• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.55 no.6
• /
• pp.679-684
• /
• 2017

Echinococcus granulosus sensu lato (s.l.) is a causative agent of cystic echinococcosis or cystic hydatid disease in humans and domestic and wild animals. The disease is a serious health problem in countries associated with poverty and poor hygiene practices, particularly in livestock raising. We introduced a practical algorism for genotyping the parasite, which may be useful to many developing countries. To evaluate the efficiency of the algorism, we genotyped 3 unknown strains isolated from human patients. We found that unknowns 1 and 3 were included in G1, G2, and G3 genotypes group and unknown 2 was included in G4 genotype (Echinococcus equinus) according to the algorisms. We confirmed these results by sequencing the 3 unknown isolates cox1 and nad1 PCR products. In conclusion, these new algorisms are very fast genotype identification tools that are suitable for evaluating E. granulosus s.l. isolated from livestock or livestock holders, particularly in developing countries.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
• /
• v.43 no.4
• /
• pp.432-437
• /
• 2016

Interleukin-11 (IL-11) is a cytokine that plays a key regulatory role in the immune system. Recombinant human IL-11 (rhIL-11) exerts a preventative effect against apoptotic cell death and inhibits preadipocyte differentiation. IL-11 also is used to stimulate the bone marrow to produce platelets in order to prevent low platelets that may be caused by chemotherapy. Unfortunately, the high production cost of IL-11 associated. In this study, we investigated the feasibility of transgenic plants for the cost-effective production of rhIL-11. Production of rhIL-11 proteins in whole-plant expression system will be more economical when compared to the current E. coli based expression system. The human rhIL-11 gene was codon optimized to maximize plant host system expression. IL-11 expression vector under the control of a constitutive cauliflower mosaic virus 35S (CaMV 35S) promoter was introduced into tobacco by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. The 5'-leader sequence (called ${\Omega}$) of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) as a translational enhancer was added to construct. Transgenic tobacco plants expressing various levels of rhIL-11 protein were generated. Western blotting of the stably transformed lines demonstrated accumulation of the appropriately sized rhIL-11 protein in leaves. This research demonstrated the efficacy of using tobacco as an expression system for the production of rhIL-11.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
• /
• v.38 no.2
• /
• pp.79-84
• /
• 2014

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are approximately 22 nucleotides of small noncoding RNAs that control gene expression at the posttranscriptional level through translational inhibition and destabilization of their target mRNAs. The miRNAs are phylogenetically conserved and have been shown to be instrumental in a wide variety of key biological processes including cell cycle regulation, apoptosis, metabolism, imprinting, and differentiation. Recently, a paper has shown that expression of the miRNA-302/367 cluster expressed abundantly in mouse and human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) can directly reprogram mouse and human somatic cells to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) efficiently in the absence of any of the four factors, Oct4, Sox2, c-Myc, and Klf4. To apply this efficient method to porcine, we analyzed porcine genomic sequence containing predicted porcine miRNA-302/367 cluster through ENSEMBL database, generated a non-replicative episomal vector system including miRNA-302/367 cluster originated from porcine embryonic fibroblasts (PEF), and tried to make porcine iPSCs by transfection of the miRNA-302/367 cluster. Colonies expressing EGFP and forming compact shape were found, but they were not established as iPSC lines. Our data in this study show that pig miRNA-302/367 cluster could not satisfy requirement of PEF reprogramming conditions for pluripotency. To make pig iPSC lines by miRNA, further studies on the role of miRNAs in pluripotency and new trials of transfection with conventional reprogramming factors are needed.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.22 no.11
• /
• pp.1580-1587
• /
• 2012

