• Mycobiology
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• 제46권4호
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• pp.448-451
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• 2018

Fungal perylenequinones have photodynamic activity and are promising photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy (PDT). Here, we investigated the bactericidal and antitumor activities of phleichrome from the fungal perylenequinone family in vitro. Photodynamic bactericidal activity of phleichrome was analyzed by agar-well diffusion method under dark and illuminated conditions. The photodynamic antitumor activity of phleichrome was analyzed in MCF-7, HeLa, SW480, and HepG2 human cancer cell lines using in vitro cytotoxicity assays. Photodynamic bactericidal activities against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria were species-specific. Antitumor activity against all tumor cell lines increased under the illuminated condition. Depending on the results of the analyses, Phleichrome has potential for further drug development related to its antibacterial and antitumor activities.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• 제35권2호
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• pp.209-218
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• 2011

Ginseng has been used as a general tonic agent to invigorate the human body as an adaptogenic agent. In a previous report, we have shown that ginseng contains a novel glycolipoprotein called gintonin. The main function of gintonin is to transiently enhance intracellular free $Ca^{2+}$ $[Ca^{2+}]_i$ levels in animal cells. The previous method for gintonin isolation included multiple steps using organic solvents. In the present report, we developed a simple method for the preparation of crude gintonin from ginseng root as well as stem and leaf, which produced a higher yield of gintonin than the previous one. The yield of gintonin was 0.20%, 0.29%, and 0.81% from ginseng root, stem, and leaf, respectively. The apparent molecular weight of gintonin isolated from stem and leaf through sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis was almost same as that from root but the compositions of amino acids, carbohydrates or lipids differed slightly between them. We also examined the effects of crude gintonin from ginseng root, stem, and leaf on endogenous $Ca^{2+}$-activated $Cl^-$ channel (CaCC) activity of Xenopus oocytes through mobilization of $[Ca^{2+}]_i$. We found that the order of potency for the activation of CaCC was ginseng root > stem > leaf. The $ED_{50}$ was $1.4{\pm}1.4$, $4.5{\pm}5.9$, and $3.9{\pm}1.1$ mg/mL for root, stem and leaf, respectively. In the present study, we demonstrated for the first time that in addition to ginseng root, ginseng stem and leaf also contain gintonin. Gintonin can be prepared from a simple method with higher yield of gintonin from ginseng root, stem, and leaf. Finally, these results demonstrate the possibility that ginseng stem and leaf could also be utilized for ginstonin preparation after a simple procedure, rather than being discarded.

• BMB Reports
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• 제29권1호
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• pp.38-44
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• 1996

Taq DNA polymerase from Thermus aquaticus has been shown to be very useful in the polymerase chain reaction method, which is being used for amplifying DNA. Not only does Taq DNA polymerase have high commercial value commercial value for the polymerase chain reaction application, but it is also important in studying DNA replication, because it is apparently an homologue to E. coli DNA polymerase I, which has long been used for DNA replication study (Lawyer et ai., 1993). The crystal structure determination of Taq DNA polymerase was initiated. An X-ray diffraction pattern breaks down a crystal structure into discrete sine waves in a Fourier series. The original shape of a crystal object in terms of electron density may be represented as the sum of those sine waves with varying amplitudes and phases in three dimensions. The molecular replacement method was initially employed to provide phase information for the structure of Taq DNA polymerase. The rotation search using the program MERLOT resulted in a solution peak with 5.4 r.m.s. PC-refinement of the X-PLOR program verified the result and also optimized the orientation angles. Next, the translation search using the X-PLOR program resulted in a unique solution peak with 7.35 r.m.s. In addition, the translation search indicated $P3_121$ to be the true space group out of two possible ones. The phase information from the molecular replacement was useful in the MIR phasing experiment.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• 제34권3호
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• pp.229-235
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• 1996

Microgram quantities of DNA per gram soil were recovered with SDS- based and freeze-and thaw procedures. The average DNA fragment size was > 23 Kb. This method generated minimal shearing of extracted DNA. However, the DNA extracts still contained considerable amounts of humic impurities sufficient to inhibit PCR. Several approaches were used to reduce the interferences with the PCR (use of CTAF in extraction step, Elutip-d column purification, addition of BSA to PCR buffer) to accomplish PCR with DNA extract as a template. Most of the DNA extracts were not digested completely by restriction endonuclease, and CTAB-TREATED ane Elutip-d column purified DNA extracts were partially digested. Regarding as restriction enzyme digestion, all PCRs failed to amplify 16S rRNA gene fragments in the DNA extracts. In the case of DNA extracts only where BSA was added to PCR buffer, PCR was successfully conducted whether the DNA extracts were treated with CTAB or purified with columns. However, these two treatments were indispensable for humic impurity-rich DNA extracts to generate the PCR-compatible DNA samples. Direct extraction of DNA, coupled with these procedures to remove and relieve interferences by humic impurities and followed by the PCR, can be rapid and simple method for molecular microbiological study on soil microorganisms.

