• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.89-97
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• 2012

Mycobacterial cell-wall skeleton (CWS) is an immunoactive and biodegradable particulate adjuvant and has been tried to use for immunotherapy. The CWS of Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG-CWS) was studied as an universal vaccine vehicle for antigen conjugation, to develop potentially effective and safe vaccine. Although a variety of biological activities of BCG-CWS have been studied, the effects of BCG-CWS on spleen cells are not fully elucidated. Using MTT assay and trypan blue exclusion test, we found that BCG-CWS significantly enhanced the viability and proliferation of cells. Multiple clusters, indicating proliferation, were observed in BCG-CWS-treated spleen cells and surface marker staining assay revealed that BCG-CWS promoted the proliferation of $CD19^+$ B lymphocyte rather than $CD4^+$ or $CD8^+$ T lymphocyte. In addition, BCG-CWS up-regulated the expression of anti-apoptotic molecules such as bcl-2, bcl-xL. BCG-CWS increased the surface expression of CD25 and CD69 as well as IL-2 production of spleen cells, suggesting increased activation. Furthermore, BCG-CWS enhanced the antigen-specific cell proliferation and interferon-gamma production of spleen cells. Taken together, these results demonstrate the immunostimulatory effects of BCG-CWS on spleen cells via multiple mechanisms, providing valuable information to broaden the use of BCG-CWS in clinical and research settings.

• Proceedings of the Botanical Society of Korea Conference
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• 1999.08a
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• pp.55-67
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• 1999

A puc -deleted cell of Rhodobacter sphaeroides grows with a doubling time longer than 160 h under the light-limiting photoheterotrophic ( 3 Watts [W]/㎡) conditions due to an absence of the peripheral light-harvesting B800-850 complex. A spontaneous fast-growing mutant, R.sphaeroides SK101 was ioslate dto have∼40-h doubling at 3 Watts/㎡, while the growth of the mutant was not distinguished from its parental strain during both aerobic and light-saturating photoheterotrphic (10W/㎡) growth. The B875 complex of SK101 under the light-limiting conditions was elevated by 20 to 30% compared with that of the puc -deleted cell, reflecting parallel increase of bacteriochlorophyll and carotenoid contents of the mutant. The formation of B875 complex of SK101 under the anaerobic dark conditions with dimethylsulfoxide was the same as that of the puc-deleted cell. suggesting that the mutation of SK101 result in the altered control of B875 complex formation by light. When puc is restored in SK101 , it is not B875 complex but B800-850 complex which formation is elevated. The mutation of SK101 affected the bchF transcription most drastically to show two to tenfold increase during both aerobic and photoheterotrophic growth. The mutated phenotype of SK101 was complemented with pW2, which contains approximately 100-kb HNA of the photosynthetic gene clusters. The complementing DNA was narrowed down to a 1.1-kb DNA containing orfQ and pufKBA . The mutation of SK101 appeared to be exerted through the mutation of the orfQ gene encoding a putative bacteriochlorophyll -mobilizing protein.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.9-15
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• 2011

The composite membranes comprising of sulfonated polymers as matrix and ionic liquids as ion-conducting medium in replacement of water are studied to investigate the effect of annealing of the sulfonated polymers. The polymeric membranes are prepared on recast Nafion containing the ionic liquid, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ($EMIBF_4$). The composite membranes are characterized by thermogravitational analyses, ion conductivity and small-angle X-ray scattering. The composite membranes annealed at $190^{\circ}C$ for 2 h after the fixed drying step showed better ionic conductivity, but no significant increase in thermal stability. The mean Bragg distance between the ionic clusters, which is reflected in the position of the ionomer peak (small-angle scattering maximum), is larger in the annealed composite membranes containing $EMIBF_4$ than the non-annealed ones. It might have been explained to be due to the different level of ion-clustering ability of the hydrophilic parts (i.e., sulfonic acid groups) in the non- and annealed polymer matrix. In addition, the ionic conductivity of the membranes shows higher for the annealed composite membranes containing $EMIBF_4$. It can be concluded that the annealing of the composite membranes containing ionic liquids due to an increase in ion-clustering ability is able to bring about the enhancement of ionic conductivity suitable for potential use in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) at medium temperatures ($150-200^{\circ}C$) in the absence of external humidification.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.165-169
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• 2007

The authors present the fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) cytologic findings of a case of extranodal marginal zone B cell lymphoma (MZBCL), which featured abundant plasma cells and eosinophilic histiocytes arising in both parotid glands. A 49-year-old female presented with palpable masses in both parotid glands. She had been suffering from systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis. The lesions were evaluated by FNAC and smears showed a small number of clusters of oncocytic cells with abundant eosinophilic granular cytoplasm and small nuclei, intermixed with small to medium-sized lymphoid cells containing round to lobulated nuclei, which suggested Warthin's tumor. Some of lymphoid cells had a plasmacytoid appearance, and some scattered large cells contained a large amount of eosinophilic cytoplasm. Bilateral superficial parotidectomy was performed and a histopathologic study indicated MZBCL with abundant plasma cells, intermixed with eosinophilic histiocytes. The presence of oncocytic cells and a mixture of lymphoid and plasma cells indicates Warthin's tumor, but the cytologic features of a relatively monotonous small to medium-sized lymphoid infiltrate suggest the possibility of MZBCL in the clinical setting of an FNAC study performed on a patient suffering from a connective tissue disease.

