• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.21-35
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• 1997

The Ag-Pd-Cu alloys containing a small amount of Au is commonly used for dental purposes, because this alloy is cheaper than Au-base alloys for clinical use. However, the most important characteristic of this alloy is age-hardenability, which is not exhibited by other Ag-base dental alloys. The specimens used were Ag-20Pd-20Cu ternary alloy and Au addition alloy. These alloys were melted and casted by induction electic furace and centrifugal casting machine in Ar atmoshpere. These specimens were solution treated for 2hr at $800^{\circ}C$ and were then quenched into iced water, and aged at $350{\sim}550^{\circ}C$ Age-hardening characteristics of the small Au-containing Ag-pPd-Cu dental alloys were investigated by means of hardness testing, X-ray diffraction and electron microscope observations, electrical resistance, differential scanning calorimetric, emergy dispersed spectra and electron probe microanalysis. Principal results are as follows : Hardening occured in two stages, I. e., stage I in low temperature and stage II in high temperature regions, during continuous aging. The case of hardening in stage I was due to the formation of the Llo type face centered tetragonal PdCu-ordered phase in the grain interior and hardening in stage I was affedted by the Cu concentration. In stage II, decomposition of the $\alpha$ solid solution to a PdCu ordered phase(L1o type) and an Agrich ${\alpha}2$ phase occurred and a discontiunous precipitation occurred at the grain boundary. Form the electron microscope study, it was concluded that the cause of age-hardening in this alloy is the precipitation of the PdCu ordered phase, which has AuCu I type face-centered tetragonal structure. Precipitation procedure was ${\alpha}\to{\alpha}+{\alpha}2+PdCu\to{\alpha}1+{\alpha}2+PdCu$ at Pd/Cu = 1 Ag-Pd-Cu alloy is more effective dental alloy as ageing treatment and is suitable to isothermal ageing at $450^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.247-264
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• 2016

With the rapid acceleration of low-birth rate and population aging, the employment of the neglected groups of people including the middle aged class is a crucial issue in South Korea. In particular, in the 2010s, the number of the middle aged who want to find a new job after retirement age is significantly increasing with the arrival of the retirement time of the baby boom generation (born 1955-1963). Despite the importance of matching jobs to this emerging middle aged class, private job portals as well as the Korean government do not provide any online job service tailored for them. A gigantic amount of job information is available online; however, the current recruiting systems do not meet the demand of the middle aged class as their primary targets are young workers. We are in dire need of a specially designed recruiting system for the middle aged. Meanwhile, when users are searching the desired occupations on the Worknet website, provided by the Korean Ministry of Employment and Labor, users are experiencing discomfort to search for similar jobs because Worknet is providing filtered search results on the basis of exact matches of a preferred job code. Besides, according to our Worknet data analysis, only about 24% of job seekers had landed on a job position consistent with their initial preferred job code while the rest had landed on a position different from their initial preference. To improve the situation, particularly for the middle aged class, we investigate a soft job matching technique by performing the following: 1) we review a user behavior logs of Worknet, which is a public job recruiting system set up by the Korean government and point out key system design implications for the middle aged. Specifically, we analyze the job postings that include preferential tags for the middle aged in order to disclose what types of jobs are in favor of the middle aged; 2) we develope a new occupation classification scheme for the middle aged, Korea Occupation Classification for the Middle-aged (KOCM), based on the similarity between jobs by reorganizing and modifying a general occupation classification scheme. When viewed from the perspective of job placement, an occupation classification scheme is a way to connect the enterprises and job seekers and a basic mechanism for job placement. The key features of KOCM include establishing the Simple Labor category, which is the most requested category by enterprises; and 3) we design MOMA (Middle-aged Occupation Matching Algorithm), which is a hybrid job matching algorithm comprising constraint-based reasoning and case-based reasoning. MOMA incorporates KOCM to expand query to search similar jobs in the database. MOMA utilizes cosine similarity between user requirement and job posting to rank a set of postings in terms of preferred job code, salary, distance, and job type. The developed system using MOMA demonstrates about 20 times of improvement over the hard matching performance. In implementing the algorithm for a web-based application of recruiting system for the middle aged, we also considered the usability issue of making the system easier to use, which is especially important for this particular class of users. That is, we wanted to improve the usability of the system during the job search process for the middle aged users by asking to enter only a few simple and core pieces of information such as preferred job (job code), salary, and (allowable) distance to the working place, enabling the middle aged to find a job suitable to their needs efficiently. The Web site implemented with MOMA should be able to contribute to improving job search of the middle aged class. We also expect the overall approach to be applicable to other groups of people for the improvement of job matching results.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.255-263
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• 2021

Soybean extract is known to play an important role in preventing and treating diseases associated with aging, cancer, obesity, and cardiovascular disease. A recent has revealed that soybean extract has a potent effect on hair growth in in vitro, in vivo, and clinical studies. Recently, it has been reported that their fermented extracts exhibit numerous and high efficacy, as compared to general extracts. However, the underlying mechanisms that induce hair growth after using fermented soybean extract are not well understood. The present study aimed to determine the effects of fermented Jeju soybean (FJS) extract on hair growth, with a focus on the underlying mechanisms similar to those of minoxidil. We conducted in vitro and ex vivo investigations and clinical studies. FJS extract enhanced dermal papilla cell proliferation, VEGF levels, and potassium channel opening. Moreover, it promoted human hair follicle elongation. These effects were comprehensively demonstrated in the clinical results, in which FJS extract-containing shampoo improved hair density after 24 weeks of utilization. Collectively, the results of this study demonstrate that FJS extract promotes hair growth and inhibits hair loss through a mechanism similar to that of minoxidil in hair follicles.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2019.04a
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• pp.21-22
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• 2019

