• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
• /
• v.40 no.3
• /
• pp.279-287
• /
• 2014

Estrogen deficiency results in a reduction of skin quality and function in postmenopausal women. Over the past decade, many studies have supported that estrogen provides anti-aging effects as a result of the ability of estrogen to prevent skin collagen decline, restore skin elasticity, and increase skin hydration in postmenopausal women skin. Due to their structural similarity with estrogen, isoflavones have been called phytoestrogens. Photoprotective effects of isoflavones are well established while their estrogenic-like activities are not fully understood in human skin. In this study, we investigated whether daidzein, an effective isoflavone, has phytoestrogenic activity and induces transcriptional change of extracellular matrix components in dermal fibroblasts. We examined the luciferase activity of daidzein and ${\beta}$-estradiol using transiently transfected NIH3T3-ERE cells. The estrogenic receptor-dependent transcriptional activity was increased in a dose-dependent manner when treated with daidzein, with a maximum of 2.5-fold induction at $10{\mu}g/mL$ of daidzein compared with non-treated control. In addition, daidzein significantly in creased the expressions of collagen type I, collagen type IV, elastin, and fibrillin-1 in human dermal fibroblasts. By comparing with the effects of ${\beta}$-estradiol through out all the experiments, we confirmed that daidzein had estrogenic activity and function in fibroblasts. These results suggest that daidzein-based application, having both photoprotective and phytoestrogenic effects, may be a powerful approach for skin anti-aging of postmenopausal women.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.23 no.10
• /
• pp.1199-1208
• /
• 2013

Fibroblastic reticular cells (FRCs) form the structural backbone of the T zone provide a guidance path for immigrating T cells in the lymph node (LN). FRCs may contribute directly to developing T-cell biology in the LN and allow analyses of fundamental aspects of FRC biology related to T cells. FRCs inhibited T-cell apoptosis, and FRC culture supernatants strongly induced the expression of Bcl-xL in T cells against doxorubicin. Coculture of FRC and T cells resulted in rearrangements of the actin cytoskeleton, as well as global changes in the morphology of the FRCs. In addition, when cocultured, the T cells adhered to the FRC monolayer, and the membrane intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1 was slightly increased by day-dependent manner. In contrast, the expression of soluble ICAM-1 was dramatically increased in a day-dependent manner. Several chemokines, such as CCL5, CXCL1, CXCL5, CXCL16, CCL8, CXCL13, and ICAM-1, and MMPs were expressed in FRCs sensed by tumor necrosis factor (TNF) families. Nuclear factor kappa B ($NF{\kappa}B$)-RelA of the $NF{\kappa}B$ canonical pathway was translocated into FRC nuclear by $TNF{\alpha}$. In contrast, p52 proteolyzed from p100, a counterpart of RelB of the noncanonical $NF{\kappa}B$ pathway, accumulated in the peripheral FRC nucleus by agonistic anti-$LT{\beta}R$ antibody. In summary, we propose a model in which FRCs engage in bidirectional crosstalk to increase the efficiency of T-cell biology. This cooperative feedback loop may help to maintain tissue integrity and function during immune responses.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
• /
• v.47 no.6
• /
• pp.561-572
• /
• 2014

The backwater effect at a tributary junction increases the risk of flood damage such as inundation and levee overflow. In particular, the rapid increase in water level may cause injury to persons. The purpose of this research is the development of the real-time flood forecasting technique as a part of the non-structural flood damage reduction measures. To this end, the factors causing a water level rising at a junction were examined, and the empirical formula for predicting flood level at a junction was developed using the calculated discharge and water level data from the well-constructed hydraulic model. The water level predictions show that average absolute error is about 0.2~0.3m with the maximum error of 1.0m and peak time can be captured prior to 0~5 hr. From the results of this study, the real-time flood forecasting system of a tributary junction can be easily constructed, and this system is expected to be utilized for reduction of flood inundation damage.

• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.131-137
• /
• 1993

Human neutrophil elastase (HNE, EC 3,4,21, 11), a mediator of tissue breakdown, was inhibited by tetracycline, oxytetracycline and demeclocycline. Among them, oxytetracycline showed the most potent inhibitory effect on the activity of HNE. IC50 of this drug at our specific condition was less than 1 mM. Tetracycline inhibited human neutrophil elastase non-competitively, and oxytetracycline inhibited competitively. Ki values of tetracycline and oxytetracycline were 4.9 mM and 0.39 mM, respectively. Structural modified tetracycline, de-dimethylaminotetracycline, which showed no antibiotic activity since the active dimethylamino radical was removed from the position #4 of the tetracycline, showed similar inhibition effect on the activity of human neutrophil elastase to that of tetracycline. Thus, we speculated that inhibition of human neutrophil elastase by tetracyclines was not depended on the dimethylamino radical which is a critical active site for antibiotic effect, rather it was depended on the hydoxyl radical of tetracyclines. Therefore, the property of inhibiting elastase may be an additional molecular biochemical mechanism of action of these drugs at the inflammatory sites.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.26 no.11
• /
• pp.1951-1964
• /
• 2016