• Journal of Pathology and Translational Medicine
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.404-410
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• 2018

Background: Fine-needle aspiration cytology serves as a safe, economical tool in evaluating thyroid nodules. However, about 30% of the samples are categorized as indeterminate. Hence, many immunocytochemistry markers have been studied, but there has not been a single outstanding marker. We studied the efficacy of CD56 with human bone marrow endothelial cell marker-1 (HBME-1) in diagnosis in the Bethesda System for Reporting Thyroid Cytopathology (TBSRTC) category III. Methods: We reviewed ThinPrep liquid-based cytology (LBC) samples with Papanicolaou stain from July 1 to December 31, 2016 (2,195 cases) and selected TBSRTC category III cases (n=363). Twenty-six cases were histologically confirmed as benign (six cases, 23%) or malignant (20 cases, 77%); we stained 26 LBC slides with HBME-1 and CD56 through the cell transfer method. For evaluation of reactivity of immunocytochemistry, we chose atypical follicular cell clusters. Results: CD56 was not reactive in 18 of 20 cases (90%) of malignant nodules and showed cytoplasmic positivity in five of six cases (83%) of benign nodules. CD56 showed high sensitivity (90.0%) and relatively low specificity (83.3%) in detecting malignancy (p=.004). HBME-1 was reactive in 17 of 20 cases (85%) of malignant nodules and was not reactive in five of six cases (83%) of benign nodules. HBME-1 showed slightly lower sensitivity (85.0%) than CD56. The specificity in detecting malignancy by HBME-1 was similar to that of CD56 (83.3%, p=.008). CD56 and HBME-1 tests combined showed lower sensitivity (75.0% vs 90%) and higher specificity (93.8% vs 83.3%) in detecting malignancy compared to using CD56 alone. Conclusions: Using CD56 alone showed relatively low specificity despite high sensitivity for detecting malignancy. Combining CD56 with HBME-1 could increase the specificity. Thus, we suggest that CD56 could be a useful preoperative marker for differential diagnosis of TBSRTC category III samples.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.114-121
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• 2022

In this paper, we consider a user centric clustering in order to guarantee the performance of the users in cell free multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) network. In the user centric clustering scheme, by using large scale fading coefficients of the connected access points (APs), each user decides own cluster with the APs having the higher the large scale fading coefficients than threshold value compared to the highest large scale fading coefficient. In the determined user centric clusters, the APs design the beamformers and power allocations in the distributed manner and the APs cooperatively transmit data to users by using beamformers and power allocations. In the simulation results, we verify the performance of user centric clustering in terms of the spectral efficiency and we also find the optimal threshold value in the given configuration.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.27.1-27.13
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• 2022

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most prevalent head and neck malignancy, with frequent cervical lymph-node metastasis, leading to a poor prognosis in OSCC patients. The present study aimed to identify potential markers, including microRNAs (miRNAs) and genes, significantly involved in the etiology of early-stage OSCC. Additionally, the main OSCC's dysregulated Gene Ontology annotations and significant signaling pathways were identified. The dataset GSE45238 underwent multivariate statistical analysis in order to distinguish primary OSCC tissues from healthy oral epithelium. Differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs) with the criteria of p-value < 0.001 and |Log2 fold change| > 1.585 were identified in the two groups, and subsequently, validated targets of DEMs were identified. A protein interaction map was constructed, hub genes were identified, significant modules within the network were illustrated, and significant pathways and biological processes associated with the clusters were demonstrated. Using the GEPI2 database, the hub genes' predictive function was assessed. Compared to the healthy controls, main OSCC had a total of 23 DEMs. In patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), upregulation of CALM1, CYCS, THBS1, MYC, GATA6, and SPRED3 was strongly associated with a poor prognosis. In HNSCC patients, overexpression of PIK3R3, GIGYF1, and BCL2L11 was substantially correlated with a good prognosis. Besides, "proteoglycans in cancer" was the most significant pathway enriched in the primary OSCC. The present study results revealed more possible mechanisms mediating primary OSCC and may be useful in the prognosis of the patients with early-stage OSCC.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.8
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• pp.3301-3306
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• 2015

