• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.283-291
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• 2003

Humic and fulvic acids present in soils of different depth were extracted and their acidic functional groups and structural characteristics were analyzed and compared. The purpose of this study was to present a basic data needed to evaluate the effect of humic substances on depth distribution and migrational behaviour of radioactive elements deposited on soil. Acidic functional groups of the humic and fulvic acids were analyzed by pH titration method, and their proton exchange capacity (PEC, $mq\;g^{-1}$) and average $pK_a$ values were obtained. Structural characteristics of the humic and fulvic acids were analyzed using their CPMAS $^{13}C$ NMR spectra and elemental composition data. pH titration data showed that fulvic acids have higher acidic functional group contents ranging from 5.5 to $7.0meq\;g^{-1}$ compared with that of humic acids ($3.8{\sim}4.8meq\;g^{-1}$). From depth profiles, it has been found that PEC values of humic acids in deeper soil (> 8 cm) were higher than those at the surface soils. Elemental compositions (H/C ratio) and spectral features ($C_{arom}/C_{aliph}$ ratio) obtained from CPMAS $^{13}C$ NMR spectra showed that the aromatic character in humic acids was a relatively higher than that of fulvic acids, while lower in carboxyl carbon content. The aromatic character and carboxyl carbon contents of humic acids tend to increase as soil depth increased, but those of fulvic acid showed little differences by the soil depth range.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.89-99
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• 2004

Stretch-activated channels (SACs) responds to membrane stress with changes in open probability (Po). They play essential roles in regulation of cell volume and differentiation, vascular tone, and in hormonal secretion. SACs highly present in Xenopus oocytes and Ascidian oocytes are suggested to be involved in the regulation of pH and fluid transport to balance the osmotic pressure, but remain unclear in mammanlian oocytes. This study was investigated to find the presence of SACs in hamster oocytes and to examine their electrophysiological properties. To infer a role of SAC in relation to the development of early stage, we followed up to the stage of two-cell zygote with patch clamp techniques. Single channels were elicited by negative pressure (lower than ­15 cm$H_2O$). Interestingly, SACs were dependent on permeable cations such as $Na^+$ or $K^+$. As permeable cation removed from both sides across the membrane, SAC activity completely disappeared. When permeable cations present only in intracellular compartment, outward currents appeared at positive potentials. In contrast to this, inward currents occurred only at the negative voltage when permeable cation absent in cell interior. These result suggests that SAC carry cations through the nonselective cation channel (NSC channel). Taken together, we found that stretch activated channels present in hamster oocyte and the channel may carry cations through NSC channels. This stretch activated-NSC channels may play physiological role(s) in oocyte growth, maturation, fertilization and embryogenesis in fertilized oocytes to two-cell zygotes of hamster.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.283-292
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• 2009

Objective: Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) can proliferate indefinitely and differentiate into all kinds of cell types in vitro. Therefore, hESCs can be used as a cell source for cell-based therapy. Transduction of foreign genes to hESCs could be useful for tracing differentiation processes of hESCs and elucidation of gene function. Thus, we tried to introduce enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) gene to hESCs, XX and XY cell lines in this study. Methods: Lentivirus containing eGFP was packaged in 293T cells and applied to hESCs to transduce eGFP. Expression of transduced eGFP was evaluated under the fluorescence microscope and eGFP positive population was analyzed by FACS. Expression of undifferentiation state markers such as Oct4, Nanog, SSEA4 and Tra-1-81 was examined by RT-PCR and/or immunofluorescence in eGFP-hESCs after transduction. In addition, the ability of eGFP-hESCs to form embryoid bodies (EBs) was tested. Results: eGFP was successfully transduced to hESCs by lentivirus. eGFP expression was stably maintained up to more than 40 passages. eGFP-hESCs retained expression patterns of undifferentiation state markers after transduction. Interestingly, disappearance of transduced eGFP was notably observed during spontaneous differentiation of eGFP-hESCs. Conclusion: We established eGFP expressing hESC lines using lentivirus and showed the maintenance of undifferentiation characteristics of these eGFP-hESCs. This reporter-containing hESCs could be useful for tracing the processes of differentiation of hESCs and other studies.

• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.23-31
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• 2000

