• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2009

Purpose: Oxidative stress was thought to play a critical role in neurodegenerative disease. Many in vivo and in vitro reports explained the possible pathway of human aging. But in therapeutic aspects, there was no clear answers to prevent aging associated with neural diseases. In this study, we investigated the antioxidant and neuroprotective effects of the Insamyangyung-tang (IYT). Methods: To estimate the antioxidant effects, we carried out 1.1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging assay, 2,2'-azinobis-(3- ethylbenzothiazoline-6- sulfonic acid (ABTS) radical cation decolorization assay, and measurement of total polyphenolic content. To evaluate neuroprotective effect of IYT in vitro. We performed thiazolyl blue tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, reactive oxygen species (ROS) creation in SH-SY5Y. Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunocytochemistry, nitric oxide (NO) assay, and TNF-${\alpha}$ assay in primary rat mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons. Results: The $IC_{50}$ values were $571.6{\mu}g/m{\ell}$ and $202.3{\mu}g/m{\ell}$ in DPPH and ABTS assay respectively. Total polyphenolic content was 1.05%. In SH-SY5Y culture, IYT significantly increased the decreased cell viability by 6-OHDA at the concentrations of $10{\mu}g/m{\ell}$ in pre-treatment group, $10-100{\mu}g/m{\ell}$ in post-treatment group, and $100{\mu}g/m{\ell}$ in co-treatment group. The production of ROS induced by 6-OHDA was significantly inhibited in IYT treated group. In mesencephalic dopaminergic cell culture, the IYT group reduced the dopaminergic cell loss against 6-OHDA toxicity and the production of No and TNF-${\alpha}$ at the concentration of $0.2{\mu}g/m{\ell}$. Conclusion: These results showed that IYT has antioxidant and neuroprotectctive effects in the dopaminergic cells through decreasing the production of ROS, NO and TNF-${\alpha}$ which can cause many neurodegenerative changes in brain cell.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.134-147
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• 2022

The anti-oxidant enzyme heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) is known to exert anti-inflammatory effects. From a library of pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidines, we identified a novel compound KKC080096 that upregulated HO-1 at the mRNA and protein levels in microglial BV-2 cells. KKC080096 exhibited anti-inflammatory effects via suppressing nitric oxide, interleukin1β (IL-1β), and iNOS production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-challenged cells. It inhibited the phosphorylation of IKK and MAP kinases (p38, JNK, ERK), which trigger inflammatory signaling, and whose activities are inhibited by HO-1. Further, KKC080096 upregulated anti-inflammatory marker (Arg1, YM1, CD206, IL-10, transforming growth factor-β [TGF-β]) expression. In 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridinetreated mice, KKC080096 lowered microglial activation, protected the nigral dopaminergic neurons, and nigral damage-associated motor deficits. Next, we elucidated the mechanisms by which KKC080096 upregulated HO-1. KKC080096 induced the phosphorylation of AMPK and its known upstream kinases LKB1 and CaMKKbeta, and pharmacological inhibition of AMPK activity reduced the effects of KKC080096 on HO-1 expression and LPS-induced NO generation, suggesting that KKC080096-induced HO-1 upregulation involves LKB1/AMPK and CaMKKbeta/AMPK pathway activation. Further, KKC080096 caused an increase in cellular Nrf2 level, bound to Keap1 (Nrf2 inhibitor protein) with high affinity, and blocked Keap1-Nrf2 interaction. This Nrf2 activation resulted in concurrent induction of HO-1 and other Nrf2-targeted antioxidant enzymes in BV-2 and in dopaminergic CATH.a cells. These results indicate that KKC080096 is a potential therapeutic for oxidative stress-and inflammation-related neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.121-133
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• 2023

