• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.182-188
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• 2008

Purpose: Transcriptional factors of CREB (cAMP response element binding protein) are involved in regulating the gene expression in response to a variety of signaling pathways. The proteins produced by the CREB genes play key roles in many physiological processes, including memory and long-term potentiation. The retinoic acid receptor (RAR) axis mediates epithelial cell differentiation and proliferation in many tissues. This study examined the expressions of RAR and CREB and their relationship with the clinicopathologic factors and their significance. Materials and Methods: The levels of the RAR and CREB expressions were measured in 150 gastric adenocarcinomas by performing immunohistochemical staining. Results: 1. An RAR protein expression was found in 63.3% of the adenocarcinomas (95/150) and a CREB expression was found in 60.7% (91/150) of the adenocarcinomas. 2. An RAR protein expression was found in 72.2% (78/108) of the intestinal type adenocarcinomas and in 40.5% (17/42) of the diffuse type adenocarcinomas (P<0.05). Based on the depth of invasion, an RAR protein expression was found in 58.3% (14/24) of the T1 adenocarcinomas, in 61.9% (13/21) of the T2 adenocarcinomas, in 63.5% (61/96) of the T3 adenocarcinomas, in 77.8% (7/9) of the T4 adenocarcinomas and in 74.7% (62/83) of the adenocarcinomas with lymph node metastasis and in 49.2% (33/67) of the adenocarcinomas without lymph node metastasis (P<0.01). 3. A CREB expression was found in 69.4% (75/108) of the intestinal type and in 38.1% (16/42) of the diffuse type (P>0.05). Based on the depth of invasion, a CREB expression was found in 50% (12/24) of the T1 adenocarcinomas, in 52.4% (11/21) of the T2 adenocarcinomas, in 64.6% (62/96) of the T3 adenocarcinomas, in 66.6% (6/9) of the T4 adenocarcinomas, in 71.1% (59/83) of the adenocarcinomas with lymph node metastasis and in 47.8% (32/67) of the adenocarcinomas without lymph node metastasis (P<0.01). 4. The RAR protein and CREB expressions coincided in 71.4% of the gastric adenocarcinomas and a significant correlation between them was found (P<0.05). Conclusion: We found a significant relationship between the expression of RAR and CREB and the histology and lymph node metastasis of gastric cancer. Further studies are needed to confirm their biologic meaning in gastric carcinogenesis.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.393-401
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• 1998

Based on clinical observations, it is suspected that the bone-tendon origin is the site where piratical failure, leading to pathophysiological changes in the humeral epicondyle after repetitive loading, is initiated Mechanical properties and failure patterns of the common extensor and flexor tendons of the humeral epicondyle under static and repetitive loading have not been well documented. Our goal was to determine mechanical properties of failure strength and strain changes, to correlate strain changes and the number of cyclic repetitions, and to identify the failure pattern of bone-tendon specimens of common extensor and flexor tendons of the humeral epicondyle. Mechnaical properties of human cadaver bone-tendon specimens of the common extensor and flexor tendons of the humeral epicondyle were tested under two different loading rates. No statistically significant difference in ultimate tensile strength was found between male and female specimens or between slow (10 mm/sec) and fast elongation (100 mm/sec) rates. However, a statistically significant difference in ultimate tensile strength between the common extensor (1190.0 N/$cm^2{\pm}$388.8) and flexor 1922.0 N/$cm^2{\pm}$764.4)tendons was found (p<0.05). When loads of 25%, 33%, and 41% of the ultimate tensile strength of their contralateral sides were applied, the number of cycles required to reach 24% strain change for the common extersor and flexor tendons were approximately 8,893, 1,907, and 410, respectively. The relationship between cycles and loads was correlated ($R^2$=0.46) Histological observation showed that complete or partial failure after tensile or cyclic loadings occurred at the transitional zone, which is the uncalcified fibrocartilage zone between tendon and bone of the humeral epicondyle. Sequential histological sections revealed that failure initiated at the upper, medial aspect of the extensor carpi radialis brevis tendon origin. Biomechanical and hstological data obtained in this study indicated that the uncalcified fibrocartilage zone at the bone-tendon origin of the common extensor and flexor tendons is the weak anatomical structure of the humeral epicondyle.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.21-27
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• 2015

