• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.22
• /
• pp.9655-9660
• /
• 2014

Background: Nigella Sativa (NS) is an herb from the Ranunculaceae family that exhibits numerous medicinal properties and has been used as important constituent of many complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs). The ability of NS to kill cancer cells such as PC3, HeLa and hepatoma cells is well established. However, our understanding of the mode of death caused by NS remains nebulous. The objective of this study was to gain further insight into the mode and mechanism of death caused by NS in breast cancer MCF-7 cells. Materials and Methods: Human breast cancer cells (MCF-7) were treated with a methanolic extract of NS, and a dose- and time-dependent study was performed. The $IC_{50}$ was calculated using a Cell Titer $Blue^{(R)}$ viability assay assay, and evidence for DNA fragmentation was obtained by fluorescence microscopy TUNEL assay. Gene expression was also profiled for a number of apoptosis-related genes (Caspase-3, -8, -9 and p53 genes) through qPCR. Results: The $IC_{50}$ of MCF-7 cells was $62.8{\mu}L/mL$. When MCF-7 cells were exposed to $50{\mu}L/mL$ and $100{\mu}L/mL$ NS for 24h, 48h and 72h, microscopic examination (TUNEL assay) revealed a dose- and time-dependent increase in apoptosis. Similarly, the expression of the Caspase-3, -8, -9 and p53 genes increased significantly according to the dose and time. Conclusions: NS induced apoptosis in MCF-7 cells through both the p53 and caspase pathways. NS could potentially represent an alternative source of medicine for breast cancer therapy.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.3-20
• /
• 1987

With regard to the Quaternary formations in the Korean Peninsula, very few studies have been done specially from a stratigraphic viewpoint. The alluvial sediments filling in the valleys have often been considered as the only formation of Quaternary age (more precisely of the Holocone) and so the Pleistocene was regarded as an erosional or nondepositional episode. This is apparently evident from a quick look at the general geological maps of the Peninsula, which show a lithological sequence of Mesozoic or Paleozoic substrata immediately overlain by Holocene alluvium. Likewise, the Pleistocene period was described in terms of unconformity in most local or regional stratigraphical successions of the Peninsula. Recently several different types of Quaternary formation, besides the so-called Holocene alluvium in the valley plain have been found around the Peninsula. They consist of coastal deposits, marine or fluviatile terrace deposits, ancient valley fill deposits or slope deposits. Some parts of the volcanic sediments in Jeju Is. are also known as the Quaternary sequence. Thus the Quaternary deposits in the Peninsula are far more developed than previously known to gelolgists. Moreover the importance of Quaternary research became recently apparent in Korea due to the shortage of raw materials and to the policy of an optimum land-use. Advanced constructions and land reclamation have required more precise engineering parameters of loose materials and an estimation of land stability. This does not imply only the engineering, or the structural properties of the loose material, but at the same time the basic study of the sediments from the stratigraphical and environmental viewpoints has been necessary. In this connection, Quaternary outcrops specially along the coastal fringe of the Peninsula have been mapped, profiled and sampled for sedimentological, clay-mineralogical and palaeomagnetic studies. All these results are compiled for the core of the Quaternary stratigraphy of the Peninsula.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.21 no.8
• /
• pp.44-51
• /
• 2020

The purpose of this study was to identify latent profiles of multicultural adolescents' psychological outcomes (school participation, self-esteem, and difficulty related to multicultural identity) depending on their perception of the parent-child relationship. A total of 5,540 samples from the Multicultural Adolescents Panel Study (MAPS) conducted by the National Youth Policy Institute in 2018 were analyzed by using Latent Profile Analysis and one-way ANOVA. The best-fitting model identified five groups according to their perception of the parent-child relationship: (1) father low-mother average (6.5%), (2) father average-mother low (2%), (3) father low-mother low (18.6%), (4) father average-mother average (31.2%), and (5) father high-mother high (41.7%). According to the results of one-way ANOVA, the father high-mother high (41.7%) group of adolescents showed more school participants and higher self-esteem and multicultural identity than the other profiled groups. The father average-mother average (31.2%) group of adolescents also scored higher than the other three groups (father low-mother average (6.5%), father average-mother low (2%), and father low-mother low (18.6%) of adolescents). The results of this study imply that improving multicultural adolescents' perception of their parent-child relationships would be important in improving psychological outcomes.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.33 no.9
• /
• pp.1507-1519
• /
• 2020

