• Journal of Ginseng Research
• /
• v.43 no.4
• /
• pp.527-538
• /
• 2019

Background: Ginsenoside Rg1 was shown to exert ligand-independent activation of estrogen receptor (ER) via mitogen-activated protein kinase-mediated pathway. Our study aimed to delineate the mechanisms by which Rg1 activates the rapid ER signaling pathways. Methods: ER-positive human breast cancer MCF-7 cells and ER-negative human embryonic kidney HEK293 cells were treated with Rg1 ($10^{-12}M$, $10^{-8}M$), $17{\beta}$-estradiol ($10^{-8}M$), or vehicle. Immunoprecipitation was conducted to investigate the interactions between signaling protein and ER in MCF-7 cells. To determine the roles of these signaling proteins in the actions of Rg1, small interfering RNA or their inhibitors were applied. Results: Rg1 rapidly induced $ER{\alpha}$ translocation to plasma membrane via caveolin-1 and the formation of signaling complex involving linker protein (Shc), insulin-like growth factor-I receptor, modulator of nongenomic activity of ER (MNAR), $ER{\alpha}$, and cellular nonreceptor tyrosine kinase (c-Src) in MCF-7 cells. The induction of extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase and mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MEK) phosphorylation in MCF-7 cells by Rg1 was suppressed by cotreatment with small interfering RNA against these signaling proteins. The stimulatory effects of Rg1 on MEK phosphorylation in these cells were suppressed by both PP2 (Src kinase inhibitor) and AG1478 [epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor]. In addition, Rg1-induced estrogenic activities, EGFR and MEK phosphorylation in MCF-7 cells were abolished by cotreatment with G15 (G protein-coupled estrogen receptor-1 antagonist). The increase in intracellular cyclic AMP accumulation, but not Ca mobilization, in MCF-7 cells by Rg1 could be abolished by G15. Conclusion: Ginsenoside Rg1 exerted estrogenic actions by rapidly inducing the formation of ER containing signalosome in MCF-7 cells. Additionally, Rg1 could activate EGFR and c-Src ER-independently and exert estrogenic effects via rapid activation of membrane-associated ER and G protein-coupled estrogen receptor.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.457-465
• /
• 2007

In this paper, polymer-modified repair materials using polymer dispersions with six repair methods are prepared with various polymer-cement ratios, and tested for compressive and flexural strengths through each curing condition such as dry cure, water cure, and freezing and thawing cyclic action. And, the adhesive interface between the polymer-modified mortar and mortar substrate is observed by a scanning electron microscope. From the test results, the compressive and flexural strengths of cement mortar repaired by polymer-modified mortar are improved with a rise in the polymer-cement ratio regardless of the type of polymer and curing conditions. Such an improvement in the strengths of polymer-modified repair materials to ordinary cement mortar is explained by the high adhesion of polymer-modified mortar. Strength reduction of polymer-modified repair materials after freezing and thawing cyclic actions is recognized, but it is lower than that of unmodified mortar. Especially, cement mortar repaired by polymer-modified mortar with a St/BA emulsion has good strength properties compared with those of SBR latex and PA emulsion. Accordingly, it is judged that polymer-modified mortars with a St/BA emulsion are possible to use as repair materials to ordinary cement mortar and concrete.

• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.15-25
• /
• 1982

It was undertake to investigate the factors involved in the micro thrombus formation in the plasma from the patients with cerebrovascular disease(CVD) and the in vitro actions of sodium nitroprusside on the platelet aggregate formation. 1) The microthrombus formation in the plasma from CVD was significantly enhanced, in comparison with that from the healthy volunteers. 2) Both lipid peroxide and cathepsin D in the plasma from CVD were higher than those levels from the healthy volunteers. 3) Whereas the platelets from healthy individuals showed less aggregation activity in response to ADP in the second phase those from CVD revealed the enhanced aggregating response to ADP. 4) When the bovine basilar artery, rabbit aorta and human umbilical artery were pretreated with $K^+-free$ PSS, ouabain, 13-hydroperoxylinoleic acid(13-HPLA) and cadmium they markedly enhanced the platelet aggregability respectively. 5) Platelet aggregation induced by $K^+-free$ PSS-treated bovine basilar artery was decreased by sodium nitroprusside in a dose-dependent manner, but not by either hydralazine. 6) Both dibutyryl cyclic AMP and 8-bromo cyclic GMP had the inhibitory action on the platelet aggregation. However, the latter had more prominent action than former. The antiaggregating effect by sodium nitroprusside was antagonized by pretreatment with methylene blue, but not by hemoglobin. These results provide the evidences for the therapeutic use of sodium nitroprusside in the emergency of cerebrovascular disease and in remains the further study of the clinical therapy with it.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.13 no.5
• /
• pp.41-50
• /
• 2009

