• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.169-174
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• 1998

Photosynthetic responses to dehydration were examined by the simulataneous measurement of O2 evolution and chlorophyll (Chl) fluorescence in green pepper leaves. Dehydration was induced by immersing the plant roots directly in the Hoagland solution containing varying concentration (2-30%) of polyethylene glycol(PEG-6000) . Water potential of the leaf was decreased time-and concentation -dependently by PEG-treatment. The decrease in water potential of leaf was correlated with the decrease in both the maximal photosynthesis (Pmax) and quantum yield of O2 evolution, but Pmax dropped more rapidly than quantum yield at all water deficit conditions tested. However, Chl fluorescence parameters were not affected much. Dehydration did not change the initial fluorescence (Fo) and maximum photochemical efficiency(Fv/Fm) of photosystem(PS) II. Both the photochemical quenching (qP) and non-photochemical quenching(NPQ) were not changed by dehydration under low PFR(50 $\mu$mols m-2s-1 ). In contrast, under high PFR(270$\mu$mols m-2s-1)qP was slightly decreased while NPQ was greatly increased. The fast induction kinetics of Chl fluroecence showed no change in Chl fluorescence pattern by dehydration at high PFR (640 $\mu$mols m-2s-1 ), but exhibited a significant drop in peak level(Fp)at low PRFR (70$\mu$mols m-2s-1 ). PS I oxidation and reduction kinetics revealed normal reduction but delayed oxidation to P-700+, suggesting no lesionin electron flow from PSII to PSI , but impaired electron transport to NADP+,These results suggest that water stress caused by PEG-treatment results in the reduction of photosynthesis, promarily due to the reducted electron trasport from PSI to NADP+ or hampered subsequent steps involving Calvin Cycle.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.59-63
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• 2009

Soybean phosphatidylcholine microparticles loaded with cyclosporin A (CsA) were prepared by the modified emulsion solvent diffusion and ionic gelation method, in which chitosan on the surface of the microparticles was crosslinked with various concentrations of tripolyphosphate (TPP). The morphology of the particles was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The change of particle size and zeta-potential by chitosan on the surface of the lipid microparticles were systematically observed. The encapsulation efficiency and loading capacity of CsA in the particles were determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). In vitro release kinetics was studied using the dialysis method. In the results, the mean particle size and the zeta-potential of lipid microparticles increased when the attached chitosan was cross-linked (from 2.5 to 6.2 ${\mu}m$ and from -37.0 to +93.0 mV, respectively). The cyclosporin A-loaded lipid microparticles appeared discrete and spherical particles with smooth surfaces. The encapsulation efficiency of CsA was between 79% and 90% while the loading capacity was between 41% and 56%. In vitro release study showed that the crosslinkage of chitosan by TPP significantly delayed the release of CsA from the particles in a concentration-dependent manner. Thus, the release of CsA from the lipid microparticles could be controlled by tripolyphosphate used as a cross-linking agent.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.112-112
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• 2003

