• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.71 no.1
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• pp.8-14
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• 2011

Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have demonstrated their potential as biomarkers for lung cancer diagnosis. In recent years, miRNAs have been found in body fluids such as serum, plasma, urine and saliva. Circulating miRNAs are highly stable and resistant to RNase activity along with, extreme pH and temperatures in serum and plasma. In this study, we investigated serum miRNA profiles that can be used as a diagnostic biomarker of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: We compared the expression profile of miRNAs in the plasma of patients diagnosed with lung cancer using an miRNA microarray. The data from this assay were validated by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Results: Six miRNAs were overexpressed and three miRNAs were underexpressed in both tissue and serum from squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) patients. Sixteen miRNAs were overexpressed and twenty two miRNAs were underexpressed in both tissue and serum from adenocarcinoma (AC) patients. Of the four miRNAs chosen for qRT-PCR analysis, the expression of miR-23a was consistent with microarray results from AC patients. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were done and revealed that the level of serum miR-23a was a potential marker for discriminating AC patients from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. Conclusion: Although a small number of patients were examined, the results from our study suggest that serum miR-23a can be used in the diagnosis of AC.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.134-142
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• 2019

This study was conducted to evaluate the growth characteristics of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) as affected by artificial light sources and different growing media in a closed-type plant production system (CPPS). The lettuce seeds were sown in the 128-cell plug tray filled with 5 different growing media such as urethane sponge (US), rock-wool (RW), Q-plug (QP), TP-S2 (TP) and PU-7B (PU). The germination rate of lettuce seeds was examined during 12 days after sowing. On the 13 days after sowing, the lettuce seedlings were transplanted in a CPPS with temperature $25{\pm}1^{\circ}C$ and nutrient solution (EC $2.0dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$, pH 6.5) using recirculating deep floating technique system. The light sources were set with FL (fluorescent lamps) and combined RB LEDs (red : blue = 7 : 3) with $150{\pm}10{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$ PPFD and a photoperiod of 14/10 hours (light/dark). The initial germination rate of lettuce was the highest in TP. The final germination and mean daily germination were the significantly highest in RW, QP and TP. The plant height, leaf length, leaf width, leaf area, and fresh and dry weights of shoot were the greatest in QP irradiated with RB LED. The number of leaves, fresh and dry weights of root and SPAD were the greatest in QP and TP irradiated with RB LED. The root length was the longest in TP irradiated with RB LED. Therefore, these results indicate that RB LED was effective for the growth of lettuce and it was also found that the QP and TP were effective for the germination and growth of lettuce in a CPPS. In addition, we confirmed the applicability of the newly developed growing medium TP for the lettuce production in a CPPS.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.140-145
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• 2012

Objectives : ST8SIA2 (ST8 alpha-N-acetyl-neuraminide alpha-2, 8-sialyltransferase 2 gene) is located at 15q26, a susceptibility locus for schizophrenia. Some previous research had indicated that single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the promoter region of ST8SIA2 were associated with schizophrenia in Japanese and Chinese populations. We investigated the association between SNPs in the promoter region of ST8SIA2 and schizophrenia in the Korean population. Methods : The study subjects were 190 Korean patients with schizophrenia and 190 healthy controls. We performed allelic, genotypic, and haplotypic association analyses for rs3759916, rs3759915 and rs3759914 of ST8SIA2. All genotypes were determined by direct sequencing. Results : In the genotype-based analysis, rs3759914 showed a nominally significant association with schizophrenia under recessive genotypic model (p = 0.047). However, this association did not remain statistically significant after correction for multiple testing. Both allelic and haplotype analyses did not show any significant association. Conclusions : These findings suggest that ST8SIA2 does not play a major role in the susceptibility to schizophrenia in the Korean population. Further studies with a larger number of subjects are required to definitively rule out minor effects of this gene on schizophrenia vulnerability.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.82-88
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• 1998

