• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.111-116
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• 2006

One of the cardinal findings of the renal diseases is proteinuria, which appears in the early phase of kidney diseases and is very important in diagnosis, prognosis and decision making in the treatment process and results of the treatment. The study subjects were 126 patients who visited the nephrology department of Kangbuk Samsung Hospital. Serum was requested for urine protein electrophoresis. Total protein was measured with Bayer Advia 1650 (Biuret). Quantitation of each fraction was done by multiplying the percentage of each fraction by the total protein. Serum creatinine and BUN were also measured with Bayer Advia 1650 (Jaffe and Urease). Serum protein EP was done with REP(rapid electrophoresis) using Helena Kit reagents (REP Ultra SPE Kit, Ponceau S stain, Acetic acid, Methanol, EP Control). Concentrated urine was used for urine protein EP. The SPSS package was used for statistics analysis. Percentage and quantitation of the level of albumin in renal diseases were significantly lower than those in healthy controls. Total protein was correlated with albumin. In terms of proportion, ${\alpha}1$-globulin, ${\alpha}2$-globulin, ${\beta}$-globulin, and ${\gamma}$-globulin fractions were increased in the disease group. But, in the quantified level, ${\alpha}2$-globulin was increased and ${\beta}$-globulin and ${\gamma}$-globulin were decreased. ESRD patients showed an increased secretion of high molecular proteins in urine protein EP. A decreased level in serum total protein correlated with the decreased level of serum albumin and the total amount of urine total protein. This study revealed the variety in the level of serum and urine proteins and their subgroups by EP.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.357-366
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• 2019

$G{\alpha}_q$-coupled receptor stimulation was implied in the activation process of transient receptor potential canonical (TRPC)1/4 and TRPC1/5 heterotetrameric channels. The inactivation occurs due to phosphatidylinositol 4,5-biphosphate ($PI(4,5)P_2$) depletion. When $PI(4,5)P_2$ depletion was induced by muscarinic stimulation or inositol polyphosphate 5-phosphatase (Inp54p), however, the inactivation by muscarinic stimulation was greater compared to that by Inp54p. The aim of this study was to investigate the complete inactivation mechanism of the heteromeric channels upon $G{\alpha}_q$-phospholipase $C{\beta}$ ($G{\alpha}_q-PLC{\beta}$) activation. We evaluated the activity of heteromeric channels with electrophysiological recording in HEK293 cells expressing TRPC channels. TRPC1/4 and TRPC1/5 heteromers undergo further inhibition in $PLC{\beta}$ activation and calcium/protein kinase C (PKC) signaling. Nevertheless, the key factors differ. For TRPC1/4, the inactivation process was facilitated by $Ca^{2+}$ release from the endoplasmic reticulum, and for TRPC1/5, activation of PKC was concerned mostly. We conclude that the subsequent increase in cytoplasmic $Ca^{2+}$ due to $Ca^{2+}$ release from the endoplasmic reticulum and activation of PKC resulted in a second phase of channel inhibition following $PI(4,5)P_2$ depletion.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.56 no.12
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• pp.845-853
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• 2018

To understand the effect of microstructural factors (i.e., the size of ${\alpha}$ phase, equiaxed vs bimodal structure) on high cycle fatigue (HCF) and fatigue crack propagation (FCP) behaviors of mill-annealed Ti-6Al-4V (Ti64) alloy, three specimens of EQ (equiaxed)-8 (8 indicates the size of ${\alpha}$ grain), BM (bimodal)-8, and BM-16 were studied. The uniaxial HCF and FCP tests were conducted at an R ratio of 0.1 under sinusoidal fatigue loading. The microstructural influence (i.e., EQ vs BM) was not significant on the tensile properties of mill-annealed Ti64 alloy, and showed an increase in tensile strength and elongation with decreasing gauge thickness from 50 mm to 1.3 mm. The microstructure, on the other hand, affected the resistance to HCF substantially. It was found that the EQ structure in mill-annealed Ti64 has better resistance to HCF than the BM structure, as a result of different crack initiation mechanism. Unlike HCF behavior, the effect of microstructural features on the FCP behavior of mill-annealed Ti64 was not significant. Among the three specimens, BM-16 specimen showed the highest near-threshold ΔK value, probably because it had the greatest slip reversibility with large ${\alpha}$ grains. The effect of microstructural factors on the HCF and FCP behaviors of mill-annealed Ti64 alloy are discussed based on fractographic and micrographic observations.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.133-140
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• 2010

