• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.50 no.3
• /
• pp.153-162
• /
• 2017

Background: The mesenchymal-epithelial transition factor (MET) receptor can be overexpressed in solid tumors, including small cell lung cancer (SCLC). However, the molecular mechanism regulating MET stability and turnover in SCLC remains undefined. One potential mechanism of MET regulation involves the C-terminus of Hsp70-interacting protein (CHIP), which targets heat shock protein 90-interacting proteins for ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation. In the present study, we investigated the functional effects of CHIP expression on MET regulation and the control of SCLC cell apoptosis and invasion. Methods: To evaluate the expression of CHIP and c-Met, which is a protein that in humans is encoded by the MET gene (the MET proto-oncogene), we examined the expression pattern of c-Met and CHIP in SCLC cell lines by western blotting. To investigate whether CHIP overexpression reduced cell proliferation and invasive activity in SCLC cell lines, we transfected cells with CHIP and performed a cell viability assay and cellular apoptosis assays. Results: We found an inverse relationship between the expression of CHIP and MET in SCLC cell lines (n=5). CHIP destabilized the endogenous MET receptor in SCLC cell lines, indicating an essential role for CHIP in the regulation of MET degradation. In addition, CHIP inhibited MET-dependent pathways, and invasion, cell growth, and apoptosis were reduced by CHIP overexpression in SCLC cell lines. Conclusion: C HIP is capable of regulating SCLC cell apoptosis and invasion by inhibiting MET-mediated cytoskeletal and cell survival pathways in NCI-H69 cells. CHIP suppresses MET-dependent signaling, and regulates MET-mediated SCLC motility.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
• /
• v.15 no.6
• /
• pp.975-979
• /
• 2006

The extracts of Oenanthe javanica were evaluated for their effects on the expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), which is mediated by the translocation of the p65 subunit into the nucleus. Fractions of ethyl acetate and chloroform from 80% ethanol extracts of O. javanica exhibited inhibitory effects on the secretion of tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ (TNF-${\alpha}$) from lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated peritoneal macrophages; however, the aqueous- and hexane-fractions showed no significant effect. The ethyl acetate- and chloroform-fractions also reduced the COX-2 enzyme levels after 24-hr treatment. RT-PCR showed that the mRNA levels of COX-2 decreased following treatment with these fractions, suggesting that COX-2 expression is transcriptionally regulated by these extracts. We examined the effects of the chloroform- and ethyl acetate-fractions on the cytosolic activation of nuclear factor-${\kappa}B$ ($NF-{\kappa}B$, p65 subunit) and on the degradation of inhibitor-${\kappa}B{\alpha}$ ($I-{\kappa}B{\alpha}$) in order to determine the mechanism of COX-2 regulation. The LPS-stimulated activation of the p65 subunit was significantly blocked upon the addition of $50\;{\mu}g/mL$ of these fractions, and the cytosolic $I-{\kappa}B{\alpha}$ degradation process was simultaneously inhibited. These findings suggest that the inhibition of COX-2 expression by the ethyl acetate-and chloroform-fractions may result from the inhibition of p65 translocation by blocking the degradation of $I-{\kappa}B{\alpha}$; this may be the mechanistic basis for the anti-inflammatory effects of O. javanica.

• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.684-694
• /
• 2012

In the underwater environment, light is absorbed and scattered by water and floating particles, which makes the underwater images suffer from color degradation and limited visibility. Physically, the amount of the scattered light transmitted to the image is proportional to the distance between the camera and the object. In this paper, the proposed visibility enhancement. method utilizes depth images to estimate the light transmission and the degradation factor by the scattered light. To recover the scatter-free images without unnatural artifacts, the proposed method normalizes the degradation factor based on the value of each pixel of the image. Finally, the scatter-free images are obtained by removing the scattered components on the image according to the estimated transmission. The proposed method also considers the color discrepancies of underwater stereo images so that the stereo images have the same color appearance after the visibility enhancement. The experimental results show that the proposed method improves the color contrast more than 5% to 14% depending on the experimental images.

