• Journal of Korean Medical classics
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.221-239
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• 2009

Background: The recent outbreak of the novel strain of influenza A (H1N1) virus has raised a global concern of the future risk of pandemic. Traditional Korean Medicine(TKM) has been combatting against contagious diseases and developed its own particular and efficient way in treating those diseases. Objectives: Provide a distinctive and effective TKM method in understanding the principles of treatment, prevention, and contraindications against influenza A through case histories. Method: We revised case histories of eminent doctors of Ming and Qing dynasties according to their clinical manifestations similar to those of influenza A. We also verified prescriptions of the "Dong-uibogam(東醫寶鑑)" through examining clinical practices of China today. Results: 1. The subtypes of Warm disease; Wind Warmth and Pestilence has the most similar clinical manifestation in comparison to Influenza A. Specifying these terms is important in recognizing and classifying various diseases under the name of Warm disease. 2. TKM considered not only external factors but also individual factors like general condition, diet, emotion, constitutional types, etc in the treatment of febrile diseases. 3. TKM developed a new way in the treatment of contagious diseases. considering the characteristics of each pathogen. TKM described the Warm pathogen being light as a feather, which enters through the nose, principally affecting the Lung. Therefore, they emphasized treatment with Pungent Sweet Cooling Moistening[辛甘凉潤] method. 4. As the conservation of fluid and humor is the primordial concern in the treatment of Warm disease, they restricted release of the exterior with pungent-warm and purgation method. The purgation methods was used exclusively to decrease fever and preserve fluid and humor. 5. The only differentiating characteristics of Influenza A with seasonal influenza are vomiting and diarrhea. Case research revealed the possibility of these manifestations to be a mechanism of restoration. 6. TKM provides alimento prevention method like Mint Pear Porridge, mung bean, and etc also combination of herbal medicine. Also emphasized in the conservation of essence for the prevention of contagious diseases. Conclusions: TKM developed its unique way in understanding the pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of contagious diseases and formed its independent scheme of Warm Disease. This knowledge in febrile contagious disease is relevant today in providing diverse treatment and prevention for influenza A.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.57-58
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• 2006

The effects of lowering ECAP temperature during ECAP process and Post-ECAP annealing on microstructure, texture and mechanical properties of the AZ31 alloys have been investigated in the present study. The as-extruded materials were ECAP processed to 2 passes at 553K prior to subsequent pressing up to 6 passes at 523K or 493K. When this method of lowering ECAP temperature during ECAP was used, the rods could be successfully deformed up to 6 passes without any surface cracking. Grain refinement during ECAP process at 553K might have helped the material to endure further straining at lower deformation temperatures probably by increasing the strain accommodation effect by grain boundary sliding, causing stress relaxation. Texture modification during ECAP has a great influence on the strength of Mg alloys because HCP metals have limited number of slip systems. As slip is most prone to take place on basal planes in Mg at room temperature, the rotation of high fraction of basal planes to the directions favorable for slip as in ECAP decreases the yield stress appreciably. The strength of AZ31 Mg alloys increases with decrease of grain size if the texture is constant though ECAP deformation history is different. A standard positive strength dependence on the grain size for Mg alloys with the similar texture (Fig. 1) supports that the softening of ECAPed Mg alloys (a negative slope) typically observed despite the significant grain refinement is due to the texture modification where the rotation of basal planes occurs towards the orientation for easier slip. It could be predicted that if the original fiber texture is restored after ECAP treatment yielding marked grain refinement, yield stress as high as 500 MPa will be obtained at the grain size of ${\sim}1{\mu}m$. Differential speed rolling (DSR) with a high speed ratio between the upper and lower rolls was applied to alter the microstructure and texture of the AZ31 sheets. Significant grain refinement took place during the rolling owing to introduction of large shear deformation. Grain size as small as $1.4{\mu}m$ could be obtained at 423K after DSR. There was a good correlation between the (0002) pole intensity and tensile elongation. This result indicates that tensile ductility improvement in the asymmetrically rolled AZ31 Mg alloys is closely related to the weakening of basal texture during DSR. Further basal texture weakening occurred during annealing after DSR. According to Hall-Petch relation shown in Fig. 1, the strength of the asymmetrically rolled AZ31 is lower than that of the symmetrically rolled one when compared at the same grain size. This result was attributed to weakening of fiber texture during DSR. The DSRed AZ31, however, shows higher strength than the ECAPed AZ31 where texture has been completely replaced by a new texture associated with high Schmid factors.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.85-92
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• 2011

