• BMB Reports
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.87-93
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• 2002

Neural cell survival is an essential concern in the aging brain and many diseases of the central nervous system. Neural transplantation of the stem cells are already applied to clinical trials for many degenerative neurological diseases, including Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, and strokes. A critical problem of the neural transplantation is how to reduce their apoptosis and improve cell survival. Neurotrophic factors generally contribute as extrinsic cues to promote cell survival of specific neurons in the developing mammalian brains, but the survival factor for neural stem cell is poorly defined. To understand the mechanism controlling stem cell death and improve cell survival of the transplanted stem cells, we investigated the effect of plausible neurotrophic factors on stem cell survival. The neural stem cell, HiB5, when treated with PDGF prior to transplantation, survived better than cells without PDGF. The resulting survival rate was two fold for four weeks and up to three fold for twelve weeks. When transplanted into dorsal hippocampus, they migrated along hippocampal alveus and integrated into pyramidal cell layers and dentate granule cell layers in an inside out sequence, which is perhaps the endogenous pathway that is similar to that in embryonic neurogenesis. Promotion of the long term-survival and differentiation of the transplanted neural precursors by PDGF may facilitate regeneration in the aging adult brain and probably in the injury sites of the brain.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2007

Natural killer (NK) cells play a crucial role in innate immune system and tumor surveillance. NK cells are derived from $CD34^+$hematopoietic stem cells and undergo differentiation via precursor NK cells in bone marrow (BM) through sequential acquisition of functional surface receptors. During differentiation of NK cells, many factors are involved including cytokines, membrane factors and transcription factors as well as microenvironment of BM. NK cells express their own repertoire of receptors including activating and inhibitory receptors that bind to major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I or class I-related molecules. The balance between activating and inhibitory receptors determines the function of NK cells to kill targets. Binding of NK cell inhibitory receptors to their MHC class I-ligand renders the target cells to be protected from NK cell-mediated cytotoxicity. Thus, NK cells are able to discriminate self from non-self through MHC class I-binding inhibitory receptor. Using intrinsic properties of NK cells, NK cells are emerging to apply as therapeutic agents against many types of cancers. Recently, NK cell alloactivity has also been exploited in killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor mismatched haploidentical stem cell transplantation to reduce the rate of relapse and graft versus host disease. In this review, we discuss the basic mechanisms of NK cell differentiation, diversity of NK cell receptors, and clinical applications of NK cells for anti-cancer immunotherapy.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.31-37
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• 2006

It was previously found that melittin inhibited $NF-{\kappa}B$ activity by reacting with signal molecules of $NF-{\kappa}B$ which is critical contributor in cancer cell growth by induction of apoptotic cell death. We here investigated whether melittin inhibits cell growth of human prostate cancer cells through induction of apoptotic cell death, and the possible signal pathways. Melittin ($0{\sim}1\;{\mu}g/ml$) inhibited prostate cancer cell growth in a dose dependent manner. Conversely related to the growth inhibitory effect, melittin increased the induction of apoptotic cell death in a dose dependent manner. Melittin also inhibited DNA binding activity of $NF-{\kappa}B$, an anti-apoptotic transcriptional factor. Consistent with the induction of apoptotic cell death and inhibition of $NF-{\kappa}B$, melittin increased the expression of pro-apoptotic proteins caspase-3, and Bax but down-regulated anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2. These findings suggest that melittin could inhibit prostate cancer cell growth, and this effect may be related with the induction of apoptotic cell death via inactivation of $NF-{\kappa}B$.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.17-26
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• 2009

Objectives: Little information is available regarding the effect of Lycii cortex radicis (LCR) on cell viability in glioma cells. This study was therefore undertaken to examine the effect of LCR on cell survival in U87MG human glioma cells. Methods: Cell viability and cell death were estimated by MTT assay and trypan blue exclusion assay, respectively. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation was measured using the fluorescence probe DCFH-DA. Activation of Akt and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and activation of caspase-3 were estimated by Western blot analysis. Results: LCR resulted in apoptotic cell death in a dose- and time-dependent manner. LCR increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and LCR-induced cell death was also prevented by antioxidants, suggesting that ROS generation played a critical role in LCR-induced cell death. Western blot analysis showed that LCR treatment caused down-regulation of Akt and ERK. The LCR-induced cell death was increased by the inhibitors of Akt and ERK. Activation of caspase-3 was stimulated by LCR and caspase inhibitors prevented the LCR-induced cell death. Conclusion: These findings suggest that LCR results in human glioma cell death through a mechanism involving ROS generation, down-regulation of Akt and ERK, and caspase activation.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.32 no.10
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• pp.844-849
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• 2008

