• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.27-33
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• 2008

Natural gas has been considered one of the most promising alternative fuels for transportation because of its abundance as well as its ability to reduce regulated pollutants. We measured emission characteristics of nanoparticles from lean burn H/D(Heavy-Duty) CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) engine equipped with oxidation catalysts. The experiments were carried out to measure the emission and engine performance according to the ESC test cycle. The CO and THC conversion efficiencies on the best catalyst in the ESC test cycle achieved about 91 % and 83 %, respectively. From the measurement by the SMPS, the number of nanoparticles emitted from H/D CNG engine is reduced by about 99 % which is more than that of 2.5 L diesel engine. The particle number concentrations of H/D CNG engine were almost nanoparticles. Nanoparticles smaller than 30 nm emitted from the H/D CNG engine and diesel engine equipped with a CDPF(Catalyzed Diesel Particulate Filter) were quite similar. However, the particles bigger than 30nm from the CNG engine were smaller than the particles from diesel engine equipped with a CDPF. The higher the CNG engine load, the lower the particle number from engine-out, but it increased slightly at full load.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.556-561
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• 2006

The HOX genes coding homeodomain proteins have been suggested as a candidate molecular switch that determines the fates of cells during embryonic development and patterning. It is believed that a set of differentiation-specific HOX genes enter into a turn-on state during tissue differentiation, in contrast to stem cell-specific HOX genes that enter into a turn-off state. However, comprehensive data of expression profiles of HOX genes in human embryonic stem cells (hESC) and differentiated embryonic tissues are not available. In this study, we investigated the expression patterns of all 39 HOX genes in hESC and human fetal tissues and analyzed the relationships between hESC and each tissue. Of the 39 genes, 18 HOX genes were expressed in stem cells, and diverse expression patterning was observed in human fetal tissues when compared with stem cells. These results indicate that HOX genes could be main targets for switching of stem cell differentiation into tissues.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.73.2-73.2
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• 2019

The physical origin of low escape fractions of ionizing radiation derived from Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) at z ~ 3 - 4 is a puzzle in the theory of reionization. We perform idealized disk galaxy simulations to investigate how galactic properties, such as metallicity and gas mass, affect the escape of Lyman continuum (LyC) photons using radiation-hydrodynamic code RAMSES-RT, with strong stellar feedback. We find that the luminosity-weighted escape fraction from a metal-poor (Z=0.002) galaxy embedded in a halo of mass M_h ~ 10¹¹ M_⊙ is 〈f^3D_esc〉 ~ 8%. However, when the gas metallicity is increased to Z=0.02, the escape fraction is significantly reduced to 〈f^3D_esc〉 ~ 1%, as young stars are enshrouded by their birth clouds for a longer period of time. On the other hand, increasing the gas mass by a factor of 5 leads to 〈f^3D_esc〉 ~ 4%, as LyC photons are only moderately absorbed by the thicker disk. Our experiments seem to suggest that high metallicity is primarily responsible for the low escape fractions observed from LBGs, supporting the scenario in which the escape fraction has a negative correlation with halo mass. Indeed, our simulated galaxy with the typical metallicity of LBGs (Z=0.006) shows the relative escape fraction of 8%, consistent with recent observations of galaxies with M₁₅₀₀ = -20.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.29-34
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• 2003

Prunus mume has been used for the folk medicine by many old civilizations to treat food-borne diseases or enteric disorders. This study was carried out to examine the antimicrobial effect of juice from Prunus mume against pathogens such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella enteritidis, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes and Bacillus cereus. The juice of Prunus mume had the strongest antimicrobial activity to Sal. enteritidis. The concentrations of Prunus mume juice for the formation of clear zone were 1% for Sai. enteritidis(15.0mm), 3% for Lis. monocytogenes(14.7mm), and 5% for Bac. cereus(14.75mm), Esc. coli(13.45mm) and Sta. aureux(11.9mm). The growth of all tested microorganisms was inhibited apparently in tryptic soy broth containing 3% and 4% Prunus mume juice. And it was found that the Prunus mume juice showed the highest antimicrobial properties, followed by Sal. enteritidis, Bac. cereus, Sta. aureus, Lis. monocytogenes, Esc. coli.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.93-99
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• 2005

Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) derived from the inner cell mass of blastocysts have the ability to renew themselves and to differentiate into cell types of all lineage. The present study was carried out to investigate whether the Wnt signaling pathway is related to maintaining self-renewal of hESCs. Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 (GSK-3) inhibitor, BIO ((2'Z,3'E)-6-Bromoindirubin-3'-oxime) was treated to Miz-hES1 line for activation of Wnt signaling pathway. BIO-nontreated hESCs (control) and BID-treated hESCs were cultured for 5 days in the modified feeder-free system. During the culture of hESCs, differences were observed in the colony morphology between 2 groups. Controls were spread outwards whereas BIO-nontreated hESCs were clumped in the center and the differentiated cells were spreading outwards in the edges. The results of stem cell specific marker staining indicated that control were differentiated in large part whereas BIO-treated hESCs maintain self-renewal in the center of the colony. The results of lineage marker staining suggested that outer cells of the hESC colony were differentiated to the neuronal progenitor cells in both control and BIO-treated hESC. These results indicate that Wnt signaling is related to self-renewal in hESCs. In addition, control group showed higher composition of apoptotic cells $(23.76\%)$ than the BID-treated group $(5.59\%)$. These results indicate that BIO is effective on antapoptosis of hESCs.