The dynamic behavior of piles becomes very complex due to soil-pile dynamic interaction, soil non-linearity, resonance phenomena of soil-pile system and so on. Therefore, the proper numerical simulation of the pile behavior needs much effort and calculation time. In this research, a new modeling method, which can be applied to the conventional finite difference analysis program FLAC 3D, was developed to reduce the calculation time. The soil domain in this method is divided into a near-field region and a far-field region, which is not influenced by the soil-pile dynamic interaction. Then, the ground motion of the far-field is applied to the boundaries of the near-field instead of modeling the far-field region as finite meshes. In addition, the soil non-linearity behavior is modeled by using the hysteretic damping model, which determines the soil tangent modulus as a function of shear strain and the interface element was applied to simulate the separation and slip between the soil and pile. The proposed method reduced the calculation time by as much as one third compared with a usual modeling method and maintained the accuracy of the calculated results. The calculated results by the proposed method showed a good agreement with the prototype pile behavior, which was obtained by applying a similitude law to the 1-g shaking table test results.

• Journal of Aquaculture
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.203-212
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• 1998

As seed production program is growing prosperously in various fishes in southern Korea, disease problems in larval and juvenile stages have emerged as a new research object. The following results were obtained from investigation about environmental factors related to mass mortalities of young Kinki red seabream, Pagrus major in process of artificial seedling production. Total length of red seabream larvae hatched was 2.93mm, and became 18.83~20.12mm at day 40. The first noticeable mortality of red seabream larvae (7.98~9.37mm) occurred in 25~30 day-old fish with the survival rates of 59.8~60.3%. Thereafter the mortality of larvae decreased, survival rate was 20.5~25.45% in day 40. After 20~30 days, the quality of pond water was bellow II class. During the experimental period COD, $PO_4$-P, $NO_2$-N, $NO_3$-N and $NH_$-N increased up to 3, 7, 34, 6 and 8 times, respectively, compared to initial ones. The number of viable bacteria in pond water and seabream larvae were $6.3{\times}10^6$~$2.3{\times}10^7$ cfu/ml, 4.3~$7.4{\times}10^6$ cfu/g in day 25, respectively. Among the isolated bacteria from the diseased red seabream in day 25, Vibrio spp. was considered to be the causative organism. External symptoms of this disease were floated, spined near the surface and inflated abdomen. When the isolated strain of the Vibrio was bathed to seabream larvae, $LD_50$ of seabream larvae was over $10^6$ cfu/ml of Vibrio spp.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.587-596
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• 2006

Most of oral streptococci express the Antigen I/II (AgI/II) proteins, cell wall anchored adhesions. AgI/II protein binds to salivary agglutinin glycoprotein, a component of tooth pellicle and to ligands in other bacteria. These associations play important roles in bacterial colonization. Recently, it was reported that diverse host molecules also interact with AgI/II protein and that these interactions induce inflammatory responses from host cells. Among mutans streptococci containing -type hemolytic activity, Streptococcus mutans is a causative agent for dental caries. Compared with many other strains of S. mutans, GS-5 strain is unique in that this bacterium expresses truncated secretory AgI/II protein due to the nonsense mutation in the agI/II gene. This indicates that S. mutans GS-5 has a different clinical role and a recent report supported this idea based on the results from clinically isolated S. mutans strains. Previously, we had cloned agI/II gene from S. mutans GS-5 and generated recombinant N-terminal AgI/II protein. In this study, we further produced a hybridoma line expressing anti-AgI/II monoclonal antibodies named as 1C11A. This antibody showed high sensitivity to AgI/II protein in Western blot and ELISA. This new reagent will provide a basis for investigating the mechanisms of AgI/II-related diseases.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.411-416
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• 2011

Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) is the major causative bacteria in dental caries. Xylitol is effective anticarious natural sugar substitute by inhibiting the virulence of S. mutans. However, long-term xylitol consumption leads to the emergence of the xylitol-resistant (XR) strains which means xylitol is no more inhibited their growth. We therefore confirmed the general characteristics and the virulence factors of the xylitol-sensitive (XS) and XR S. mutans for different concentrations of xylitol. S. mutans KCTC 3065 was maintained in TYE medium containing 0.4% glucose with 1% xylitol during 30 days at $37^{\circ}C$, 10% $CO_2$ to form XR strain. The strains were transferred to new medium every 24 hr and the same procedures without xylitol were repeated for the formation of XS S. mutans. Both XS and XR were cultured in different concentrations of xylitol (0%, 0.1% and 1%) then, cell growth, acid production and mRNA expression of gtf genes were analyzed. Xylitol reduced the cell growth of XS S. mutans in dose-dependent manner, but not reduced that of XR. Xylitol inhibited acid production of XS in dose-dependent manner, but not inhibited that of XR. Xylitol reduced the gtfB and gtfD mRNA expression of XS S. mutans which genes synthesized soluble and insoluble extracellular polysaccharides, but not reduced that of XR. These results indicate that the virulence of XR S. mutans is different characters of XS strains, which suggests XR strains may have different cariogenicity of XS strains. Further study is needed to explain the mechanism related to extracellular polysaccharide in the XR strains.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.415-420
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• 2014

