• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.81-89
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• 2006

The ischemia-responsive 94 gene (irp94) encoding a 94 kDa endoplasmic reticulum resident protein was investigated its molecular properties associated with unfoled protein responses. First, the expression of irp94 mRNA was tested after the reperfusion of the transient forebrain ischemia induction at the central nervous system in three Mongolian gerbils. Second, irp94 expression in PC12 cells, which are derived from transplantable rat pheochromocytoma cultured in the DMEM media, was tested at transcriptional and translational levels. The half life of irp94 mRNA was also determined In PC12 cells. Last, the changes of irp94 mRNA expression were investigated by the addition of various ER stress inducible chemicals (A23187, BFA, tunicamycin, DTT and $H_2O_2$) and proteasome inhibitors, and heat shock. High level expression of irp94 mRNA was detected after 3 hours reperfusion in the both sites of the cerebral cortex and hippocampus of the gerbil brain. The main regulation of irp94 mRNA expression in PC 12 cells was determined at the transcriptional level. The half life of irp94 mRNA in PC12 cells was approximately 5 hours after the initial translation. The remarkable expression of irp94 mRNA was detected by the treatment of tunicamycin, which blocks glycosylation of newly synthesized polypeptides, and $H_2O_2$, which induces apoptosis. When PC12 cells were treated with the cytosol proteasome inhibitors such as ALLN (N-acetyl-leucyl-norleucinal) and MG 132 (methylguanidine), irp94 mRNA expression was increased. These results indicate that expression of irp94 was induced by ER stress including oxidation condition and glycosylation blocking in proteins. Expression of irp94 was increased when the cells were chased after heat shock, suggesting that irp94 may be involved in recovery rather than protection against ER stresses. In addition, irp94 expression was remarkably increased when cytosol proteasomes were inhibited by ALLN and MG 132, suggesting that irp94 plays an important role for maintaining the ERAD (endoplasmic reticulum associated degradation) function.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.1637-1643
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• 2008

This study has investigated whether extracellular HSP90 predisposes vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) to pro-inflammatory phenotype. Exposure of rat aortic smooth muscle cells to HSP90 not only enhanced IL-6 release but also profoundly induced IL-6 transcript via promoter activation. HSP90-induced IL-6 promoter activation was suppressed by dominant-negative forms of Toll-like receptor (TLR)-4 and myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88), but not by dominant-negative-forms of TLR-3 and TIR-domain-containing adapter-inducing interferon-${\beta}$ (TRIF). Curcumin, which inhibits dimerization of TLR-4, also attenuated the IL-6 induction by HSP90. Mutation at the NF-${\kappa}B$- or C/EBP-binding site in the IL-6 promoter region suppressed the promoter activation in response to HSP90. The gene delivery of $I{\kappa}B$ using recombinant adenoviruses and treatment with resveratrol, which inhibit NF-${\kappa}B$ activity, attenuated the HSP90-induced IL-6 release from VSMCs. The present study proposes that extracellular HSP90 would contribute to inflammatory reaction in the stressed vasculature by inducing IL-6 in VSMCs, and that TLR-4 and NF-${\kappa}B$ would play active roles in the process.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.397-405
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• 2012

In this study, performance evaluation of newly developed technology for the economical and safe removal of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) coming out from electronic devices washing operation and offensive odor induction materials was made. Metal oxidization catalyst has shown 50% of removal efficiency at the temperature of $220^{\circ}C$. Composite metal oxidization catalyst applied in this study has shown that the actual catalysis has started at the temperature of $100^{\circ}C$. Comprehensive analysis on the catalyst property using Mn-Cu metal oxidization catalyst in the pilot-scale unit was made and the removal efficiency was variable with temperature and space velocity. Full-scale unit developed based on the pilot-scale unit operation has shown 95% of removal efficiency at the temperature of $160^{\circ}C$. Optimum elimination effective rates for the space velocity was found to be $6,000hr^{-1}$. The most appropriate processing treatment range for the inflow concentration of VOCs was between 200 ppm to 4,000 ppm. Catalyst control temperature showed high destruction efficiency at $150{\sim}200^{\circ}C$ degrees Celsius in 90~99%. External heat source was not necessary due to the self-heat reaction incase of VOCs inflow concentration is more than 1,000 ppm. Equipment and fuel costs compared to the conventional RTO/RCO method can be reduced by 50% and 75% respectively. And it was checked when there was poisoning for sulfide and acid gas.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.1634-1639
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• 2010

