• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.6327-6332
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• 2012

Esophageal cancer is a common malignant tumor occurring in human esophageal epithelial tissue. The primary purpose of this paper was to define the effects of ${\beta}$-carotene and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin $D_3$, alone and in combination, on cell proliferation, cell cycle and apoptosis of human esophageal cancer EC9706 cells. Treatment with different concentrations of ${\beta}$-carotene and/or 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin $D_3$. MTT assay showed that ${\beta}$-carotene and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin $D_3$ significantly inhibited proliferation of EC9706 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Further studies also demonstrated that ${\beta}$-carotene alone or 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin $D_3$ alone caused a marked increase on the induction of apoptosis in EC9706 cells. The percentage of G0/G1-phase cells significantly increased on addition of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin $D_3$ alone, but there were no significant changes with ${\beta}$-carotene alone. These two agents in combination synergistically inhibited cell growth and induced apoptosis. Therefore, our results indicate that ${\beta}$-carotene and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin $D_3$ in combination may provide a novel strategy for preventing and treating esophageal cancer.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.1-8
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• 2011

The parking guidance system can increase driver's convenience with detailed parking information service, but it continuously consumes electrical energy with large amount of sensors, displays and control modules. With the increase of the demand for green and sustainable building design, it becomes a meaningful issue for parking guidance system to reduce operating power. This paper presents the preliminary design and estimated results of a parking guidance system which is optimized to reduce the power consumption mainly on detectors and displays. The system design is based on commercial wireless parking detectors, wireless-loop-detector and earth-magnetic-detector. We have performed system architecture design, communication network design, parking information service scenario planning, battery life regulation and at last operating power estimation. With the 7 years of battery replace cycle, the estimated result for power consumption of designed system was 0.33W/slot, which is 13% of the traditional system's estimation result. The estimated annual maintain cost was similar to the traditional ultrasonic sensor based system's. The low power operable designed system can be expected to reduce CO2 emission.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.381-389
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• 2014

We investigated the host fruit, seasonal occurrence, and oviposition habits of the eurytomid wasp, Eurytoma maslovskii that cause Japanese apricot fruit drops. This eurytomid wasp was found to occur in Gyeonggi-do, Chungcheongbuk-do, Chungcheongnam-do, Jeollanam-do, and Jeollabuk-do in Korea, and it attacked seeds of Japanese apricot, apricot, and peach. Overwintered larvae were observed until mid April, inside the stone of Japanese apricots. Pupation took place between late March and late April. More than 90% of the adult wasps emerged between late April and early May. The female wasps laid eggs just under the seed coat before endocarp hardening. The length of the wasp ovipositor was at least 5 mm, and hence, the diameters of fruits for oviposition would not exceed 2 cm. We observed up to five eggs per fruit, and the egg stage did not last for more than two days. Newly hatched larvae moved to the embryo, which is the first part that forms in a seed, and feeds on this. Larval competition occurs during this time; in this study, only one larva survived and matured. Thus, from the larva cycle of the wasp, most of the damaged fruits would have fallen by early June, before the harvest period.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.36-36
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• 2017

Out of twenty common protein amino acids, there are many kinds of non protein amino acids (NPAAs) that exist as secondary metabolites and exert ecological functions in plants. Mimosine (Mim), one of those NPAAs derived from L. leucocephala acts as an iron chelator and reversely block mammalian cell cycle at G1/S phases. Cysteine (Cys) is decisive for protein and glutathione that acts as an indispensable sulfur grantor for methionine and many other sulfur-containing secondary products. Cys biosynthesis includes consecutive two steps using two enzymes-serine acetyl transferase (SAT) and O-acetylserine (thiol)lyase (OASTL) and appeared in plant cytosol, chloroplast, and mitochondria. In the first step, the acetylation of the ${\beta}$-hydroxyl of L-serine by acetyl-CoA in the existence of SAT and finally, OASTL triggers ${\alpha}$, ${\beta}$-elimination of acetate from OAS and bind $H_2S$ to catalyze the synthesis of Cys. Mimosine synthase, one of the isozymes of the OASTLs, is able to synthesize Mim with 3-hydroxy-4-pyridone (3H4P) instead of $H_2S$ for Cys in the last step. Thus, the aim of this study was to clone and characterize the cytosolic (Cy) OASTL gene from L. leucocephala, express the recombinant OASTL in Escherichia coli, purify it, do enzyme kinetic analysis, perform docking dynamics simulation analysis between the receptor and the ligands and compare its performance between Cys and Mim synthesis. Cy-OASTL was obtained through both directional degenerate primers corresponding to conserved amino acid region among plant Cys synthase family and the purified protein was 34.3KDa. After cleaving the GST-tag, Cy-OASTL was observed to form mimosine with 3H4P and OAS. The optimum Cys and Mim reaction pH and temperature were 7.5 and $40^{\circ}C$, and 8.0 and $35^{\circ}C$ respectively. Michaelis constant (Km) values of OAS from Cys were higher than the OAS from Mim. Inter fragment interaction energy (IFIE) of substrate OAS-Cy-OASTL complex model showed that Lys, Thr81, Thr77 and Gln150 demonstrated higher attraction force for Cys but 3H4P-mimosine synthase-OAS intermediate complex showed that Gly230, Tyr227, Ala231, Gly228 and Gly232 might provide higher attraction energy for the Mim. It may be concluded that Cy-OASTL demonstrates a dual role in biosynthesis both Cys and Mim and extending the knowledge on the biochemical regulatory mechanism of mimosine and cysteine.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.33-37
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• 2007