10 nm thick Ni layers were deposited on 200 nm $SiO_2/Si$ substrates using an e-beam evaporator. Then, 60 nm or 20 nm thick ${\alpha}$-Si:H layers were grown at low temperature (<$200^{\circ}C$) by a Catalytic-CVD. NiSi layers were already formed instantaneously during Cat-CVD process regardless of the thickness of the $\alpha$-Si. The resulting changes in sheet resistance, microstructure, phase, chemical composition, and surface roughness with the additional rapid thermal annealing up to $500^{\circ}C$ were examined using a four point probe, HRXRD, FE-SEM, TEM, AES, and SPM, respectively. The sheet resistance of the NiSi layer was 12${\Omega}$/□ regardless of the thickness of the ${\alpha}$-Si and kept stable even after the additional annealing process. The thickness of the NiSi layer was 30 nm with excellent uniformity and the surface roughness was maintained under 2 nm after the annealing. Accordingly, our result implies that the low temperature Cat-CVD process with proposed films stack sequence may have more advantages than the conventional CVD process for nano scale NiSi applications.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.238-248
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• 1999

Purpose : To assess the histomorphologic changes in the rat lung injury induced by radiation, to determine whether captopril reduces the rat lung injury and to evaluate change in TNF-${\alpha}$ and TGF-${\beta}$ in rat lung damage by radiation and captopril Methods and material : Right lungs in male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided irradiation alone (10, 20, 30 Gy) or radiation (same dose with radiation alone group) with captopril (500 mg/L). Radiation alone group were sacrificed at twelve hours and eleven weeks after radiation and radiation with captopril group (captopril group) were sacrificed at eleven weeks after radiation with captopril. We examined the light microscope and electron microscopic features in the groups. Results : In radiation alone group, there were patch parenchymal collapse and consolidation at twelve hours after radiation. The increase of radiation dose shows more prominent the severity and broader the affected areas. Eleven weeks after radiation, the severity and areas of fibrosis had increased in proportion to radiation dose given in the radiation alone group. There was notable decrease of lung fibrosis in captopril group than in radiation alone group. The number of mast cells rapidly increased with increase of radiation dose in radiation alone group and the degree of increase of mast cell number and severity of collagen accumulation more decreased in captopril group than in radiation alone group. In radiation alone group, expression of TNF-${\alpha}$ and TGF-${\beta}$ increased according to increase of radiation dose at twelve hours after radiation in both group. At eleven weeks after radiation, expression of TGF-${\beta}$ increased according to increase of radiation dose in radiation group but somewhat decreased in captopril group. In the captopril group the collagen deposition increased but less dense than those of radiation alone group. The severity of perivascular thickening, capillary change, the number and degranulation of mast cells more decreased in the captopril group than in the radiation alone group. Conclusion : It is concluded that the effect of captopril in the rat lungs after radiation was considered to be due to its effect on inhibition of mast cells and reduction of collagen deposition, and captopril may be protect in lung damage after radiation. We observed expression of TNF-${\alpha}$ and TGF-${\beta}$ increased at the early phase after radiation and expression of TGF-${\beta}$ increased in proportion to increase of radiation dose at the chronic phase after radiation. This results will contribute to future investigation in reduction mechanism of captopril in lung damage after radiation.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.230-237
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• 2010

A homologous series of linear liquid crystal dimers, ${\alpha},{\omega}$-bis(4-nitroazobenzene-4'-carbonyloxy)alkanes (NATWESn, n = 2~8, 10, the number of methylene units in the spacer) have been synthesized, and the thermal behavior of the series has been investigated. All the dimers formed enantiotropic nematic phases. The nematic-isotropic transition temperatures of the dimers and their entropy variation at the phase transition showed a large odd-even effect as a function of n. This behavior was rationalized in terms of the change in the average shape of the spacer on varing the parity of the spacer. The thermal stability and degree of order in the nematic phase and the magnitude of the odd-even effect of NATWESn were very similar to those of the corresponding ether compounds, while they were significantly different from those of the monomesogenic compounds, 4-{4'-(nitrophenylazo)phenoxy}alkanoyl chlorides and the side-chain liquid-crystalline polymers, the poly[1-{4-(4'-nitrophenylazo) phenoxycarbonylalkanoyloxy}ethylene]s. The results were discussed in terms of the 'irtual trimer model'by Imrie.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.258-267
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• 2011

Background: Current management strategies attempt to diagnose rheumatoid arthritis (RA) at an early stage. Transcription profiling is applied in the search for biomarkers for detecting early-stage disease. Even though gene profiling has been reported using several animal models of RA, most studies were performed after the development of active arthritis, and conducted only on the peripheral blood and joint. Therefore, we investigated gene expression during the initial phase of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) before the arthritic features developed in the thymus in addition to the peripheral blood and synovium. Methods: For gene expression analysis using cDNA microarray technology, samples of thymus, blood, and synovium were collected from CIA, rats immunized only with type II collagen (Cll), rats immunized only with adjuvant, and unimmunized rats on days 4 and 9 after the first immunization. Arrays were scanned with an Illumina bead array. Results: Of the 21,910 genes in the array, 1,243 genes were differentially expressed at least 2-fold change in various organs of CIA compared to controls. Among the 1,243 genes, 8 encode T-cell receptors (TCRs), including CD3${\zeta}$, CD3${\delta}$, CD3${\varepsilon}$, CD8${\alpha}$, and CD8${\beta}$ genes, which were down-regulated in CIA. The synovium was the organ in which the genes were differentially expressed between CIA and control group, and no difference were found in the thymus and blood. Further, we determined that the differential expression was affected by adjuvant more than Cll. The differential expression of genes as revealed by real-time RT-PCR, was in agreement with the microarray data. Conclusion: This study provides evidence that the genes encoding TCRs including CD3${\zeta}$, CD3${\delta}$, CD3${\varepsilon}$, CD8${\alpha}$, and CD8${\beta}$ genes were down-regulated during the initial phase of CIA in the synovium of CIA. In addition, adjuvant played a greater role in the down-regulation of the CD3 complex compared to CII. Therefore, the down-regulation of TCR gene expression occurred dominantly by adjuvant could be involved in the pathogenesis of the early stage at CIA.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.60 no.1
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• pp.211-231
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• 2008

