• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.65-73
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• 2012

The Gas Diffusion Layer (GDL) of fuel cell, are required to provide both delivery of reactant gases to the catalyst layer and removal of water in either vapor or liquid form in typical PEMFCs. In this study, the fabrication of GDL containing Micro Porous Layer (MPL) made of the slurry of PVDF mixed with carbon black is investigated in detail. Physical properties of GDL containing MPL, such as electrical resistance, gas permeability and microstructure were examined, and the performance of the cell using developed GDL with MPL was evaluated. The results show that MPL with PVDF binder demonstrated uniformly distributed microstructure without large cracks and pores, which resulted in better electrical conductivity. The fuel cell performance test demonstrates that the developed GDL with MPL has a great potential due to enhanced mass transport property due to its porous structure and small pore size.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.611-618
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• 2023

Rhizome of Alisma orientale has been used as a traditional medicine for treating kidney diseases in East Asian countries. Its inhibitory effects on hypersensitivity responses have been reported for methanol extracts, with alisol B 23-acetate (AB23Ac) being the most active constituent among six terpenes in inhibiting the direct passive Arthus reaction. However, whether AB23Ac has efficacy against allergic asthma has not been tested to date. The in vivo efficacy of AB23Ac in an ovalbumin (OVA)-induced allergic asthma mouse model was evaluated by administrating AB23Ac before OVA sensitization or OVA challenge in BALB/c mice. AB23Ac suppressed antigen-induced degranulation of RBL-2H3 mast cells in a concentration-dependent manner. The administration of AB23Ac both before OVA sensitization and OVA challenge greatly lowered pulmonary resistance and the increase in immune cell counts and inflammatory responses around the peribronchial and perivascular regions. In addition, the inflammatory cytokine levels of Th1/Th2/Th17 cells in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid decreased in the AB23Ac-treated groups. AB23Ac reduced the number of PAS-stained cells in the lungs. Furthermore, a computer modeling study indicated that AB23Ac can bind tightly to spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk). These results suggest that AB23Ac may ameliorate allergic asthma by suppressing immune responses in dendritic cells during sensitization and in mast cells during challenge periods.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2008

The present study investigated the anti-proliferative and chemosensitizing effects of Crinum asiaticum var. japonicum against multi-drug resistant (MDR) cancer cells. The 80% methanol extract, chloroform ($CHCl_3$) fraction and butanol (BuOH) fraction of C. asiaticum inhibited the growth of mitoxantrone (MX) resistant HL-60 (HL-60/MX2) cells. When HL-60/MX2 cells were treated with the $CHCl_3$ and BuOH fractions, DNA ladder and sub-G1 hypodiploid cells were observed. Furthermore, the fractions reduced BcI-2 mRNA levels, whereas Bax mRNA levels were increased. These results suggest that the inhibitory effect of C. asiaticum on the growth of the HL-60/MX2 cells might arise from the induction of apoptosis. Treatment of HL-60/MX2 cells with the fractions markedly decreased the mRNA levels of the multi-drug resistance protein-1 and breast cancer resistance protein. The $CHCl_3$ fraction and hexane fraction increased MX accumulation in HL-60/MX2 cells. These results imply that the $CHCl_3$ fraction of C. asiaticum plays a pivotal role as a chemosensitizer. We suggest that components of C. asiaticum might have a therapeutic potential for the treatment of MDR leukemia.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.144-151
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• 2012

