• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.50-56
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• 2012

The Wnt/${\beta}$-catenin signaling pathway regulates diverse developmental processes and adult tissue homeostasis. Inappropriate regulation of this pathway has been associated with human diseases, such as cancers, osteoporosis, and Alzheimer's disease. Using a cell-based chemical screening with natural compounds, we discovered silybin, a plant flavonoid isolated from the Silybum marianum, which activated the Wnt/${\beta}$-catenin signaling pathway in a synergy with Wnt3a-conditioned medium (Wnt3a-CM). In the presence of Wnt3a-CM, silybin up-regulated ${\beta}$-catenin response transcription (CRT) in HEK293-FL reporter cells and 3T3-L1 preadipocytes through stabilization of intracellular ${\beta}$-catenin protein. Silybin and Wnt3a-CM synergistically reduced expression of important adipocyte marker genes including peroxisome-proliferator-activated $receptor{\gamma}$ ($PPAR{\gamma}$) and CAATT enhancer-binding protein ${\alpha}$ (C/$EBP{\alpha}$) in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes, accompanied by the activation of Wnt/${\beta}$-catenin signaling pathway. Taken together, our findings indicate that silybin is a small-molecule synergist of the Wnt/${\beta}$-catenin signaling pathway and can be used as a controllable reagent for investigating biological processes that involve the Wnt/${\beta}$-catenin signaling pathway.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.461-468
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• 2001

Impact between fruits and other materials is a major cause of product damage in harvesting and handling systems. The oriental pears are more susceptible to bruising than other fruits such as European pears and apples, and are required more careful handling. The interest in the handling of the pears for the processing systems has raised the question of the allowable drop height to which pears can be dropped without causing objectionable damage. Drop tests on pears were conducted using an impact device developed by authors to estimate the allowable drop height without bruising. The impact device was constructed to hold in a selected orientation and to release a fruit by vacuum for dropping on to a force transducer. The drop height was adjustable for zero to 60 cm to achieve the desired distance between the bottom of the fruits and the top of the impact force transducer. The transducer was secured to 150 kg$\sub$f/ concrete block. The transducer signal was sampled every 0.17 ms with a strain gage measurement board in the micro computer where it was digitaly stored for later analysis. The selected sample fruit was Niitaka cultivar of pears which is one of the most promising fruit for export in Korea. The pears were harvested during the 1998 harvest season from an orchard in Daejeon. The sample fruit was selected from two groups which were stored for 3 months and 5 months respectively by the method of current commercial practice. The pears were allowed to stabilize at environmental condition(18$^{\circ}C$, 65% rh) of the experimental room. One hundred fifty six pears were tested from the heights of 5, 7.5. 10 and 12.5 cm while measurement were made of impact peak force, contact time, time to peak force, dwell time, pear diameter and mass. The bioyield strength and modulus of elasticity were measured using UTM immediately after each drop test. The allowable drop height was estimated on the base of bioyield strength of the pears in two ways. One was assumed the peak force during impact test increasing linearly with time, and the other was based on the actual drop test results. The computer program was developed for measuring the impact characteristics of the pears and analyzing the data obtained in the study. The peak force increased while contact times decreased with increasing drop height and contact times of the sample from the hard tissue group. The allowable drop height increased with increasing bioyield strength and contact times, and also varied with Poisson\`s ratio, mass and equilibrium radius of the pears. The allowable drop height calculated by a theoretical method was in the range from 1 to 4 cm, meanwhile, the estimated drop height considering the result of the impact test was in the range from 1 to 6 cm. Since the physical properties of fruits affected significantly the allowable drop height, the physical properties of the fruits should be considered when estimating the allowable drop height.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.380-387
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• 1997

Phytopathogenic Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora (Ecc) LY34 causes plant tissue maceration by secretion of pectinolytic enzymes such as pectate Iyase (PL) existed as multiple isoenzyme form. Genomic DNA from Ecc LY34 was digested with Sau3Al and ligated into the BamHI site of pBluescript ll $SK^+$. Among them, a clone hydrolyzing polypectate was selected and its DNA was digested with BamHI. Through the subsequent subcloning the resulting 3.1 kb fragment, corresponding to a peICI, was subcloned into pLYPA 100. The structural organization of a peICI gene encoding a 374 amino acid residues consists of an open reading frame (ORF) of 1,122 bp commencing with a ATG start codon and followed by a TAA stop codon. PeICI contained a typical prokaryotic signal peptide of 22-amino acid. Since the deduced amino acid sequences of PeICl protein was very similar to those of PelIII of Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora, and to those of Pel3 of Erwinia carotovora subsp. atroseptica, and to those of PeIC of Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora, it belong to the same family PLbc group. The 374-amino acld PeICI had a calculated Mr of 40,507 and pI of 7.60.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.190-195
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• 2000

