• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.93-103
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• 2015

The isolation, cloning, and characterization of an R2R3-MYB transcription factor gene (MtMYB70) from the model legume Medicago truncatula is reported. MtMYB70 consists of a 768-bp coding sequence corresponding to 255 amino acids. Sequence alignment revealed that MtMYB70 cDNA contains conserved R2R3-type MYB domains with highly divergent C terminal regions. MtMYB70 was found to have relatively low sequence homology with known R2R3-MYB genes. Phylogenetic analysis placed the R2R3-MYB domain of MtMYB70 closest to PtMYB1, a known activator of lignin biosynthesis. Overexpression of MtMYB70 under the control of the 35S promoter in transgenic poplar did not cause a significant difference in total lignin content relative to the control, but glucan content was significantly increased in transgenic poplar. Therefore, MtMYB70 might have regulatory role in the biosynthesis of cell wall structural carbohydrates.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.42-49
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• 2006

In this study, we describe our newly-developed sensitive two-stage PCR procedure for the detection of 13 common mycoplasmal contaminants (M. arthritidis, M. bovis, M. fermentans, M. genitalium, M. hominis, M. hyorhinis, M. neurolyticum, M. orale, M. pirum, M. pneumoniae, M. pulmonis, M. salivarium, U. urealyticum). For primary amplification, the DNA regions encompassing the 16S and 23S rRNA genes of 13 species were targeted using general mycoplasma primers. The primary PCR products were then subjected to secondary nested PCR, using two different primer pair sets, designed via the multiple alignment of nucleotide sequences obtained from the 13 mycoplasmal species. The nested PCR, which generated DNA fragments of 165-353 bp, was found to be able to detect 1-2 copies of the target DNA, and evidenced no cross-reactivity with the generated DNA of related microorganisms or of human cell lines, thereby confirming the sensitivity and specificity of the primers used. The identification of contaminated species was' achieved via the performance of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) coupled with Sau3AI digestion. The results obtained in this study furnish evidence suggesting that the employed assay system constitutes an effective tool for the disagnosis of mycoplasmal contamination in cell culture systems.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.90-95
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• 2011

We propose a super-thin and light-weight liquid crystal cell, in which glass substrates are eliminated and polarizers are used as substrates. We fabricate a polarizer substrate by depositing a-SiOX as a buffer layer, indium-tin-oxide as a transparent conducting layer, and a-SiOX as an alignment layer on a polarizer sequentially at a low temperature. We use the ion-beam method to align liquid crystals on polarizer substrates.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.489-500
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• 2014

In this study, remote handling strategies for a large-scale argon cell facility were considered. The suggested strategies were evaluated by several types of field test. The teleoperation tasks were performed using a developed remote handling system, which enabled traveling over entire cell area using a bridge transport system. Each arm of the system had six DOFs (degrees of freedom), and the bridge transport system had four DOFs. However, despite the dexterous manipulators and redundant monitoring system, many operators, including professionals, experienced difficulties in operating the remote handling system. This was because of the lack of a strategy for handling the installed camera system, and the difficulty in recognizing the gripper pose, which might fall outside the FOV (field of vision) of the system during teleoperation. Hence, in this paper, several considerations for the remote handling tasks performed in the target facility were discussed, and the tasks were analyzed based on ergonomic factors such as the workload. Toward the development of a successful operation strategy, several ergonomic issues, such as active/passive view of the remote handling system, eye/hand alignment, and FOV were considered. Furthermore, using the method for classifying remote handling tasks, several unit tasks were defined and evaluated.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.322-329
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• 2003

We have studied how surface pretilt angle affects generation of disclination line in liquid-crystal-on silicon cells for 45$^{\circ}$-twisted nematic (TN) and vertical alignment (VA) modes with pixel size of 15$\mu\textrm{m}$. Our studies show that when the pretilt angle is increased from 0$^{\circ}$to 3$^{\circ}$ in the 45$^{\circ}$-TN cell, the disclination line at left side of on-pixel becomes weak and is well suppressed with $\theta$$\_$p/=3$^{\circ}$ although the pixel size Is decreased. In the VA cell, when the pretilt angle is decreased from 89$^{\circ}$ to 86$^{\circ}$, the disclination line at right side of the on-pixel is suppressed well and even for a smaller pixel size, it does not exist when $\theta$$\_$p/=86$^{\circ}$. The results inform that the pretilt angle strongly affects the image quality of microdisplays.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.2200-2206
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• 2012

One-dimensional $TiO_2$ array grown on optically transparent electrode holds a promise as a photoelectrode for photoelectrochemical water splitting; however, its crystal structure is rutile, imposing constraints on the potent use of this nanostructure. To address this issue, a heterojunction with type-II band alignment was fabricated using atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique. One-dimensional core/shell structured $TiO_2$/ZnO heterojunction was superior to $TiO_2$ in the photoelectrochemical water splitting because of better charge separation and more favorable Fermi level. The heterojunction also possesses better light scattering property, which turned out to be beneficial even for improving the photoelectrochemical performance of semiconductor-sensitized solar cell.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.710-719
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• 2023