In the course of this study aimed at the development of functional food ingredients from seaweeds, the in vitro antimicrobial activities of methanol extracts prepared from 35 different seaweeds (17 phaeophyta, 11 rhodophyta and 7 chlorophyta) were determined against food-borne diseases and pathogenic microorganisms including multi-drug resistant (MDR) Pseudomonas sp. and Candida sp. Based on disc-diffusion assays at 500 g/disc concentration of the methanol extracts, Ishige okamurai, I. foliacea, Sargassum confusum, and S. yamade exhibited strong antibacterial activities in a broad-spectrum, except against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In addition to the latter four seaweeds, Ecklonia stolonifera, E. cava and Eisenia bicyclis also demonstrated antifungal activity against C. albicans. Among these 8 selected seaweeds, I. okamurai, I. foliacea, and S. yamade exhibited strong hemolytic activity (55-93%) at 500 g/ml against human RBC. Organic solvent sequential fractions using hexane, ethylacetate and butanol, and water residues were prepared from the 8 selected seaweeds and their anti-Candida sp. activities were further determined. The ethylacetate and butanol fraction of I. okamurai, and the hexane fraction of I. foliacea demonstrated antifungal activity against MDR-pathogenic Candida sp. Although the solvent fractions had no activity against MDR-Pseudomonas sp., our results suggest that seaweeds, especially Ishige okamurai, I. foliacea, S. confusum, and S. yamade could be developed as broad-spectrum antimicrobial ingredients.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.183-188
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• 2004

In order to develop polymer electrolyte for lithium/sulfur batteries, highly microporous P(VdF-HFP) membranes were prepared by phase inversion method. Porous structure was controlled by extracting NMP with mixture of deionized water and methanol. Porous structure of the membranes was observed with SEM. Polymer electrolytes were prepared by soaking the porous membranes in 1M $LiCF_3SO_3-TEGDME/EC$. The ionic conductivity of polymer electrolyte was found to be at high as $2\times10^{-3}S/cm$ when the polymer membrane extracted by $80\%$ methanol was used. The microporous polymer electrolyte optimized in this work displayed high ionic conductivity, uniform pore size, low interfacial resistance and stable ionic conductivity with storage time. The ionic conductivity of polymer electrolytes was measured with various lithium salts, and the conductivity showed $3.3\times10^{-3}S/cm$ at room temperature when $LiPF_6$ was used as a lithium salt.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.985-991
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• 1996

In chromatographic separation, HETP(height equivalent to a theoretical plate) is a useful quanititive parameter and it is wildely designated as column efficiency. The effects of operating conditions (sample concentration, injection volume, flow rate and mobile phase composition) on HETP were investigated in perparative liquid chromatography (PLC). Water and organic modifier of methanol were used as mobile phase. The sample of thymidine was injected into preparative C18 columns. The system was run by a isocratic mode in 1.5~5.5ml/min. The larger amounts of sample and higher flow rates of mobile phase increased HETP, which means that column efficiencies were worse. As the weight of sample injected into a chromatographic system could be prepared with different concentrations and injection volumes, for the same amount of sample, HETP was approximately increased two times with the ten-fold injection volume. HETP was mainly affected by the resistance of stationary and mobile phase mass transfer in the intraparticle section of packings at higher velocities.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.461-468
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• 2016

In recent years, various naturally occurring defence peptides such as plectasin have attracted considerable research interest because they could serve as alternatives to antibiotics. However, the production of plectasin from natural microorganisms is still not commercially feasible because of its low expression levels and weak stability. A tandemly arrayed plectasin gene (1,002 bp) from Pseudoplectania nigrella was generated using the isoschizomer construction method, and was inserted into the pPICZαA vector and expressed in Pichia pastoris. The selected P. pastoris strain yielded 143 μg/ml recombinant plectasin (Ple) under the control of the methanol-inducible alcohol oxidase 1 (AOX1) promoter. Ple was estimated by SDS-PAGE to be 41 kDa. In vitro studies have shown that Ple efficiently inhibited the growth of several gram-positive bacteria such as Streptococcus suis and Staphylococcus aureus. S. suis is the most sensitive bacterial species to Ple, with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 4 μg/ml. Importantly, Ple exhibited resistance to pepsin but it was quite sensitive to trypsin and maintained antimicrobial activity over a wide pH range (pH 2.0 to 10.0). P. pastoris offers an attractive system for the cost-effective production of Ple. The antimicrobial activity of Ple suggested that it could be a potential alternative to antibiotics against S. suis and S. aureus infections.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.58-67
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• 2013