As a par of a project related to the development of the design algorithm of a compact heat exchanger for the application of the electronic home appliances, the effect of the discreteness of the airflow boundary generated on the cooling fin surface on the heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of the heat exchanger was studied numerically. In general, there are two critical design parameters seriously considered in the design of the heat exchanger; heat transfer rate(Q) and pressure drop coefficient(C/sub p/). Even though the higher heat transfer rate with lower pressure drop characteristics is required in a design of the heat exchanger, it is not an easy job to satisfy both conditions at the same time because these two parameters are phenomenally inversely proportional. To control the boundary layer thickness and its length along the streamline, the surface of the flat fin was modified to accelerate the heat transfer rate on the fin surface. To understand the effect of the discreted fin size(S/sub w/) and its location(S/sub h/) on the performance of the heat exchanger in the airflow field, the flat fin was modified as shown in Fig. 1. From this study, it was found that the smaller and more number of slits on the fin surface showed the higher energy diffusion rate. It means that the discreteness of the boundary layer is quite important on the heat transfer rate of the heat exchanger. On the other hand, if the fin surface configuration is very complex than needed, higher static pressure drop occurs than required in a system and it may be a reason of the induced aerodynamic noise in the heat exchanger.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.2489-2493
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• 2015

Background: Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) on chromosomal regions is crucial in tumor progression and this study aimed to identify genome-wide LOH in pancreatic cancer. Materials and Methods: Single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) profiling data GSE32682 of human pancreatic samples snap-frozen during surgery were downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus database. Genotype console software was used to perform data processing. Candidate genes with LOH were screened based on the genotype calls, SNP loci of LOH and dbSNP database. Gene annotation was performed to identify the functions of candidate genes using NCBI (the National Center for Biotechnology Information) database, followed by Gene Ontology, INTERPRO, PFAM and SMART annotation and UCSC Genome Browser track to the unannotated genes using DAVID (the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integration Discovery). Results: The candidate genes with LOH identified in this study were MCU, MICU1 and OIT3 on chromosome 10. MCU was found to encode a calcium transporter and MICU1 could encode an essential regulator of mitochondrial $Ca^{2+}$ uptake. OIT3 possibly correlated with calcium binding revealed by the annotation analyses and was regulated by a large number of transcription factors including STAT, SOX9, CREB, NF-kB, PPARG and p53. Conclusions: Global genomic analysis of SNPs identified MICU1, MCU and OIT3 with LOH on chromosome 10, implying involvement of these genes in progression of pancreatic cancer.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.1797-1801
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• 2005

SLAM(Simultaneous localization and mapping) and AI(Artificial intelligence) have been active research areas in robotics for two decades. In particular, localization is one of the most important issues in mobile robot research. Until now expensive sensors like a laser sensor have been used for the mobile robot's localization. Currently, as the RFID reader devices like antennas and RFID tags become increasingly smaller and cheaper, the proliferation of RFID technology is advancing rapidly. So, in this paper, the smart floor using passive RFID tags is proposed and, passive RFID tags are mainly used to identify the mobile robot's location on the smart floor. We discuss a number of challenges related to this approach, such as RFID tag distribution (density and structure), typing and clustering. In the smart floor using RFID tags, because the reader just can senses whether a RFID tag is in its sensing area, the localization error occurs as much as the sensing area of the RFID reader. And, until now, there is no study to estimate the pose of mobile robot using RFID tags. So, in this paper, two algorithms are suggested to. We use the Markov localization algorithm to reduce the location(X,Y) error and the Kalman Filter algorithm to estimate the pose(q) of a mobile robot. We applied these algorithms in our experiment with our personal robot CMR-P3. And we show the possibility of our probability approach using the cheap sensors like odometers and RFID tags for the mobile robot's localization on the smart floor.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.179-187
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• 2018

