• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.634-643
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• 2021

In this paper, an FPGA-based acceleration scheme of range Doppler algorithm (RDA) is proposed for the real time synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging. Hardware architectures of matched filter based on systolic array architecture and a high speed sinc interpolator to compensate range cell migration (RCM) are presented. In addition, the proposed hardware was implemented and accelerated on Xilinx Alveo FPGA. Experimental results for 4096×4096-size SAR imaging showed that FPGA-based implementation achieves 2 times acceleration compared to GPU-based design. It was also confirmed the proposed design can be implemented with 60,247 CLB LUTs, 103,728 CLB registers, 20 block RAM tiles and 592 DPSs at the operating frequency of 312 MHz.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.694-700
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• 2017

Clostridium difficile, which causes pseudomembranous colitis, releases toxin A and toxin B. These toxins are considered to be the main causative agents for the disease pathogenesis, and their expression is associated with a marked increase of apoptosis in mucosal epithelial cells. Colonic epithelial cells are believed to form a physical barrier between the lumen and the submucosa, and abnormally increased mucosal epithelial cell apoptosis is considered to be an initial step in gut inflammation responses. Therefore, one approach to treating pseudomembranous colitis would be to develop agents that block the mucosal epithelial cell apoptosis caused by toxin A, thus restoring barrier function and curing inflammatory responses in the gut. We recently isolated an antimicrobial peptide, Periplanetasin-2 (Peri-2, YPCKLNLKLGKVPFH) from the American cockroach, whose extracts have shown great potential for clinical use. Here, we assessed whether Peri-2 could inhibit the cell toxicity and inflammation caused by C. difficile toxin A. Indeed, in human colonocyte HT29 cells, Peri-2 inhibited the toxin A-induced decrease in cell proliferation and ameliorated the cell apoptosis induced by this toxin. Moreover, in the toxin A-induced mouse enteritis model, Peri-2 blocked the mucosal disruption and inflammatory response caused by toxin A. These results suggest that the American cockroach peptide Peri-2 could be a possible drug candidate for addressing the pseudomembranous colitis caused by C. difficile toxin A.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.117-123
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• 1992

Development in vitro of 2-cell mouse embryos was examined after appropriate exposure to oviductal milieu to demonstrate biological activity present in the oviducts. ICR and ($C57Bl/6{\times}Balb/c$) $F_1$ hybrid mice were superovulated and mated for the recovery of early embryos. Embryos were recoverd at every 2h intervals from 32h post-hCG(hph) to 56 hph. The proportions of developmental stages were determined in the recovered embryos. Development in vitro of 2-cell embryos was more rapid in $F_1$ hybrid than in ICR, showing high proportions of 4-cell embryo and blastocyst at 120 hph. 100% of blastocyst development was obtained at 38hph in $F_1$ hybrid and at 50 hph in ICR when 2-cell embryos were cultured upto 120hph in vitro. Moreover, in vitro culture of oviducts containing 2-cell embryos in ICR mice for 12h from 34hph to 46hph increased developmental capacity of ICR mouse embryo in vitro. The results indicate that oviductal environment contains substances having mitogenic activity and overcoming early cell block in vitro. The mitogenic activity is effective in vitro as well as in vivo.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.18
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• pp.8253-8258
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• 2016

Elevated levels of soluble CD30 (sCD30) are linked with various T-cell neoplasms. However, the relationship between sCD30 levels and the development of adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) in human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) carriers remains to be clarified. We here investigated whether plasma sCD30 is associated with risk of ATL in a nested case-control study within a cohort of HTLV-1 carriers. We compared sCD30 levels between 11 cases (i.e., HTLV-1 carriers who later progressed to ATL) and 22 age-, sex- and institution-matched control HTLV-1 carriers (i.e., those with no progression). The sCD30 concentration at baseline was significantly higher in cases than in controls (median 65.8, range 27.2-134.5 U/mL vs. median 22.2, range 8.4-63.1 U/mL, P=0.001). In the univariate logistic regression analysis, a higher sCD30 (${\geq}30.2U/mL$) was significantly associated with ATL development (odds ratio 7.88 and the 95% confidence intervals 1.35-45.8, P = 0.02). Among cases, sCD30 concentration tended to increase at the time of diagnosis of aggressive-type ATL, but the concentration was stable in those developing the smoldering-type. This suggests that sCD30 may serve as a predictive marker for the onset of aggressive-type ATL in HTLV-1 carriers.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.1851-1857
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• 2014

Objective: The main purpose of this work was to investigate the effect of berberine hydrochloride (BH) on the proliferation, apoptosis, migration, and invasion of CNE-1 nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells. Our results shed light on the functional components of traditional Chinese herbs for potential use in modern medicine. Methods: The CNE-1 cell line was treated with different concentrations of BH and effects on cell viability and proliferation were evaluated using the Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay. Anti-migratory and anti-invasive actions of BH were investigated using wound healing assays and the Millicell Hanging cell culture insert system, respectively. Expression of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related gene twist (Twist) was analyzed by real-time PCR and Western blotting. Apoptosis was estimated with an annexin-V fluorescein (FITC) apoptosis detection kit, as well as with reference to levels of activated caspase-3 of CNE-1 cells before and after treatment with BH utilizing fluorescence spectroscopy. Results: BH was capable of reducing proliferation and viability of CNE-1 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner, also demonstrating anti-migratory and anti-invasive capacities which correlated with reduction in expression of Twist. Finally, BH was able to induce significant amounts of apoptosis in CNE-1 cells, as demonstrated by an increase in the activity of caspase-3 and in annexin-V staining following treatment. Conclusion: BH extracted from rhizoma coptidis demonstrated an ability to block proliferation, induce apoptosis, and impair the migration and invasion of the CNE-1 cell line Considering these properties, our results suggest that BH could be an important compound for consideration in the treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.28-34
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• 2014

