• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.215-220
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• 2002

The structures of 1-fluorosilatrane and the silatranyl cation were calculated by Hartree-Fock (HF), Mofller-Plesset second order (MP2), and various density functional theory (DFT) methods using many different basis sets, demonstrating that the Si-N bonds in two species are quite different. The N${\rightarrow}$Si bond distance of 1-fluorosilatrane from the hybrid DFT calculations $({\sim}2.32{\AA})$ using the Perdew-Wang correlation functional agrees with the gas phase experimental value $(2.324{\AA})$, while other functionals yield larger distances. The MP2 bond distance (2.287${\AA}$ with 6-311$G^{\ast}$) is shorter, and the HF one (2.544 ${\AA}$ with 6-311$G^{\ast}$) larger than those of DFT calculations. The MP2 bond distance is in good agreement with experiment indicating that the electron correlations are crucial for the correct description of the N${\rightarrow}$Si interaction. The silatranyl cation is a stable local minimum on the potential energy surface in all methods employed suggesting that the cation could be a reaction intermediate. The Si-N bond length for the cation is about 1.87 ${\AA}$ for all calculations tested implying that the Si-N bond is mainly conventional. Bonding characteristics of the Si-N bond in two species derived from the natural bond orbital analysis support the above argument based on calculated bond lengths.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.39-45
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• 2017

The present study was performed to reveal the morphological characteristics and molecular phylogenetic position of Platynosomum fastosum Kossack, 1910. A total 167 specimens of P. fastosum were collected in 8 (4.9%) out of 163 sets of gall-bladders and bile ducts of cats. The number of worms was 1-105 per infected cat. This species was characterized by having a long and slender body, slightly larger ventral sucker than the oral sucker, indistinct prepharynx, small pharynx, short esophagus, bifurcation midway between 2 suckers, and ceca extending to the posterior end of the body. The length of the partial sequences of ITS1 and 5.8S rDNA of P. fastosum were 990 bp, GC-rich. AT/GC ratio was 0.9, there were 9 polymorphic sites, and intraspecific variations ranged from 0.1% to 0.9%. Phylogenetic analyses by neighbor-joining phylogram inferred from ITS1 rDNA sequences revealed that the genetic distance between P. fastosum specimens ranged from 0.3 to 1.5% while the smallest interspecific distance among dicrocoeliid species was 20.9 %. The redescription and genetic characters of P. fastosum are taxonomically important to recognize future different species of the genus Platynosomum showing high intraspecific and morphological variability.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.45-51
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• 2008

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) have been shown to cause nervous system disorders through skin contact or respiration, and also cause foul odors even at low densities in most cases. Also, as a compound itself, VOCs are directly harmful to the environment and to the human body, and may participate in photochemical reactions in air to create secondary pollutants. In this study, HL-60 cells were treated with volatile organic compounds, including ethylbenzene and trichloroethylene, at a value of $IC_50$. Then, the in house-prepared Human HazChem arrayer was utilized in order to compare the gene expression between the two VOCs. After hybridization, 8 upregulated genes and 8 downregulated genes were discovered in the HazChem array. The upregulated genes were identified as SG15, TNFSF10, PRNP, ME1, NCOA4, SRXN1, TXNRD1, and XBP1. The downregulated genes were identified as MME, NRF1, PRARBP, CALCA, CRP, BAX, C7 or f40, and FGFR1. Such results were highly correlated with the quantitative RT-PCR results. The majority of the 16 genes were related with the characteristics of VOCs, including respiratory mechanism, apoptosis, and carcinogenesis-associated genes. Our data showed that our human HazChem array can be used to monitor hazardous materials via gene expression profiling.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.21-28
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• 2010

Organic/inorganic composite electrolyte membranes were prepared for dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC). Poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG)s with various molecular weight (600, 1,500, 2,000 and 3,400) were ethoxysilated to fabricate organic/inorganic composite materials through sol-gel processes. The electrolyte membranes were produced by doping the composite materials with KI and $I_2$, and their ionic conducting behaviors were investigated. The ionic conductivity of the composite membrane was highly affected by PEG molecular weight. The highest conductivity was shown by the composite membrane prepared with PEG with the molecular weight of 2,000. The composite electrolyte membranes showed considerable improvement of ionic conductivity. Compared to PEO electrolyte membranes, the composite electrolyte membrane by PEG, MW 2,000 showed much higher ionic conductivity.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.1250-1257
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• 2005

