• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.39-45
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• 2003

To investigate the changes of cortico-cortical connectivity during odor stimulation of subjects classified by occupations, the mutual information content of EEGs was examined, for general workers, perfume salespersons and professional perfume researchers. Analysis of the averaged-cross mutual information content (A-CMI) from the EEGs revealed that, among the professional perfume researchers,. changes in the A-CMI values during odor stimulation were more apparent in the frontal region of the brain, although for the general workers group and perfume salespersons group such changes were more conspicuous in the overall posterior temporal, parietal and frontal regions. These results indicate that the brains of professional perfume researchers respond to odors mainly in the frontal region, reflecting the function of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) due to the occupational requirement of these subjects to discriminate of identify odors. During odor stimulation, the perfume salespersons, although relatively more exposed to odors than the general workers, showed similar changes to the general workers. A-CMI value is in inverse proportion to psychological preferences of the professional perfume researchers and perfume salespersons, but this is not the case with the general workers. This suggests that functional coupling for people who are occupationally exposed to odors may be related to odors nay be related to psychological preference.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.308-312
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• 2012

Argon-plasma jet (Ar-PJ) is generated by ionizing Ar gas, and the resulting Ar-PJ consists of a mixture of neutral particles, positive ions, negative electrons, and various reactive species. Although Ar-PJ has been used in various biomedical applications, little is known about the biological effects on cells located near the plasma-exposed region. Here, we investigated the effects of the Ar-PJ on actin cytoskeleton of mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) in response to indirect as well as direct exposure to Ar-PJ. This Ar-PJ was generated at 500 mL/min of flow rate and 100 V electric power by our device mainly consisting of electrodes, dielectrics, and a high-voltage power supply. Because actin cytoskeleton is the key cellular machinery involved in cellular movement and is implicated in regulation of cancer metastasis and thus resulting in a highly desirable cancer therapeutic target, we examined the actin filament architectures in Ar-PJ-treated MEFs by staining with an actin-specific phalloidin labeled with fluorescent dye. Interestingly, the Ar-PJ treatment causes destabilization of actin filament architectures in the regions indirectly exposed to Ar-PJ, but no differences in MEFs treated with Ar gas alone and in untreated cell control, indicating that this phenomenon is a specific cellular response against Ar-PJ in the live cells, which are indirectly exposed to Ar-PJ. Collectively, our study raises the possibility that Ar-PJ may have potential as anti-cancer drug effect through direct destabilization of the actin cytoskeleton.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.169-178
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• 2020

The number of CT scans is increasing every year due to the improvement of the medical standards of the public, and thus the annual dose of medical radiation is also increasing. In this study, we evaluated the effective dose of the human body exposed to CT scans and estimated LAR. First, five region were selected from the CT diagnostic reference level guideline, and the effective dose of human body exposed to each examination was evaluated by clinical CT device. Second, the human organs and effective dose were calculated using the ALARA-CT program under the same conditions. Third, lifetime attributable risk (LAR) estimated by the effective dose exposed through the previous CT scan was estimated. As a result, the most effective dose was 21.18 mSv during the abdomen 4 phase scan, and the dose level was below DRL for all other tests except for the abdominal examination. As a result of evaluating effective dose using a dose calculation program under the same conditions, the results showed about 1.1 to 1.9 times higher results for each examination. In the case of organ dose, the closer the organ to the scan site, the higher the scattering ray. The lifetime attributable risk to CT radiation dose in adults was gradually decreased with age, and the results were somewhat different according to gender.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.311-318
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• 2014

PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonate) is one of the perflourinated organic compound, which persist as a residual compound in the coastal environments. Intertidal mud crab Macrophthalmus japonicus mainly inhabits in coastal and bay ecosystems in Indo-Pacific region including Korea and reflects to environmental changes. In the present study, M. japonicus were exposed to different concentrations of PFOS and various ecotoxicological end-points such as survival rate, elimination of appendages, changes of the crust and internal organ color changes were investigated. Interestingly, the PFOS exposure showed concentration-dependent decrease of survival rate. High PFOS exposure ($30{\mu}gL^{-1}$) showed a low survival rate of 24% at 168 hours. Further, in comparison with the controls, the rate of elimination of appendages was also considerably increased in a time dependent manner upon PFOS exposure. Notably, with progression of time, an increased exposure to PFOS, test species showed whitening effect in a concentration-dependent manner, whereas the crab crust color was unchanged in the control. In addition, change in internal organs color and their visibility (clarity) observed in PFOS exposed crabs compared to control. Taken together, we suggest, eco-toxicology end-points of M. japonicus exposed to PFOS gave important biological information which could be useful to identify toxic contamination in the marine benthic environments.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.11
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• pp.1573-1582
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• 2015

This study was to investigate the effect of soyabean isoflavones (SIF) on onset of puberty, serum hormone concentration, and gene expression in hypothalamus, pituitary and ovary of female Bama miniature pigs. Fifty five, 35-days old pigs were randomly assigned into 5 treatment groups consisting of 11 pigs per treatment. Results showed that dietary supplementation of varying dosage (0, 250, 500, and 1,250 mg/kg) of SIF induced puberty delay of the pigs with the age of puberty of pigs fed basal diet supplemented with 1,250 mg/kg SIF was significantly higher (p<0.05) compared to control. Supplementation of SIF or estradiol valerate (EV) reduced (p<0.05) serum gonadotrophin releasing hormone and luteinizing hormone concentration, but increased follicle-stimulating hormone concentration in pigs at 4 months of age. The expression of KiSS-1 metastasis-suppressor (KISS1), steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR) and 3-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase/delta-5-delta-4 isomerase ($3{\beta}-HSD$) was reduced (p<0.01) in SIF-supplemented groups. Expression of gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor in the pituitary of miniature pigs was reduced (p<0.05) compared to the control when exposed to 250, 1,250 mg/kg SIF and EV. Pigs on 250 mg/kg SIF and EV also showed reduced (p<0.05) expression of cytochrome P450 19A1 compared to the control. Our results indicated that dietary supplementation of SIF induced puberty delay, which may be due to down-regulation of key genes that play vital roles in the synthesis of steroid hormones.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.530-536
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• 2019

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most incurable brain cancer derived from the transformed glial cells. Standard anti-GBM treatment, including surgery and chemoradiotherapy, does not ensure good prognosis for the patients with GBM, because successful therapy is often impeded by presence of glioma stem cells (GSCs). GSCs, which is generally divided into proneural (PN) and mesenchymal (MES) subtype, are understood as subpopulation of cancer cells responsible for GBM initiation, progression and recurrence after standard treatments. In the present study, we demonstrate that PN subtype GSCs differentially transit to MES subtype GSCs by specific cytokines. The expression of CD44, a marker of MES subtype GSCs, was observed when GSC11 PN subtype GSCs were exposed to tumor necrosis factor alpha ($TNF-{\alpha}$) cytokine and GSC23 PN subtype GSCs were treated to transforming growth factor beta 1 ($TGF-{\beta}1$) cytokine. Ivy glioblastoma atlas project (Ivy GAP) bioinformatics database showed that $TNF-{\alpha}$ and $TGF-{\beta}1$ were highly expressed in necrotic region and perivascular region, respectively. In addition, $TNF-{\alpha}$ signaling was relatively upregulated in necrotic region, while $TGF-{\beta}$ signaling was increased in perivascular region. Taken together, our observations suggest that MES subtype GSCs can be derived from various PN subtype GSCs by multimodal cytokine stimuli provided by neighboring tumor microenvironment.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.53-60
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• 2024