• 대한방사성의약품학회지
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• 제1권1호
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• pp.1-8
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• 2015

It is essential use of long term half life radioisotopes for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging study of biopharmaceuticals because most of biopharmaceuticals have long biological half-life. Some representative isotopes are $^{124}I$, $^{64}Cu$, $^{89}Zr$ and so on. These PET radioisotopes and their radiopharmaceuticals have recently received growing interest because of long half life and good imaging properties. Furthermore, $^{64}Cu$ and $^{89}Zr$ can be used in a number of radiopharmaceuticals due to its ease of conjugation to peptides and antibodies using the proper chelator. In recent years, since $^{124}I$ was first developed in 2005, we have been studied to develop an efficient method and procedure for producing these radioisotopes, and we have made considerable progress in production of long term half life radioisotopes. This review introduces the general production system, purification procedure, and several advances on targeting method for $^{124}I$ and $^{64}Cu$ in KIRAMS.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제31권6호
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• pp.1489-1495
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• 2010

A porous coordination solid of nickel(II) dihydroxyterephthalate has been synthesized by the microwave-assisted (MW) method. The synthesized nickel(II) dihyroxylterephthalate was designated by the general formula of [$Ni_2$(dhtp) $(H_2O)_2]{\cdot}8H_2O$ (where, dhtp = 2,5-dihydroxyterephthalate, denoted by Ni-DHTP). The effect of microwave-irradiation temperature and time of irradiation on the porosity and morphological changes in the solids have also been investigated. The catalytic performance of Ni-DHTP synthesized by MW method has been studied in the oxidation of cyclohexene with aqueous $H_2O_2$, which gave cyclohexene oxide as the primary product and 2-cyclohexene-1-ol as a major product.

• Macromolecular Research
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• 제11권5호
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• pp.341-346
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• 2003

A poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(L-lactide) diblock copolymer (PEO-b-PLLA) is characterized by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) and a block length distribution map is constructed. Although the MALDI- TOF mass spectrum of PEO-b-PLLA is very complicated, most of the polymer species were identified by isolating the overlapped isotope patterns and by fitting the overlapped peaks to the Schulz-Zimm distribution function. Reconstructed MALDI-TOF MS spectrum was nearly identical to the measured spectrum and this method shows its potential to be developed as an easy and fast analysis method of low molecular weight block copolymers.

• 대한임상검사과학회지
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• 제46권3호
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• pp.99-105
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• 2014

Isolating total DNA from small samples using traditional methods is difficult and inefficient mainly due to loss of DNA during filtration and precipitation. With advances in molecular pathology, DNA extraction from micro-dissected cells has become essential in handling clinical samples. Genomic DNA extraction using small numbers of cells can be very important to successfully PCR amplify DNA from small biopsy specimens. We compared our experimental genomic DNA extraction method (A) with two other commercially available methods: using spin columns (B), and conventional resins (C), and determined the efficacy of DNA extraction from small numbers of cells smeared on a glass slide. Approximately 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000 cells were isolated from fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) slides aspirated from histologically proven papillary thyroid carcinoma masses. DNA was extracted using the three techniques. After measuring DNA quantity, PCR amplification was performed to detect the ${\beta}$-globin and $BRAF^{V600E}$ gene mutations. DNA extracted by method (A) showed better yield than the other methods in all cell groups. With our method, a suitable amount of genomic DNA to produce amplification was extracted from as few as 50 cells, while more than 100 to 200 cells were required when methods (B) or (C) were applied. Our genomic DNA extraction method provides high quality and improved yields for molecular analysis. It will be especially useful for paucicellular clinical samples which molecular pathologists often confront when handling fine needle aspiration cytology, exfoliative cytology and small biopsy specimens.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권11호
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• pp.3790-3797
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• 2021

Although the individual channel readout method can improve the performance of PET detectors with pixelated photo-sensors, such as silicon photomultiplier (SiPM), this method leads to a significant increase in the number of readout channels. In this study, we proposed a novel multiplexing method that could effectively reduce the number of readout channels to reduce system complexity and development cost. The proposed multiplexing circuit was designed to generate bipolar pulses with different zero-crossing points by adjusting the time constant of the high-pass filter connected to each channel of a pixelated photo-sensor. The channel position of the detected gamma-ray was identified by estimating the width between the rising edge and the zero-crossing point of the bipolar pulse. In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed multiplexing circuit, four detector blocks, each consisting of a 4 × 4 array of 3 mm × 3 mm × 20 mm LYSO and a 4 × 4 SiPM array, were constructed. The average energy resolution was 13.2 ± 1.1% for all 64 crystal pixels and each pixel position was accurately identified. A coincidence timing resolution was 580 ± 12 ps. The experimental results indicated that the novel multiplexing method proposed in this study is able to effectively reduce the number of readout channels while maintaining accurate position identification with good energy and timing performance. In addition, it could be useful for the development of PET systems consisting of a large number of pixelated detectors.

• 환경생물
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• 제41권2호
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• pp.145-166
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• 2023

Parrots have been threatened by global trade to meet their high demand as pets. Controlling parrot trade is essential because parrots play a vital role in the ecosystem. Accurate species identification is crucial for controlling parrot trade. Parrots have been traded as eggs due to their advantages of lower mortality rates and more accessible transport than live parrots. A molecular method is required to identify parrot eggs because it is difficult to perform identification using morphological features. In this study, DNAs were obtained from 43 unidentified parrot eggs using a non-destructive sampling method. Partial cytochrome b (CYTB) gene was then successfully amplified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequenced. Sequences newly obtained in the present study were compared to those available in the GenBank by database searching. In addition, phylogenetic analysis was conducted to identify species using available sequences in GenBank along with sequences reported in previous studies. Finally, the 43 parrot eggs were successfully identified as seven species belonging to two families and seven genera. This non-destructive sampling method for obtaining DNA and molecular identification might help control the trade of parrot eggs and prevent their illegal trade.