• BMB Reports
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.334-341
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• 2001

Even though three isotypes of thioredoxins (-f, -m and -h types) have been identified in a variety of plant cells, there are only a few reports on thioredoxin-h that were recently identified. In this study, a cDNA encoding a h-type of thioredoxin was isolated from a cDNA library of Chinese cabbage, and named here CTrx-h. An open reading frame of the gene contained a polypeptide of 133 amino acids with a conserved active center, WCGPC, which appeared in all of the thioredoxin proteins. A deduced amino acid sequence of the CTrx-h showed the highest sequence identity with those of Arabidopsis thioredoxin-h2 (75.2%) and thioredoxin-h5 (46.6%) proteins, but it shared a low sequence homology to other isotypes of plant thioredoxinm and thioredoxin-f. The CTrx-h protein that is expressed in E. coli represented not only an insulin reduction activity, but also electron transferring activity from NADPH to thioredoxin-dependent peroxidase. A genomic Southern blot analysis using the cDNA insert of CTrx-h revealed that the gene consisted of a small multigene family in Chinese cabbage genome. On the contrary to other thioredoxin-h proteins that were widely distributed in most tissues of the plant, the CTrx-h was predominantly expressed in flowers. The expression was very low in other tissues. The data of the Northern blot analysis suggests that the CTrx-h may have other functions in flower development or differentiation, in addition to its defensive role.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.295-301
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• 2011

Aquaporin is a water channel protein, which is classified as Major Intrinsic Protein (MIP), found in almost all organisms from bacteria to human. To date, more than 200 members of this family were identified. There are two major categories of MIP channels, orthodox aquaporins and aquaglyceroporins, which facilitate the diffusion across biological membranes of water or glycerol and other uncharged compounds, respectively. The full genome sequencing of various fungal species revealed 3 to 5 aquaporins in their genome. Although some functions of aquaporins found in yeast were characterized, however, no functional characteristics were studied so far in filamentous fungi, including Aspergillus sp. In this study, one orthodox aquaporin homolog gene, aqpA, and four aquaglyceroporin homologs, aqpB-E, in a model filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans were identified and the function of the aqpA gene was characterized. Knock-out of the aqpA gene didn't show any obvious phenotypic change under the osmotic stress, indicating that the function of the gene does not involved in the osmotic stress response or the function could be redundant. However, the mutant showed antifungal susceptibility resistance phenotype, suggesting that the function of the aqpA gene could be involved in sensing the antifungal substances rather than the osmotic stress response.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.475-483
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• 2019

The use of stem cells in cell-based therapy has attracted extensive interest in the field of regenerative medicine, and it has been applied to numerous incurable diseases due to the inherent abilities of self-renewal and differentiation. However, there still exist some severe obstacles, such as requirement of cell expansion before the treatment, and low survival at the treated site. To overcome these disadvantages of stem cells, we used the carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule 6 (CEACAM 6) gene, which functions to increase cell-cell interaction as well as anti-apoptosis. We first confirmed whether CEACAM 6 is expressed in various cell lines at the protein level (including in stem cells), followed by evaluating and selecting the optimal transfection conditions into stem cells. The CEACAM 6 gene was transfected into stem cells to prolong cell survival and preserve from damage by oxidative stress. After confirming the CEACAM 6 expression in transfected stem cells, the cell survival was assessed under oxidative condition by exposing to hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) to mimic the chronic environment-induced cellular damage. CEACAM 6 expressing stem cells show increased cell viability compared to the non-CEACAM 6 expressing cells. We propose that the application of the CEACAM 6 gene is a potential option, capable of expanding and enhancing the therapeutic effects of stem cells.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.501-508
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• 2017

Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are multifunctional cytokines that play important roles in a variety of cellular functions. Among BMP family members, BMP2 efficiently promotes osteoblast differentiation through Smad-mediated runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2) expression. Several recent studies suggest that BMPs are associated with clock genes, in particular Bmal1. Bmal1 protein heterodimerizes with Clock protein and then induces period 1 (Per1) expression. However, the role of Per1 on osteoblast differentiation remains unclear. In this study, we investigated whether Per1 is involved in osteoblast differentiation. MC3T3-E1 cells were treated with BMP2 for induction of osteoblastic differentiation. Osteogenic maker gene and Per1 mRNA expression were measured using real-time PCR. Interestingly, BMP2 treatment induced Per1 mRNA expression in MC3T3-E1 cells. To further investigate the function of Per1 on osteoblast differentiation, MC3T3-E1 cells were transiently transfected with pCMV-Per1. Per1 overexpression increased Runx2 mRNA and protein levels. Also, mRNA expression and promoter activity of osteocalcin were upregulated by Per1 overexpression. To investigate the effect of interaction between Per1 and osteogenic condition, MC3T3-E1 cells were cultured in osteogenic medium containing ascorbic acid and ${\beta}$-glycerophosphate. Osteogenic medium-induced ALP staining level and mineralization were synergistically increased by overexpression of Per1. Taken together, these results demonstrate that Per1 is a positive regulator of osteoblast differentiation.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.297-303
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• 2019

This study examines the relationships among ego resilience, social support, and psychological well-being of adolescents. In addition, we verify the mediation effect of social support on the relationship between ego resilience and psychological well-being so as to find ways to improve the psychological well-being of adolescents. For this study, I conducted a survey at middle schools in Seoul and Incheon and collected 289 answered questionnaires. For analyses of the survey results, frequency analysis, reliability analysis, correlation analysis, and hierarchical regression analysis were carried out using SPSS 23.0. The results confirmed significant correlations among ego resilience, social support, and psychological well-being of adolescents. Furthermore, social support was found to have a partial mediation effect on the relationship between ego resilience and psychological well-being of adolescents. For improving the psychological well-being of adolescents based on the results of this study, an in-depth counseling program that can strengthen ego resilience in adolescents should be developed and actively used in the education field. Furthermore, various efforts should be made to improve the social support of adolescents, such as the development of a communication program to help students. Specifically, this program should aim to assist students connect with teachers and seniors by strengthening social support from friends and improving the functions of family to provide social and psychological supports.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.83-91
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• 2010