The objective of this study was to develop an effective separation and quantification method for kerosene and diesel in a mixed petroleum fuel (gasoline, kerosene, and diesel) contaminated environmental samples. This investigation was directed to prove the hypothesis that if the source of petroleum fuels were identical, the peak-area ratios of a reference n-alkane to other n-alkane peaks should be a constant even at the different concentrations. In addition, experimental recovery rates were determined to select the reference peaks of kerosene and diesel for peak area ratio measurements. The experimental results showed that the peak area ratios were constant among the samples having different concentrations when the ratios were calculated from areas of $C_{l3}$, $C_{l4}$, and $C_{15}$ peaks for kerosene and $C_{l6}$ and $C_{l7}$ peak for diesel as reference n-alkane peaks. The recovery rates were evaluated by comparing the relative peak area ratios of each reference peaks after making pairs of the kerosene and diesel reference peaks in the samples contained a known amount of gasoline, kerosene, and diesel. The recovery rates(%) Were 107.0$_{{\pm}20.6}$/86.6/ sub $\pm$15.9/ for kerosene- $C_{13}$/diesel- $C_{16}$, 99.6$\pm$$_{17.2}$/86.6$_{{\pm}15.9}$ for kerosene- $C_{14}$/diesel- $C_{16}$, 73.9/$\pm$14.4//86.6$_{{\pm}sub 15.9}$ for kerosene- $C_{15}$ /diesel- $C_{16}$, 109.4$_{{pm}0.8}$/75.9$_{{pm}4.7}$ for kerosene- $C_{13}$/diesel- $C_{17}$, 107.4$_{{pm}7.9}$/75.9$_{{pm}4.7}$ for kerosene- $C_{14}$/diesel- $C_{17}$, and 95.7$_{{pm}4.6}$ /75.9/$\pm$14.6//75.9$_{{pm$}4.7}$ for kerosene- $C_{15}$ /diesel- $C_{17.}$ The above experimental results confirm that all of the reference peak pairs of kerosene and diesel are applicable to the quantitative analysis for the mixed fuel contaminated samples, but the kerosene- $C_{15}$ /diesel- $C_{l7}$ peaks are recommended since the pair has a lower standard deviation than the other pairs.s..s.s.s..s..s.s.s.s.s.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.1023-1030
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• 2008

NtMEK2, which is the tobacco MAPK kinase that is upstream of SIPK and WIPK, was identified using the dexamethasone (DEX)-inducible gain-of-function transgenic system. Expression of $NtNEK2^{DD}$, a constitutively active mutant of NtNEK2, leads to HR-like cell death, which indicates that the NtMEK2-SIPK/WIPK cascade controls defense responses in tobacco. However, little is known about the downstream target substrates or defense-related genes that are regulated by the NtMEK2-SIPK/ WIPK cascade. In this study, ACP-based differential display RT-PCR was used to isolate the downstream effectors mediated by the NtMEK2-SIPK/WIPK cascade in $NtNEK2^{DD}$ transgenic plants. The results identified 6 novel differentially expressed genes (DEGs). These included pathogen induced protein 2-4 (pI2-4), monoterpene synthase 2 (MTS2), seven in absentia protein (SINA), cell death marker protein 1 (CDM1), hydroxyproline-rich glycoprotein (HRGP) and unknown genes (DEG45). The induction of these genes was confirmed by RT-PCR of samples obtained from $NtNEK2^{DD}$ plants. Additionally, when compared with other isolated DEGs, the pI2-4, CDM1 and HRGP genes were significantly up-regulated in response to treatment with salicylic acid and tobacco mosaic virus. Taken together, these results suggest that three novel DEGs were regulated by the NtMEK2-SIPK/WIPK cascade involved in disease resistance in tobacco.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.177-183
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• 2008

Ac/Ds mutant lines of this study were transgenic rice plants, each of which harbored the maize transposable element Ds together with a GUS coding sequence under the control of a promoterless(Ds-GUS). We selected the mutants that were GUS expressed lines, because the GUS positive lines will be useful for identifying gene function in rice. One of these mutants was identified knock-out at Oszinc626(NP_001049991) gene, encoding a RING-H2 zinc-finger protein, by Ds insertion. In this mutant, while primary root development is normal, secondary root development from lateral root was very poor and seed development was incomplete compare with normal plant. RING zinc-finger proteins play important roles in the regulation of development in a variety of organisms. In the plant kingdom, a few genes encoding RING zinc-finger proteins have been documented with visible effects on plant growth and development. The consensus of the RING-H2(C3-H2-C3 type) domain for this group of protein is $Cys-X_2-Cys-X_{28}-Cys-X-His-X_2-His-X_2-Cys-X_{14}-Cys-X_2-Cys$. Oszinc626 encodes a predicted protein product of 445 amino acids residues with a molecular mass of 49 kDa, with a RING-zinc-finger motif located at the extreme end of the C-terminus. RT-PCR analysis indicated that the expression of Oszinc626 gene was induced by IAA, cold, dehydration, high-salinity and abscisic acid, but not by 2,4-D, and the transcription of Oszinc626 gene accumulated primarily in rice immature seeds, root meristem and shoots. The gene accumulation patterns were corresponded with GUS expression.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.131-135
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• 2006

