• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.327-332
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• 2015

A large amount of dye wastewater poses a threat to environmental safety. Disperse blue, an anthraquinone dye that is widely used in textile dyes, is difficult to degrade in wastewater. In this work, one fungus was screened according to the decolorization rate of disperse blue. The fungus was identified and named Aspergillus XJ-2 on the basis of its morphological characteristics and 18s rDNA. Response surface method was used to optimize culture conditions for A. XJ-2. The optimum values of obtained responses were as follows: temperature, $35^{\circ}C$; pH, 5.2; carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, 30:5.5; and rotation ratio, $175r{\cdot}min^{-1}$. Under optimized conditions, the decolorization rate of A. XJ-2 was up to 94.8% in 48 h.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.113-117
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• 2008

Saururus chinensis is a commonly used folk herb for the treatment of edema and liver diseases in Korea. To study the biological activity of Saururus chinensis in bone metabolism, we evaluated the effect of its extracts on osteoclast differentiation in vitro using primary mouse bone marrow-derived macrophages. Methanol extract (ME) from dried roots of Saururus chinensis was partitioned into methylene chloride (MF), ethyl acetate (EF), n-butanol (BF) and water fractions (WF). Tartrate-resistance acid phosphatase (TRAP) activity assay and western blot analysis were performed to determine the effect on osteoclast differentiation and mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases activation. ME, MF and EF dramatically inhibited receptor activator of ${NF-kB}$ ligand (RANKL)-induced formation of multinucleated osteoclasts and activation of MAP kinases. This study firstly demonstrated that ME, MF and EF of Saururus chinensis have the potential to inhibit the osteoclast differentiation, which results from the inhibition of MAP kinases activations in part.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.32-36
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• 2008

The antimicrobial activity of seventy five ethanol extracts obtained from 67 different kinds of plant species of the Mongolian flora were evaluated by means of the disc diffusion method against five species of microorganisms, Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, Micrococcus luteus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Among the plant extracts examined, 34 kinds of extracts demonstrated significant antibacterial activity against one or more species of microorganisms, respectively. Especially, the root extract of Paeonia anomala, the whole herb extract of Myricaria alopecuroides, the whole herb extract of comarum zalesovianum, the whole herb extract of Agrimonia pilosa and some other plant extracts demonstrated a particularly potent antimicrobial activity. The ethylacetate fractions obtained from the whole herb extract of Myricaria alopecuroides and from those of Sedum aizoon, Paeonia anomala, Sedum hybridum and Dasiphora fruticosa exhibited a particularly potent antibacterial activity especially against Staphylococcus aureus and Micrococcus luteus.

• BMB Reports
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• v.45 no.8
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• pp.452-457
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• 2012

Diketoreductase (DKR) from Acinetobacter baylyi contains two tryptophan residues at positions 149 and 222. Trp-149 and Trp-222 are located along the entry path of substrate into active site and at the dimer interface of DKR, respectively. Single and double substitutions of these positions were generated to probe the roles of tryptophan residues. After replacing Trp with Ala and Phe, biochemical and biophysical characteristics of the mutants were thoroughly investigated. Enzyme activity and substrate binding affinity of W149A and W149F were remarkably decreased, suggesting that Trp-149 regulates the position of substrate at the binding site. Meanwhile, enzyme activity of W222F was increased by 1.7-fold while W222A was completely inactive. In addition to lower thermostability of Trp-222 mutants, molecular modeling of the mutants revealed that Trp-222 is vital to protein folding and dimerization of the enzyme.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.110-116
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• 2016

The major aim of this study was to provide information on the chemical accidents that occurred in laboratories over the last 3 years. The total incidence of laboratory chemical accidents was 30 cases; 25 cases occurred at educational institutions. Most accidents (19 cases) occurred due to spills and leaks. The main cause of the accidents analyzed was worker carelessness (21 cases). Twenty-two accidents were related to hazardous chemical substances. In addition, general chemical substances as well as waste liquid contributed 26% to the incidents related to the laboratory. Among the 22 hazardous chemical substances involved in laboratory chemical accident, 67% of accident substances were accident preparedness substances.

