• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2002.08a
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• pp.353-356
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• 2002

Planar laser induced fluorescence(PLIF) has been widely used to obtain two dimensional fuel distribution. Preliminary investigation was performed to measure quantitative air excess ratio distribution in an engine fueled with LPG. It is known that fluorescence signal from acetone as a fluorescent tracer is less sensitive to oxygen quenching than other dopants. Acetone was excited by KrF excimer laser (248nm) and its fluorescence image was acquired by ICCD camera with a cut-of filter to suppress Mie scattering from the laser light. For the purpose of quantifying PLIF signal, an image processing method including the correction of laser sheet beam profile was suggested. Raw images were divided by each intensity of laser energy and profile of laser sheet beam. Inhomogeneous fluorescence images scaled with the reference data, which was taken by a calibration process, were converted to air excess ratio distribution. This investigation showed instantaneous quantitative measurement of planar air excess ratio distribution for gaseous fuel.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1998.05a
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• pp.321-328
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• 1998

A controller and sensor fault tolerant system jot a steam generator is designed with fuzzy logic. A structure of the : proposed fault tolerant redundant system is composed of a supervisor and two fuzzy weighting modulators. A supervisor alternatively checks a controlled and a sensor induced performances to identify Which Part, a controller or a sensor, is faulty. In order to analyze controller induced performance both an error and a charge in error of the system output an chosen as fuzzy variables. The fuzzy logic jot a sensor induced performance uses two variables : a deviation between two sensor outputs and its frequency, Fuzzy weighting modulator generates an output signal compensated for faulty input signal. Simulations show that the : proposed fault tolerant control scheme jot a steam generator regulates welt water level by suppressing fault effect of either controllers or sensors. Therefore through duplicating sensors and controllers with the proposed fault tolerant scheme, both a reliability of a steam generator control and sensor system and that of a power plant increase even mote.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.610-614
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• 1993

Laser induced impedance changes in hollow cathode lamps containing sputtered metal atoms have been employed to measure the spectroscopic properties of metal. This technique, known as optogalvanic spectroscopy, has been shown to be a powerful and inexpensive technique for the investigation of atomic and molecular species. Characteristic optogalvanic signals from hollow cathode lamps (HCL) made of different metal species and induced with a pulsed dye laser were observed, and the dependence of the optogalvanic signal on the discharge current and wavelength of laser was measured. Based on the results obtained, the mechanisms involved in evoking the optogalvanic signals were consisted of single-photon absorption, multi-photon absorption, and photoionization. Moreover the current dependence of the optogalvanic signal indicates that the optogalvanic technique could be one of the most sensitive optical methods of detecting atomic species.

• BMB Reports
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.65-70
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• 2023

Prominin-1 (PROM1), also called CD133, is a penta-span transmembrane protein that is localized in membrane protrusions, such as microvilli and filopodia. It is known to be expressed in cancer stem cells and various progenitor cells of bone marrow, liver, kidney, and intestine. Accumulating evidence has revealed that PROM1 has multiple functions in various organs, such as eye, tooth, peripheral nerve, and liver, associating with various molecular protein partners. PROM1 regulates PKA-induced gluconeogenesis, TGFβ-induced fibrosis, and IL-6-induced regeneration in the liver, associating with Radixin, SMAD7, and GP130, respectively. In addition, PROM1 is necessary to maintain cancer stem cell properties by activating PI3K and β-Catenin. PROM1-deficienct mice also show distinct phenotypes in eyes, brain, peripheral nerves, and tooth. Here, we discuss recent findings of PROM1-mediated signal transduction.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.233-239
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• 2004

The present study was designed to determine the impact of mercury on endotoxin-induced inflammatory cytokine expression and corresponding signal transduction in mouse kidney. Male BALB/c mice were exposed continuously to 0, 0.3, 1.5, 7.5, or 37.5 ppm of mercury in drink-ing water for 14 days and at the end of the treatment period, lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 0.5 mg/kg) was injected intraperitoneally 2 h prior to euthanasia. The doses of mercury and LPS did not cause hepatotoxicity or renal toxicity as indicated by unaltered plasma alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase levels, and terminal UTP nucleotide end-labeling assay from kidney, respectively. Mercury decreased kidney glutathione (GSH) and with LPS, it additively decreased GSH. Mercury activated p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and additively increased LPS-induced p38 MAPK phosphorylation. In contrast, mercury inhibited LPS-induced activation of extra-cellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) but had no effect alone. Mercury increased the gene expression of tumor necrosis factor $\alpha$ (TN F$\alpha$) and potentiated LPS-induced TNF$\alpha$ expression. Mercury did not affect LPS-induced interleukin-1$\beta$ (IL-1$\beta$) expression but decreased LPS-induced IL-6 expression. These results suggest that low levels of mercury might augment LPS-induced TNF$\alpha$ expression by altering GSH and p38 MAPK. Mercury modulates LPS-induced p38 and ERK activation, and downstream TNF$\alpha$ and IL-6 expression in kidney, respectively.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.115-120
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• 2004

To investigate the correlation between the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of cerebral fat embolism that is induced by injecting oleic acid into 10 cats, and a pathologic diagnosis. Using a microcatheter, 30 ${mu}ell$ of oleic acid was injected into the internal carotid artery of 10 cats. MR T2-weighted image (T2WI), diffusion-weighted image (DWI) and Gadolinium-enhanced T1-weighted image (Gd-enhanced T1WI) were obtained after 30 minutes and 2 hours of embolization. After 30 minutes of the embolization, lesions of very high signal intensity were detected by T2WI in 6 cats, and of slightly high signal intensity in 2 cats; in the remaining 2 cats, signal intensity was normal. DWI showed lesions of very high intensity in 9 cats and of slightly high intensity in one cat. According to the findings of light microscopic examination, infarcted lesions mainly involved the gray matter, but also some white matter. A magnetic resonance imaging diagnosis for cerebral fat embolism that was induced by oleic acid through the internal carotid artery in cats showed high signal intensity on the T2WI and the DWI within an initial 2 hours, and with a well enhancement on the Gd-enhanced T1WI. Considering cellular edema, cerebrovascular injury and extracellular space widening, we assumed pathologically that cytotoxic and vasogenic edema exists at the same time.

