• Mycobiology
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.55-65
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• 2022

Lichen is a symbiotic mutualism of mycobiont and photobiont that harbors diverse organisms including endolichenic fungi (ELF). Despite the taxonomic and ecological significance of ELF, no comparative investigation of an ELF community involving isolation of a pure culture and high-throughput sequencing has been conducted. Thus, we analyzed the ELF community in Parmotrema tinctorum by culture and metabarcoding. Alpha diversity of the ELF community was notably greater in metabarcoding than in culture-based analysis. Taxonomic proportions of the ELF community estimated by metabarcoding and by culture analyses showed remarkable differences: Sordariomycetes was the most dominant fungal class in culture-based analysis, while Dothideomycetes was the most abundant in metabarcoding analysis. Thirty-seven operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were commonly observed by culture-and metabarcoding-based analyses but relative abundances differed: most of common OTUs were underrepresented in metabarcoding. The ELF community differed in lichen segments and thalli in metabarcoding analysis. Dissimilarity of ELF community intra lichen thallus increased with thallus segment distance; inter-thallus ELF community dissimilarity was significantly greater than intra-thallus ELF community dissimilarity. Finally, we tested how many fungal sequence reads would be needed to ELF diversity with relationship assays between numbers of lichen segments and saturation patterns of OTU richness and sample coverage. At least 6000 sequence reads per lichen thallus were sufficient for prediction of overall ELF community diversity and 50,000 reads per thallus were enough to observe rare taxa of ELF.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.125-132
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• 2022

In this study, we investigated anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory efficacy, and identified their constituents from Brassica napus L. (Korean name: Yuchae) whole plant. Upon the anti-oxidative activities screening, the ethanol extract exhibited potent DPPH and ABTS⁺ radical scavenging activities. On the anti-inflammation studies using LPS-induced RAW264.7 cells, the extract inhibited the production of NO and pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6) effectively. To identify major constituents of B. napus extract, further purification was performed and led to isolation of two compounds; isorhamnetin 3,7-O-diglucoside(1) and isorhamnetin 3-O-glucoside(2). Quantitative analysis by high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) determined the flavonoid 1 as the major constituent. Isolated compounds showed DPPH radical scavenging effects and decreased NO levels without causing cell toxicities. These results indicate that the extract of Yuchae, a rich plant resource in Jeju Island, could be potentially applicable as an anti-oxidative and/or anti-inflammatory ingredients.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.35-47
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• 2022

The study is to analyze the role of highschool youth group in a rural regeneration project. The process of youth group becoming subjective in resident participation plan was classified into isolation reduction, self-awareness, perspective-taking, subjectivity practice, and opinion expression. Isolation reduction is a stage in which youth group is gradually drawn into the community from a limited society of home and school, self-awareness is a stage in which they discover their thoughts, and view perspective-taking is a stage in which they objectify themselves and surroundings through communication with other members of the region, social experiment was analyzed as a practice of subjectivity that experiences leadership guiding the local community independently, and expressing opinions is a stage of representing the region and giving responsibility for the specific issue of the implementation plan. The study is also an analysis of how residents committee, local governments, and local research institutes perform both regeneration and community revitalization in rural areas. Therefore, the analysis of the cooperative organization of these institutions was conducted simultaneously. The leadership program was effectively linked to the project of rural regeneration. Since high school students themselves are family members of the local people, the process of accepting the project is unaffected, and the feasibility of the project is also increased, such as forming a positive atmosphere for the project and easing resistance to minority opinions.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.65 no.6
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• pp.1205-1213
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• 2023

The goals of the present study were to develop a simple method for obtain highly purified pig sperm hyaluronidase (pHyase) and to assess its activity, function, and safety. In mammals, sperm-specific glycophosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored Hyase assists sperm penetration through the cumulus mass surrounding the egg and aids in the dispersal of the cumulus-oocyte complex. Recently, Purified bovine sperm hyaluronidase (bHyase) has been shown to enhance therapeutic drug transport by breaking down the hyaluronan barrier to the lymphatic and capillary vessels, thereby facilitating tissue absorption. Commercially available Hyase is typically isolated from bovine or ovine; which have several disadvantages, including the risk of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, low homology with human Hyase, and the requirement for relatively complex isolation procedures. This study successfully isolated highly purified pHyase in only two steps, using ammonium sulfate precipitation and fast protein liquid chromatography. The isolated Hyase had activity equal to that of commercial bHyase, facilitated in vitro fertilization, and effectively dissolved high molecule hyaluronic acid. This simple, effective isolation method could improve the availability of pHyase for research and clinical applications.