Tolaasin is a peptide toxin produced by Pseudomonas tolaasii and causes a brown blotch disease forming brown, slightly sunken spots and blotches on the cultivated mushrooms. It is a lipodepsipeptide consisting of 18 amino acids and its molecular mass is 1,985 Da. It forms a pore in plasma membranes, resulting in the disruption of membranes of fungal, bacterial, plant, and animal cells as well as mushroom tissue. In order to measure the toxicity of tolaasin, erythrocytes of blood were used to evaluate the tolaasin-induced hemolysis. Hemolytic activity of tolaasin was measured by observing the absorbance change either at 420 nm, representing the release of hemoglobins from red blood cells(RBCs), or at 600 nm, representing the density of residual cells. The hemolytic activity of culture-extract of P. tolaasii increased at early-stationary phase of growth and was maximal at late stationary phase. The hemolytic activity of tolaasin appeared high in the RBCs of dog and rat. The RBCs of rabbit and hen were less susceptible to tolaasin. The effects of various cations were also measured. $Cd^{2+}$ and $La^{3+}$. as well as $Zn^{2+}$ appeared inhibitory to the tolaasin-induced hemolysis. The effects of various anions on tolaasin-induced hemolysis were measured and carbonate showed the greatest inhibition to the hemolysis. However, phosphate stimulated the tolaasin-induced hemolysis and no effects were observed by chloride and nitrate.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.6425-6431
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• 2015

Invertase, that hydrolyzes sucrose into glucose and fructose, plays a great role in carbohydrate reallocation between the photosynthetic source tissue and various sink tissues. Invertase also occurs in a variety of isoforms for various functions in plants. Insoluble invertases were extracted only in buffer solutions containing high concentrations of salt. Within these classes, acid invertase has an optimum activity at acidic pH (pH 4-5). Induction of insoluble acid invertase (INAC-INV) in leaf, stem, and root tissues in response to physical wounding has been investigated. To detect the localization of INAC-INV within the plant, immunolocalization has been performed. In this study, the accumulation of INAC-INV was noticeable to reach maximum levels on 72 hr after mechanical injuries. INAC-INV was induced in wounded leaves 3 times more than control leaves. Immunolocalization results showed that INAC-INV accumulated in wall appositions and intercellular spaces. INAC-INV was also localized at sieve cell walls in phloem tissues close to the site of wounding. Taken together, this study suggested that INAC-INV induction upon wounding injuries can play a role on responses to the high energy demand for wound healing process.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.82-87
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• 2007

Five dogs with renal failure were referred to the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital at Kangwon National University. These dogs had the common history of consumption of Pedigree dry dog food produced in Thailand plant for over 1 month. The dogs showed anorexia, emaciation, vomiting, and polydipsia/polyuria. And in one severely affected dog, bloody diarrhea and hypothermia were seen. The remarkable clinicopathological signs were high value of BUN and creatinine. In some dogs, GGT, phosphorus and lipase were increased. However, no significant changes of complete blood count were found. In urinalysis, hematuria, low specific gravity urine, proteinuria, and calcium oxalate-like crystals were observed. Two severely affected dogs were died. The remained dogs were recovered gradually after change of dog food and supportive therapy. Pathological findings were seen typically in kidneys. Renal atrophy, congestion of the glomerular capillary, and diffuse degeneration, necrosis, dystrophic calcification and regeneration in the tubular epithelium were seen. Yellowish brown fluorolucent laminated materials or particles were quite often found in the lumina of the necrotizing renal tubules of cortex and medulla. Proliferation of fibrous tissue in the interstitium was also seen. By the mycotoxin analysis of the Pedigree dry dog food, ochratoxin A (OTA) and citrinin were detected as much as the concentration of 372.8 ppb and 8.3 ppb, respectively. The final diagnosis of renal failure caused by OTA and citrinin toxicosis was made on the basis of history takings, clinical signs, clinicopathological and pathological findings, and analysis of mycotoxins.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.264-269
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• 2017