• Elastomers and Composites
• /
• v.44 no.3
• /
• pp.269-273
• /
• 2009

A study on the life-time expectation of a CR-modified NR rubber composite through the change of thermal degradation characteristics was performed using both isothermal thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and thermomechanical analysis (TMA). Master curves at reference temperature of $90^{\circ}C$ could be obtained with shift factor $a_T$, which was determined empirically using Time-Temperature Superposition Principle (TTSP). Activation energies could be calculated from the slope of Arrhenius plot of shift factor and showed similar values of $E_{a,TGA}$= 41.2 and $E_{a,TMA}$= 54.5 kJ/mol, respectively. It was considered from the results that chemical degradation resulting weight loss of the sample might be closely related to a physical degradation such as the dimensional change of the sample.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
• /
• v.16 no.6
• /
• pp.466-472
• /
• 2013

The use of a concrete track is gradually growing in urban and high-speed railways in many part of the world. The resilient pad, which is essentially when concrete tracks are used, plays the important role of relieving the impact caused by train loads. The simple fatigue test[1] to estimate the variable stiffness of resilient pads is usually performed, but it differs depending on the practical conditions of different railways. In this study, the static stiffness levels of used resilient pads according to passing tonnages levels were measured in laboratory tests. Also, the simple fatigue test and the multi-stress accelerated degradation test for new resilient pads were performed in a laboratory. The static stiffness of the used pad was compared with the results of tests of usage times and cycles. The results of the comparison showed that the variable static stiffness levels of the used pad were similar to results of the multi-stress accelerated degradation test considering the fatigue and heat load. With a T-NT equation related to the degree of the multi-stress accelerated degradation, a model of multi-stress accelerated degradation for a resilient pad was devised. It was found through this effort that the total acceleration factor was approximately 2.62. Finally, this study proposes an equation for a multi-stress accelerated degradation model for polyurethane resilient pads.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.428-432
• /
• 1999

This study was performed to investigate the possible effect of sunlight on the reduction or degradation of mycelia and aflatoxins. The mycelia and aflatoxins were produced by Aspergillus parasiticus ATCC 15517 in a yeast-extract sucrose broth (YES) and potato-dextrose agar (PDA) and then exposed to sunlight. The weight of mycelia was decreased to 76.8% in 8 hours and to 66.7% in 168 hours(p<0.05). The total aflatoxin level was significantly decreased to below 50% (46.3% in the YES broth and 49.6% in the PDA) in 8 hours (p<0.05). After 168 hours, a 90.4％ degradation of aflatoxin in the YES broth and a 77.2% degradation of aflatoxin in the PDA was observed, respectively (p<0.01). The results showed that the degradation ratios of total aflatoxin level increased with increased exposure time to sunlight. These results indicate that sunlight could be an effective factor in aflatoxin degradation although its effect on mycelia was less pronounced.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.19 no.6
• /
• pp.616-621
• /
• 2009

To evaluate the effects of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), we measured the inhibitory effect of several LAB isolated from intestinal microflora and commercial probiotics against the glycosaminoglycan (GAG) degradation by intestinal bacteria. Bifidobacterium longum HY8004 and Lactobacillus plantarum AK8-4 exhibited the most potent inhibition. These LAB inhibited colon shortening and myeloperoxidase production in 2,4,6-trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (TNBS)-induced experimental colitic mice. These LAB also blocked the expression of the proinflammatory cytokines, IL-$1{\beta}$ and TNF-$\alpha$, as well as of COX-2, in the colon. LAB also blocked activation of the transcription factor, NF-${\kappa}B$, and expression of TLR-4 induced by TNBS. In addition, LAB reduced the TNBS-induced bacterial degradation activities of chondroitin sulfate and hyaluronic acid. These findings suggest that GAG degradation-inhibitory LAB may improve colitis by inhibiting inflammatory cytokine expression via TLR-4-linked NF-${\kappa}B$ activation and by inhibiting intestinal bacterial GAG degradation.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.17 no.12
• /
• pp.1343-1351
• /
• 2008

