• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.519-523
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• 2006

Poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS) has been employed as a microchip material for DNA separation in microfluidic condition. Different sieving molecules such as cellulose derivatives having glucose building block (methyl cellulose (MC), hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC), and hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC)) and polyethylene oxide (PEO) having linear (ring-opened ethylene oxide) unit were used and their performance was compared in terms of separation efficiency and resolution. In general, PEO showed better separation performance than cellulose derivatives probably due to the nature of linear shape polymer conformation. It was possible to perform at least 15 consecutive running with 1.2% PEO at the electric field strength around 200 V/cm. Fast analysis of the standard $\Phi$X 174 RF DNA/Hae III (less than 130s) was obtained with the number of the theoretical plate around 250,000/m. Our PMDS microchip was applied to the measurement of CAG repeat number, which is related to male infertile disease.

• Journal of Construction Engineering and Project Management
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.24-34
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• 2016

Disputes seem to be synonymous with large-scale construction projects in Ethiopia. The purpose of this study is to determine the factors responsible for impacting the performance of Ethiopian public construction projects. To this end, 35 success and failure attributes responsible for impacting the performance of the projects were identified and presented to Ethiopian construction professionals in the form of a structured questionnaire, and responses were collected. The factor analysis conducted on the success and failure attributes influencing no-dispute performance separately resulted in six success factors and five failure factors. Further analysis using stepwise multiple regression indicates that owner competence and interaction among project participants have a positive impact on no-dispute performance. However, conflict among project participants has a negative impact on the no-dispute performance of Ethiopian public construction projects. Although Ethiopia-specific, the results reflect construction management problems common to both developed and developing countries. The findings are expected to help researchers and practitioners gain a better understanding of critical success and failure factors and to help them take proactive measures to avoid disputes in public construction projects.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.440-448
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• 2021

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) establishes long-term infections associated with severe gastric diseases such as peptic ulceration and gastric cancer. Exposure to an antibacterial agent can help regulate the expression levels of its pathogenic genes. In this study, we analyzed the transcriptional changes in H. pylori genes induced by β-caryophyllene. We used next-generation sequencing (NGS) to analyze RNA expression changes, and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed as required to verify the results. The NGS results showed that 30 out of 1,632 genes were expressed differentially by β-caryophyllene treatment. Eleven genes associated with DNA replication, virulence factors, and T4SS components were significantly downregulated. RT-PCR confirmed that treatment reduced the expression levels of 11 genes. RT-PCR showed the reduced expression of 11 genes (dnaE, dnaN, holB, gyrA, cagA, vacA, secA, flgE, virB2, virB4, and virB8) following β-caryophyllene treatment. These results suggest that β-caryophyllene can modulate various H. pylori pathogenic determinants and be a potential therapeutic agent for H. pylori infection.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.9
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• pp.3299-3309
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• 2022

Nuclear energy has the potential to play an influential role in energy transition efforts than is now anticipated by many countries. Realizing sustainable human development and reducing global climate crises will become more difficult without significantly increasing nuclear power. This paper aims to probe the role of nuclear energy, external debt, and financial globalization in sustaining human development and environmental conditions simultaneously in BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) countries. This study applied a battery of second-generation estimation approaches over the period from 1990 to 2019. These methods are useful and robust to cross-countries dependencies, slope heterogeneity, parameters endogeneity, and serial correlation that are ignored in conventional approaches to generate more comprehensive and reliable estimates. The empirical findings indicate that nuclear energy and financial globalization contribute to human development, whereas external debt inhibits it. Similarly, financial globalization accelerates ecological deterioration, but nuclear energy and external debt promote environmental sustainability. Moreover, the study reveals bidirectional feedback causalities between human development, carbon emissions and nuclear energy consumption. The study offers useful policy guidance on accomplishing sustainable and inclusive development in BRICS countries.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.43.1-43.12
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• 2021

Campylobacter jejuni is one of the most prevalent organisms associated with foodborne illness across the globe causing campylobacteriosis and gastritis. Many proteins of C. jejuni are still unidentified. The purpose of this study was to determine the structure and function of a non-annotated hypothetical protein (HP) from C. jejuni. A number of properties like physiochemical characteristics, 3D structure, and functional annotation of the HP (accession No. CAG2129885.1) were predicted using various bioinformatics tools followed by further validation and quality assessment. Moreover, the protein-protein interactions and active site were obtained from the STRING and CASTp server, respectively. The hypothesized protein possesses various characteristics including an acidic pH, thermal stability, water solubility, and cytoplasmic distribution. While alpha-helix and random coil structures are the most prominent structural components of this protein, most of it is formed of helices and coils. Along with expected quality, the 3D model has been found to be novel. This study has identified the potential role of the HP in 2-methylcitric acid cycle and propionate catabolism. Furthermore, protein-protein interactions revealed several significant functional partners. The in-silico characterization of this protein will assist to understand its molecular mechanism of action better. The methodology of this study would also serve as the basis for additional research into proteomic and genomic data for functional potential identification.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.1664-1673
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• 2022

Achieving sustainable development requires an increasing share of green technologies. World energy demand is expected to rise significantly especially in developing economies. The increasing energy demands will be entertained with conventional energy sources at the cost of higher emissions unless eco-friendly technologies are used. This study examines the asymmetric effects of nuclear energy on carbon emissions for Pakistan from 1974 to 2019. Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) and Phillips Perron (PP) unit root tests suggest that variables are integrated of order one and bound test of Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) and nonlinear ARDL confirm a long-run relationship among selected variables. The ARDL, Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS), and Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) results show that the coefficient of nuclear energy has a negative and significant impact on emissions in both short and long run. Further, the NARDL finding shows that there exists an asymmetric long-run association between nuclear energy and CO₂ emissions. The vector error correction method (VECM) results indicate that there exists a bidirectional causal relationship between nuclear energy and carbon emissions in both the short and long run. Additionally, the impact of nuclear energy on ecological footprint has been examined and our findings remain robust.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.366-368
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• 2008

