• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.959-964
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• 2010

In this work, equilibrium molecular dynamics (MD) simulations in a microcanonical ensemble are performed to evaluate the friction coefficient of a Brownian particle (BP) in a Lennard-Jones (LJ) solvent. The friction coefficients are determined from the time dependent friction coefficients and the momentum autocorrelation functions of the BP with its infinite mass at various ratios of LJ size parameters of the BP and solvent, ${\sigma}_B/{\sigma}_s$. The determination of the friction coefficients from the decay rates of the momentum autocorrelation functions and from the slopes of the time dependent friction coefficients is difficult due to the fast decay rates of the correlation functions in the momentum-conserved MD simulation and due to the scaling of the slope as 1/N (N: the number of the solvent particle), respectively. On the other hand, the friction coefficient can be determined correctly from the time dependent friction coefficient by measuring the extrapolation of its long time decay to t=0 and also from the decay rate of the momentum autocorrelation function, which is obtained by time integration of the time dependent friction coefficient. It is found that while the friction coefficient increases quadratically with the ratio of ${\sigma}_B/{\sigma}_s$ for all ${\sigma}_B$, for a given ${\sigma}_s$ the friction coefficient increases linearly with ${\sigma}_B$.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.15 no.10
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• pp.852-856
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• 1994

A series of aliphatic hydrocarbons, methane to hexane in the liquid state, are modeled with the molecular mechanical potential parameters treating all hydrogen degrees of freedom explicitly. Thermodynamic properties (heat capacities and heats of vaporization) are calculated from relatively short (20ps) molecular dynamics trajectories. The liquid state structures are also examined through various radial distribution functions. Molecular dynamics simulations reproduce experimentally measured properties within a few percent errors, thus indicate that the present set of all-hydrogen parameters is suitable for simulating macromolecular systems in bulk.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.252-263
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• 2011

In this work, for the first time, the quality of restoration in wide-field microscopy images after deconvolution was analyzed as a function of different Point Spread Functions using one deconvolution method, on a specimen of known size and on a biological specimen. The empirical Point Spread Function determination can significantly depend on the numerical aperture, refractive index of the embedding medium, refractive index of the immersion oil and cover slip thickness. The influence of all of these factors is shown in the same article and using the same microscope. We have found that the best deconvolution results are obtained when the empirical PSF utilized is obtained under the same conditions as the specimen. We also demonstrated that it is very important to quantitatively check the process' outcome using several quality indicators: Full-Width at Half-Maximum, Contrast-to-Noise Ratio, Signal-to-Noise Ratio and a Tenengrad-based function. We detected a significant improvement when using an indicator to measure the focus of the whole stack. Therefore, to qualitatively determinate the best deconvolved image between different conditions, one approach that we are pursuing is to use Tenengrad-based function indicators in images obtained using a wide-field microscope.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.180-186
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• 2010

Aldosterone, mineralocorticoid hormone, has important functions related to the regulation of blood pressure and balance of fluids and electrolytes in the distal region of the nephron. By genomic and non-genomic action of aldosterone, the physiological kidney functions are modulated. However, many of them except several kind of sodium channel have not been identified and analyzed yet. In this study, proteomic technologies with two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) gel using aldosterone rat model were applied to analyze and identify the aldosterone dependently expressed proteins in rat kidney cortex. As a result, the established aldosterone rat model exhibited the normal physiological responses to aldosterone and modulated proteins were identified, which included 15 increased and 3 decreased proteins on 2-DE analysis. Among them, 11 proteins were identified as changed proteins by LC-MS/MS analysis. These proteins identified as aldosterone induced proteins were involved in several cellular pathways such as cytoskeleton remodeling, energy metabolism, amino acid metabolism, and chaperone process. In conclusion, our data could provide the insights into the new mechanism underlying regulation of kidney functions by aldosterone.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.669-672
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• 2012

Classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations using a scaled OSS2 potential originally derived from ab initio calculations are used to study the radial distribution functions of water. The original OSS2 water potential is shown to represent a glassy or an ice at ambient temperature, but the diffusion coefficient increases on increasing the temperature of the system or decreasing the density. This suggests scaling the OSS2 potential. The O-O, O-H, and H-H radial distribution functions and the corresponding coordination numbers for the scaled OSS2 potential, obtained by MD simulation, are in good agreement with the experiment results and calculations for the SPC/E water potential over a range of temperatures.

