• Macromolecular Research
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.446-456
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• 2008

A recent theoretical approach based on the coupling of both the Flory-Huggins (FH) and the Association Equilibria thermodynamic (AET) theories was modified and adapted to study the miscibility properties of a multi-component system formed by two polymers (a proton-donor and a proton-acceptor) and a proton-acceptor solvent, named copolymer(A)/solvent(B)/polymer(C). Compatibility between polymers was mainly attained by hydrogen-bonding between the hydroxyl group on the phenol unit of the poly(styrene-co-vinyl phenol) (PSVPh) and the carbonyl group of the biodegradable and environmentally friendly poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB). However, the self-association of PSVPh and specific interactions between the PSVPh and the H-acceptor group (an ether oxygen atom) of the epichlorohydrin (ECH) solvent were also established in a lower extension, which competed with the polymer-polymer association. All the binary specific interactions and their dependence with the system composition as well as with the copolymer content were evaluated and quantified by means of two excess functions of the Gibbs tree energy, ${\Delta}g_{AB}$ and ${\Delta}g_{AC}$. Experimental results from fluorescence spectroscopy were consistent with the theoretical simulations derived with the model, which could also be applied and extended to predict the miscibility in solution of any polymer blend with specific interactions.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2007.07a
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• pp.1353-1354
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• 2007

폴리 실리콘 층의 유무에 따른 금속-옥사이드-반도체(MOS) 구조의 소자를 제작하였다. 터널링 산화막과 블로킹 산화막으로는 $Al_{2}O_{3}$ 층을 증착하였으며, 원자층 증착법을 이용하여 제작하였다. 터널링 산화막 층의 두께에 따른 I-V와 C-V 특성을 측정하였다. 전자들이 폴리 실리콘 층에 저장됨에 따라 N-형의 I-V 특성이 관찰되었다. C-V 측정 시에는 반시계 방향의 히스테리시스 특성을 나타내었으며, 전압이 증가할수록 플랫-밴드 전압 이동 폭이 더욱 증가하였다. 이러한 전기적 특성은 전압의 이동에 따른 전자들이 터널링 산화막 층을 통하여 폴리 실리콘 내부에 저장되기 때문이다. 이를 특성들은 폴리 실리콘의 전하 저장 가능성을 보여주는 것이며, 터널링 산화막 층의 두께에 따른 전기적 특성 변화도 관찰하였다.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.28 no.9
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• pp.1047-1052
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• 2005

Two phenolic glucosides, eutigoside Band eutigoside C were isolated from the fresh leaves of Eurya emarginata. These two phenolic glucosides exerted a significant inhibitory effect on the growth of HL-60 promyelocytic leukemia cells. Furthermore, when the HL-60 cells were treated with eutigoside C, several apoptotic characteristics such as DNA fragmentation, morphologic changes, and increase of the population of sub-G1 hypodiploid cells were observed. In order to understand the mechanism of apoptosis induction by eutigoside C, we examined the changes of Bcl-2 and Bax expression levels. The eutigoside C reduced BcI-2 protein and mRNA levels, but slightly increased Bax protein and mRNA levels in a time-dependent manner. When we examined the activation of caspase-3, an effector of apoptosis, the eutigoside C increased the expression of active form (19-kDa) of caspase-3 and the increase of their activities was demonstrated by the cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase, a substrate of caspase-3, to 85-kDa. The results suggest that the inhibitory effect of eutigoside C from E. emarginata on the growth of HL-60 appears to arise from the induction of apoptosis via the down-regulation of BcI-2 and the activation of caspase.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.9
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• pp.3295-3305
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• 2011

Thermal behavior of poly (methyl methacrylate) was analyzed in the presence of tin (IV) chloride. Five different proportions - polymer to additive - were selected for casting films from common solvent. TG, DTG and DTA were employed to monitor thermal degradation of the systems. IR and py-GC-MS helped identify the decomposition products. The blends start degrading at a temperature lower than that of the neat polymer and higher than that of the pure additive. Complex formation between tin of additive and carbonyl oxygen (pendent groups of MMA units) was noticed in the films soon after the mixing of the components in the blends. The samples were also heated at three different temperatures to determine the composition of residues left after the expulsion of volatiles. The polymer, blends and additive exhibited a one step, two-step and three-step degradation, respectively. $T_0$ is highest for the polymer, lowest for the additive and is either $60^{\circ}C$ or $70^{\circ}C$ for the blends. The amount of residue increases down the series [moving from blend-1 (minimum additive concentration) to blend-5 (maximum additive concentration)]. For blend-1, it is 7% of the original mass whereas it is 16% for blend-5. $T_{max}$ also goes up as the concentration of additive in the blends is elevated. The complexation appears to be the cause of observed stabilization. Some new products of degradation were noted apart from those reported earlier. These included methanol, isobutyric acid, acid chloride, etc. Molecular-level mixing of the constituents and "positioning effect" of the additive may have brought about the formation of new compounds. Routes are proposed for the appearance of these substances. Horizontal burning tests were also conducted on polymer and blends and the results are discussed. Activation energies and reaction orders were calculated. Activation energy is highest for the polymer, i.e., 138.9 Kcal/mol while the range for blends is from 51 to 39 Kcal/mol. Stability zones are highlighted for the blends. The interaction between the blended parts seems to be chemical in nature.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.421-431
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• 2016