1,4-Dioxane-degrading bacterial consortia were enriched from forest soil (FS) and activated sludge (AS) using a defined medium containing 1,4-dioxane as the sole carbon source. These two enrichments cultures appeared to have inducible tetrahydrofuran/dioxane and propane degradation enzymes. According to qPCR results on the 16S rRNA and soluble di-iron monooxygenase genes, the relative abundances of 1,4-dioxane-degrading bacteria to total bacteria in FS and AS were 29.4% and 57.8%, respectively. For FS, the cell growth yields (Y), maximum specific degradation rate ($V_{max}$), and half-saturation concentration ($K_m$) were 0.58 mg-protein/mg-dioxane, $0.037mg-dioxane/mg-protein{\cdot}h$, and 93.9 mg/l, respectively. For AS, Y, $V_{max}$, and $K_m$ were 0.34 mg-protein/mg-dioxane, $0.078mg-dioxane/mg-protein{\cdot}h$, and 181.3 mg/l, respectively. These kinetics data of FS and AS were similar to previously reported values. Based on bacterial community analysis on 16S rRNA gene sequences of the two enrichment cultures, the FS consortium was identified to contain 38.3% of Mycobacterium and 10.6% of Afipia, similar to previously reported literature. Meanwhile, 49.5% of the AS consortium belonged to the candidate division TM7, which has never been reported to be involved in 1,4-dioxane biodegradation. However, recent studies suggested that TM7 bacteria were associated with degradation of non-biodegradable and hazardous materials. Therefore, our results showed that previously unknown 1,4-dioxane-degrading bacteria might play an important role in enriched AS. Although the metabolic capability and ecophysiological significance of the predominant TM7 bacteria in AS enrichment culture remain unclear, our data reveal hidden characteristics of the TM7 phylum and provide a perspective for studying this previously uncultured phylotype.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.47-60
• /
• 2012

Based on the Korean Building Standard Law, a building less than 3-stories and $1000m^2$ in area is defined as a small-level building and, as a result, this type of building has been excluded from the requirement to comply with seismic design. In order to prevent the loss of life and property under earthquake loadings, the small-scale building should satisfy the seismic performance specified in the current code through a seismic retrofit. In this study, a seismic retrofit scheme of a Buckling-Restrained Knee Brace (BRKB) was developed for non-seismic 2-story steel buildings, including small-scale buildings, using a fragility contour method. In order to develop an effective retrofit scheme of the BRKB for the building, a total of 75 BRKB analytical models were used to achieve the desired performance levels and analyzed using the fragility contour method. The seismic performance of the retrofitted building was evaluated in terms of the weight of the developed BRKB systems. This study shows that the fragility contour method can be used for rapid evaluation and is an effective tool for structural engineers.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.7 no.1
• /
• pp.30-38
• /
• 1977

Breast cancer is one of the most feared health problems in women ; Recent studies revealed that it had come up to be the second most in this country and high prevalent disease in the western countries among breast disease in women. However, early detection of the cancer mass is known to be easier than in many other malignancies. This study was performed to investigate the various characteristics of patients of breast cancer ; by the structural variables, menstrual, marital, and child bearing, and also their understandings and attitude towards the disease. A hundred any in- and out- patients of 51. Mary's Hospital and National Atomic Institute, Seoul were sampled. Data were gathered through direct interview by the researcher from February 1976 to January 1977 and the clinical records were used as references. Results are as follows ; 1. Breast cancer revealed to be most prevalent in the forties ; average age of 45.2 years. 2. The average age of menarche revealed to be 15.4 years ; the largest group were the 16-20 years (N=75, 68.2%). In 55 cases (50%) menstruation were normal, 38 (34.5%) postmenopausal and only in 17 (15.5%), menstruation revealed irregularity. 3. The average marital age revealed to be 22.3 years ; the largest group were 21-25 group (N=43, 39.1%). The average duration of marital life revealed to be 24.7 years ; 11-20 years group were the largest (M=34, 30.9%). 4. Most of the patients revealed to have pregnancy experiences(N=100, 90.9%) ; the average rate of experience were 5, 3 times the largest group were 3.4 times group(N= 32, 29.1%). 54 patients (49.1%) revealed to have had abortion experience ; the average were 3.4 times. 5. The largest group(N=77, 70%) had been breast feeding : followed by mixed feeding (N=12, 10.9%) and artificial feeding(N=10, 9.1%). 6. Personal health history revealed that in 20 patients (18.2%) revealed to have the past history of Purulent mastitis, 5 patients(4.5%) of breast cancer and 3 patients(2.7%) of uttering cancer family history. 7. In the one half (N=56, 50.9%, they had some information about breast cancer :27 (24.5%) by mass media, 12 (10.9%) through personal contacts and 17 (15.5%) were not able to classify the source of information. 8. In 55 cases (50%) the canoe, mass were discovered incidentally, in 39 cases (35.5%) by manual detection by self, in 10 cases (9%) by others and in 6 cases(5.5%) by observing subjective symptoms. 9. The average duration lapsed between the discovery of cancer mass and the visit to the hospital revealed to be 9.4 month. Chief reason for the delay revealed to be the non-chaplaincy due to the absence of pain(N=50, 45.5 %) followed by the administration of herb and commercial medication (N=19, 17.3%). 10. The left side breast was more affected than the right side breast, represent by 60 cases in the left and 39 cases in the right. The most frequent site of the breast cancer was the upper- outer quadrant in 53 cases (47.7%), and followed by the center in 20 cases(18 %), and the upper inner quadrant, in 19 cases (17.1%). There was / cases of bilateral carcinoma. The most prominent symptom was painless mass.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.125-134
• /
• 1999