The demand for cement and limestone crushed materials has increased many folds due to the tremendous increase in construction activities in Pakistan during the past few decades. The number of cement production industries has increased correspondingly, and so the rock-blasting operations at the limestone quarry sites. However, the safety procedures warranted at these sites for the blast-induced ground vibrations (BIGV) have not been adequately developed and/or implemented. Proper prediction and monitoring of BIGV are necessary to ensure the safety of structures in the vicinity of these quarry sites. In this paper, an attempt has been made to predict BIGV using artificial neural network (ANN) at three selected limestone quarries of Pakistan. The ANN has been developed in Python using Keras with sequential model and dense layers. The hyper parameters and neurons in each of the activation layers has been optimized using randomized and grid search method. The input parameters for the model include distance, a maximum charge per delay (MCPD), depth of hole, burden, spacing, and number of blast holes, whereas, peak particle velocity (PPV) is taken as the only output parameter. A total of 110 blast vibrations datasets were recorded from three different limestone quarries. The dataset has been divided into 85% for neural network training, and 15% for testing of the network. A five-layer ANN is trained with Rectified Linear Unit (ReLU) activation function, Adam optimization algorithm with a learning rate of 0.001, and batch size of 32 with the topology of 6-32-32-256-1. The blast datasets were utilized to compare the performance of ANN, multivariate regression analysis (MVRA), and empirical predictors. The performance was evaluated using the coefficient of determination (R²), mean absolute error (MAE), mean squared error (MSE), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), and root mean squared error (RMSE)for predicted and measured PPV. To determine the relative influence of each parameter on the PPV, sensitivity analyses were performed for all input parameters. The analyses reveal that ANN performs superior than MVRA and other empirical predictors, andthat83% PPV is affected by distance and MCPD while hole depth, number of blast holes, burden and spacing contribute for the remaining 17%. This research provides valuable insights into improving safety measures and ensuring the structural integrity of buildings near limestone quarry sites.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.230-239
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• 2024

This study was carried out the anatomical and histological investigation of the olfactory organ on a land-locked and an amphidromous Plecoglossus altivelis in Deokam-ri, Shinpyeong-myeon, Imsil-gun, Jeollabuk-do and Daeduk-ri, Gojeon-myeon, Hadong-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do, August, 2021, Korea. The external morphology of the two types of P. altivelis was indistinguishable, featuring a pair of the elliptical anterior nostrils, the semicircular posterior nostrils, and the nasal flaps on the snout. The olfactory organ consisted of 20 to 22 olfactory lamellae forming a rosette structure in the nasal chamber. The secondary folds appeared on the lamellae. The histological results were also uniform. The sensory epithelium was a continuous type, consisting of olfactory receptor neurons, supporting cells, basal cells, cilia, and an unidentified cell. The non-sensory epithelium found only in the terminal part of lamellae, consist of stratified epithelial cells, basal cells, and mucous cells. For the olfactory organ between a land-lock type and an amphidromous type, no difference was observed in external and histological structure between amphidromous and land-locked type. However, it is considered that P. altivelis has higher olfactory sensitivity than other anadromous fish due to more number of olfactory lamellae and the presence of the secondary folds.

• International Journal of Oncology
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.1327-1336
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• 2019

Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are bone marrow (BM)-derived progenitor cells that can differentiate into mature endothelial cells, contributing to vasculogenesis in the blood vessel formation process. Runt-related transcription factor 3 (RUNX3) belongs to the Runt domain family and is required for the differentiation of specific immune cells and neurons. The tumor suppressive role of RUNX3, via the induction of apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in a variety of cancers, and its deletion or frequent silencing by epigenetic mechanisms have been studied extensively; however, its role in the differentiation of EPCs is yet to be investigated. Therefore, in the present study, adult BM-derived hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) were isolated from Runx3 heterozygous (Rx3^+/-) or wild-type (WT) mice. The differentiation of EPCs from the BM-derived HSCs of Rx3^+/- mice was found to be significantly increased compared with those of the WT mice, as determined by the number of small or large colony-forming units. The migration and tube formation abilities of Rx3^+/- EPCs were also observed to be significantly increased compared with those of WT EPCs. Furthermore, the number of circulating EPCs, defined as CD34⁺/vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2)⁺ cells, was also significantly increased in Rx3^+/- mice. Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α was upregulated in Rx3^+/- EPCs compared with WT EPCs, even under normoxic conditions. Furthermore, in a hindlimb ischemic mouse models, the recovery of blood flow was observed to be highly stimulated in Rx3^+/- mice compared with WT mice. Also, in a Lewis lung carcinoma cell allograft model, the tumor size in Rx3^+/- mice was significantly larger than that in WT mice, and the EPC cell population (CD34⁺/VEGFR2⁺ cells) recruited to the tumor was greater in the Rx3^+/- mice compared with the WT mice. In conclusion, the present study revealed that Runx3 inhibits vasculogenesis via the inhibition of EPC differentiation and functions via the suppression of HIF-1α activity.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2024