• Korean Circulation Journal
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.273-293
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• 2023

Pulsed field ablation (PFA) was recently rediscovered as an emerging treatment modality for the ablation of cardiac arrhythmias. Ultra-short high voltage pulses are leading to irreversible electroporation of cardiac cells subsequently resulting in cell death. Current literature of PFA for pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) consistently reported excellent acute and long-term efficacy along with a very low adverse event rate. The undeniable benefit of the novel ablation technique is that cardiac cells are more susceptible to electrical fields whereas surrounding structures such as the pulmonary veins, the phrenic nerve or the esophagus are not, or if at all, minimally affected, which results in a favorable safety profile that is expected to be superior to the current standard of care without compromising efficacy. Nevertheless, the exact mechanisms of electroporation are not yet entirely understood on a cellular basis and pulsed electrical field protocols of different manufactures are not comparable among one another and require their own validation for each indication. Importantly, randomized controlled trials and comparative data to current standard of care modalities, such as radiofrequency- or cryoballoon ablation, are still missing. This review focuses on the "pearls" and "pitfalls" of PFA, a technology that has the potential to become the future leading energy source for PVI and beyond.

• Journal of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.56-65
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• 2024

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the association between demographic characteristics, hospitalization-related characteristics, and the severity of long-term hospitalization in a high-level general hospital, and to analyze the factors influencing decisions of all patients. Methods: General and clinical characteristics of the participants were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation. Differences in these characteristics, contingent upon whether a power source was requested, were analyzed using independent t-Test and Chi-squared tests. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify the factors related to the presence or absence of power requests. Results: The factors impacting the decision to refer a dependent variable include medical treatment (neurosurgery) (B=2.118, SE=0.960, p-value=.027, OR=8.314, 95% CI=1.267-54.551), infection isolation (CRE) (B=1.336, SE=0.666, p-value=.045, OR=3.804, 95% CI=1.032-14.021), and the utilization of tertiary antibiotics (B=3.076, SE=1.362, p-value= .024, OR=21.663, 95% CI=1.502-312.530). Conclusion: This study found a significant association between medical treatment (neurosurgery), infection isolation (CRE), and the use of tertiary antibiotics as dependent variables. These findings indicate that continuous monitoring can contribute to a reduction in long-term financial burdens.

• Journal of Digestive Cancer Research
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.106-114
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• 2024

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are a valuable biomarker for the diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic management of gastrointestinal (GI) cancers. A major challenge in GI cancer treatment is the high rate of metastasis, which significantly contributes to cancer-related mortality. CTCs are crucial in the metastatic cascade, serving as indicators of tumor progression. Therefore, the detection and molecular characterization of CTCs have prognostic potential for identifying early-stage GI cancers and assessing metastatic probability, enabling timely treatment. Moreover, CTC analysis offers a minimally invasive method for real-time monitoring of tumors. Clinicians can adjust therapeutic strategies accordingly by tracking changes in CTC count and molecular profile. Despite this promising application, no standardized protocol for CTC isolation in GI tract cancers has been established, which poses a barrier to routine clinical use. This review explores the current CTC detection methodologies, their clinical relevance in GI cancer management, and the potential integration of CTC analysis into personalized medicine. We also discuss the challenges and future directions in CTC research, focusing on clinical validation and the development of standardized procedures to fully realize the utility of CTC count for improving patient care.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.103-111
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• 2024

A spaceborne cryogenic cooler is known to undesirable microvibration disturbances during its on-orbit operation, which is one of the main sources that degrades the image quality of an observation satellite with a high resolution. Several types of vibration isolation systems based on passive approaches have been developed for reducing such microvibration of a linear cooler. A dual coil-spring-type passive isolator was developed. To verify its performance and structural characteristics, transmissibility measurement and modal survey were performed with properly designed dummy instead of a cooler. Results were then used as pass/fail criteria before/after each test. To verify structural and thermal stability of the dual coil-spring-type passive isolator for launch and on-orbit environment, vibration (random and sinusoidal) test, shock test, and thermal cycle test were performed successfully.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.343-350
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• 2006

This paper introduces a new high efficient bi-directional, non-isolated DC/DC converter. Through variations of the topology of the conventional Cuk converter, an optimum bi-directional DC/DC converter is proposed. Voltage and current in the proposed DC/DC converter are continuous. Furthermore, the efficiency in both step-up and step-down mode is improved over that of the conventional bi-directional converter. To prove the validation for the proposed converter, simulations and experiments are executed with a 300W bi-directional converter.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.99.1-99.1
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• 2016

The materials for an electronic packaging provide diverse important functions including electrical contact to transfer signals from devices, isolation to protect from the environment and a path for heat conduction away from the devices. The packaging materials composed of metals, ceramics, polymers or combinations are crucial to the device operating properly and reliably. The demand of effective charge and heat transfer continuous to be challenge for the high-speed and high-power devices. Nanomaterials including graphene, carbon nanotube and boron nitride, have been designed for the purpose of exploiting the high thermal, electrical and mechanical properties by combining in the matrix of metal or polymer. In addition, considering the inherent electrical and surface properties of graphene, it is expected that graphene would be a good candidate for the surface layer of a template in the electroforming process. In this talk, I will present recent our on-going works in nanomaterials for microelectronic packaging: 1) porous graphene/Cu for heat dissipations, 2) carbon-metal composites for interconnects and 3) nanomaterials-epoxy composites as a thermal interface materials for electronic packaging.