• Natural Product Sciences
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• 제20권1호
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• pp.44-50
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• 2014

Laurus nobilis (L. nobilis) is traditionally used as an herbal medicine to treat various diseases. Ethanol (EtOH) consumption entails physiological, mental and psychomotor alterations. The aim of the present study was to assess the effects of L. nobilis in attenuating the EtOH-induced psychomotor alterations. L. nobilis was administered to SD rats, 30 minutes before EtOH administration (4 g/kg), at doses of 25, 50 and 100 mg/kg. Evaluations of psychomotor activity in the open-field, accelerating rota-rod, wire, and swimming ability were done at 1, 2, 4 and 8 hours after EtOH administration. In addition, blood ethanol and acetaldehyde levels were also measured. Pre-treatment of L. nobilis significantly improved EtOH-induced psychomotor alterations and decreased blood ethanol and acetaldehyde levels. These findings suggest that L. nobilis might be an effective substance to attenuate the harmful effects of EtOH, particularly psychomotor alterations, and can potentially be considered as a functional food.

• 한국강구조학회 논문집
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• 제25권5호
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• pp.543-553
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• 2013

춤이 깊은 골형 데크는 그 단면의 형태가 개방형 단면(개단면(開斷面))으로 단면의 불안정성에 의한 휨비틀림 등의 구조적 문제를 일으킬 수 있다. 박판의 냉간성형강인 데크와 캡플레이트의 접합에 사용되는 연결재(파스너)는 볼트, 리벳, 용접 그리고 나사 접합이 있다. 이 연구는 냉간성형강을 사용한 춤이 깊은 데크와 보강용 캡플레이트간의 직결나사 접합부에 관한 실험적 연구로, 직결나사 접합부의 파괴거동과 최대내력에 영향을 주는 직결나사 배치방법, 직결나사 수, 직결나사 간격 그리고 직결나사 머리밑판의 두께변화를 실험변수로 하여 국외 설계기준식 비교 분석하고자 한다.

• 대한지역사회영양학회지
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• 제18권3호
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• pp.269-282
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• 2013

This study was carried out to investigate bone mineral density (BMD), blood pressure, calcium, sodium intake and related biochemical variables, and to analyze the relationship between BMD, and blood pressure, physical characteristics, nutrient intakes of Korean adult women. The study subjects were 30~80years old, 513 women living in Seoul and Kyunggi area who participated in 2011 KNHANES. The study subjects were divided into three BMD groups; normal, n = 259 (50.4%), osteopenia, n = 169 (32.9%), and osteoporosis, n = 85 (16.7%). Average height and weight and fat free mass decreased with a decrease in BMD. Average BMD of normal, osteopenia, osteoporosis were 0.87, 0.79, $0.70g/cm^2$, and T-score were 0.42, -0.66, -1.62, respectively. Higher systolic blood pressure, alkaline phosphatase, and triglyceride were significantly associated with a decrease in the BMD. The rates of hypertension were significantly increased from normal to osteoporosis. i.e. 18.5% in normal, 34.3% in osteopenia and 63.5% in osteoporosis. Average nutrientintakes such as protein, fat, calcium, phosphorus, iron, sodium, potassium, vitamin A, vitamin B, vitamin B2, and vitamin C were significantly lower in subjects with lower BMD.n. Average calcium intake of normal, osteopernia and osteoporosis were 528.50, 416.96, 389.56 mg, respectively. There were significant negative correlations between calcium, phosphorus and age, systolic blood pressure, triglyceride. Also, there were negative correlation systolic blood pressure (incomplete sentence). In this study, we found low BMD according to low calcium intake increase the risk of osteoporosis and hypertension rather than sodium intake, also calcium intake decreased with increase age. Therefore, in order to prevent osteoporosis and hypertension, subjects need to be educated regarding the importance of calcium nutrients in diet.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제22권11호
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• pp.1594-1608
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• 2009

Research on barley as an animal feed started some decades ago but its utilization in animal production has been limited to countries that grow the crop extensively. Corn has been the most popular energy feed in cattle rations, but the high price of corn and the decreased supply of the grain in the international market have shifted the focus of the animal industry to other cereal crops like barley. Studies have indicated that growth performance of cattle fed barley-based diets has been generally comparable with that of those fed corn-based diets, while results for cattle fed whole-crop barley silage have been more variable. Beef from cattle fed barley-based diets has proved to be as tender and as acceptable for taste as that from animals fed other finishing diets when compared at similar growth rates and degree of finish. The barley crop contains good amounts of antioxidants like 2"O-GIV isovitexin, so from the meat science point of view, a desirable influence of these components on meat quality traits such as meat color, oxidative stability and sensory characteristics might be expected. Furthermore, the effect of the distinctive fatty acid profile of beef fed from whole-crop barley silage on sensory traits is also an important subject to be elucidated. A lot of studies have been made over past decades on the effect of barley, and especially whole crop barley, on beef cattle production and meat quality, but these data have not been collectively documented in a review. The current review re-visits previous literature to underline the effects of barley in the diet on beef quality traits and to identify areas for further studies.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• 제14권2호
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• pp.234-238
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• 2001