To analyze in detail the cognitive factors in the sense of place in Korea traditional temples and their occurrence and significance, the questionaring was conducted about the actual condition of visitor's using of and preference for Pulkuksa Temple as an object of the investigation. The result from the analysis of the visitors' sense of respective factors forming the image of the temple is as follows: 1. While the male visitors for outnumbered the female, the female visitors are more satisfied with the senses of the temple than male. The younger visitors are larger in number while the older visitors have the more satisfaction. It took the largest number of the visitors at least three hours to come to the temple. The most numerous are the visitors who came to the temple. The most numerous are the visitors who came to the temple by their own cars. The visitors are coming not only from the Kyunsang Provinces but from all over the country and they made a family trip to the temple. 2. 86 people among the questionees replied that the Tower stands best for Pulkuksa temple. The second largest number of the questionees replied that the main sanctuary does. The third largest number of the questionees replied that the natural environment does. 3. The visitors who came to the temple for sightseeing showed their highest preferences for each of the main sanctuary and the tower. The buddhist visitors also showed the same tendency as non Buddhist ones in their preference. 4. On the whole, the space factors such as buildings and scenes which represent Pulkuksa Temple are the towers such as Sukka Tower and Tabo Tower, the sanctuary buildings such as main sanctuary, the natural scenery such as Toham Mountain, and the steps such as Chungwun-Kyo and Paekwun-Kyo. 5. The potential factors to explain the structural characteristics of the scenery in Pulkuksa Temple are revealed to be a factor of overall valuation, of orderliness, of individuality and of comfortableness, through hypothetical. T.V was 54.1% and the orderliness of Sukkatap was highly evaluated in factor score analysis.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.283-299
• /
• 2017

The leakage of tunnel causes the long-term durability of the structures such as concrete lining to deteriorate. The cause of durability degradation can be various substances contained in groundwater such as chloride, sulphate, water, and gas. In this study, a series of test were carried out to determine the watertightness performance and the resistance to salt water of the spray-applied membrane used as non-structural rock support or as a waterproof material for tunnels. As a result, it was found that the penetration of water could occur in a specimen, and the reason was that the internal pores generated by the mixing of the liquid polymer and the powder material and the internal pores were connected by the water pressure. The tensile strength of the test specimens immersed in distilled water and saline water was found to be reduced to less than half of the tensile strength in normal condition. In addition, The elongation was measured to be higher in distilled water than in salt water. However, this result will require further investigation.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.121-129
• /
• 2015

With the explosive growth of information about books, there is a growing number of customers who find it difficult to pick a book. Against the backdrop, the importance of a book recommendation system becomes greater, through which appropriate information about books could be offered then to encourage customers to buy a book in the end. However, existing recommendation systems based on the bibliographical information or user data reveal the reliability issue found in their recommendation results. This is why it is necessary to reflect semantic information extracted from the texts of a book's main body in a recommendation system. Accordingly, this paper suggests a method for extracting keywords from the main body of novels, as a preceding research, by using TF-IDF method as well as the text structure. To this end, the texts of 100 novels have been collected then to divide them into four structural elements of preface, dialogue, non-dialogue and closing. Then, the TF-IDF weight of each keyword has been calculated. The calculation results show that the extraction accuracy of keywords improves by 42.1% in performance when more weight is given to dialogue while including preface and closing instead of using just the main body.