• Title/Summary/Keyword: Molecular Characteristics

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Associations Between Mammography and Ultrasound Imaging Features and Molecular Characteristics of Triple-negative Breast Cancer

  • Li, Bo;Zhao, Xin;Dai, Shao-Chun;Cheng, Wen
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.15 no.8
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    • pp.3555-3559
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    • 2014
  • Background: The triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive cancer characterized by the absence of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). Preoperative mammography and ultrasound features of TNBC may potentially suggest characteristics of the disease and assist in treatment decisions. Materials and Methods: The study covered 153 patients with TNBC from May 2011 to May 2012 who were confirmed by postoperative pathology results in our hospital. We compared the radiological findings among the patients and sought to determine the significant iconographic features. The biomarkers p53 and Ki-67 are regarded as significant factors in TNBC. They were therefore used to divide the TNBC into four groups for assessment of relationships with TNBC imaging features. Results: On mammography, most TNBCs exhibit obscure (44.3%) masses. On ultrasound, the majority of masses (95.4%) were predominantly indistinct (50.7%), irregular (76.0%) or featuring posterior echo enhancement/shadowing. Color Doppler flow imaging (CDFI) emphasized hypervascular (32.9%) masses. Differences in CDFI by ultrasound among the four groups were statistically significant (p=0.009). There were obvious differences in the percentages of spiculated margin (p=0.049) and intensive posterior echo (p=0.006) with spotty flow imaging by ultrasound between the Ki-67 (+) p53 (+) and other groups. Conclusions: A combination of mammography and ultrasound revealed the imaging characteristics of TNBC included an obscure mass with less attenuated posterior echoes and some vascularity. A worse prognosis was associated with spiculated margin and intensive posterior echoes with spotty flow imaging.

Effects of Betaine on Growth Performance and Carcass Characteristics in Growing Pigs

  • Yu, D.Y.;Xu, Z.R.;Li, W.F.
    • Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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    • v.17 no.12
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    • pp.1700-1704
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    • 2004
  • Ninety six growing pigs ($Duroc{\times}Landrace{\times}Jia$) were used to investigate the effects of betaine on growth, nutrient utilization, carcass composition and meat quality at different levels of betaine in the diet. The pigs were randomly assigned by weight to four groups, each of which was replicated three times with eight pigs per replicate. Four groups were fed with diets supplemented with 0, 1,000, 1,500 and 2,000 mg/kg betaine. The pigs were grown from 20 kg live weight to approximately 64 kg. The 1,000 mg/kg and 1,500 mg/kg betaine treated groups increased average daily gain by 13.20% (p<0.01) and 9.28% (p<0.05) and average daily feed intake by 7.30% (p<0.05) and 7.33% (p<0.01) respectively and decreased feed conversion ratio by 7.93% (p<0.01) and 6.55% (p<0.05) respectively compared to the control group. However, these differences were not found in the other betaine treated groups. The 1,000 mg/kg betaine treated group significantly elevated carcass lean proportion by 7.49% (p<0.05) and longissimus muscle area by 19.12% p<0.05) and contents of ether extract and myoglobin in longissimus dorsi. by 34.21% (p<0.01) and 29.56% (p<0.01) respectively, reduced carcass fat proportion and fat depth by 27.21% (p<0.05) and 14.86% (p<0.05) respectively compared to the control group. It is concluded that betaine supplementation in the diets may improve growth performance and carcass characteristics in growing pigs.

Identification of Red Tide-causing Organism and Characteristics of Red Tide Occurrence in the Oncheon Down Stream, Busan (온천천 하류 적조 원인생물의 동정 및 발생 특성)