Melanin is a mixture of pigmented biopolymers synthesized by epidermal melanocytes that determine the skin, eye, and hair colors. Melanocytes produce two different kinds of melanin, eumelanin (dark brown/black insoluble pigments found in dark skin and dark hair and pheomelanin (lighter red/yellow). The biological role of melanin is to prevent skin damage by ultraviolet (UV) radiation. However, the overproduction or deficiency of melanin synthesis could lead to serious dermatological problems, which include melasma, melanoderma, lentigo, and vitiligo. Therefore, regulating melanin production is important to prevent the pigmentation disorders. Myanmar has a rich in natural resources. However, the chemical constituents of these natural resources in Myanmar have not been fully investigated. In the effort to search for compounds with anti-melanin deposition activity from Myanmar natural resources, five plants were collected in Myanmar. Extracts of these collected five plants were tested for anti-melanin deposition activity against a mouse melanoma cell line (B16-F10) induced with ${\alpha}$-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (${\alpha}$-MSH) and 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine (IBMX), and their anti-melanin deposition activities were compared with the positive control, arbutin. Among the tested extracts, the CHCl3 extracts of the Premna serratifolia (syn: P. integrifolia) wood showed anti-melanin deposition activities with IC50 values of $81.3{\mu}g/mL$. Hence, this study aims to identify secondary metabolites with anti-melanin deposition activity from P. serratifolia wood of Myanmar. P. serratifolia belongs to the Verbenaceae family and is widely distributed in near western sea coast from South Asia to South East Asia, which include India, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka. People in Tanintharyi region located in the southern part of Myanmar utilize the P. serratifolia, Sperethusa crenulata, Naringi crenulata, and Limonia acidissima as Thanaka, traditional cosmetics in Myanmar. Thanaka is applied in the form of paste onto skins to make it smooth and clear, as well as to prevent wrinkles, skin aging, excessive facial oil, pimples, blackheads, and whiteheads. However, the chemical constituents responsible for their cosmetic properties are yet to be identified. Moreover, the chemical constituents of P. serratifolia was almost uncharacterized. Investigation of the P. serratifolia chemical constituents is thus an attractive endeavor to discover new anti-melanin deposition active compounds. The investigation of the chemical constituents of the active CHCl3 extract of P. serratifolia led to isolation of four new lignoids, premnan A (1), premnan B (2), taungtangyiol C (3), and 7,9-dihydroxydolichanthin B (4), together with premnan C (5) (assumed to be an artifact), one natural newlignoid,(3R,4S)-4-(1,3-benzodioxol-5-ylcarbonyl)-3-[(R)-1-(1,3-benzo dioxol-5-yl)-1-hydroxy methyl]tetrahydro-2-furanone (6), and five known compounds (7-11)1,2). The structures of all isolated compounds were determined on the basis of their spectroscopic data and by comparison with the reported literatures. The absolute configurations of 1-3 and 5 were also determined by optical rotation and circular dichroism (CD) data analyses1). The anti-melanin deposition activities of all the isolated compounds were evaluated against B16-F10 cell line. 7,9-Dihydroxydolichanthin B (4) and ($2{\alpha},3{\alpha}$)-olean-12-en-28-oic acid (11) showed strong anti-melanin deposition activities with IC50 values of 18.4 and $11.2{\mu}M$, respectively, without cytotoxicity2). On the other hand, compounds 1-3, 5, and 7 showed melanogenesis enhancing activities1). To better understand their anti-melanin deposition mechanism, the effects of 4 and 11 on tyrosinase activities were investigated. The assay indicated that compounds 4 and 11 did not inhibit tyrosinase. Furthermore, we also examined the mRNA expression of microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF), tyrosinase (TYR), tyrosinase-related protein-1 (TRP-1), and tyrosinase-related protein-2 (TRP-2). Compounds 4 and 11 down-regulated the expression of Tyr and Mitf mRNAs, respectively. Although the P. serratifolia wood has been used as traditional cosmetics in Myanmar for centuries, there are no scientific evidences to support its effectiveness as cosmetics. Investigation of the anti-melanin deposition activity of the chemical constituents of P. serratifolia thus provided insight into the effectiveness of the P. serratifolia wood as a cosmetic agent.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.215-222
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• 2019

Muscle dysfunction may arise from skeletal muscle atrophy caused by aging, injury, oxidative stress, and hereditary disease. Powdered heat-killed Enterococcus faecalis (EF-2001) has anti-allergy, anti-inflammatory, and anti-tumor effects. However, its antioxidant and anti-atrophy effects are poorly characterized. In this study, we examined the effects of EF-2001 on muscle atrophy. To determine the protective effect of EF-2001 on oxidative stress, C2C12 myoblasts were treated with $H_2O_2$ to induce oxidative stress. This induced cell damage, which was reduced by treatment with EF-2001. The mechanism of EF-2001's effect was examined in response to oxidative stress. Treatment with EF-2001 reversed the expression of HSP70 and SOD1 proteins. Also, mRNA levels of Atrogin-1/MAFbx and MuRF1 increased under oxidative stress conditions but decreased following EF-2001 treatment. To evaluate muscle volume, two and three dimensional models of the muscles were analyzed using micro-CT. As expected, muscle volume decreased after sciatic denervation and recovered after oral administration of EF-2001. Therefore, EF-2001 is a candidate for the treatment of muscular atrophy, and future discovery of the additional effects of EF-2001 may yield further applications as a functional food with useful activities in various fields.