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) envelope (E) protein holds great promise for use in the development of a recombinant vaccine. Purified recombinant E (rE) protein may be useful for numerous clinical applications; however, there are limitations in using the Escherichia coli expression system for producing high-quality rE protein. Therefore, in this study, the yeast expression system was used to generate the rE protein. For protein production using the yeast system, the full-length JEV E gene was cloned into Pichia pastoris. SDS-PAGE and immunoblotting analysis demonstrated that the rE protein had a molecular mass of 58 kDa and was glycosylated. The predicted size of the mature unmodified E protein is 53 kDa, suggesting that post-translational modifications resulted in the higher molecular mass. The rE protein was purified to greater than 95% purity using combined ammonium sulfate precipitation and a SP-Sepharose Fast Flow column. This purified rE protein was evaluated for immunogenicity and protective efficacy in mice. The survival rates of mice immunized with the rE protein were significantly increased over that of Hyphantria cunea nuclear polyhedrosis virus E protein (HcE). Our results indicate that the rE protein expressed in the P. pastoris expression system holds great promise for use in the development of a subunit vaccine against JEV.

• BMB Reports
• /
• v.51 no.10
• /
• pp.520-525
• /
• 2018

Cardiovascular diseases arising from atherosclerosis are the leading causes of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Lipid-lowering agents have been developed in order to treat hypercholesterolemia, a major risk factor for atherosclerosis. However, the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases is increasing, indicating a need to identify novel therapeutic targets and develop new treatment agents. Adenosine receptors (ARs) are emerging as therapeutic targets in asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, ischemia, and inflammatory diseases. This study assessed whether LJ-1888, a selective antagonist for $A_3$ AR, can inhibit the development of atherosclerosis in apolipoprotein E knock-out ($ApoE^{-/-}$) mice who are fed a western diet. Plaque formation was significantly lower in $ApoE^{-/-}$ mice administered LJ-1888 than in mice not administered LJ-1888, without any associated liver damage. LJ-1888 treatment of $ApoE^{-/-}$ mice prevented western diet-induced hypercholesterolemia by markedly reducing low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and significantly increasing high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations. Reduced hypercholesterolemia in $ApoE^{-/-}$ mice administered LJ-1888 was associated with the enhanced expression of genes involved in bile acid biosynthesis. These findings indicate that LJ-1888, a selective antagonist for $A_3$ AR, may be a novel candidate for the treatment of atherosclerosis and hypercholesterolemia.

• Molecules and Cells
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.381-388
• /
• 2006

Heat shock proteins (Hsp) 70 are a ubiquitous family of molecular chaperones involved in many cellular processes. A yeast strain, ssa1/2, with two functionally redundant cytosolic Hsp70s (SSA1 and SSA2) deleted shows thermotolerance comparable to mildly heatshocked wild type yeast, as well as increased protein synthesis and ubiquitin-proteasome protein degradation. Since mRNA abundance does not always correlate well with protein expression levels it is essential to study proteins directly. We used a gel-based approach to identify stress-responsive proteins in the ssa1/2 mutant and identified 43 differentially expressed spots. These were trypsin-digested and analyzed by nano electrospray ionization liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (nESI-LC-MS/MS). A total of 22 non-redundant proteins were identified, 11 of which were confirmed by N-terminal sequencing. Nine proteins, most of which were up-regulated (2-fold or more) in the ssa1/2 mutant, proved to be stress-inducible proteins such as molecular chaperones and anti-oxidant proteins, or proteins related to carbohydrate metabolism. Interestingly, a translational factor Hyp2p up-regulated in the mutant was also found to be highly phosphorylated. These results indicate that the cytosolic Hsp70s, Ssa1p and Ssa2p, regulate an abundance of proteins mainly involved in stress responses and protein synthesis.

• Korean Membrane Journal
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.43-53
• /
• 2003