Voltage-gated $K^{+}$ (Kv) channels represent a structurally and functionally diverse group of membrane proteins. These channels play an important role in determining the length of the cardiac action potential and are the targets for antiarrhythmic drugs. Many $K^{+}$ channel genes have been cloned from human myocardium and functionally contribute to its electrical activity. One of these channels, Kv1.5, is one of the more cardiovascular-specific $K^{+}$ channel isoforms identified to date and forms the molecular basis for an ultra-rapid delayed rectifier $K^{＋}$ current found in human atrium. Thus, the blocker of hKv1.5 is expected to be an ideal antiarrhythmic drug for atrial fibrillation. Chelidonine was isolated from Chelidonium majus L. We examined the effect of chelidonine on the hKv1.5 current expressed in Ltk-cells using whole cell mode of patch clamp techniques. Chelidonine selectively inhibited the hKv1.5 current expressed in Ltk-cells in a concentration-dependent manner, whereas did not affect the HERG current expressed in HEK-293 cells. Additionally, chelidonine reduced the tail current amplitude recorded at -50 mV after 250 ms depolarizing pulses to +60 mV, and slowed the deactivation time course resulting in a 'crossover' phenomenon when the tail currents recorded under control conditions and in the presence of chelidonine were superimposed. We found that chelidonine also inhibited the $K^{+}$ current in isolated human atrial myocytes where hKv1.5 channels were predominantly expressed. Furthermore, we examined the effects of chelidonine on the action potentials in rabbit hearts using conventional microelectrode technique. Chelidonine prolonged the action potential durations (APD) of atrial, ventricular myocytes and Purkinje fibers in a dose-dependent manner. However, the effect of chelidonine on atrial APD was frequency-dependent whereas the effect of chelidonine on the APDs of ventricular myocytes and Purkinje fibers was not frequency- dependent. Also, the selective action of chelidonine on heart was more potent than dofetilide, $K^{+}$ channel blocker.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.81-93
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• 2007

Purpose: Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) is a relatively rare tumor that arises in glandular tissues of the head and neck region and sometimes has a protracted clinical course with perineural invasion and delayed onset of distant lung metastasis. Treatment failure of salivary ACC is most often associated with perineural and hematogenous tumor spread. However, very little has been known about the cellular and molecular mechanisms of perineural invasion and hematogenous distant metastasis of parotid ACC. This study was designed to develop an orthotopic tumor model of parotid adenoid cystic carcinoma in athymic nude mice. Experimental Design: A melanoma cell line was injected into the parotid gland of athymic mice to determine whether such implantation was technically feasible. A parotid ACC cell line was then injected into the parotid gland or the subcutaneous tissue of athymic mice at various concentrations of tumor cells, and the mice were thereafter followed for development of tumor nodule. The tumors were examined histopathologically for perineural invasion or regional or distant lung metastasis. We used an oral squmous cell carcinoma cell line as control. Results: Implantation of tumor(melanoma) cell suspension into the parotid gland of nude mice was technically feasible and resulted in the formation of parotid tumors. A parotid ACC cell line, ACC3 showed no significantly higher tumorigenicity, but showed significantly higher lung metastatic potential in the parotid gland than in the subcutis. In contrast, mucosal squmous cell carcinoma cell line doesn’t show significantly higher lung metastatic potential in the parotid gland than in the subcutis. The ACC tumor established in the parotid gland seemed to demonstrate perineural invasion of facial nerve, needs further study. Conclusion: An orthotopic tumor model of salivary ACC in athymic nude mice was successfully developed that closely recapitulates the clinical situations of human salivary ACC. This model should facilitate the understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms of tumorigenisis and metastasis of salivary ACC and aid in the development of targeted molecular therapies of salivary ACC.

• Carbon letters
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.293-297
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• 2010

To investigate new potential application of a clay material for C/C composites, illite added C/C composites were prepared with various illite contents. The improvement of filler effect by illite size reduction was also investigated using wet ballmilling by evaluating illite/phenolic resin infiltration using bulk density and porosity measurements, chemical structural changes of the composites using XRD, and thermal oxidation stability in air of the composites using TGA. The size reduction of illite resulted in narrower particle size distribution and improved illite infiltration into carbon preform. And the resultant C/C composites prepared with illite had even more improved thermal oxidation stability in air, showing more increased IDTs up to $100^{\circ}C$, compared to those of the C/C composites with pristine illite, due to the SiC formation through carbothermal reduction between illite and carbon materials. The illite induced delay in oxidation of the illite-C/C composites was also observed and the delayed oxidation behavior was attributed to the layered structure of illite, which improved illite/phenol resin infiltration. Therefore, the potential use of illite as filler to improve oxidation stability of C/C composite can be promising. And the size reduction of illite can improve its effect on the desired properties of illite-C/C composites even more.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.31-40
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• 1990

