• Journal of Life Science
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• v.15 no.4 s.71
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• pp.542-547
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• 2005

Hypersensitivity of cells lacking Brcal to DNA interstrand .ross-link (ICL) agents such as cisplatin and mitomycin C(MMC) implicates the important role of Brcal in cellular response following ICL treatment. Brca1 plays an essential role in DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair through homologous recombination (HR)-dependent and -independent process. Recently, our group has been reported that Brca1 involves in cellular ICL response through HR-dependent repair process (Yun J. et at., Oncogene 2005). In this report, the involvement of Brca1 protein in HR-independent repair process is examined using isogenic $p53^{-/-}\;and\;p53^{-/-}\;Brcal^{-/-}$ mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) and psoralen cross-linked reporter reactivation assay. Brcal-deficient MEFs showed significantly low HR-independent repair activity compare to Brca1-proficient MEFs. Hypersensitivity to MMC and ICL reporter repair activity were restored by the reconstitution of Brca1 expression. Interestingly, MEFs expressing exon 11-deleted isoform of Brca1 $(Brca1^{\Delta11/\Delta11})$ showed high resistance to MMC and ICL reporter repair activity comparable to Brca1-reconstituted MEFs. Taken together, these results suggest that Brca1 involves in ICL repair through not only HR-dependent process but also HR-independent process using N-terminal RINC finger domain or C-terminal BRCT domain rather than exon 11 region which mediate interaction with Rad50.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.305-319
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• 2012

The Myeongdongseongdang Cathedral, which was designated as Historic Site No. 258 in Korea, is a representative cathedral of Korean Catholic church designed by a French priest Eugene-Jean Georges Coste and completed in 1898. It is a Gothic-styled architecture constructed with bricks and stones. Lithological and mineralogical analyses determined that holy stone relics were made of marble and granite, and foundation stones are of pink feldspar granite. Deterioration mapping and ultrasonic measurement revealed main weathering and damage were exfoliation (40%) and black discoloration (37%) in the holy water basin, and exfoliation (6%) and discoloration (46%) in the exterior foundation stones. Ultrasonic velocity of the stones were calculated as 3,525m/s in the holy water basin and 2,795m/s in the exterior stones that indicated these stones were sorted into moderately to highly weathered rock. This was resulted from moisture and atmospheric pollutants around the cathedral.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.32 no.10
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• pp.905-915
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• 2010

With rising food waste, the management activities have gained growing attention, and the disposal options, particularly utilization of food waste for energy recovery, become central. This research examines the factors affecting food waste generation and the tendency to resource food waste. The self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted in newly built multifamily housing estates to collect data, and 300 responses were analyzed. The statistical analysis showed that most of the respondents purchased food materials in largely franchised grocery stores and discarded food that had been too long refrigerated to edible. The lifecycle of food consumption was divided into three states - food purchase plan, cooking and food waste collection. Regression analysis was employed to find out the relationships between three stages and food waste generation or tendency to resource food waste. The results described that food waste generation being affected by the stage of food purchase plan (food waste removal conditions) was statistically significant while it's statistically significant that the stage of cooking (prepurchase considerations) influenced the attitude toward food waste resource. The research findings indicated that food is overconsumed, and further many viewed food waste resources as a proactive and integrative mode in the global wave of sustainability.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.53-62
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• 2012

Demand for high resolution weather data grows in the agriculture and forestry fields. Local Analysis and Prediction System (LAPS) can be used to analyze the local weather at high spatial and temporal resolution, utilizing the data from various sources including numerical weather prediction models, wind or temperature profilers, Automated Weather Station (AWS) networks, radars, and satellites. LAPS has been set to analyze weather elements such as air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and wind direction every hour at the spatial resolution of $100m{\times}100m$ for Gyeonggi-do on near real-time basis. The AWS data were revised by adding the agricultural field AWS data (33 stations) in addition to the KMA data. The analysis periods were from 1 to 31 August 2009 and from 15 to 21 February 2010. The comparison of the LAPS output showed the smaller errors when using the agricultural AWS observation data together with the KMA data as its input data than using only either the agricultural or KMA AWS data. The accuracy of the current system needs improvement by further optimization of analyzing options of the system. However, the system is highly applicable to various fields in agriculture and forestry because it can provide site specific data with reasonable time intervals.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.3315-3322
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• 2015

