• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.5.1-5.15
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• 2020

The γδ T cells are unconventional lymphocytes that function in both innate and adaptive immune responses against various intracellular and infectious stresses. The γδ T cells can be exploited as cancer-killing effector cells since γδ TCRs recognize MHC-like molecules and growth factor receptors that are upregulated in cancer cells, and γδ T cells can differentiate into cytotoxic effector cells. However, γδ T cells may also promote tumor progression by secreting IL-17 or other cytokines. Therefore, it is essential to understand how the differentiation and homeostasis of γδ T cells are regulated and whether distinct γδ T cell subsets have different functions. Human γδ T cells are classified into Vδ2 and non-Vδ2 γδ T cells. The majority of Vδ2 γδ T cells are Vγ9δ2 T cells that recognize pyrophosphorylated isoprenoids generated by the dysregulated mevalonate pathway. In contrast, Vδ1 T cells expand from initially diverse TCR repertoire in patients with infectious diseases and cancers. The ligands of Vδ1 T cells are diverse and include the growth factor receptors such as endothelial protein C receptor. Both Vδ1 and Vδ2 γδ T cells are implicated to have immunotherapeutic potentials for cancers, but the detailed elucidation of the distinct characteristics of 2 populations will be required to enhance the immunotherapeutic potential of γδ T cells. Here, we summarize recent progress regarding cancer immunology of human γδ T cells, including their development, heterogeneity, and plasticity, the putative mechanisms underlying ligand recognition and activation, and their dual effects on tumor progression in the tumor microenvironment.

• Journal of KIISE:Information Networking
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.595-612
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• 2002

One of the most important issues in guaranteeing the high degree of QoS on mobile computing is how to reduce hand-off drops caused by lack of available bandwidth in a new cell. Each cell can request bandwidth reservation to its adjacent cells for hand-off calls. This reserved bandwidth can be used only for hand-offs, not for new calls. It is also important to determine how much of bandwidth should be reserved for hand-off calls because reserving too much would increase the probability of a new call being blocked. Therefore, it is essential to develop a new mechanism to provide QoS guarantee on a mobile computing environment by reserving an appropriate amount of bandwidth and call admission control. In this paper. bandwidth reservation and call admission control mechanisms are proposed to guarantee a consistent QoS for multimedia traffics on a mobile computing environment. For an appropriate bandwidth reservation, we propose an adaptive bandwidth reservation mechanism based on an MPP and a 2-tier cell structure. The former is used to predict a next move of the client while the latter to apply our mechanism only to the client with a high hand-off probability. We also propose a call admission control that performs call admission test only on PNC(Predicted Next Cell) of a client and its current cell. In order to minimize a waste of bandwidth caused by an erroneous prediction of client's location, we utilize a common pool and QoS adaptation scheme. In order evaluate the performance of our call admission control mechanism, we measure the metrics such as the blocking probability of new calls, dropping probability of hand-off calls, and bandwidth utilization. The simulation results show that the performance of our mechanism is superior to that of the existing mechanisms such as NR-CAT2, FR-CAT2, and AR-CAT2.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.40 no.2 s.107
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• pp.221-241
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• 2005

Land Use and Land Cover Changes (LUCC) occur over a wide range of space and time scales, and involve complex natural, socio-economic, and institutional processes. Therefore, modelling and predicting LUCC demands an understanding of how various measured properties behave when considered at different scales. Understanding spatial and temporal variability of driving forces and constraints on LUCC is central to understanding the scaling issues. This paper aims to 1) assess the heterogeneity of land cover change processes over the landscape in northern Ghana, where intensification of agricultural activities has been the dominant land cover change process during the past 15 years, 2) characterise dominant land cover change mechanisms for various spatial scales, and 3) identify the optimal spatial scale for LUCC modelling in a savanna landscape. A multivariate statistical method was first applied to identify land cover change intensity (LCCI), using four time-sequenced NDVI images derived from LANDSAT scenes. Three proxy land use change predictors: distance from roads, distance from surface water bodies, and a terrain characterisation index, were regressed against the LCCI using a multi-scale hierarchical adaptive model to identify scale dependency and spatial heterogeneity of LUCC processes. High spatial associations between the LCCI and land use change predictors were mostly limited to moving windows smaller than 10$\times$10km. With increasing window size, LUCC processes within the window tend to be too diverse to establish clear trends, because changes in one part of the window are compensated elsewhere. This results in a reduced correlation between LCCI and land use change predictors at a coarser spatial extent. The spatial coverage of 5-l0km is incidentally equivalent to a village or community area in the study region. In order to reduce spatial variability of land use change processes for regional or national level LUCC modelling, we suggest that the village level is the optimal spatial investigation unit in this savanna landscape.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.88-95
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• 2020

