• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.76 no.5
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• pp.245-248
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• 2014

Miliary tuberculosis (TB) is a rare extrapulmonary form of TB, and there have been only two reports of miliary TB associated with infection with multidrug-resistant (MDR)-TB pathogen in an immunocompetent host. A 32-year-old woman was referred to our hospital because of abnormal findings on chest X-ray. The patient was diagnosed with MDR-TB by a line probe assay and was administered proper antituberculous drugs. After eight weeks, a solid-media drug sensitivity test revealed that the pathogen was resistant to ethambutol and streptomycin in addition to isoniazid and rifampicin. The patient was then treated with effective antituberculous drugs without delay after diagnosis of MDR-TB. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of miliary TB caused by MDR-TB pathogen in Korea.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.265-270
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• 2002

The determination of DNA hybridization reaction can apply the molecular biology research, clinic diagnostics, bioengineering, environment monitoring, food science and application area. So, the improvement of DNA hybridization detection method is very important for the determination of this hybridization reaction. Several molecular biological techniques require accurate predictions of matched versus mismatched hybridization thermodynamics, such as PCR, sequencing by hybridization, gene diagnostics and antisense oligonucleotide probes. In addition, recent developments of oligonucleotide chip arrays as means for biochemical assays and DNA sequencing requires accurate knowledge of hybridization thermodynamics and population ratios at matched and mismatched target sites. In this study, we report the characteristics of the probe and matched, mismatched target oligonucleotide hybridization reaction using thermodynamic method. Thermodynamic of 5 oligonucleotides with central and terminal mismatch sequences were obtained by measured UV-absorbance as a function of temperature. The data show that the nearest-neighbor base-pair model is adequate for predicting thermodynamics of oligonucleotides with average deviations for $\Delta$H$^{0}$ , $\Delta$S$^{0}$ , $\Delta$G$_{37}$ $^{0}$ and T$_{m}$, respectively.>$^{0}$ and T$_{m}$, respectively.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1998.07d
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• pp.1508-1510
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• 1998

Recent development of scanning probe microscope techniques has made it possible to investigate, not only microscopic surface topography, but also physical and chemical properties on the nanometer-scale. The scanning Maxwell-stress microscopy (SMM) is surface characterization tool capable of mapping both the surface topography and electrical properties, such as surface potential, surface charge dielectric constant of thin films with a nanometer-scale resolution by means of the AC voltage driven oscillation of metal coated cantilever. In this study, we observed the surface potential distribution and molecular ordering in thin films. We have demonstrated that the SMM can be used for imaging surface potential distribution over the film surface and also be used for detecting surface changes in thin films. This is first step towards the understanding of electrical phenomena in organic and inorganic materials, biological system with SMM.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.390-394
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• 2003

In the post-genome period, the technique for identifying gene expression has been progressed to high throughput screening. In the field of molecular nutrition, the use of screening techniques to clarify molecular function of specific nutrients would be very advantageous. In this study, we have evaluated Zn-regulated gene expression in Zn-deficient, homocystein-treated EA.hy926 cells, using cDNA microarray, which can be used to screen the expression of many genes simultaneously. The information obtained can be used for preliminary assessment of molecular and signaling events modulated by Zn under pro-atherogenic conditions. EA.hy926 cells derived from human umbilical vein endothelial cells were cultured in Zn-adequate (control, 15 $\mu$M Zn) or Zn-deficient (experimental, 0 $\mu$M Zn) Dulbecco's MEM media under high homocysteine level (100 $\mu$M) for 3 days of post-confluency. Cells were harvested and RNA was extracted. Total RNA was reverse-transcribed and the synthesized cDNA was labeled with Cy3 or Cy5. Fluorescent labeled cDNA probe was applied to microarray slides for hybridization, and the slide was then scanned using a fluorescence scanner. The expression of seven genes was found to be significantly decreased, and one significantly increased, in response to treatment of EA.hy926 cells with Zn-deficient medium, compared with Zn-supplemented medium. The upregulated genes were oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, cell cycle-related genes and transporter genes. The down-regulated gene was RelB, a component of the NF-kappaB complex of transcription factors. The results of this study imply the effectiveness of cDNA microarray for expression profiling of a singly nutrient deficiency, namely Zn. Furthur study, using tailored-cDNA array and vascular endothelial cell lines, would be beneficial to clarify the molecular function of Zn in atherosclerosis, more in detail.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.33-39
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• 2006

Alternative splicing (AS) is an important mechanism of producing transcriptome diversity and microarray techniques are being used increasingly to monitor the splice variants. There exist three types of microarrays interrogating AS events-junction, exon, and tiling arrays. Junction probes have the advantage of monitoring the splice site directly. Johnson et al., performed a genome-wide survey of human alternative pre-mRNA splicing with exon junction microarrays (Science 302:2141-2144, 2003), which monitored splicing at every known exon-exon junctions for more than 10,000 multi-exon human genes in 52 tissues and cell lines. Here, we describe an algorithm to deduce the relative concentration of isoforms from the junction array data. Non-negative Matrix Factorization (NMF) is applied to obtain the transcript structure inferred from the expression data. Then we choose the transcript models consistent with the ECgene model of alternative splicing which is based on mRNA and EST alignment. The probe-transcript matrix is constructed using the NMF-consistent ECgene transcripts, and the isoform abundance is deduced from the non-negative least squares (NNLS) fitting of experimental data. Our method can be easily extended to other types of microarrays with exon or junction probes.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.201-210
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• 2006

