• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.33-42
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• 2022

Background: Cupressus arizonica Greene is a coniferous tree with great importance in fragrance and pharmaceutical industries. Essential oils from C. arizonica (EC) have shown potential antioxidant, and anti-microbial activities. This study aimed at investigating the anti-nociceptive and anti-inflammatory effects/mechanisms of EC. Methods: The EC was evaluated for anti-nociceptive and anti-inflammatory activities on male Wistar rats using a formalin test and carrageenan-induced paw edema, respectively. Also, we pre-treated some of the animals with naloxone and flumazenil in the formalin test to find out the possible contributions of opioid and benzodiazepine receptors to EC anti-nociceptive effects. Finally, gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis was used to identify the EC's constituents. Results: EC in intraperitoneal doses of 0.5 and 1 g/kg significantly decrease the nociceptive responses in both early and late phases of the formalin test. From a mechanistic point of view, flumazenil administration 20 minutes before the most effective dose of EC (1 g/kg) showed a meaningful reduction in the associated anti-nociceptive responses during the early and late phases of the formalin test. Naloxone also reduced the anti-nociceptive role of EC in the late phase. Furthermore, EC at the doses of 1, 0.5, and 0.25 g/kg significantly reduced paw edema from 0.5 hours after carrageenan injection to 4 hours. GC/MS analysis showed that isolated EC is a monoterpene-rich oil with the major presence of α-pinene (71.92%), myrcene (6.37%), δ-3-carene (4.68%), β-pinene (3.71%), and limonene (3.34%). Conclusions: EC showed potent anti-nociceptive and anti-inflammatory activities with the relative involvement of opioid and benzodiazepine receptors.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.143-149
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• 2022

Membrane distillation (MD) has emerged as a sustainable desalination technology to solve the water and energy problems faced by the modern society. In particular, the surface wetting properties of the membrane have been recognized as a key parameter to determine the performance of the MD system. In this study, a novel surface modification technique was developed to induce a Janus-type hydrophilic/hydrophobic layer on the membrane surface. The hydrophilic layer was created on a porous PVDF membrane by vapor phase polymerization of the pyrrole monomer, forming a thin coating of polypyrrole on the membrane walls. A rigid polymeric coating layer was created without compromising the membrane porosity. The hydrophilic coating was then followed by the in-situ growth of siloxane nanoparticles, where the condensation of organosilane provided quick loading of hydrophobic layers on the membrane surface. The composite layers of dual coatings allowed systematic control of the surface wettability of porous membranes. By the virtue of the photothermal property of the hydrophilic polypyrrole layer, the desalination performance of the coated membrane was tested in a solar MD system. The wetting properties of the dual-layer were further evaluated in a direct-contact MD module, exploring the potential of the Janus membrane structure for effective and low-energy desalination.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.10
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• pp.3909-3918
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• 2022

In the event of a severe accident, the reactor core may melt due to insufficient cooling. the high-temperature core melt will have a strong interaction (FCI) with the coolant, which may lead to steam explosion. Steam explosion would pose a serious threat to the safety of the reactors. Therefore, the study of steam explosion is of great significance to the assessment of severe accidents in nuclear reactors. This research focuses on the development of a two-dimensional steam explosion integrated analysis code called SEINA. Based on the semi-implicit Euler scheme, the three-phase field was considered in this code. Besides, the influence of evaporation drag of melt and the influence of solidified shell during the process of melt droplet fragmentation were also considered. The code was simulated and validated by FARO L-14 and KROTOS KS-2 experiments. The calculation results of SEINA code are in good agreement with the experimental results, and the results show that if the effects of evaporation drag and melt solidification shell are considered, the FCI process can be described more accurately. Therefore, it is proved that SEINA has the potential to be a powerful and effective tool for the analysis of steam explosions in nuclear reactors.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.7
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• pp.918-926
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• 2022

