• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.75-80
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• 2000

An improved method of refolding recombinant human proinsulin from E. coli was presented. It was based on a two-stage stirred tank reactor in which denatured proinsulin-s-sulfonate was mixed instantaneously with a reaction buffer in the first stage reactor, and then fed to the second stage reactor. The mixture was stirred further for a total of 30h in the second stage reactor. In this system, unfavorable effects present due to the increase in reaction volume and protein concentration for protein refolding, which becomes significant in a large-scale operation, were avoided. Refolding yields of over 80% was obtained for achieving reaction volume of upto 50 l at protein concentration of 1 mg/ml. The optimum urea concentration was 1M. Refolding yield at the 1-1 reaction volume and protein concentration of 0.5mg/ml was increased about 2.5-fold, compared to that in a batch reactor. By increasing protein concentration in a two-stage refolding reaction, the cost for insulin production could be reduced, therefore, making this process economical.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.269-275
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• 2016

This study has investigated the feasibility of 980-nm low-energy pulsed near-infrared laser stimulation to evoke auditory responses, as well as the effects of radiant exposure and pulse duration on auditory responses. In the experiments, a hole was drilled in the basal turn of the cochlea in guinea pigs. An optical fiber with a 980-nm pulsed infrared laser was inserted into the hole, orientating the spiral ganglion cells in the cochlea. To model deafness, the tympanic membrane was mechanically damaged. Acoustically evoked compound action potentials (ACAPs) were recorded before and after deafness, and optically evoked compound action potentials (OCAPs) were recorded after deafness. Similar spatial selectivity between optical and acoustical stimulation was found. In addition, OCAP amplitudes increased with radiant exposure, indicating a photothermal mechanism induced by optical stimulation. Furthermore, at a fixed radiant exposure, OCAP amplitudes decreased as pulse duration increased, suggesting that optical stimulation might be governed by the time duration over which the energy is delivered. Thus, the current experiments have demonstrated that a 980-nm pulsed near-infrared laser with low energy can evoke auditory neural responses similar to those evoked by acoustical stimulation. This approach could be used to develop optical cochlear implants.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.523-528
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• 2013

Background: The possibility that electromagnetic fields (EMF) exposure may increase male breast cancer risk has been discussed for a long time. However, arguments have been presented that studies limited by poor quality could have led to statistically significant results by chance or bias. Moreover, data fo the last 10 years have not been systematically summarized. Methods and Results: To confirm any possible association, a meta-analysis was performed by a systematic search strategy. Totals of 7 case-control and 11 cohort studies was identified and pooled ORs with 95% CIs were used as the principal outcome measures. Data from these studies were extracted with a standard meta-analysis procedure and grouped in relation to study design, cut-off point, exposure assessment method, adjustment and exposure model. A statistical significant increased risk of male breast cancer with EMF exposure was defined (pooled ORs = 1.32, 95% CI = 1.14-1.52, P < 0.001), and subgroup analyses also showed similar results. Conclusions: This meta-analysis suggests that EMF exposure may be associated with the increase risk of male breast cancer despite the arguments raised.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.307-315
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• 2020

The physique and health status of Chinese college students have received a generous concern in recent years. The physical condition of Chinese college students is not good and this phenomenon is especially obvious among female college students, which has been an disputable fact. This study starts from exercise intervention to study the concrete influence of taijiquan (a kind of traditional Chinese shadow boxing) and five-animal exercises on human body balance ability; the study uses experimental apparatus to measure the specific impact of exercise intervention on human body balance ability; meanwhile, the study also applies data analysis to longitudinally study whether the two studied sports items affect body balance, and whether there is difference in terms of the influence of two sports items on human body balance ability. The conclusions are as follows: firstly, 24-style taijiquan and five-animal exercises can improve ankle muscle strength, and the focus and degree of the improvement are different; secondly, five-animal exercises have a better improvement effect on the flexor and extensor muscles of ankle joint and 24-style taijiquan is in the second place. Moreover, compared with 24-style taijiquan, there is no significant difference in terms of the improvement caused by five-animal exercises; thirdly, 24-style taijiquan has a better effect on the improvement of internal rotation and evertors muscle strength. Compared with 24-style taijiquan, five-animal exercises have no significant difference in terms of the improvement degree.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.2038-2057
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• 2017

Gaussian learning is a new technology in the computational intelligence area. However, this technology weakens the learning ability of a particle swarm and achieves a lack of diversity. Thus, this paper proposes a vector Gaussian learning strategy and presents an effective approach, named particle swarm optimization based on vector Gaussian learning. The experiments show that the algorithm is more close to the optimal solution and the better search efficiency after we use vector Gaussian learning strategy. The strategy adopts vector Gaussian learning to generate the Gaussian solution of a swarm's optimal location, increases the learning ability of the swarm's optimal location, and maintains the diversity of the swarm. The method divides the states into normal and premature states by analyzing the state threshold of the swarm. If the swarm is in the premature category, the algorithm adopts an inertia weight strategy that decreases linearly in addition to vector Gaussian learning; otherwise, it uses a fixed inertia weight strategy. Experiments are conducted on eight well-known benchmark functions to verify the performance of the new approach. The results demonstrate promising performance of the new method in terms of convergence velocity and precision, with an improved ability to escape from a local optimum.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.59-69
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to investigate effects of discussion using newspapers on fifth grade elementary school students' academic achievement and affective characteristics related to science. Additionally, this study intended to examine students' ideas about newspaper utilization, discussion based learning and science with questionnaire. The subjects were 59 fifth grade students from two classes. NIE was used in the experimental group and traditional teaching methods in the control group. In pretest and posttest sessions, both groups were evaluated by the academic achievement test, and an affective characteristics related science test. The results of this study showed that the academic achievement of the experimental group which applied discussion using newspapers was significantly higher than that of the control group which applied traditional instruction, especially in terms of knowledge and understanding. Additionally, the results showed that discussion using newspapers had a positive effect on affective domains such as perception, interest and attendance for science classes. In particular, the post-results of the experimental group were higher than pre-results, on the other hand, those of the control group were lower than preresults in all affective domains. It appeared that students had positive thoughts about newspaper utilization, discussion based learning, and science. The half of students who had low academic achievement showed negative reactions for discussion based learning.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.321-328
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• 2008

