• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.239-244
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• 2004

In order to enhance an oxidation resistance of the pure uranium metal under air condition, a small quantity of niobium(Nb) which is known to mitigate metal oxidation is added into uranium metal as an alloying element. A simulated metallic uranium alloy, U-Nb has been fabricated and then oxidized in the range of 200 to $300^{\circ}C$ under the environment of the pure oxygen gas. The oxidized quantity in terms of the weight gain(wt%) has been measured with the help of a thermogravimetric analyzer. The results show that the oxidation resistance of the U-Nb alloy is considerably enhanced in comparison with that of the pure uranium metal. It is revealed that the oxidation resistance of the former with the niobium content of 1, 2, 3, and 4 wt% is : 1) 1.61, 7.78, 11.76 and 20.14 times at the temperature of $200^{\circ}C$ ; 2) 1.45, 5.98, 10.08 and 11.15 times at $250^{\circ}C$ ; and 3) 1.33, 4.82, 8.87 and 6.84 times at $300^{\circ}C$ higher than that of the latter, respectively. Besides, it is shown that the activation energy attributable to the oxidation is 17.13~21.92 kcal/mol.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.149-156
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• 2011

Golgi SNAP receptor complex 1 (GS28) has been implicated in vesicular transport between intra-Golgi networks and between endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and Golgi. Additional role(s) of GS28 within cells have not been well characterized. We observed decreased expression of GS28 in rat ischemic hippocampus. In this study, we examined the role of GS28 and its molecular mechanisms in neuronal (SK-N-SH) cell death induced by hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$). GS28 siRNA-transfected cells treated with $H_2O_2$ showed a significant increase in cytotoxicity under glutathione (GSH)-depleted conditions after pretreatment with buthionine sulfoximine, which corresponded to an increase of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the cells. Pretreatment of GS28 siRNA-transfected cells with p38 chemical inhibitor significantly inhibited cytotoxicity; we also observed that p38 was activated in the cells by immunoblot analysis. We confirmed the role of p38 MAPK in cotransfected cells with GS28 siRNA and p38 siRNA in the cell viability assay, flow cytometry, and immunoblot. Involvement of apoptotic or autophagic processes in the cells was not shown in the cell viability, flow cytometry, and immunoblot analyses. However, pretreatment of the cells with necrostatin-1 completely inhibited $H_2O_2$-induced cytotoxicity, ROS generation, and p38 activation, indicating that the cell death is necroptotic. Collectively these data imply that $H_2O_2$ induces necroptotic cell death in the GS28 siRNA-transfected cells and that the necroptotic signals are mediated by sequential activations in RIP1/p38/ROS. Taken together, these results indicate that GS28 has a protective role in $H_2O_2$-induced necroptosis via inhibition of p38 MAPK in GSH-depleted neuronal cells.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.34 no.8
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• pp.1136-1142
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• 2005

To develop new anti-aging foods or cosmetics by using antioxidants, SOD activator and elastase inhibitor, both potent anti-aging substances, were screened from various extracts of medicinal Plants and its optimal extraction conditions were investigated. Antioxidant activity has showed the highest in methanol extracts of Prunus persica (seed; 98.0$\%$). Methanol extracts of Morus alba (leave; 41.0$\%$) showed the highest elastase inhibitory activity while Lycium chinense (fruit; 197$\%$) showed the highest activation effect in SOD activity. The Prunus persica extract that exhibited the highest activity was extracted by treatment of Prunus persica powder with methanol at 40$^{\circ}C$ for 18 h and the SOD activity was maximum with extract from Lycium chinense extracted with deionized water at 30$^{\circ}C$ for 12 h. Elastase inhibitory activity of Morus alba was maximally extracted when it was treated with 70$\%$ methanol at 50$^{\circ}C$ for 12 h.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.93-99
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• 2008

Until now, (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate(EGCG) is known as the most powerful antioxidant among green tea catechins having many beneficial effects on human skin. Considering that the content of catechins is variable according to many conditions such as solvent, temperature and pressure, we prepared the heat-epimerized-EGCG-mixture (HE-EGCG-mix) containing high content of gallocatechin-3-gallate(GCG) by epimerization during autoclaving process and found out its optimal condition for maximizing conversion from EGCG to GCG. To investigate the effects of EGCG and HE-EGCG-mix on skin barrier function, we performed in vivo experiments with hairless mice. We found that HE-EGCG-mix has more potent stimulating activity than EGCG for the production of involucrin 7(INV7) and for recovery of barrier function in SKH-1 mice. Also, we found that GCG stimulates $PPAR-{\alpha}$ transactivation more effectively than EGCG in vitro by transient transfection assay for $PPAR-{\alpha}$ activation activity. These imply that HE-EGCG-mix consisting of high content of GCG should stimulate more efficiently recovery of skin barrier through PPAR-mediated-kerationocyte differentiation than EGCG. In conclusion, our study may provide a possibility that GCG, the C-2 epimer of EGCG, could be a potentially effective agent for development of new cosmetics or health foods for recovery of skin barrier.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.123-129
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• 2017