Proteins related to DNA replication have been proposed as cancer biomarkers and targets for anticancer agents. Among them, minichromosome maintenance (MCM) proteins, often overexpressed in various cancer cells, are recognized both as notable biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and as targets for cancer treatment. Here, we investigated the activity of cedrol, a single compound isolated from Juniperus chinensis, in reducing the expression of MCM proteins in human lung carcinoma A549 cells. Remarkably, cedrol also strongly inhibited the expression of all other MCM protein family members in A549 cells. Moreover, cedrol treatment reduced cell viability in A549 cells, accompanied by cell cycle arrest at the G1 phase, and enhanced apoptosis. Taken together, this study broadens our understanding of how cedrol executes its anticancer activity while demonstrating that cedrol has potential application in the treatment of human lung cancer as an inhibitor of MCM proteins.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.363-376
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• 2022

An area under construction for a living facility collapsed around 12:48 KST on 13 January 2021 in Sa-dong, Ansan-si, Gyeonggi-do. There were no casualties due to the rapid evacuation measure, but part of the temporary retaining facility collapsed, and several cracks occurred in the adjacent road on the south side. This study used the potential of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite for surface property changes that lies in backscattering characteristic to map the collapsed structure. The interferometric SAR technique can make a direct measurement of the decorrelation among different acquisition dates by integrating both amplitude and phase information. The damage proxy map (DPM) technique has been employed using four high-resolution Constellation of Small Satellites for Mediterranean basin Observation (COSMO-SkyMed) data spanning from 2020 to 2021 during ascending observation to analyze the collapse of the construction. DPM relies on the difference of pre- and co-event interferometric coherences to depict anomalous changes that indicate collapsed structure in the study area. The DPMs were displayed in a color scale that indicates an increasingly more significant ground surface change in the area covered by the pixels, depicting the collapsed structure. Therefore, the DPM technique with SAR data can be used for damage assessment with accurate and comprehensive detection after an event. In addition, we classify the amplitude information using support vector machine (SVM) and maximum likelihood classification algorithms. An investigation committee was formed to determine the cause of the collapse of the retaining wall and to suggest technical and institutional measures and alternatives to prevent similar incidents from reoccurring. The report from the committee revealed that the incident was caused by a combination of factors that were not carried out properly.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.45 no.10
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• pp.729-737
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• 2022

Carboplatin-based chemotherapy is the primary treatment option for the management of retinoblastoma, an intraocular malignant tumor observed in children. The aim of the present study was to establish carboplatin-resistant retinoblastoma cell lines to facilitate future research into the treatment of chemoresistant retinoblastoma. In total, two retinoblastoma cell lines, Y79 and SNUOT-Rb1, were treated with increasing concentrations of carboplatin to develop the carboplatin-resistant retinoblastoma cell lines (termed Y79/CBP and SNUOT-Rb1/CBP, respectively). To verify resistance to carboplatin, the degree of DNA fragmentation and the expression level of cleaved caspase-3 were evaluated in the cells, following carboplatin treatment. In addition, the newly developed carboplatin-resistant retinoblastoma cells formed in vivo intraocular tumors more effectively than their parental cells, even after the intravitreal injection of carboplatin. Interestingly, the proportion of cells in the G₀/G₁ phase was higher in Y79/CBP and SNUOT-Rb1/CBP cells than in their respective parental cells. In line with these data, the expression levels of cyclin D1 and cyclin D3 were decreased, whereas p18 and p27 expression was increased in the carboplatin-resistant cells. In addition, the expression levels of genes associated with multidrug resistance were increased. Thus, these carboplatin-resistant cell lines may serve as a useful tool in the study of chemoresistance in retinoblastoma and for the development potential therapeutics.

• BMB Reports
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• v.55 no.11
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• pp.559-564
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• 2022

Diabetes mellitus is one of the most prevalent diseases in modern society. Many complicationssuch as hepatic cirrhosis, neuropathy, cardiac infarction, and so on are associated with diabetes. Although a relationship between diabetes and hair loss has been recently reported, the treatment of diabetic hair loss by Wnt/β-catenin activators has not been achieved yet. In this study, we found that the depilation-induced anagen phase was delayed in both db/db mice and high-fat diet (HFD) and streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice. In diabetic mice, both hair regrowth and wound-induced hair follicle neogenesis (WIHN) were reduced because of suppression of Wnt/β-catenin signaling and decreased proliferation of hair follicle cells. We identified that KY19382, a small molecule that activates Wnt/β-catenin signaling, restored the capabilities of regrowth and WIHN in diabetic mice. The Wnt/β-catenin signaling activator also increased the length of the human hair follicle which was decreased under high glucose culture conditions. Overall, the diabetic condition reduced both hair regrowth and regeneration with suppression of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Consequently, the usage of Wnt/β-catenin signaling activators could be a potential strategy to treat diabetes-induced alopecia patients.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Systems Engineering
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.94-107
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• 2022

