• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.45-54
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• 2011

Cuff electrodes have a benefit for chronic electroneurogram(ENG) recording while minimizing nerve damage. However, the ENG signals are usually contaminated by electromyogram(EMG) activity from the surrounding muscle, the thermal noise generated within the source resistance, and the electric noise generated primarily at the first stage of the amplifier. This paper proposes a new cuff electrode to reduce the interference of EMG signals. An additional middle electrode was placed at the center of cuff electrode. As a result, the proposed cuff electrode achieved a higher signal-to-interference ratio compared to the conventional tripolar cuff. The cuff electrode was then assembled together with closure, headstage, and hermetic case including electronic circuits. This paper also presents a lownoise amplifier system to improve signal-to-noise ratio. The circuit was designed based on the noise analysis to minimize the electronic noise. The result shows that the total noise of the amplifier was below $1{\mu}V_{rms}$ for a cuff impedance of $1\;k{\Omega}$ and the common-mode rejection ratio was 115 dB at 1 kHz. In the current study, the performance of nerve cuff electrode system was evaluated by monitoring afferent nerve signals under mechanical stimuli in a rat animal model.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.427-433
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• 1999

The purpose of the study is to develop an improved pitch extraction method that can be used in a variety of speech applications such as high-puality compression and vocoding, and recognition and synthesis of speech. To do so, we develop a new electroglottograph (EGG) measurement system that is based on the four modulation-demodulation type spot electrodes for detecting the EGG signals. Then, the glottal closure instant(GCI) is determined from the EGG signals on a real-time basis. We can obtain the pitch contour using the information on the GCI. It turns out that the new pitch contour algorithm (PCA) operates more reliably as compared to the conventional speech-only-based algorithm. In addition, we study the speech source models and glottal vibratory patterns for Koreans by measuring and analyzing the diversified vibration patterns of the vocal from the EGG signals.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.117-124
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• 1989

The intelligent trajectory control method that controls moving direction and average velocity for a prosthetic arm is proposed by pattern recognition and force estimations using EMG signals. Also, we propose the real time trajectory planning method which generates continuous accelleration paths using 3 stage linear filters to minimize the impact to human body induced by arm motions and to reduce the muscle fatigue. We use combination of MLP and fuzzy filter for pattern recognition to estimate the direction of a muscle and Hogan`s method for the force estimation. EMG signals are acquired by using a amputation simulator and 2 dimensional joystick motion. The simulation results of proposed prosthetic arm control system using the EMf signals show that the arm is effectively followed the desired trajectory depended on estimated force and direction of muscle movements.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.291-297
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• 1999

Source consislency filtering (SCF) is very effective at removing nOIse when only one or a few leads among multi-lead ECG signals are contaminated. When the noise at one or only a few leads are statistically uncorrelated with signals at other leads, SCF seleclIvely removes the noise with a neglIgIble amount of distortion in the original signal waveform. In order to enhance the understanding of this new method, we describe the lheory and implementational details of SCF in this paper. Numerical implementation and test results of SCF on a multi-lead ECG dalabase show that SCF is a new kind of adaptive filters utilizmg spatial as well as temporal information in multi-c.hannel signals origmatmg from a single source. We also describe the limitations and future improvements in using SCF.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.324-328
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to analyze the interspecific relationships of Chenopodium album and its related taxa collected in Korea. The 18S-26S ribosomal DNA (45S rDNA) loci were detected directly on mitotic chromosomes by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and the chromosome numbers were examined using aceto-orcein methods. The chromosomal numbers of Chenopodium album var. album and C. album var. centrorubrum were 2n = 6x = 54, whereas for C. album var. stenophyllum, this number was 2n = 4x = 36. The basic chromosome number was x = 9. The biotin labeled 18S-26S rDNA probe exhibited eight yellow fluorescent signals on the metaphase chromosome of C. album var. album and var. centrorubrum respectively, while two yellow signals of C. album var. stenophyllum were noted. All of the signals on the chromosomes were located at the terminal regions. The chromosome number and FISH findings suggest that C. album var. centrorubrum is merged into var. album and that it is clearly distinguished from C. album var. stenophyllum.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.287-292
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• 2003

Even though MCG has many advantages over ECG, MCG signa)s are easily corrupted by external magnetic noises Since multi-channel MCG signals are recorded simultaneously at many spatial positions, it is effective to apply spatial fitters as well as the conventional temporal filters to remove external magnetic noises. The spatial filters can be designed by utilizing the fact that the noise signals caused by external noise sources are more spatially correlated than the original MCG signals. In this paper, we introduce a spatial filtering method for the noise reduction in MCG based on the principal component analysis. Healthy volunteer study results obtained with a 61-channel MCG system are presented.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.449-458
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• 1996