Staphylococcus aureus is the major causative organism of nasocomial infection being the important pathogen in the clinic. Appearance of staphylococcus aureus resistant to methicillin (MRSA) is becoming a big problem in clinics and dynamics all over the world acquiring antibiotic resistance with virulence factors as its feature differentiated from other pathogenic bacteria fast. This research intended to compare and analyze the correlation of antibiotics resistance between strains with toxin genes and distribution of toxin genes of MRSA 101 strains acquired from clinical specimen in one general hospital (enterotoxin(se), toxic shock syndrome toxin-1(tst), exfoliative toxin(et), Panton Valentine leukocidin(pvl)). seg gene, isolated the most among toxin genes, was detected in 59 strains (58.4%) and more than two toxin genes were detected in 70 strains (69.3%). As a combination possessing toxin genes, it was detected in 19 strains (18.8%) as seb, sec, seg, sei, tst and the second frequent combination was sec, seg, sei shown in 11 strains (10.9%). 19 strains (18.8%) with combinations of toxin genes same with seb, sec, seg, sei, tst had 100% resistance Ampicillin, Benzylpenicillin, Ciprofloxacin, Clindamycin, Gentamicin, Erythromycin, Telithromycin, Tetracycline antibiotics. Strains with many toxin genes showed high correlation of antibiotic resistance. Afterwards, effective therapy and thorough infection management should be preceded not to spread the resistance of MRSA strain.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.201-206
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• 2011

Purpose : Bacteremia is one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality in children with cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical features of bacteremia in pediatric cancer patients. Methods : We retrospectively analyzed bacteremia episodes occurred in pediatric cancer patients at Samsung Medical Center from January 2008 to December 2010. We excluded bacteremia episodes after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Results : A total of 141 blood cultures were positive in 121 patients. Thirteen cultures due to contamination were excluded. For analysis, 128 bacteremia episodes in 108 children were included. Gram-positive organisms accounted for 46.9% (60/ 128) and gram-negative organisms for 53.1% (68/128). The source of bacteremia was identified in 21.1% of episodes. Bacteremia due to catheter related infection was observed in 9.4% of episodes (12/128 episodes) and gram-positive organisms were isolated in 75% of episodes (9/12). There were 10 cases (7.8%) of bacteremia associated with septic shock and gramnegative organisms were isolated in 80% of episodes (8/10). Relapses were documented within 30 days in 2 patients who cleared bacteremia which was confirmed after negative blood cultures. Mortality associated with bacteremia was not observed. Conclusion : Continuous monitoring is needed to maintain the tailored strategies to manage pediatric cancer patients with neutropenic fever who are at high risk of developing bacteremia in each institution.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.264-269
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• 2014

The molecular interaction between tumor suppressor p53 and the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family proteins plays an essential role in the transcription-independent apoptotic pathway of p53. In this study, we investigated the binding of p53 DNA-binding domain (p53DBD) with the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family proteins, Bcl-w, Mcl-1, and Bcl-2, using GST pull-down assay and NMR spectroscopy. The GST pull-down assays and NMR experiments demonstrated the direct binding of the p53DBD with Bcl-w, Mcl-1, and Bcl-2. Further, NMR chemical shift perturbation data showed that Bcl-w and Mcl-1 bind to the positively charged DNA-binding surface of p53DBD. Noticeably, the refined structural models of the complexes between p53DBD and Bcl-w, Mcl-1, and Bcl-2 showed that the binding mode of p53DBD is highly conserved among the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family proteins. Furthermore, the chemical shift perturbations on Bcl-w, Mcl-1, and Bcl-2 induced by p53DBD binding occurred not only at the p53DBD-binding acidic region but also at the BH3 peptide-binding pocket, which suggests an allosteric conformational change similar to that observed in Bcl-$X_L$. Taken altogether, our results revealed a structural basis for a conserved binding mechanism between p53DBD and the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family proteins, which shed light on to the molecular understanding of the transcription-independent apoptosis pathway of p53.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.45-50
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• 2003