• Carbon letters
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.107-111
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• 2011

Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers were pre-oxidized in a temperature range of 180-275$^{\circ}C$. The effects of positive and negative stretching on the structure and morphology of PAN fiber in the pre-oxidation process were studied by FTIR spectroscopy, XRD, and SEM. Mechanical property changes were also investigated. No changes in the movement and intensity of functional groups of PAN fibers were caused by positive stretching of up to 10% and negative stretching down to -8%. The crystal structure can be affected by the positive stretching and negative stretching. The maximum strength is 479.81 MPa when the stretching is positive, and the maximum strength is 420.55 MPa when the stretching is negative.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.8
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• pp.2423-2430
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• 2014

Nitrogen-doped short tubular carbons (N-STCs) with big inner diameter have been successfully synthesized via carbonization of polydopamine (PDA) wrapped halloysite nanotubes (HNTs). The obtained N-STCs have average length of $0.3{\mu}m$ with big inner diameter (50 nm), thin wall (2-3 nm) and large surface area ($776m^2g^{-1}$), and show excellent electrochemical properties. As an example in electrochemical applications, N-STCs were used to electrochemically detect hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) and glucose. The results showed that the N-STCs modified glassy carbon (N-STCs/GC) electrode had much better analytical performance (lower detection limit and wider linear range) compared to the acid-treated carbon nanotubes (AO-CNTs) based GC electrode. The unique structure endows N-STCs the enhanced electrochemical performance and promising applications in electrochemical sensing.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.69-79
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• 2012

In an ongoing survey of the bioactive potential of microorganisms from Ladakh, India, the culture medium of a bacterial strain of a new Pseudomonas sp., strain ICTB-745, isolated from an alkaline soil sample collected from Leh, Ladakh, India, was found to contain metabolites that exhibited broad-spectrum antimicrobial and biosurfactant activities. Bioactivity-guided purification resulted in the isolation of four bioactive compounds. Their chemical structures were elucidated by $^1H$ and $^{13}C$ NMR, 2D-NMR (HMBC, HSQC, $^1H$,$^1H$-COSY, and DEPT-135), FT-IR, and mass spectroscopic methods, and were identified as 1-hydroxyphenazine, phenazine-1-carboxylic acid (PCA), rhamnolipid-1 (RL-1), and rhamnolipid-2 (RL-2). These metabolites exhibited various biological activities like antimicrobial and efficient cytotoxic potencies against different human tumor cell lines such as HeLa, HepG2, A549, and MDA MB 231. RL-1 and RL-2 exhibited a dose-dependent antifeedant activity against Spodoptera litura, producing about 82.06% and 73.66% antifeedant activity, whereas PCA showed a moderate antifeedant activity (63.67%) at 60 ${\mu}g/cm^2$ area of castor leaf. Furthermore, PCA, RL-1, and RL-2 exhibited about 65%, 52%, and 47% mortality, respectively, against Rhyzopertha dominica at 20 ${\mu}g/ml$. This is the first report of rhamnolipids as antifeedant metabolites against Spodoptera litura and as insecticidal metabolites against Rhyzopertha dominica. The metabolites from Pseudomonas sp. strain ICTB-745 have interesting potential for use as a biopesticide in pest control programs.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.150-156
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• 2008

Two different polyacrylonitrile samples (PANs, triad tacticity fraction is 0.25 and 0.64) were synthesized and used to study the kinetics of cyclization. Polymers were treated at different temperatures between 250 to $300^{\circ}C$ under air atmosphere, and analyzed by X-ray diffractometer. The sharp and strong peak at $2{\theta}=16.5^{\circ}$ corresponds to a lateral repeat distance that is the (100) diffraction in hexagonal lattice, while the peak at $2{\theta}=25.5^{\circ}$ reflects the (101) diffraction. In comparing their areas of different heat treated samples, the cyclization of both PANs was identified as a first-order reaction. The rate constants of cyclization reaction at different temperatures and the active energy parameter were obtained. This results might provide an important effect on pre-oxidation of polyacrylonitrile fiber.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society Of Semiconductor Equipment Technology
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.251-251
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• 2007