Objective: The present study investigated whether protodioscin (PD), a steroidal saponin mainly found in rhizome of Dioscorea species, alleviates oxidative stress-induced damage of porcine oocytes during in vitro maturation. Methods: Oocytes were treated with different concentrations of PD (0, 1, 10, 100, and 200 µM) in the presence of 200 µM H₂O₂ during in vitro maturation. Following maturation, spindle morphology and mitogen-activated protein kinase activity was assessed along with reactive oxygen species level, GSH activity, and mRNA expression of endogenous antioxidant genes at the MII stage. On the day 7 after parthenogenetic activation, blastocyst formation rate was calculated and the quality of embryo and mRNA expression of development-related genes was evaluated. Results: Developmental competence was significantly poorer in the 0 µM PD-treated (control) group than in the non-treated (normal) and 10 µM PD-treated (10PD) groups. Although the reactive oxygen species level did not significantly differ between these three groups, the glutathione level and mRNA expression of antioxidant genes (superoxide dismutase 1 [SOD1], SOD2, nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 [Nrf2], and hemo oxygenase-1 [HO-1]) were significantly higher in the normal and 10PD groups than in the control group. In addition, the percentage of oocytes with defective spindle and abnormal chromosomal alignment was significantly lower and the ratio of phosphorylated p44/42 to total p44/42 was significantly higher in the normal and 10PD groups than in the control group. The total cell number per blastocyst was significantly higher in the 10PD group than in the control group. The percentage of apoptotic cells in blastocysts was highest in the control group; however, the difference was not significant. mRNA expression of development-related genes (POU domain, class 5, transcription factor 1 [POU5F1], caudal type homeobox 2 [CDX2], Nanog homeobox [NANOG]) was consistently increased by addition of PD. Conclusion: The PD effectively improves the developmental competence and quality of blastocysts by protecting porcine oocytes against oxidative stress.

• CELLMED
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.6.1-6.12
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• 2014

Anthrax is the deadly disease for human being caused by Bacillus anthracis. Instantaneous research work on the mode of infection of the organism revealed that different proteases are involved in different steps of pathogenesis. Present study reports the in silico characterization and the detection of pathogenic proteases involved in anthrax infection through protein-protein interaction. A total of 13 acid, 9 neutral, and 1 alkaline protease of Bacillus anthracis were selected for analysing the physicochemical parameter, the protein superfamily and family search, multiple sequence alignment, phylogenetic tree construction, protein-protein interactions and motif finding. Among the 13 acid proteases, 10 were found as extracellular enzymes that interact with immune inhibitor A (InhA) and help the organism to cross the blood brain barrier during the process of infection. Multiple sequence alignment of above acid proteases revealed the position 368, 489, and 498-contained 100% conserved amino acids which could be used to deactivate the protease. Among the groups analyzed, only acid protease were found to interact with InhA, which indicated that metalloproteases of acid protease group have the capability to develop pathogenesis during B. anthracis infection. Deactivation of conserved amino acid position of germination protease can stop the sporulation and germination of B anthracis cell. The detailed interaction study of neutral and alkaline proteases could also be helpful to design the interaction network for the better understanding of anthrax disease.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.311-316
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• 2005

Epoxide hydrolases (EHs) are versatile biocatalysts for the preparation of chiral epoxides by enantioselective hydrolysis from racemic epoxides. Various microorganisms were identified to possess a EH activity by multiple sequence alignment and analysis of conserved domain sequence from genomic and megaplasmid sequence data. We successfully isolated Gordonia westfalica possessing EH activity from various microbial strains from culture type collections. G. westfalica exhibited (R)-styrene oxide preferred enantioselective hydrolysis activity. Chiral (S)-styrene oxide with high optical purity $(>\;99\%)\;ee)$ and yield of $36.5\%$ was obtained from its racemate using whole-cell of G. westfalica.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.51-56
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• 1981

A new I2L process for a high performance I2L structure is proposed. The modifiedstructure consists of a heavily doped extrinsic base and lowly doped intrinsic base where the collector regions are self-alignment with the intrinsic base regions. The proposed process untilizes spin-on sources as the diffusion sources and the self-alignment of collectors is achieved by using the hardened spin-on source as a diffusion mask. Test devices including a 13-stage ring oscillator have been fabricated by the proposed process on n/n+ silicon wafers with 6.5$\mu$m epitaxial layer. The maximum upward current gain of npn transistors is 8 for a three collector I2L cell. The speed-power product and minimum propagation delay for a one collector structure are 3.5 pJ and 50 ns, respectively.