• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.883-902
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• 2023

Water is critical to the health and productivity of fruit trees. Efficient monitoring of water stress is essential for optimizing irrigation practices and ensuring sustainable fruit production. Short-range sensing can be reliable, rapid, inexpensive, and used for applications based on well-developed and validated algorithms. This paper reviews the recent advancement in fruit tree water stress detection via short-range sensing, which can be used for irrigation scheduling in orchards. Thermal imagery, near-infrared, and shortwave infrared methods are widely used for crop water stress detection. This review also presents research demonstrating the efficacy of short-range sensing in detecting water stress indicators in different fruit tree species. These indicators include changes in leaf temperature, stomatal conductance, chlorophyll content, and canopy reflectance. Short-range sensing enables precision irrigation strategies by utilizing real-time data to customize water applications for individual fruit trees or specific orchard areas. This approach leads to benefits, such as water conservation, optimized resource utilization, and improved fruit quality and yield. Short-range sensing shows great promise for potentially changing water stress monitoring in fruit trees. It could become a useful tool for effective fruit tree water stress management through continued research and development.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.360-363
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• 2006

Efficacy of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria(PGPR) Bacillus vallismortis strain EXTN-1 has been proved in eliciting induced systemic resistance(ISR) in several crops. The present paper described the beneficial effects of EXTN-1 in potato as increase in yield and chlorophyll content, and plant protection against Potato Virus Y and X(PVY & PVX). EXTN-1 induced systemic resistance to the plants resulting in significant disease suppression in the field. Also the plants under treatment with EXTN-1 had higher chlorophyll content. The bacterized plants had significantly higher yields over the untreated control plants. The strain induced activation of defense genes, PR-1a and PDF 1.2 in transgenic tobacco model, which indicated the possible role of both SA, and JA pathways in EXTN-1 mediated plant protection against crop diseases.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.71-78
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• 2017

BMP-2 is a well-known TGF-beta related growth factor, having a significant role in bone and cartilage formation. It has been employed to promote bone formation in some clinical trials, and to differentiate mesenchymal stem cells into osteoblasts. However, it is difficult to obtain this protein in its soluble and active form. hBMP-2 is expressed as an inclusion body in the bacterial system. To continuously supply hBMP-2 for research, we optimized the refolding of recombinant hBMP-2 expressed in E. coli, and established an efficient method by using detergent and alkali. Using a heparin column, the recombinant hBMP-2 was purified with the correct refolding. Although combinatorial refolding remarkably enhanced the solubility of the inclusion body, a higher yield of active dimer form of hBMP-2 was obtained from one-step refolding with detergent. The refolded recombinant hBMP-2 induced alkaline phosphatase activity in mouse myoblasts, at $ED_{50}$ of 300-480ng/ml. Furthermore, the expressions of osteogenic markers were upregulated in hPDLSCs and hDPSCs. Therefore, using the process described in this study, the refolded hBMP-2 might be cost-effectively useful for various differentiation experiments in a laboratory.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.434-444
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• 2021

BRAF inhibitors are insufficient monotherapies for BRAF-mutated cancer; therefore, we investigated which inhibitory pathway would yield the most effective therapeutic approach when targeted in combination with BRAF inhibition. The oncogenic BRAF inhibitor, PLX4720, increased basal autophagic flux in BRAF-mutated cells compared to wild-type (WT) BRAF cells. Interestingly, early autophagy inhibition improved the effectiveness of PLX4720 regardless of BRAF mutation, whereas late autophagy inhibition did not. Although ATG5 knockout led to PLX4720 resistance in both WT and BRAF-mutated cells, the MEK inhibitor trametinib exhibited a synergistic effect on PLX4720 sensitivity in WT BRAF cells but not in BRAF-mutated cells. Conversely, the prolonged inhibition of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress reduced basal autophagy in BRAF-mutated cells, thereby increasing PLX4720 sensitivity. Taken together, our results suggest that the combined inhibition of ER stress and BRAF may simultaneously suppress both pro-survival ER stress and autophagy, and may therefore be suitable for treatment of BRAF-mutated tumors whose autophagy is increased by chronic ER stress. Similarly, for WT BRAF tumors, therapies targeting MEK signaling may be a more effective treatment strategy. Together, this study presents a rational combination treatment strategy to improve the efficacy of BRAF inhibitors depending on BRAF mutation status.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.249-255
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• 2008

In this study we investigated the biological activities of Crataegi Fructus, including antioxidative, fibrinolytic, $\alpha$-glucosidase inhibitory, and thrombin inhibitory activities. Crataegi Fructus, hot water extract was fractionated into hexane, $CHCLl_3$, ethyl acetate, butanol, and water fractions, and each of these was assayed individually. The water fraction showed the highest extraction yield at 4.08% (w/w). The antioxidative activities of the water, ethyl acetate, and butanol fractions were 31.07%, 45.87%, 50.28%, and 91.74%, respectively. Assays for fibrinolytic activity indicated that only the butanol fraction has significant efficacy at 1.93 plasmin units/ml. Thrombin inhibitory assays indicated that the 10-fold dilutions of the $CHCLl_3$, ethyl acetate, and butanol fractions had inhibitory activities of 34.97%, 41.43%, and 58.10%, respectively. The 10-fold dilutions of the only ethyl acetate fraction demonstrated $\alpha$-glucosidase inhibitory activities of 75.07%. From the above results, we propose that extracts of Crataegi Fructus can be used as a material for the development of biofunctional foods.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.104-111
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• 2010