Prunella vulgaris, well-known traditional medicinal plant, is used for the cure of abscess, scrofula, hypertension and urinary diseases. Diabetic nephropathy is the most common cause of end-stage renal disease. The pathological characteristics of diabetic nephropathy are glomerular and tubular basement membrane thickening. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of Prunella vulgaris, on diabetic glomerular injury in streptozotocin-induced diabetes rats. Diabetes mellitus was induced by a single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ; 45 mg/kg) and confirmed by random glucose level higher than ${\leq}300mg/dL$. The experimental rats were divided into five groups: control group (Male SD rats), STZ group (Male SD rats injected STZ), Aminoguanidine group (Male SD rats injected STZ + AG 100 mg/kg/day), Low dose group (Male SD rats injected STZ + APV 100 mg/kg/day), High dose group (Male SD rats injected STZ + APV 300 mg/kg/day). AG or APVs were administered once a day for 8 weeks. Body weight and food/water intake were measured every four weeks. At the end of study, the kidneys were collected and cut into pieces for immunohistochemistry and western blot analysis. Our study showed that body weight and water/food intake were no significant differences between untreated STZ-induced diabetic rat and APV treated-STZ rat. However, phosphorylation of receptor-regulated Smads (Smad3) was significantly decreased in APV treated-STZ rat as compared with the diabetic group. In addition, APV was improved nephrin level in kidney tissue. Therefore, we suggest that APV has a protective effect against STZ-induced diabetic glomerular injury.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.149-154
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• 2015

A new Phalaenopsis cultivar 'SM 333' was bred by Sangmiwon Orchid, Korea, which produces young plants through tissue culture techniques. The new cultivar 'SM 333', showing the phenotype of multiflora with pink color and small, multibranching-type characteristics, was derived from crossing between Phalaenopsis 'Odoriko' and 'Be Tris'. An elite individual number '02-03-33' later termed 'SM 333' was selected among about 300 individual progenies, based on an intensive selection process covering vegetative and flowering distinctiveness over more than 2 years. In year 2004-2005, the 1st and 2nd characteristic analyses were carried out through performance and uniformity tests. 'SM 333' shows flower color that is bright clean pink (RHS # RP69D) and flower shape that is formal type with 5.0 and 5.8 cm in flower height and width, respectively. 'SM 333' is regarded as raceme flower type suitable for the small casual flower market. The leaves of 'SM 333' grow horizontally and about 20.8 cm in length and 6.5 cm in width. This cultivar also possesses no genetic variation, and is amenable to fast in vitro propagation and easy growth due to its vigorous growth habit. This 'SM333' was registered (Reg. # 2916) with Korea Seed & Variety Service (KSVS) on 1st December, 2009, and the plant breeder's right is currently controlled by Sangmiwon Orchid Company, Korea.

• FLOWER RESEARCH JOURNAL
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.179-185
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• 2010

This study was carried out to investigate the optimal culture conditions for gametophytes growth and sporophytes regeneration of Pyrrosia linearifolia in order to provide for the masspropagation system foundation of Pyrrosia linearifolia using their life cycle. Among many different media, 2MS medium was most effective in prothallus proliferation. Prothallus growth was promoted as the total concentration of nitrogen sources increased, and the best result was observed on 120 mM nitrogen. The best concentration of sucrose was 3%. The addition of 5~20 mM IAA, NAA, BA and kinetin promoted the propagation of prothallus. But 2iP demonstrated the most inhibitory effect on prothallus proliferation. Gametophytes shaking-cultured with liquid medium showed similar growth with solid medium and normal formation of reproductive organs. Shoot regeneration was most effective on 1/8MS medium, but growth was promoted on 1/2MS medium. For promotion of shoot regeneration and growth, the suitable concentrations of sucrose and $NaH_2PO_4$ were 1% and $50{\sim}100mg{\cdot}mL^{-1}$ in 1/8MS medium, respectively.

• Asian Journal of Turfgrass Science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.223-235
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• 2006

Soil testing laboratories unfamiliar with turfgrasses will often overestimate the plant's need for phosphorus and underestimate the need for potassium. This is partly due to differences in rooting between grasses and many garden plants and crops. The grasses are generally more efficient in extracting phosphorus from the soil, reducing their need for phosphorus fertilizer. The fact that crop yield is often the primary objective in field crop production, and is usually of little interest in turfgrass management, may affect soil test interpretation for potassium. Potassium levels above those required for maximum tissue yield of grasses may improve stress tolerance and turfgrasses will usually benefit from higher applications of this element. There are also diffrrences in soil testing philosophies. Some laboratories use the sufficiency level of available nutrients(SLAN) approach, whereas others prefer the basic cation saturation ratio(BCSR) approach. Some will use a combination of the two methods. The use of the BCSR theory easily lends itself to abuse and questionable fertilizer applications and products are sometimes recommended citing imbalances in cation ratios. The usefulness of the BCSR ratio theory of soil testing varies with soil texture and interpretations on tests performed on sand-based media are particularly a problem. Other soil testing problems occur when sand-based media used on sports fields and golf greens contain free calcium carbonate. The ammonium acetate extractant at pH 7.0 dissolves excessive amounts of calcium that can bias cation exchange capacity measurements and measurements of cation ratios. Adjusting the pH of the extractant to 8.1 can improve the accuracy of the testing procedure for calcareous media.