Following an earthquake, the major concerns for damaged buildings are their safety/risk in the event of aftershocks, and thus a quantitative damage assessment must be performed in order to evaluate their residual seismic capacity and to identify necessary actions for the damaged buildings. Post-event damage evaluation is therefore as essential for the quick recovery of a damaged community as pre-event seismic evaluation and strengthening of vulnerable buildings. The objective of this study is to develop a post-earthquake seismic evaluation method for RC frames with URM infill wall for typical school buildings. For this purpose, full-scale, one-bay, single-story specimens having different axial loads in columns are tested under cyclic loadings. During the tests, residual crack widths, which can also be found in damaged buildings, are measured in order to estimate the residual seismic capacity from the observed damage. In this paper, the relationship between the measured residual crack width and the residual seismic capacity is discussed analytically and experimentally, and reduction factors are proposed to estimate the residual seismic capacity based on the observed damage level.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
• /
• v.9 no.6
• /
• pp.606-612
• /
• 2015

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Several medicinal properties of Smilax china L. have been studied including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer effects. However, the antiobesity activity and mechanism by which the water-soluble fraction of this plant mediates its effects are not clear. In the present study, we investigated the lipolytic actions of the water-soluble fraction of Smilax china L. leaf ethanol extract (wsSCLE) in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. MATERIALS/METHODS: The wsSCLE was identified by measuring the total polyphenol and flavonoid content. The wsSCLE was evaluated for its effects on cell viability, lipid accumulation, glycerol, and cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) contents. In addition, western blot analysis was used to evaluate the effects on protein kinase A (PKA), PKA substrates (PKAs), and hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL). For the lipid accumulation assay, 3T3-L1 adipocytes were treated with different doses of wsSCLE for 9 days starting 2 days post-confluence. In other cell experiments, mature 3T3-L1 adipocytes were treated for 24 h with wsSCLE. RESULTS: Results showed that treatment with wsSCLE at 0.05, 0.1, and 0.25 mg/mL had no effect on cell morphology and viability. Without evidence of toxicity, wsSCLE treatment decreased lipid accumulation compared with the untreated adipocyte controls as shown by the lower absorbance of Oil Red O stain. The wsSCLE significantly induced glycerol release and cAMP production in mature 3T3-L1 cells. Furthermore, protein levels of phosphorylated PKA, PKAs, and HSL significantly increased following wsSCLE treatment. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate that the potential antiobesity activity of wsSCLE is at least in part due to the stimulation of cAMP-PKA-HSL signaling. In addition, the wsSCLE-stimulated lipolysis induced by the signaling is mediated via activation of the ${\beta}$-adrenergic receptor.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
• /
• 2009.05a
• /
• pp.453-454
• /
• 2009

In this dissertation, experimental program was carried out to study the hysteretic behavior of the reinforced different floor type interior beam-column joint repeated cyclic loads under seismic actions. The test results was as follow. The reinforced interior beam-column joint, designed by the different floor type, was increased energy dissipation capacity and maximum load carrying capacity according to the increase of different floor in comparison to standard specimen. And it was also dissimilar to failure mode adjacent to joint region. energy dissipation capacity of each specimen, designed by the different floor type, was increased 1.1${\sim}$1.35 times in comparison to standard specimen.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.103-115
• /
• 2020

The cold-formed steel storage racks are extensively employed in various industries applications such as storing products in reliable places and storehouses before distribution to the market. Racking systems lose their stability under lateral loads, such as seismic actions due to the slenderness of elements and low ductility. This justifies a need for more investigation on methods to improve their behavior and increase their capacity to survive medium to severe loads. A standardized connection could be obtained through investigation on the moment resistance, value of original rotational stiffness, ductility, and failure mode of the connection. A total of six monotonic tests were carried out to determine the behavior of the connection of straight 2.0 mm, and 2.6 mm thickness connects to 5 lug end connectors. Then, the obtained results are benched mark as the original data. Furthermore, an extreme learning machine (ELM) technique has been employed to verify and predict both moment and rotation results. Out of 4 connections, increase the ultimate moment resistance of connection by 13% and 18% for 2.0 mm and 2.6 mm upright connection, respectively.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
• /
• v.26 no.6
• /
• pp.523-535
• /
• 2014

