• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.389-396
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• 2009

Objective : Triptolide (TP) has been reported to suppress the expression of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) phosphatase-1 (MKP-1), of which main function is to inactivate the extracellular signal-regulated kinase-1/2 (ERK-1/2), the p38 MAPK and the c-Jun N-terminal kinase-1/2 (JNK-1/2), and to exert antiproliferative and pro-apoptotic activities. However, the mechanisms underlying antiproliferative and pro-apoptotic activities of TP are not fully understood. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the down-regulation of MKP-1 expression by TP would account for antiproliferative activity of TP in immortalized HT22 hippocampal cells. Methods : MKP-1 expression and MAPK phosphorylation were analyzed by Western blot. Cell proliferation was assessed by $^3H$-thymidine incorporation. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) against MKP-1, vanadate (a phosphatase inhibitor), U0126 (a specific inhibitor for ERK-1/2), SB203580 (a specific inhibitor for p38 MAPK), and SP600125 (a specific inhibitor for JNK-1/2) were employed to evaluate a possible mechanism of antiproliferative action of TP. Results : At its non-cytotoxic dose, TP suppressed MKP-1 expression, reduced cell growth, and induced persistent ERK-1/2 activation. Similar growth inhibition and ERK-1/2 activation were observed when MKP-1 expression was blocked by MKP-1 siRNA and its activity was inhibited by vanadate. The antiproliferative effects of TP, MKP-1 siRNA, and vanadate were significantly abolished by U0126, but not by SB203580 or SP600125. Conclusion : Our findings suggest that TP inhibits the growth of immortalized HT22 hippocampal cells via persistent ERK-1/2 activation by suppressing MKP-1 expression. Additionally, this study provides evidence supporting that MKP-1 may play an important role in regulation of neuronal cell growth.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.138-143
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• 2015

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the translucency of two different laminate ceramic veneers with and without glazing. Materials and methods: Ten millimeter side square-shaped specimens in 0.3 mm and 0.6 mm thick were fabricated for the following materials with and without glazing (n=80): A1 shade IPS e.maxPress (IEM) and Styleveneers (STV). The color coordinates (CIE $L^*a^*b^*$) of the specimens were measured with a colorimeter. The Translucency parameter (TP) was calculated from the color difference of the material on a black versus a white background. For comparisons between materials and between the 'not glazed' and 'glazed' groups, unpaired t-test was used to analyze the data (P=.05). Results: The TP ($Mean{\pm}SD$) of 'not-glazed' and 'glazed' group of IEM specimens at 0.3 mm thickness were $45.99{\pm}3.00$ and $49.53{\pm}2.28$ and the TP at 0.6 mm thickness were $32.82{\pm}2.59$ and $43.02{\pm}0.98$, respectively. Likewise, the TP of 'not-glazed' and 'glazed' group of STV specimens at 0.3 mm thickness were $47.03{\pm}3.65$ and $50.95{\pm}3.05$ and the TP at 0.6 mm thickness group were $34.48{\pm}1.28$ and $43.39{\pm}1.20$, respectively. As the glazing of ceramic veneer differed, the TP of each ceramic veneer showed statistically significant difference. But, the result between the products was not statistically different. Conclusion: Within the limitations of this study, we are concluded that the glazing process changed translucency of laminate ceramic veneers and the TP would not be affected by products.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.1066-1071
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• 2010

To evaluate the effect of horticultural therapy (HT) on the emotional improvement of depressed patients, computer-based heart rate variability (HRV) was compared with self-report scale (SRS) known as existing subjective evaluation method. SRS included four test areas: mental stress scale (MSS), physical stress scale (PSS), Beck anxiety inventory (BAI), and Beck depression inventory (BDI). HRV was itemized into four parameters: standard deviation of the N-N intervals (SDNN), square root of mean squared difference of successive N-N intervals (RMSSD), total power (TP), and low-frequency/high-frequency ratio (LF/HF ratio). Thirty patients with depression at the same mental hospital participated in this study. 15 patients of the treatment group received HT once a week for three months, but the control group did not during the same period. As a result, the emotional improvement in treatment group was clearly identified through HRV as well as SRS. The significant difference was shown at three test areas (MSS, BAI, and BDI, $p$ < 0.001) in SRS and at one parameter (total power, $p$ < 0.05) in HRV. There was noticeable increase in SDNN, RMSSD, and LF/HF ratio in treatment group after HT activity, but no significant difference. Although all parameters of HRV did not show significance, the possibility of HRV as an objective evaluation method to HT was recognized in this study. These results also implied that HT was efficient in the mental and physical regeneration of the depressed patients in both subjective and objective evaluation methods.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.148-156
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• 2017

