• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.219-223
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• 2009

The nanofibers fabricated by using an electrohydrodynamic process has been used as various applications, such as nano-device, filtering system, protective clothes, wound dressing, and drug delivery system (DDS). Of these applications, the DDS should be needed to minimize side effects of drugs, maximize the properties of medicine, and efficiently deliver the required amount of drugs to the diseased area. In this paper, by using the electro spinning process, which is one of electrohydrodynamic processes, two different types, polycarprolactone and poly(ethylene oxide)/Rhodamine B, of electrospun mats were fabricated layer by layer and the release behavior of Rhodamine B was characterized with time. In addition, to show the feasibility of DDS of this type, we tested release behavior of a peptide of the nanofiber system, a PCL/(Peptide+PEO)/PCL nanofiber mat. The released peptide did not loss biological activities. From these results, we believe that the layered nanofiber mat as a DDS has enough function of a new drug delivery system.

• BioChip Journal
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.332-339
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• 2018

The future neuro-prosthetic devices would be required spikes data monitoring through sub-nanoscale transistors that enables to neuroscientists and clinicals for scalable, wireless and implantable applications. This research investigates the spikes monitoring through integrated CNT front-end amplifier for neuro-prosthetic diagnosis. The proposed carbon nanotube-based architecture consists of front-end amplifier (FEA), integrate fire neuron and pseudo resistor technique that observed high electrical performance through neural activity. A pseudo resistor technique ensures large input impedance for integrated FEA by compensating the input leakage current. While carbon nanotube based FEA provides low-voltage operation with directly impacts on the power consumption and also give detector size that demonstrates fidelity of the neural signals. The observed neural activity shows amplitude of spiking in terms of action potential up to $80{\mu}V$ while local field potentials up to 40 mV by using proposed architecture. This fully integrated architecture is implemented in Analog cadence virtuoso using design kit of CNT process. The fabricated chip consumes less power consumption of $2{\mu}W$ under the supply voltage of 0.7 V. The experimental and simulated results of the integrated FEA achieves $60G{\Omega}$ of input impedance and input referred noise of $8.5nv/{\sqrt{Hz}}$ over the wide bandwidth. Moreover, measured gain of the amplifier achieves 75 dB midband from range of 1 KHz to 35 KHz. The proposed research provides refreshing neural recording data through nanotube integrated circuit and which could be beneficial for the next generation neuroscientists.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.26 no.7
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• pp.764-771
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• 2016

Extracts from Artemisia annua Linné (AAE) have been known to possess various functions, including anti-bacterial, anti-virus, and anti-oxidant effects. However, the mechanism of those effects of AAE is not well-known. The aim of this study was to analyze the inhibitory effects of AAE on cell proliferation of the human hepatoma cell line (Hep3B) and to examine its effects on apoptosis. Activation by phosphorylation of Akt is cell proliferation through the phosphorylation of TSC2, mTOR, and GSK-3β. We suggested that AAE may exert cancer cell apoptosis through Akt/mTOR/GSK-3β signal pathways and mitochondria-mediated apoptotic proteins. For this, we examined the effects of extracts of AAE on cell proliferation according to treatment concentration. Treatment with AAE not only reduced cell viability, but also resulted in the induced release of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). These results were determined with a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and a lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay. Furthermore, we determined the effects of apoptosis through Hoechst 33342 staining, annexinⅤ-propidium iodide (PI) staining, 5,5′, 6,6′-tetrachloro-1,1′,3,3′-tetraethyl-imidacarbocyanine iodide (JC-1) staining, and Western blotting. Our study showed that the treatment of liver cancer cells with AAE resulted in the inhibition of Akt, TSC2, GSK-3β-phosphorylated, Bcl-2, and pro-caspase 3 and the activation of Bim, Bax, Bak, and cleaved PARP expressions. These results indicate that AAE induced apoptosis by means of a mitochondrial event through the regulate of Akt/mTOR/GSK-3β signaling pathways.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.37-44
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• 2016