Two groups of exopolysaccharides (designated as Fr-I EPS and Fr-II EPS) were isolated from the culture filtrate of new fungal strain Trichoderma erinaceum DG-312 by Sepharose CL-6B chromatography. The structures of the exopolysaccharides were investigated using gas chromatography (GC), Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, GCMS analysis, and NMR. GC analysis indicated that Fr-I EPS was composed of mainly mannose ($78.9\%$) and galactose ($21.1\%$), whereas Fr-II EPS contained mannose ($68.4\%$), galactose ($26.2\%$), and glucose ($5.4\%$). In the anomeric region ($950-700cm_{-1}$) of the FT-IR spectrum, both EPSs exhibited obvious characteristic absorption of $810\;cm_{-1}$, indicating the existence of mannose. The spectra of $\alpha-and\;\beta$-configurations were assigned at 880 and $914\;cm_{-1}$, respectively. The results of GC-MS analyses confirmed that both EPSs were complex heteropolysaccharides with a ($1{\rightarrow}3$)-linked mannan backbone. The C-1 region that appeared in the $^{13}C-NMR$ spectra of these EPSs indicated a typical anomeric carbon signal. The Fr-I EPS showed two anomeric carbon signals at 102.6 and 99.6 ppm, whereas the Fr-II EPS displayed four anomeric carbon signals at 102.5, 99.6, 98.5, and 94.3 ppm. The molecular characteristics of the EPSs were further investigated using a size exclusion chromatography/multi-angle laser light scattering (SEC/MALLS) system. The SEC/MALLS system revealed that the average molar masses of the EPSs were $6.592{\times}10^{4}$ (Fr-I EPS) and $1.920{\times}10^{4}$ (Fr-II EPS) g/mol, and the molecular conformation of both EPSs in aqueous solution was random coils.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.637-647
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• 2018

Extra-hypothalamic growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) plays an important role in reproduction. To study the treatment effect of Grin (a novel hGHRH homodimer), the infertility models of 85 male Chinese hamsters were established by intraperitoneally injecting 20 mg/kg of cyclophosphamide once in a week for 5 weeks and the treatment with Grin or human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG) as positive control was evaluated by performing a 3-week mating experiment. 2-8 mg/kg of Grin and 200 U/kg of hMG showed similar effect and different pathological characteristics. Compared to the single cyclophosphamide group (0%), the pregnancy rates (H-, M-, L-Grin 26.7, 30.8, 31.3%, and hMG 31.3%) showed significant difference, but there was no difference between the hMG and Grin groups. The single cyclophosphamide group presented loose tubules with pathologic vacuoles and significant TUNEL positive cells. Grin induced less weight of body or testis, compactly aligned tubules with little intra-lumens, whereas hMG caused more weight of body or testis, enlarging tubules with annular clearance. Grin presented a dose-dependent manner or cell differentiation-dependentincrease in testicular GHRH receptor, and did not impact the levels of blood and testicular GH, testosterone. Grin promotes fertility by proliferating and differentiating primitive cells through up-regulating testicular GHRH receptor without triggering GH secretion, which might solve the etiology of oligoasthenozoospermia.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.11
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• pp.4647-4652
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• 2015