Percutaneous laser discectomy has potential advantages over conservative therapy and classical open surgery as a minimally invasive procedure, although clinical experiences are limited. We experienced a patient treated with herniated lumbar discs using Nd：YAG laser. A 55-year-old woman complained of severe back pain with sciatica on L4/5 and L5/S1 dermatome for several months. The MRI finding showed bulging discs at L4/5 and L5/S1. Epidural, transsacral and root block treatments were attempted without effect. Under fluoroscopic guidance, a 14 G biopsy needle was inserted into the L4/5 and L5/S1 disc spaces to the margin of the nucleus pulposus. Laser irradiation for vaporization of tissue was performed at 20 W/second to 1200 J. A laser fiber ($600{\mu}m$) was advanced 1 cm from the tip of the needle. At the end of the procedure, the patient began to feel relief of pain (VAS changed from 9 to 4) and was discharged the same day after staying 2 hours in the recovery room. Antibiotics were administered for prevention of discitis. She had no complaints of pain until the 1-month follow up visit. Percutaneous laser discetomy technique has the disadvantages of expensive equipment, high temperature and amount of vaporing disc tissue is empirical. However, this technique, as one of the therapeutic modalities for disc herniation, provides faster relief from acute attack than conservative management techniques in carefully selected patients with sciatica due to disc prolapse.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• 제8권1호
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• pp.6-11
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• 2020

The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of a two-terminal tandem solar cell depends upon the tunnel-recombination junction (TRJ) between the top and bottom sub-cells. An optimized TRJ in a tandem cell helps improve its open-circuit voltage (V_oc), short-circuit current density (J_sc), fill factor (FF), and efficiency (PCE). One of the parameters that affect the TRJ is the buffer layer thickness. Therefore, we investigated various TRJs by varying the thickness of the buffer or intermediate layer (TRJ-buffer) in between the highly doped p-type and n-type layers of the TRJ. The TRJ-buffer layer was p-type nc-Si:H, with a doping of 0.06%, an activation energy (E_a) of 43 meV, an optical gap (E_g) of 2.04 eV, and its thickness was varied from 0 nm to 125 nm. The tandem solar cells we investigated were a combination of a heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer (HIT) bottom sub-cell and an a-Si:H (amorphous silicon) top sub-cell. The initial cell efficiency without the TRJ buffer was 7.65% while with an optimized buffer layer, its efficiency improved to 11.74%, i.e., an improvement in efficiency by a factor of 1.53.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• 제60권10호
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• pp.25.1-25.10
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• 2018

The central dogma of gene expression propounds that DNA is transcribed to mRNA and finally gets translated into protein. Only 2-3% of the genomic DNA is transcribed to protein-coding mRNA. Interestingly, only a further minuscule part of genomic DNA encodes for long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) which are characteristically more than 200 nucleotides long and can be transcribed from both protein-coding (e.g. H19 and TUG1) as well as non-coding DNA by RNA polymerase II. The lncRNAs do not have open reading frames (with some exceptions), 3`-untranslated regions (3'-UTRs) and necessarily these RNAs lack any translation-termination regions, however, these can be spliced, capped and polyadenylated as mRNA molecules. The flexibility of lncRNAs confers them specific 3D-conformations that eventually enable the lncRNAs to interact with proteins, DNA or other RNA molecules via base pairing or by forming networks. The lncRNAs play a major role in gene regulation, cell differentiation, cancer cell invasion and metastasis and chromatin remodeling. Deregulation of lncRNA is also responsible for numerous diseases in mammals. Various studies have revealed their significance as biomarkers for prognosis and diagnosis of cancer. The aim of this review is to overview the salient features, evolution, biogenesis and biological importance of these molecules in the mammalian system.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제25권5호
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• pp.606-612
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• 2012

Insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-5 (IGFBP-5) is one of the six members of IGFBP family, important for cell growth, apoptosis and other IGF-stimulated signaling pathways. In order to explore the significance of IGFBP-5 in cells of the Inner Mongolian Cashmere goat (Capra hircus), IGFBP-5 gene complementary DNA (cDNA) was amplified by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) from the animal's fetal fibroblasts and tissue-specific expression analysis was performed by semi-quantitative RT-PCR. The gene is 816 base pairs (bp) in length and includes the complete open reading frame, encoding 271 amino acids (GenBank accession number JF720883). The full cDNA nucleotide sequence has a 99% identity with sheep, 98% with cattle and 95% with human. The amino acids sequence shares identity with 99%, 99% and 99%, respectively. The bioinformatics analysis showed that IGFBP-5 has an insulin growth factor-binding protein homologues (IB) domain and a thyroglobulin type-1 (TY) domain, four protein kinase C phosphorylation sites, five casein kinase II phosphorylation sites, three prenyl group binding sites (CaaX box). The IGFBP-5 gene was expressed in all the tested tissues including testis, brain, liver, lung, mammary gland, spleen, and kidney, suggesting that IGFBP-5 plays an important role in goat cells.

• 한국미생물생명공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국미생물생명공학회 2000년도 Proceedings of 2000 KSAM International Symposium and Spring Meeting
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• pp.157-167
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• 2000

A thermostable chitosanase gene from the isolated strain, Bacillus sp. CK4, was cloned, and its complete DNA sequence was determined. The thermostable chitosanase gene was composed of an 822-bp open reading frame which encodes a protein of 242 amino acids and a signal peptide corresponding to a 30 kDa enzyme in size. The deduced amino acid sequence of the chitosanase from Bacillus sp. CK4 exhibits 76.6%, 15.3%, and 14.2% similarities to those from Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus ehemensis, and Bacillus circulans, respectively. C-terminal homology analysis shows that Bacillus sp. CK4 belongs to the Cluster III group with Bacillus subtilis. The size of the gene was similar to that of a mesophile, Bacillus subtilis showing a higher preference for codons ending in G or C. The functional importance of a conserved region in a novel chitosanase from Bacillus sp. CK4 was investigated. Each of the three carboxylic amino acid residues were changed to E50D/Q, E62D/Q, and D66N/E by site-directed mutagenesis. The D66N/E mutants enzymes had remarkably decreased kinetic parameters such as $V_{max}$ and k$\sub$cat/, indicating that the Asp-66 residue was essential for catalysis. The thermostable chitosanase contains three cysteine residues at position 49, 72, and 211. Titration of the Cys residues with DTNB showed that none of them were involved in disulfide bond. The C49S and C72S mutant enzymes were as stable to thermal inactivation and denaturating agents as the wild-type enzyme. However the half-life of the C211S mutant enzyme was less than 60 min at 80$^{\circ}C$, while that of the wild type enzyme was about 90 min. Moreover, the residual activity of C211S was substantially decreased by 8 M urea, and fully lost catalytic activity by 40% ethanol. These results show that the substitution of Cys with Ser at position 211 seems to affect the conformational stability of the chitosanase.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제10권2호
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• pp.258-263
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• 2000

2-Hydroxy-6-oxo-6phenylhexa-2,4-dienoate (HOPDA) hydrolase catalyzes the hydrolytic cleavage of HOPDA to bemzpate and 2-hydroxypenta-2, 4-dienoate (HPD) during microbial catabolism of biphenyl and polychlorinated biphenyls. A HOPDA hydrolase gene (pcbD) was isolated from the genomic library of Pseudomonas sp. P20 and designated as pCNUO1201; a 7.5-kb XbaI DNA fragment from Pseudomonas sp. P20 was inserted into the pBluescript SK(+) XbaI site. E. coli HB101 harboring pCNU1201 exhibited HOPDA hydrolase activity. The open reading frame (ORF) corresponding to the pcbD gene consisted of 855 base pairs with an ATG initiation codon and a TGA termination codon. The ORF was preceded by a rebosome-binding sequence of 5'-TGGAGC-3' and its G+C content was 55 mol%. The pcbD gene of Pseudomonas sp. P20 was located immedeately downstream of the pcbC gene encoding 2,3- dihydroxybiphenyl 1,2-dioxygenase, and approximately 4-kb upstream of the pcbE gene encoding HPD hydratase. The pcbK gene was able to encode a polypeptide with a molecular weight of 31,732 containing 284 amino acid residues. The deduced amino acid sequence of the HOPDA hydrolase of Pseudomonas sp. P20 exhibited high identity (62%) with those of the HOPDA hydrolases of P. putida KF715, P. pseudoalcaligenes KF707, and Burkholderia cepacia LB400, and also significant homology with those of other hydrolytic enzymes including esterase, transferase, and peptidase.