In this study, five artificial intelligence (AI) models: Inception v3, SqueezeNet (local), VGG-16, Painters, and DeepLoc were used to classify tea leaf diseases. Eight image categories were used: healthy, algal leaf spot, anthracnose, bird's eye spot, brown blight, gray blight, red leaf spot, and white spot. Software used in this study was Orange 3 which functions as a Python library for visual programming, that operates through an interface that generates workflows to visually manipulate and analyze the data. The precision of each AI model was recorded to select the ideal AI model. All models were trained using the Adam solver, rectified linear unit activation function, 100 neurons in the hidden layers, 200 maximum number of iterations in the neural network, and 0.0001 regularizations. To extend the functionality of Orange 3, new add-ons can be installed and, this study image analytics add-on was newly added which is required for image analysis. For the training model, the import image, image embedding, neural network, test and score, and confusion matrix widgets were used, whereas the import images, image embedding, predictions, and image viewer widgets were used for the prediction. Precisions of the neural networks of the five AI models (Inception v3, SqueezeNet (local), VGG-16, Painters, and DeepLoc) were 0.807, 0.901, 0.780, 0.800, and 0.771, respectively. Finally, the SqueezeNet (local) model was selected as the optimal AI model for the detection of tea diseases using tea leaf images owing to its high precision and good performance throughout the confusion matrix.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.251-257
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• 2007

The Tumor necrosis factor-α, (TNF-α), is involved in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis and contributes to the degeneration of oligodendrocytes as well as neurons. Nicotine has been found to have immunosuppressive and inflammation-suppressing effects. Astrocytes, the major glial cells in the CNS, are capable of producing TNF-α at both the mRNA and protein levels in response to interleukin-1 (IL-1) or TNF-α. Nicotine has been shown to influence glial cell functions. To order to explore the role of astrocytes in the production of TNF-α, astrocytes were pretreated with nicotine and are stimulated with IL-1β to determine their effects on TNF-α production. The results are as follows. Cytotoxic effects of nicotine on human fetal astrocytes were noted above 10 μg/ml of nicotine. The effect of IL-1β on TNF-α mRNA expression in primary cultured human fetal astrocytes was maximal at 2 h after IL- 1β(100 pg/ml) treatment. Human fetal astrocytes were pretreated with 0.1, 1, and 10 μg/ml of nicotine and then stimulated with IL-1β (100 pg/ml) for 2 h. The inhibitory effect of nicotine on expressions of TNF-α mRNA in human fetal astrocytes with pretreated 0.1 μg/ml of nicotine is first noted at 8 hr, and the inhibitory effect is maximal at 12 h. The inhibitory effect at 1 μg/ml of nicotine is inhibited maximal at 24 h. Nicotine at 0.1, 1 and 10 μg/ml concentrations significantly inhibits IL-1β-induced NF-κB activation. Collectively, this study indicates that nicotine might inhibit the expression of TNF-α in activated human fetal astrocytes.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.377-387
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• 2000