In this study, we analyzed the relationship between phytoplankton community and physicochemical factors in 12 lakes located in Jeollanam-do based on the data surveyed from March to November 2014. Totally, 297 species of phytoplankton were identified including 98 Bacillariophyceae, 148 Chlorophyceae, 23 Cyanophyceae and 28 other phytoplankton taxa. The standing crops ranged from 124 to $59,148cells\;mL^{-1}$ and showed the highest in August with the increase of Cyanophycean cells. The self-organizing map (SOM) was optimized into $9{\times}6$ grid and was classified into 5 clusters based on the similarity of environmental factors and phytoplankton indices. The SOM results showed that phytoplankton communities had positive relationship with water temperature, SS, DO, BOD, TP and Chl-a, whereas low relationship with pH, TN, $NH_3-N$, $NO_3-N$, $PO_4-P$ and Conductivity. In Pearson's correlation coefficient, relationship between environmental factors and phytoplankton communities showed similar results with SOM.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.37 no.1 s.106
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• pp.36-46
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• 2004

We evaluated the effect of limiting nutrients and N/P ratio on the growth of phytoplankton in a small eutrophic reservoir from November 2002 to December 2003. Nutrient limitation was investigated seasonally using nutrient enrichment bioassay (NEB). DIN/DTP and TN/TP ratio (by weight) of the reservoir during the study period ranged 17${\sim}$187 and 13${\sim}$60, respectively. Most of nitrogen in the reservoir account for $NO_3$-N, but sharp increase of ammonia was evident during the spring season. Seasonal variation of dissolved inorganic phosphorus concentration was relatively small. DTP ranged 26.5${\sim}$10.1 ${\mu}g\;P\;L^{-1}$, and the highest and lowest concentration was observed in August and December, respectively. Chlorophyll a concentration ranged 28.8${\sim}$109.7 ${\mu}g\;L^{-1}$, and its temporal variation was similar to that of cell density of phytoplankton. Dominant phytoplankton species were Bacillariphyceae (Melosira varians) and Chlorophyceae (Dictyosphaerium puchellum) in Spring (March${\sim}$April). Cyanophyceae, such as Osillatoria spp., Microcystis spp., Aphanizomenon sp. dominated from May to the freezing time. TN/TP ratio ranged from 46 to 13 (Avg. 27${\pm}$6) from June to December when cyanobacteria (Microcystis spp.) dominated. p limitation for algal growth measured in all NEB experiments (17cases), while N limitation occurred in 8 out of 17 cases. The growth rates of phytoplankton slightly increased with decreasing of DIN/DTP ratio. Evident increase was observed in the N/P ratio of > 30, and it was sustained with DTP increase until 50 ${\mu}g\;P\;L^{-1}$. Under the same N/P mass ratio with the different N concentrations (0.07, 0.7and 3.5 mg N $L^{-1}$), Microcystis spp. showed the highest growth rate in the N/P ratio of< 1 with nitrogen concentration of 3.5 mg N $L^{-1}$). The responses of phytoplankton growth to phosphate addition were clearly greater with increase of N concentration. These results indicate that the higher nitrogen concentration in the water likely induce the stronger P-limitation on the phytoplankton growth, while nitrogen deficiency is not likely the case of nutrient limitation.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.11-19
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• 2014

The objective of this research was to investigate concentration and load of nutrients such as total nitrogen (TN), nitrate nitrogen ($NO_3$-N) total phosphorous (TP), and phosphate phosphorous ($PO_4$-P) in a 23.4-ha paddy fields watershed with river water source. Water samples for irrigation water, drainage water, ponded water and groundwater were collected, and irrigation and drainage water were measured at 5~10 day intervals during normal days and at 2~6 hours intervals during three storm events. The amount of irrigation water in the study area was over 2,000 mm, which is almost identical to that in the area irrigated from a large reservoir but much more than that in the area irrigated from a pumping station. Mean flow-weighted concentrations of TN and TP in irrigation water were 2.8 and 0.15 mg/L, respectively, higher than those in the area irrigated from a large reservoir or a pumping station. The ratios of irrigation load to total inflow load for TN and TP were 88 %, and the ratios of surface outflow load to total outflow load for TN and TP were over 90 %, indicating that total nutrient load may be greatly affected by water management. The nutrient loads per area in the study area were estimated as TN 21.1 kg/ha and TP 1.1 kg/ha. Especially, the TP load per area in the study area was smaller than that in the area irrigated from a large reservoir or a pumping station. This may be because outflow load is not high likely due to sedimentation of particulate P and irrigation water load is high due to high TP concentration in irrigation water and high amount of irrigation water.

