• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.218-224
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• 2004

We present a miniature Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (micro-DMFC) using platinum sputtered microcolumn electrodes with a limited amount of fuel. We use the microcolumn electrode in order to improve the power density of the micro-DMFC that consists of two electrodes and polymer electrolyte. We also design the built-in fuel chamber in the anode for the portable electronics applications. We design and fabricate both microcolumn and planar electrodes, having an identical projective area of 5mm${\times}$5mm. The diffusion current density of the microcolumn electrode is 1.73 times higher than that of the planar electrode at electrode potential of 1.1V in the half-cell test. The micro-DMFC based on the microcolumn electrodes shows the maximum power of 10.8$\pm$7.54㎼(43.23$\pm$0.16㎼/$\textrm{cm}^2$) at the projective area of 5mm${\times}$5mm, while the planar electrode micro-DMFC shows the maximum power of 0.81$\pm$0.42㎼(3.24$\pm$1.68㎼/$\textrm{cm}^2$) at the same projective area. The micro-DMFC based on the microcolumn electrodes shows 13 times higher power density that the micro-DMFC based on the planar electrodes does.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.43-49
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• 2019

Tannic acid (TA) is a water-soluble polyphenol compound found in various herbal plants. We investigated the chemopreventive effects of TA on FaDu hypopharyngeal squamous carcinoma cells. In an 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, TA showed dose-dependent cytotoxicity with a half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 50 ?M. Cell cycle analysis and immunofluorescence imaging demonstrated that under low-dose ($25{\mu}M$) treatment, FaDu cells were arrested in G2/M phase, and as the dose of TA was increased, apoptosis was induced with the increase of cell population at sub-G1 phase. The expressions of various cyclins, including cyclin D1 and cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK-1 and CDK-2), were down-regulated at low doses of TA, whereas apoptotic effectors such as cleaved caspase 3, cleaved caspase 7, and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) were expressed in a dose-dependent manner in Western blotting. In addition, TA-induced apoptosis of FaDu cells might be mediated by the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)/mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway, with the upregulation of p-AKT/p-PKB (phosphorylated protein kinase B) and p-ERK. Overall, our data support the hypothesis that TA is a potential candidate agent for the treatment of hypopharyngeal cancer.

• Journal of the Korean society of biological therapies in psychiatry
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.142-155
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• 2018

Insomnia in patients with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation(HSCT) has been underdiagnosed and undertreated. This study reviewed the frequency, characteristics, physical and psychological effects, and treatments of insomnia in HSCT patients to highlight clinical importance in this specialized population. Furthermore, the authors intended to suggest a model that would conceptualize insomnia in the context of HSCT. In the pre-transplant period, about half of patients with HSCT suffered from sleep disturbance. A substantial number of patients experienced distressing insomnia during the HSCT procedure and recovered to the level of the pre-transplant period. However, sleep disruption could be a chronic symptom in HSCT survivors and could negatively impact quality of control, cancer-related fatigue(CRF), immune function, and psychological distress. The 3P's model(Predisposing, Precipitating, Perpetuating) explains insomnia in cancer population and could be also relevant to HSCT patients with specific consideration of CRF, graft-versus-host diseases, specific properties of hematological disease, and protective isolated milieu. Effective treatment of insomnia in HSCT includes non-pharmacological(e.g., cognitive behavioral therapy, environmental modification) and pharmacological interventions. The decision of pharmacological treatment should be based on the issue of safety due to high risk of potential drug-drug interactions. Screening, treatment, and further research of insomnia in HSCT patients using validated subjective and/or objective measures are warranted.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.5.1-5.22
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• 2022

The approval of immunotherapies such as checkpoint inhibitors (CPIs), adoptive cell therapies and cancer vaccines has revolutionized the way cancer treatment is approached. While immunotherapies have improved clinical outcome in a variety of tumor types, some cancers have proven harder to combat using single agents, underscoring the need for multi-targeted immunotherapy approaches. Efficacy of CPIs and cancer vaccines requires patients to have a competent immune system with adequate cell numbers while the efficacy of adoptive cellular therapy is limited by the expansion and persistence of cells after infusion. A promising strategy to overcome these challenges is combination treatment with common gamma-chain cytokines. Gamma-chain cytokines play a critical role in the survival, proliferation, differentiation and function of multiple immune cell types, including CD8 T-cells and NK cells, which are at the center of the anti-tumor response. While the short halflife of recombinant cytokines initially limited their application in the clinic, advancements in protein engineering have led to the development of several next-generation drug candidates with dramatically increased half-life and bioactivity. When combining these cytokines with other immunotherapies, strong evidence of synergy has been observed in preclinical and clinical cancer settings. This promising data has led to the initiation of 70 ongoing clinical trials including IL-2, IL-7, IL-15 and IL-21. This review summarizes the recent advancements of common gamma-chain cytokines and their potential as a cancer immunotherapy.

• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.57-63
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• 2018

Objectives: Metabolic syndrome is defined by a cluster of major cardiovascular risk factors: obesity, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, and arterial hypertension. Several members of a large family of nonselective cation entry channels, e.g., transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 (TRPV4) channels have been associated with the development of dyslipidemia and hypertension. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of Leejung-tang (Lizhong-tang), Rikkunshito, and Bojungikgi-tang (Buzhongyiqi-tang) on TRPV4 channel. Methods: Human embryonic kidney 293 cells stably transfected with the TRPV4 expression vectors were maintained in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum, 1% penicillin/streptomycin, $5{\mu}g/mL$ blasticidin, and 0.4 mg/mL zeocin in a humidified 20% $O_2/10%$ $CO_2$ atmosphere at $37^{\circ}C$. Whole-cell patch clamp recordings were obtained using an Axopatch 700B amplifier and pClamp v.10.4 software (Molecular Devices, San Jose, CA, USA), and signals were digitalized at 5 kHz using Digidata 1422A. Results: Leejung-tang and Rikkunshito (10, 30 and 50 mg/mL) had no effects on the TRPV4 whole-cell currents at dose dependent manner. However, Bojungikgi-tang (10, 30, and 50 mg/mL) inhibited the TRPV4 whole-cell currents in a dose dependent manner and the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of Bojungikgi-tang was 18.2 mg/mL. Conclusions: These results suggest that Bojungikgi-tang plays an important roles to inhibit the TRPV4 channel, suggesting that Bojungikgi-tang is considered one of the candidate agents for the treatment of metabolic syndrome such as dyslipidemia and hypertension.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Developmental Biology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.80-80
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• 2003

In cryopreserved rat embryos, survival rates obtained in vitro are not always consistent with the rates obtained in vivo. To determine the optimal conditions for in vivo development to term, rat embryos at the 4-cell, 8-cell and morula stages were vitrified in EFS40 by a 1-step method and transferred into oviducts or uterine horns of recipients at various times during pseudopregnancy. Vitrified and fresh 4-cell embryos only developed after transfer into oviducts of asynchronous recipients on Day -1 to -2 of synchrony, i.e., at a point in pseudopregnancy that was 1-2 days earlier than the embryos. However, although about half the vitrified embryos transferred into oviducts on Day -1 developed to term, only a minority of embryos transferred at later times did so, whether vitrified (10-34%) or fresh (24-33%), suggesting that this may not be the most suitable stage for cryopreservation. Very few 8-cell embryos, either vitrified or fresh, developed when transferred into oviducts on Day 0 to -0.5. However, when transferred into uterine horns, high proportions of vitrified 8-cell embryos (-63%) developed to term in reasonably synchronous recipients (Day 0 to -0.5) but not in more asynchronous ones (6%; Day-1). A majority of vitrified morulae also developed to term (52-68%) in a wider range of recipients (Day 0 to -1), the greatest success occurring with recipients on Day -0.5. Similar proportions of vitrified and fresh 4-cell embryos, 8-cell embryos and morulae developed to term when there was appropriate synchronization between embryo and recipient. Thus vitrification of preimplantation stage rat embryos does not appear to impair their developmental potential in vivo.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.373-380
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• 2001

The action of opioid on the hyperpolarization-activated cation current $(I_h)$ in substantia gelatinosa neurons were investigated by using whole-cell voltage-clamp recording in rat spinal brain slices. Hyperpolarizing voltage steps revealed slowly activating currents in a subgroup of neurons. The half-maximal activation and the reversal potential of the current were compatible to neuronal $I_h.$ DAMGO $(1\;{\mu}M),$ a selective- opioid agonist, reduced the amplitude of $I_h$ reversibly. This reduction was dose-dependent and was blocked by CTOP $(2\;{\mu}M),$ a selective ${\mu}-opioid$ antagonist. DAMGO shifted the voltage dependence of activation to more hyperpolarized potential. Cesium (1 mM) or ZD 7288 $(100\;{\mu}M)$ blocked $I_h$ and the currents inhibited by cesium, ZD 7288 and DAMGO shared a similar time and voltage dependence. These results suggest that activation of ${\mu}-opioid$ receptor by DAMGO can inhibit $I_h$ in a subgroup of rat substantia gelatinosa neurons.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.229-234
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• 1991

Thc chimeric morulae were produced following aggregation of the half embryos which were microsurgically bisected at 8-cell and early morula stage. Different phenotypic embryos were obtained by mating ICR female mice with ICR or CBA male mice. The early morula stage was thc desirable stage for the aggregation of mouse embryos after bisection. The post-thawed survival rates of bisected-aggregated embryos that developed into normal blastocyst after conventional freezing in DMSO and ethylene glycol were 30.5 and 32.896, respectively. One offspring was produced by transferring the 67 frozen-thawed bisected-aggregated embryos.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 1998.10c
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• pp.203-206
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• 1998

In reinforced concrete carbonation of concrete leads to depassivation of the reinforcement, and hence to initiation of corrosion. As a result of carbonation accelerating experiment with using effect of wet-dry cycle and 15% concentration of CO ₂, the carbonation rate shows very distinct difference according to W/C ratio. OPC-40 estimated no carbonation depth, whereas OPC-60 estimated rapidly the carbonation rate. The comparative analysis of the carbonation rate accelerating depends on different kinds of cement shows fastest FAC-20. Also, highly W/C ratio's concrete shows low half-cell potential value and fast corrosion rate. During period for 14 weeks. corrosion rate was not severe. So, it can be concluded that only carbonation attack on concrete doesn't severly deteriorated except very poor qualitified concrete.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 1998.10c
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• pp.211-216
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• 1998

Recently the shortage of good aggregate has encouraged the use of sea sand in construction field, and the corrosion damage of the reinforced steel in concrete structures has been increased due to chlorides from sea sand and deicing salt. Therefore, a number of researchs are proceeding to prevent the corrosion of the reinforced steel in concrete, especially in marine environments. This study focused on the effect of corrosion inhibitors to evaluate protection characteristics for mortar specimens containing clorides. Corrosion behaviors have been investigated by half-cell potential measurement, linear polarization method, AC impedance method, and cyclic polarization test after immersing in sea water for 7 years. A possitive effect of a corrosion inhibitor has been obtained.