Most of the conventional electrocardiowaphs foil to detect signals other than P-QRS-T due to the limited SNR and bandwidth. High-resolution electrocardiography(HRECG) provides better SNR and wider bandwidth for the detection of micro-potentials with higher frequency components such as vontricular late potentials(LP). We have developed a HRECG using uncorrected XYZ lead for the detection of LPs. The overall gain of the amplifier is 4000 and the bandwidth is 0.5-300Hz without using 60Hz notch filter. Three 16-bit A/D converters sample X, Y, and Z signals simultaneously with a sampling frequency of 2000Hz. Sampled data are transmitted to a PC via a DMA-controlled, optically-coupled serial communication channel. In order to further reduce the noise, we implemented a signal averaging algorithm that averaged many instances of aligned beats. The beat alignment was carried out through the use of a template matching technique that finds a location maximizing cross-correlation with a given beat tem- plate. Beat alignment error was reduced to $\pm$0.25ms. FIR high-pass filter with cut-off frequency of 40Hz was applied to remove the low frequency components of the averaged X, Y, and Z signals. QRS onset and end point were determined from the vector magnitude of the sigrlaIL and some parameters needed to detect the existence of LP were estimated. The entire system was designed for the easy application of the future research topics including the optimal lead system, filter design, new parameter extraction, etc. In the developed HRECG, without signal averaging, the noise level was less than 5$\mu$V$_rms RTI$. With signal averaging of at least 100 beats, the noise level was reduced to 0.5$\mu$V$_rms RTI$, which is low enough to detect LPs. The developed HRECG will provide a new advanced functionality to interpretive ECG analyzers.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.1606-1611
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• 2008

Outer membrane proteins (OMPs) expressed in the Gram negative bacteria such as Salmonella play multiple functions including material transports, adhesive factors and reception of external signals. This study has been focused on an OmpW protein known as a protein required to form a hydrophobic porin in outer membrane. We have constructed a S. typhimurium CK10 mutant deleting an ompW gene on chromosome. The CK10 strain was more tolerant to SDS than the wild-type strain did. As increase of salt concentration in the culture media, significantly decreased amount of OmpW protein in cells were detected. The maximum OmpW protein was expressed in the absence of salt supplement. However, the growth of CK10 strain was indistinguishable compared to that of the wild-type strain at the variable osmotic conditions. The biological role of differential OmpW expression in response to osmotic conditions remains to be investigated.

• BMB Reports
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.198-203
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• 2022

As negative regulators of cytokine signaling pathways, suppressors of cytokine signaling (SOCS) proteins have been reported to possess both pro-tumor and anti-tumor functions. Our recent studies have demonstrated suppressive effects of SOCS1 on epithelial to mesenchymal signaling in colorectal cancer cells in response to fractionated ionizing radiation or oxidative stress. The objective of the present study was to determine the radiosensitizing action of SOCS1 as an anti-tumor mechanism in colorectal cancer cell model. In HCT116 cells exposed to ionizing radiation, SOCS1 over-expression shifted cell cycle arrest from G2/M to G1 and promoted radiation-induced apoptosis in a p53-dependent manner with down-regulation of cyclin B and up-regulation of p21. On the other hand, SOCS1 knock-down resulted in a reduced apoptosis with a decrease in G1 arrest. The regulatory action of SOCS1 on the radiation response was mediated by inhibition of radiation-induced Jak3/STAT3 and Erk activities, thereby blocking G1 to S transition. Radiation-induced early ROS signal was responsible for the activation of Jak3/Erk/STAT3 that led to cell survival response. Our data collectively indicate that SOCS1 can promote radiosensitivity of colorectal cancer cells by counteracting ROS-mediated survival signal, thereby blocking cell cycle progression from G1 to S. The resulting increase in G1 arrest with p53 activation then contributes to the promotion of apoptotic response upon radiation. Thus, induction of SOCS1 expression may increase therapeutic efficacy of radiation in tumors with low SOCS1 levels.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.148-154
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• 2022

Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is known to regulate cell adhesion, migration, and mechanotransduction in focal adhesions (FAs). However, studies on how FAK activity is regulated in the plasma membrane microdomains according to the composition of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins are still lacking. A genetically encoded fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based biosensor can provide useful information on the activity of intracellular signals with high spatiotemporal resolution. In this study, we analyzed the FAK activities in lipid raft (detergent-resistant membrane) and non-lipid raft (non-detergent-resistant membrane) microdomains using FRET-based membrane targeting FAK biosensors (FAK-Lyn and FAK-KRas biosensors) under four different ECM protein compositions: glass, type 1 collagen, fibronectin, and laminin. Interestingly, FAK activity in response to laminin in a lipid raft microdomain was lower than that in other ECM conditions. Cells subjected to fibronectin showed higher FAK activity in a lipid raft microdomain than that in a non-lipid raft microdomain. Therefore, this study demonstrates that the FAK activity can be distinctively regulated according to the ECM type and the environment of the plasma membrane microdomains.