Purpose : This study was conducted to develop primary assessment tools to evaluate the relationship between symptom prevalence and symptom distress in cancer patients of Korea. Methods : A total of 196 patients diagnosed with cancer admitted in 5 general hospitals from January, 6 to January, 20 in 2003, were entered into the study. These patients were asked to complete the MSAS (Memorial symptom assessment scale). We classified these answers into prevalence and distress and then scored them according to grade and frequency. Results : The five most prevalent symptoms were lack of energy (82.1%), dry mouth (73.5%), pain (73.5%), itching (72.4%), and feeling drowsy (68.9%). Among 24 common prevalent symptoms, the ten most distress the symptoms were dry mouth (2.11), itching (2.07), pain (2.03), lack of energy (1.98), difficulty sleeping (1.96), worrying (1.94), "I don't look like myself" (1.91), constipation (1.88), and difficulty concentration (1.76). Conclusion : These 10 symptoms had high prevalence and distress in cancer patients of Korea. We suggest these symptoms to be applied in developing the primary assessment tool in cancer patients.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2003

This paper addresses the minor differences in the description of pain in Korean language in order to develop a standarized cancer pain aneument tool for Korean adults, Korean Caancer Pain Assessement Tool. The subtle differences in the meaning of expressions used cannot be translated into English and therefore we omiltted the English abstract.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.472-487
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• 2016

This study aimed to determine the effects of floral fragrances on human brain waves and moods. A total of 44 subjects participated in this experiment. Group 1 consisted of 11 male and 14 female college students with a mean age of 24.5 years (${\pm}2.23$) and Group 2 consisted of 10 males and 9 females with a mean age of 54.3 years (${\pm}2.98$). Subjects were exposed to floral fragrances of Rosa hybrida, 'Hera' (hereafter referred to as "rose"), Cymbidium faberi (hereafter referred to as "orchid"), or odorless control flowers (hereafter referred to as "control"). Experiments took place in three rooms (rose, orchid, and control). Electroencephalographs (EEGs) were recorded during exposure to the odors and the data were processed using quantitative electroencephalographic (QEEG) techniques. The changing EEG patterns were analyzed by brain mapping and compressed spectral arrays, and the subjects' preferences (hedonic evaluations) were quantified with an A1 index. Increased activation of absolute alpha waves was verified on six of the eight EEG channels, with the right frontal and left occipital lobes exhibiting no changes and the left parietal region showing the greatest activation. According to the QEEG measurements in the electrode sites over the frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes, the strongest absolute alpha waves were induced in the parietal lobes, followed by the temporal lobes, with the other lobes showing no significant changes. On brain maps, the orchid fragrance induced greater absolute alpha and absolute mid-beta activities compared with the rose and control fragrances, and the rose fragrance induced high absolute mid-beta activation. To identify emotional responses to floral fragrances, the subjects were requested to fill in a questionnaire and the resulting odor-related emotional descriptors were analyzed using semantic differential and factor analysis. Principal component analysis identified "elegant" as the first principal component describing the floral fragrance, followed by "refreshing" and "aromatic." The subjects gave orchid higher scores for "elegant" and "refreshing," while finding rose more "aromatic." Differences in hedonic evaluation revealed by the A1 index appeared in the 65-115 sec range of scent exposure time. The subjects with ages of around 50 years showed olfactory preferences throughout the entire experimental time of 160 sec, most markedly in the later time segment (115-165 sec), showing an increasing preference with increasing exposure time. We conclude that rose fragrance can improve concentration by creating an aromatic environment conducive to a concentrated and calm state of mind, and orchid fragrance can make people feel pampered and relaxed by creating an elegant and refreshing environment.