The activated sludge obtained from wastewater coke oven plant was immobilized by entrapment with polyethylene glycol (PEG). The effects of several factors on the biodegradation of $CN^-$ from. synthetic wastewater were investigated using batch and continuous reactors. The degradation rate of $CN^-$ increased with increasing of the immobilized bead volume in the reactor. Approximately 7.65mg/L of $NH_4-N$ was produced upon the degradation of 35mg/L of $CN^-$. When high concentrations of the toxic cyanide complex were used in the testing of cyanide degradation, the free activated sludge could be inhibited more than that of the immobilized activated sludge. When the phenol concentration was higher than 400mg/L in the synthetic wastewater, approximately 98.4% of $CN^-$ was removed within 42 hours by the immobilized activated sludge. However, the cyanide was not completely degraded by the tree activated sludge. This indicates that high phenol concentrations can act as a toxic factor for the free activated sludge. A $CN^-$ concentration of less than 1mg/L was achieved by the immobilized sludge at the loading rate of 0.025kg $CN^-/m^3-d$. Moreover, it was found that the HRT should be kept for 48 hours in order to obtain stable treatment conditions.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.25 no.6
• /
• pp.996-1003
• /
• 2001

In order to investigate the fatigue fracture characteristics by corrosion degradation of 12Cr alloy steel, both the fatigue characteristics in air of them artificially degraded during long period and the corrosion fatigue characteristics were experimentally evaluated in various environments which were determined from electro-chemical polarization tests. And also, their fracture mechanisms were analyzed and compared, fractographyically. From their results, the fracture mechanical characteristics of it artificially degraded during long period in the distilled water, 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution and 12.7wt.%(1M) Na$_2$SO$_4$solution of 25, 60 and 90$\^{C}$ did not show distinguishable difference comparing with non-corroded one in regardless of temperature and degradation period. It means that degradation of the material by just surface corrosion does not remarkably affect to fatigue crack growth. On the other hand, the crack growth rates by corrosion fatigue increased due to activity increase of corrosive factors such as OH(sub)-,Cl(sup)- and SO$_4$(sup)- at the crack tip with temperature increase. Therefore, the crack growth rates by corrosion fatigue were more faster than that in air of the artificially degraded specimen due to the such difference of crack growth mechanism.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
• /
• v.24 no.6
• /
• pp.572-577
• /
• 2001

The feasibility of skin penetration was studied for aspalatone (AM, acetylsalicylic acid maltol ester), a novel antithrombotic agent. In this studys hairless mouse dorsal skins were used as a model to select composition of vehicle and AM. Based on measurements of solubility and partition coefficient, the concentration of PC that showed the highest flux for AM across the hairless mouse skin was found to be 40%. The cumulative amount permeated at 48 h, however, appear inadequate, even when the PC concentration was employed. To identify a suitable absorption enhancer and its optimal concentration for AM, a number of absorption enhancers and a variety of concentration were screened for the increase in transdermal flux of AM. Amongst these, linoleic acid (LOA) at the concentration of 5% was found to have the largest enhancement factor (i.e., 132). However, a further increase in AM flux was not found in the fatty acid concentration greater than 5%, indicating the enhancement effect is in a bell-shaped currie. In a study of the effect of AM concentration on the permeation, there was no difference in the permeation rate between 0.5 and 1% for AM, below its saturated concentration. At the donor concentration of 2%, over the saturated condition, the flux of AM was markedly increased. A considerable degradation of AM was found during permeation studies, and the extent was correlated with protein concentrations in the epidermal and serosal extracts, and skin homogenates. In rat dorsal skins, the protein concentration decreased in the rank order of skin homogenate > serosal extract > epidermal extract. Estimated first order degradation rate constants were $6.15{\pm}0.14,{\;}0.57{\pm}0.02{\;}and{\;}0.011{\pm}{\;}0.004{\;}h^{-1}$ for skin homogenate, serosal extract and epidermal extract, respectively. Therefore, it appeared that AM was hydrolyzed to some extent into salicylmaltol by esterases in the dermal and subcutaneous tissues of skin. taken together, our data indicated that transdermal delivery of AM is feasible when the combination of PC and LOA is used as a vehicle. However, since AM is not metabolically stable, acceptable degradation inhibitors may be nervessary to fully realize the transdermal delivery of the drug.