• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.25-35
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• 2011

Objective : The present study was designed to assess the potential inhibitory activity of an ethanol extract of Belamcandae Rhizoma (EBR) on the alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone (${\alpha}$-MSH)-induced melanogenesis signal pathway in B16F10 melanoma cells. Methods : Several experiments were performed in B16F10 melanoma cells. We studied tyrosinase activity, melanin content, cell-free tyrosinase activity and DOPA stain, and performed Western blots and RT-PCR for proteins and mRNA involved in melanogenesis. Results : ${\alpha}$-MSH-induced tyrosinase activity and melanin content were inhibited significantly by EBR. EBR markedly suppressed the protein expression level of tyrosinase in B16F10 melanoma cells. On the other hand, the expression of tyrosinase-related protein-1 (TRP-1) and -2 (TRP-2; DCT) were not affected by EBR. To elucidate the mechanism of the depigmenting property of EBR, we examined the involvement EBR in cAMP response element binding (CREB) protein phosphorylation and microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) signalling induced by ${\alpha}$-MSH. EBR did not regulate CREB phosphorylation and MITF expression by ${\alpha}$-MSH. Nevertheless, the mRNA expression of tyrosinase was significantly attenuated by EBR treatment without changes in the expression of TRP-1 and -2 mRNA. Conclusion : Our study suggested that EBR inhibits ${\alpha}$-MSH-induced melanogenesis by suppressing tyrosinase mRNA.

• 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.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2010.03a
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• pp.1392-1397
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• 2010

Currently in increasing number of urban tunnels with small overburden are excavated according to the principle of the New Austrian Tunneling Method(NATM). Successful design, construction and maintenance of NATM tunnel demands prediction, control and monitoring of ground displacement and support stress high accuracy. A magnetic anisotropy sensor is used for non-destructive measurement of stress on surfaces of a ferromagnetic material, such as steel. The sensor is built on the principle of the magneto-strictive effect in which changes in magnetic permeability due to deformation of a ferromagnetic material is measured in a non-destructive manner, which then can be translated into the absolute values of stresses existing on the surface of the material. This technique was applied to measure stresses of H-beams, used as tunnel support structures, to confirm expected measurement accuracy with reading error of about 10 to 20MPa, which was confirmed by monitoring strains released during cutting tests The results show that this method could be one of the promising technologies for non-destructive stress measurement for safe construction and maintenance of underground rock structures encountered in civil and mining engineering.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.417-422
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• 2010

Nanosized $TiO_2$ particles were prepared by hydrothermal method from the aqueous peroxotitanate solution using the different carboxylic acids as an additives. The physical properties of prepared nanosized $TiO_2$ particles were investigated and we also examined the activity of $TiO_2$ particles as a photocatalyst on the decomposition of methylene blue. The major phase of all the prepared $TiO_2$ particles was an anatase structure regardless of carboxylic acids and a rutile peak was observed above $700^{\circ}C$. The photocatalytic activity increased with an increase of hydrocarbon number of carboxylic compounds and the highest activity was shown on the catalysts which was prepared using succinic acid as an additive and calcined at $500^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SP
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2004

In this paper, we present an identificable face (n face) detection method robust to color degradation and partial veiling. This method is composed of three parts: segmentation of face candidate regions, extraction of face candidate windows, and decision of veiling. In the segmentation of face candidate regions, face candidate regions are detected by finding skin color regions and facial components such as eyes, a nose and a mouth, which may have degraded colors, from an input image. In the extraction of face candidate windows, face candidate windows which have high potentials of faces are extracted in face candidate regions. In the decision of veiling, using an eigenface method, a face candidate window whose similarity with eigenfaces is maximum is determined and whether facial components of the face candidate window are veiled or not is determined in the similar way. Experimental results show that the proposed method yields better the detection rate by about $11.4\%$ in test DB containing color-degraded faces and veiled ones than a conventional method without considering color degradation and partial veiling.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.27 no.1 s.65
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• pp.220-228
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• 2006

Objectives : Interleukin-1 (IL-1)${\beta}$ in articular chondrocytes regulates differentiation, apoptosis, and inflammatory responses. It is still controversial, So, we investigated IL- $1{\beta}$ induces chondrocytes dedifferentiation and death. Also, we studied the role of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) subtypes on IL-$1{\beta}$-induced dedifferentiation and apoptosis. Methods : To evaluation of dedifferentiation by chemokines of chondrocytes, we assessed such as proteoglycan, collagen, MMP-3 and MMP-13 by RT-PCR analysis. Also, to assess of apoptosis effect by chemokines, we measured annexin V/propidium iodode (PI) and sub G1 cells in chondrocytes by flowcytometric analysis Results : IL-$1{\beta}$ treatment did not affect activation of ERK-1/2, but stimulation of p38 kinase. Inhibition of phospho ERK-1/2 with PD98059 enhanced IL-1b-induced dedifferentiation, and apoptosis up to 13.5%, whereas inhibition of phospho p38 kinase with SB203580 inhibited dedifferentiation, and apoptosis. Conclusions : Our results indicate that SB203580, p38 kinase inhibitor, inhibits IL-$1{\beta}$-induced dedifferentiation, and apoptosis by the inhibition of type II collagen expression and proteoglycan synthesis of rabbit articular chondrocytes.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.27 no.1 s.65
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• pp.229-239
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• 2006