Smoke flavors based on the thermal decomposition of wood have been applied to a variety of food products as an alternative for traditional smoking. Despite its increasing use, the available genotoxicity data on wood smoke flavors (WSF) are still controversial. Thus, potential genotoxic effects of WSF in four short-term in vitro genotoxicity assays were investigated, which included the Ames assay, chromosomal aberration assay, micronucleus test and the alkaline comet assay. WSF did not cause any mutation in the Ames assay using five tester strains at six concentrations of 0.16, 0.31, 0.63, 1.25, 2.5 and 5 ${\mu}l/plate$. To assess clastogenic effect, the in vitro chromosomal aberration assay was performed using Chinese hamster lung cells. No statistically significant increase in the number of metaphases with structural aberrations was observed at the concentrations of 1.25, 2.5, and 5 ${\mu}l/ml$. The in vitro comet assay and micronucleus test results obtained on L5178Y cells also revealed that WSF has no genotoxicity potential, although there was a marginal increase in micronuclei frequencies and DNA damage in the respective micronucleus and comet assays. Taken together, based on the results obtained from these four in vitro studies, it is concluded that WSF is not a mutagenic agent in bacterial cells and causes no chromosomal and DNA damage in mammalian cells in vitro.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.145-151
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• 2011

The comparative efficacy of 2 anthelmintics (ivermectin and levamisole) against Baylisascaris transfuga migrating and encapsulated larvae was studied in mice. A total of 60 BALB/c mice inoculated each with about 1,000 embryonated B. transfuga eggs were equally divided into 6 groups (A-F) randomly. Mice of groups A and B were treated with ivermectin and levamisole, respectively, on day 3 post-infection (PI). Mice of groups A-C were killed on day 13 PI. Similarly, groups D and E were treated with ivermectin and levamisole, respectively, on day 14 PI, and all mice of groups D-F were treated on day 24 PI. The groups C and F were controls. Microexamination was conducted to count the larvae recovering from each mouse. The percentages of reduction in the number of migrating larvae recovered from group A (ivermectin) and B (levamisole) were 88.3% and 81.1%, respectively. In addition, the reduction in encapsulated larvae counts achieved by ivermectin (group D) and levamisole (group E) was 75.0% and 49.2%, respectively. The results suggested that, to a certain extent, both anthelmintics appeared to be more effective against migrating larvae than encapsulated larvae. However, in the incipient stage of infection, ivermectin may be more competent than levamisole as a larvicidal drug for B. transfuga.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.248-254
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to investigate biological activities of Brassica rapa (Turnip) plant callus extracts of Ganghwa-gun of Incheon city using water, ultrasonic wave and ethanol extractions to develop functional materials. DPPH radical scavenging activities of the callus extracts were increased in a concentration-dependent manner, as compared with control. The astringent effects of the ethanol extracts were higher, as compared to water and ultrasonic extracts. In the collagen synthesis assay, the ethanol extract showed significant anti-wrinkle effects of 59% and 78% at a concentration of 5 ppm and 10 ppm, respectively. These results suggested that water, ultrasonic wave and ethanol extracts of turnip plant calluses are natural antioxidant sources. Especially, the ethanol extract can be regarded as a functional, natural cosmetic material with astringent and anti-wrinkle effects.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.194-202
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• 2020

The sweetpotatoes (Ipomoea batatas) generate adventitious roots (ARs) from cut stems that develop into storage roots and make for an important means of propagation. However, few studies have investigated the hormones involved in AR development in sweetpotato. In this study, the expression patterns of hormone-related genes involved in AR formation were identified using the transcriptome data. RNA-seq data from stems grown for 0 and 3 days after cutting were analyzed. In addition, hormone-related genes were identified among differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and filtered genes, and cluster analysis was used to characterize expression patterns by function. Most hormone-related regulated genes expressed 3 days after growing the cut stems were abscisic acid (ABA)-related genes, followed by ethylene- and auxin-related genes. For ABA, the biosynthesis genes (including genes annotated to NINE-CIS-EPOXYCAROTENOID DIOXYGENASE 3 (NCED3)) and signal transduction and perception genes (including genes annotated to PROTEIN PHOSPHATASE 2Cs (PP2Cs)) tended to decrease. Expression patterns of auxin- and ethylene-related genes differed by function. These results suggest that ABA, auxin, and ethylene genes are involved in AR formation and that they may be regulated in a hormone function-dependent manner. These results contribute to the identification of hormone functions during AR formation and may contribute to understanding the mechanism of AR formation in the sweetpotato.