We present a novel cell deformability monitoring chip based on the digitally measured cell lysis rate which is dependent on the areal strain of the cell membrane. This method offers simple cell deformability monitoring by automated high-throughput testing system. We suggest the filter design considering the areal strain imposed on the cell membrane passing through the filter array having gradually increased orifice length. In the experiment using erythrocytes, we characterized the cell deformability in terms of average fracture areal strain which was $0.24{\pm}0.014\;and\;0.21{\pm}0.002$ for normal and chemically treated erythrocytes, respectively. We also verified that the areal strain of 0.15 effectively discriminates the deformability difference of normal and chemically treated erythrocytes, which can be applied to the clinical situation. We compared the lysis rates and their difference for the samples from different donors and found that the present chips can be commonly used without any calibration process. The experimental results demonstrate the simple structure and high performance of the present cell deformability monitoring chips, applicable to simple and cost-effective cell aging process monitoring.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.93-104
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• 1996

The cell wall components of fruit include cellulose. hemicellulose, pectin, glycoprotein etc., and the cell wall composition differs according to the kind of fruit. Fruit softening occurs as a result of a change in the cell wall polysaccharides : the middle lamella which links primary cell walls is composed of pectin. and primary cell walls are decomposed by a solution of middle lamella caused due to a result of pectin degradation by pectin degrading enzymes during ripening and softening, During fruit ripening and softening, contents of arabinose and galactose among non-cellulosic neutral sugars are notably decreased, and this occurs as a result of the degradation of pectin during fruit repening and softening since they are side-chained with pectin in the form of arabinogalactan and galactan Enzymes involved in the degradation of the cell wall include polygalacturonase, cellulose, pectinmethylesterase, glycosidase, etc., and various studies have been done on the change in enzyme activities during the ripening and softning of fruit. Among cell wall-degrading enzymes, polygalacturonase has the greatest effect on fruit softening, and its activity Increases during the maturating and softening of fruit. This softening leads to the textural change of fruit as a result of the degradation of cell wall polysaccharides by a cell wall degrading enzyme which exists in fruit.

• The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.296-305
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• 2011

Purpose: This study was done to develop an educational needs scale for cell phone use, to investigate the scope of cell phone use in children and their parents' perception, and to compare the educational needs for children and parents regarding children's cell phone use. Method: The participants were 152 children and 152 parents in two cities. Data were collected through self-report questionnaires, and analyzed using the SPSS program. Result: Ten items regarding the educational needs for cell phone use were selected for the final scale, and categorized into 2 factors (cell phone use and cell phone addiction). The scope of cell phone use in children is different from their parents' perception. The educational needs of parents were higher than those of children. Conclusion: The findings indicate that the scope of cell phone use and the educational needs of children were different from their parents' perception and needs. Further research would be required to identify the educational needs for children and parents regarding children's cell phone use and related factors. In addition, development and effects of the educational programs for cell phone use in children and parents will be required.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of IIIuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers Conference
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.183-187
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• 2008

This paper describes a power control scheme to improve the performance of a fuel cell battery hybrid power source for residential application. The proposed power control scheme includes a power control strategy to control the power flow of the fuel cell hybrid power system and a digital control technique for a front-end dc-dc converter of the fuel cell. The power control strategy enables the fuel cell to operate within the high efficiency region defined by the polarization curve and efficiency curve of the fuel cell. A dual boost converter with digital control is applied as a front-end dc-dc converter to control the fuel cell output power. The digital control technique of the converter employs a moving-average digital filter into its voltage feedback loop to cancel the low frequency harmonic current drawn from the fuel cell and then limits the fuel cell output current to a current limit using a predictive current limiter to keep the fuel cell operation within the high efficiency region as well as to minimize the fuel cell oxygen starvation.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.230-237
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• 1994

Spin-filters are used as cell separation devices for achieving high cell density and high productivity in animal cell culture. We have proposed a model for the cell growth in a spin-filter perfusion culture and examined the effects on cell growth by several parameters including ammonia inhibition, specific growth rate, specific feeding rate, and cell retention. Results from computer simulation and sensitivity analysis indicate that the cell retention affects the cell growth mostly while there is a significant inhibition on cell growth by the ammonia accumulated during the culture. The specific feeding rate has minimal effects on cell growth, which is consistant with the fact that the cell growth with a step feeding is quite similar to that with a continuous feeding.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.493-498
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• 2015

The fuel cell vehicle is a type of hydrogen vehicle which uses a fuel cell to produce electricity, powering its on-board electric motor. The fuel cell vehicle driving principle is completely different from the internal combustion engine vehicle. In order to ensure the durable quality of the fuel cell vehicle, durability test mode considering the characteristics of the fuel cell must be developed. In this study, we derived the durability test mode profile through collecting and analyzing fuel cell vehicle driving data. Then, the accelerated durability test mode is developed by adding degradation conditions and is experimentally validated to have an acceleration factor of 5~6.