A 2 years old female beagle dog was examined because of the vaginal discharge and vaginal swelling at 7th day after mating. Abdominal ultrasonography revealed multiple follicular cysts on both ovaries. Also, the ratio of superficial cells was above 90% based on vaginal cytology. She was still in standing heat, with the tail deflected up and flagging when a male sniffed the vulva and attempted to mount. The dog was diagnosed with multiple follicular cysts by vaginal cytology, clinical signs and ultrasonography. The dog was treated with GnRH $50{\mu}g$ injection by intramuscularly. The sizes of the cysts were decreased two weeks after GnRH treatment, and then the dog delivered an offspring at 68th day after last mating. To confirm the stage of estrous cycle, we performed hormone analyses, retrospectively $Estradiol-17{\beta}$ concentration was 78pg/ml at diagnosis. Progesterone concentration was 6.9ng/ml at the last mating, and 66.9ng/ml at diagnosis. Therefore, we confirmed that follicular cysts was observed during diestrous stage in a beagle dog.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.155-168
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• 2011

Coastal boundary current flows along the eastern boundary of the Yellow Sea and its speed was about 0.l m/s during the summer 2007. In order to find major factors that affect the coastal boundary current in the eastern Yellow Sea, three-dimensional numerical model experiments were performed. The model simulation results were validated against hydrographic and current meter data in the eastern Yellow Sea. The eastern boundary current flows along the bottom front over the upper part of slopping bottom. Strength and position of the current were affected by tides, winds, local river discharge, and solar radiation. Tidal stirring and surface wind mixing were major factors that control the summertime boundary currents along the bottom front. Tidal stirring was essential to generate the bottom temperature front and boundary current. Wind mixing made the boundary current wider and augmented its north-ward transport. Buoyancy forcing from the freshwater input and solar radiation also affected the boundary current but their contributions were minor. Strong (weak) tidal mixing during spring (neap) tides made the northward transport larger (smaller) in the numerical simulations. But offshore position of the eastern boundary current's major axis was not apparently changed by the spring-neap cycle in the mid-eastern Yellow Sea due to strong summer stratification. The mean position of coastal boundary current varied due to variations in the level of wind mixing.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.181-189
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• 1984

The metacercariae of Echinostoma cineterchis (Trematoda: Echinostomatidae) were found infected in the loaches (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus) purchased from two local markets in Korea. Identification of the metacercariae was done after obtaining adult worms from experimentally infected albino rats. Brief course of worm development in rats was also observed up to 28th post-infection day. The results are as follows: 1. The metacercariae of E. cinetorchis were detected from 5 (10.9%) out of 46 loaches examined and the average metacercarial burden per infected loach was 34.4. They were always found from the posterior abdominal wall. 2. The worm recovery rate from 8 rats was 24.6% in average. It was observed that the rate decreased according to age of infection; from 40.7% after 6 days to 15.0% after 28 days. 3. The adult worms were morphologically characterized by the presence of head crown with derfally uninterrupted collar spines, 37-38 in number, and the tendency of migration or disappearance of testes. So that they were identified as Echinostoma cinetorchis Ando et Ozaki, 1923. 4. The development of worm was very rapid during 6-10 days after infection and became much slower thereafter. During the rapid worm growth the development of genital organs was more prominent than that of non-genital organs. From the results it is concluded that the loach is involved in the life cycle of E. cinetorchis in this country and may take a role for infection source to animals and man. It is also confirmed that migration or loss of testes is the distinct specific character of this echinostomatid fluke.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.23-35
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• 2011

The pedestrian green time is usually long at wide width intersections. This sometimes causes the increase of delay on the whole intersection because of long cycle length and thus small g/C ratio on some direction. In this paper, to improve these problems, staggered pedestrian crossing was evaluated on the vehicular and pedestrian aspects. The results were gained by using both TRANSYT-7F and VISSIM model. The vehicle control delay of the staggered pedestrian crossing was estimated to be decreasing than that of the general pedestrian crossing by 14.9% to 85.6%. The pedestrian average delay of two pedestrian crossing systems was examined by analytical method and VISSIM. According to the analytical method there was no significant difference between each pedestrian crossing system. The pedestrian delay of staggered pedestrian crossing was from 13.4% to 22.3% than the general pedestrian crossing by VISSIM. In conclusion, the staggered pedestrian crossing was more effective than general pedestrian crossing for both the vehicle and the pedestrian. However this conclusion was resulted from micro simulation where traffic volume condition, v/c, was from 0.8 to 1.1.

