• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.173-178
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• 2007

Objective: To compare the outcome of twin pregnancies after in-vitro fertilization (IVF) with that of spontaneously conceived twins. Methods: We analyzed 146 twins retrospectively, who had been delivered between January 2000 and July 2005. After reviewing their obstetric medical records, 72 twins conceived with IVF (IVF group) and 51 spontaneously conceived twins (spontaneous group), whose gestational age was over 24 weeks, were recruited for this study. Results: There were no significant statistical differences of demographic features such as maternal age, gestational age and fetal weight between the two groups. However, the risk of pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) and gestational diabetes (G-DM) had significantly increased in the group of IVF (OR 2.59; 95% CI 1.01$\sim$6.66). The risk of fetal weight discordancy rate (>20%) and fetal-sex homology rate in IVF group were decreased (OR 0.37; 95% CI 0.14$\sim$0.96, OR 0.45; 95% CI 0.21$\sim$0.99). Conclusion: In this comparative study, maternal PIH and G-DM risks of IVF group are higher than that of spontaneous group. But, fetal-weight discordancy risk and fetal-sex homology rate were lower in IVF group.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.224-230
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• 2010

Growth hormone (GH) is known as one of the main osmoregulators in euryhaline teleosts during seawater (SW) adaptation. Many of the physiological actions of GH are mediated through insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), and the GH/IGF-I axis is associated with osmoregulation of fish during SW acclimation. However, little information is available on the response of fish IGF-II to hyperosmotic stress. Here we present the first cloned IGF-I and IGF-II cDNAs of marine medaka, Oryzias dancena, and an analysis of the molecular characteristics of the genes. The marine medaka IGF-I cDNA is 1,340 bp long with a 257-bp 5' untranslated region (UTR), a 528 bp 3' UTR, and a 555-bp open reading frame (ORF) encoding a propeptide of 184 amino acid (aa) residues. The full-length marine medaka IGF-II cDNA consists of a 639 bp ORF encoding 212 aa, a 109 bp 5' UTR, and a 416 bp 3' UTR. Homology comparison of the deduced aa sequences with other IGF-Is and IGF-IIs showed that these genes in marine medaka shared high structural homology with orthologs from other teleost as well as mammalian species, suggesting high conservation of IGFs throughout vertebrates. The IGF-I mRNA level increased following transfer of marine medaka from freshwater (FW) to SW, and the expression level was higher than that of the control group, which was maintained in FW. This significantly elevated IGF-I level was maintained throughout the experiment (14 days), suggesting that in marine medaka, IGF-I is deeply involved in the adaptation to abrupt salinity change. In contrast to IGF-I, the increased level of marine medaka IGF-II mRNA was only maintained for a short period, and quickly returned a level similar to that of the control group, suggesting that marine medaka IGF-II might be a gene that responds to acute stress or one that produces a supplemental protein to assist with the osmoregulatory function of IGF-I during an early phase of salinity change.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.806-811
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• 2007

Bacillus anthracis is a soil pathogen capable of causing anthrax that is closely related to several environmental species, including B. cereus, B. mycoides, and B. thuringiensis. DNA homology studies showed that B. anthracis, B. cereus, B. mycoides, and B. thuringiensis are closely related, with a high sequence homology. To establish a method to specifically detect B. anthracis in situations such as environmental contamination, we initially performed RAPD-PCR with a 10-mer random primer and confirmed the presence of specific PCR bands only in B. anthracis species. One region specific for B. anthracis was cloned and sequenced, and an internal primer set was designed to amplify a 241-bp DNA fragment within the sequenced region. The PCR system involving these specific primer sets has practical applications. Using lyses methods to prepare the samples for PCR, it was possible to quickly amplify the 241-bp DNA segment from samples containing only a few bacteria. Thus, the PCR detection method developed in this study is expected to facilitate the monitoring of environmental B. anthracis contamination.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.166-178
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• 1976

Taxonomic study of 11 strains of Bacillus coagulans and 14 strains of 13 spccies of Bacillus by deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)-DNA hybridization were conducted. Among the 11 strains of B. coagulans, 6 were isolated from soil and the rest were the authentic strains obtained from American Type culture collection (ATCC) or the Institute for Fermentation, Osaka (IFO). All strains were examined to confirm as they are expected species of B. coagulans by the methods of Cordon et al. according to Bergey's Manual (8th ed.). The intraspecific DNA homology indexes among the 11 strains of B. coagulans using strain ATCC 7050 as the standard ($^3$H labeled input DNA) showed 76％ or, more, respectively. These findings accorded well with the results of the conventional taxonomic study according to the Bergey's Manual. The interspecific DNA homology indexes between B. coagulant strain ATCC 7050 and the type cultures of B. subtilis (168), B. licheniformis (IFO 12107), B. pumilus (IFO 12110), B. firmus (ATCC 14575), B. lentus (ATCC 10840), B. circulans (ATCC 4513), B. macelans (ATCC 8244), B. polymyxa (ATCC 842), B. sphaericus (ATCC 14577), B. brevis (ATCC 8246, IFO 12334), B. laterosporus (ATCC 64), and B. pantothenticus (ATCC 14576) respectively, showed 2 to 4％, while that of between B. coagulans ATCC 7050 and Escherichia coli K-12 was less than 1 ％.