Compressive strength in concrete has many affecting parameters and varies with exposure conditions. Although the concrete has same mix proportions, its properties are different with exposure conditions, and sea-environment can be classified into three groups such as tidal, atmospheric, and sea submerged region particularly. In this study, compressive strength was evaluated on 7-year-cured concrete and the results from previous equations (KDS, ACI, CEB, and JSCE) were compared with them. Furthermore the strength and carbonation progress were evaluated on concrete cured for 7 years exposed to three different sea environment. Three levels of w/c (water to cement) ratio (0.37, 0.42, and 0.47) and three different exposure conditions (tidal, atmospheric, and submerged) were considered. The results from wet-cured condition are all higher than those from the previously proposed equations, and the results from different sea exposure conditions (tidal, atmospheric, and submerged region) were lower than those from wet-cured condition. A reduction of strength was evaluated with increasing w/c ratio and the minimum strength was evaluated in the sea-submerged conditions. Several experimental constants applicable to the previous equations were obtained from regression analysis since the strength change with w/c ratios were not considered in those equations. Regarding carbonation depth with different exposure conditions, higher carbonation depth clearly was observed with increasing w/c ratios, and evaluated in the order of atmospheric, submerged, and tidal region. Considerable carbonation depth was observed in submerged and tidal region due to sulfate ion and dissloved carbon dioxide as well.

• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.281-283
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• 2002

S-modulin in frog or its bovine homologue, recoverin, is a 26 kDa EF-hand $Ca^{2+}$-binding protein found in rod photoreceptors. The $Ca^{2+}$ -bound form of S-modulin binds to rhodopsin kinase (Rk) and inhibits its activity. Through this regulation, S-modulin is believed to modulate the light-sensitivity of a rod. In the present study, we tried to identify the interaction site of the $Ca^{2+}$ -bound form of S-modulin to Rk. First, we mapped roughly the interaction regions by using partial peptides of S-modulin. The result suggested that a specific region near the amino terminus is the interaction site of S- modulin. We then identified the essential amino acid residues in this region by using S-modulin mutant proteins: four amino acid residues were suggested to interact with Rk. These residues are located in a small closed pocket in the $Ca^{2+}$-free, inactive form of S-modulin, but exposed to the surface of the molecules in the $Ca^{2+}$ -bound, active form of S-modulin. Two additional amino acid residues were found to be crucial for the $Ca^{2+}$ -dependent conformational changes of S-modulin. The present study firstly identified the functional site of S-modulin, a member of a neuronal calcium sensor protein family.in family..

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.97-101
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• 2016

Lyme disease is a tick-borne zoonotic infectious disease caused by Borrelia burgdorferi. The present study assessed the infection status of B. burgdorferi among horses reared in Korea using ELISA and PCR. Between 2009 and 2013, blood samples were collected from 727 horses throughout Korea. Data for each animal including age, gender, breed, and region of sample collection were used for epidemiological analysis. Overall, 38 (5.2%; true prevalence: 5.5%) of 727 horses were seropositive by ELISA. There were statistically significant differences according to breed and region (P<0.001) whose differences might be attributed to the ecology of vector ticks and climate conditions. Using 2 nested PCR, none of the samples tested positive for B. burgdorferi. Thus, a positive ELISA result can indicate only that the tested horse was previously exposed to B. burgdorferi, with no certainty over the time of exposure. Since global warming is likely to increase the abundance of ticks in Korea, continuous monitoring of tick-borne diseases in Korean horses is needed.

• The Journal of Korea Institute of Information, Electronics, and Communication Technology
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.526-533
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• 2016

The researches protecting user's location in location-based services(LBS) have received much attention. Especially k-anonymity is the most popular privacy preservation method. k-anonymization means that it selects k-1 other dummies or clients to make the cloaking region. This reduced the probability of the query issuer's location being exposed to untrusted parties to 1/k. But query's location may expose to adversary when k-1 dummies are concentrated in query's location or there is dummy in where query can not exist. Therefore, we proposed the dummy system model and algorithm taking the real environment into account to protect user's location privacy. And we proved the efficiency of our method in terms of experiment result.