This study was conducted to increase the efficiency of farming practice in rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, by sex reversal and chromosome-set manipulation techniques. To obtain phenotypic males, hormonal sex reversal was carried out using an exogenous hormone treatment method. 5 mg of 17 alpha-methyltestosterone per kg diet was supplied for 82 days after first feeding at $10^{\circ}C$ and $13^{\circ}C$. More than 93% of the male population was produced by this method and growth of hormone-treated fish at $13^{\circ}C$ was faster than that of untreated bi-sexual groups. Induced diploid gynogenesis was carried out using artificial insemination of UV-irradiated sperm into haploid eggs. Based on the appearance of the rate of haploid syndrome and survival of embryo, a UV ray dose of at least $3,600\;erg/cm^2$ was required to inactivate rainbow trout sperm genetically. Haploid embryos were restored to diploid by blocking the extrusion of the second polar body using heat shock treatment at $28^{\circ}C$ for 20 min, 10 min post insemination. Gynogenetic diploid sex ratios were confirmed after maturation of the fish erythrocyte measurements and chromosome counts.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.223-231
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to investigate basically the mechanism of heat transfer by the resolution of complex fluid flow inside a sophisticated designed screw dryer for the treatment of sewage sludge by using numerical analysis and experimental study. By doing this, the result was quite helpful to obtain the design criteria for enhancing drying efficiency, thereby achieving the optimal design of a multiple screw type dryer for treating inorganic and organic sludge wastes. One notable design feature of the dryer was to bypass a certain of fraction of the hot combustion gases into the bottom of the screw cylinder, by the fluid flow induction, across the delicately designed holes on the screw surface to agitate internally the sticky sludges. This offers many benefits not only in the enhancement of thermal efficiency even for the high viscosity material but also greater flexibility in the application of system design and operation. However, one careful precaution was made in operation in that when distributing the hot flue gas over the lump of sludge for internal agitation not to make any pore blocking and to avoid too much pressure drop caused by inertial resistance across the lump of sludge. The optimal retention time for rotating the screw at 1 rpm in order to treat 200 kg/hr of sewage sludge was determined empirically about 100 minutes. The corresponding optimal heat source was found to be 150,000 kcal/hr. A series of numerical calculation is performed to resolve flow characteristics in order to assist in the system design as function of important system and operational variables. The numerical calculation is successfully evaluated against experimental temperature profile and flow field characteristics. In general, the calculation results are physically reasonable and consistent in parametric study. In further studies, more quantitative data analyses such as pressure drop across the type and loading of drying sludge will be made for the system evaluation in experiment and calculation.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.116-122
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• 2014

Total of fifty accessions of Brassica rapa with various morphological characteristics were used for production of double haploid plants though microspore culture in Brassica rapa. Among them, only 30 accessions induced embryos from microspores. The highest efficiency of embryo induction of 1.194 per bud was obtained from IT135449 of turnip type, while 3 accessions of sarson (winter oil) type did not generate embryo. The effect of heat shock periods for embryogenesis was also investigated with 4 accessions (IT135449; Turnip type, IT199710; Chinese cabbage type, IT212886; Pak choi type, IT218043; Summer oil type). The high productions of embryos were observed in IT135449, IT199710 and IT212886 when microspores were pre-cultured to $32^{\circ}C$ for 2 days. In IT218043, high embryogenesis was observed at the 3 days of heat shock treatment. The optimal condition of shoot regeneration for IT199710 was observed in MS medium supplemented with NAA $0.5mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ and BAP $1mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$. In contrast, the IT135449 and IT212886 were observed high regeneration frequency in MS medium without plant growth regulators. All the plantlets regenerated from microspore-derived embryos have been successfully transplanted to soil, and bud self-pollinated seeds were produced from doubled haploid plants. This indicated that double-haploid genotype was likely generated naturally during embryogenesis process.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.535-539
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• 2006

Effects of alkaline additives on the $CO_2$ removal reaction have been investigated by a thermogravimetric analyzer. $Li_2ZrO_3$ was synthesized by soild reaction of $ZrO_2$ with $Li_2CO_3$ and then alkali chemicals were added to the synthesized $Li_2ZrO_3$ and then heat treatment was carried out. Addition of alkali chemicals enhanced the reactivity of $Li_2ZrO_3$ with the following order; $K_2CO_3>NaCl>LiCl>Na_2CO_3$, which were resulted from the formation of partially melted $Li_2CO_3$. SEM photographs showed the presence of melted state and the XRD results showed that the chemical states of added salts were not changed. Addition of NaCl caused the induction time of about 60 min at the initial reaction stage and the addition of $Na_2CO_3$ inhibited the decomposition of $Li_2CO_3$ at about $700{\sim}750^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.13-20
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• 1998