PBT (polybutylene terephthalate) has excellent mechanical properties such as low absorption, dimensional stability, abrasion resistance. It is used in manufacturing electronic components, the automobile part and the various precise parts. Bis (hydroxybutyl) terephthalate (BHBT) which is a PBT monomer, can be produced by transesterification reaction of DMT (dimethyl terephthalate) with 1,4-butandiol (BD). The kinetics of transesterification reaction of DMT with BD using zinc acetate as a catalyst was studied in a batch reactor. Previous kinetic studies was carried out in a semibatch reactor where generated methanol was removed so that reverse reactions were not considered in the kinetic expressions, resulting in inaccuracy of the kinetic model. Mathematical models of a batch reactor for the transesterification reaction were developed and used to characterize the reaction kinetics and the composition distribution of the reaction products. More accurate models than previous models was obtained and found to have a good agreement between model predictions and experimental data.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.139-141
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• 2005

It is possble to study charge transfer property which is caused by height variation because we can see the organic materials barrier height and STM tip by organic materials energy band gap. Here, we investigated the negative differential resistance(NDR) and charge transfer property of self-assembled 4,4-Di(ethynylphenyl)-2'-nitro-1-(thioacetyl)benzene, which has been well known as a conducting molecule. Self-assembly monolayers(SAMs) were prepared on Au(111), which had been thermally deposited onto pre-treatment($H_{2}SO_{4}:H_{2}O_{2}$=3:1) Si. The Au substrate was exposed to a 1 mM/l solution of 1-dodecanethiol in ethanol for 24 hours to form a monolayer. After thorough rinsing the sample, it was exposed to a $0.1{\mu}M/1$ solution of 4,4-Di(ethynylphenyl)-2'-nitro-1-(thioacetyl)benzene in dimethylformamide(DMF) for 30 min and kept in the dark during immersion to avoid photo-oxidation. After the assembly, the samples were removed from the solutions, rinsed thoroughly with methanol, acetone, and $CH_{2}Cl_{2}$, and finally blown dry with $N_2$. Under these conditions, we measured electrical properties of self-assembly monolayers(SAMs) using ultra high vacuum scanning tunneling microscopy(UHV-STM). The applied voltages were from -1.50 V to -1.20 V with 298 K temperature. The vacuum condition is $6{\times}10^{-8}$ Torr. As a result, we found that NDR and charge transfer property by a little change of height when the voltage is applied between STM tip and electrode.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.140-146
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• 2005

Candida albicans, a polymorphic fungus, causes systemic and local infections. Recent reports show that the fungus is a main etiological agent for the arthritis. For trea tment, antifungal drugs and/or rheumatoid drugs are used, but resistance and side effects limit application of the drugs. In search of new sources for treatment of the fungal arthritis, we choose Egb 761 (extract of Ginkgo leaves 761), one of the most popular over-the-counter herbal medicines. The Egb 761 contains two major ingredients such as terpene and flavonoid. In the present study, we examined if the terpene portion of Egb 761 had anti-inflammatory activity against C.albicans-caused arthritis. The terpene was extracted with combination of methanol and water from the Egb 761, followed by gel-permeation chromatography. Presence of terpene was determined by the Salkowski colorimetric method and HPLC analysis. For an animal model of inflammation induction, mice were given an emulsion form of C.albicans cell wall mixed with Complete Freund's Adjuvant (CFA) by footpad-injection. Results showed that intraperitoneal administration of the water-soluble portion that contained terpene and flavonoid reduced the inflammation. Whereas the terpene had anti-inflammatory activity, flavonoid portion had no such activity, For determination of possible mechanism of the activity, the terpene seemed to be suppression of nitric oxide (NO) production from LPS-treated macrophages. Taken together the Ginkgo terpene may have anti-inflammatory effect against C.albicans-caused arthritis, possibly by blocking NO production.