The selectivity of a gas in the carbon molecular sieve membrane (CMSM) can be expressed as the ratio of the product of the diffusivity and the solubility of two different gases. The diffusivity is also expressed as the product of the entropy and the total energy (kinetic and potential energy) in the nano-sized pore of the membrane. The present study calculates the entropic-energy and selectivity of penetrant gases such as H$_2$, O$_2$, N$_2$, and CO$_2$ from the gas-in-a box theory to physically analyze the diffusivity of penetrant gas in slit-shaped pore of CMSM focusing on the restriction of gas motion based on the size difference between penetrant gas pairs. The contribution of each energy term is converted to entropic term separately. By the conjugated calculation for each entropic-energy, the entropic effects on diffusivity-selectivity for gas pairs such as H$_2$/N$_2$, CO$_2$/N$_2$, and O$_2$/N$_2$ were analyzed within active pore of CMSM. In the activated diffusion domain, the calculated value of entropic-selectivity lies between 9.25 and 111.6 for H$_2$/N$_2$, between 3.36 and 6.0 for CO$_2$/N$_2$, and between 1.25 and 16.94 for O$_2$/N$_2$, respectively. The size decrement of active pore in CMSM had the direct effect on the reduction of translational entropic-energy and the contribution of vibrational entropic-energy for N$_2$, O$_2$, and H$_2$ was almost negligible. However, the vibrational entropic term of CO$_2$ might extravagantly affect on the entropic-selectivity.

• Proceedings of the Korea Committee for Ocean Resources and Engineering Conference
• /
• 2002.10a
• /
• pp.142-148
• /
• 2002

Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are unmanned underwater vessels to investigate sea environments, oceanography and deep-sea resources autonomously. Docking systems are required to increase the capability of the AUVs to recharge the batteries and to transmit data in real time for specific underwater works, such as repeated jobs at sea bed. This paper presents a visual servo control system for an AUV to dock into an underwater station with a camera mounted at the nose center of the AUV. To make the visual servo control system, this paper derives an optical flow model of a camera, where the projected motions of the image plane are described with the rotational and translational velocities of the AUV. This paper combines the optical flow equation of the camera with the AUVs equation of motion, and derives a state equation for the visual servoing AUV. This paper proposes a discrete-time MIMO controller minimizing a cost function. The control inputs of the AUV are automatically generated with the projected target position on the CCD plane of the camera and with the AUVs motion. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the modeling and the control law of the visual servoing AUV, simulations on docking the AUV to a target station are performed with the 6-dof nonlinear equations of REMUS AUV and a CCD camera.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
• /
• v.44 no.3
• /
• pp.257-262
• /
• 2013

Osteoporosis is a disease of bones that leads to an increased risk of fracture. In osteoporosis, the bone mineral density is reduced, bone microarchitecture deteriorates, and the amount and variety of proteins in bone are altered. $It^{\circ}{\emptyset}s$ caused by the imbalance between born resorption and born formation. Recently natural products from plants have been extensively studied as therapeutic drugs to treat and prevent various diseases. Wheat bran is the hard outer layers of wheat grain and produced as a by-product of milling in the production of refined grains. In oriental medicines, Bu So Maek (Tritici Immaturi Semen) with wheat bran has been used as bronchitis, sedatives and anti-sweating effects. However effects of wheat bran butanol fraction (WBB, 50 ${\mu}g/ml$) in osteoclast differentiation remains unknown yet. Thus we investigated the effects of WBB on RANKL induced osteoclast differentiation. WBB inhibited osteoclast differentiation by downregulating the RANKL-induced activations of MAP kinases. Moreover mRNA expression of osteoclast-mediating molecules such as c-Fos, NFATc1 and DC-STAMP were attenuated by WBB during osteoclast differentiation. The finding of this study show that WBB and its components might prevent osteoclast-related bone loss.

• Journal of Dental Rehabilitation and Applied Science
• /
• v.35 no.2
• /
• pp.55-63
• /
• 2019

The aim of this article was to review various methods used to evaluate the accuracy of digital dental models. When evaluating the accuracy of digital models, the errors can be reduced by educating examiners and using artificial landmarks. The accuracy evaluation methods of digital dental models are divided into linear measurement, 2-dimensional cross-sectional analysis, and 3-dimensional best fit measurement. As the technology of scanners develops, many studies have been conducted to compare the accuracy of digital impression and conventional impression. According to improvement of scan technologies and development of 3-dimensional model analysis software, the ability to evaluate the accuracy of digital models is becoming more efficient. In this article, we describe the methods for evaluating the accuracy of a digital model and investigate effective accuracy analysis methods for each situation.