• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.116-122
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• 2015

Keratinocytes are first barrier against outer challenges on skin. However, it is still largely unknown about effective protectors against ultraviolet B (UVB), and oxidative stress in human keratinocyte, HaCaT cells. Inducible heme oxygenase (HO)-1 acts against oxidants that are thought to play a role in the pathogenesis of skin disorders. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of Portulaca oleracea 70% EtOH extracts against hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂)-induced oxidative stress in human keratinocytes, HaCaT cells. P. oleracea 70% EtOH extracts showed the potent protective effects on H₂O₂-induced toxicity by induced the expression of HO-1 in human keratinocyte, HaCaT cells. Furthermore, P. oleracea 70 % EtOH extracts caused the nuclear accumulation of nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) in human keratinocytes, HaCaT cells. In addition, we found that treatment with c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) inhibitor (SP600125) reduced P. oleracea 70% EtOH extracts-induced HO-1 expression, and JNK inhibitor (SP600125) also inhibited protective effects by P. oleracea 70% EtOH extracts. Therefore, these results suggest that P. oleracea 70 % EtOH extracts increases cellular resistance to H₂O₂-induced oxidative injury in human keratinocyte, HaCaT cells, presumably through JNK pathway-Nrf2-dependent HO-1 expression.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.303-312
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• 2024

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is the most common inflammatory pruritic skin disease worldwide, characterized by the infiltration of multiple pathogenic T lymphocytes and histological symptoms such as epidermal and dermal thickening. This study aims to investigate the effect of vinpocetine (Vinp; a phosphodiesterase 1 inhibitor) on a 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (DNCB)-induced AD-like model. DNCB (1%) was administered on day 1 in the AD model. Subsequently, from day 14 onward, mice in each group (Vinp-treated groups: 1 mg/kg and 2 mg/kg and dexamethasone-treated group: 2 mg/kg) were administered 100 µl of a specific drug daily, whereas 0.2% DNCB was administered every other day for 30 min over 14 days. The Vinp-treated groups showed improved Eczema Area and Severity Index scores and trans-epidermal water loss, indicating the efficacy of Vinp in improving AD and enhancing skin barrier function. Histological analysis further confirmed the reduction in hyperplasia of the epidermis and the infiltration of inflammatory cells, including macrophages, eosinophils, and mast cells, with Vinp treatment. Moreover, Vinp reduced serum concentrations of IgE, interleukin (IL)-6, IL-13, and monocyte chemotactic protein-1. The mRNA levels of IL-1β, IL-6, Thymic stromal lymphopoietin, and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) were reduced by Vinp treatment. Reduction of TGF-β protein by Vinp in skin tissue was also observed. Collectively, our results underscore the effectiveness of Vinp in mitigating DNCB-induced AD by modulating the expression of various biomarkers. Consequently, Vinp is a promising therapeutic candidate for treating AD.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.358-363
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• 2007

Swine endothelial cells are commonly used as an in vitro model for studying features of the blood-brain barrier and some hemorrhagic diseases. However, primary cultures of swine cells have finite lifespans. To establish immortalized swine umbilical vein endothelial cells (SUVECs) using human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT), the plasmid pCI-neo-hTERT was transfected into SUVECs by lipofection. Clones were selected for G418 resistance, and positive clones were amplified. One of the clones was cultured for up to 50 passages. Factor VIII-related antigen and CD34 were detected. The immortalized cells shared the properties of normal cells, such as contact inhibition, serum requirement and anchorage dependence. Karyotype analysis revealed that the immortalized cells were in the diploid range. In addition, both in vivo and in vitro assays of tumorigenicity showed no neoplastic transformation. Furthermore, NO, $PGI_2$, and ET-1 concentrations in the transfected cells were normal. These results suggest that the SUVECs immortalized by hTERT retain their original characteristics.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.137-146
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• 2005

This study was carried out to investigate the relationship between diabetic control and related factors of the practice of diet therapy which affects mostly diabetic patients’ dietary compliance. A questionnaire survey was conducted on 128 diabetic patients who had visited Internal medicine endocrinology clinic at University Medical Center of Daegu area. The questionnaires including clinical characteristics, meal regularity and food intake which shows dietary compliance, intrinsic barriers to the practice of diet therapy and knowledge of diet therapy were asked and analyzed. The factor which affects HbA1c was intrinsic barriers and HbA1c became higher as the level of intrinsic barriers was increasing. The education on diet therapy had no influence on the intrinsic barriers, but the level of knowledge on diet therapy was shown higher in the educated patients. The above results suggest that the practice of diet therapy should be leaded to develop behavioral aspects through resonable motivation on dietary compliance along with removing intrinsic barriers rather than simply providing information.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.2989-2994
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• 2007