This article presents a brief overview of an important area of neutron scattering: the general principles and techniques of elastic, quasielastic and inelastic scattering from a system composed predominately of incoherent scatterers. The methodology is then applied to the study of water, specifically when it is confined in nanometer-scale environments. The confined water exhibits uniquely anomalous properties in the supercooled state. It also nourishes biological functions, and supports essential chemical reactions in living systems. We focus on recent investigations of water encapsulated in nanoporous silica and carbon nanotubes, hydrated water in proteins and water or hydroxyl species incorporated in nanostructured minerals. Through these scientific examples, we demonstrate the advantages derived from the high sensitivity of incoherent neutron spectroscopy to hydrogen atom motions and hydrogen-bond dynamics, aided by rigorous data interpretation method using molecular dynamics simulations or theoretical modelling. This enables us to probe the inter-/intramolecular vibrations and relaxation/diffusion processes of water molecules in a complex environment.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.245-268
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• 2008

The outcome of plant-pathogen interactions is influenced significantly by endogenous small molecules that coordinate plant defence responses. There is currently tremendous scientific and commercial interest in identifying chemicals whose exogenous application activates plant defences and affords protection from pathogen infection. In this review, we provide a survey of compounds known to induce disease resistance in plants, with particular emphasis on how each compound was originally identified, its putative or demonstrated mechanism of defence induction, and the known biological target(s) of each chemical. Larger polymeric structures and peptides/proteins are also discussed in this context. The quest for novel defence-inducing molecules would be aided by the capability for high-throughput analysis of candidate compounds, and we describe some issues associated with the development of these types of screens. Subsequent characterization of hits can be a formidable challenge, especially in terms of identifying chemical targets in plant cells. A variety of powerful molecular tools are available for this characterization, not only to provide insight into methods of plant defence activation, but also to probe fundamental biological processes. Furthermore, these investigations can reveal molecules with significant commercial potential as crop protectants, although a number of factors must be considered for this potential to be realized. By highlighting recent progress in the application of chemical biology techniques for the modulation of plant-pathogen interactions, we provide some perspective on the exciting opportunities for future progress in this field of research.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.127-131
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• 2010

Mycobacterium leprae detection is difficult even with molecular biological techniques due to the low sensitivity of current methodologies. In this report, real-time PCR targeting the M. leprae-specific repetitive element (RLEP) sequence was developed as a new diagnostic tool and evaluated using clinical specimens. For this, M. leprae DNAs were extracted from skin biopsy specimens from 80 patients and analyzed by real-time PCR using TaqMan probe. Then, the detection efficiency of the real-time PCR was compared with that of standard PCR. In brief, the rate of positive detection by the standard PCR and real-time PCR was 32.50% and 66.25%, respectively. The results seemed to clearly show that the TaqMan real-time PCR developed in this study may be a useful tool for sensitive detection of M. leprae from clinical specimens.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.133-151
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• 2013

The availability of advanced nanotechnological methodologies (experimental and theoretical) has widened the investigation of biological/organic matter in interaction with substrates. Minerals are good candidates as substrates because they may present a wide variety of physico-chemical properties and surface nanostructures that can be used to actively condense and manipulate the biomolecules. Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) is one of the best suited techniques used to investigate at a single molecule level the surface interactions. In addition, the recent availability of high performance computing has increased the possibility to study quantum mechanically the interaction phenomena extending the number of atoms involved in the simulation. In the present paper, firstly we will briefly introduce new SPM technological developments and applications to investigate mineral surfaces and mineral-biomolecule interaction, then we will present results on the specific RNA-mineral interaction and recent basics and applicative achievements in the field of the interactions between other fundamental biological molecules and mineral surfaces from both an experimental and theoretical point of view.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.14-25
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• 2008

To investigate the 3-bond connectivity of human brain metabolites by scalar coupling interaction through 2D-correlation spectroscopy (COSY) techniques using high field NMR spectroscopy. All NMR experiments were performed at 298K on Unity Inova 500 or 600 (Varian Inc.) equipped with a triple resonance probe head with z-shield gradient. Human brain metabolites were prepared with 10% $D_2O$. Two dimensional 2D COSY spectra were acquired with 4096 complex data points in $t_2$ and 128 or 256 increments in $t_1$ dimension. The spectral width was 9615.4 Hz and solvent suppression was achieved using presaturation using low power irradiation of the water resonance during 2s of relaxation delay. NMR data were processed using VNMRJ (Varian Instrument) software and all the chemical shifts were referenced to the methyl resonance of N-acetyl aspartate (NAA) peak at 2.0 ppm. Total 10 metabolites such as N-acetyl aspartate (NAA), creatine (Cr), choline (Cho), glutamine (Gln), glutamate (Glu), myo-inositol (Ins), lactate (Lac), taurine (Tau), ${\gamma}$-aminobutyricacid (GABA), alanine (Ala) were included for major target metabolites. Symmetrical 2D-COSY spectra were successfully acquired. Total 14 COSY cross peaks were observed even though there were parallel/orthogonal noisy peaks induced by water suppression. Except for Cr, all of human brain metabolites produced COSY cross peaks. The spectra of NAA methyl proton at 2.02 ppm and Glu methylene proton ($CH_2(3)$) at 2.11 ppm and Gln methylene proton ($CH_2(3)$) at 2.14 ppm were overlapped in the similar resonance frequency between 2.00 ppm and 2.15 ppm. The present study demonstrated that in vitro 2D-COSY represented the 3-bond connectivity of human brain metabolites by scalar coupling interaction. This study could aid in better understanding the interactions between human brain metabolites in vivo 2D-COSY study. Also it would be helpful to determine the molecular stereochemistry in vivo by using two-dimensional MR spectroscopy.