• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.11 no.10
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• pp.843-850
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• 2005

FBA(flux balance analysis) with Boolean rules for representing regulatory events has correctly predicted cellular behaviors, such as optimal flux distribution, maximal growth rate, metabolic by-product, and substrate concentration changes, with various environmental conditions. However, until now, since FBA has not taken into account a hierarchical regulatory network, it has limited the representation of the whole transcriptional regulation mechanism and interactions between specific regulatory proteins and genes. In this paper, in order to solve these problems, we describe the construction of hierarchical regulatory network with defined symbols and the introduction of a weight for representing interactions between symbols. Finally, the whole cellular behaviors with time were simulated through the linkage of a hierarchical regulatory network module and dynamic simulation module including FBA. The central metabolic network of E. coli was chosen as the basic model to identify our suggested modeling method.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.567-577
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• 2023

The killing of bacteria by mechanical forces on nanopatterned surfaces has been defined as a mechano-bactericidal effect. Inspired by nature, this method is a new-generation technology that does not cause toxic effects and antibiotic resistance. This study aimed to simulate the mechano-bactericidal effect of nanopatterned surfaces' geometric parameters and material properties against three implant-derived bacterial species. Here, in silico models were developed to explain the interactions between the bacterial cell and the nanopatterned surface. Numerical solutions were performed based on the finite element method. Elastic and creep deformation models of bacterial cells were created. Maximum deformation, maximum stress, maximum strain, as well as mortality of the cells were calculated. The results showed that increasing the peak sharpness and decreasing the width of the nanopatterns increased the maximum deformation, stress, and strain in the walls of the three bacterial cells. The increase in spacing between nanopatterns increased the maximum deformation, stress, and strain in E. coli and P. aeruginosa cell walls it decreased in S. aureus. The decrease in width with the increase in sharpness and spacing increased the mortality of E. coli and P. aeruginosa cells, the same values did not cause mortality in S. aureus cells. In addition, it was determined that using different materials for nanopatterns did not cause a significant change in stress, strain, and deformation. This study will accelerate and promote the production of more efficient mechano-bactericidal implant surfaces by modeling the geometric structures and material properties of nanopatterned surfaces together.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.280-289
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• 2021

Genetic markers currently used for the discrimination of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subspecies have low efficiency for identification at subspecies level. Therefore, our objective in this study was to select novel genetic markers for accurate identification and discrimination of six L. delbrueckii subspecies based on pangenome analysis. We evaluated L. delbrueckii genomes to avoid making incorrect conclusions in the process of selecting genetic markers due to mislabeled genomes. Genome analysis showed that two genomes of L. delbrueckii subspecies deposited at NCBI were misidentified. Based on these results, subspecies-specific genetic markers were selected by comparing the core and pangenomes. Genetic markers were confirmed to be specific for 59,196,562 genome sequences via in silico analysis. They were found in all strains of the same subspecies, but not in other subspecies or bacterial strains. These genetic markers also could be used to accurately identify genomes at the subspecies level for genomes known at the species level. A real-time PCR method for detecting three main subspecies (L. delbrueckii subsp. delbrueckii, lactis, and bulgaricus) was developed to cost-effectively identify them using genetic markers. Results showed 100% specificity for each subspecies. These genetic markers could differentiate each subspecies from 44 other lactic acid bacteria. This real-time PCR method was then applied to monitor 26 probiotics and dairy products. It was also used to identify 64 unknown strains isolated from raw milk samples and dairy products. Results confirmed that unknown isolates and subspecies contained in the product could be accurately identified using this real-time PCR method.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.1123-1127
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• 2012

