• Title/Summary/Keyword: barrier factor

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Iontophoresis Enhances Transdermal Delivery of Methylene Blue in Rat Skin (I): The Effect of Current Application Duration

  • Lee, Jae-Hyoung;Choi, Eun-Young
    • The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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    • v.23 no.6
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    • pp.77-84
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    • 2011
  • Purpose: The objectives of this study were to determine the enhancing effect of iontophoresis method as it transdermally deliver methylene blue (MB) using visual examination, in terms of penetration depth and tissue distribution in the skin, and to determine the effect of application duration on the efficacy of iontophoresis. Methods: Twenty-four male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 5-, 10-, 20-, and 40-minute groups. These rats were exposed to either topical or anodic iontophoresis of 1% MB using a direct current of $0.5mA/cm^2$ for 5, 10, 20, and 40 minutes. Using cryosections of rat tissues, the penetration depth of MB was measured using light microscopy. Results: Significant differences in the penetration depth (F=54.20, p<0.001) were detected among the four groups. Post hoc comparisons of the penetration depth of MB data pooled across groups showed no significant difference between all topical application groups and 5-minute iontophoresis group, but did reveal a significant difference in the penetration depth between all topical application groups and 5-minute iontophoresis group versus 10-minute group, between the 10-minute and 20-minute group, and between the 20-minute and 40-minute iontophoresis group (p<0.05). Conclusion: The results demonstrate that iontophoresis enhances transdermal delivery of MB across stratum corneum of skin barrier by visual examination. Furthermore, the penetration depth of iontophoretic transdermal delivery of MB was dependent on the application duration. The duration of iontophoresis is one of the important factor in the efficacy of iontophoresis application.

Epithelial-mesenchymal Transition is Associated with Acquired Resistance to 5-Fluorocuracil in HT-29 Colon Cancer Cells

  • Kim, A-Young;Kwak, Jae-Hwan;Je, Nam Kyung;Lee, Yun-hee;Jung, Young-Suk
    • Toxicological Research
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    • v.31 no.2
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    • pp.151-156
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    • 2015
  • 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) is commonly used for the therapy of colon cancer; however, acquired resistance to 5-FU is a critical barrier to successful treatment and the primary cause of chemotherapy failure. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a process whereby cells undergo alterations in morphology and molecular characteristics promoting tumor progression and metastasis. Accumulating evidence shows that transition from epithelial to mesenchymal phenotype in cancer cells is associated with their resistance to chemotherapy. However, it is still poorly understood whether EMT is involved in acquired resistance to 5-FU. In this study, we developed an in vitro cell model, 5-FU-resistant HT-29 colon cancer cells, and characterized the differences in cellular morphology and molecular alterations between parental and resistant cells. In accord with mesenchymal-like morphology of 5-FU-resistant HT-29 cells, the expression of the mesenchymal marker fibronectin was significantly increased in these cells in comparision with that in the parental cells. Of interest, we also found a marked increase in the expression of EMT-inducing transcription factors Twist, Zeb1, and Zeb2. Finally, 5-FU-resistant cells showed enhanced migration in comparison with parental HT-29. Taken together, these results indicate that EMT could be associated with 5-FU resistance acquired by HT-29 cells. A specific role of each transcription factor found in this study will require further investigation.

Effects of Site-scale Anisotropy of an Aquifer on Groundwater Remediation (지하수 오염복원에서 현장규모 이방성의 효과)