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is becoming one of the most complicated challenges of human health, particularly in developing countries like Iran. In this paper, we try to characterize CRC cases diagnosed < age 50 at-risk for Lynch syndrome within central Iran. Materials and Methods: We designed a descriptive retrospective study to screen all registered CRC patients within 2000-2013 in Poursina Hakim Research Center (PHRC), a referral gastroenterology clinic in central Iran, based on being early-onset (age at diagnosis ${\leq}50years$) and Amsterdam II criteria. We calculated frequencies and percentages by SPSS 19 software to describe clinical and family history characteristics of patients with early-onset CRC. Results: Overall 1,659 CRC patients were included in our study of which 413 (24.9%) were ${\leq}50years$ at diagnosis. Of 219/413 successful calls 67 persons (30.6%) were reported deceased. Family history was positive for 72/219 probands (32.9%) and 53 families (24.2%) were identified as familial colorectal cancer (FCC), with a history of at-least three affected members with any type of cancer in the family, of which 85% fulfilled the Amsterdam II Criteria as hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) families (45/219 or 20.5%). Finally, 14 families were excluded due to proband tumor tissues being unavailable or unwillingness for incorporation. The most common HNPCC-associated extracolonic-cancer among both males and females of the families was stomach, at respectively 31.8 and 32.7 percent. The most common tumor locations among the 31 probands were rectum (32.3%), sigmoid (29.0%), and ascending colon (12.9%). Conclusions: Given the high prevalence of FCC (~1/4 of early-onset Iranian CRC patients), it is necessary to establish a comprehensive cancer genetic counseling and systematic screening program for early detection and to improve cancer prognosis among high risk families.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.1665-1667
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• 2013

Background: Ten to 30% of early breast cancer (EBC) patients develop brain metastasis (BM) during their follow-up. In this study, we aimed to evaluate importance of the lymph node ratio (LNR) in development of BM in EBC cases. Materials and Methods: Ninety patients whom had axillary metastases in lymph nodes at their initial diagnosis and developed BM during 5-year follow-up were detected in 950 EBC patients. LNR values were calculated for all patients and after categorization into 4 molecular sub-types as luminal A, luminal B HER-2 (+), HER-2 overexpressing and basal- like. Comparison was with control group patients who had similar characteristics. Results: In the comparison of all molecular sub-types of LNR, 54.9% and 28.4% values were found in patients with and without BM respectively (p<0.001). In the comparison of the LNR with control groups, a statistically significant differences were found with luminal A with BM (p=0.001), luminal B HER-2 (p=0.001), HER-2 overexpressing (p=0.027) and basal-like groups (p<0.001). In the evaluation of patients with BM, the highest ratio was found in the basal-like group (67.9%) and there was a statistically significant difference between this group and the others (p=0.048). Conclusions: EBC patients developing BM within 5 years follow-up had significantly higher LNRs for all molecular sub-types, especially in the basal-like group. Larger scale studies are now needed for evaluating LNR prognostic importance for EBC regarding BM development.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.279-284
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• 2010

Four leptocephali (TL 109.8~129.7 mm) of the family Ophichthidae, collected from Sangju in the South Sea of Korea, were identified using morphological and molecular methods. Our four leptocephali were similar to Ophichthus sp. based on morphological characters: the melanophores present in series of eight gut swellings; total myomeres 144~151; body depth in total length less than 10%; eight or nine black horizontal bands present from anus to caudal fin base. On the other hand, our four leptocephali were identified to Pisodonophis sp. based on 826 base pairs of 12S rRNA gene nucleotide sequences. Our results showed that morphology-based identification did not agree with molecular identification, indicating difficulty in differentiating morphologically between Ophichthus and Pisodonophis leptocephali. We, herein, firstly describe morphological characteristics of Pisodonophis sp. leptocephali from Korea.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.358-362
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• 2004

In order to develop molecular markers related to stay green phenotype, AFLP analysis was conducted using near-isogenic lines for either stay green or non stay green trait. Both lines have characteristics of multi-ear and tillers (MET). Two out of 64 primer combinations of selective amplification identified three reproducible polymorphic fragments in MET corn with stay green. Both of E+AGC/M+CAC and E+AAG/M+CAA primer combinations produced two and one specific polymorphic fragments linked to stay green trait, respectively. For the conversion of AFLPs to sequence tag sites (STSs), primers were designed form both end sequences of each two polymorphic fragments. One fragment, which was amplified with E+AAG/M+CAA primer combinations, possessed 298 bp long and showed a $91\%$ homology with maize retrotransposon Cinful-l. One out of two polymorphic fragments produced with E+AGC/M+CAC primer combination had 236 bp long and matched a $96\%$ homology with an intron region of 22kDa alpha zein gene cluster in Zea mays. One out of two PCR fragments amplified with MET2 primer set in the stay green MET was not produced in the non-stay green MET. The developed AFLP and STS marker could be used as an efficient tool for selection of the stay green trait in the MET inbred.