Accidents prevention and mitigation is the highest priority of nuclear power plant (NPP) operation, particularly in the aftermath of the Fukushima Daiichi accident, which has reignited public anxieties and skepticism regarding nuclear energy usage. To deal with accident scenarios more effectively, operators must have ample and precise information about key safety parameters as well as their future trajectories. This work investigates the potential of machine learning in forecasting NPP response in real-time to provide an additional validation method and help reduce human error, especially in accident situations where operators are under a lot of stress. First, a base-case SGTR simulation is carried out by the best-estimate code RELAP5/MOD3.4 to confirm the validity of the model against results reported in the APR1400 Design Control Document (DCD). Then, uncertainty quantification is performed by coupling RELAP5/MOD3.4 and the statistical tool DAKOTA to generate a large enough dataset for the construction and training of neural-based machine learning (ML) models, namely LSTM, GRU, and hybrid CNN-LSTM. Finally, the accuracy and reliability of these models in forecasting system response are tested by their performance on fresh data. To facilitate and oversee the process of developing the ML models, a Systems Engineering (SE) methodology is used to ensure that the work is consistently in line with the originating mission statement and that the findings obtained at each subsequent phase are valid.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.37-44
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• 2022

Plug-in Hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) show great potential to reduce gas emission, improve fuel efficiency and offer more driving range flexibility. Moreover, PHEV help to preserve the eco-system, climate changes and reduce the high demand for fossil fuels. To address this; some basic components and energy resources have been used, such as batteries and proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells (FCs). However, the FC remains unsatisfactory in terms of power density and response. In light of the above, an electric storage system (ESS) seems to be a promising solution to resolve this issue, especially when it comes to the transient phase. In addition to the FC, a storage system made-up of an ultra-battery UB is proposed within this paper. The association of the FC and the UB lead to the so-called Fuel Cell Battery Electric Vehicle (FCBEV). The energy consumption model of a FCBEV has been built considering the power losses of the fuel cell, electric motor, the state of charge (SOC) of the battery, and brakes. To do so, the implementing a reinforcement-learning energy management strategy (EMS) has been carried out and the fuel cell efficiency has been optimized while minimizing the hydrogen fuel consummation per 100km. Within this paper the adopted approach over numerous driving cycles of the FCBEV has shown promising results.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.167-174
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• 2022

Background: 20(S)-protopanaxadiol (20(S)-PPD), one of the main active metabolites of ginseng, performs a broad spectrum of anti-tumor effects. Our aims are to search out new strategies to enhance anti-tumor effects of natural products, including 20(S)-PPD. In recent years, fasting has been shown to be multi-functional on tumor progression. Here, the effects of fasting combined with 20(S)-PPD on hepatocellular carcinoma growth, apoptosis, migration, invasion and cell cycle were explored. Methods: CCK-8 assay, trypan blue dye exclusion test, imagings photographed by HoloMonitorTM M4, transwell assay and flow cytometry assay were performed for functional analyses on cell proliferation, morphology, migration, invasion, apoptosis, necrosis and cell cycle. The expressions of genes on protein levels were tested by western blot. Tumor-bearing mice were used to evaluate the effects of intermittent fasting combined with 20(S)-PPD. Results: We firstly confirmed that fasting-mimicking increased the anti-proliferation effect of 20(S)-PPD in human HepG2 cells in vitro. In fasting-mimicking culturing medium, the apoptosis and necrosis induced by 20(S)-PPD increased and more cells were arrested at G0-G1 phase. Meanwhile, invasion and migration of cells were decreased by down-regulating the expressions of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 in fasting-mimicking medium. Furthermore, the in vivo study confirmed that intermittent fasting enhanced the tumor growth inhibition of 20(S)-PPD in H22 tumor-bearing mice without obvious side effects. Conclusion: Fasting significantly sensitized HCC cells to 20(S)-PPD in vivo and in vitro. These data indicated that dietary restriction can be one of the potential strategies of chinese medicine or its active metabolites against hepatocellular carcinoma.