  • Kim, Mi-hee;Ji, Hwa-seong;Cho, Jeong-goo;Cho, Sunja
    • Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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    • v.34 no.3
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    • pp.285-292
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    • 2018
  • This study was performed in order to identify the red tide-causing organism and to understand the characteristics of the water quality during the winter of 2015 and 2016 in the Oncheon stream, a tidal river in Busan, where red tide often occurs in the wintertime. Two sites were selected on the stream and the surface water was sampled a total of 28 times during the experimental period. Twelve water quality characteristics, including water temperature, pH, DO, COD, total-N (T-N), total-P (T-P), and salinity were analyzed in order to test water quality. The cell numbers of cryptomonads were counted directly by microscopic observation. The nucleotide sequences of the partial 28S rRNA gene and psbA gene from metagenomic DNA, derived from each sampling site, were analyzed. According to the results, the alga most responsible for the bloom was identified as Teleaulax OC1 sp., which belongs to the cryptomonads. Three items of chl-a, pH, and DO were positively correlated with the cell numbers of the cryptomonads counted at the upper stream of the tidal area (St 1) while eight items of chl-a, TOC, BOD, total-N, COD, SS, pH, and DO were positively correlated with the cells located at the junction between the stream and Su-young river (St 2) in the order.

Characteristics of the antibacterial substances produced by Lactobacillus casei subsp. and Streptococcus faecium (Lactobacillus casei subsp. 및 Streptococcus faecium이 생산한 항균성물질의 성상)

  • Kang, Kyoung-koo;Mah, Jum-sool
    • Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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    • v.33 no.3
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    • pp.393-406
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    • 1993
  • Antibacterial substances produced by Lactobacillus casei subsp. and Streptococcus faecium were examined for its antibacterial effects against some pathogenic bacteria. They were partially purified with ammonium sulfate precipitation, methanol-acetone extraction, G-50 gel filtration and examined its characteristics. When L casei subsp. and Str faecium were cultivated in MRS broth, stationary phase of L casei is until 24 hours and Str faecium is 20 hours. pH change of the cultured medium was both decreased after 12 hours and then constant at pH 4.5~4.6 after 28 hours. MRS broth culture fluids of L casei subsp. and Str faecium appeared the antibacterial effects by the spot-on-the-lawn method against ETEC, Sal pullorum and Sta aureus. Culture filtrates of L casei subsp. and Str faecium also appeared the antibacterial effects by the disc diffusion method. Culture filtrates of L casei sub. rhamnosus 7469 produced 0.032M of lactic acid and 0.01M of acetic acid. Str faecium 27273 also produced 0.027M of lactic acid and 0.01M of acetic acid. Protein concentrations of culture filtrates produced by L casei sub rhamnosus 7469 and Str faecium 27273 was $495{\mu}g/m{\ell}$ and $594{\mu}g/m{\ell}$, respectively. Antibacterial substances which are partially purified by ammonum sulfate precipitation, methanol-acetone extraction and G-50 gel filtration inhibit the growth of ETEC, Sal pullorum and Sta aureus. Characteristics of purified antibacterial substances was examined. Its molecular weight was about 31Kd, stabilized at $100^{\circ}C/20min.$ and some of proteolytic enzyme treatment.

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Exposure Characteristics for Chemical Substances and Work Environmental Management in the Semiconductor Assembly Process (반도체 조립공정의 화학물질 노출특성 및 작업환경관리)

  • Park, Seung-Hyun;Park, Hae Dong;Shin, In Jae
    • Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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    • v.24 no.3
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    • pp.272-280
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    • 2014
  • Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of worker exposure to hazardous chemical substances and propose the direction of work environment management for protecting worker's health in the semiconductor assembly process. Methods: Four assembly lines at two semiconductor manufacturing companies were selected for this study. We investigated the types of chemicals that were used and generated during the assembly process, and evaluated the workers' exposure levels to hazardous chemicals such as benzene and formaldehyde and the current work environment management in the semiconductor assembly process. Results: Most of the chemicals used at the assembly process are complex mixtures with high molecular weight such as adhesives and epoxy molding compounds(EMCs). These complex mixtures are stable when they are used at room temperature. However workers can be exposed to volatile organic compounds(VOCs) such as benzene and formaldehyde when they are used at high temperature over $100^{\circ}C$. The concentration levels of benzene and formaldehyde in chip molding process were higher than other processes. The reason was that by-products were generated during the mold process due to thermal decomposition of EMC and machine cleaner at the process temperature($180^{\circ}C$). Conclusions: Most of the employees working at semiconductor assembly process are exposed directly or indirectly to various chemicals. Although the concentration levels are very lower than occupational exposure limits, workers can be exposed to carcinogens such as benzene and formaldehyde. Therefore, workers employed in the semiconductor assembly process should be informed of these exposure characteristics.