Objectives: This study examined the relative efficacies of a derivative of betulinic acid (dBA) and its poly (lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nano-encapsulated form in A549 lung cancer cells in vivo and in co-mutagen [sodium arsenite (SA) + benzo[a]pyrene (BaP)]-induced lung cancer in mice in vivo. Methods: dBA was loaded with PLGA nanoparticles by using the standard solvent displacement method. The sizes and morphologies of nano-dBA (NdBA) were determined by using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and their intracellular localization was verified by using confocal microscopy. The binding and interaction of NdBA with calf thymus deoxyribonucleic acid (CT-DNA) as a target were analyzed by using conventional circular dichroism (CD) and melting temperature (Tm) profile data. Apoptotic signalling cascades in vitro and in vivo were studied by using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA); the ability of NdBA to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) was also examined. The stage of cell cycle arrest was confirmed by using a fluorescence-activated cell-sorting (FACS) data analysis. Results: The average size of the nanoparticles was ~ 110 nm. Confocal microscopy images confirmed the presence of NdBA in the cellular cytoplasm. The bio-physical properties of dBA and NdBA ascertained from the CD and the Tm profiles revealed that NdBA had greater interaction with the target DNA than dBA did. Both dBA and NdBA arrested cell proliferation at G0/G1, NdBA showing the greater effect. NdBA also induced a greater degree of cytotoxicity in A549 cells, but it had an insignificant cytotoxic effect in normal L6 cells. The results of flow cytometric, cytogenetial and histopathological studies in mice revealed that NdBA caused less nuclear condensation and DNA damage than dBA did. TEM images showed the presence of NdBA in brain samples of NdBA fed mice, indicating its ability to cross the BBB. Conclusion: Thus, compared to dBA, NdBA appears to have greater chemoprotective potential against lung cancer.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.58-70
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• 2015

Injectable RGD-bioconjugated Mussel Adhesive Proteins (RGD-MAPs) composite hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) hydrogels provide local periodontal tissue for bone filling in periodontal surgery. Previously we developed a novel type of injectable self-supported hydrogel (2 mg/ml of RGD-MAPs/HPMC) based porcine nano hydroxyapatite (MPH) for dental graft, which could good handling property, biodegradation or biocompatibility with the hydrogel disassembly and provided efficient cell adhesion activity and no inflammatory responses. Herein, the aim of this work was to evaluate bone formation following implantation of MPH and collagen membrane in rabbit calvarial defects. Eight male New Zealand rabbits were used and four circular calvarial defects were created on each animal. Defects were filled with different graft materials: 1) collagen membrane, 2) collagen membrane with MPH, 3) collagen membrane with bovine bone hydroxyapatite (BBH), and 4) control. The animals were sacrificed after 2 and 8 weeks of healing periods for histologic analysis. Both sites receiving MPH and BBH showed statistically increased augmented volume and new bone formation (p < 0.05). However, there was no statistical difference in new bone formation between the MPH, BBH and collagen membrane group at all healing periods. Within the limits of this study, collagen membrane with MPH was an effective material for bone formation and space maintaining in rabbit calvarial defects.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.160-168
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• 2004

We investigate the effects of solutal convection on the crystal growth rate in a horizontal configuration for diffusive-convection conditions and purely diffusion conditions achievable in a low gravity environment for a nonlinear thermal gradient. It is concluded that the solutally-driven convection due to the disparity in the molecular weights of the component A $(Hg_2Br_2)$ and B (CO) is stronger than thermally-driven convection for both the nonlinear and the linear thermal profiles, corresponding to $Gr_t= 8.5{\times}10^3,\; Gr_s = 1.05{\times}10^5$. For both solutal and thermal convection processes, the growth rates for the linear thermal profile (conducting walls) are greater than for the nonlinear case. With the temperature humps, there are found to be observed in undersaturation for diffusive-convection processes ranging from $D_{AB}$ = 0.087 to 0.87. For the vertical configurations, the diffusion mode is so much dominated that the growth rate and interfacial distribution is nearly regardless of the gravitational accelerations. Also, the diffusion mode is predominant over the convection for the gravity levels less than 0.1 $g_0$ for the horizontally oriented configuration.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.281-289
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• 2004