Objectives : Articular cartilage is a potential target for drugs designed to inhibit the activity of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) to stop or slow the destruction of the proteoglycan and collagen in the cartilage extracelluar matrix. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of KHBJs for cartilage-protective effect in human and rabbit articular cartilage explants. Methods : The cartilage-protective effects of KHBJ were evaluated by using glycosaminoglycan degradation assay, collagen degradation assay, colorimetric analysis of MMPs activity, and histological analysis in rabbit and human cartilage explants culture. Results : KHBJs significantly inhibited GAG and collagen release of rabbit and human cartilage explant in a concentration-dependent manner. Also, KHBJs inhibited MMP-3 and MMP-13 activities from IL-$1{\alpha}$-treated cartilage explants cultures. Histological analysis indicated that KHBJ004 reduced the degradation of the cartilage matrix compared with that of IL-$1{\alpha}$-treated cartilage explants. KHBJ004 had no harmful effect on chondrocytes viability or cartilage morphology in cartilage explants. Conclusions : These results indicate that KHBJs inhibits the degradation of proteoglycan and collagen through the downregulation of MMP-3 and MMP-13 activities without affecting the viability or morphology of IL-$1{\alpha}$-stimulated rabbit and human articular cartilage explants.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SP
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.410-416
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• 2003

In the affine projection algorithm(APA), the projection dimension depends on a number of projection basis and of elements of input vector used for updating of coefficients of the adaptive filter. The projection dimension is closely related to a convergence speed of the APA, and it determines computational complexity. As the adaptive filter approaches to steady state, convergence speed is decreased. Therefore it is possible to reduce projection dimension that determines convergence speed. In this paper, we proposed the variable dimension affine projection algorithm (VDAPA) that controls the projection dimension and uses the relation between variations of coefficients of the adaptive filter and convergence speed of the APA. The proposed method reduces computational complexity of the APA by modifying the number of projection basis on convergence state. For demonstrating the good performances of the proposed method, simulation results are compared with the APA and normalized LMS algorithm in convergence speed and computational quantity.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.179-185
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• 2016

Ginger (Zingiber officnale Roscoe, Zingiberaceae), which is a well-known food seasoning, has been used as a traditional medicine for the treatment of gastrointestinal disorder, vomiting and cough in Korea, China and Japan. Ethanol extract from the dried ginger (DG) was successively partitioned as methylene chloride, ethyl acetate, n-butanol and $H_2O$ soluble fractions. Among those fractions the ethyl acetate soluble fraction (EDG) showed the most potent DPPH radical scavenging and superoxide quenching activities. To know the effect of antioxidant activities of EDG, we tested the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase together with oxidative stress tolerance and intracellular ROS level in Caenorhabditis elegans. To investigate whether EDG-mediated increased stress tolerance was due to regulation of stress-response gene, we quantified SOD-3 expression using transgenic strain including CF1553. Consequently, EDG elevated SOD and catalase activities of C. elegans, reduced intracellular ROS accumulation in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, EDG-treated CF1553 worms exhibited significantly higher SOD-3::GFP intensity.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.177-183
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• 2014

Alumina-silica composite coating layers were prepared by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) of plate-shaped alumina particles dispersed in a sol-gel binder, which was prepared by hydrolysis and the condensation reaction of methyltrimethoxysilane in the presence of colloidal silica. The microstructure and the electrical and thermal properties of the coatings were compared according to the EPD process parameter: voltage, time and the content of the plate-shaped alumina particles. The electrical insulation property of the coatings was measured by a voltage test. The coatings were prepared by EPD of the sol-gel binder with 5-30 wt% plate alumina particles on parallel electrodes at a distance of 2 cm for 1-10 min under an applied voltage of 10-30 V. The coatings experienced increased breakdown voltage with increasing thickness. However, the higher the thickness was, the smaller the breakdown voltage strength was. A breakdown voltage as high as 4.6 kV was observed with a $400{\mu}m$ thickness, and a breakdown voltage strength as high as 27 kV/mm was achieved for the sample under a $100{\mu}m$ thickness.