A commercial ion chamber matrix was examined the characteristics and its performance for radiotherapy qualify assurance. The device was the I'mRT 2D-MatriXX (Scanditronix-Wellhofer, Schwarzenbruck, Germany). The 2D-MatriXX device consists of a 1020 vented ion chamber array, arranged in $24{\times}24cm^2$ matrix. Each ion chamber has a volume of $0.08cm^3$, spacing of 0.762 cm and minimum sampling time of 20 ms. For the investigation of the characteristics, dose linearity, output factor, short-term reproducibility and dose rate dependency were tested. In the testing of dose linearity. It has shown a good signal linearity within 1% in the range of $1{\sim}800$cGy. Dose rate dependency was found to be lower than 0.4% (Range: 100-600 Mu/min) relative to a dose rate of 300 Mu/min as a reference. Output factors matched very well within 0.5% compared with commissioned beam data using a ionization chamber (CC01, Scanditronix-Wellhofer, Schwarzenbruck, Germany) in the range of field sizes $3{\times}3{\sim}24{\times}24cm^2$. Short-term reproducibility (6 times with a interval of 15 minute) was also shown a good agreement within 0.5%, when the temperature and the pressure were corrected by each time of measurement. in addition, we compared enhanced dynamic wedge (EDW, Varian, Palo Alto, USA) profiles from calculated values in the radiation planning system with those from measurements of the MatriXX. Furthermore, anon-uniform IMRT dose fluence was tested. All the comparison studies have shown good agreements. In this study, the MatriXX was evaluated as a reliable dosimeter, and it could be used as a simplistic and convenient tool for radiotherapy qualify assurance.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.309-321
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• 2002

In this study, the characteristics of Jeung-pyun hatter were investigated by wine yeast. The processing conditions were optimized by physicochemical characterization including pH, volume, reduced sugar. The effect of yeast concentration, moisture content on the fermentation time and temperature were investigated in view of improving productivity. It was found that the volume was increased at maximum state when the fermentation was carried out at 35 $^{\circ}C$ with 0.1% yeast concentration 60% of moisture. The quality of Jeung-Pyun was most preferable in the condition of 0.1% wine yeast(Pasteur Red) for 8 hrs at 35$^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.81 no.2
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• pp.191-199
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• 1992

This study was conducted to identify fungi causing canker dieback and melanconis disease of walnut trees (Juglans sinensis Dode) in Korea and clarify the pathogenicity and factors affecting the growth of these fungi. The causal fungi isolated from infected walnut stems and branches obtained from the commercial walnut orchards in Cheonwon, Goesan, Youngdong were identified as Botryosphaeria dothidea (Moug, ex Fries) Casati et de Notaris, Phoniopsis albobestita Fairman, Melanconis juglandis (Ellis et Everhart) Graves and their pathogenicity was confirmed by inoculation test. Temperature range for minimum growth of three fungi was 8 to $35^{\circ}C$ and the optimum temperature for mycelial growth of B. dothidea and P. albobestita ranged from 25 to $30^{\circ}C$, while the optimum temperature for M. juglandis ranged from 20 to $25^{\circ}C$. The optimum pH range for mycelial growth of P. albobestita was 4.0~5.0 and that for B. dothidea and P. juglandis 4.0~8.0. Glucose, sucrose, starch or maltose, as a carbon source, and histidine or potassium nitrate as a nitrogen source were more suitable compounds for growth. of B, dothidea, P. albobestita grew very well on the medium containing alanine and potassium nitrate as a nitrogen source, and utilized well glucose and sucrose as a carbon source. M. juglandis grew well on the medium containing glucose, and sucrose as a carbon source and utilized well potassium nitrate as a nitrogen source. The dieback and twig blight caused by P. albobestita were more severe than those by B. dothidea and M. juglandis at three locations investigated. Incidences of canker and dieback were more frequently observed in aged walnut trees than in young ones.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.67-81
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• 2012

The physical, chemical, and biological properties of clogging materials formed within groundwater wells in the Mt. Geumjeong area, Busan, Korea, were characterized. The particle size distribution (PSD) of clogging materials was measured by a laser analyzer. XRD, SEM, and TEM analyses were performed to obtain mineralogical information on the clogging materials, with an emphasis on identifying and characterizing the mineral species. In most cases, PSD data exhibited an near log-normal distribution; however, variations in frequency distribution were found in some intervals (bi-or trimodal distributions), raising the possibility that particles originated from several sources or were formed at different times. XRD data revealed that the clogging materials were mainly amorphous ironhydroxides such as goethite, ferrihydrite, and lapidocrocite, with lesser amounts of Fe, Mn, and Zn metals and silicates such as quartz, feldspar, micas, and smectite. Reddish brown material was amorphous hydrous ferriciron (HFO), and dark red and dark black materials were Fe, Mn-hydroxides. Greyish white and pale brown materials consisted of silicates. SEM observations indicated that the clogging materials were mainly HFO associated with iron bacteria such as Gallionella and Leptothrix, with small amounts of rock fragments. In TEM analysis, disseminated iron particles were commonly observed in the cell and sheath of iron bacteria, indicating that iron was precipitated in close association with the metabolism of bacterial activity. Rock-forming minerals such as quartz, feldspar, and micas were primarily derived from soils or granite aquifers, which are widely distributed in the study area. The results indicate the importance of elucidating the formation mechanisms of clogging materials to ensure sustainable well capacity.