Characteristics of Hypovirulent Strains of Chestnut Blight Fungus, Cryphonectria parasitica, Isolated in Korea

  • Lee, Sang-Hyun;Moon, Byung-Ju;Lee, Jong-Kyu
    • Mycobiology
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    • v.34 no.2
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    • pp.61-66
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    • 2006
  • Chestnut blight disease caused by Cryphonectria parasitica is widely distributed throughout chestnut tree plantations in Korea. We surveyed 65 sites located at 9 provinces in South Korea, and isolated 248 virulent and 3 hypovirulent strains of chestnut blight fungus. Hypovirulent strains had dsRNA virus in the cytoplasm, which is one of the typical characteristics of hypovirulent strains. In addition, they showed more characteristics of hypovirulent strains, i.e., suppressed conidiation, reduced pigmentation in colony color, and reduced phenol oxidase activity as well as reduced pathogenicity. Hypovirulent strains, KCPH-22, KCPH-135 and KCPH-136, had a genomic dsRNA band with the molecular weight of 12.7 kb, which is the L-dsRNA of CHV1. They also had a 2.7 kb defective dsRNA band. Single conidia isolated from hypovirulent strains were cultured and various phenotypes and absence of dsRNA bands were obtained from single conidial cultures, which means that hypovirulence transmission is unstable in asexual reproduction and variations in viral heredity by asexual reproduction. Biocontrol trial using hypovirulent strains was also carried out in the chestnut tree plantations, and canker expansion in the treated trees was stopped and healed by callus formation at the margin of the canker. These results show the potentials in successful biocontrol of chestnut blight if the vegetatively compatible hypovirulent strains could be directly used around the canker formed by compatible virulent strains.

Comparison of organic EL characteristics of low mass dye and polymer material with the same chromophore (동일한 발광기를 가진 저분자색소와 고분자물질의 유기 EL특성의 비교)

  • Kim, Dong-Uk
    • Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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    • v.8 no.2
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    • pp.177-183
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    • 1999
  • A Polymer material, PU-BCN and a low molar mass material D-BCN with the same chromophore were evaluated by fabricating various electroluminescent(EL) devices. A molecular structure of the chromophore was composed as two cyano groups for electron-injection and transport and two triphenylamine groups for hole-injection and transport. Various kinds of EL devices with two different types of EL materials, PU-BCN and D-BCN were fabricated, which were an Indium-tin oxide(ITO)/PU-BCN or D-BCN/MgAg device as a single-layer device(SL) and an ITO/PU-BCN or D-BCN/oxadiazole ferivative/MgAg as a double-layer device(DL-E) and an ITO/triphenylamine derivative/D-BCN/MgAg as a double-layer device(DL-H) device. Two kinds of materials, PU-BCN and D-BCN showed the same emission characteristics in the high current density and excellent EL characteristics even in the SL devices. Maximum EL peaks revealed red emission of about 640 nm, which were corresponded with the fluorescence peaks of the films of two materials.

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Nutritional Quality and Physicochemical Characteristics of Defatted Bovine Liver Treated by Supercritical Carbon Dioxide and Organic Solvent

