• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.131-136
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• 2014

An attempt was made to assess metal ionic toxicity levels of different fishes in the polluted rivers viz., Buriganga and Turag. Fish samples collected from two polluted rivers were analyzed for the levels of metals such as Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Pb, and Zn in order to elucidate the status of these contaminants in fish meant for human consumption. The detected concentrations of Cr, Cu, Mn, and Zn ions in fish species collected from the polluted rivers were below the toxic levels and did not appear to pose a threat. Among the analyzed metals, Cd and Pb ions were detected above the permissible levels in liver and muscle tissues of stinging catfish (Heteropneustesfossilis), spotted snakehead (Channapunctata) and wallago (Wallagoattu) collected from the polluted rivers causing toxicity for human consumption. Stinging catfish (Heteropneustesfossilis) was the species found to highly bioaccumulate these metals. Fish species bioconcentrated appreciable amounts of Cd and Pb as toxic metals in the liver as compared to the muscle. Levels of these toxic metals varied depending on different tissues in fish species.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.556-562
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• 2017

Heavy metals in water systems are being managed on the concentration-based guidelines in Korea. However, various chemicals present in water can interact with heavy metals affecting their toxicity. Such interactions are not considered in the concentration-based guidelines. This study investigated the effect of hardness and coexisting heavy metals on heavy metal toxicity to emphasize the importance of having the effect-based guidelines together with the concentration-based guidelines in water management. The toxic effects of Cd, Zn, or mixtures of Cd and Zn were studied with Daphnia magna as a test species following the standard test method at different hardness conditions (100, 200, and $300mg\;L^{-1}$ as $CaCO_3$). The toxicities of single metal solutions and mixtures showed a decreasing trend with increasing hardness, and this can be attributed to the competition between heavy metals and cations such as calcium ions ($Ca^{2+}$) that cause hardness. The predicted toxicities of the heavy metal mixtures from the single metal toxicity deviated from the measured toxicities, and the predicted toxic effects tend to be greater than the measured toxic effects suggesting that Cd and Zn are in competition. This shows the limitations of using predicted toxic effects and the needs for further studies on mixture toxicities. Overall, this study shows that the management of heavy metals in waters needs to employ the effect-based guidelines together with the concentration-based guidelines.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.127-135
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• 2006

Objectives: The extent of bone formation that occurs at the interface of metallic implants and bone is determined by the number and activity of osteoblastic cells. Stress proteins may be contributing determinants of cell viability in altered environments. Hsp27 is a small Mr hsp which is known as a molecular chaperone. Methods: To better understand how heat shock protein 27 contributes to endosseous implant - associated metal ions affects on osteoblastic cell viability, the effect of chromium and titanium ions were compared to effects of cadmium ions in the ROS17/2.8 osteoblastic cell line. Results: ROS17/2.8 osteoblastic cell line demonstrated ion - specific reductions in growth; reductions were significantly greater for cadmium than for chromium or titanium. Chromium impaired growth of cultures without altering cell viability measured using the MTT assay. A stable transformed cell line expressing additional hsp27(clone "A7") was resistant to the toxic effects of titanium and partially protected from cadmium toxicity. Conclusions: A role for hsp27 in protection of osteoblastic cells from metal ion toxicity is supported by the chromium - induced elevations in hsp27 abundance and the behavior of the A7 cell line in response to metal ions in culture. Similar biochemical responses to altered cellular environments may contribute to the fate of tissues adjacent to select metallic implants.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.384-388
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• 2006

The adsorption ability of polar and toxic substance was greatly enhanced by treating activated carbon with acid solution and impregnating iron, copper, or silver by using in 0.1 M $FeSO_4{\cdot}7H_2O,\;CuSO_4{\cdot}5H_2O,\;AgNO_3$ 300 mL per activated carbon 50 g. Physical and chemical properties of the metal impregnated activated carbons were measured using specific surface area, pore volume and size distribution, scanning eletron microscope(SEM), adsorption isotherm. When activated carbon was treated with acid, the quantity of impregnated metal increased about 1.3 times since the micropores were converted to mesopores or macropores. Both the physical absorption by micropores and chemical absorption by metal ions could be achieved simultaneously with the metal impregnated activated carbon because the capacity of micro pores did not change even after metal ions were impregnated.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.10
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• pp.1522-1542
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• 2019

To adapt to environmental changes and to maintain cellular homeostasis, microorganisms adjust the intracellular concentrations of biochemical compounds, including metal ions; these are essential for the catalytic function of many enzymes in cells, but excessive amounts of essential metals and heavy metals cause cellular damage. Metal-responsive transcriptional regulators play pivotal roles in metal uptake, pumping out, sequestration, and oxidation or reduction to a less toxic status via regulating the expression of the detoxification-related genes. The sensory and regulatory functions of the metalloregulators have made them as attractive biological parts for synthetic biology, and the exceptional sensitivity and selectivity of metalloregulators toward metal ions have been used in heavy metal biosensors to cope with prevalent heavy metal contamination. Due to their importance, substantial efforts have been made to characterize heavy metal-responsive transcriptional regulators and to develop heavy metal-sensing biosensors. In this review, we summarize the biochemical data for the two major metalloregulator families, SmtB/ArsR and MerR, to describe their metal-binding sites, specific chelating chemistry, and conformational changes. Based on our understanding of the regulatory mechanisms, previously developed metal biosensors are examined to point out their limitations, such as high background noise and a lack of well-characterized biological parts. We discuss several strategies to improve the functionality of the metal biosensors, such as reducing the background noise and amplifying the output signal. From the perspective of making heavy metal biosensors, we suggest that the characterization of novel metalloregulators and the fabrication of exquisitely designed genetic circuits will be required.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.87-87
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• 2013