Objective: The current research was aimed to profile the transcriptomic picture of the peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) associated with immunity in Chinese Holsteins supplemented orally with coated folic acid during the periparturient period. Methods: The total of 123 perinatal cows were selected for this study and divided into three groups; group A (n = 41, 240 mg/500 kg cow/d), group B (n = 40, 120 mg/500 kg cow/d) and group C (n = 42, 0 mg/cow/d) based on the quantity of folic acid fed. Three samples of PBLs were selected from each folic acid treated group (high, low, and control) and RNA sequencing method was carried out for transcriptomic analysis. Results: The analysis revealed that a higher number of genes and pathways were regulated in response to high and low folic acid supplementation compared to the controls. We reported the novel pathways tumor necrosis factor (TNF) signaling, antigen processing and presentation, Staphylococcus aureus infection and nuclear factor (NF)-kappa B signaling pathways) and the key genes (e.g. C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 10, TNF receptor superfamily member 1A, cluster difference 4, major histocompatibility complex, class II, DQ beta, NF-kappa-B inhibitor alpha, and TNF superfamily 13) having great importance in immunity and anti-inflammation in the periparturient cows in response to coated folic acid treatment. Conclusion: Collectively, our study profiled first-time transcriptomic analysis of bovine lymphocytes and compared the involved cytokines, genes, and pathways between high vs control and low vs control. Our data suggest that the low folic acid supplementation (120 mg/500 kg) could be a good choice to boost appropriate immunity and anti-inflammation as well as might being applied to the health improvement of perinatal dairy cows.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.36 no.4
• /
• pp.629-641
• /
• 2016

Understanding of how teachers change instruction can help predict what kind of educational materials is supportive or appropriate. On the basis of this idea, we explored elementary teachers' PCK progression on specific topics of astronomy: planet size and distance in solar system. To identify the development of PCK over time, we utilized learning progression (LP) as a conceptual framework. The progression of teacher PCK can also be illustrated as the hypothetical pathway from novice to expert like LP. Eight 5th grade elementary teachers participated in this study. We observed participating teachers' astronomy classes with the same topic. In order to document topic-specific PCK of participating teachers, we developed an analytic protocol consisting of four categories: knowledge of curriculum, knowledge of teaching strategies, knowledge of assessment, and astronomical thinking practice. In addition, we monitored the changes in the four participating teachers' PCK for two years in order to validate the evidences of the PCK progression. Participating teachers in this study took some intervention by attending a four-week pre-meeting with the researchers to profile an adaptive instruction. Through this research, we profiled four and five different levels of PCK progressions in three knowledge components (curriculum, teaching strategies, student assessment) and one astronomical thinking practice (systems thinking), respectively. Participating teachers demonstrated various levels and pathways in each component of PCK. This study released the empirical evidences in fostering instructional scaffolding, which is appropriate to the level of PCK of science teachers on specific topic.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
• /
• v.35 no.2
• /
• pp.61-67
• /
• 2007

Twelve URP primers were used to assess genetic characteristics of oyster mushroom including 59 Pleurotsu ostreatus cultivars, two of P. florida cultivars, one P. sajor-caju cultivars, one P. abalonus cultivar and two P. eryngii cultivars registered in Korea. Six URP primers produced PCR polymorphic bands within and between the Pleurotus species. Primer URP2F produced distinct cultivar specific PCR polymorphic bands that profiled to 15 cultivar types. PCR polymorphic bands amplified by URP2F, URP6R, URP4R and URP2R were used for UPGMA cluster analysis. Fifty nine cultivars of Pleurotus ostreatus are genetically clustered into 5 groups, showing genetic similarity over 70% among them and P. abalonus. P. eryngii and P. sajor-caju, were involved in outside groups.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.133-160
• /
• 2006