The Phoenix-shaped Glass Ewer, which is No. 193 National Treasure, was seriously damaged by a unique form of green glass pieces when excavated among a number of burial accessories of Hwangnamdaechong known to have been formed in the 5th century. While it has long been exhibited at the National Museum of Korea since its treatment for conservation treatment at conservation science laboratory in 1984, the existing adhesive materials seriously deteriorated for the 30 years, and the condition was quite unstable. The epoxy resin used as a restorative materials turned yellowing due to the light and heat so much that it was no longer able to exhibit it in a stable and effective manner. As a result, a re-treatment for conservation was conducted lately. This study focuses on the three pieces of Gold wires used to carefully wrap up the handle of the Phoenix-shaped Glass Ewer broken into three pieces, which has not been studied so far. As for the analysis method for Gold wires, SEM-EDS and Stereo Microscope were used for nondestructive analysis. First of all, the result of the SEM-EDS analysis shows that the composition was Au 91.9 wt.%-Au 92.8 w.t% and Ag 5.9 wt.%-Ag 6.5 wt.%, which indicates that it was an alloy made of Au and Ag. The production technique of Gold wires was also observed by means of optical microscopes. In general, Gold wires were manufactured by a drawing process in which a lump of gold was beaten or pulled out of a hole or by a process of twisting a gold plate. However, Gold wires separated from the handle of the Phoenix-shaped Glass Ewer did not involve any trace of twisting on the surface. Rather, fine vertical stripes were observed with the sections filled up. Hence, it is thought that this Ewer went through a drawing process and then was mended. As a result, no certain relation with the golden mending material used for the Phoenix-shaped Glass Ewer was verified. The findings above indicate that most of the existing researches on Gold wires recognized them, not as separate remains, but merely as a component of other golden remains. Thus, there has been little systematic study on the manufacturing techniques of Gold wires. The future study on Gold wires may verify the correlation between the Gold wires used to fix the handle of the Phoenix-shaped Glass Ewer, which is examined in this study, with that of golden remains in the Silla era.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.159-168
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• 2006

Rodents and many other mammals have two chemosensory systems that mediate responses to pheromones, the main and accessory olfactory system, MOS and AOS, respectively. The chemosensory neurons associated with the MOS are located in the main olfactory epithelium, while those associated with the AOS are located in the vomeronasal organ(VNO). Pheromonal odorants access the lumen of the VNO via canals in the roof of the mouth, and are largely thought to be nonvolatile. The main pheromone receptor proteins consist of two superfamilies, V1Rs and V2Rs, that are structurally distinct and unrelated to the olfactory receptors expressed in the main olfactory epithelium. These two type of receptors are seven transmembrane domain G-protein coupled proteins(V1R with $G_{{\alpha}i2}$, V2R with $G_{0\;{\alpha}}$). V2Rs are co-expressed with nonclassical MHC Ib genes(M10 and other 8 M1 family proteins). Other important molecular component of VNO neuron is a TrpC2, a cation channel protein of transient receptor potential(TRP) family and thought to have a crucial role in signal transduction. There are four types of pheromones in mammalian chemical communication - primers, signalers, modulators and releasers. Responses to these chemosignals can vary substantially within and between individuals. This variability can stem from the modulating effects of steroid hormones and/or non-steroid factors such as neurotransmitters on olfactory processing. Such modulation frequently augments or facilitates the effects that prevailing social and environmental conditions have on the reproductive axis. The best example is the pregnancy block effect(Bruce effect), caused by testosterone-dependent major urinary proteins(MUPs) in male mouse urine. Intriguingly, mouse GnRH neurons receive pheromone signals from both odor and pheromone relays in the brain and may also receive common odor signals. Though it is quite controversial, recent studies reveal a complex interplay between reproduction and other functions in which GnRH neurons appear to integrate information from multiple sources and modulate a variety of brain functions.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2009

Implantation itself is governed by an array of endocrine, paracrine and autocrine modulators, of embryonic and maternal origin. Window of implantation is the unique temporal and spatial expression of factors allows the embryo to implant via signaling, appositioning, attachment, and invasion in a specific time frame of $2{\sim}4$ days. When the embryo has arrived in the uterine cavity, a preprogrammed sequence of events occurs, which involves the production and secretion of a multitude of biochemical factors such as cytokines, growth factors, and adhesion molecules by the endometrium and the embryo, thus leading to the formation of a receptive endometrium. Cytokines such as LIF, CSF-1, and IL-1 have all been shown to play important roles in the cascade of events that leads to implantation. Integrin, L-selectin ligands, glycodelin, mucin-1, HB-EGF and pinopodes are involved in appositioning and attachment. The embryo also produces cytokines and growth factors (ILs, VEGF) and receptors for endometrial signals such as LIF, CSF-1, IGF and HB-EGF. The immune system and angiogenesis play an important role. The usefulness of these factors to assess endometrial receptivity and to estimate the prognosis for pregnancy in natural and artificial cycles remains to be proven. Integrins, pinopodes, glycodelin and LIF (from biopsies) are promising candidates; from uterine flushings, glycodelin and LIF are also candidates. The ideal serum marker is not available, but VEGF, glycodelin and CSF have some clinical implications. Further evaluation that includes larger groups of infertile women and fertile controls are needed to elucidate whether their presence in plasma, flushing fluid, or endometrial samples can be used as some kind of a screening tool to assess endometrial function and prognosis for pregnancy before and after artificial reproductive therapy. A better understanding of their function in human implantation may lead to therapeutic intervention, thereby improving the success rate in reproduction treatment. New molecular techniques are becoming available for measuring both embryonic and endometrial changes prior to and during implantation. The use of predictive sets of markers may prove to be more reliable than a single marker. Ultimately, the aim is to use these tools to increase implantation in artificial cycles and consequently improve live-birth rates.

• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.36
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• pp.437-467
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• 2014

This study is intended to reveal reading comic books helps improve creativity. Though the long-lasting negative recognition towards comic books has positively changed these days, we need a ground upon which the social recognition needs improvement in that children's comic books have been used as a learning tool. Its introduction points out that there has been shortage of empirical researches on comic book reading, and as one of the empirical research methods, presents a method of comparative analysis on comic book reading, school study, and creativity tests via survey. The theoretical background in the 2nd chapter, first, puts emphasis on the significance of the creativity theory among all the other theories related to creativity, which focuses on problem-solving capacity. Second, it theoretically reviews the meaning which 'fun' and 'interest' have in development of creativity in the context of developmental process of the modern educational theories. Third, it empathizes that traits of reading comic books start off with 'fun' and 'interest', that awareness of reality gets expanded via the process of characters making their way through a strange world with empathy and absorption, and that comic book reading has to do with creativity. Fourth, it presents a model questionnaire with which to study relationship between comic books and creativity in an empirical way. The analysis on the survey outcome in the 3rd chapter shows, first, that smart students read many comic books, not to mention that studying helps improve creativity, which indicates above all, comic book reading and improvement of creativity are not negatively related, but are mutually complementary. Second, that creativity enhanced by reading comic books is higher than that enhanced by studying, which may mean comic book reading is more effective than studying in developing creativity. It has drawn a conclusion based upon these results, that reading comic books bears positive efficacy on both studying and developing creativity. Standing on this conclusion, it proposes it necessary to develop methods by grades of educating how to read comic books and to provide a recommended list of comic books to read.

• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.325-338
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• 2003

Video adaptation in response to dynamic resource conditions and user preferences is required as a key technology to enable universal multimedia access (UMA) through heterogeneous networks by a multitude of devices In a seamless way. Although many adaptation techniques exist, selections of appropriate adaptations among multiple choices that would satisfy given constraints are often ad hoc. To provide a systematic solution, we present a general conceptual framework to model video entity, adaptation, resource, utility, and relations among them. It allows for formulation of various adaptation problems as resource-constrained utility maximization. We apply the framework to a practical case of dynamic bit rate adaptation of MPEG-4 video streams by employing combination of frame dropping and DCT coefficient dropping. Furthermore, we present a descriptor, which has been accepted as a part of MPEG-21 Digital Item Adaptation (DIA), for supporting terminal and network quality of service (QoS) in an interoperable manner. Experiments are presented to demonstrate the feasibility of the presented framework using the descriptor.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.12 no.7
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• pp.3062-3071
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• 2011

This study proposed to compare the performance differences between a manufacturing company and a construction company in accordance with the mutual relations and ownership structures with the management performance based on the increase or decrease of the large shareholders' share-holding ratio (insider ownership, foreign share-holding, institutional investors' share-holding) of a KOSPI listed company in Korea during 10 years(1998-2007). To sum up the research work, first, the increase of foreign share-holding supported the results of previous studies which foreign share-holding has a positive effect on the long term performance by having a positive(+) effect on MTB, and the increase of an insider ownership supported the management entrenchment hypothesis of previous studies by having a negative(-) effect on MTB. However, relations between institutional investors's share-holding and MTB could not find out linkages in spite of the results of previous studies where dealt with the active monitoring hypothesis. Also, to examine the linkages of ROA and the ownership structure, though the increases of foreign share-holding and insider ownership had a positive(+) effect on ROA, the increases of institutional investors' share-holding had a negative(-) effect on it. It showed different analysis results from the active monitoring hypothesis of institutional investors. As a result of verifying whether there is "any difference in the management performances between the construction industry and the manufacturing industry according to the equity structure" which is the second hypothesis, nothing of the insider ownership and whether or not there is the construction industry, foreign share-holding and whether or not there is the construction, and the institutional ownership and whether or not there is the construction industry gave a statistical difference to MTB and ROA. Accordingly, it was possible to find out there is no difference in the management performance between the construction industry and the manufacturing industry based on the ownership structure in spite of different characteristics from the manufacturing industry such as the revenue recognition in ordering, production and accounting.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.246-252
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• 2002