We report there on a 46-year-old male patient whose angina recurred after a coronary bypass graft (CABG). Occlusion of the first diagonal branch was found on performing a coronary angiogram (CAG), and this occlusion had not previously been present. So, a redo-off pump CABG was performed via a left posterolateral thoracotomy. The anastomosis was made between the descending thoracic aorta and the diagonal branch by using the right radial artery. On the Multi-detector computerized tomography (MDCT) coronary angiogram conducted after the operation, it was confirmed that there was no abnormality in the anastomosis site. A Redo-CABG was successfully performed via left posterolateral thoracotomy in the patient whose disease was only at the diagonal branch.

• Proceedings of the KSAR Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.7-8
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• 2000

Transgenic animals are very useful for scientific, pharmaceutical, and agricultural purposes. In livestock, transgenic technology has been used forthe genetic alteration of farm animals, the production of human proteins inlarge quantities in the milk of transgenic farm animals, and the generation of animals with organs suitable for xenotransplantation. To date, the transfer of foreign genes into farm animals has been performed mainly by microinjection of DNA into the pronuclei of fertilized eggs. However, the overall success rate of transgenic animals in livestock so far has been disappointingly low, eg., the efficiency is 0∼5% in swine, and less than 1% in sheep and cattle, compared with the rate in mice where 5% microinjected develop into transgenic animals. Recently, McGreath et al. (2000) have succeeded in producing the gene targeted sheep by the use of nuclear transfer from cultured somatic cells transfected with a foreign gene in vitro. However, we may need plenty of time until currently employ this method for gene transfer to farm animals. We have been studying to exploit the method for improving production efficiencies of transgenic animals with emphasis of its application to farm animals. The present paper describes three approaches that we have made in our laboratory to improve production efficiencies of transgenic animals, based on the DNA microinjection method. 1. Co-injection of restriction enzyme with foreign DNA into the pronucleus for elevating production efficiencies of transgenic animals. 2. Efficient selection of transgenic mouse embryos using EGFP as a marker gene. 3. Phenotypes of tansgenic mice expressing WAP/hGH-CAG/EGFP fusion gene produced by selecting transgenic embryos. 4. Efficient site-specific integration of the transgene targeting an endogenous lox like site in early mouse embryos.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.1635-1642
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• 2013

Helicobacter pylori antigen was prepared from an isolate from a patient with a duodenal ulcer. Serum samples were obtained from culture-positive H. pylori infected patients with duodenal ulcers, gastric ulcers and gastritis (n=30). As controls, three kinds of sera without detectable H. pylori IgG antibodies were used: 30 from healthy individuals without history of gastric disorders, 30 from patients who were seen in the endoscopy clinic but were H. pylori culture negative and 30 from people with other diseases. OFF-GEL electrophoresis, SDS-PAGE and Western blots of individual serum samples were used to identify protein bands with good sensitivity and specificity when probed with the above sera and HRP-conjugated anti-human IgG. Four H. pylori protein bands showed good (${\geq}$ 70%) sensitivity and high specificity (98-100%) towards anti-Helicobacter IgG antibody in culture-positive patients sera and control sera, respectively. The identities of the antigenic proteins were elucidated by mass spectrometry. The relative molecular weights and the identities of the proteins, based on MALDI TOF/TOF, were as follows: CagI (25 kDa), urease G accessory protein (25 kDa), UreB (63 kDa) and proline/pyrroline-5-carboxylate dehydrogenase (118 KDa). These identified proteins, singly and/or in combinations, may be useful for diagnosis of H. pylori infection in patients.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.147-155
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• 2014

Homeostatic imbalance between cell proliferation and death in gastric mucosal epithelia may lead to gastritis and gastric cancer. Despite abundant gastrokine 1 (GKN1) expression in the normal stomach, the loss of GKN1 expression is frequently detected in gastric mucosa infected with Helicobacter pylori, as well as in intestinal metaplasia and gastric cancer tissues, suggesting that GKN1 plays an important role in gastric mucosal defense, and the gene functions as a gastric tumor suppressor. In the stomach, GKN1 is involved in gastric mucosal inflammation by regulating cytokine production, the nuclear factor-${\kappa}B$ signaling pathway, and cyclooxygenase-2 expression. GKN1 also inhibits the carcinogenic potential of H. pylori protein CagA by binding to it, and up-regulates antioxidant enzymes. In addition, GKN1 reduces cell viability, proliferation, and colony formation by inhibiting cell cycle progression and epigenetic modification by down-regulating the expression levels of DNMT1 and EZH2, and DNMT1 activity, and inducing apoptosis through the death receptor-dependent pathway. Furthermore, GKN1 also inhibits gastric cancer cell invasion and metastasis via coordinated regulation of epithelial mesenchymal transition-related protein expression, reactive oxygen species production, and PI3K/Akt signaling pathway activation. Although the modes of action of GKN1 have not been clearly described, recent limited evidence suggests that GKN1 acts as a gastricspecific tumor suppressor. This review aims to discuss, comment, and summarize the recent progress in the understanding of the role of GKN1 in gastric cancer development and progression.