According to the capacity design concept underlying current steel seimsic provisions, the braces in concentrically braced frames should dissipate seismic energy through cyclic tension yielding and compression buckling. On the other hand, the beams and the columns in the braced bay should remain elastic for gravity load actions and additional column axial forces resulting from the brace buckling and yielding. However, due to the difficulty in accumulating the yielding and buckling-induced column forces from different stories, empirical and often conservative approaches have been used in design practice. Recently a totally different approach was proposed by Cho, Lee, and Kim (2011) for the prediction of column axial forces in inverted V-braced frames by explicitly considering brace buckling. The idea proposed in their study is extended to X-braced seismic frames which have structural member configurations and load transfer mechanism different from those of inverted V-braced frames. Especially, a more efficient rule is proposed in combining multi-mode effects on the column axial forces by using the modal-mass based weighting factor. The four methods proposed in this study are evaluated based on extensive inelastic dynamic analysis results.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.3-14
• /
• 2012

This paper describes experimental results on the seismic performance of SHCC (strain-hardening cement composite) infill wall for improving damage tolerance capacity of non-ductile frame. To investigate the effect of tensile strain capacity and cracking behavior of SHCC materials on the shear behavior of SHCC infill wall, three infill walls were fabricated and tested under cyclic loading. The test parameter in this study is a type of cement composites; concrete and SHCCs. The two types of SHCC materials were prepared for infill walls. In order to induce crack damages into the mid-span of the infill wall, each infill wall had two 100-mm-deep-notches on both sides. Test results indicated that SHCC infill walls showed superior crack control capacities and much larger drift ratios at the peak loads than RC (reinforced concrete) infill wall, as expected. In particular, due to the bridging actions of the reinforcing fibers, SHCC matrix used in this study would delay the stiffness degradation of infill wall after the first inclined cracking. Moreover, from the damage classes based on the cracks' maximum width in the infill walls, it was observed that PIW-SHD specimen possessed nearly threefold seismic capacities compared to PIW-SLD specimen. Also, from the results on the strain of diagonal reinforcements, it can be concluded that the SHCC matrix would resist a part of tensile stresses transferred along steel rebar in the infill wall.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
• /
• v.8 no.3
• /
• pp.153-159
• /
• 2004

The interstitial cells of Cajal (ICCs) are the pacemaker cells in gastrointestinal tract and generate electrical rhythmicity in gastrointestinal muscles. Therefore, ICC may be modulated by endogenous agents such as neurotransmitter, hormones, and prostaglandins (PGs). In the present study, we investigated the effects of prostaglandins, especially $PGE_2$, on pacemaker currents in cultured ICCs from murine small intestine by using whole-cell patch clamp techniques. ICCs generated spontaneous slow waves under voltage-clamp conditions and showed a mean amplitude of $-452{\pm}39\;pA$ and frequency of $18{\pm}2$ cycles/min (n=6). Treatments of the cells with $PGE_2$ $(1\;{\mu}M)$ decreased both the frequency and amplitude of the pacemaker currents and increased the resting currents in the outward direction. $PGE_2$ had only inhibitory effects on pacemaker currents and this inhibitory effect was dose-dependent. For characterization of specific membrane EP receptor subtypes, involved in the effects of $PGE_2$ on pacemaker currents in ICCs, EP receptor agonists were used: Butaprost $(1\;{\mu}M)$, $EP_2$ receptor agonist, reduced the spontaneous inward current frequency and amplitude in cultured ICCs (n=5). However sulprostone $(1\;{\mu}M)$, a mixed $EP_1$ and $EP_3$ agonist, had no effects on the frequency, amplitude and resting currents of pacemaker currents (n=5). SQ-22536 (an inhibitor of adenylate cyclase; $100\;{\mu}M$) and ODQ (an inhibitor of guanylate cyclase; $100\;{\mu}M$) had no effects on $PGE_2$ actions of pacemaker currents. These observations indicate that $PGE_2$ alter directly the pacemaker currents in ICCs, and that the $PGE_2$ receptor subtypes involved are the $EP_2$ receptor, independent of cyclic AMP- and GMP-dependent pathway.