This paper proposes a new nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) based direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation method for multiple sound sources using a dual microphone array. First of all, sound signals coming from the dual microphone array are segmented into consecutive analysis frames, and a steered-response power phase transform (SRP-PHAT) beamformer is applied to each frame so that stereo signals of each frame are represented in a time-direction domain. The time-direction outputs of SRP-PHAT are stored for a pre-defined number of frames, which is referred to as a time-direction block. Next, In order to estimate DOAs robust to noise, each time-direction block is normalized along the time by using a block subtraction technique. After that, an unsupervised NMF method is applied to the normalized time-direction block in order to cluster the directions of each sound source in a multiple sound source environments. In particular, the activation and basis matrices are used to estimate the number of sound sources and their DOAs, respectively. The DOA estimation performance of the proposed method is evaluated by measuring a mean absolute error (MAE) and the standard deviation of errors between the oracle and estimated DOAs under a three source condition, where the sources are located in [$-35{\circ}$, 5m], [$12{\circ}$, 4m], and [$38{\circ}$, 4.m] from the dual microphone array. It is shown from the experiment that the proposed method could relatively reduce MAE by 56.83%, compared to a conventional SRP-PHAT based DOA estimation method.

• Clean Technology
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.96-105
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• 2016

VOCs emissions from industries cause the air pollution and odor. In the industrial facilities, the existing odor treatment techniques have limits and problems. In this study, the optimum essential oil and metal oxide selected by screening test. lavender oil, cypress oil and TiO₂ were determined by deodorant materials and those were blended by 5%, 45%, 10%, respectively. In addition, the result of batch type experiments depending on the dilution rate, injection, rate, temperature showed that the optimum condition of deodorant is 6 mL of injection rate, and 200 times of dilution rate and the removal efficiency increased in proportion with temperature. In addition, the activation energy was calculated from the rate equation, which appeared in the 3-4 times lower than conventional deodorants.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.324-331
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• 2009

MK1 strain, an obligate aerobic heterotrophic bacterium isolated from the rotten tissue of Neungee mushroom (Sarcodon aspratus), produces a copious amount of exopolysaccharide (EPS), which could evoke macrophage activation. Investigations on optimal culture conditions of MK1 and physical properties of MK1 EPS were made. Glucose, galactose, fructose, and sucrose supported well growth of MK1, but potato starch and dextrin did not. However, lactose seemed to be a less favorable carbon source. Optimal growth of MK1 was obtained at pH 7.0, $30^{\circ}C$, and 200 rpm with 2% glucose, and 0.2~0.05% $(NH_4)_2SO_4$. $EPS_{opt}$ obtained from an optimal growth condition constituted of carbon (37.1%), nitrogen (2.2%), oxygen (49.3%), and hydrogen (6.4%), but no sulfur. Paper chrogromatogram of the acid-hydrolysate of $EPS_{opt}$ suggested that MK1 EPS seemed to be hetropolysaccharide composed of a few number of monosaccharides including amino- and acidic-sugars. Its molecular mass determined by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis varied from 14.8 to 47.9 kDa. Physical properties of $EPS_{glu}$ obtained from cell grown in glucose medium, such as relative viscosity ($_{rel}$) and crystalline morphology were rather affected by pH of the growth medium. Relative viscosity ($_{rel}$) of exopolysaccaride (0.1 g/ml) harvested from cells grown at medium pH ranging from 6.0 and 7.5 was 1.23 and 1.39, respectively. The freeze-dried exopolysaccharide obtained at low pH (6.0 and 6.5) was fine crystaloid and water-soluble, whereas those obtained at high pH (7.0 and 7.5) was rather gluey and less water-soluble.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.195-200
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• 1992

Rhizopus oryzae CJ-2114 was selected for its strong polygalacturonase activity among various strains of mold found in soil. The optimum pH for the enzyme activity was 4.0 and optimum temperature was 4$0^{\circ}C$. The activation energy for the polygalacturonase was calculated by Arrhenius equation was 2.048㎉/㏖. The reaction of this enzyme followed typical Michaelis-Menten kinetics with the Km value of 54.05mM with the $V_{max}$ of 13.9m mole/min. The enzyme is relatively stable in acidic condition. The activity of polygalactur-onase was inhibited completely by C $u^{2+}$, P $b^{2+}$ and Z $n^{2+}$, $_Mn^{2+}$ at concentration of 1 mM. The enzyme can be inactivated by the treatment with maleic anhydride and iodine. The results indicate the possible involvement of histidine at active site. When polygalacturonase from Rhizopus oryzae CJ-2114 was reacted with poly-galacturonic acid as a substrate mono-, di-, and oligogalacturonic acid were produced at early and mono-, digalacturonic acid produced at late incubation time. time.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.239-248
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• 2015