  • Lee, Jae-Min;Lee, Byung-Sun;Woo, Nam-Chil
    • Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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    • v.15 no.6
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    • pp.17-28
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    • 2010
  • As a preliminary survey to improve efficiency of well-based permeable reactive barrier system for groundwater remediation, this site-scale study was carried to identify the flowpaths and controlling factors of plume at a remediation site in Suwon City, Korea. A total of 22 monitoring wells were installed as a grid system in the $4m{\times}4m$ square area by 1-m interval. For the groundwater characterization, various tests were performed including water-level monitoring, water sampling & analysis, pumping and slug tests, and tracer tests. The aquifer appeared to be unconfined with hydraulic conductivities (K) ranging from $2.6{\times}10^{-4}cm/s$ to $9.5{\times}10^{-3}cm/s$. The average linear velocity of groundwater was estimated to be $2.94{\times}10^{-6}m/s$, and the longitudinal dispersivity of a conservative tracer to be $5.94{\times}10^{-7}m^2/s$. Groundwater plume moves preferentially through the high-K zones, and the relatively high ion concentrations along the low-K zones implying deterred groundwater flow. Consequently, the spatial variation of hydraulic conductivity caused by aquifer heterogeneity and anisotropy appears to be the most important factor to maximize the effect of plume treatment system for application of in-situ groundwater remediation techniques.

Study on Efficiency Droop in a-plane InGaN/GaN Light Emitting Diodes

  • Song, Hoo-Young;Suh, Joo-Young;Kim, Eun-Kyu;Baik, Kwang-Hyeon;Hwang, Sung-Min;Yun, Joo-Sun;Shim, Jong-In
    • Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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    • 2011.02a
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    • pp.145-145
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    • 2011
  • Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) based on III-nitrides compound semiconductors have achieved a high performance device available for display and illumination sector. However, the conventional c-plane oriented LED structures are still showing several problems given by the quantum confined Stark effect (QCSE) due to the effects of strong piezoelectric and spontaneous polarizations. The QCSE results in spatial separation of electron and hole wavefunctions in quantum wells, thereby decreasing the internal quantum efficiency and red-shifting the emission wavelength. Due to demands for improvement of device performance, nonpolar structure has been attracting attentions, since the quantum wells grown on nonpolar templates are free from the QCSE. However, current device performance for nonpolar LEDs is still lower than those for conventional LEDs. In this study, we discuss the potential possibilities of nonpolar LEDs for commercialization. In this study, we characterized current-light output power relation of the a-plane InGaN/GaN LEDs structures with the variation of quantum well structures. On-wafer electroluminescence measurements were performed with short pulse (10 us) and low duty factor (1 %) conditions applied for eliminating thermal effects. The well and barrier widths, and indium compositions in quantum well structures were changed to analyze the efficiency droop phenomenon.

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Study on the Atmospheric Plasma Characteristics of Dielectric Barrier Discharge due to a Variation of the Duty Ratio of Pulse Modulation (펄스변조의 듀티비 변경에 따른 DBD 대기압 플라즈마 특성 연구)

  • Park, Jong-in;Hwang, Sang-hyuk;Jo, Tae Hoon;Yun, Myoung Soo;Kwak, Hyoung sin;Jin, Gi nam;Jeon, Buil;Choi, Eun Ha;Kwon, Gi-Chung
    • Korean Journal of Materials Research
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    • v.25 no.11
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    • pp.616-621
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    • 2015
  • Atmospheric pressure plasma is used in the biological and medical fields. Miniaturization and safety are important in the application of apply atmospheric plasma to bio devices. In this study, we made a small, pocket-sized inverter for the discharge of atmospheric plasma. We used pulse power to control the neutral gas temperature at which the, when plasma was discharged. We used direct current of 5 V of bias(voltage). The output voltage is about 1 to 2 kilo volts the frequency is about 80 kilo hertz. We analyzsed the characteristics of the atmospheric plasma using OES(Optical emission spectroscopy) and the Current-Voltage characteristic of pulse power. By calculating of the current voltage characteristics, we were able to determine that, when the duty ratio increased, the power that actually effects the plasma discharge also increased. To apply atmospheric plasma to human organisms, the temperature is the most important factor, we were able to control the temperature by modulating the pulse power duty ratio. This means we can use atmospheric plasma on the human body or in other areas of the medical field.