In phase 1 of the study, data for the construct and items of KESAS(The Korean Elderly's Successful Aging Scale) were collected by indepth interviews with a purposive sampling group of 25 elderly people and focus group interviews with four groups. Content analysis was applied to the data and from this analysis were emerged six key categories of successful aging. In phase 2 of the study, 78 items were collected from the data of 2 sets of interviews mentioned above. Through pilot test, preliminary 66 items are selected. In phase 3 of the study, 597 cases collected from the survey were divided randomly into 345 developmental samples and 252 validity samples. The items were examined exploratorily with the developmental samples and confirmatorily factor analysis with validity samples. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the hypothesized six-factor structure of KESAS, which finally resulted in consisting of 31 items. Six factors are as follows: 'autonomous life', 'self-completion orientation', 'positive life participation', 'satisfaction with one's offsprings', 'self-acceptance', 'other-acceptance'. Cronbach's alpha estimate and split-half estimates of the scale were .903 and .845, which confirms that the scale has reliability. This six-factor model exhibited a good fit on the basis of the overall fit measure criteria(TLI=.983, RMSEA=.057) aquired by using the confirmatory factor analysis. Moreover, KESAS was significantly related highly(r=.72) to the 'Quality of Life for the Korean Elderly'. This proved concurrent validity of the scale.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.57 no.11
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• pp.2015-2022
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• 2008

The effect of content of $Al_2O_3+Y_2O_3$ sintering additives on the densification behavior, mechanical and electrical properties of the pressureless-sintered $SiC-ZrB_2$ electroconductive ceramic composites was investigated. The $SiC-ZrB_2$ electroconductive ceramic composites were pressurless-sintered for 2 hours at 1,700[$^{\circ}C$] temperatures with an addition of $Al_2O_3+Y_2O_3$(6 : 4 mixture of $Al_2O_3$ and $Y_2O_3$) as a sintering aid in the range of $8\;{\sim}\;20$[wt%]. Phase analysis of $SiC-ZrB_2$ composites by XRD revealed mostly of $\alpha$-SiC(6H), $ZrB_2$ and In Situ YAG($Al_5Y_3O_{12}$). The relative density, flexural strength, Young's modulus and vicker's hardness showed the highest value of 89.02[%], 81.58[MPa], 31.44[GPa] and 1.34[GPa] for $SiC-ZrB_2$ composites added with 16[wt%] $Al_2O_3+Y_2O_3$ additives at room temperature respectively. Abnormal grain growth takes place during phase transformation from $\beta$-SiC into $\alpha$-SiC was correlated with In Situ YAG phase by reaction between $Al_2O_3$ and $Y_2O_3$ additive during sintering. The electrical resistivity showed the lowest value of $3.l4{\times}10^{-2}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ for $SiC-ZrB_2$ composite added with 16[wt%] $Al_2O_3+Y_2O_3$ additives at 700[$^{\circ}C$]. The electrical resistivity of the $SiC-TiB_2$ and $SiC-ZrB_2$ composite was all negative temperature coefficient resistance (NTCR) in the temperature ranges from room temperature to 700[$^{\circ}C$]. Compositional design and optimization of processing parameters are key factors for controlling and improving the properties of SiC-based electroconductive ceramic composites.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.313-320
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• 2016

The aim of this study was to obtain information on the ancient material of cast bronze through an investigation of the microstructure and impurity characteristics of the casting. Three Koryo bronze coins were analyzed using an optical microscope, scanning electron microscope, and electron dispersive X-ray analyses were used to determine the composition of the specimens. The three coins had 4 phases: ${\alpha}phase$, ${\delta}phase$, Pb, and impurities ($Cu_2S$). $Cu_2S$ was found to exist near Pb or in ${\delta}phase$. $Cu_2S$ is the inter mediate product of copper ore refining. Therefore, the copper ore was not completely refined. To find out the characteristic of $Cu_2S$, we melt 1)Koryo bronze coin and 2)$Cu_2S$ and Pb powder at 1273 K. The reaction between $Cu_2S$ and Pb at 1273 K yielded fine Cu and black gas, which was identified to be PbS and is presented below: $Cu_2S+Pb{\rightarrow}PbS{\uparrow}+2Cu$.