The crystallographic and high frequency characteristics of $Fe_{73.9}Cu_{1.0}Nb_{3.5}Si_{14.0}B_{7.6}$ soft magnetic alloys were investigated under the magnetic field annealing. As-cast ribbon with which already imbedded nanocrystalline Fe-Si phase on the surface have a preferred orientation with (400) plane to surface and also with the [011] direction parallel to the ribbon length. The extra nanocrystalline Fe-Si phase appeared throughout at 45$0^{\circ}C$ in samples with or without the longitudinal magnetic field. However the formation of nanocrystalline phase does not appear on the suface layer until 50$0^{\circ}C$ annealing temperature under the transverse field. The cryststallization fraction of annealed samples with longitudinal magnetic field is higher than that of samples without magnetic field. When the transverse magnetic field is applied, the crystallization fraction does not increases but decreases until 50$0^{\circ}C$. However the crystallization of internal regions can be confirmed by X-ray diffraction measurement via tilting the sample. It was found that for all samples, the saturation induction were all same with 1.3 T. The coercive field of as-cast sample was 1.06 A/cm, but in annealed samples it decrease from 0.56 to 0.1 A/cm with increasing annealing temperature from 400 and 55$0^{\circ}C$, respectively. The squareness of annealed samples under transverse magnetic field has a small value than that of both without field and with longitudinal field annealing.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.1257-1262
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• 2002

The objective was to identify the appropriate form of progesterone, which exhibits compact reproductive responses in Awassi ewes during mid to late seasonal anestrous period. Forty-eight Awassi ewes were randomly allocated into four groups to be treated with 60 mg medroxyprogesterone acetate (MAP), 30 mg fluorogestone acetate (FGA), 40 mg FGA, or 600 mg progesterone sponges. After a 12 day period, sponges were removed and ewes were administered i.m. with 600 IU PMSG (d 0, 0 h). Five harnessed Awassi rams were turned-in with the ewes to detect heat. Ewes were checked for breeding marks at 6 h intervals for 5 days. Blood samples were collected from all ewes for analysis of progesterone concentrations. Pretreatment (d -13 and -12) progesterone concentrations were ${\leq}0.2ng/mL$ among all ewes and were indicative of seasonal anestrous period. On d 0, progesterone concentrations were elevated to $1.4{\pm}0.1ng/mL$ in ewes received progesterone sponges only and were higher (p<0.0001) than those (${\leq}0.2ng/mL$) administered MAP or FGA sponges. Progesterone concentrations returned to their basal values of <0.2 ng/mL within 24 h of sponge removal and were similar (p>0.1) among all ewes. Incidence of estrus was similar (p>0.1) among the four groups and occurred in 75% (9/12), 82% (9/11), 67% (8/12) and 58% (7/12) of the ewes receiving MAP, 30 mg FGA, 40 mg FGA and progesterone sponges, respectively. Estrous responses occurred 14.7, 20 and 13.6 h earlier in progesterone-sponge-treated ewes than those of MAP- (p<0.04), 30 mg FGA- (p<0.01) and 40 mg FGA-treated (p=0.06) ewes, respectively. Induced estrus conception rates were 50% (6/12), 55% (6/11), 50% (6/12) and 42% (5/12), out of which 4/6, 4/6, 3/6 and 3/5 lambed 151 days following d 0, and were similar (p>0.1) among ewes of the four treatment groups. Ewes that returned to estrus 16 to 20 days following d 0 were 5/12, 5/11, 6/12 and 4/12 ewes treated with MAP, 30 mg FGA, 40 mg FGA and progesterone sponges, respectively, and all lambed 169 days later. Overall lambing rates were 75% (9/12), 82% (9/11), 75% (9/12) and 58% (7/12) ewes treated with MAP, 30 mg FGA, 40 mg FGA and progesterone sponges, respectively. Results demonstrate that applications of MAP, 30 mg FGA, 40 mg FGA and progesterone sponges Awassi ewes were equally effective in induction of estrus and tended to favor both types of FGA and MAP in overall lambing rates over progesterone sponges during the seasonal anestrous period.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.11
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• pp.1361-1368
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• 2018

Inflammation is the most common condition in the human body. Tissue damage triggers inflammation, together with vasodilation and increased blood flow at the inflamed site, resulting in edema. Inflammatory responses are also triggered by lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a Toll-like receptor Enterococcus faecalis, a gram-positive organism, has been reported to possess immunomodulatory and preventive activities; however, its use may present risks of sepsis and other systemic infections. Heat-killed Enterococcus faecalis (EF-2001) has been reported to induce antitumor activity, but its effects on inflammation are not known. In the present study, we investigated the effect of EF-2001 on LPS-induced macrophage inflammatory responses. EF-2001 treatment reduced nitric oxide (NO) production, indicating suppression of inflammatory reactions. EF-2001 showed no cytotoxicity in macrophages. Further investigation of the anti-inflammatory mechanism of EF-2001 indicated that EF-2001 reduced the LPS-induced expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase-2. EF-2001 also reduced f the LPS induction of several inflammatory molecules involved in the nuclear factor-${\kappa}B$ ($NF-{\kappa}B$) and mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways, including ERK, JNK, and p38 phosphorylation, in a concentration-dependent manner. Additionally, EF-2001 inhibited Akt phosphorylation and increased the expression of the inhibitory ${\kappa}B$ ($I{\kappa}B$) protein, an inhibitor of $NF-{\kappa}B$. EF-2001 also inhibited the nuclear translocation of p65. These results suggest that EF-2001 has anti-inflammatory properties and may be useful for treating inflammatory diseases.