• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.223-230
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• 2017

Platelets play an essential role in hemostasis through aggregation and adhesion to vascular injury sites but their unnecessary activation can often lead to thrombotic diseases. Upon exposure to physical or biochemical stimuli, remarkable platelet shape changes precede aggregation or adhesion. Platelets shape changes facilitate the formation and adhesion of platelet aggregates, but are readily reversible in contrast to the irrevocable characteristics of aggregation and adhesion. In this dynamic phenomenon, complex molecular signaling pathways and a host of diverse cytoskeleton proteins are involved. Platelet shape change is easily primed by diverse pro-thrombotic xenobiotics and stimuli, and its inhibition can modulate thrombosis, which can ultimately contribute to the development or prevention of thrombotic diseases. In this review, we discussed the current knowledge on the mechanisms of platelet shape change and also pathological implications and therapeutic opportunities for regulating the related cytoskeleton dynamics.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.58 no.4
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• pp.445-450
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• 2020

Trombiculid "chigger" mites (Acari) are ectoparasites that feed blood on rodents and another animals. A crosssectional survey was conducted in 7 ecosystems of southern Vietnam from 2015 to 2016. Chigger mites were identified with morphological characteristics and assayed by polymerase chain reaction for detection of rickettsiaceae. Overall chigger infestation among rodents was 23.38%. The chigger index among infested rodents was 19.37 and a mean abundance of 4.61. A total of 2,770 chigger mites were identified belonging to 6 species, 3 genera, and 1 family, and pooled into 141 pools (10-20 chiggers per pool). Two pools (1.4%) of the chiggers were positive for Orientia tsutsugamushi. Ricketsia spp. was not detected in any pools of chiggers. Further studies are needed including a larger number and diverse hosts, and environmental factors to assess scrub typhus.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.400-407
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• 2010

Zoysiagrass (Zoysia japonica Steud.), also called Korean or Japanese lawngrass, is the most popular warm-season turfgrass in Korea and is widely used for home lawns, parks, roadsides, golf courses and athletic fields. Its use is rapidly expanding in Korea and the other countries, due to its excellent characteristics which include tolerance to heat, drought and salinity. As the utilization area of this turfgrass increases, there is an increase in the demand for improved cultivars with disease and insect tolerance or with herbicide-tolerance or with extended greening periods. Conventional breeding methods have been used to improve the traits described above with limited success. However, with the advances in biotechnology, genetic transformation can be utilized for turfgrass improvement. In this paper, we review recent progress in biotechnological improvement of zoysiagrass and discuss future molecular breeding of this species.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2006

Bcl-2/adenovirus E1B 19 kDa-interacting protein 3 (BNIP3) is a mitochondrial pro-apoptotic protein that has a single Bcl-2 homology 3 (BH3) domain and a COOH-terminal transmembrane (TM) domain. Although it belongs to the Bcl-2 family and can heterodimerize with Bcl-2, its pro-apoptotic activity is distinct from those of other members of the Bcl-2 family. For example, cell death mediated by BNIP3 is independent of caspases and shows several characteristics of necrosis. Furthermore, the TM domain, but not the BH3 domain, is required for dimerization, mitochondrial targeting and pro-apoptotic activity. BNIP3 plays an important role in hypoxia-induced death of normal and malignant cells. Its expression is markedly increased in the hypoxic regions of some solid tumors and appears to be regulated by hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF), which binds to a site on the BNIP3 promoter. Silencing, followed by methylation, of the BNIP3 gene occurs in a significant proportion of cancer cases, especially in pancreatic cancers. BNIP3 also has a role in the death of cardiac myocytes in ischemia. Further studies of BNIP3 should provide insight into hypoxic cell death and may contribute to improved treatment of cancers and cardiovascular diseases.

• ALGAE
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.111-120
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• 2014

Polysiphonia sensu stricto is characterized by having 4 ecorticate pericentral cells, rhizoids in open connection with the pericentral cells, four-celled carpogonial branches, spermatangial branches replacing the whole trichoblast, and tetrasporangia arranged in straight series. Polysiphonia ulleungensis sp. nov. is newly described from Sadongri, Ulleung Island, Korea, based on morphological and molecular evidence. It is mainly characterized by having ecorticate axes with 4 pericentral cells, apical cells transversely or obliquely divided, unicellular rhizoids in open connection with pericentral cells, very scarce trichoblasts and scar cells, procarps with a four-celled carpogonial branch, and spermatangial branches replacing the whole trichoblast. Polysiphonia ulleungensis is closely similar in morphology to P. atlantica sensu lato. We concluded that materials of P. atlantica sensu Nam and Kang from Korea correspond to P. ulleungensis. By contrast, the new species differs morphologically from the Atlantic specimens of P. atlantica as well as from P. atlantica sensu Kim and Lee from Korea. Morphological characteristics and rbcL sequence analyses support the taxonomic placement of P. ulleungensis within Polysiphonia sensu stricto.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.2861-2866
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• 2016

It is thought that population characteristics of breast cancer may be due to a variation in the frequency of different alleles of genes such as CYP1B1. We aimed to determine the association of CYP1B1 polymorphisms in 200 breast cancer cases and 40 controls by PCR-RFLP. Frequencies were assessed with clinical and risk factors in Egyptian patients. The genotype LV and the Leu allele frequencies for patients and controls were 42.9% and 50%, and 52.9% and 53.3%, respectively), with no significant differences observed (P values = 0.8 and 0.6, respectively). There was also no significant association between genotypes and any risk factors for cases (P>0.05) except laterality and metastasis of the tumor (P values=0.006 and 0.06, respectively). The CYP1B1 polymorphism Val432Leu was not associated with breast cancer in Egypt, but may provide clues for future studies into early detection of the disease.

• Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry
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• v.68
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• pp.153-160
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• 2018

An environmentally favorable (chlorine-free) solid oxidizer, guanidinium dinitramide [GDN; $NH_2C(NH_2)NH_2N(NO_2)_2$], was newly synthesized from guanidine carbonate [$NH_2C(=NH)NH_2{\cdot}1/2H_2CO_3$]. Two different crystalline forms (${\alpha}-type$ and ${\beta}-type$) appeared according to the applied solvents and synthesis conditions. Moisture, during extraction, might become trapped in a crystal between inner molecules. Therefore, despite having the same chemical composition, Raman-IR and TGA-DSC revealed different physical characteristics of the two forms. Peaks of Raman shift near $1000cm^{-1}$ implied different chemical structures. Thermal analysis revealed an exothermic temperature $155.7^{\circ}C$ for ${\alpha}-type$ but one of $191.6^{\circ}C$ for ${\beta}-type$. The caloric value of ${\alpha}-type$ was 536.4 J/g, which was 2.5 times larger than that of the ${\beta}-type$, which was 1310 J/g. While the synthesized GDN of ${\alpha}-type$ showed a steep exothermic decomposition, the ${\beta}-type$ was slowly decomposed after melting through an endothermic process. This work implied that despite of the same molecular formula some different core thermal properties would appear depending on synthesis conditions.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.20 no.10
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• pp.1159-1164
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• 1999

The study investigated the effect of carrier composition (ionic strength and pH) on the retention of various proteins in flow field-flow fractionation (Flow FFF) as well as the conformational change of Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) with urea concentration, storage time and temperature. The study found that the retention of protein in Flow FFF increased with the ionic strength of the carrier liquid. Most proteins were well solubilized at pH = 7-8. The hydrodynamic diameters obtained from Flow FFF retention data agree well with theoretical values. The retention increased and the peak shape became distorted at extreme pH conditions of the carrier solution. The selected carrier composition for comparison between the literature value of proteins was 0.05 M tris buffer solution with a pH of 8. Storing BSA at 4 ±2℃ over a period of three months resulted in slow dimerization. Also, in case of the storage of BSA at 37 ±5℃ for one week, the retention of both BSA monomer and dimer increased with the urea concentration. Finally, the structural composition of specific enzymes: malonyl-CoA decarboxylase (MCDC) and malonyl-CoA synthesis (MCS) was determined by using Flow FFF at specific carrier solutions. The molecular weight of the natural MCDC was determined to be 208 kDa, which means it is a homotetramer, while that of the MCS was determined to be 47 kDa, which means it is a monomer.

• Mycobiology
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.340-345
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• 2019

An 82-year-old man with diabetes was admitted to the emergency department with a third-degree burn on his left leg. The deep swab specimen from his left leg was cultured on Sabouraud dextrose agar without cycloheximide and incubated at $25^{\circ}C$ for 5 days. On the basis of morphological characteristics and multigene phylogenetic analyses of the internal transcribed spacer region of ribosomal DNA and partial fragments of beta-tubulin and translation elongation factor 1-alpha, the causal agent of fungal skin infection was identified as Bisifusarium delphinoides, which was newly introduced by accommodating a Fusarium dimerum species complex. Thus, we describe here the first case of skin infection caused by B. delphinoides on a burn patient with diabetes mellitus based on morphological observation and molecular analysis.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.181-186
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• 2019

A designated fungal isolate, KNU-US-1802E was isolated from the soil in Uiseong, Korea. To identify characteristics of the isolate, it was cultured on PDA media for 6 days at $35^{\circ}C$. Colonies on PDA are flat, light gray, dense, with entire margins; reverse dark gray to black, with white margins. Aerial mycelia were smooth-walled, hyaline and 40~42 mm diameter after 6 days at $35^{\circ}C$. Conidia were hyaline, one-celled, ellipsoidal to fusiform, forming long chains with average length ${\times}$ width of $5.0{\pm}0.3{\times}2.9{\pm}0.2{\mu}m$. Molecular analysis indicates that the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and partial beta-tubulin (tub2) gene sequence showed 100% and 99% similarities, respectively with Acrophialophora ellipsoidea CGMCC 3.15255 collected from China. Phylogenetic analysis by the neighbor-joining (NJ) method shows that the KNU-US-1802E was clustered with A. ellipsoidea CGMCC 3.15255 in a phylogenetic tree constructed using the concatenated sequences of ITS region and tub2 gene sequences with a high bootstrap value. Based on these findings, the isolate KNU-US-1802E was identified as Acrophialophora ellipsoidea, and this is the first report of this isolate in Korea.