The interface between nanomaterials and biosystems is emerging as one of the broadest and most dynamic areas of science and technology, bringing together biology, chemistry, physics and many areas of engineering, biomedicine. The combination of these diverse areas of research promised to yield revolutionary advances in healthcare, medicine, and life science. For example, the creation of new and powerful nanosensors that enable direct, sensitive, and rapid analysis of biological and chemical species can advance the diagnosis and treatment of disease, discovery and screening of new drug molecules. Nanowire based sensors are emerging as a powerful and general platform for ultrasensitive and multiplex detection of biological and chemical species. Here, we present the studies about noble metal nanowire sensors that can be used for sensitive detection of a wide-range of biological and chemical species including nucleic acids, proteins, and toxic metal ions. Moreover, the optical and electrochemical applications of noble metal nanowires are introduced. Noble metal nanowires are successfully used as plasmonic antennas and nanoelectrodes, thereby provide a pathway for a single molecule sensor, in vivo neural recording, and molecular injection and detection in a single living cell.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.37-46
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• 2004

The electrochemical adsorption of the Ag ions from aqueous solution on pelletized activated carbon monolith was investigated over wide range of operation time. The adsorption capacities of pelletized activated carbon monolith are associated with their internal porosity and are related properties such as surface area, pore size distribution. The chemical industry generates wastewater that contains toxic matters like heavy metals in small concentrations so that their economic recovery is not feasible. But, the method using activated carbon monolith can be used to withdrawal of heavy metals in waste water. After the electrochemical treatment, the quantitative properties in Ag ion solutions are also examined by pH concentration and studied elemental analysis by ICP-Atomic Emission Spectrometer and Energy Disperse X-ray (EDX) spectra. It is consider that the pH is very important factor at the reason of water pollutant with increasing acidity in industrial field. The result of quantitative analysis using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometer of metal after electrochemical reaction in Ag ions solution depending on time are shown that the amount of Ag ions deposited was decreased with growth of Ag particles on the carbon surfaces as increasing electrochemically treated time. And, surface morphologies are investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to explain the changes in adsorption properties.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.530-539
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• 2016

Bacterial light-oxygen-voltage-sensing photoreceptor-derived flavin mononucleotide (FMN)-based fluorescent proteins act as a promising distinct class of fluorescent proteins utilized for various biomedical and biotechnological applications. The key property of its independency towards oxygen for its chromophore maturation has greatly helped this protein to outperform the other fluorescent proteins such as GFP and DsRed for anaerobic applications. Here, we describe the feasibility of FMN-containing fluorescent protein FbFP as a metal-sensing probe by measuring the fluorescence emission changes of a protein with respect to the concentration of metal ions. In the present study, we demonstrated the mercury-sensing ability of FbFP protein and the possible amino acids responsible for metal binding. A ratiometric approach was employed here in order to exploit the fluorescence changes observed at two different emission maxima with respect to Hg²⁺ at micromolar concentration. The engineered variant FbFP_C56I showed high sensitivity towards Hg²⁺ and followed a good linear relationship from 0.1 to 3 μM of Hg²⁺. Thus, further engineering with a rational approach would enable the FbFP to be developed as a novel and highly selective and sensitive biosensor for other toxic heavy metal ions as well.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.310-315
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• 1997

In oreder to know the effect of the oocyte maturation with several heavy metal ions(Cd$^{2+}$, Hg$^{2+}$, Cu$^{2+}$, Pb$^{2+}$) on frog(Rana dybowskii) by FPH(Frog pituitary homogenate: 0.1 p.e./ml) in vitro, oocytes were cultured for 20 hours and exanimed the maturation rates with exposure of various comcentrations of those ions. The results showed that Cd$^{2+}$ at concentration of 0.1 ppm suppressed the maturation of the oocytes, while Hg$^{2+}$, Cu$^{2+}$ and Pb$^{2+}$ suppressed them significantly at 1 and 5 ppm respectively. To examine the reversibility of the inhibitory effects, the oocutes were exposed to the metal ions only for 3 hours and transferred to plain medium and cultured further for 17 hours. The oocytes were recovered from the toxic effect of the ions when they were exposed to 1 ppm of Cd$^{2+}$ for 3 hours and not available to 2.5 ppm. The effect of 2.5 ppm of Hg$^{2+}$, Cu$^{2+}$, Pb$^{2+}$ were also reversible and not available to 5 ppm for 3 hours exposure. From the abave results, it reveal that heavy metal ions in this study suppressed the maturation of oocytes at relatively low concentration. Therefore the oocyte culture system can be used as a useful tool to evaluate the toxicity of the pollutants in envirment.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.303-310
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• 2006

The aim of this study is to assess the applicability of sericite in wastewater treatment particularly the removal of two important heavy metal toxic ions viz., Cu(II) and Pb(II) from aqueous solutions. The batch type experiments showed that sericite is found to be one of useful natural sorbent for the removal of these two cations from aqueous solutions and it is also to be observed that with the increase in sorptive concentration amount of metal uptake increases and the concentration dependence data obtained are fitted well for the Langmuir adsorption isotherm rather than Freundlich adsorption model. Further, the Langmuir monolayer adsorption capacity is found to be $1.674\;mg\;g^{-1}$ for Cu(II) and $4.697\;mg\;g^{-1}$ for Pb(II). Kinetic studies enabled, an apparent equilibria can be achieved between soild/solution interface within ca 10 mins for Cu(II) and ca 90 mins for Pb(II). Moreover, the removal behavior of sericite for these two metal ions is greatly influenced by solution pH.