• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.20 no.4 s.51
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• pp.303-309
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• 2005

Essential hypertension has been considered as multifactorial disease resulted from the interaction of both environmental and genetic factors. The renin-angiotensin system (RAS) plays an important role in the regulation of blood pressure homeostasis. Recently, a homologue of angiotensin I converting enzyme, ACE2 has been focused on as a candidate gene of essential hypertension in the experiments using animal model and human being. In this study, we carried out an association study in order to clarify the relationship between the A 1075G polymorphism in the ACE2 gene and essential hypertension in Korean subjects. Because this polymorphism is located on human chromosome X, the statistical analysis for each gender was performed separately. There were no significant differences in allele distribution of the A 1075G polymorphism in the ACE2 gene between normotensives and hypertensives in the both gender groups, respectively. However, this polymorphism was significantly associated with systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) values in only female groups (P< 0.05). Thus, these results may suggest the probable role of ACE2 gene in the inter-individual susceptibility of female group to blood pressure variability.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.236-242
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• 2016

Bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum is one of the most devastating diseases in major Solanaceae crops. The pathogen is easily disseminated and survives for many years in plant farming system. Although chemicals are applied to control the disease, they are of limited efficacy and cause several problems. Therefore, the use of phage therapy has been suggested to control the disease as a biological agent. In this study, we discovered bacteriophages lysing diverse Ralstonia isolates from plant and soil samples obtained from the potato cultivated field in Jeju. Three times repeated pickings of plaques resulted in obtaining 173 single phages showing diverse spectrum of host-specificity. With the results, 12 core phages were selected and dendrogram was generated. Genetic diversity of the selected phages was also confirmed by AFLP (Amplified Fragment of Length Polymorphism) fingerprinting. The stability of the phages was investigated in various temperatures and various conditions of pH in vitro. The phages were stable at $16^{\circ}C-44^{\circ}C$ and pH 6-10. Morphological characterization of the phages revealed they were all classified into the Podoviridae, but had diverse head sizes. The results of this research will contribute to control the disease and further researches regarding genetic and molecular aspects will facilitate understanding phage and bacteria interaction.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.111-114
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• 2004

Molecular imaging provides a visualization of normal as well as abnormal cellular processes at a molecular or genetic level rather than at a anatomical level. Conventional medical imaging methods utilize the imaging signals produced by nonspecific physico-chemical interaction. However, molecular imaging methods utilize the imaging signals derived from specific cellular or molecular events. Because molecular and genetic changes precede anatomical change in the course of disease development, molecular imaging can detect early events in disease progression. in the near future, through molecular imaging we can understand basic mechanisms of disease, and diagnose earlier and, subsequently, treat earlier intractable diseases such as cancer, neuro-degenerative diseases, and immunologic disorders. In beginning period, nuclear medicine started as a molecular imaging, and has had a leading role in the field of molecular imaging. But recently molecular imaging has been rapidly developed. Besides nuclear imaging, molecular imaging methods such as optical imaging, magnetic resonance imaging are emerging. Each imaging modalities have their advantages and weaknesses. The opportunities from molecular imaging look bright. We should try nuclear medicine continues to have a leading role in molecular imaging.

• BMB Reports
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.23-28
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• 2010

Binary toxin consisting of BinA and BinB from Bacillus sphaericus is toxic to mosquito larvae. BinB is responsible for specific binding to the larval gut cell membrane while BinA is crucial for toxicity. To investigate functional role of cysteine in BinB, three cysteine residues at positions 67, 161, and 241 were replaced by alanine or serine. Mutations at these positions did not affect protein production and overall structure of BinB. These cysteine residues are not involved in disulfide bond formation between BinB molecules. Mosquito-larvicidal assays revealed that C67 and C161 are essential for toxicity, whereas C241 is not. Mutations at C67 and C161 resulted in weaker BinA-BinB interaction. The loss of toxicity may be due to the reduction of interactions between BinA and BinB or BinB and its receptor. C67 and C161 could also play a part during conformational changes or internalization of the binary toxin into the target cell.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.607-612
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• 2012

The wear problem of wheel flange occurs at sharp curves of rail. This paper proposes a procedure for optimum design of a wheel profile wherein flange wear is reduced by improving an interaction between wheel and rail. Application of optimization method to design problem mainly depends on characteristics of design space. This paper compared local optimization method with global optimization according to sensitivity value of objective function for design variables to find out which optimization method is appropriable to minimize wear of wheel flange. Wheel profile is created by a piecewise cubic Hermite interpolating polynomial and dynamic performances are analyzed by a railway dynamic analysis program, VAMPIRE. From the optimization results, it is verified that the global optimization method such as genetic algorithm is more suitable to wheel profile optimization than the local optimization of SQP (Sequential Quadratic Programming) in case of considering the lack of empirical knowledge for initial design value.