The complete avoidance of cavitation, as a result of gap flow between the fixed and movable portion of a horn type rudder system, is difficult. To reduce gap flow, it is a common practice to attach a half round prismatic bar that protrudes beyond the concave surface of the horn facing the gap and laid along the centerplane of the rudder. However the employment of such a device does not always yield satisfactory results. Previously, the authors have shown that a pair of blocking bars, attached on the convex surface of the movable portion, better enhance the blocking ability of gap flow to that of a single centre bar installed on the concave surface. This also circumvents difficulties that might occur in practical applications. In the present study, a series of numerical computations show that flow injected into the gap of a rudder may also block the flow within, without employment of any physical devices, such as a half circular bar. This study also shows that the combination of flow injection and blocking bars may result in the synergic augmentation of blocking efficiency of gap flow, as demonstrated in computations for a three dimensional rudder system.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.669-683
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• 2003

The stochastic optimal nonlinear control of coupled adjacent building structures is studied based on the stochastic dynamical programming principle and the stochastic averaging method. The coupled structures with control devices under random seismic excitation are first condensed to form a reduced-order structural model for the control analysis. The stochastic averaging method is applied to the reduced model to yield stochastic differential equations for structural modal energies as controlled diffusion processes. Then a dynamical programming equation for the energy processes is established based on the stochastic dynamical programming principle, and solved to determine the optimal nonlinear control law. The seismic response mitigation of the coupled structures is achieved through the structural energy control and the dimension of the optimal control problem is reduced. The seismic excitation spectrum is taken into account according to the stochastic dynamical programming principle. Finally, the nonlinear controlled structural response is predicted by using the stochastic averaging method and compared with the uncontrolled structural response to evaluate the control efficacy. Numerical results are given to demonstrate the response mitigation capabilities of the proposed stochastic optimal control method for coupled adjacent building structures.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.67 no.2
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• pp.131-136
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• 2022

This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and phytotoxic of crop desiccant treatments on the seed production of Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) in Gimje and Buan, South Korea. Here, Italian ryegrass was treated 7, 10, and 14 days before harvest (DBH) and no difference in fresh weight, 1000-seed weight, germination rate, and seed yield was observed compared to the untreated control in the standard dose and double dose for seven DBH. However, the standard dose and double dose on the 10 DBH and 14 DBH had a lower 1000-seed weight, germination rate, and seed yield compared to the untreated control. In pesticide persistence analysis, the permitted standards were not exceeded in the seeds and straw according to the treatment time and concentration. These results suggest that the treatment effect and stability of Italian ryegrass can be expected if treated within seven DBH. However, it seems that crop desiccants should be used after considering grain ripening and weather to minimize loss of seeds.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.46-54
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• 2007

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cytology is an effective tool for evaluating diseases involving the central nervous system, but this technique is usually limited by its low cellularity and poor cellular preservation. Here we compared the manual liquid-base $Liqui-PREP^{TM}$ (LP) to the cytospin (CS) with using a mononuclear cell suspension and we applied both methods to the CSFs of pediatric leukemia patients. The cytopresevability, in terms of cell yield and cell size, and the clinical efficacy were evaluated. When 2000 and 4000 mononuclear cells were applied, LP was superior to CS for the cell yield, 16.8% vs 1.7% (P=0.001) and 26.2% vs 3.5% (P=0.002), respectively. The mean size of the smeared cells was 10.60 ${\mu}m$ in the CS, 5.01 ${\mu}m$ in the LP and 6.50 ${\mu}m$ in the direct smear (DS), and the size ratio was 1.7 (CS to DS), 0.8(LP to DS) and 2.1 (CS to LP), respectively. As compared to the cells in the DS, the cells in the CS were significantly enlarged, but those in the LP were slightly shrunken. Upon application to 109 CSF samples, 4 were diagnosed as positive for leukemia (positive), 4 had atypical cells and 101 were negative by CS; 6 were positive, one had atypical cells and 102 were negative by LP. For six cases, in which 4 were positive for leukemia and 2 of 4 had atypical cells by CS, they were positive by LP and they were also confirmed as positive according to the follow-up study. Three cases diagnosed as atypical cells (two by CS and one by LP), were confirmed as negative. In conclusion, these results suggest that LP is superior to CS for the cytopresevability and for rendering a definite diagnosis of cerebrospinal fluid.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.183-190
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• 1985

To determine anti-lodging effect of paclobutrazol and its influence on yield of rice, paclobutrazol was applied at 12 and 18g ai/10a to cv. Nakdongbyeo and cv. Seomjinbyeo 20, 15, and 10 days before heading under 12 and 20kg/10a nitrogen conditions. 1. Paclobutrazol reduced internode length of rice, especially internode N3. Higher suppression of stem of both cultivars and reduction of ear length in cv. Nakdongbyeo were observed when paclohutrazol was applied at 18g ai/10a 15 and 20 days before heading. 2. Paclobutrazol increased culm cross-section area, culm diameter, linear density and stem flexure resistance which affected anti-lodging efficacy. Although actual lodging was not occurred in field, less stem inclination was observed at paclobutrazol treated plots. 3. There were significant correlation between stem flexure resistance and culm cross-section area, culm diameter and linear density, and negative correlation between straw inclination angle and culm cross-section area and culm diameter. 4. Slight yield reduction was observed when paclobutrazol was applied at 18g ai/10a 20 days before heading. However, when paclobutrazol was applied at 12g ai/10a 10 and 15 days before heading, rice yield was not decreased compared to untreated control.