Relationships between Dental Fear and Dental Services Utilization with Respect to Oral Health Promotion (구강건강증진 관점에서의 치과의료서비스와 치과공포의 연관성)

  • Choi, Jun-Seon;Kim, Kwang-Kee
    • Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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    • v.23 no.4
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    • pp.47-65
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    • 2006
  • Objectives: This research is to provide the basic data for the improvement on oral health by examining the relationship between the dental fear and the dental service utilization, and to discuss a strategy for dental health in order to lower the level of dental fear. Methods: Data were collected by conducting a structured survey of 1,607 people between the age of 13 and 70 who have experiences in visiting a dental institution. Both univariate and multivariate analyses were employed to analyze the relationship between the number of times dental service and dental fears. Results: The average level of dental fear the respondents reported was $52.16{\pm}15.71$ and 31.5% of the response was at the level of high dental fear. A strong physiologic response during the dental treatment was muscle tension and the stimulations that strongly arouse the dental fear were the anaesthetic needle and the sound of drill. A result of analysis on the relationship between the dental fear and the dental service utilization shows that as the level of dental fear became higher, the number of times for the dental service utilization for the last year had reduced. Also when a patient has an experience of putting off or canceling an appointment due to dental fear and as a physiologic response during the dental treatment became stronger, the result shows a tendency that the number of times for the dental service utilization for the last year had reduced. Conclusions: It has been observed that dental fear is one of the main barrier to use dental service. Therefore, a physio-psychological factor like the dental fear should be included in the task of promotion of dental health, and in analyzing the dental service utilization behavior. A discussion about how to lower dental fear was made with respect to oral health promotion. At individual level, improvement of communication skill by dental service providers should be made with rearrangement of clinic environment into more cozy one.

Effect of High Temperature Annealing on the Characteristics of SiC Schottky Diodes (고온 열처리 공정이 탄화규소 쇼트키 다이오드 특성에 미치는 영향)

  • Cheong, Hui-Jong;Bahng, Wook;Kang, In-Ho;Kim, Sang-Cheol;Han, Hyun-Sook;Kim, Hyeong-Woo;Kim, Nam-Kyun;Lee, Yong-Jae
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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    • v.19 no.9
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    • pp.818-824
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    • 2006
  • The effects of high-temperature process required to fabricate the SiC devices on the surface morphology and the electrical characteristics were investigated for 4H-SiC Schottky diodes. The 4H-SiC diodes without a graphite cap layer as a protection layer showed catastrophic increase in an excess current at a forward bias and a leakage current at a reverse bias after high-temperature annealing process. Moreover it seemed to deviate from the conventional Schottky characteristics and to operate as an ohmic contact at the low bias regime. However, the 4H-SiC diodes with the graphite cap still exhibited their good electrical characteristics in spite of a slight increase in the leakage current. Therefore, we found that the graphite cap layer serves well as the protection layer of silicon carbide surface during high-temperature annealing. Based on a closer analysis on electric characteristics, a conductive surface transfiguration layer was suspected to form on the surface of diodes without the graphite cap layer during high-temperature annealing. After removing the surface transfiguration layer using ICP-RIE, Schottky diode without the graphite cap layer and having poor electrical characteristics showed a dramatic improvement in its characteristics including the ideality factor[${\eta}$] of 1.23, the schottky barrier height[${\Phi}$] of 1.39 eV, and the leakage current of $7.75\{times}10^{-8}\;A/cm^{2}$ at the reverse bias of -10 V.

