysodeiktikus. The serum, kidney, liver, stomach, intestine and eyeball of oblong rockfish and the mucus and gill of rockfish appeared to have the highest lysozyme activity among the fish strains investigated. All samples except skin mucus, liver, and eyeball of oblong rockfish and rockfish showed proteolytic enzyme activity. Chitinolytic enzyme activity was showed in random sampling and haemolytic activity was remarkable in oblong rockfish. Therefore, Sebastes strain was proved to have effective defense mechanisms based on the antibacterial activities, and lysozyme, proteolytic enzyme, chitinolytic enzyme, and haemolycin were considered to act as the non-specific defence factor of Sebastes.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.281-299
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• 2017

The inventory management of radionuclides is essential for the safe management of disposal facilities. In this study, we compared the activity of dry active waste predicted using the generated waste data and that measured for the accepted waste in the disposal facility. For very low level waste, the measured activity was higher than the predicted activity for $^{137}CS$, $^{90}Sr$, $^{99}Tc$ and $^{129}I$. In low level waste, the predicted activity was higher than the measured activity for all radionuclides. We also evaluated the variation in the predicted quantity and total activity of each level of dry active waste through a sensitivity analysis on a scaling factor. This result will contribute to the construction of a Safety Case and safe operation of disposal facilities.

• The Journal of Advanced Prosthodontics
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.18-24
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• 2010

PURPOSE. The aim of this pilot study was to investigate the effect of etched microgrooves on the hydrophilicity of Ti and osteoblast responses. MATERIAL AND METHODS. Microgrooves were applied on Ti to have 15 and $60{\mu}m$ width, and 3.5 and $10{\mu}m$ depth by photolithography, respectively. Further acid etching was applied to create Ti surfaces with etched microgrooves. Both smooth- and acid-etched Ti were used as the controls. The hydrophilicity of Ti was analyzed by determining contact angles. Cell proliferation and osteogenic activity of MC3T3 mouse preosteoblasts were analyzed by bromodeoxyuridine assay and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity test, respectively. One-way ANOVA, Pearson's correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis were used for statistics. RESULTS. Etched microgrooves significantly increased the hydrophilicity of Ti compared to the smooth Ti. $60{\mu}m$-wide etched microgrooves significantly enhanced cell proliferation, whereas the osteogenic activity showed statistically non-significant differences between groups. Result of the osteogenic activity significantly correlated with those of hydrophilicity and cell proliferation. Hydrophilicity was determined to be an influential factor on osteogenic activity. CONCLUSION. This study indicates that increase in hydrophilicity of Ti caused by etched microgrooves acts as an influential factor on osteogenic activity. However, statistically non-significant increase in the ALP activity suggests further investigation.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.1421-1426
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• 1999

Sixteen domestic barley varieties and subsequently produced malts were evaluated for quality characteristics. Diastatic power(DP), complementary actions of amylases in malt, had a wide $variation(139{\sim}220^{\circ}L)$ among the barley varieties. Some 6-row barley varieties demonstrated significantly high DP values. ${\beta}-\;and\;{\alpha}-amylase$ activities in malts were also significantly influenced by barley varieties. Diastatic power was highly correlated with ${\beta}-amylase$ activity, indicating that the ${\beta}-amylase$ activity was a predominant factor determining saccharifying action in malt. Amylograph was used to indirectly estimate starch-degrading enzymatic activity, and the reduction in amylograph viscosity was associated with ${\alpha}-amylase$ activity. Barley quality factors in relation to enzymatic activity of malt were analyzed, and the barley variety with lower kernel weight and less plumper kernels tended to produce higher starch-degrading enzyme activity. Potential diastatic power, an estimate of bound ${\beta}-amylase$ in raw barley, was associated with diastatic power in the final malt. Potential diastatic power turned out to be an important factor for predicting good malting barley.

• Journal of KIISE:Computing Practices and Letters
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.359-371
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• 2001

Project scheduling under resource constraint conditions have contained to many uncertain factors and it is perfonned by human experts. The expert identifies the activities of the project, decides the precedent relationships between these activities, and then construct the schedule using expected activity's duration. At this time, most of the scheduling methods concentrate on one of scheduling factor between activity duration and cost. And the activity duration, which is the most important factor in scheduling, is decided by heuristic of expert. Therefore it may cause uncertainty of activity duration decision and the use of this activity duration may increase the uncertainty of constructed schedule. This paper proposes Fuzzy-MOEH scheduling algorithm, which is the aggregation of the fuzzy number for deciding activity duration and applies the cost function for solving the problems of previous scheduling methods. This paper also analyze the utility and property of Fuzzy-MEOH algorithm through the comparison between Fuzzy-MEOH algorithm and existing MEOH algorithm.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.103-107
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• 2005

It has been known that the novel diterphenoids, hericenone and erinacine isolated from the fruiting body and cultured mycelia of Hericium erinaceus showed potent stimulating activity of nerve growth factor (NGF)-synthesis. To investigate the biological activities of extracts from fruiting body, cultured mycelium and cell-free broth of H. erinaceus, the activity experiments of antioxidation and AChE inhibition were carried out. Sephadex G-10 gel filtration followed by HPLC on a ${\mu}Bondapak$ $C_{18}$ column of EtOAc extract from cultured mycelium showed a biological activity.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.19-25
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• 2015

Osteocytes may function as mechanotransducers by regulating local osteoclastogenesis. Reduced availability of oxygen, i.e. hypoxia, could occur during disuse, bone development, and fracture. Receptor activator of nuclear factor-${\kappa}B$ ligand (RANKL) is an osteoblast/stromal cell derived essential factor for osteoclastogenesis. The hypoxia induced osteoclastogenesis via increased RANKL expression in osteoblasts was demonstrated. Hypoxic regulation of gene expression generally involves activation of the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) transcription pathway. In the present study, we investigated whether hypoxia regulates RANKL expression in murine osteocytes and HIF-$1{\alpha}$ mediates hypoxia-induced RANKL expression by transactivating RANKL promoter, to elucidate the role of osteocyte in osteoclastogenesis in the context of hypoxic condition. The expression levels of RANKL mRNA and protein, as well as hypoxia inducible factor-$1{\alpha}$ (HIF-$1{\alpha}$) protein, were significantly increased in hypoxic condition in MLO-Y4s. Constitutively active HIF-$1{\alpha}$ alone significantly increased the levels of RANKL expression in MLO-Y4s under normoxic conditions, whereas dominant negative HIF-$1{\alpha}$ blocked hypoxia-induced RANKL expression. To further explore to find if HIF-$1{\alpha}$ directly regulates RANKL transcription, a luciferase reporter assay was conducted. Hypoxia significantly increased RANKL promoter activity, whereas mutations of putative HIF-$1{\alpha}$ binding elements in RANKL promoter prevented this hypoxia-induced RANKL promoter activity in MLO-Y4s. These results suggest that HIF-$1{\alpha}$ mediates hypoxia-induced up-regulation of RANKL expression, and that in osteocytes of mechanically unloaded bone, hypoxia enhances osteoclastogenesis, at least in part, via an increased RANKL expression in osteocytes.