Purpose : It has been recognized that interaction of the Fas : Fas ligand plays an important role in radiation-induced apoptosis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of Fas mutation in radiation-induced apoptosis in vivo. Materials and Method : Mice with mutations in Fas, $MRL/Mpj-Fas^{Ipr}$, and its normal control, MRL/Mpj, were used in this study. Eight-week old male mice were given whole body radiation. After irradiation, the mice were killed and their spleens were collected at different time intervals. Tissue samples were stained with hematoxylin-eosin and the numbers of apoptotic cells were scored. Regulating molecules of apoptosis including p53, Bcl-2, Bax, $Bcl-X_L,\;and\;Bcl-X_S$ were also analyzed by Western blotting. Results : At 25 Gy irradiation, the level of apoptosis reached the peak value at 8 hr after radiation and recovered to the normal value at 24 hr after radiation in MRL/Mpj mice. In contrast, the peak apoptosis level appeared at 4 hr after radiation in $MRL/Mpj-Fas^{Ipr}$. At 8 hr after radiation, the levels of apoptosis in MRL/Mpj mice and $MRL/Mpj-Fas^{Ipr}$ mice were $52.3{\pm}7.8\%\;and\;8.0{\pm}8.6\%$, respectively (p<0.05). The expression of apoptosis regulating molecules, p53, $Bcl-X_L\;and\;Bcl-X_S$, increased in MRL/Mpj mice in response to radiation; p53 with a peak level of 3-fold at 8 h, $Bcl-X_L$ with a peak level of 3.3-fold at 12 h, and $Bcl-X_S$ with a peak level of 3-fold at 12 h after 25 Gy radiation. Bcl-2 and Bax did not show significant change in MRL/Mpj mice. However in $MRL/Mpj-Fas^{Ipr}$ mice, the expression levels of p53, Bcl-2, Bax, $BCl-X_L\;and\;BCl-X_S$ showed no significant change. Conclusion : The level of radiation-induced apoptosis was lower in Fas mutated mice, Ipr, than in control mice. This seemed to be related to the lack of radiation-induced p53 activation in the Ipr mice. This result suggests that Fas plays an important role in radiation-induced apoptosis in vivo.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.265-274
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• 2001

Purpose : Proctitis is one of acute complications encountered when radiotherapy was appled to the pelvis. Radiation-induced proctitis represents similar microscopic findings that are observed in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Nitric oxide (NO) plays an important role in the inflammatory process and many data suggest a close relationship between NO production and gastrointestinal inflammation. This study was aimed to establish the optimal radiation dose for radiation-induced proctitis in rat and to find a relationship between radiation proctitis and NO production. Materials and methods : Female Wistar rats, weighing from 150 to 220 g, received various doses(10-30 Gy) of radiation to the rectum. On the 5th and 10th day after irradiation, rectal specimens were evaluated grossly and microscopically. In addition, the degree of NO production by irradiation dose was evaluated by study with NOS expression and nitrite production in the irradiated rectal tissue. To evaluate relationship between radiation proctitis and NO, we administered aminoguanidine, iNOS inhibitor and L-arginine, substrate of NOS to rats from 2 days before to 7 days after the irradiation. Results : There were obvious gross and hostological changes after 17.5 Gy or higher radiation dose but not with 15 Gy or less radiation dose. Twenty Gy or higher dose of radiation caused Grade 4 damage in most of rectal specimens which were more likely to be related to the late complications such as fibrosis, rectal bleeding and rectal obstruction. A single fraction of 17.5 Gy to the rat rectum is considered to be an optimal dose to produce commonly experienced proctitis in the clinic. The result demonstrated that severity of microscopic damage of rectal mucosa from irradiation significantly correlated with iNOS over-expression. However, administration of iNOS inhibitor or substrate of iNOS did not influence the degree of rectal damage. Conclusion : A single fraction of 17.5 Gy irradiation to the rat rectum considered to be an optimal dose for radiation induced proctitis model. These results indicated that an excess production of NO contributes to pathogenesis of radiation-induced proctitis in part but was not the direct cause of rectal damage.