Using a random arbitrarily primed polymerase chain reaction, messenger RNA expression levels were assessed after exposure to 10% (v/v) toluene for 8 hr in solvent-tolerant Pseudomonas sp. BCNU 106. Among the 100 up-expressed products, 50 complementary DNA fragments were confirmed to express repeatedly; these were cloned and then sequenced. Blast analysis revealed that toluene stimulated an adaptive increase in the gene expression level in association with transcriptions such as LysR family of transcriptional regulators and RNA polymerase factor sigma-32. The expression of catalase and Mn2+/Fe2+ transporter genes functionally associated with inorganic ion transport and metabolism increased, and the increased expression of type IV pilus assembly PilZ and multi-sensor signal transduction histidine kinase genes, functionally categorized into signal transduction and mechanisms, was also demonstrated under toluene stress. The gene expression level of beta-hexosaminidase in association with carbohydrate transport and metabolism increased, and those of DNA polymerase III subunit epsilon, DNA-3-methyladenine glycosylase II, DEAD/DEAH box helicase domain-containing protein, and ABC transporter also increased after exposure to toluene in DNA replication, recombination, and repair, and even in defense mechanism. In particular, the RNAs corresponding to the ABC transporter, Mn2+/Fe2+ transporter, and the β-hexosaminidase gene were confirmed to be markedly induced in the presence of 10% toluene. Thus, defense mechanism, cellular ion homeostasis, and biofilm formation were shown as essential for toluene tolerance in Pseudomonas sp. BCNU 106.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.481-489
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• 2010

Introduction: TLR-5, a member of the toll-like receptor (TLR) family, is a element of the type I transmembrane receptors, which are characterized by an intracellular signaling domain homolog to the interleukin-1 receptor. These receptors recognize microbial components, particularly bacterial flagellin. All-trans retinoic acid (atRA, tretinoin), a natural metabolite of vitamin A, acts as a growth and differentiation factor in many tissues, and is also needed for immune functions. In this study, THP-1 human macrophage-monocytes were used to examine the mechanisms by which atRA regulated the expression of TLR-5. Because the molecular mechanism underlying this regulation at the transcriptional level is also unclear, this study examined which putative transcription factors are responsible for TLR-5 expression by atRA in immune cells. Materials and Methods: This study examined whether atRA induces the expression of TLR-5 in THP-1 cells using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and which transcription factors are involved in regulating the TLR-5 promoter in RAW264.7 cells using a reporter assay system. Western blot analysis was used to determine which signal pathway is involved in the expression of TLR-5 in atRA-treated THP-1 cells. Results: atRA at a concentration of 10 nM greatly induced the expression of TLR-5 in THP-1 cells. Human TLR-5 promoter contains three Sp-1/GC binding sites around -50 bp and two NF-kB binding sites at -380 bp and -160 bp from the transcriptional start site of the TLR-5 gene. Sp-1/GC is primarily responsible for the constitutive TLR-5 expression, and may also contribute to NF-kB at -160 bp to induce TLR-5 after atRA stimulation in THP-1 cells. The role of NF-kB in TLR-5 expression was further confirmed by inhibitor pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC) experiments, which greatly reduced the TLR-5 transcription by 70-80%. Conclusion: atRA induces the expression of the human TLR-5 gene and NF-kB is a critical transcription factor for the atRA-induced expression of TLR-5. Accordingly, it is conceivable that retinoids are required for adequate innate and adaptive immune responses to agents of infectious diseases. atRA and various synthetic retinoids have been used therapeutically in human diseases, such as leukemia and other cancers due to the antiproliferative and apoptosis inducing effects of retinoids. Therefore, understanding the molecular regulatory mechanism of TLR-5 may assist in the design of alternative strategies for the treatment of infectious diseases, leukemia and cancers.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.1159-1166
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• 2013

Orientia tsutsugamushi, a gram-negative bacterium, causes severe acute febrile illness in humans. Despite this danger, the route of infection, infectivity, and protective mechanisms of the host's immune response to O. tsutsugamushi are unclear. Dendritic cells (DCs) are one of the most important cell types in bridging the innate and adaptive immune responses. In this study, we observed that O. tsutsugamushi infects and replicates in monocyte-derived DCs (MODCs). During infection and replication, the expressions of the cytokines IL-12 and TNF-${\alpha}$, as well as the co-stimulatory molecules CD80, CD83, CD86, and CD40, were increased in MODCs. When O. tsutsugamushi-treated MODCs were co-cultured with autologous $CD4^+$ T cells, they enhanced production of IFN-${\gamma}$, a major Th1 cytokine. Collectively, our results show that O. tsutsugamushi can replicate in MODCs and can simultaneously induce MODC maturation and increase proinflammatory cytokine levels in MODCs that subsequently activate $CD4^+$ T cells.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.30 no.7
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• pp.640-650
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• 2020

Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) is an atypical member of the FGF protein family which is highly synthesized in the liver, pancreas, and adipose tissue. Depending on the expression tissue, FGF21 uses endo- or paracrine features to regulate several metabolic pathways including glucose metabolism and energy homeostasis. Different physiologically stressful conditions such as starvation, a ketogenic diet, extreme cold, and mitochondrial dysfunction are known to induce FGF21 synthesis in various tissues to exert either adaptive or defensive mechanisms. More specifically, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha control FGF21 expression in adipose tissue and liver, respectively. In addition, the pharmacologic administration of FGF21 has been reported to decrease the body weight and improve the insulin sensitivity and lipoprotein profiles of obese mice and type 2 diabetes patients meaning that FGF21 has attracted huge interest as a therapeutic agent for type 2 diabetes, obesity, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. However, understanding FGF21 remains complicated due to the paradoxical condition of its tissue-dependent expression. For example, nutrient deprivation largely increases hepatic FGF21 levels whereas adipose tissue-derived FGF21 is increased under feeding condition. This review discusses the issues of interest that have arisen from existing publications, including the tissue-specific function of FGF21 and its action mechanism. We also summarize the current stage of a clinical trial using several FGF21 analogs.

• Journal of KIISE:Information Networking
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2002

The most important issue in providing multimedia traffic on a mobile computing environments is to guarantee the mobile host(client) with consistent QoS(Quality of Service). However, the QoS negotiated between the client and network in one cell may not be honored due to client mobility, causing hand-offs between cells. In this paper, a call admission control mechanism is proposed to provide consistent QoS guarantees for multimedia traffics in a mobile computing environment. Each cell can reserve fractional bandwidths for hand-off calls to its adjacent cells. It is important to determine the right amount of reserved bandwidth for hand-off calls because the blocking probability of new calls may increase if the amount of reserved bandwidth is more than necessary. An adaptive bandwidth reservation based on an MPP(Mobility Pattern Profile) and a 2-tier cell structure has been proposed to determine the amount of bandwidth to be reserved in the cell and to control dynamically its amount based on its network condition. We also propose a call admission control based on this bandwidth reservation and "next-cell prediction" scheme using an MPP. In order to evaluate the performance of our call admission control mechanism, we measure the metrics such as the blocking probability of our call admission control mechanism, we measure the metrics such as the blocking probability of new calls, dropping probability of hand-off calls, and bandwidth utilization. The simulation results show that the performance of our mechanism is superior to that of the existing mechanisms such as NR-CAT1, FR-CAT1, and AR-CAT1.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.11-17
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• 2013

'Multi-scale mass-deployable cooperative robots' is a next generation robotics paradigm where a large number of robots that vary in size cooperate in a hierarchical fashion to collect information in various environments. While this paradigm can exhibit the effective solution for exploration of the wide area consisting of various types of terrain, its technical maturity is still in its infant state and many technical hurdles should be resolved to realize this paradigm. In this paper, we propose to develop new design and manufacturing methodologies for the multi-scale mass-deployable cooperative robots. In doing so, we present various fundamental technologies in four different research fields. (1) Adaptable design methods consist of compliant mechanisms and hierarchical structures which provide robots with a unified way to overcome various and irregular terrains. (2) Soft composite materials realize the compliancy in these structures. (3) Multi-scale integrative manufacturing techniques are convergence of traditional methods for producing various sized robots assembled by such materials. Finally, (4) the control and communication techniques for the massive swarm robot systems enable multiple functionally simple robots to accomplish the complex job by effective job distribution.

• Genes and Genomics
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• v.40 no.11
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• pp.1169-1180
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• 2018

Cave shrimps from the genera Typhlatya, Stygiocaris and Typhlopatsa (TST complex) comprises twenty cave-adapted taxa, which mainly occur in the anchialine environment. Anchialine habitats may undergo drastic environmental fluctuations, including spatial and temporal changes in salinity, temperature, and dissolved oxygen content. Previous studies of crustaceans from anchialine caves suggest that they have possessed morphological, behavioral, and physiological adaptations to cope with the extreme conditions, similar to other cave-dwelling crustaceans. However, the genetic basis has not been thoroughly explored in crustaceans from anchialine habitats, which can experience hypoxic regimes. To test whether the TST shrimp-complex hypoxia adaptations matched adaptive evolution of mitochondrial OXPHOS genes. The 13 OXPHOS genes from mitochondrial genomes of 98 shrimps and 1 outgroup were examined. For each of these genes was investigated and compared to orthologous sequences using both gene (i.e. branch-site and Datamonkey) and protein (i.e. TreeSAAP) level approaches. Positive selection was detected in 11 of the 13 candidate genes, and the radical amino acid changes sites scattered throughout the entire TST complex phylogeny. Additionally, a series of parallel/convergent amino acid substitutions were identified in mitochondrial OXPHOS genes of TST complex shrimps, which reflect functional convergence or similar genetic mechanisms of cave adaptation. The extensive occurrence of positive selection is suggestive of their essential role in adaptation to hypoxic anchialine environment, and further implying that TST complex shrimps might have acquired a finely capacity for energy metabolism. These results provided some new insights into the genetic basis of anchialine hypoxia adaptation.