• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.303-307
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• 2001

Some Feral Pigeons Columba livia were collected in commercial, industrial, park and resident areas of Seoul and heavy metal concentrations in their liver, kidney, bone and muscle tissues were measured to compare the levels of exposure by habitats. Statistical analyses showed some differences in the levels of heavy metals among these habitats. The levels of iron in liver and zinc in kidney were lower in resident area than in the other ones. Manganese and copper levels in all tissues were the highest in industrial area and park area, respectively. Lead bone level in resident area was the lowest, while that in commercial area was the highest. Cadmium level in kidney was higher in park area than in the other areas. Of these results, the levels of iron, zinc and lead in some tissues were related to traffic density in each habitats.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.87-94
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• 1995

Since March 1992, total 200 patients who visited our hospital as functional or organic lesions of central nervous system were treated by gamma knife stereotactic radiosurgery for 27 months. Thirty-nine patients of total cases was diagnosed as cerebral arteriovenous malformation. The rate of magnification on X-ray film was reduced by cutting fixation adaptor from 1.0 to below 1.45 times. In order to treat the deep- and lateral-seated cerebral arteriovenous malformation, we slightly modified the angiographic indicator, the commercial Leksell system, by cutting each inner sides about 5mm, We performed the more distinction of the scales by adapting 0.5mm or 1mm copper filter to angiographic indicator. The center point of indicator(X=100mm, Y=100mm, Z=100mm) is corrected by adjusting scales of X-, Y-, Z-axis to each inner 100 and outer 100 point within 1-2mm by repeated exposure of X-ray on films in trial-and-errors. We have developed the 'GKANGIO' programed as the Fortran-77 in Microvax - 3100, which can save treatment planning time and perform accurate pretreatment planning using the theoretical target metrix center. The theoretical description of the simplified method is presented for the reduction of experimental and numerical errors in treatment planning of radiosurgery.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.15-20
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• 2006

Concerns remain regarding the biocompatibility and adverse effects of dental casting alloys. The aim of this study was to understand the cytopathogenic effect of metal ions, which might be released from dental alloys, on oral squamous carcinoma(OSC) cells. The cellular morphology, viability, the type of cell death and molecular change in response to metal ion salt solutions including aluminum(Al), cobalt(Co), copper(Cu) and nickel(Ni) were examined. The $TC_{50}$ values for the metal ions with the exception of AI were estimated to be between 400 and $600{\mu}M$. The cells treated with the metal ions showed apoptotic change with the exception of Al ions. Metal ion-induced apoptosis was further confirmed using flow cytometric analysis. This study showed that the cytotoxicity and the mode of cell death by metal ions clearly depend on the cell type, the type of metal ion and the duration of exposure. The protein level of Rb, a tumor suppressor that affects apoptosis para-doxically, was higher in the cells treated with Co, Cu and Ni. It is believed that apoptosis and cell damage in the OSC cells treated with Co, Cu or Ni can be evoked by the regulation of Rb.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.11
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• pp.1557-1567
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• 2012

Glutathione reductase (GR, E.C. 1.6.4.2) is an important enzyme that reduces glutathione disulfide (GSSG) to a sulfydryl form (GSH) in the presence of an NADPH-dependent system. This is a critical antioxidant mechanism. Owing to the significance of GR, this enzyme has been examined in a number of animals, plants, and microbes. We performed a study to evaluate the molecular properties of GR (OsGR) from rice (Oryza sativa). To determine whether heterologous expression of OsGR can reduce the deleterious effects of unfavorable abiotic conditions, we constructed a transgenic Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain expressing the GR gene cloned into the yeast expression vector p426GPD. OsGR expression was confirmed by a semiquantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (semiquantitative RT-PCR) assay, Western-blotting, and a test for enzyme activity. OsGR expression increased the ability of the yeast cells to adapt and recover from $H_2O_2$-induced oxidative stress and various stimuli including heat shock and exposure to menadione, heavy metals (iron, zinc, copper, and cadmium), sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), ethanol, and sulfuric acid. However, augmented OsGR expression did not affect the yeast fermentation capacity owing to reduction of OsGR by multiple factors produced during the fermentation process. These results suggest that ectopic OsGR expression conferred acquired tolerance by improving cellular homeostasis and resistance against different stresses in the genetically modified yeast strain, but did not affect fermentation ability.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.9-21
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• 2015