In the natural gas pressure regulation station, high pressure natural gas is decompressing using pressure regulation valves. Waste pressure occurred in the pressure regulation process can be recovered through adopting turbo expanders. However, in the waste pressure recovery process, Joule Thompson effect causes below $0^{\circ}C$ and this low temperature freezes outside land of pipeline or generates methane hydrate in the pipeline which can block the pipeline. Therefore, turbo expander systems are accompanying with a boiler for preheating natural gas. Molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC), one of the high temperature fuel cell, can use natural gas as a direct fuel and is also exhausting low emission gas and generating electricity. In this paper, a thermodynamic analysis on the hybrid MCFC-turbo expander system is conducted. The fuel cell system is analyzed for the base load of the hybrid system.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.15
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• pp.6437-6441
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• 2014

Background: Oridonin isolated from Rabdosia rubescens, a plant used to treat cancer in Chinese folk medicine, is one of the most important antitumor active ingredients. Previous studies have shown that oridonin has antitumor activities in vivo and in vitro, but little is known about cell cycle effects of oridonin in gastric cancer. Materials and Methods: MTT assay was adopted to detect the proliferation inhibition of SGC-7901 cells, the cell cycle was assessed by flow cytometry and protein expression by Western blotting. Results: Oridonin could inhibit SGC-7901 cell proliferation, the $IC_{50}$ being $15.6{\mu}M$, and blocked SGC-7901 cell cycling in the $G_2/M$ phase. The agent also decreased the protein expression of cyclinB1 and CDK1. Conclusions: Oridonin may inhibit SGC-7901 growth and block the cells in the $G_2/M$ phase by decreasing Cdk1 and cyclinB1 proteins.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.19-26
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• 2015

Objectives: Quercetin, a flavonoid compound, has been reported to induce apoptosis in cancer cells, but its anti-inflammatory effects, which are also closely linked with apoptosis, if any, on non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have not so far been critically examined. In this study, we tried to determine if quercetin had any demonstrable anti-inflammatory potential, which also could significantly contribute to inducing apoptosis in a NSCLC cell line, A549. Methods: In this context, several assays, including cytotoxicity, flow cytometry and fluorimetry, were done. Gene expression was analyzed by using a western blot analysis. Results: Results revealed that quercetin could induce apoptosis in A549 cells through mitochondrial depolarization by causing an imbalance in B-cell lymphoma 2/Bcl2 Antagonist X (Bcl2/Bax) ratio and by down-regulating the interleukine-6/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (IL-6/STAT3) signaling pathway. An analysis of the data revealed that quercetin could block nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-${\kappa}B$) activity at early hours, which might cause a down-regulation of the IL-6 titer, and the IL-6 expression, in turn, could inhibit p-STAT3 expression. Down-regulation of both the STAT3 and the NF-${\kappa}B$ expressions might, therefore, cause down-regulation of Bcl2 activity because both are major upstream effectors of Bcl2. Alteration in Bcl2 responses might result in an imbalance in the Bcl2/Bax ratio, which could ultimately bring about mitochondria mediated apoptosis in A549 cells. Conclusion: Overall, the finding of this study indicates that a quercetin induced anti-inflammatory pathway in A549 cells appeared to make a significant contribution towards induction of apoptosis in NSCLC and, thus, may have a therapeutic use such as a strong apoptosis inducer in cancer cells.

• BMB Reports
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.200-204
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• 1996

Nerve growth factor (NGF) is literally known to promote neural differentiation and survival in several peripheral and central neurons. Thus, it is Widely believed that NGF may serve as a therapeutic agent for many types of neuronal diseases. One of the mechanisms suggested to explain the protective role of NGF is that the trophic factor can prevent the increase of intracellular calcium ions which might be responsible for neural death. To examine whether or not the calcium hypothesis works even under pathological conditions, we applied NGF to cultures deprived of glucose. Surprisingly, what was observed here is that NGF rather promoted cell death under a glucose-deprived condition. What we call the NGF paradox phenomenon occurred in a calcium concentration-dependent manner, indirectly suggesting that NGF might increase intracellular calcium ions in cells deprived of glucose. This suggestion is further supported by the fact that nifedipine, a well-known L-type calcium channel blocker, could block the cell death potentiated by NGF. Here it is still premature to propose the complete mechanism underlying the NGF paradox phenomenon. However, this study certainly indicates that NGF as a therapeutic agent for neuronal diseases should be carefully considered before use.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.39-50
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• 1993

The purpose of this study was to describe the micromorphological changes in Korean red pine (Pinus densiflora S. et Z.) wood decayed by a major brown-rot fungus, Lentinus lepideus, using scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope. At the end of the 12-week exposure to the fungus in soil block procedure(ASTM 1971), test blocks sustained 5.02% weight loss. The formation of bore hole by hyphae and penetration of hyphae through bordered pit were not observed. Instead, fungal hyphae appeared to penetrate axially tracheid luminar from the the ray cells via cross field pits. Hyphae were mainly found in lignin rich cell corner regions of tracheids, and also extensive degradation of tracheid wall occurred in this region. Extensive degradation of $S_2$ layer occurred without noticeable alteration of the $S_3$ layer, but warty layer and compound middle lamella remained relatively intact. Localized erosion, the characteristic of white rot, was observed in some cell wall and wall components including lignin were found to be decomposed.