The Study on influence of test factors for WorldSID injury through AE-MDB side crash test (AE-MDB시험 시 인체모형 상해치에 대한 시험 인자 영향성 연구)

  • Sun, Hongyul;Han, Pyokyong;Oh, Eunkyung;Yoon, Ilsung
    • Journal of Auto-vehicle Safety Association
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    • v.7 no.1
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    • pp.7-12
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    • 2015
  • NCAP(New Car Assessment Program) makes vehicle manufacturer improve safety performance through free competition and customers guarantee vehicle selection by providing information of vehicle safety. That's why it is important not only to meet the regulation, but also to cope with NCAP. EuroNCAP(European New Car Assessment Program) side tests have conducted by using Progressive MDB and Euro SID II in order to reproduce crash test between two vehicles over 10 years. However various researches report that Progressive MDB and Euro SID II do not reflect evolving vehicle design, impact performance and biofidelity of human. Therefore EuroNCAP has the plan to conduct AE-MDB side crash test using WorldSID which is more evolved from 2015 by replacing Progressive MDB and EuroSID II. Automobile manufacturers need to develop safety performance for new test closely. This paper is to find test set-up parameters which affect into dummy injury instead of restraint system and to research on its tendency. It is processed with mini and small car to know influence as changing vehicle size and also analyzed by DFSS(Design for six sigma) which is one of optimization tools. DFSS is vaildated by simulating CAE with L18 orthogonal array of 6 control factors adjustable as EuroNCAP requirement.

The Effects of Current Types on Through Via Hole Filling for 3D-SiP Application (전류인가 방법이 3D-SiP용 Through Via Hole의 Filling에 미치는 영향)

  • Chang, Gun-Ho;Lee, Jae-Ho
    • Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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    • v.13 no.4
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    • pp.45-50
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    • 2006
  • Copper via filling is the important factor in 3-D stacking interconnection of SiP (system in package). As the packaging density is getting higher, the size of via is getting smaller. When DC electroplating is applied, a defect-free hole cannot be obtained in a small size via hole. To prevent the defects in holes, pulse and pulse reverse current was applied in copper via filling. The holes, $20\and\;50{\mu}m$ in diameter and $100{\sim}190\;{\mu}m$ in height. The holes were prepared by DRIE method. Ta was sputtered for copper diffusion barrier followed by copper seed layer IMP sputtering. Via specimen were filled by DC, pulse and pulse-reverse current electroplating methods. The effects of additives and current types on copper deposits were investigated. Vertical and horizontal cross section of via were observed by SEM to find the defects in via. When pulse-reverse electroplating method was used, defect free via were successfully obtained.

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Lysate of Probiotic Lactobacillus plantarum K8 Modulate the Mucosal Inflammatory System in Dextran Sulfate Sodium-induced Colitic Rats

  • Ahn, Young-Sook;Park, Min Young;Shin, Jae-Ho;Kim, Ji Yeon;Kwon, Oran
    • Food Science of Animal Resources
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    • v.34 no.6
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    • pp.829-835
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    • 2014
  • Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is caused by dysregulation of colon mucosal immunity and mucosal epithelial barrier function. Recent studies have reported that lipoteichoic acid (LTA) from Lactobacillus plantarum K8 reduces excessive production of pro-inflammatory cytokine. In this study, we investigated the preventive effects of lysate of Lb. plantarum K8 in dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were orally pretreated with lysate of Lb. plantarum K8 (low dose or high dose) or live Lb. plantarum K8 prior to the induction of colitis using 4% DSS. Disease progression was monitored by assessment of disease activity index (DAI). Histological changes of colonic tissues were evaluated by hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-${\alpha}$), interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The colon mRNA expressions of TNF-${\alpha}$, IL-6, and toll like receptor-2 (TLR-2) were examined by quantitative real-time-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Lysate of Lb. plantarum K8 suppressed colon shortening, edema, mucosal damage, and the loss of DSS-induced crypts. The groups that received lysate of Lb. plantarum K8 exhibited significantly decreased levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-${\alpha}$ and IL-6 in the colon. Interestingly, colonic expression of toll like receptor-2 mRNA in the high-dose lysate of Lb. plantarum K8 group increased significantly. Our study demonstrates the protective effects of oral lysate of Lb. plantarum K8 administration on DSS-induced colitis via the modulation of pro-inflammatory mediators of the mucosal immune system.