Cancer, a serious public health problem in worldwide, results from an excessive and uncontrolled proliferation of the body cells without obvious physiological demands of organs. The gastrointestinal tract, including the esophagus, stomach and intestine, is a unique organ system. It has the highest cancer incidence and cancer-related mortality in the body and is influenceed by both genetic and environmental factors. Among the various chemical elements recognized in the nature, some of them including zinc, iron, cobalt, and copper have essential roles in the various biochemical and physiological processes, but only at low levels and others such as cadmium, lead, mercury, arsenic, and nickel are considered as threats for human health especially with chronic exposure at high levels. Cadmium, an environment contaminant, cannot be destroyed in nature. Through impairment of vitamin D metabolism in the kidney it causes nephrotoxicity and subsequently bone metabolism impairment and fragility. The major mechanisms involved in cadmium carcinogenesis could be related to the suppression of gene expression, inhibition of DNA damage repair, inhibition of apoptosis, and induction of oxidative stress. In addition, cadmium may act through aberrant DNA methylation. Cadmium affects multiple cellular processes, including signal transduction pathways, cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. Down-regulation of methyltransferases enzymes and reduction of DNA methylation have been stated as epigenetic effects of cadmium. Furthermore, increasing intracellular free calcium ion levels induces neuronal apoptosis in addition to other deleterious influence on the stability of the genome.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.1130-1134
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• 2005

An experiment was performed using 20 calves of about one-month old to investigate the effect of chelation therapy with calcium disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate ($CaNa_2$EDTA) alone or along with antioxidant $\alpha$-tocopherol in lead loaded calves on blood trace minerals, erythrocytic sulfahydryl groups and some haematobiochemical parameters. Fifteen calves were given lead orally at a daily dose of 7.5 mg of 99% pure lead acetate/kg body weight for 28 days. Then the lead was withdrawn on day 28 and the calves were randomly divided into three groups. Each group of five animals was either treated with $CaNa_2$EDTA alone at the dose rate of 110 mg/kg body weight in two divided doses for 4 days or along with $\alpha$-tocopherol at the dose rate of 100 mg/kg body weight orally daily for 7 days, keeping the remaining five calves as lead-exposed untreated controls. Blood samples were collected at the end of the lead exposure (day 0) and thereafter on day 2, 4, 7 and 10 from the start of the chelation treatment. The treatment with EDTA alone led to slow but non-significant improvement in blood copper level, but incorporation of antioxidant $\alpha$-tocopherol in chelation therapy resulted in its significant decline, as recorded on day 7-post treatment. Withdrawal of lead or treatment with $CaNa_2$EDTA alone or along with $\alpha$-tocopherol enhanced the erythrocytic thiol contents and the levels of T-SH and P-SH became statistically (p<0.05) comparable to those of lead-exposed controls by day 7 and 4, respectively. There was no significant (p>0.05) change in serum urea, creatinine, total protein and albumin levels between the treatment groups. It is concluded from the present investigation that treatment with $CaNa_2$EDTA at the present dose rate is safe to be used for chelation in lead loaded calves.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.361-366
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• 2001

It is difficult to obtain high Cu nucleation density and continuous Cu films in Cu-MOCVD without cleaning the TiN substrate prior to Cu deposition. In this study effects of plasma precleaning on the Cu nucleation density were investigated using SEM, XPS, AES, AFM analyses. Direct plasma pretreatment is much more effective than remote plasma pretreatment in enhancing Cu nucleation. Cleaning effects are enhanced with increasing the rf-power and the plasma exposure time in hydrogen plasma pretreatment. The mechanism through which Cu nucleation is enhanced by plasma pretreatment is as follows: Hydrogen ion\ulcorner in the hydrogen plasma react with TiN to form Ti and $NH_3$ Cu nucleation is easier on the Ti substrate than TiN substrate.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.7-13
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• 2005

