• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.145-154
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• 2017

Objectives : Bufalin is one of the bioactive component of 'Sum Su (蟾酥)', which is obtained from the skin and parotid venom gland of toad. Bufalin has been known to possess the inhibitory effects on cell proliferation and inducing apoptosis in various cancer cells. The tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) has concerned, because it can selectively induce apoptotic cell death in many types of malignant cells, while it is relatively non-toxic to normal cells. Here, we investigated whether bufalin can trigger TRAIL-induced apoptotic cell death in EJ human bladder cancer cells. Methods : Effects on the cell viability and apoptotic activity were quantified using MTT assay and flow cytometry analysis, respectively. To investigate the morphological change of nucleus, DAPI staining was performed. Protein expressions were measured by immunoblotting. Results : A combined treatment with bufalin (10 nM) and TRAIL (50 ng/ml) significantly promoted TRAIL-mediated growth inhibition and apoptosis in EJ cells. The apoptotic effects were associated with the up-regulation of death receptor proteins, and the down-regulation of cFLIP and XIAP. Moreover, our data showed that bufalin and TRAIL combination activated caspases and subsequently increased degradation of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase. Conclusions : Taken altogether, the nontoxic doses of bufalin sensitized TRAIL-mediated apoptosis in EJ cells. Therefore, bufalin might be an effective therapeutic strategy for the safe treatment of TRAIL-resistant bladder cancers.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.1125-1131
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• 2006

A kan'::luxCDABE fusion strain that was both highly bioluminescent and responsive to benzoic acid was constructed by transforming E. coli strain W3110 with the plasmid pUCDK, which was constructed by digesting and removing the 7-kb KpnI fragment from the promoterless luxCDABE plasmid pUCD615. Experiments using buffered media showed that this induction was dependent on the pH of the media, which influences the degree of benzoic acid protonation, and the expression levels seen are likely due to acidification of the cytoplasm by uncoupling of benzoic acid. Consequently, the sensitivity of this strain for benzoic acid was increased by nearly 20-fold when the pH was shifted from 8.0 to 6.5. Benzoic acid derivatives and several phenolics also resulted in significantly increased bioluminescent signals. Although these compounds are known to damage membranes and induce the heat-shock response within E. coli, bacterial strains harboring mutations in the fadR and rpoH genes, which are responsible for fatty acid biosynthesis during membrane stress and induction of the heat-shock response, respectively, showed that these mutations had no effect on the responses observed.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.237-242
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• 2013

Cervical cancer is the second most common cause of cancer in women and has a high mortality rate. Cisplatin, an antitumor agent, is generally used for its treatment. However, the administration of cisplatin is associated with side effects and intrinsic resistance. Morinda citrifolia (Noni), a natural plant product, has been shown to have anti-cancer properties. In this study, we used Noni, cisplatin, and the two in combination to study their cytotoxic and apoptosis-inducing effects in cervical cancer HeLa and SiHa cell lines. We demonstrate here, that Noni/Cisplatin by themselves and their combination were able to induce apoptosis in both these cell lines. Cisplatin showed slightly higher cell killing as compared to Noni and their combination showed additive effects. The observed apoptosis appeared to be mediated particularly through the up-regulation of p53 and pro-apoptotic Bax proteins, as well as down-regulation of the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2, Bcl-$X_L$ proteins and survivin. Augmentation in the activity of caspase-9 and -3 was also observed, suggesting the involvement of the intrinsic mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis for both Noni and Cisplatin in HeLa and SiHa cell lines.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.313-324
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• 2015

Austenitic stainless steels have been widely used in many engineering fields because of their high corrosion resistance and good mechanical properties. However, welding or aging treatment may induce intergranular corrosion, stress corrosion cracking, pitting, etc. Since these types of corrosion are closely related to the formation of chromium carbide in grain boundaries, the alloys are controlled using methods such as lowering the carbon content, solution heat treatment, alloying of stabilization elements, and grain boundary engineering. This work focused on the effects of aging and UNSM (Ultrasonic Nano-crystal Surface Modification) on the intergranular corrosion of commercial 316L stainless steel and the results are discussed on the basis of the sensitization by chromium carbide formation and carbon segregation, residual stress, grain refinement, and grain boundary engineering.

• Environmental Mutagens and Carcinogens
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.35-42
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• 1996

Aragonite is one of polymorphs of calcium carbonate of which main form is calcite. We found that white precipitate is formed in much amount by boiling underwater of Inchon, Korea and confirmed that it is aragonite. This study is to evaluate the dimensional characteristics, solubility, acid resistance of aragonite and the cytotoxicity, cell division disturbance and cell transforming ability of it on BALB/3T3 cells. The results are as follows: Lengths of the aragonite were reduced to the 72.7% and 22.7% respectively after 5 months and 7 months of intrapleurai injection to the Sprague-Dawley rat. Strong acid such as 1M HCl dissolved the aragonite instantly but weaker acid pH 2.0 or more could not dissolved aragonite easily. The result of cell growth inhibition showed that cell numbers were decreased as log-doses of treatment of the aragonite were increased 24 hours, 48 hours, and 72 hours later. Cell plating efficiency after the aragonite treatment also showed dose-dependent decrease. Multinuclear giant cell formation was increased in the aragonite treated cells until ID$_{50}$ and after the dose the multinucleate cells were decreased, but remained much higher than negative control cells. Morphological transformation assay showed that the aragonite did not induce transformation in all treated doses.

