• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.399-405
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• 2001

Urushiol, a natural pro-electrophilic quinone compound, has potential structural characteristics as antitumor chemotherapeutic agents. However, urushiol's use as an antitumor drug has some problems, because it is hardly miscible with an aqueous solution. Purified urushiol is highly viscous and soluble only in strong solvents. for this study, we prepared an urushiol-ethanol micro-emulsion with a unimodal size distribution by high-speed homogenization. This generated effective delivery of urushiol to its action wites, so that we could investigate its cytotoxic activity against cancer cells. Using a colony-forming assay, we were able to show that urushiol selectively inhibited the growth of the ovarian cancer cells PA-1 and 2774 at a concentration of $10^{-6}$, whereas it had only a negligible effect on normal CHO cells at the same concentration. The data suggest that urushiol may have potential as an effective antitumor agent in the treatment of ovarian cancer. In addition, we addressed the question of whether the specific cytotoxic effect of urushiol is linked to apoptosis, by DNA fragmentation and DAPI staining assays. The inhibitory effects of urushiol on the growth of ovarian cancer cells was found to be associated with DNA fragmentation and the fragmented nuclei formation, both of which represent markers for the induction of apoptosis. Therefore, the results suggested that urushiol affected its profound cytotoxicity by triggering apoptosis in ovarian cancer cells.

• Informatization Policy
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.81-95
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• 2019

This study explores how the advanced data analysis capabilities of intelligent information technology are being utilized in politics. In particular, we focus on the fact that voter behavioral targeting in election campaigns comes into conflict with the democratic process in various ways. For this purpose, this study examines political micro-targeting and political bots. It is aimed at showing that these technology-based campaign techniques work as a factor preventing free expression of opinions and discussions, which are the core of democracy itself. Then we identify the attributes of the algorithm that affects them. As a result, this study suggests that the following issues might arise regarding intelligent information technology-based politics and democracy. First, inequality in political participation becomes more severe. Second, the public debate between voters gets more difficult. Third, superficial politics is prevalent. Fourth, single-issue politics and the exclusion of political representation is likely to increase. Fifth, political privacy might also be invaded. Based on our discussions, this study concludes that it is our role to find ways by which intelligent information technology and democracy can coexist.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.545-550
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• 2021

Chemotherapy-induced alopecia and hair loss can be stressful in patients with cancer. The hair grows back, but sometimes the hair tends to stay thin. Therefore, understanding mechanisms regulating hair regeneration may improve the management of chemotherapy-induced alopecia. Previous studies have revealed that chemotherapeutic agents induce a hair follicle vascular injury. As hair growth is associated with micro-vessel regeneration, we postulated that the stimulation of angiogenesis might enhance hair regeneration. In particular, mice treated with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) showed delayed anagen initiation and reduced capillary density when compared with untreated controls, suggesting that the retardation of anagen initiation by 5-FU treatment may be attributed to the loss of perifollicular micro-vessels. We investigated whether the ETS transcription factor ETV2 (aka ER71), critical for vascular development and regeneration, can promote angiogenesis and hair regrowth in a 5-FU-induced alopecia mouse model. Tie2-Cre; Etv2 conditional knockout (CKO) mice, which lack Etv2 in endothelial cells, presented similar hair regrowth rates as the control mice after depilation. Following 5-FU treatment, Tie2-Cre; Etv2 CKO mice revealed a significant reduction in capillary density, anagen induction, and hair restoration when compared with controls. Mice receiving lentiviral Etv2 injection after 5-FU treatment showed significantly improved anagen induction and hair regrowth. Two-photon laser scanning microscopy revealed that enforced Etv2 expression restored normal vessel morphology after 5-FU mediated vessel injury. Our data suggest that vessel regeneration strategies may improve hair regrowth after chemotherapeutic treatment.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.151-159
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• 2014