Gas hydrates are ice-like crystalline compounds that form under low temperature and elevated pressure conditions. Although hydrate formation can pose serious flow-assurance problems in the gas pipelines or facilities, gas hydrates present a novel means for natural gas storage and transportation with potential applications in a wide variety of areas. An important property of hydrates that makes them attractive for use in gas storage and transportation is their very high gas-to-solid ratio. In addition to the high gas content, gas hydrates are remarkably stable. The main barrier to development of gas hydrate technology is the lack of an effective method to mass produce gas hydrate in solid form. The first objective of this study is investigating the characteristics of gas hydrate formation related to several factors such as pressure, temperature, water-to-storage volume ratio, concentration of SDS, heat transfer and whether stirred or not respectively. And the second objective is clarifying the relation between the formation efficiency and each factor in order to find the proper way or direction to improve the formation performance.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.125-132
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to examine the factors influencing career preparation behavior based on the perception of college students from the perspective of social cognitive career theory and to examine the effect of career barriers and career decision self - efficacy on career preparation behavior And career - decision self - efficacy. The results of the study are as follows. First, career barriers perceived by college students showed a significant positive correlation with career decision self - efficacy and career preparation behavior(-), and career decision efficacy showed a statistically significant correlation with career preparation behavior(+). Second, as a result of linear regression analysis to examine the effect of career barriers on career preparation behavior, lack of self - clarification, lack of job information, and lack of recognition of need were subordinate factors of career barriers. Third, as a result of linear regression analysis to examine the effect of career decision - making self - efficacy on career preparation behavior, goal setting and job information, which are sub - factors of career decision self - efficacy, were analyzed. Fourth, mediating effects of career decision self - efficacy on career barriers and career preparation behavior were analyzed by hierarchical regression analysis. The results of this study confirm that the level of career barrier, which is an important factor in career preparation behavior of college students, should be lowered and career decision self - efficacy should be increased.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.290.2-290.2
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• 2016

Recently, organic thin-film transistors have been widely researched for organic light-emitting diode panels, memory devices, logic circuits for flexible display because of its virtue of mechanical flexibility, low fabrication cost, low process temperature, and large area production. In order to achieve high performance OTFTs, increase in accumulation carrier mobility is a critical factor. Post-fabrication thermal annealing process has been known as one of the methods to achieve this by improving the crystal quality of organic semiconductor materials In this paper, we researched the properties of pentacene films with X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) analyses as different annealing temperature in N2 ambient. Electrical characterization of the pentacene based thin film transistor was also conducted by transfer length method (TLM) with different annealing temperature in Al- and Ti-pentacene junctions to confirm the Fermi level pinning phenomenon. For Al- and Ti-pentacene junctions, is was found that as the surface quality of the pentacene films changed as annealing temperature increased, the hole-barrier height (h-BH) that were controlled by Fermi level pinning were effectively reduced.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.426.1-426.1
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• 2016

We report high work function Aluminum doped zinc oxide (AZO) films as insertion layer as a function of O2 flow rate between transparent conducting oxides (TCO) and hydrogenated amorphous silicon oxide (a-SiOx:H) layer to improve open circuit voltage (Voc) and fill factor (FF) for high efficiency thin film solar cell. However, amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cells exhibit poor fill factors due to a Schottky barrier like impedance at the interface between a-SiOx:H windows and TCO. The impedance is caused by an increasing mismatch between the work function of TCO and that of p-type a-SiOx:H. In this study, we report on the silicon thin film solar cell by using as insertion layer of O2 reactive AZO films between TCO and p-type a-SiOx:H. Significant efficiency enhancement was demonstrated by using high work-function layers (4.95 eV at O2=2 sccm) for engineering the work function at the key interfaces to raise FF as well as Voc. Therefore, we can be obtained the conversion efficiency of 7 % at 13mA/cm2 of the current density (Jsc) and 63.35 % of FF.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2020

Arctii Lappa Fructus has the numerous health benefits, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-carcinogenic properties. Skin lipids are one of several factors that maintain epidermal barrier function. This study was to explore the lipogenic effect by ethanol extract of Arctii Lappa Fructus (EAF) in sebocytes. First, it was confirmed that EAF exhibited high antioxidant activity and collagenase activity inhibition. We found that cholesterol and triglyceride levels of cells by EAF were increased significantly in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, EAF increased the expression of transcription factor sterol regulatory element-binding protein-1 (SREBP-1) in the cells. These results suggest that EAF induces lipogenesis in cells through the activation of SREBP-1.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.15-21
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• 2010

Astrocytes are the most abundant cells in the central nervous system that play roles in maintaining the blood-brain-barrier and in neural injury, including cerebral malaria, a severe complication of Plasmodium falciparum infection. Prostaglandin (PG) $D_2$ is abundantly produced in the brain and regulates the sleep response. Moreover, $PGD_2$ is a potential factor derived from P. falciparum within erythrocytes. Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) is catalyzing enzyme in heme breakdown process to release iron, carbon monoxide, and biliverdin/bilirubin, and may influence iron supply to the P. falciparum parasites. Here, we showed that treatment of a human astrocyte cell line, CCF-STTG1, with $PGD_2$ significantly increased the expression levels of HO-1 mRNA by RT-PCR. Western blot analysis showed that $PGD_2$ treatment increased the level of HO-1 protein, in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Thus, $PGD_2$ may be involved in the pathogenesis of cerebral malaria by inducing HO-1 expression in malaria patients.