The nature of molecular mechanisms governing embryonic cell block is largely unknown, but recent reports have demonstrated that proper execution of programmed cell death is crucial for this process. The main objective of this study is to determine effects of programmed cell death on porcine oocytes development in vitro after parthenogenesis. Among the blastocysts matured in 3MA, MAP1LC3A and ATG5 RNA gene expression level increased in the order of Cyst < 3MA < RP. However, Casp-3 and TNF-r RNA gene expression level decreased in the order of RP < 3MA < Cyst. Expression of mTOR within the RP-cultured blastocyst was the most highly to the inner cell mass, while 3MA-cultured blastocyst showed very lowest expression in inner cell mass. The expression of mTOR showed a pattern opposite to that of MAP1LC3A. That is, its expression was the lowest in Cyst group. When the enzymatic activity of MMP-2 and MMP-9 was assessed in culture, the level of active MMP-9 was higher expression in the medium of each RP treatment group, with the level of another treatment group being relatively higher. Analyses of TIMP-2 and TIMP-3 revealed that their expression was higher in groups that did not receive RP treatment. More specifically, the level of TIMP-2 was not affected by Cyst treatment, while the level of TIMP-3 was higher in 3MA and RP treatment group. There was highly cell division activation efficiency of parthenogenesis on cultured system of RP supplement IVC medium. Therefore, these results suggest that embryo development was significantly increased in conditional culture medium with active autophagy as compared to common cultured condition. Further investigation of this distinction may enable the development of innovative improvements for the production of porcine somatic cell nuclear transfer.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.13-20
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• 2004

This study was conducted to investigate the developmental ability of caprine embryos after somatic cell interspecies nuclear transfer. Donor cells were obtained from an ear-skin biopsy of a caprine, digested with 0.25% trypsin-EDTA in PBS, and primary fibroblast cultures were established in TCM-199 with 10% FBS. After maturation, expanded cumulus cells were removed by vigorous pipetting in the presence of 0.3% hyaluronidase. The matured oocytes were dipped in D-PBS plus 10% FBS＋7.5 $\mu\textrm{g}$/ml cytochalasin B and 0.05 M sucrose. The reconstructed oocytes were electrically fused with donor cells in 0.3 M mannitol fusion medium. After the electofusion, embryos were activated by electric stimulation. Interspecies nuclear transfer embryos with bovine cytoplasts were cultured in TCM-199 medium supplemented with 10% FBS including bovine oviduct epithelial cells for 7∼9 day. On the other hand, the NT embryos with porcine cytoplasts were cultured in NCSU-23 medium supplemented with 10% FBS for 6∼8 day at $39^{\circ}C, 5% CO_2$ in air. In caprine-bovine NT embryos, the cleavage(2-cell) rate was 36.8% in confluence and 43.8% in serum starvation. The developmental rate of morula- and blastocyst-stage embryos was 0.0% in confluence and 18.8% in serum starvation. In caprine-porcine NT embryos, the cleavage(2-cell) rate was 76.7% in confluence and 66.7% in serum starvation. The developmental rate of morula and blastocyst stage embryos was 3.3% in confluence and 3.0% in serum starvation, and no significant difference was observed in synchronization treatment between donor cells. In caprine-bovine NT embryos, the cleavage(2-cell) rate of cultured donor cells was 30.8% and 17.6% in 5∼9 and 10∼14 passage(P＜0.05). The developmental rate of morula and blastocyst stage embryos were significantly higher(P＜0.05) in 5∼9 passage(23.1%) than in 10∼14 passage(0.0%) of cultured donor cells. In caprine-porcine NT embryos, the cleavage rate was significantly higher(P＜0.05) in 5∼9 passage(86.7%) than in 10∼14 passage(50.0%) of cultured donor cells. The developmental rate of morula and blastocyst stage embryos were 3.3 and 0.0% in 5∼9 and 10∼14와 passage of cultured donor cells. In caprine-bovine NT embryos, the developmental rate of morula and blastocyst stage embryos were 22.6% in interspecies nuclear transfer, 33.9% in in vitro fertilization and 28.1% in parthenotes, which was no significant differed. The developmental rate of morula and blastocyst stage embryos with caprine-porcine NT embryos were lower(P＜0.05) in interspecies nuclear transfer(5.1%) than in vitro fertiltzation(26.9%) and parthenotes(37.4%).