Computed tomography (CT) is one of the most widely used medical imaging modality. However, substantial x-ray dose exposed to the human subject during the CT scan is a great concern. Region-of-interest (ROI) CT is considered to be a possible solution for its potential to reduce the x-ray dose to the human subject. In most of ROI-CT scans, the ROI is set to a circular shape whose diameter is often considerably smaller than the full field-of-view (FOV). However, an arbitrarily shaped ROI is very desirable to reduce the x-ray dose more than the circularly shaped ROI can do. We propose a new method to make a non-circular convex-shaped ROI along with the image reconstruction method. To make a ROI with an arbitrary convex shape, dynamic collimations are necessary to minimize the x-ray dose at each angle of view. In addition to the dynamic collimation, we get the ROI projection data with slightly lower sampling rate in the view direction to further reduce the x-ray dose. We reconstruct images from the ROI projection data in the compressed sensing (CS) framework assisted by the exterior projection data acquired from the pilot scan to set the ROI. To validate the proposed method, we used the experimental micro-CT projection data after truncating them to simulate the dynamic collimation. The reconstructed ROI images showed little errors as compared to the images reconstructed from the full-FOV scan data as well as little artifacts inside the ROI. We expect the proposed method can significantly reduce the x-ray dose in CT scans if the dynamic collimation is realized in real CT machines.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.17-23
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• 2014

Objectives: This study evaluated the efficacy of Endosolv-R and Xylene in softening epoxy resin based sealer after 1 to 2 min exposure. Materials and Methods: Sixty Teflon molds ($6mm{\times}1.5mm$ in inner diameter and depth) were equally divided into 3 groups of 20 each. AH 26 (Dentsply/De Trey), AH Plus (Dentsply/De Trey), Adseal (Meta-Biomed) were manipulated and placed in the molds allotted to each group and allowed to set at $37^{\circ}C$ in 100% humidity for 2 wk. Each group was further divided into 2 subgroups according to the solvents used, i.e. Xylene (Lobachemie) and Endosolv-R (Septodont). Specimens in each subgroup were exposed to respective solvents for 1 and 2 min and the corresponding Vicker's microhardness (HV) was assessed. Data was analysed by Mauchly's test and two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures, and one-way ANOVA. Results: Initial hardness was significantly different among the three sealers with AH Plus having the greatest and Adseal having the least. After 2 min, Xylene softened AH Plus and Adseal sealer to 11% and 25% of their initial microhardness, respectively (p < 0.001), whereas AH 26 was least affected, maintaining 89.4% of its initial microhardness. After 2 min, Endosolv-R softened AH 26, AH Plus and Adseal to 12.7, 5.6 and 8.1% of their initial microhardness, respectively (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Endosolv-R was a significantly more effective short term softener for all the tested sealers after 2 min whereas Xylene was an effective short term softener against AH plus and Adseal but less effective against AH 26.

• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.39-81
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• 2018

This study focuses on whether non-standard workers are matched by voluntary contract with employers in the labor market and analyzes the factors of involuntary choice of non-standard employees that are diverse by firm size. For the analysis I consider non-standard employees as either voluntary or involuntary according to the push/pull theory based on labor mobility. The Economic Activity Census Added Survey data 2016 show that the proportion of involuntary non-standard employees is greater than voluntary ones as the firm size is smaller. As a result of the analysis, involuntary non-standard employees are not significantly discriminated from voluntary non-standard employees in large firms. However, in small and medium-sized firms and micro small-sized firms, workers are more likely to be involuntarily non-standard if they are older or less educated. In addition, they are more likely to be employed involuntarily in micro small-sized firms than in small and medium-sized firms. Therefore, we should take into account the mismatching problems of compensation, specialty, and career in order to establish policies on non-standard workers. In addition to the financial support for small and medium-sized and micro small-sized firms, it is necessary to provide workers with job information that matches their job skills and career experiences.

• KIPS Transactions on Software and Data Engineering
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• v.3 no.8
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• pp.329-334
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• 2014

In this study, a new method that automatically segments trabecular bone for its morphological analysis using micro-computed tomography imaging was proposed. In the proposed method, the bone region was extracted using a threshold value, and the outer boundary of the bone was detected. The sphere of maximum size with the corresponding voxel as the center was obtained by applying the sphere-fitting method to each voxel of the bone region. If this sphere includes the outer boundary of the bone, the voxels included in the sphere are classified as cortical bone; otherwise, they are classified as trabecular bone. The proposed method was applied to images of the distal femurs of 15 mice, and comparative experiments, with results manually divided by a person, were performed. Four morphological parameters-BV/TV, Tb.Th, Tb.Sp, and Tb.N-for the segmented trabecular bone were measured. The results were compared by regression analysis and the Bland-Altman method; BV/TV, Tb.Th, Tb.Sp, and Tb.N were all in the credible range. In addition, not only can the sphere-fitting method be simply implemented, but trabecular bone can also be divided precisely by using the three-dimensional information.