In accordance with the analysis results on the questionnaires, in the awareness of employees on a public health center, the answer "I can make every endeavor for the success of public health center organization" showed the highest score as $4.07{\pm}0.75$. The awareness on the organization where a subject was included was higher than the average out of a 7 points. It showed the subjects were sincere to the missions and duties of the organizations where they were included. For the awareness on the work environment, the subjects who considered that their workplace was comfortable were higher than the average. The duties which the subjects recognized as the necessary duties among health businesses include health behavior improvement project, disease control project, customized visiting health care project, maternal and child health care, family health care and infectious disease control project. The duties which were considered as unnecessary among health care projects were general care functions, administrative businesses including issuance of certificates and various kinds of civil application processing. The projects which were considered to be reinforced or implemented in the future were health care project for the old, patients registration and care project including hypertension and diabetes and health promotion project in that order.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.527-536
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to explore the components of the geriatric robot pet, which might be helpful in caring for elderly people in the future. Focus group interview-with two focus groups-was performed between August 2014 and December 2014. Study participants were 13 geriatric experts from nursing, medicine, social work, and physical/occupational therapy. All interview data were transcribed, followed by debriefing and a qualitative content analysis. Three main themes emerged: acknowledgment of the usefulness of geriatric robot pet, establishment of elderly-centered appearance, and the functions of the robot pet to meet the needs of elders and family members. The robot pet was considered to be useful to elders who live alone since they can benefit from companionship and care provided by the robot pet. Geriatric robot pet needs to be manageable in size and weight, like a small dog. Moreover, a function that allows for interaction with and monitoring the elderly would be beneficial. The baseline elements that could guide further development of contents for the Korean geriatric robot pet were proposed from the results of FGI. Studies that validate these elements are necessary.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.453-466
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• 2022

This study attempted to examine the role of gender roles in psychological distress of Korean adult men. Specifically, it was attempted to verify whether compliance with multidimensional male gender roles predicts psychological distress through gender role conflict. To this end, this study was conducted on 358 male participants aged 19 to 39 using the Korean Conformity to Masculine Norm Inventory, Korean Male Gender Role Conflict Scale, and General Health Questionnaire. As a result of the study, it was found that the influence on psychological distress through male gender role conflict was different depending on the sub-factors of the male gender norm. The sub-factors of masculine norms, 'power and control', 'job - independence', and 'emotion suppression', were statically predicted psychological distress through the medium of 'fear for femininity', which is a sub-factor of gender role conflict. Meanwhile, among the male norms, 'male leadership' and 'family support' had negative direct effects on psychological distress, and the indirect effects through gender role conflict were not significant. The results of this study suggest that the sub-factors of male norms have different functions for psychological distress, and in particular, the dysfunctional role of male norms can be caused by negative emotions about femininity during gender role conflict.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.364-375
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• 2016

Post-translational modification is an efficient process to rapidly transduce external stimulus into cellular response. Ubiquitination is a typical post-translational modification which is a highly conserved process in eukaryotes. UPS (Ubiquitin/Proteasome System) mediated by the ubiquitination is to target diverse cellular proteins for degradation. Among E3 ubiquitin ligases that function as the key determinant for substrate recognition, CRL (cullin–RING E3 ubiquitin ligase) is the largest family and forms the complex composed of cullin, RBX1, adaptor and substrate receptor. Although CRL1, also known as SCF complex, has been widely researched for its biological role, the functional studies of CRL4 have been relatively elusive. In Arabidopsis, there are 119 substrate receptors named DCAF (DDB1 CUL4 Associated Factor) proteins for CRL4 and a fraction of DCAF proteins have been identified for their potential functions so far. In this paper, current understanding on structure and biological roles of plant CRL4 complexes in a diverse of cellular events is reviewed, especially focusing on CRL4 substrate receptors. Moreover, the regulatory mechanism of CRL4’s activity is also introduced. These studies will be helpful to further understand the signal transduction pathways in which such CRL4 complexes are involved and give a clue to establish the action network of entire CRL4 complexes in plants.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.27 no.8
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• pp.49-59
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• 2022

In this paper, we designed a new enzyme function prediction model PSCREM based on a study that compared and evaluated CNN and LSTM/GRU models, which are the most widely used deep learning models in the field of predicting functions and structures using protein sequences in 2020, under the same conditions. Sequence evolution information was used to preserve detailed patterns which would miss in CNN convolution, and the relationship information between amino acids with functional significance was extracted through overlapping RNNs. It was referenced to feature map production. The RNN family of algorithms used in small CNN-RNN models are LSTM algorithms and GRU algorithms, which are usually stacked two to three times over 100 units, but in this paper, small RNNs consisting of 10 and 20 units are overlapped. The model used the PSSM profile, which is transformed from protein sequence data. The experiment proved 86.4% the performance for the problem of predicting the main classes of enzyme number, and it was confirmed that the performance was 84.4% accurate up to the sub-sub classes of enzyme number. Thus, PSCREM better identifies unique patterns related to protein function through overlapped RNN, and Overlapped RNN is proposed as a novel methodology for protein function and structure prediction extraction.