• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.303-309
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• 2006

In this study, functional anion-exchange membranes have been prepared and characterized to improve the permeation fluxes of the anion and urea for peritoneum dialysis. They were prepared by UV and radiation graft polymerization methods. The separation-membrane prepared by UV graft polymerization showed the highest grafting degree when HEMA and VBTAC were mixed by 1:2 ratio. However, the grafting degree decreased slightly at compositions above the 1:2 ratio because of the disruption of UV penetration caused by build-up of homopolymer. In the case of photo-initiator, the grafting degree increased up to 0.2 wt%, above which it decreased to a small extent. For the two membranes prepared by radiation graft polymerization, the VBTAC/HEMA membrane showed 96% grafting degree for 6 h reaction time and the GMA membrane showed over 100% grafting degree for 2 h reaction time. Anion-exchange membranes were prepared with 113% grafting degree and with DEA and TEA exchange groups. The DEA membrane showed the conversion degree of 70% in 4 h reaction time while the TEA membrane showed 30% in 2 h reaction time. The prepared anion-exchange membranes were permeable to only anions and urea, but not cations.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.317-323
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• 2012

This study was performed to elucidate the anticancer activities and the mechanism of chloroform fractions from cultivated Orostachys japonicus (CFCOJ) in human colon cancer cells. CFCOJ markedly decreased viable cell numbers in both a dose-dependent and time-dependent manner within SW480 cells. Cell death induced by CFCOJ increased cell populations in the sub-G1 phase, as well as the formation of apoptotic bodies, nuclear condensation, and induced DNA fragmentation. CFCOJ-induced apoptosis was associated with the activation of initiator caspase-8 and -9, as well as the effector caspase-3. CFCOJ also stimulated Bid cleavage, indicating that the apoptotic action of caspase-8-mediated Bid cleavage leads to the activation of caspase-9. CFCOJ increased the expression of the proapoptotic protein, Bax, and decreased the expression of the antiapoptotic protein, Bcl-2. These results indicate that CFCOJ exert anticancer effects on human colon cancer SW480 cells through a caspase-dependent apoptotic pathway.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.903-908
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• 2004

Alternative initiation codon(AlC) has been reported in the mitochondrial genes in various mammalian species. We investigated the AlC of mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase 2 gene(rntDNA ND2) in five pig breeds. Two kinds of initiation codons(ATA/ATf) showing different frequencies among tested pig breeds were used. While all Large White pigs had ATA as an initiator methionine codon, all Landrace pigs had ATf. The other breeds(Berkshire, Duroc and Hampshire) had both initiation codons with the ATA frequencies, 91.9, 21.3 and 60.00/0, respectively. In the previous reports, all Chinese indigenous pig breeds were identified to have unique initiation codon ATA. Although the effect of Ale on the translation of mtDNA ND2 has not been studied in this study, AlC patterns in mtDNA ND2 will contribute to the maternity test using molecular markers in pig breeding.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.91-113
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• 2002

We report and analyze the Korean physicians' recent general strike over the implementation of the Separation of Prescribing and Dispensing Practice (SPDP) in which more than 18,000 private clinics and 280 hospitals participated. Utilizing game-theoretic models of bargaining we explain why the Korean physicians were so successful in organizing intense collective action against the government and securing very favorable policy outcomes. In particular, we highlight the role of distributional conflict among social actors in shaping the details of institutional reform. The introduction of the SPDP was a necessary first step in the overall reform of health care system in Korea. However, the SPDP was perceived to be a serious threat to the economic viability of their profession by the vast majority of Korean physicians who had long been relied on the profits from selling medicines to compensate for the loss of income due to the low service fee under the previous health care system. The strong political coalition among heterogeneous physicians enabled them to organize an intense form of collective action, the general strike. Thus, physicians were successful not only in dragging the government to a bargaining table, but also winning in the bargaining and securing an outcome vastly favorable to them. On the other hand, the lack of an overall reform plan in the health care policy area, especially the finance of the National Health Insurance and the need for maintaining an image as a successful reform initiator, motivated the government to reach a quick resolution with the striking physicians.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.1340-1348
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• 2017

Sanguinarine is a benzophenanthridine alkaloid derived from the roots of Sanguinaria canadensis L., which is used for the purpose of treating various diseases. Although studies of anticancer activities have been performed using various cancer cell lines, the phenomenon of inducing apoptosis in cancer cells by using sanguinarine requires more research. Therefore, this study investigated the anti-cancer activities and related mechanisms of sanguinarine used with Hep3B human hepatocellular carcinoma cells in terms of the regulation of apoptosis. Sanguinarine inhibited the proliferation of Hep3B cells in a concentration-dependent manner, which was associated with the induction of apoptosis. Sanguinarine also increased the activity of caspase-3, which is a typical effector caspase, and the activities of caspase-8 and caspase-9, which are key when initiating extrinsic and intrinsic apoptosis pathways, respectively. In addition, sanguinarine increased the expression of death receptor-related genes and pro-apoptotic BAX, which belongs to the Bcl-2 family, while suppressing the expression of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2. Sanguinarine promoted the truncation of Bid and enhanced the release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria to the cytoplasm due to a loss of mitochondrial membrane potential. Furthermore, the reduction of a survival rate that was induced by sanguinarine and the induction of apoptosis disappeared with the inhibition of artificial caspase activity. Therefore, the results of the study indicated that sanguinarine-induced apoptosis in Hep3B cells involves both extrinsic and intrinsic pathways; such apoptosis is a caspase-dependent phenomenon.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.118-124
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• 2005