Pericarp and seedcoat removal treatments were tested to determine their effectiveness in the hard-to-germinate botanical seeds of jerusalem artichoke. Fresh seed of five Helianthus tuberosus L.varieties were (A)untreated (B)water soaked overnight (C) soaked overnight followed by renoval of pericarp or (D) soaked overnight followed by renoval of pericarp and seedcoat. The results indicate that treatments which removed the pericarp and seedcoat were the very effective, giving germination of over 90%. A considerable increase in germination did not follow only the peri-carp removal treatments. The factors inhibitory to germination of fresh jerusalem artichoke seed is associated withthe seedcoat. The removal treatment of pericarp and seed-cost is recommended despite its complexity because it givesa high germination percentage and varies least from varietyto variety. Heliarthus tuberosus L., a biomass potential crop, is a member of the family compositae. The genus Helianthushas provided man with two food plants, the sunflower (H.annus) and the jerusalem artichoke or topinambour (H. tube-rosus) . (3) The jerusalem artichoke grown for its tubers, has always been an extremely minor crop, but it is stillgrown in many places as a food for man or livestock and forthe production of alcohoL. Though tubers are used for pro-pagation jerusalem artichoke also flower and produce seedin head-like in florescences. Flowers are developed acro-petaLly on flattened receptacles such that outermost flowers are oldest. Each of these epigynous flowers may develop an achene-type fruit in which outer layers of the overy wallpersist, while inner layers become disorganized. Insidethe ovary wall of mature fruit, there is a papery seedcoat, probably composed of compact cells from endosperm, integu-ments, and nucellus.In general, the efforts to improving this crop havebeen hampered by the hard-to-germinate botanical seed.Seeds did not germinate for at least IL months after harvest.Fresh seeds of some varieties require one year more to gar-minate. (5) Since the time factor between generations isof concern in a prospective breeding program of jerusalemartichoke , these observations led to investigation of thenature of delayed seed germination in jerusalem artichokeas a biomass potential crop.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.245-256
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• 1996

Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) have been developed as a new drug delivery system. Although many particulate drug carriers, such as microsphere, liposome, niosome, emulsion, etc. have been introduced, they have some disadvantage; low efficiency of incorporation and stability, lack of reproducibility, and so on. Meanwhile, SLN as a new drug delivery system is known to entrap rugs with a high efficiency and a good reproducibility. Moreover, small size SLN can circulate in blood for a prolonged time. Although many preparation methods were introduced, microfluidization method is recommended to be the most useful. This study was attempted to prepare and evaluate ketoprofen-incorporated SLNs (keto-SLN), which were prepared by two methods, ultrasonication and microfluidization. Keto-SLN was evaluated by measurement of particle size and zeta potential, efficacy of entrapment, sedimentation volume, in virto release pattern. The mean particle size was about $0.1\;{\mu}m$, and the size was dependent on the type and the amount of emulsifier. Zeta potential was negative, $-9{\sim}-13mV$ and entrapment efficacy was very high and stability was good for at least 60 days in the respect of particle size and sedimentation volume ratio. Analgesic effect was also determined as well as pharmacokinetic parameters. The former was comparable to that of that of ketoprofen loaded suspension (keto-sus) and the latter revealed that consistent with the delayed release of keto-SLN. $T_{max}$ was longer than keto-sus. Therefore, keto-SLN was favourable dosage forms in the field of drug delivery system such as anti-cancer, analgesics and anti-inflammatory agents.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.12
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• pp.1613-1620
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• 2012

Bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum is a devastating disease of many economically important crops. Since there is no promising control strategy for bacterial wilt, phage therapy could be adopted using virulent phages. We used phage PE204 as a model lytic bacteriophage to investigate its biocontrol potential for bacterial wilt on tomato plants. The phage PE204 has a short-tailed icosahedral structure and double-stranded DNA genome similar to that of the members of Podoviridae. PE204 is stable under a wide range of temperature and pH, and is also stable in the presence of the surfactant Silwet L-77. An artificial soil microcosm (ASM) to study phage stability in soil was adopted to investigate phage viability under a controlled system. Whereas phage showed less stability under elevated temperature in the ASM, the presence of host bacteria helped to maintain a stable phage population. Simultaneous treatment of phage PE204 at $10^8$ PFU/ml with R. solanacearum on tomato rhizosphere completely inhibited bacterial wilt occurrence, and amendment of Silwet L-77 at 0.1% to the phage suspension did not impair the disease control activity of PE204. The biocontrol activities of phage PE204 application onto tomato rhizosphere before or after R. solanacearum inoculation were also investigated. Whereas pretreatment with the phage was not effective in the control of bacterial wilt, post-treatment of PE204 delayed bacterial wilt development. Our results suggested that appropriate application of lytic phages to the plant root system with a surfactant such as Silwet L-77 could be used to control the bacterial wilt of crops.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.483-491
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• 2019

Cordycepin exerts neuroprotective effects against excitotoxic neuronal death. However, its direct electrophysiological evidence in Alzheimer's disease (AD) remains unclear. This study aimed to explore the electrophysiological mechanisms underlying the protective effect of cordycepin against the excitotoxic neuronal insult in AD using whole-cell patch clamp techniques. ${\beta}$-Amyloid ($A{\beta}$) and ibotenic acid (IBO)-induced injury model in cultured hippocampal neurons was used for the purpose. The results revealed that cordycepin significantly delayed $A{\beta}$ + IBO-induced excessive neuronal membrane depolarization. It increased the onset time/latency, extended the duration, and reduced the slope in both slow and rapid depolarization. Additionally, cordycepin reversed the neuronal hyperactivity in $A{\beta}$ + IBO-induced evoked action potential (AP) firing, including increase in repetitive firing frequency, shortening of evoked AP latency, decrease in the amplitude of fast afterhyperpolarization, and increase in membrane depolarization. Further, the suppressive effect of cordycepin against $A{\beta}$ + IBO-induced excessive neuronal membrane depolarization and neuronal hyperactivity was blocked by DPCPX (8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine, an adenosine $A_1$ receptor-specific blocker). Collectively, these results revealed the suppressive effect of cordycepin against the $A{\beta}$ + IBO-induced excitotoxic neuronal insult by attenuating excessive neuronal activity and membrane depolarization, and the mechanism through the activation of $A_1R$ is strongly recommended, thus highlighting the therapeutic potential of cordycepin in AD.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.751-760
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• 2015

Management of renewable organic resources is important in attaining the sustainability of agricultural production. However, nutrient management with organic resources is more complex than fertilization with chemical fertilizer because the composition of the organic input or the environmental condition will influence organic matter decomposition and nutrient release. One of the most effective methods for estimating nutrient release from organic amendment is the use of N mineralization models. The present study aimed at parameterizing N mineralization models for a number of organic amendments being used as a nutrient source for crop production. Laboratory incubation experiment was conducted in aerobic condition. N mineralization was investigated for nineteen organic amendments in sandy soil and clay soil at $20^{\circ}C$, $25^{\circ}C$, and $30^{\circ}C$. N mineralization was facilitated at higher temperature condition. Negative correlation was observed between mineralized N and C:N ratio of organic amendments. N mineralization process was slower in clay soil than in sandy soil and this was mainly due to the delayed nitrification. The single and the double exponential models were used to estimate N mineralization of the organic amendments. N mineralization potential $N_p$ and mineralization rate k were estimated in different temperature and soil conditions. Estimated $N_p$ ranged from 28.8 to 228.1 and k from 0.0066 to 0.6932. The double exponential model showed better prediction of N mineralization compared with the single exponential model, particularly for organic amendments with high C:N ratio. It is expected that the model parameters estimated based on the incubation experiment could be used to design nutrient management planning in environment-friendly agriculture.