Proteomic analysis of extracellular vesicles (EVs) from biological fluid is a powerful approach to discover potential biomarkers for human diseases including cancers, as EV secreted to biological fluids are originated from the affected tissue. In order to investigate significant molecules related to the pathogenesis of bladder cancer, EVs were isolated from patient urine which was analyzed by mass spectrometry based proteomics. Comparison of the EV proteome to the whole urine proteome demonstrated an increased number of protein identification in EV. Comparative MS analyses of urinary EV from control subjects and bladder cancer patients identified a total of 1,222 proteins. Statistical analyses provided 56 proteins significantly increased in bladder cancer urine, including proteins for which expression levels varied by cancer stage (P-value < 0.05). While urine represents a valuable, non-invasive specimen for biomarker discovery in urologic cancers, there is a high degree of intra- and inter-individual variability in urine samples. The enrichment of urinary EV demonstrated its capability and applicability of providing a focused identification of biologically relevant proteins in urological diseases.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.253-257
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• 2005

This study was carried out to evaluate the effects of washing medium, breed and washing temperature of fresh and frozen-thawed boar sperm on mitochondrial activity and membrane integrity by flow cytometry. More than $80\%$ of fresh sperm washed with mTLP-PVA medium at $20^{\circ}C$ exhibited an intact membrane and a functional mitochondrion. With frozen-thawed samples, a large number of sperm showed both damaged membrane $(36.4\~46.9\%)$ and nonfunctional mitochondrion $(55.1\~71.1\%)$ in the mTLP-PVA and BTS washing media at $20^{\circ}C$. There were no breed effects of fresh and frozen-thawed sperm on mitochondrial activity and membrane integrity. The percentages of damaged membrane of fresh and frozen sperm, respectively, were higher at $4^{\circ}C$ washing temperature than at $20^{\circ}C$ washing temperature in the mTLP-PVA medium. We found that washing medium and washing temperature of fresh and frozen-thawed boar sperm were important for the analyses of mitochondrial activity and membrane integrity by flow cytometry.

• Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.513-525
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• 2017

In the estimation of the exploitable carrying capacity (ECC) in the Korean water of the East China Sea, two approaches, which are the ecosystem modeling method (EMM) and the holistic production method (HPM), were applied. The EMM is accomplished by Ecopath with Ecosim model using a number of ecological data and fishery catch for each species group, which was categorized by a self-organizing mapping (SOM) based on eight biological characteristics of species. In this method, the converged value during the Ecosim simulation by setting the instantaneous rate of fishing mortality (F) as zero was estimated as the ECC of each group. The HPM is to use surplus production models for estimateing ECC. The ECC estimates were 4.6 and 5.1 million mt (mmt) from EMM and HPM, respectiverly. The estimate from the EMM has a considerable uncertainty due to the lack of confidence in input ecological parameters, especially production/biomass ratio (P/B) and consumption/biomass ratio (Q/B). However, ECC from the HPM was estimated on the basis of relatively fewer assumptions and long time-series fishery data as input, so the estimate from the HPM is regarded as more reasonable estimate of ECC, although the ECC estimate could be considerd as a preliminary one. The quality of input data should be improved for the future study of the ECC to obtain more reliable estimate.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.5 s.85
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• pp.699-705
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• 2007

The present study was conducted to investigate the genetic characteristic and to establish the parentage verification system of the Korean native horse(KNH). A total number of 192 horses from six horse breeds including the KNH were genotyped using 17 microsatellite loci. This method consisted of multiplexing PCR procedure. The number of alleles per locus varied from 5 to 10 with a mean value of 7.35 in KNH. The expected heterozygosity and observed heterozygosity were ranged from 0.387 to 0.841(mean 0.702) and from 0.429 to 0.905(mean 0.703), respectively. The total exclusion probability of 17 microsatellite loci was 0.9999. Of the 17 markers, AHT4, AHT5, CA425, HMS2, HMS3, HTG10, LEX3 and VHL20 marker have relatively high PIC value(>0.7). This study found that there were specific alleles, P allele at AHT5, Q allele and R allele at ASB23, H allele at CA425, S allele at HMS3, J allele at HTG10 and J allele at LEX3 marker in KNH when compared with other horse populations. Also, the results showed two distinct clusters: the Korean native horse cluster(Korean native horse, Mongolian horse), and the European cluster(Jeju racing horse, Thoroughbred horse). These results present basic information for detecting the genetic markers of the KNH, and has high potential for parentage verification and individual identification of the KNH.