In this study, a novel deposition method of Pt catalysts onto Nafion membranes modified with polypyrrole (PPy) has been proposed for PEMFC application. The PPy/Nafion composite membranes were fabricated by chemical polymerization of pyrrole using $FeCl_3$ and $Na_2S_2O_8$ as initiator. The proton conductivity and water uptake of the chemically prepared PPy/Nafion composites were investigated. The ionic conductivity and water uptake of PPy/Nafion composite membrane prepared with $Na_2S_2O_8$ were decreased with polymerization time of pyrrole. In the case of $FeCl_3$, the ionic conductivity was almost retained and the water uptake was decreased with polymerization time of pyrrole. When the Pt particle was deposited on PPy/Nafion composites membrane by chemical reduction of $H_2PtCl_6$, the Pt loading on Nafion membrane was enhanced by polypyrrole due to electronic conduction property. The performance evaluation with membrane electrode assembly composed of Pt/PPy/Nafion composite and diffusion electrode was carried out using a single cell. As a result of fuel cell test, current density of $569mA/cm^2$ at 0.3 V has been obtained for MEA contained with Pt/PPy/Nafion composite. This study shows that direct deposition of Pt catalysts on Nafion impregnated polypyrrole is a promising method to prepare thin catalyst layer for the PEMFC.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.558-567
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• 2001

The syntheses of thermal latent catalysts have been carried out by modifying the substituent of pyrazinium salts. The thermal latent properties and cure behaviors of difunctional epoxy resin (diglycidylether of bisphenol-A, DGEBA) with 1 wt% of catalyst as an initiator were investigated by dynamic DSC method. As a result, the synthesized catalysts showed the good latent thermal properties in epoxy system. With increasing the basicity of substituted catalyst, the cure temperature and activation energy of epoxy system were increased, whereas the activity was decreased. This was probably due to the fact that the activity and cure behavior were controlled by ring strain and basicity of substituent. Consequently, the catalyst activity modified by methyl group as an electron donor was decreased in increasing of basicity in an initiation step of epoxy cure system. This is due to a decreasing of stabilities of both leaving group of pyrazinium salts and benzyl cation. However, the catalyst activity modified by cyano group as an electron acceptor was increased in increasing the stability of benzyl cation resulting from organic effects and resonance.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.211-217
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• 2013

Potassium tert-butoxide (t-BuOK) with $CO_2$ or benzoyl chloride (BzC) as a polymerization initiator system was used with crown ether or TMAC as catalyst to synthesize very high molecular weight nylon 4 homo- and copolymers by anionic ring opening polymerization. Effect of different amounts of catalyst, crown ether and TMAC on the polymerization was studied in terms of intrinsic viscosity, yield and thermal properties. By adding crown ether or TMAC, polymers with very higher intrinsic viscosity values were obtained in a high yield. It was possible to synthesize nylon 4 homopolymer with such a high intrinsic viscosity value of 6.36 dL/g. Crown ether was found to be more efficient in terms of intrinsic viscosity and polymer yields than TMAC. Thermal analysis confirmed that molecular weight effect on the thermal properties of both nylon 4 and nylon 4 copolymer was marginal.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.303-315
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• 2003

Inorganic/organic composite particles were also synthesized by changing an initiator an it's concentration, concentration of an adsorbed surfactant, reaction temperature, and agitation speed in the presence of $CaCO_3$ adsorbed SDBS. The polymerization conditions were optimized according to the conversion of the core-shell composite particles. In the inorganic/organic core-shell composite particle polymerization, $CaCO_3$ absorbed surfactant SDBS of 0.5 wt % was prepared first and then core $CaCO_3$ was encapsulated by sequential emulsion polymerization using MMA, concentration of APS $3.16{\times}10^{-3}mol/L$ to minimize the formation of new PMMA particle during MMA shell polymerization. The structure characterization of the inorganic/organic core-shell particles was verified by measuring the decomposition degree of $CaCO_3$ using HCl solution. It was found that $CaCO_3$ was encapsulated by shell PMMA due to having excellent dispersion in the epoxy resin, smooth surface distinctly from spindle shape, and broad particle distribution after the capsulation.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.60 no.3
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• pp.181-186
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• 2016

The hydrophilic ophthalmic lens with addition of 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate (HEA), 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), hydroxypropyl methacrylate (HPMA) and Ag nanoparticles were manufactured. And also, the cross-linker ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) and the initiator azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) were used for polymerization. The polymerization of the hydrogel lens material was conducted through thermal polymerization in 100 ℃ for 1h. The optical and physical characteristics of hydrogel lens were evaluated by measuring water content, refractive index and optical transmittance. The water content of sample containing HEA, HEMA and HPMA was in the average of 82.12%, 37.06% and 21.57%, respectively. And also, refractive index of the sample containing HEA, HEMA and HPMA was in the average of 1.3540, 1.4330 and 1.4649, respectively. In case of the optical properties of the sample, the results showed that the near-UV transmittance was 82.67%, 80.32% and 79.83%, and the visible transmittance was 89.72%, 88.24% and 86.89%, respectively. And also, optical transmittance of the sample containing Ag nanoparticles showed that the near-UV transmittance of 10.59% and visible transmittance of 43.74% were obtained. From the results, the molecular length influenced on the water content and refractive index of the polymerized material.