Toxoplasmosis is an important cause of foodborne, inflammatory illnesses, as well as congenital abnormalities. Currently available therapies are ineffective for persistent chronic disease and congenital toxoplasmosis or have severe side effects which may result in life-threatening complications. There is an urgent need for safe and effective therapies to eliminate or treat this cosmopolitan infectious disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the in vitro anti-Toxoplasma activities of Suaeda maritime, one of the halophytes, using tachyzoit of T. gondii RH strain infected HeLa cells. As the results, the selectivity of Suaeda maritime extract was 6.63, which was higher than Sulfadiazine selectivity (2.06). Also, we perfomed the cell proliferation inhibition test and the morphological study to evaluate the anti-T. gondii activity of Suaeda maritime extract with HeLa cells. As the results, the inhibition rate of the Suaeda maritime extract was high inhibition rate. This indicates that the Suaeda maritime extract may be used for new anti-T. gondii agent.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.143-152
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• 2013

Aminobutyric acid (GABA), a major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system of animals, has several physiological effects including anti-hypertensive, diuretic, tranquilizing, and anti-stress properties, in humans. The purpose of this study was to investigate Lactobacillus plantarum K74, which was isolated from kimchi and selected as a strain with a high ability to produce GABA, to develop a new starter culture for fermented milk production. L. plantarum K74 produced $134.52{\mu}g/mL$ GABA in MRS broth containing 1% MSG, $212.27{\mu}g/mL$ GABA in MRS broth containing 2% MSG, and $234.63{\mu}g/mL$ GABA in MRS broth containing 3% MSG. The optimum growth temperature of L. plantarum K74 was $34^{\circ}C$, reaching a pH of 4.4 after 18 hours of growth. L. plantarum K74 was most sensitive to novobiocin out of 16 different antibiotics tested, and was most resistant to kanamycin and polymyxin B. L. plantarum K74 did not produce ${\beta}$-glucuronidase, a carcinogenic enzyme, and was comparatively tolerant to bile juice and low pH. Furthermore, it displayed resistance to Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, and Staphylococcus aureus at rates of 54.9%, 46.3%, and 0.7%, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.122-127
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• 2016

Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA) is a multidrug-resistant(MDR) strain. (+)-Usnic acid(UA) is uniquely found in lichens, and is especially abundant in genera such as Usnea and Cladonia. UA has antimicrobial activity against human and plant pathogens. Therefore, UA may be a good antibacterial drug candidate for clinical development. In search of a natural products capable of inhibiting this multidrug-resistant bacteria, we have investigated the antimicrobial activity of UA against 17 different strains of the bacterium. In this study, the effects of a combination of UA and permeable agents against MRSA were investigated. For the measurement of cell wall permeability, UA with concentration of Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid(EDTA) was used. In the other hand, Sodium azide($NaN_3$) was used as inhibitors of ATPase. Against the 17 strains, the minimum inhibitory concentrations(MICs) of UA were in the range of $7.81-31.25{\mu}g/ml$. EDTA or $NaN_3$ cooperation against MRSA showed synergistic activity on cell wall. UA and in combination with EDTA and $NaN_3$ could lead to the development of new combination antibiotics against MRSA infection.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.325-329
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• 2010

Toxoplasma gondii KI-1, a recent new isolate from Korea, shows similar pathogenicity and infectivity to mice compared to the virulent RH strain. To understand characteristics of host immunity, including immune enhancement or suppression, we investigated proliferative responses and phenotypes of spleen cells. In addition, kinetics of IFN-${\gamma}$, a Th1 cytokine, was examined in BALB/c mice up to day 6 post-infection (PI). Intraperitoneal injection of mice with $10^3$ KI-1 tachyzoites induced significant decreases (P < 0.05) in proliferative responses of spleen cells. This occurred at days 2-6 PI even when concanavalin A (con A) was added and when stimulated with KI-1 antigen, suggesting suppression of the immunity. $CD4^+$ T-cells decreased markedly at day 2 PI (P < 0.05), whereas $CD8^+$ T-cells, NK cells, and macrophages did not show significant changes, except a slight, but significant, increase of $CD8^+$ T-cells at day 6 PI. The capacity of splenocytes to produce IFN-${\gamma}$ by con A stimulation dropped significantly at days 2-6 PI. These results demonstrate that intraperitoneal injection of KI-1 tachyzoites can induce immunosuppression during the early stage of infection, as revealed by the decrease of $CD4^+$ T-cells and IFN-${\gamma}$.