Objectives : Scolopendrae Corpus has a broad array of clinical applications in Korean medicine, including treatment of inflammatory conditions such as arthritis. To explore the global gene expression profiles in human Raw cell lines treated with Scolopendrae Corpus herbal-acupuncture solution (SCHAS), cDNA microarray analysis was performed. Methods : The Raw 264.7 cells were treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), SCHAS, or both. The primary data was normalized by the total spots of intensity between two groups, and then normalized by the intensity ratio of reference genes such as housekeeping genes in both groups. The expression ratio was converted to log2 ratio. Normalized spot intensities were calculated into gene expression ratios between the control and treatment groups. Greater than 2 fold changes between two groups were considered to be of significance. Results : Of the 8 K genes profiled in this study, with a cut-off level of two-fold change in the expression, 20 genes (BCL2-related protein A1, MARCKS-like 1, etc.) were upregulated and 5 genes (activated RNA polymerase II transcription cofactor 4, calcium binding atopy-related autoantigen 1, etc.) downregulated following LPS treatment. 139 genes (kell blood group precursor (McLeod phenotype), ribosomal protein S7, etc.) were upregulated and 42 genes (anterior gradient 2 homolog (xenopus laevis), phosphodiesterase 8B, etc.) were downregulated following SCHAS treatment. And 10 genes (yeast saccharomyces cerevisiae intergeneic sequence 4-1, mitogen-activated protein kinase 1, etc.) were upregulated and 8 genes (spermatid perinuclear RNA binding protein, nuclear receptor binding protein 2, etc.) were downregulated following co-stimulation of SCHAS and LPS. Discussions : It is thought that microarrays will play an ever-growing role in the advance of our understanding of the pharmacological actions of SCHAS in the treatment of arthritis. But further studies are required to concretely prove the effectiveness of SCHAS.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
• /
• v.31 no.6 s.165
• /
• pp.869-878
• /
• 2007

The purpose of this study was to investigate perception of risks among South Korean female college students within the process of purchasing apparel products through the Internet. The study was implemented by descriptive survey method using questionnaire and subjects consisted of 324 South Korean female college students. Findings of the study showed that the purchasing process particularly regarding delivery and security issues seemed to be a strong concern. On the other hand, unique selection such as apparel brands only available through the Internet was a strong appeal to 37.7% of subjects. Factor analysis profiled risk perception as: 1) Internet Shopping Selection Preference, 2) Delivery Problems and Lack of Security 3) Product Quality and Characteristics 4) Return Policy Difficulties and 5) Fair Prices. Discriminant analysis showed Factors 1, 2 and 3 were significant in helping to differentiate among Non-Purchasers, Fewer-purchasers and Many-Purchasers. Factor 1 and 3 helped differentiate among respondents relative to age range. Across all types of purchasers, offering unique selections of cutting edge fashions and improving risk perception relative to delivery and security concerns seemed important for gaining greater market share. Being able to delivery quality products and communicate product characteristics would be a powerful competitive edge to add to the incentive of convenience in shopping for apparel on the Internet.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.129-138
• /
• 2022

In the context of the increasing applications of voice assistants in vehicles, we focused on the association between the visual appeal of the cars and the acoustic characteristics of the voice assistants. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the visual appeal of the vehicle and the voice assistant based on their emotional characteristics. A total of 15 adjectives were used to assess the emotional characteristics of 12 types of cars and six types of voices. An online interview was carried out, instructing participants to match three adjectives with the presented car images or voices. This was followed with a brief interview to allow the participants to reflect on the adjective matches. Based on the assessments, we performed principal component analysis (PCA) to determine factors. We aimed to deploy the cars and voices and analyze the patterns of clustering. The PCA analysis revealed two factors profiled as "Light-Heavy" and "Comfortable-Radical." Both car and voice stimuli were deployed in a two-dimensional space showing the internal relationship within and between the two substances. Based on the coordination data, a hierarchical cluster grouped the 18 stimuli into four groups labeled as challenge, elegance, majesty, and vigor. This study identified two latent factors describing the emotional characteristics of both car images and voice types clustered into four groups based on their emotional characteristics. The coherent matches between car style and voice type are expected to address the design concept more successfully.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.21-30
• /
• 2006

This study investigated the temperature-salinity spatio-temporal variability around the Ulleung-do Island (UI) by using CTD profiles obtained by the ARGO floats far the period of Oct.,2003 to Aug.,2005. The waterbody in the upper 700 m around the UI could be classified into five water masses, which is consistent to traditional water characteristics in the East Sea. In the upper surface layer, the temperature and salinity in fall season became even lower than those properties in the summer time. The East Sea Intermediate Water (ESIW) characterized by the salinity minimum layer shows the range of potential temperature between 1 to $5^{\circ}C$ and salinity lower than 34.06 psu. The ESIW lies approximately at 265 m depth with average thickness of 175 m. This thickness of the ESIW continues to be relatively uniform regardless of spatio-temporal space. However, the depth of the ESIW shows vertical variation influenced by the Ulleung warm eddy (UWE). Since the UWE lies in the upper layer, the Upper Portion of the Japan Sea Proper. Water (UPJSPW) is also affected to show the vertical variation. The influence extorted by the UWE reached down to 700 m depth in terms of temperature. The CTD profiles obtained with the high sampling rate by ARCO floats over two-year period provided with very useful and detailed informations in investigating the spatio-temporal variability In the study area.