There are a few tanycytes between the general ependymal cells lining the ependymal layer of the brain ventricle. These cells are considered as modified ependymal cells which possess a long basal process. Tanycytes are known to have an ability to communicate by absorbing substances from cerebrospinal fluid and transporting them to the blood vessels and/or to the neurons in the CNS. The third and fourth ventricular tanycytes were mainly studied as subjects but it's rare to find reports about the tanycytes of the area postrema. Glial fibrillary acidic protein is an intermediate filament protein that is expressed especially in astrocytes of the CNS. But GFAP is also found in filament of the tanycytes and its process. Therefore this study was carried out for the examination of the GFAP immunoreactive tanycytes lining the area postrema of the bat, and we also examined the ultrastructure of tanycytes using electron microscope. GFAP immunoreactive tanycytes were located in the caudal portion of the fourth ventricle, and especially mainly in the transitional zone between the floor of the caudal fourth ventricle and ependymal layer lining the area postrema. A few GFAP immunoreactive tanycytes were also found in the ependymal layer lining the area postrema, and some groups of tanycytes were found in the ependymal layer of the area postrema near the floor of the caudal fourth ventricle , The processes of tanycytes were stained deeply with anti-GFAP antibody. Especially the GFAP immunoreactive tanycytes lining the area postrema had very long processes that cross the whole width of the area postrema. In the electron microscope, the cell body of ependymal tanycyte was located on the ependymal layer and had a long basal process. Intermediate filaments were observed around the nucleus and well developed in the process of tanycrte. Longitudinal oriented long mitochondria and a few lipid droplets were also found in this process. After immunocytocheical staining, the gold particles were found only in the intermediate filaments. We could not determine the function of the tanycytes in the area postrema. Thus, further investigation is required to determine the functional relationship between the tanycytes and the area postrema in hibernating animal, the bat.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.347-355
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• 2000

Zinc is one of the most abundant oligoelements in the living cell. It appears tightly bound to some metalloproteins and nucleic acids, loosely bound to some metallothioneins or even as free ion. Small amounts of zinc ions (in the nanomolar range) regulate a plentitude of enzymatic proteins, receptors and transcription factors, thus rolls need accurate homeostasis of zinc ions. Zinc is an essential catalytic or structural element of many proteins, and a signaling messenger that is released by neural activity at many central excitatory synapses. Growing evidences suggest that zinc may also be a key mediator and modulator of the neuronal death associated with transient global ischemia and sustained seizures, as well as perhaps other neurological disease stoles. Some neurons have developed mechanisms to accumulate zinc in specific membrane compartment ('vesicular zinc') which can be evidenced using histochemical techniques. Substances giving a bright colour or emitting fluorescence when in contact with divalent metal ions are currently used to detect them inside cells; their use leads to the so called 'direct' methods. The fixation and precipitation of metal ions as insoluble salt precipitates, their maintenance along the histological process and, finally, their demonstration after autometallographic development are essential steps for other methods, the so called 'indirect methods'. This study is a short report on the autometallograhical approaches for zinc detection in the central nervous system (CNS) by means of a modified selenium method.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Sensory Integration
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.51-60
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• 2011

Objective : The characteristics of physiological responses of ADHD children to sensory stimulation were examined by types of sensory stimulation, measurement tools, and responses. In addition the behavioral characteristics were examined by analyzing items of common problems according to the measuring tool, frequency, and measurement tools. Methods : A systematic review methods were used. Papers published in the Journal between January, 1990 and December 31, 2011 were searched through Riss4U, MEDLINE /PubMed, CINAH. The main terms searched were "ADHD, Children, Sensory processing, Sensory integration, SP, SSP, SOR, TIE, CSP, SEP, EDR", and 15 papers were analyzed. Results : 1. The number of studies on physiological responses of children with ADHD to sensory stimulation was five (33.33 percent), the number of studies on behavioral responses was ten(66.67%), and the number of studies combined the two kinds of study was two (13.33%), where a total of 15 (100%) papers were analyzed. 2. In five studies on the physiological response, there were three studies using tactile and proprioceptive stimulations and two studies using olfactory, auditory, visual, tactile, and vestibular sensories. 3. In ten studies on the behavioral responses, there were five studies using SP, three studies using SSP, two studies using SOR, one study using TIE, and one study using CSP. Conclusion : In the characteristics of physiological responses of children with ADHD children to sensory stimulation, there was in the action potential of the cells in hand region of the primary sensorimotor cortex neurons. It was analyzed that there was an initial state and it appeared show a obvious and fast habituation in the later state; the time of recovery seemed to have many non-specific responses. In the characteristics of behavioral responses, there were inattention / distraction, vestibular processing, sensory processing related to endurance / tone, modulation of sensory input affecting emotional responses, low energy/weak.