• BMB Reports
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.507-516
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• 2005

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have been isolated and characterized from tissues and organisms representing virtually every kingdom and phylum. Their amino acid composition, amphipathicity, cationic charge, and size allow them to attach to and insert into membrane bilayers to form pores by 'barrel-stave', 'carpet' or 'toroidal-pore' mechanisms. Although these models are helpful for defining mechanisms of AMP activity, their relevance to resolving how peptides damage and kill microorganisms still needs to be clarified. Moreover, many AMPs employ sophisticated and dynamic mechanisms of action to carry out their likely roles in antimicrobial host defense. Recently, it has been speculated that transmembrane pore formation is not the only mechanism of microbial killing by AMPs. In fact, several observations suggest that translocated AMPs can alter cytoplasmic membrane septum formation, reduce cell-wall, nucleic acid, and protein synthesis, and inhibit enzymatic activity. In this review, we present the structures of several AMPs as well as models of how AMPs induce pore formation. AMPs have received special attention as a possible alternative way to combat antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains. It may be possible to design synthetic AMPs with enhanced activity for microbial cells, especially those with antibiotic resistance, as well as synergistic effects with conventional antibiotic agents that lack cytotoxic or hemolytic activity.

• BMB Reports
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.219-224
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• 2018

Necroptosis is an emerging form of programmed cell death occurring via active and well-regulated necrosis, distinct from apoptosis morphologically, and biochemically. Necroptosis is mainly unmasked when apoptosis is compromised in response to tumor necrosis factor alpha. Unlike apoptotic cells, which are cleared by macrophages or neighboring cells, necrotic cells release danger signals, triggering inflammation, and exacerbating tissue damage. Evidence increasingly suggests that programmed necrosis is not only associated with pathophysiology of disease, but also induces innate immune response to viral infection. Therefore, necroptotic cell death plays both physiological and pathological roles. Physiologically, necroptosis induce an innate immune response as well as premature assembly of viral particles in cells infected with virus that abrogates host apoptotic machinery. On the other hand, necroptosis per se is detrimental, causing various diseases such as sepsis, neurodegenerative diseases and ischemic reperfusion injury. This review discusses the signaling pathways leading to necroptosis, associated necroptotic proteins with target-specific inhibitors and diseases involved. Several studies currently focus on protective approaches to inhibiting necroptotic cell death. In cancer biology, however, anticancer drug resistance severely hampers the efficacy of chemotherapy based on apoptosis. Pharmacological switch of cell death finds therapeutic application in drug- resistant cancers. Therefore, the possible clinical role of necroptosis in cancer control will be discussed in brief.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.1034-1040
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• 2003

Tension mask is a part of CRT type devices, which is installed right behind glass-made front panel. Numerous slits on the thin metal sheet enable the electron beams emitted from posterior gun to be focused, resulting in enhanced definition. Flattened and enlarged displays necessitate the imposition of pretension on the masks, in order to improve the robustness of display quality against vibration or impact. High temperature assembly process subsequent to pretensioning, however, degenerates creep resistance of mask material, and common mask may become susceptible to undesirable elongation due to creep. Once tensile stress becomes high enough to induce creep deformation, pretension is substantially loosened. In this study, tension mask assembly is modeled as a combined structure of beams and wire array, and a numerical simulation is attempted for pretensioning followed by high temperature process. Based on a model study, creep occurrence is found to be probable and its adverse influence is quantified. As fur maintaining high tensile force, simply increasing pretension does not seem to be helpful. Instead, the structure of frame needs to be modified somehow, or material for mask needs to be selected properly.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.61-66
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• 2016

The frequency of obesity has risen dramatically in recent years but only few safe and effective drugs are currently available. In addition, obesity can induce type 2 diabetes (T2DM), hyperlipidemia and fatty liver disease. Recently, protective effect of purslane extract (PE) on obesity has been reported, but little is known about the role and mechanism of PE in obesity. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of PE on obesity and diabetes in obese mice. In addition, the effect of PE was compared with anti-obesity and diabetes drugs. High-fat diet (HFD)-induced obese mice were treated for 8 weeks with drugs as follows: PE, orlistat, metformin, voglibose or pioglitazone. While PE mixed with normal diet did not have any effects on BW in non-obese mice, PE mixed with HFD significantly reduced BW gain, insulin resistance, and glucose intolerance, without affecting food intake and appetite in obese mice. The effect was comparable to the effects of anti-obesity and diabetes drugs. Furthermore, PE significantly increased the activity of hepatocellular anti-oxidant enzymes, leading to protection of liver from oxidative stress in obese mice. These results suggest that PE treatment may be a useful tool for preventing obesity and complication of obesity.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.202-202
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• 2017

Global climate change resulted in unwarranted change in global temperature and caused heat and cold stress, which are consider major threat to agriculture productivity around the world. The use of plant growth-promoting microbes is an eco-friendly strategy to counteract such stresses and confer tolerance to the plants. In current study, previously isolated endophytic fungi Preussia sp. BSL-10 has been found to produce phytohormones such as IAA and GA and as such, endophyte Preussia sp. BSL-10 found to induced tolerance against heat and cold stress. The results showed that under both heat and cold stress the plant growth parameter such as shoot, root length, shoot fresh weight and root fresh weight is higher in Preussia sp. BSL-10 treated plants as compare to free Preussia sp. BSL-10 control plants. In addition, the stress-sensitive endogenous ABA levels were significantly increased in Preussia sp. BSL-10 host plant. The current result suggest that the phytohormone-producing endophyte Preussia sp. BSL-10 can increase plant resistance toheat and cold stress, in turn improving agricultural productivity.