• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.871-877
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• 2008

Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), an inducible heme-degrading enzyme, is expressed by macrophages and endothelial cells in response to various stresses and mediators of inflammation. HO-1 has been recently implicated in regulation of angiogenesis via expression of VEGF. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of HO-1 modulation on the collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) model and on angiogenesis via up- regulation of VEGF expression in human synovial fibroblast. DBA/1J mice were treated with an inhibitor of HO-1, tin protoporphyrin IX (SnPP), or with an inducer of HO-1, cobalt protoporphyrin IX (CoPP), from day 1 to day 35 after CIA induction. The clinical evolution of disease was monitored visually. At the end of the experiment, histopathologic changes were examined on the joints. VEGF expression in paws were measured by immunohistochemical stain. mRNA expression of HO-1 and VEGF stimulated with various concentration of $TNF-{\alpha}$, CoPP accessed on human synovial fibroblast by RT-PCR. Effects of pretreatment with SnPP on mRNA expression of HO-1 and VEGF in the presence of CoPP and $TNF-{\alpha}$ in synovial fibroblast was accessed by Real-time RT-PCR. Administration of cobalt protoporphyrin IX significantly induced the inflammatory response, with increased arthritis index and expression of VEGF in the paws of the arthritis models. Treatment with SnPP significantly reduced the severity of CIA through inhibition of joint inflammation and cartilage destruction. The expression of VEGF were also significantly reduced by SnPP treatment in the paw. CoPPIX as inducer of HO-1, increased HO-1 and VEGF expression dose dependently in synovial fibroblast. In contrast, inhibition of HO-1 activity by SnPPIX abrogated CoPPIX-induced HO-1 and VEGF production in synovial fibroblast. Stimulation with $TNF-{\alpha}$ increased HO-1 and VEGF expression itself and showed additive effect on HO-1 and VEGF expression when it treated with CoPP. When SnPP was treated with CoPP and $TNF-{\alpha}$, it abrogated the CoPP induced HO-1 and VEGF expression and also abrogated $TNF-{\alpha}$ induced HO-1 and VEGF expression in synovial fibroblast. The effects of HO-1 induction in rheumatoid arthritis results in aggravation of arthritis via up-regulation of VEGF. I concluded that inhibition of the expression or activity of HO-1 could be a therapeutic target of rheumatoid arthritis.

• BMB Reports
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.212-218
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• 2010

Zinc finger-containing transcription factors are the largest single family of transcriptional regulators in mammals, which play an essential role in cell differentiation, cell proliferation, apoptosis, and neoplastic transformation. Here we have cloned a novel KRAB-related zinc finger gene, ZNF424, encoding a protein of 555aa. ZNF424 gene consisted of 4 exons and 3 introns, and mapped to chromosome 19p13.3. ZNF424 gene was ubiquitously expressed in human embryo tissues by Northern blot analysis. ZNF424 is conserved across species in evolution. Using a GFP-labeled ZNF424 protein, we demonstrate that ZNF424 localizes mostly in the nucleus. Transcriptional activity assays shows ZNF424 suppresses transcriptional activity of L8G5-luciferase. Overexpression of ZNF424 in HEK-293 cells inhibited the transcriptional activity of NFAT and p21, which may be silenced by siRNA. The results suggest that ZNF424 protein may act as a transcriptional repressor that suppresses NFAT and p21 pathway to mediate cellular functions.

• BMB Reports
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.17-22
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• 2010

In this study, a novel member of BTB-kelch proteins, named KBTBD7, was cloned from a human embryonic heart cDNA library. The cDNA of KBTBD7 is 3,008 bp long and encodes a protein product of 684 amino acids (77.2 kD). This protein is highly conserved in evolution across different species. Western blot analysis indicates that a 77 kD protein specific for KBTBD7 is wildly expressed in all embryonic tissues examined. In COS-7 cells, KBTBD7 proteins are localized to the cytoplasm. KBTBD7 is a transcription activator when fused to GAL4 DNA-binding domain. Deletion analysis indicates that the BTB domain and kelch repeat motif are main regions for transcriptional activation. Overexpression of KBTBD7 in MCF-7 cells activates the transcriptional activities of activator protein-1 (AP-1) and serum response element (SRE), which can be relieved by siRNA. These results suggest that KBTBD7 proteins may act as a new transcriptional activator in mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.222-225
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• 2018