In the present study, we investigated the tolerance of Commelina communis to growth in Cu-contaminated soil and water We examined the germination rate, root and shoot growth of seedlings, fresh biomass in soil and water, and ability to eliminate Cu. We found that C. communis eliminated 41% of Cu in soil containing 50 mg Cu/kg and removed over 50% of Cu from water containing 100 mg Cu/L Cu. In addition, the plants could accumulate 90 mg Cu/g when grown in soil containing 50 mg Cu/kg and 140 mg Cu/g when grown in soil containing 100 mg Cu/kg thus higher levels of Cu removal were observed in soils containing higher Cu concentrations. In water, the maximal accumulation rate was 4.9 mg Cu/g root and 1.2 mg Cu/g shoot in water containing 20 mg Cu/L, and 7 days after exposure, Cu absorption saturated. Further, the growth rate of C. communis was not affected by up to 100 mg Cu/kg in the soil. Therefore, the phytotoxic effect of Cu on plants increased as the concentration of Cu was raised, although to different extents depending on whether the Cu was in soil or water. Overall, Cu removal from soil by C. communis was most effective at 100 mg Cu/kg in soil and 10 mg Cu/L in water. Finally, we identified two peaks of Cu-binding ligands in C. communis. Which is a high molecular weight peak (HMWL) at 60 kDa (Fraction 17 to 25) and a Cu binding peptide peak at <1 kDa (Very low molecular weight ligand: VLMWL). Cu-binding peptide (Cu-BP) was observed to have an amino acid composition typical of phytochelations.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.267-276
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• 2008

Acute and chronic toxicities of sediment elutriate and surface water samples collected at Lake Shihwa were evaluated using standard toxicity testing organisms including Vibrio fischeri, Daphnia magna and Moina macrocopa. Acute exposure resulted in toxic effects in all surface water or sediment elutriate samples, except for those collected from the reed swamp and Okgu stream. The rainy season influenced the toxicity of the water samples, presumably either by dilution of point discharge or through introduction of non-point source contaminants through runoff. In the sediment, elutriate and surface water samples, copper was detected above potentially lethal concentration, which may in part explain the observed toxicity. Considering acute toxicities of the surface water streams that direct to the Lake Shihwa, efforts should be warranted to control and reduce discharge of point and non-point sources along Lake Shihwa.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.310-321
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• 2019

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate types and characteristics of chemical substances used in LCD(Liquid crystal display) panel manufacturing process. Methods: The LCD panel manufacturing process is divided into the fabrication(fab) process and module process. The use of chemical substances by process was investigated at four fab processes and two module processes at two domestic TFT-LCD(Thin film transistor-Liquid crystal display) panel manufacturing sites. Results: LCD panels are manufactured through various unit processes such as sputtering, chemical vapor deposition(CVD), etching, and photolithography, and a range of chemicals are used in each process. Metal target materials including copper, aluminum, and indium tin oxide are used in the sputtering process, and gaseous materials such as phosphine, silane, and chlorine are used in CVD and dry etching processes. Inorganic acids such as hydrofluoric acid, nitric acid and sulfuric acid are used in wet etching process, and photoresist and developer are used in photolithography process. Chemical substances for the alignment of liquid crystal, such as polyimides, liquid crystals, and sealants are used in a liquid crystal process. Adhesives and hardeners for adhesion of driver IC and printed circuit board(PCB) to the LCD panel are used in the module process. Conclusions: LCD panels are produced through dozens of unit processes using various types of chemical substances in clean room facilities. Hazardous substances such as organic solvents, reactive gases, irritants, and toxic substances are used in the manufacturing processes, but periodic workplace monitoring applies only to certain chemical substances by law. Therefore, efforts should be made to minimize worker exposure to chemical substances used in LCD panel manufacturing process.