• Environmental Sciences Bulletin of The Korean Environmental Sciences Society
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.125-136
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• 1997

Digestion of a municipal wastewater sludge by the anaerobic sequencing batch reactor(ASBR) was investigated to evaluate the performance of the ASBR process at a critical condition of high-solids-content feed. The reactors were operated at an HRT of 10 days with an equivalent loading rate of 0.8-1.5 gVS/L/d at $35^{\circ}C.$ The main conclusions drawn from this study were as follows: 1. Digestion of a municipal wastewater sludge was possible using the ASBR in spite of high concentration of settleable solids in the sludge. The ASBRS with 3- and 4-day cycle period showed almost identical high digestion performances. 2. No adverse effect on digestion stability was observed in the ASBRS in spite of withdrawal and replenishment of $30\%\;or\;40\%$ of liquid contents. A conventional anaerobic digester could be easily converted to the ASBR without any stability problem. 3. Flotation thickening occurred in thicken step of the ASBRS throughout steady state, and floating bed volume at the end of thicken period occupied about $70\%$ of the working volume of the reactor. Efficiency of flotation thickening in the ASBRS could be comparable to that of additional gravity thickening of a completely mixed digester. 4. Solids were accumulated rapidly in the ASBR during start-up period. Solids concentrations in the ASBRS were 2.6 times higher than that in the completely mixed control reactor at steady state. Dehydrogenase activity had a strong correlation with the solids concentration. Dehydrogenase activity of the digested sludge in the ASBR was 2.9 times higher than that of the sludge in the control reactor, and about 25 times higher than that of the subnatant in the ASBR. 5. Remarkable increase in equivalent gas production of $52\%$ was observed at the ASBRS compared with the control reactor in spite of similar Quality of clarified effluent from the ASBRS and control reactor. The increase in gas production from the ASBRS was believed to be combined results of accumulation of microorganisms, higher driving force applied, and additional long-term degradation of organics continuously accumulated.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.3519-3528
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• 2012

Inhibitory effects of Maclura amboinenesis Bl, one plant used traditionally for the treatment of cancers, on metastatic potential of highly metastatic B16F10 melanoma cells were investigated in vitro. Cell proliferation was assessed using the MTT colorimetric assay. Details of metastatic capabilities including invasion, migration and adhesion of B16F10 melanoma cells were examined by Boyden Chamber invasion and migration, scratch motility and cell attachment assays, respectively. The results demonstrated that n-hexane and chloroform extracts exhibited potent anti-proliferative effects (p<0.01), whereas the methanol and aqueous extracts had less pronounced effects after 24 h exposure. Bioactivity-guided chromatographic fractionation of both active n-hexane and chloroform extracts led to the isolation of two main prenylated xanthones and characterization as macluraxanthone and gerontoxanthone-I, respectively, their structures being identified by comparison with the spectral data. Interestingly, both exhibited potent effective effects. At non-toxic effective doses, n-hexane and chloroform extracts (10 and $30{\mu}g/ml$) as well as macluraxanthone and gerontoxanthone-I (3 and $10{\mu}M$) significantly inhibited B16F10 cell invasion, to a greater extent than $10{\mu}m$ doxorubicin, while reducing migration of cancer cells without cellular cytotoxicity. Moreover, exposure of B16F10 melanoma cells to high concentrations of chloroform ($30{\mu}g/ml$) and geratoxanthone-I ($20{\mu}M$) for 24 h resulted in delayed adhesion and retarded colonization. As insights into mechanisms of action, typical morphological changes of apoptotic cells e.g. membrane blebbing, chromatin condensation, nuclear fragmentation, apoptotic bodies and loss of adhesion as well as cell cycle arrest in the G1 phase with increase of sub-G1 cell proportions, detected by Hoechst 33342 staining and flow cytometry were observed, suggesting DNA damage and subsequent apoptotic cell death. Taken together, our findings indicate for the first time that active n-hexane and chloroform extracts as well as macluraxanthone and gerontoxanthone-I isolated from Maclura amboinensis Bl. roots affect multistep of cancer metastasis processes including proliferation, adhesion, invasion and migration, possibly through induction of apoptosis of highly metastatic B16F10 melanoma cells. Based on these data, M. amboinensis Bl. represents a potential candidate novel chemopreventive and/or chemotherapeutic agent. Additionally, they also support its ethno-medicinal usage for cancer prevention and/or chemotherapy.