• Korean Journal Plant Pathology
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.90-94
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• 1997

Interaction of races of rice blast fungus and cultivars has been evaluated. Dongjinbyeo was infected by four KJ races and two KI races, while other varieties were susceptible to four to six KJ or KI races. Among the single spores reisolated from the leaf blast lesion of Dongjinbyeo after mixed inoculation of 10 races, 63% was race KJ-301 which produced a small number and small size lesions, while 30% was race KI-313 which produced a large number of lesions. However, 93% of single spores reisolated from Palgongbyeo was a highly virulent race KJ-105. On the other hand, all the races were equally reisolated from the susceptible cultivar Jinmibyeo. Frequency of races isolated from the naturally infected leaf blast lesions in the field was similar to that of reisolated races from the cultivars inoculated with 10 mixed races in the greenhouse. However, 30% of single spores isolated from the naturally infected Dongjinbyeo was race KI-329 ut ace KI-313 was not detected. Genetic relationship of the isolates collected from leaf and neck blast fungus of Jinmibyeo and Nakdongbyeo showed specific bands on RFLP-P64, However, their genetic similarity was 80%.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.216-225
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• 1999

Safety of present food has been accepted on the basis of extensive use experience for a long time. Many food resources have been developed by traditional techniques without any significant adverse impacts on the safety of food. Recently recombinant DNA techniques are being used to develop new food resources. These techniques enable developers to make specific genetic modifications in food resources that introduce substances that could not be introduced by traditional methods. With these techniques food resources are being to resist pests and disease, to tolerate herbicides, and to have improved characteristics for food preservation and nutritional contents. Because the properties of an organism results from interaction between biochemical pathways controlled by many genes, the genes conferring these traits usually encode directly responsible proteins for the new trait as well as proteins that indirectly modify carbohydrates or lipids in food. Therefore, this kind of food is regarded as new food that has not been existed before, and the safety of the food developed by recombinant DNA techniques should be evaluated upon scientific basis. In this paper, the issues upon safety of the food developed by gene manipulation are diseased in terms of composional changes that can be introduced, potential food safety harzards that might arise, present status of safety regulations in various countries and international organizations, and suggestions for the safety regulation in Korea.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.465-475
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• 2014

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of workload on musculoskeletal degeneration. Background: It is important that workers maintain a health body for a long time as a measure of aging workers. In order do so, it is necessary to find out if workload can effect on musculoskeletal degeneration. Method: Epidemiological studies on workload or occupation and disc degeneration, osteoarthritis of knee were identified through database and bibliography searches. Results: Epidemiological studies showed that workload certainly effect on musculoskeletal degeneration. But we couldn't know which of individual factors and occupational factors further contribute to the musculoskeletal degeneration. And we could find that studies on workload and genetic factors were very few. In addition, there was also very few studies that it was possible interaction between individual factors as obesity and occupational factors as heavy manual lifting. Conclusion: Our reviews suggest that it need to conduct study between workload and genetic factors for musculoskeletal degeneration. This further study can identify attributable risk of workload for musculoskeletal degeneration, and contribute to the measure of aging workers. Application: This paper can help to establish research plan for the measure of aging workers.

• The korean journal of orthodontics
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• v.20 no.3 s.32
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• pp.593-608
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• 1990

Facial cleft is not a common anomaly of craniofacial region. But it is often accompanied with cleft lip and/or palate, so it seems important to orthodontist. Facial cleft is defined as a fissure or elongated opening of the facial region, and it's etiology is the failure of the fusion of the parts which will form the face in embryonic developmental period. Facial cleft can be classified according to the time of occurrence and the area involved during developmental period. It developes 1-2.5 weeks earlier than cleft lip and/or cleft palate. In facial cleft, the deformity is generally confined to the facial region, but sometimes deformity of other body region can accompany. The interaction of the facial cleft and the genetic anomaly is not confirmed, but genetic anomaly is known to be able to occur with the patient with other anomaly of body. As an orthodontist we should know the general considerations of facial cleft and it's treatment procedures other than orthodontic treatment.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.39 no.7
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• pp.524-529
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• 2016

Controlling the production of diverse cell/tissue types is essential for the development of multicellular organisms such as animals and plants. The Arabidopsis thaliana root, which contains distinct cells/tissues along longitudinal and radial axes, has served as an elegant model to investigate how genetic programs and environmental signals interact to produce different cell/tissue types. In the root, a series of asymmetric cell divisions (ACDs) give rise to three ground tissue layers at maturity (endodermis, middle cortex, and cortex). Because the middle cortex is formed by a periclinal (parallel to the axis) ACD of the endodermis around 7 to 14 days post-germination, middle cortex formation is used as a parameter to assess maturation of the root ground tissue. Molecular, genetic, and physiological studies have revealed that the control of the timing and extent of middle cortex formation during root maturation relies on the interaction of plant hormones and transcription factors. In particular, abscisic acid and gibberellin act synergistically to regulate the timing and extent of middle cortex formation, unlike their typical antagonism. The SHORT-ROOT, SCARECROW, SCARECROW-LIKE 3, and DELLA transcription factors, all of which belong to the plant-specific GRAS family, play key roles in the regulation of middle cortex formation. Recently, two additional transcription factors, SEUSS and GA- AND ABA-RESPONSIVE ZINC FINGER, have also been characterized during ground tissue maturation. In this review, we provide a detailed account of the regulatory networks that control the timing and extent of middle cortex formation during post-embryonic root development.