• BMB Reports
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.172-177
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• 2023

BEST family is a class of Ca²⁺-activated Cl- channels evolutionary well conserved from bacteria to human. The human BEST paralogs (BEST1-BEST4) share significant amino acid sequence homology in the N-terminal region, which forms the transmembrane helicases and contains the direct calcium-binding site, Ca²⁺-clasp. But the cytosolic C-terminal region is less conserved in the paralogs. Interestingly, this domain-specific sequence conservation is also found in the BEST1 orthologs. However, the functional role of the C-terminal region in the BEST channels is still poorly understood. Thus, we aimed to understand the functional role of the C-terminal region in the human and mouse BEST1 channels by using electrophysiological recordings. We found that the calcium-dependent activation of BEST1 channels can be modulated by the C-terminal region. The C-terminal deletion hBEST1 reduced the Ca²⁺-dependent current activation and the hBEST1-mBEST1 chimera showed a significantly reduced calcium sensitivity to hBEST1 in the HEK293 cells. And the C-terminal domain could regulate cellular expression and plasma membrane targeting of BEST1 channels. Our results can provide a basis for understanding the C-terminal roles in the structure-function of BEST family proteins.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.73.2-73
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• 2003

Typical whiches broom symptoms caused by phytoplasma were observed in Ash (Fraxinus rhynchophylla Hence) in Korea. The symptoms were showing abnormally small leaves, short internodes, and proliferation of shoots. Fluorescence and electron microscopy of leaf midribs revealed phytoplasma positive DAPI fluorescence and numerous phytoplasma bodies localized in the phloem sieve tubes. Phytoplasma DNA of 1.8 Kb was detected consistently from all symptomatic samples by the amplification of phytoplasma DNA with the phytoplasma specific primer pair Pl/P7. But no phytoplasma DNA was detected in healthy ash seedlings. Based on sequence analyses of an amplified region, this phytoplasma is closely related to Eqilodium phyllody, Mulberry dwarf, and Aster yellows phytoplasmas with the homology of 99.95 ％, 99.79 ％ and 99.78 ％, respectively, This phylogenetic analyses indicate that ash witches broom phytoplasma but is evidently distinct from the ash yellows group 16SrⅦ and should be classified into the Aster yellows group 16SrⅥ.

• Korean Journal of Mathematics
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.185-193
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• 1997

In this paper, we study the $BP_*$-module structure of $BP_*$(BG) mod $(p,v_1,{\cdots})^2$ for non abelian groups of the order $p^3$. We know $grBP_*(BG)=BP_*{\otimes}H(H_*(BG);Q_1){\oplus}BP^*/(p,v_1){\otimes}ImQ_1$. The similar fact occurs for $BP_*$-homology $grBP_*(BG)=BP_*s^{-1}H(H_*(BG);Q_1){\oplus}BP_*/(p,v)s^{-1}H^{odd}(BG)$ by using the spectral sequence $E^{*,*}_2=Ext_{BP^*}(BP_*(BG),BP^*){\Rightarrow}BP^*(BG)$.

• Journal of the Korean Mathematical Society
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.865-877
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• 2013

The disjoint union of mapping class groups of surfaces forms a braided monoidal category $\mathcal{M}$, as the disjoint union of the braid groups $\mathcal{B}$ does. We give a concrete and geometric meaning of the braidings ${\beta}_{r,s}$ in $\mathcal{M}$. Moreover, we find a set of elements in the mapping class groups which correspond to the standard generators of the braid groups. Using this, we can define an obvious map ${\phi}\;:\;B_g{\rightarrow}{\Gamma}_{g,1}$. We show that this map ${\phi}$ is injective and nongeometric in the sense of Wajnryb. Since this map extends to a braided monoidal functor ${\Phi}\;:\;\mathcal{B}{\rightarrow}\mathcal{M}$, the integral homology homomorphism induced by ${\phi}$ is trivial in the stable range.

• Bulletin of the Korean Mathematical Society
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.1353-1362
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• 2016

Using the notion of complete nonabelian exterior square $G\hat{\wedge}G$ of a pro-p-group G (p prime), we develop the theory of the exterior degree $\hat{d}(G)$ in the infinite case, focusing on its relations with the probability of commuting pairs d(G). Among the main results of this paper, we describe upper and lower bounds for $\hat{d}(G)$ with respect to d(G). Here the size of the second homology group $H_2(G,\mathbb{Z}_p)$ (over the p-adic integers $\mathbb{Z}_p$) plays a fundamental role. A further result of homological nature is placed at the end, in order to emphasize the influence of $H_2(G,\mathbb{Z}_p)$ both on G and $\hat{d}(G)$.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.590-596
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• 1997

The NADH reductase component of the steroid 9.alpha.-hydroxylase from Mycobacterium fortuitum was purified to homogeneity. Recovery of the enzyme from the 50-60% ammonium sulfate saturated fraction was 49%, with a purification factor of 100-fold. The NADH reductase has a relative molecular of 60 KDa as determined by SDS-PAGE. The absorption maxima at 410 and 450 nm indicate the presence of iron-sulfur group and flavin. These prosthetic groups seemed to function as redox groups that transfer electrons from NADH to the following protein. The $K_M$ value for NADH as substrate was $68{\mu}M$. The $NH_2$-terminal amino acid sequence of the reductase was determined as Met-Asp-Ala-Ile-Thr-Asn-Val-Pro-Leu-Pro-Ala-Asn-Glu-Pro-Val-His-Asp-Tyr-Ala-Thr. This sequence does not show a homology with the $NH_2$ -terminal sequences reported for the reductase component of other monooxygenases, suggesting that the NADH reductase component of the steroid 9.alpha.-hydroxylase system is novel.