Health policy is a historical product in the process of development, including the political and economic factors of the state as well as the social and cultural elements of the country. Bioethics began to debate the ethical questions that arise in the overall process of life's birth and death, and gradually evolved by presenting ethical directions for various social phenomena. Especially, according to the moral awakening of 'scientific medicine' which caused in some human problems in the rapidized scientific society from the late 19th century to the early 20th century, as a result of distress including the concept of various social relations, it is possible to say that it has reached the bioethics. Although health policy and bioethics are different in terms of starting and concept, they can be found in common with social, cultural, and political diversity in the times. In 2004, 'Bioethics Law' was enacted through the issue of research ethics in the life sciences. Therefore, in order to examine ethical aspects of current health policy direction and major issues, it can be divided into before and after enactment of 'Bioethics Law' in 2004. The authors would like to examine how the evolution of the ethical viewpoint on the health policy has changed in line with the enactment of the 'Bioethics Law' and how it is trying to solve it from an ethical point of view. Through the various events that took place in the 1990s and the 2000s, various discussions on bioethics were conducted in Korea. Prior to the enactment of the 'Bioethics Law,' ethical judgments of professions, distribution of healthcare resources, if the discussion focused on the ethical judgment of abortion, and the various events that appeared in the early 2000s became the beginning to inform that the ethical debate about the life, death, and dignity of human beings began in earnest in Korea with the enactment of the 'Bioethics Law.' Since then, 'Hospice and Palliative care Law' which was enacted in 2017, is based on the fact that the health policy of our country focuses on the treatment of the past diseases, health promotion, and delivery of health care services. It was an opportunity to let them know that even the quality problems were included. Therefore, considering the various circumstances, the ethical issue facing Korea's health care system in the future is the change of the demographic structure due to aging and what is to be considered as the beginning and the process of life in the overall process of life. It is the worry about how to die and when it sees as death. This has far exceeded the paradigm of traditional health care policies such as disease prevention and management and health promotion, and calls for innovative policy response at the national level that reflects the new paradigm, which in many cases creates a predictable ethical environment. And health policy should be shifted in the direction of future ethical review considering sustainability in the development process of future health care rather than coercive management.

• Journal of KIISE:Databases
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.396-408
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• 2007

After the Human Genome Project finished the sequencing of a human DNA sequence, the concerns on protein functions are increasing. Since the structures of proteins are conserved in divergent evolution, their functions are determined by their structures rather than by their amino acid sequences. Therefore, if similarities between two protein structures are observed, we could expect them to have common biological functions. So far, a lot of researches on protein structure alignment have been performed. However, most of them use RMSD(Root Mean Square Deviation) as a similarity measure with which it is hard to judge the similarity level of two protein structures intuitively. In addition, they retrieve only one result having the highest alignment score with which it is hard to satisfy various users of different purpose. To overcome these limitations, we propose a novel protein structure alignment algorithm based on MRPD(Maximum of Residue Pair Distance) and SG (Similarity Graph). MRPD is more intuitive similarity measure by which fast tittering of unpromising pairs of protein pairs is possible, and SG is a compact representation method for multiple alignment results with which users can choose the most plausible one among various users' needs by providing multiple alignment results without compromising the time to align protein structures.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.43-48
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• 2018

This study was conducted to reproduce digital colour based on the lightness of the background and size of the colour stimulus so that colour can be similarly perceived under different conditions. With the evolution of display technologies, display devices of various sizes can now reproduce more accurate colour and enhanced images, thus affecting the overall quality of display images. This study reproduced digital colour by considering the visual characteristics of the digital media environment. To accomplish this, we developed a colour appearance model which distinguishes the properties of foveal and peripheral vision. The proposed model is based on existing research on the lightness of the background and size of the colour stimulus. Based on experimental results, an analysis of variance was performed in order to develop the colour appearance model. The algorithm and modelling were verified based on the proposed model. In addition, to apply this model to display technologies, a practical colour control system and a method for handling complex input images were developed. Through this research, colour conversion errors which might occur when the input image is converted to fit a specific display size are resolved from the perspective of the human visual system. As a result, more accurate colour can be displayed and enhanced images can be reproduced.

• Journal of Korean Society of Archives and Records Management
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.153-165
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• 2005

China is a country with a long history. Chinese culture dates back thousands of years ago. Thousand years of history left the huge quantity of archival heritage, which consists of the memory of China. From tied knots, tortoise shell, bronze, bamboo to paper, film, CD, the mankind's history is kept and continued through the evolution of the documenting media and documenting methods. In the information era, when we are immersed in the sea of information technologies, archivists, as guards of human's memory, have to look for a balance point between new and old, between unchanged and changed. On one hand, archivists should try their best to protect traditional archives in a usable, authentic way in a long term; on the other hand, they must face the challenges posed by electronic record. The information age is a stage of the social development of mankind, the digitalization of archives is an important progress of human history. The report mainly is composed of three parts of the content: first, introduce the preserving situation of Chinese archival heritage ; focus are put on "China archival heritage program" and the construction of "Special archives repository"; second, the process of digitalization of traditional archives; third, the framework of electronic record standard.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.243-248
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• 2003