• BMB Reports
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.196-202
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• 1999

The existence of the Ras-independent signal transduction pathway of insulin leading to DNA synthesis was investigated in Rat-1 fibroblasts overexpressing human insulin receptor (HIRc-B) using the single-cell microinjection technique. Microinjection of a dominant-negative mutant $Ras^{N17}$ protein into quiescent HIRc-B cells inhibited the DNA synthesis stimulated by insulin. Microinjection of oncogenic H-$Ras^{V12}$ protein ($H-Ras^{V12}$) (0.1 mg/ml) induced DNA synthesis by 35%, whereas that of control-injected IgG was induced by 20%. When the marginal amount of oncogenic H-$Ras^{V12}$ protein was coinjected with a dominant-negative mutant of the H-Ras protein ($Ras^{N17}$), DNA synthesis was 35% and 74% in the absence and presence of insulin, respectively. This full recovery of DNA synthesis by insulin suggests the existence of the Ras-independent pathway. The same recovery was observed in the cells coinjected with either H-$Ras^{V12}$ plus H-$Ras^{N17}$ plus SH2 domain of the p85 subunit of PI3-kinase ($p85^{SH2-N}$) or H-$Ras^{V12}$ plus H-$Ras^{N17}$ plus interfering anti-Shc antibody. When co-injected with a dominant-negative H-$Ras^{N17}$, the DNA synthesis induced by the Ras-independent pathway was blocked. These results indicate that the Ras-independent pathway of insulin leading to DNA synthesis exists, bypassing the p85 of PI3-kinase and Shc protein, and requires Rac1 protein.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.369-376
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• 2012

Platycodon grandiflorum is a medicinal herb that is used to treat pulmonary and respiratory allergic disorders. The objective of this study was to investigate the protective effects of ethyl acetate extract of Platycodon grandiflorum (PGEA) against inflammation and to discern the molecular mechanism of PGEA in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced signal pathways in RAW264.7 macrophage cells. PGEA suppressed the generation of nitric oxide (NO) and the expression of inducible NO synthase induced by LPS in RAW264.7 cells, and inhibited the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines induced by LPS in RAW264.7 cells. Western blot analysis showed that PGEA suppressed LPS-induced phosphorylation of p38 and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) but not extracellular signal-regulated kinase and $I{\kappa}-B{\alpha}$ degradation. Inactivation of JNK and p38 was effectively alleviated by PGEA, which subsequently affected the activation of c-Jun and c-Fos, which are the essential components of the activator protein-1 (AP-1) transcription complex. Taken together, the results indicate PGEA suppress the activation of p38, JNK, and AP-1, thereby inhibiting the generation of NO and pro-inflammatory cytokines, which affect the regulation of inflammation. PGEA may be useful for the treatment of various inflammatory diseases.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.211-217
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• 2008

Bax, a pro-apoptotic member of Bcl-2 family proteins, plays a central role in the mitochondria-dependent apoptosis. Apoptotic signals induce the translocation of Bax from cytosol into the mitochondria, which triggers the release of apoptogenic molecules such as cytochrome C and apoptosis-inducing factor, AIF. Bax-inhibiting peptide(BIP) is a cell permeable peptide comprised of five amino acids designed from the Bax-interaction domain of Ku70. Because BIP inhibits Bax translocation and Bax-mediated release of cytochrome C, BIP suppresses Bax-dependent apoptosis. In this study, we observed that BIP inhibited staurosporine-induced neuronal death in cultured cerebral cortex and cerebellar granule cells, but BIP failed to rescue granule cells from trophic signal deprivation-induced neuronal death, although both staurosporine-induced and trophic signal deprivation-induced neuronal death are dependent on Bax. These findings suggest that the mechanisms of the Bax activation may differ depending on the type of cell death induction, and thus BIP exhibits selective suppression of a subtype of Bax-dependent neuronal death.

• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.141-146
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• 2021

We have evaluated the suppression effect of atmospheric-turbulence-induced optical scintillation in terrestrial free-space optical (FSO) communication systems using a gain-saturated erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA). The variation of EDFA output signal power has been measured with different amounts of gain saturation and modulation indices of the optical input signal. From the measured results, we have found that the peak-to-peak power variation was decreased drastically below 2 kHz of modulation frequency, in both 3-dB and 6-dB gain compression cases. Then, the power spectral density (PSD) of optical scintillation has been calculated with Butterworth-type transfer function. In the calculation, different levels of atmospheric-turbulence-induced optical scintillation have been taken into account with different values of the Butterworth cut-off frequency. Finally, the suppression effect of optical scintillation has been estimated with the measured frequency response of the EDFA and the calculated PSD of the optical scintillation. From our estimated results, the atmospheric-turbulence-induced optical scintillation could be suppressed efficiently, as long as the EDFA were operated in a deeply gain-saturated region.