Nucleolin (C23) is an important anti-apoptotic protein that is ubiquitously expressed in exponentially growing eukaryotic cells. In order to understand the impact of C23 in radiation therapy, we attempted to investigate the relationship of C23 expression with the radiosensitivity of human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells. We investigated the role of C23 in activating the catalytic subunit of DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PKcs), which is a critical protein for DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) repair. As a result, we found that the expression of C23 was negatively correlated with the radiosensitivity of NSCLC cell lines. In vitro clonogenic survival assays revealed that C23 knockdown increased the radiosensitivity of a human lung adenocarcinoma cell line, potentially through the promotion of radiation-induced apoptosis and adjusting the cell cycle to a more radiosensitive stage. Immunofluorescence data revealed an increasing quantity of ${gamma}$-H2AX foci and decreasing radiation-induced DNA damage repair following knockdown of C23. To further clarify the mechanism of C23 in DNA DSBs repair, we detected the expression of DNA-PKcs and C23 proteins in NSCLC cell lines. C23 might participate in DNA DSBs repair for the reason that the expression of DNA-PKcs decreased at 30, 60, 120 and 360 minutes after irradiation in C23 knockdown cells. Especially, the activity of DNA-PKcs phosphorylation sites at the S2056 and T2609 was significantly suppressed. Therefore we concluded that C23 knockdown can inhibit DNA-PKcs phosphorylation activity at the S2056 and T2609 sites, thus reducing the radiation damage repair and increasing the radiosensitivity of NSCLC cells. Taken together, the inhibition of C23 expression was shown to increase the radiosensitivity of NSCLC cells, as implied by the relevance to the notably decreased DNA-PKcs phosphorylation activity at the S2056 and T2609 clusters. Further research on targeted C23 treatment may promote effectiveness of radiotherapy and provide new targets for NSCLC patients.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.195-200
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• 1998

Callus induction from leaf and stem explants of Arabidopsis thaliana was successfully obtained when leaf explants were cultured on MS medium containing 2.0 mg/L 2,4-D in the dark and also, when stem explants were cultured on CP medium containing 0.5 mg/L 2,4-D and 0.1 mg/L BAP. Explant-derived sliced calli were suspension-subcultured every week in CP liquid medium with 0.5 mg/L 2,4-D and 0.1 mg/L BAP in the dark, and shoot-forming cell clusters of nodular, pale yellow and knobby type were selected after 7-8 weeks of culture. Shoots were initiated from the green spots of the selected shoot forming calli cultured on MS regeneration medium containing 0.05 mg/L IAA, 7.0 mg/L 2-iP and 30 g/L sucrose under continous illumination for four weeks. Shoot regeneration frequency (calli regenerating at least one shoot) was more than 50%. For plant regeneration, excised shoots were trnasferred to hormone free medium for root initiation after 4 weeks of culture. The regenerants were bolting after 2 weeks of culture and formed in vitro flowering buds within bracts after 4 weeks of culture.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.236-241
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• 1994

The crystal structures of $Cd_6-A$ evacuated at $2{\times}10^{-6}$ Torr and 750$^{\circ}$C (a=12.216(l) ${\AA}$), and of the product of its reaction with Rb vapor (a= 12.187(l) ${\AA}$), have been determined by single-crystal x-ray diffraction techniques in the cubic space group Pm$\bar{3}$m at 21(l)$^{\circ}$C. Their structures were refined to the final error indices, $R_1$=0.055 and $R_2$=0.067 with 191 reflections, and $R_1$=0.066 and $R_2$=0.049 with 90 reflections, respectively, for which I>3${\sigma}$(I). In dehydrated $Cd_6-A$, six $Cd^{2+}$ ions are found at two different threefold-axis sites near six-oxygen ring centers. Four $Cd^{2+}$ ions are recessed 0.50 ${\AA}$ into the sodalite cavity from the (111) plane at O(3), and the other two extend 0.28 ${\AA}$ into the large cavity from this plane. Treatment at 250 $^{\circ}$C with 0.1 Torr of Rb vapor reduces all $Cd^{2+}$ ions to give $Rb_{13.5^-}$A. Rb species are found at three crystallographic sites: three $Rb^+$ ions lie at eight-oxygen-ring centers, filling that position, and ca. 10.5 $Rb^+$ ions lie on threefold axes, 8.0 in the large cavity and 2.5 in the sodalite cavity. In this structure, ca. 1.5 Rb species more than the 12 $Rb^+$ ions needed to balance the anionic charge of zeolite framework are found, indicating that sorption of $Rb^0$ has occurred. The occupancies observed can be most simply explained by two "unit cell" compositions, $Rb_{12^-}A{\cdot}Rb$ and $Rb_{12^-}A{\cdot}2Rb$, of approximately equal population. In sodalite cavities, $Rb_{12^-}A{\cdot}Rb$ would have a $(Rb_2)^+$ cluster and $Rb_{12^-}A{\cdot}2Rb$ would have a triangular $(Rb_3)^+$ cluster. Each of the atoms of these clusters must bind further through a six-oxygen ring to a large cavity $Rb^+$ to give $(Rb_4)^{3+}$ (linear) and $(Rb_6)^{4+}$ (trigonal). Other unit-cell compositions and other cationic cluster compositions such as $(Rb_8)^{n+}$ may exist.