• Journal of Dental Anesthesia and Pain Medicine
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.265-270
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• 2017

Background: Endotracheal intubation during anesthesia induction may increase airway resistance ($R_{aw}$) and decrease dynamic lung compliance ($C_{dyn}$). We hypothesized that prophylactic treatment with a transdermal ${\beta}2$-agonist tulobuterol patch (TP) would help to reduce the risk of bronchospasm after placement of the endotracheal tube. Methods: Eighty-two American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) category I or II adult patients showing obstructive patterns were divided randomly into a control and a TP group (n = 41 each). The night before surgery, a 2-mg TP was applied to patients in the TP group. Standard monitors were recorded, and target controlled infusion (TCI) with propofol and remifentanil was used for anesthesia induction and maintenance. Simultaneously, end-tidal carbon dioxide, $R_{aw}$, and $C_{dyn}$ were determined at 5, 10, and 15 min intervals after endotracheal intubation. Results: There was no significant difference in demographic data between the two groups. The TP group was associated with a lower $R_{aw}$ and a higher $C_{dyn}$, as compared to the control group. $R_{aw}$ was significantly lower at 10 min (P < 0.05) and 15 min (P < 0.01), and $C_{dyn}$ was significantly higher at 5 min (P < 0.05) and 15 min (P < 0.01) in the TP group. A trend towards a lower $R_{aw}$ was observed showing a statistically significant difference 5 min after endotracheal intubation (P < 0.01) in each group. Conclusions: Prophylactic treatment with TP showed a bronchodilatory effect through suppressing an increase in $R_{aw}$ and a decrease in $C_{dyn}$ after anesthesia induction without severe adverse effects.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.23 no.9
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• pp.1537-1549
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• 2014

The objectives of this study were to analyze reservoir trophic state, based on Trophic State Index (TSI), spatial variation patterns of three zones (riverine, transition, and lacustrine zone), and empirical models through 20-years long-term data analysis. Trophic variables of TP and CHL-a were highest during the summer monsoon, and decreased along the main axis from the riverine to lacustrine zone. In the mean time, TN did not show the trend. Ratios of N:P and Secchi disc transparency (SD) increased from the riverine to lacustrine zone. The analysis of trophic state index (TSI) showed that mean TSI (TP) and TSI (CHL-a) were 62 and 57, respectively, and these values were highest in the transition zone during the summer. This zone should be managed well due to highest lake water pollution. The analysis of Trophic State Index Deviation (TSID) showed that algal growth was primarily limited by light penetration, and this was most pronounced in the monsoon season. The analysis of empirical models showed that the value of $R^2$, based on CHL-SD model, was 0.30 (p < 0.0001) in the transition zone and the $R^2$, based on TP-SD model, was 0.41 (p < 0.0001) in the transition zone.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.121-128
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to solve the problem of nutrient removal due to rapid hydraulic retention time (HRT) variation in small size private sewage treatment facility and to have better effluent quality by using natural zeolite as a coagulant aid. The experiments were conducted by applying different conditions of HRT, coagulant, and zeolite dosages. As an experimental result, $TBOD_{5}$, TSS, and TP removal efficiencies were 64.9%, 94.5%, and 98.8% at co-injection with zeolite. Overall removal efficiencies of $TBOD_{5}$, TSS, and TP have improved 15.7, 28.7, 6.1%, respectively. This result shows that zeolite addition could improve flocculation, increase setting velocity, and thus have better treatment. Therefore the use of zeolite as a coagulant aid can be useful in small size private sewage treatment facility, where especially extra nutrient removal is required to meet the legal standard for discharge.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.555-566
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• 2013

Total maximum daily load enforced in 2004 is a program to evaluate the amount of pollutants by each land use type and manage to meet a target water quality of each waterbody. The many research to calculate runoff load of pollutants by landuse type have been studied. This study was conducted to calculate pollutants EMC, load and unit load in stormwater runoff generated from tomato growing area. Monitoring was conducted about 32 event during 4years and water quality parameters such as BOD, $COD_{Mn}$, TOC, TSS, TN, TP, $NH_3-N$, $NO_3-N$, $PO_4-P$ were analyzed at the laboratory. The average EMC were measured as follows: 9.6 BOD mg/L, 17.2 $COD_{Mn}$ mg/L, 5.5 TOC mg/L, 319.4 TSS mg/L, 4.4 T-N mg/L, 2.6 T-P mg/L, 0.5 $NH_3-N$ mg/L, 0.04 $NO_2-N$ mg/L, 2.6 $NO_3-N$ mg/L, 0.8 $PO_4-P$ mg/L. TN and TP is dichargeed as $NO_3-N$ and particle phosphorus type, respectively.