  • Kang, Sung-Won;Kim, Hye-Min;Rahman, M. Shafiur;Kim, Ah-Na;Yang, Han-Sul;Choi, Sung-Gil
    • Food Science of Animal Resources
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    • v.37 no.1
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    • pp.29-37
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    • 2017
  • Defatted bovine liver (DBL) is a potential source of protein and minerals. Supercritical carbon dioxide ($SC-CO_2$) and a traditional organic solvent method were used to remove lipid from bovine liver, and the quality characteristics of a control bovine liver (CBL), bovine liver defatted by $SC-CO_2$ ($DBLSC-CO_2$) at different pressures, and bovine liver defatted by organic solvent (DBL-OS) were compared. The $DBLSC-CO_2$ samples had significantly higher (p<0.05) protein, amino acid, carbohydrate, and fiber contents than CBL and DBL-OS. There was a higher yield of lipid from CBL when using $SC-CO_2$ than the organic solvent method. SDS-PAGE analysis demonstrated that the CBL and $DBLSC-CO_2$ had protein bands of a similar intensity and area, whereas DBL-OS appeared extremely poor bands or no bands due to the degradation of proteins, particularly in the 50 to 75 kDa and 20 to 25 kDa molecular weight ranges. In addition, $DBLSC-CO_2$ was shown to have superior functional properties in terms of total soluble content, water and oil absorption, and foaming and emulsification properties. Therefore, $SC-CO_2$ treatment offers a nutritionally and environmentally friendly approach for the removal of lipid from high protein food sources. In addition, $SC-CO_2$ may be a better substitute of traditional organic solvent extraction for producing more stable and high quality foods with high-protein, fat-free, and low calorie contents.

Secretion Characteristics of Foreign Glucoamylase from Recombinant Plasmid-Harboring and Chromosome-Integrated Saccharomyces cerevisiaes (재조합 플라스미드 포함 효모와 염색체 삽입 효모에서의 외래 Glucoamylase의 분비 특성)

  • 차형준;조광명유영제
    • KSBB Journal
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    • v.9 no.5
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    • pp.532-540
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    • 1994
  • Secretion efficiency is generally affected by promoter, signal sequence, characteristics of foreign protein and host. Secretion efficiencies of glucoamylase in recombinant plasmid-harboring yeast and chromosome-integrated yeast which had STA signal sequences were 74% and 65% at the 4th day of incubation, respectively. The high secretion efficiencies of the yeasts were obtained due to the fact that the expression levels were not reached at the secretory apparatus capacities of the host yeasts. In both yeasts, most of the intracellular glucoamylase were detected in cytoplasm and small portion (below 10%) of glucoamylase were located in periplasm. The characteristics of secreted heterologous glucoamylase from recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiaes were investigated by using Western blot analysis. The secreted mature glucoamylase was heterogeneous and its molecular weight was about 200 to 300 kilodalton. The carbohydrate content of mature glucoamylase was higher than 80%, and several bands of about 55 to 65 kilodalton indicate the endoplasmic reticulum forms of intracellular glucoamylase.

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Comparative Characteristics of Three Human Embryonic Stem Cell Lines

  • Lee, Jung Bok;Kim, Jin Mee;Kim, Sun Jong;Park, Jong Hyuk;Hong, Seok Ho;Roh, Sung Il;Kim, Moon Kyoo;Yoon, Hyun Soo
    • Molecules and Cells
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    • v.19 no.1
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    • pp.31-38
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    • 2005
  • Human embryonic stem (hES) cells have unique features including unlimited growth capacity, expression of specific markers, normal karyotypes and an ability to differentiate. Many investigators have tried to use hES cells for cell-based therapy, but there is little information about the properties of available hES cell lines. We compared the characteristics of three hES cell lines. The expression of SSEA-1, -3, -4, and APase, was examined by immunocytochemistry, and Oct-4 expression was analyzed by RT-PCR. Differentiation of the hES cells in vitro and in vivo led to the formation of embryoid bodies (EBs) or teratomas. We examined the expression of tissue-specific markers in the differentiated cells by semiquantitative RT-PCR, and the ability of each hES cell line to proliferate was measured by flow cytometry of DNA content and ELISA. The three hES cell lines were similar in morphology, marker expression, and teratoma formation. However there were significant differences (P < 0.05) between the differentiated cells formed by the different cell lines in levels of expression of tissue-specific markers such as renin, kallikrein, Glut-2, ${\beta}-$ and ${\delta}-globin$, albumin, and ${\alpha}1-antitrypsin$ (${\alpha}1-AT$). The hES cell lines also differed in proliferative activity. Our observations should be useful in basic and clinical hES cell research.