Sperrnatogenesis, the process by which the male germ-line stem cells(GSCs; type A spermatogonia) divide and differentiate to produce the mature spermatozoa, occurs in the seminiferous tubules of the testis. The GSCs proliferate actively to produce two types of cells: other GSCs and differentiating spermatogonia. GSCs have unipotentcy, devoted solely to the generation of sperm. The function of GSCs has broad implications for development, disease, and evolution. Spermatogenesis is fundamental for propagation of species and the defects of this system can result in infertility or disease. The ability to identify, isolate, culture, and alter GSCs will allow powerful new approaches in animal transgenesis and human gene therapy relating to infertility. Until recently, research on stem cells in the testis has been limited because of technical difficulties in isolating and identifying these cell populations. Here, we were trying to find out optimal conditions for in vitro culture of GSCs for identifying and isolating GSCs. We collected mouse GSCs from 3-days old mouse by two-step enzyme digestion method. GSCs were plated and grown on mouse embryonic fibroblasts in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) containing 15％ fatal bovine serum, 10 mM 2-mercaptoethanol, 1％ non-essential amino acids, 1 ng/$m\ell$ bFGF, 10 $\mu$M forskolin, 1500 U/$m\ell$ human recombinant leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF). Over a period 3∼5 days, GSCs gave rise to large multicellular colonies resembling those of mouse pluripotent stem cells. After 5th passages, cells within the colonies continued to be alkaline phosphatase and Oct-4 positive and tested positive against a panel of two immunological markers(Integrin $\alpha$ 6 and Integrin $\beta$ 1) that have been recognized generally to characterize GSCs. SSEA-1, SSEA-3, and SSEA-4 also showed positive signals. Based on our data, these GSCs-derived cultures meet the criteria for GSCs itself and even other pluripotent stem cells. We reported here the establishment of in vitro cultures from mouse male GSCs.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.75-87
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• 2001

Inter-port competition is fiercer than in the past because of technological evolution in transport systems : the increasing side of containerships implies only a few calls in three or four ports at each end of the trade and the rest of the traffic being served by smaller feederships. It is therefore essential for big ports to be selected as one of these calls by the main shipowners, consortia and alliances to avoid rmarginalisation. In order to compete effectively, many ports have been obliged to modernise and extend considerably its existing ports or to build new port facilities. With the advent of major environmental legislation around the world, however, amenities such as fish and wildlife, clean air and water, access to the waterfront, and view protection took on greater importance. Ports are now being forced to incorporate environmental considerations into their planning and management functions in order to avoid additional costs or timing delays. The aim of this paper is to analyse the port value by which port comparison(or selection) will be made with HFP(Hierarchical Fuzzy Process) method. This was done by extracting and grouping the evaluation factors of port value by port experts : facility and location factor, logistics service factor environment and amenity factor, city and economic factor, and human and system factor. For empirical test of this method, 6 major ports in Northeast Asia were chosen and analysed. The order of importance for five evaluation factors were 1) facility and location factor 2) logistics service factor 3) human and system factor, 4) city and economic factor, and 5) environment and amenity factor. This means that geographical location and logistics services are still being considered as the most important factor to call the port by port users. even though environment and amenity factor shows relatively low figure. Among 6 major ports, Port of Kobe was ranked the first position in a comprehensive evaluation, while Ports of Busan and Kwangyang were 4th and 5th respectively. This implies that Port of Busan should make much efforts to enhance the existing facilities as well as management system.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.38-43
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• 2011

The recent global warming may be estimated to give lots of impacts to the human society and biosphere of influencing climate change included by the natural climate variations through the human activity which can directly and/or indirectly play a major role of total atmospheric composition overall. Therefore it currently appears evidences such as hot wave, typhoon, and biosphere disturbance, etc. over the several regions to be influenced by global warming due to increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere through inducing forest destruction, fossil fuel combustion, greenhouse gases emission, etc. since industrial revolution era. Through the working group report of IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) for climate change was analyzed by the individual country's current status and figure out the important issues and problems related to the future trend of climate change science with advanced countries preparedness and research, In this study, the first working group report of IPCC focuses on those aspects of the current understanding of the physical science of climate change that are judged to be most relevant to policymakers. As this report was assessed and analyzed by including the progress of climate change science, the role of climate models and evolution in the treatment of uncertainties. This consists of the changes in atmospheric constituents(both aerosols and gases) that affect the radiative energy balance in the atmosphere and determine the Earth's climate, considering the interaction between biogeochemical cycles that affect atmospheric constituents and climate change, including aerosol/cloud interactions, the extensive range of observations snow available for the atmosphere and surface, for snow, ice, and frozen ground and for the oceans, respectively and changes in sea level, the paleoclimate perspective and assessment of evidence for past climate change and the extension, the ways in which physical processes are simulated in climate models and the evaluation of models against observed climate, the development plans and methods of improving expert and building manpower urgently and R&D fund expansion in detail for climate change science in Korea will be proposed.