P-gp (P-glycoprotein) is a member of the ATP binding cassette (ABC) family of transporters. It transports many kinds of anticancer drugs out of the cell. It plays a major role as a cause of multidrug resistance (MDR). MDR function may be a cause of the failure of chemotherapy in cancer and influence pharmacokinetic properties of many drugs. Hence classification of candidate drugs as substrates or nonsubstrate of the P-gp is important in drug development. Therefore to identify whether a compound is a P-gp substrate or not, in silico method is promising. Recursive Partitioning (RP) method was explored for prediction of P-gp substrate. A set of 261 compounds, including 146 substrates and 115 nonsubstrates of P-gp, was used to training and validation. Using molecular descriptors that we can interpret their own meaning, we have established two models for prediction of P-gp substrates. In the first model, we chose only 6 descriptors which have simple physical meaning. In the training set, the overall predictability of our model is 78.95%. In case of test set, overall predictability is 69.23%. Second model with 2D and 3D descriptors shows a little better predictability (overall predictability of training set is 79.29%, test set is 79.37%), the second model with 2D and 3D descriptors shows better discriminating power than first model with only 2D descriptors. This approach will be used to reduce the number of compounds required to be run in the P-gp efflux assay.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.63-70
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• 2019

We aimed to propose a novel computational approach to predict the electromechanical performance of pre- and post-mitral valve cerclage annuloplasty (MVCA). Furthermore, we tested a virtual estimation method to optimize the left ventricular basement tightening scheme using a pre-MVCA computer model. The present model combines the three-dimensional (3D) electromechanics of the ventricles with the vascular hemodynamics implemented in a lumped parameter model. 3D models of pre- and post-MVCA were reconstructed from the computed tomography (CT) images of two patients and simulated by solving the electromechanical-governing equations with the finite element method. Computed results indicate that reduction of the dilated heart chambers volume (reverse remodeling) appears to be dependent on ventricular stress distribution. Reduced ventricular stresses in the basement after MVCA treatment were observed in the patients who showed reverse remodeling of heart during follow up over 6 months. In the case who failed to show reverse remodeling after MVCA, more virtual tightening of the ventricular basement diameter than the actual model can induce stress unloading, aiding in heart recovery. The simulation result that virtual tightening of the ventricular basement resulted in a marked increase of myocardial stress unloading provides in silico evidence for a functional impact of MVCA treatment on cardiac mechanics and post-operative heart recovery. This technique contributes to establishing a pre-operative virtual rehearsal procedure before MVCA treatment by using patient-specific cardiac electromechanical modeling of pre-MVCA.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.771-781
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• 2018

Staphylococcus aureus is one of the major pathogens causing bovine mastitis and foodborne diseases associated with dairy products. To determine the genetic relationships between human and bovine or bovine isolates of S. aureus, various molecular methods have been used. Previously we developed an rpoB sequence typing (RSTing) method for molecular differentiation of S. aureus isolates and identification of RpoB-related antibiotic resistance. In this study, we performed spa typing and RSTing with 84 isolates from mastitic cows (22 farms, 72 cows, and 84 udders) and developed a molecular prophage typing (mPPTing) method for molecular epidemiological analysis of bovine mastitis. To compare the results, human isolates from patients (n = 14) and GenBank (n = 166) were used for real and in silico RSTing and mPPTing, respectively. Based on the results, RST10-2 and RST4-1 were the most common rpoB sequence types (RSTs) in cows and humans, respectively, and most isolates from cows and humans clearly differed. Antibiotic resistance-related RSTs were not detected in the cow isolates. A single dominant prophage type and gradual evolution through prophage acquisition were apparent in most of the tested farms. Thus, RSTing and mPPTing are informative, simple, and economic methods for molecular epidemiological analysis of S. aureus infections.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.249-258
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• 2013

Recieved Mar. 06, 2013 Revised Mar. 29, 2013 Accepted Sep. 11, 2013In this study, we evaluated the method performance and the optimum sample injection method of the portable GC/MS(HAPSITE) which were designed to operate on scene of chemical accidents. Chemicals used for performance test were vinyl chloride(VC), methyl chloride(MC), benzene(Bz), toluene(Tol). CRM(Certified Reference Material) Manufactured by KRISS(Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science) was used as the standard gas. The results showed that 1) Among three sample injection methods(Cylinder, Silico canister, and Bag), bag was identified as the most appropriate sample injection method. Bag material and capacity did not significantly affect the results. The most ideal reproducibility occurred at the 2-minute point of the purge time in the loop and tenax methods. 2) Performance evaluation of HAPSITE was conducted. Evaluation items were reproducibility, linearity, method detection limit, etc. Tenax concentration method was appropriate for larger molecules and Carbopack concentration method was suitable for smaller molecules.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.45.1-45.7
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• 2022