• International Journal of Stem Cells
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.59-69
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• 2024

Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) such as human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), induced pluripotent stem cells, and somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT)-hESCs can permanently self-renew while maintaining their capacity to differentiate into any type of somatic cells, thereby serving as an important cell source for cell therapy. However, there are persistent challenges in the application of hPSCs in clinical trials, where one of the most significant is graft rejection by the patient immune system in response to human leukocyte antigen (HLA) mismatch when transplants are obtained from an allogeneic (non-self) cell source. Homozygous SCNT-hESCs (homo-SCNT-hESCs) were used to simplify the clinical application and to reduce HLA mismatch. Here, we present a xeno-free protocol that confirms the efficient generation of neural precursor cells in hPSCs and also the differentiation of dopaminergic neurons. Additionally, there was no difference when comparing the HLA expression patterns of hESC, homo-SCNT-hESCs and hetero-SCNT-hESCs. We propose that there are no differences in the differentiation capacity and HLA expression among hPSCs that can be cultured in vitro. Thus, it is expected that homo-SCNT-hESCs will possess a wider range of applications when transplanted with neural precursor cells in the context of clinical trials.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.49-56
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• 2007

One of the goals of stem cell technology is to control the differentiation of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), thereby generating large numbers of specific cell types for many applications including cell replacement therapy. Although individual hESC lines resemble each other in expressing pluripotency markers and telomerase activity, it is not clear whether they are equivalent in their developmental potential in vitro. We compared the developmental competence of three hESC lines (HSF6, Miz-hES4, and Miz-hES6). All three generated the three embryonic germ layers, extraembryonic tissues, and primordial germ cells during embryoid body (EB) formation. However, HSF6 and Miz-hES6 readily formed neuroectoderm, whereas Miz-hES4 differentiated preferentially into mesoderm and endoderm. Upon terminal differentiation, HSF6 and Miz-hES6 produced mainly neuronal cells whereas Miz-hES4 mainly formed mesendodermal derivatives, including endothelial cells, leukocyte progenitors, hepatocytes, and pancreatic cells. Our observations suggest that independently-derived hESCs may differ in their developmental potential.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2013.05a
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• pp.369-370
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• 2013

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2010

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have the multipotent capacity and this potential can be applied for obtaining valuable cell types which can use for cell therapy on various regenerative diseases. However, insufficient availability of cellular source is the major problem in cell therapy field using adult stem cell sources. Recently, human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) have been highlighted to overcome a limitation of adult cellular sources because they retain unlimited proliferation capacity and pluripotency. To use of hESCs in cell therapy, above all, animal pathogen free culture system and purification of a specific target cell population to avoid teratoma formation are required. In this study, we describe the differentiation of a mesenchymal stem cell-like cells population from feeder-free cultured hESCs(hESC-MSCs) using direct induction system. hESC-MSCs revealed characteristics similar to MSCs derived from bone marrow, and undifferentiated cell markers were extremely low in hESC-MSCs in RT-PCR, immunostaining and FACS analyses. Thus, this study proffer a basis of effective generation of specialized human mesenchymal stem cell types which can use for further clinical applications, from xenofree cultured hESCs using direct induction system.

• BMB Reports
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.197-198
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• 2016

Although three different research groups have reported successful derivations of human somatic cell nuclear transfer-derived embryonic stem cell (SCNT-ESC) lines using fetal, neonatal and adult fibroblasts, the extremely poor development of cloned embryos has hindered its potential applications in regenerative medicine. Recently, however, our group discovered that the severe methylation of lysine 9 in Histone H3 in a human somatic cell genome was a major SCNT reprogramming barrier, and the overexpression of KDM4A, a H3K9me3 demethylase, significantly improved the blastocyst formation of SCNT embryos. In particular, by applying this new approach, we were able to produce multiple SCNT-ES cell lines using oocytes obtained from donors whose eggs previously failed to develop to the blastocyst stage. Moreover, the success rate was closer to 25%, which is comparable to that of IVF embryos, so that our new human SCNT method seems to be a practical approach to establishing a pluripotent stem cell bank for the general public as well as for individual patients.