• Journal of Industrial Technology
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• v.10
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• pp.9-13
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• 1990

The approximation of the radial distribution functions(RDF) of mixture plays an important role in deriving the mixing rules for the corresponding states principle(CSP). The mean density approximation(MDA), one of the most successful approximations, fails to predict the radial distribution functions when the size ratio in terms of the Lennard-Jones size parameters is greater than 1.5. To get a better prediction of important structural integrals over the radial distribution functions that arise in the asymmetrical attraction contribution of the perturbaton theory, the new type of mean density approximation(NTMDA) is proposed. With this NTMDA, quite reliable results for those integrals for systems with comparatively large ratio of the size parameters are obtained.

• BMB Reports
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.108-111
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• 2008

Some proteins of E. coli are stable at temperatures significantly higher than $49^{\circ}C$, the maximum temperature at which the organism can grow. The heat stability of such proteins would be a property which is inherent to their structures, or it might be acquired by evolution for their specialized functions. In this study, we describe the identification of 17 heat-stable proteins from E. coli. Approximately one-third of these proteins were recognized as having functions in the protection of other proteins against denaturation. These included chaperonin (GroEL and GroES), molecular chaperones (DnaK and FkpA) and peptidyl prolyl isomerases (trigger factor and FkpA). Another common feature was that five of these proteins (GroEL, GroES, Ahpc, RibH and ferritin) have been shown to form a macromolecular structure. These results indicated that the heat stability of certain proteins may have evolved for their specialized functions, allowing them to cope with harsh environments, including high temperatures.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.478-484
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• 1997

In a recent paper[Bull. Kor. Chem. Soc. 17, 735 (1996)] we reported results of molecular dynamic (MD) simulations for the thermodynamic and structural properties of liquid n-alkanes, from n-butane to n-heptadecane, using three different models. Two of the three classes of models are collapsed atomic models while the third class is an atomistically detailed model. In the present paper we present results of MD simulations for the dynamic properties of liquid n-alkanes using the same models. The agreement of two self-diffusion coefficients of liquid n-alkanes calculated from the mean square displacements (MSD) via the Einstein equation and the velocity auto-correlation (VAC) functions via the Green-Kubo relation is excellent. The viscosities of n-butane to n-nonane calculated from the stress auto-correlation (SAC) functions and the thermal conductivities of n-pentane to n-decane calculated from the heat-flux auto-correlation (HFAC) functions via the Green-Kubo relations are smaller than the experimental values by approximately a factor of 2 and 4, respectively.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2012

Interleukin-24 (IL-24) belongs to the IL-10 family of cytokines and is well known for its tumor suppressor activity. This cytokine is released by both immune and nonimmune cells and acts on non-hematopoietic tissues such as skin, lung and reproductive tissues. Apart from its ubiquitous tumor suppressor function, IL-24 is also known to be involved in the immunopathology of autoimmune diseases like psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis. Although the cellular sources and functions of IL-24 are being increasingly investigated, the molecular mechanisms of IL-24 gene expression at the levels of signal transduction, epigenetics and transcription factor binding are still unclear. Understanding the specific molecular events that regulate the production of IL-24 will help to answer the remaining questions that are important for the design of new strategies of immune intervention involving IL-24. Herein, we briefly review the signaling pathways and transcription factors that facilitate, induce, or repress production of this cytokine along with the cellular sources and functions of IL-24.

• BMB Reports
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.35-44
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• 2004

Recently produced information on post-translational modifications makes it possible to interpret their biological regulation with new insights. Various protein modifications finely tune the cellular functions of each protein. Understanding the relationship between post-translational modifications and functional changes ("post-translatomics") is another enormous project, not unlike the human genome project. Proteomics, combined with separation technology and mass spectrometry, makes it possible to dissect and characterize the individual parts of post-translational modifications and provide a systemic analysis. Systemic analysis of post-translational modifications in various signaling pathways has been applied to illustrate the kinetics of modifications. Availability will advance new technologies that improve sensitivity and peptide coverage. The progress of "post-translatomics", novel analytical technologies that are rapidly emerging, offer a great potential for determining the details of the modification sites.