• Informatization Policy
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.82-104
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• 2022

One of the interesting social phenomena in short-form video platforms is the hashtag challenge wherein ordinary users are encouraged to create by imitating short viral videos on a particular theme. Despite the increasing popularity of hashtag challenges, theoretical discussion on related user behavior is still very insufficient. In this study, we attempted to examine the impact of micro-influencers in order to understand users' willingness to participate in hashtag challenges. For this purpose, the para-social interaction theory and imitation behavior literature were adopted as key theoretical basis. In an empirical investigation using 243 survey data from TikTok users, our study found that a user's illusion of intimacy with a micro-influencer (i.e., para-social interaction) had significant positive impact on the intention to participate in a hashtag challenge. This study also showed that the degree of para-social interaction in a short-form video platform was determined by both media content-related factors and media character-related factors (i.e., content attractiveness, physical attractiveness, and attitude homophily). Our work in this study provided significant theoretical and practical implications on how to leverage micro-influencers for the success of hashtag challenges in a short-form video platform.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.18
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• pp.7575-7581
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• 2014

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play an essential role in the development and progression of nasopharyngeal carcinomas (NPC). Despite advances in the field of cancer molecular biology and biomarker discovery, the development of clinically validated biomarkers for primary NPC has remained elusive. In this study, we investigated the expression and clinical significance of miRNAs as novel primary NPC diagnostic biomarkers. We used an array containing 2, 500 miRNAs to identify 22 significant miRNAs, and these candidate miRNAs were validated using 67 fresh NPC and 25 normal control tissues via quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Expression and correlation analyses were performed with various statistical approaches, in addition to logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic curve analyses to evaluate diagnostic efficacy. qRT-PCR revealed five differentially expressed miRNAs (miR-93-5p, miR-135b-5p, miR-205-5p and miR-183-5p) in NPC tissue samples relative to control samples (p<0.05), with miR-135b-5p and miR-205-5p being of significant diagnostic value (p<0.01). Moreover, comparison of NPC patient clinicopathologic data revealed a negative correlation between miR-93-5p and miR-183-5p expression levels and lymph node status (p<0.05). These findings display an altered expression of many miRNAs in NPC tissues, thus providing information pertinent to pathophysiological and diagnostic research. Ultimately, miR-135b-5p and miR-205-5p may be implicated as novel NPC candidate biomarkers, while miR-93-5p, miR-650 and miR-183-5p may find application as relevant clinical pathology and diagnostic candidate biomarkers.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.235-247
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• 2022

Background: Ginsenoside Rg3 is one of the main active ingredients in ginseng. Here, we aimed to confirm its protective effect on the heart function in transverse aortic coarctation (TAC)-induced heart failure mice and explore the potential molecular mechanisms involved. Methods: The effects of ginsenoside Rg3 on heart and mitochondrial function were investigated by treating TAC-induced heart failure in mice. The mechanism of ginsenoside Rg3 for improving heart and mitochondrial function in mice with heart failure was predicted through integrative analysis of the proteome and plasma metabolome. Glucose uptake and myocardial insulin sensitivity were evaluated using micro-positron emission tomography. The effect of ginsenoside Rg3 on myocardial insulin sensitivity was clarified by combining in vivo animal experiments and in vitro cell experiments. Results: Treatment of TAC-induced mouse models with ginsenoside Rg3 significantly improved heart function and protected mitochondrial structure and function. Fusion of metabolomics, proteomics, and targeted metabolomics data showed that Rg3 regulated the glycolysis process, and Rg3 not only regulated glucose uptake but also improve myocardial insulin resistance. The molecular mechanism of ginsenoside Rg3 regulation of glucose metabolism was determined by exploring the interaction pathways of AMPK, insulin resistance, and glucose metabolism. The effect of ginsenoside Rg3 on the promotion of glucose uptake in IR-H9c2 cells by AMPK activation was dependent on the insulin signaling pathway. Conclusions: Ginsenoside Rg3 modulates glucose metabolism and significantly ameliorates insulin resistance through activation of the AMPK pathway.