Food security will be affected by climate change worldwide, particularly in the developing world, where the most important food products originate from plants. Plants are often exposed to environmental stresses that may affect their growth, development, yield, and food quality. Auxin is a hormone that plays a critical role in improving plants' tolerance of environmental conditions. Auxin controls the expression of many stress-responsive genes in plants by interacting with specific cis-regulatory elements called auxin-responsive elements (AuxREs). In this work, we performed an in silico prediction of AuxREs in promoters of five auxin-responsive genes in Zea mays. We applied a data fusion approach based on the combined use of Dempster-Shafer evidence theory and fuzzy sets. Auxin has a direct impact on cell membrane proteins. The short-term auxin response may be represented by the regulation of transmembrane gene expression. The detection of an AuxRE in the promoter of prolyl oligopeptidase (POP) in Z. mays and the 3-fold overexpression of this gene under auxin treatment for 30 min indicated the role of POP in maize auxin response. POP is regulated by auxin to perform stress adaptation. In addition, the detection of two AuxRE TGTCTC motifs in the upstream sequence of the bx1 gene suggests that bx1 can be regulated by auxin. Auxin may also be involved in the regulation of dehydration-responsive element-binding and some members of the protein kinase superfamily.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.229-234
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• 2017

Photoperiod is one of the factors affecting productivity of cucumber plant by inducing ethylene hormone production and so triggering flower sex differentiation into female flower. However, only few studies have been perfomed in order to reveal the effect of photoperiod in molecular level in relation to the flower differentiation. Therefore, in this study, Mercy cultivar of cucumber (andromonoecious) was treated with photoperiod of 8, 12, 16 hours of light, while control received no treatment of additional light. Photoperiod of 8 hours was achieved by blocking the sunlight with shade net and 16 hours by giving longer light exposure using white LEDs. Cucumber's flowers were quantified and the apical and lateral shoots were extracted to evaluate the gene profile related to the photoperiod, ethylene production, and female flower differentiation, which were CsACS2, CsETR1, CsCaN, and CsPIF4 using PCR method. Photoperiod of 8 hours affected the production of female flower with average number of 6.7 flowers in main stem and 8.0 flowers in lateral stem, compared to photoperiod of 12 and 16 hours which produced 3.7 and 2.0 flowers in main stem with 7.0 and 11.3 in lateral stem, respectively. In silico studies in this experiment resulted in proposed model of signal transduction that showed the connection between ethylene production and flower differentiation. PCR analysis confirmed the expression of CsACS2, CsETR1, and CsCaN, that was positively correlated with numbers of female flowers in cucumber, but the expression of CsPIF4 that represent photoperiod haven't been confirmed correlated with the ethylene production and flower differentiation.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.115-121
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• 2006

Objectives : For the purpose of developing new anti-HIV agents from natural sources, the extracts of Actinidia arguta were tested for their inhibitory effects on essential enzymes as the reverse transcriptase (RT), protease and ${\alpha}-\;glucosidase$. And we predicted inhibition activity of major compounds of Actinidia arguta using Quantitative Structure Activity Relationships (QSAR). Methods : In this assay the activity of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase is measured as the formation of a strand of copy-DNA (cDNA) using RNA as a template. The activity of HIV-1 protease is measured as the cleavage of an oligopeptide by HIV-1 protease. Results : In the anti-HIV-1 RT using Enzyme Linked Oligonucleotide Sorbent Assay (ELOSA) method, water extracts (100ug/ml) of stem and leaf showed strong activity of 93.9% and 91.9%, respectively. In the HIV-1 protease inhibition assay, aqueous stem extract inhibited the activity of the enzyme to cleave an oligopeptide, resembling one of the cleavage sites in the viral polyprotein which can only be processed by HIV-1 protease with 56.8%. In the ${\alpha}-glucosidase$ inhibition assay, aqueous stem extract showed activity of 73.1%. Conclusion : We found out this result, for these samples it is possible that the inhibition of the viral replication in vitro is due to the inhibition at least one of RT and ${\alpha}-glucosidase$. It would be of great interest to identify the compounds which are responsible for this inhibition, since all therapeutically useful agent up to date are RT, PR and ${\alpha}-glucosidase$ inhibitors.