The temperature hump is found to be most efficient in suppressing parasitic nucleation. With the temperature humps, there are found to be observed in undersaturations along the transport path for convective-diffusive processes ranging from $D_{AB}$ = 0.0584 $\textrm{cm}^2$/s to 0.584 $\textrm{cm}^2$/s, axial positions from 0 to 7.5 cm. With decreasing Ar = 5 to 3.5, the temperature difference is increased because of the imposed nonlinear temperature profile but the rate is decreased. For 2 $\leq$ Ar $\leq$ 3.5, the rate is increased with the aspect ratio as well as the temperature difference. Such an occurrence of a critical aspect ratio is likely to be due to the effect of sidewall and much small temperature difference. The rate is decreased exponentially with the aspect ratio for 2 $\leq$ Ar $\leq$ 10. Also, the rate is exponentially decreased with partial pressure of component B, P for 1 $\leq$ P $\leq$ 100 Torr.$ B/ $\leq$ 100 Torr.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.120-124
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• 2010

$TiO_2$ and N-substituted $TiO_{2-x}N_x$ were synthesized by using precipitation method. $TiO_{2-x}N_x$ compound absorbed whole UV light as well as long wavelength of visible light (400 - 700 nm) because of the change of band gap from 3.2 eV to 1.77 eV. Results obtained revealed that $TiO_{2-x}N_x$ showed higher activity than pure $TiO_2$ or P-25 for visible-photocatalytic degradation of 1,4-dichlorobenzene.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.919-923
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• 2004

Spirodela polyrhiza(L.) Schleid (Lemnaceae) have been used as a traditional drug in treating urticaria and itching. However, the exact role of Spirodela polyrhiza in allergic reaction has not been clarified yet. Type 1 hypersensitivity (immediate hypersensitivity), popularly known as allergy, is a major clinical problem in humans. It has been found that the histamine release from mast cells is an essential step in the pathological process of immediate hypersensitivity. In the present study, the effect of aqueous extract of Spirodela polyrhiza (AESP) on immediate hypersensitivity was investigated. AESP inhibited the antigen-induced passive cutaneous anaphylaxis (PCA). AESP in vitro exhibited a dose-dependent inhibition of degranulation in RPMC stimulated by compound 48/80. AESP also suppressed the morphological changes and the increase of intracellular free calcium level induced by compound 48/80. These results suggest that inhibitory effect of AESP on immediate hypersensitivity may be mediated through the decrease of intracellular free calcium levels, and AESP importantly contributes to the treatment of anaphylaxis and may be useful for other allergic disease.

• Journal of electromagnetic engineering and science
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.227-233
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• 2012

This paper describes a novel and compact biosensing platform using an RF active system. The proposed sensing system is based on the oscillation frequency deviation due to the biomolecular binding mechanism on a resonator. The impedance variation of the resonator, which is caused by a specific biomolecular interaction results in a corresponding change in the oscillation frequency of the oscillator so that this change is used for the discrimination of the biomolecular binding, along with concentration variation. Also, a Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) filter is utilized in order to enhance the biosensing performance of our system. Because the oscillator operates at the skirt frequency range of the SAW filter, a small amount of oscillation frequency deviation is transformed into a large variation in the output amplitude. Next, a power detector is used to detect the amplitude variation and convert it to DC voltage. It was also found that the frequency response of the biosensing system changes linearly with three streptavidin concentrations. Therefore, we expect that the proposed RF biosensing system can be applied to bio/medical applications capable of detecting a nano-sized biomolecular interaction.