Recently, poly-γ-glutamic acid synthetase A (pgsA) has been applied to display exogenous proteins on the surface of Lactobacillus casei or Lactococcus lactis, which results in a surface-displayed component of bacteria. However, the ability of carrying genes encoded by plasmids and the expression efficiency of recombinant bacteria can be somewhat affected by the longer gene length of pgsA (1,143 bp); therefore, a truncated gene, pgsA, was generated based on the characteristics of pgsA by computational analysis. Using murine IL-10 as an exogenous gene, recombinant Lactobacillus plantarum was constructed and the capacity of the surface-displayed protein and functional differences between exogenous proteins expressed by these strains were evaluated. Surface expression of IL-10 on both recombinant bacteria with anchorins and the higher expression levels in L. plantarum-pgsA'-IL-10 were confirmed by western blot assay. Most importantly, up-regulation of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, IFN-γ, and the nuclear transcription factor NF-κB p65 in RAW264.7 cells after stimulation with Poly(I:C) or LPS was exacerbated after co-culture with L. plantarum-pgsA. By contrast, IL-10 expressed by these recombinant strains could reduce these factors, and the expression of these factors was associated with recombinant strains that expressed anchorin (especially in L. plantarum-pgsA'-IL-10) and was significantly lower compared with the anchorin-free strains. These findings indicated that exogenous proteins could be successfully displayed on the surface of L. plantarum by pgsA or pgsA', and the expression of recombinant bacteria with pgsA' was superior compared with bacteria with pgsA.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.318-324
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• 1987

Experimental results for viscous flow of poly (${\gamma}$ -methyl L-glutamate) solutions have been published elsewhere. The data of $[{\eta}]^f / [{\eta}]^0$ are expressed by the following equation, $\frac{[{\eta}^f]}{[{\eta}^{\circ}]}=1-\frac{A}{\eta^\circ}{1-\frac{sin^{-1}[{\beta}_2(f/{\eta}_0)\;{e}xp\;(-c_2f^2/{\eta}_0^2kT)]}{{\beta}_2f/{\eta}_0}$ (A1) where $[{\eta}]^f\; and\; [{\eta} ]^0$ are the intrinsic viscosity at shear stress f and zero, respectively, $ A{\equiv}lim\limits_{C{\rightarrow}0}[(1/C)(X_2/{\alpha}_2)({\beta}_2/{\eta}_0)],{\eta}_0$ viscosity of the solvent, ${\beta}_2$ is the relaxation time of flow unit 2, $c_2$ is a constant related to the elasticity of flow unit 2. The theoretical derivation of Eq.(A1) is given in the text. The experimental curves of $[{\eta}]^f / [{\eta}]^0$ vs. log f are compared with the theoretical curves calculated from Eq.(A1) with good results. Eq.(A1) is also applied to non-biopolymeric solutions, and it was found that in the latter case $c_2 = 0.$ The reason for this is explained in the text. The problems related to non-Newtonian flows are discussed.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.618-624
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• 2013

Hydroquinone bis(trimellitic anhydride) (HQ-TA) was synthesized from trimellitic anhydride chloride and hydroquinone. Poly(amic acid)s (PAAs) were synthesized by reacting a HQ-TA with six different diamines, which were cyclized to yield polyimides (PIs) containing ester linkages by chemical- and thermal-imidization methods. The various PIs were synthesized from structurally different aromatic diamines. The glass transition temperatures ($T_g$) were in the range of 167-$215^{\circ}C$, and the decomposition temperatures (${T_D}^i$) were in the range of $364-451^{\circ}C$. The maximum improvements in coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) and barrier to oxygen permeation were observed in PIs using TFB (3.23 $ppm/^{\circ}C$) and 4,4-ODA (< $10^{-2}cc/m^2/day$), respectively. The PI films possessed a transmittance of 65-89% at 500 nm and had a yellowish color with a yellow index (YI) of 3.01-69.52.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.297-302
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• 2003

The imidization and cure reaction of a thermosetting phenylethynyl-terminated amic acid (LaRC PETI-5) in film form have been monitored as a function of temperature by means of a steady-state fluorescence technique using a front-face illumination method. The variation of the fluorescence emission spectra of LaRC PETI-5 can be divided into four temperature regions; Region I: below 15$0^{\circ}C$, Region II: 150-25$0^{\circ}C$, Region III: 250-35$0^{\circ}C$, and Region IV: above 35$0^{\circ}C$. The fluorescence spectra in Region I are largely influenced by residual N-methyl-2pyrrolidinone in the polymer and also slightly by partial imidization of the polymer. There is a combined effect of imidization and solvent removal on the fluorescence behavior in Region II. The spectra in Regions III and IV are due significantly to the cure reaction of LaRC PETI-5 and to a post-cure effect of the polyimide, respectively. This spectroscopic evidence indicating the transformation of the amic acid imide oligomer into the corresponding polyimide via imidization and cure, agrees well with thermal analysis results obtained previously. The intermediate stage of cure in the range of 250-30$0^{\circ}C$ predominantly influences the change of the fluorescence intensity. The later stage above 30$0^{\circ}C$ significantly influences the position of the spectrum. This fluorescence study also supports the mechanism proposed in earlier work that the crosslinking reaction takes place at the reaction sites in the conjugated polyene and the phenylethynyl end group in the polyimide chain.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.37 no.8
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• pp.773-778
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• 1993

Poly(vinyl chloride)(PVC) membrane electrodes based on the lipophilic neutral carrier, dibenzo-18-crown-6(DB18C6) and benzo-15-crown-5 (B15C5) as the active sensors for Tl$^+$ ion have been prepared and tested in different content of the potassium tetrakis(4-chlorophenyl)borate (KTClPB) as lipophilic salt. Dioctyl adipate (DOA), 2-nitrophenyl phenyl ether (NPPE) and o-nitrophenyl actyl ether (NPOE) were used as plasticizing solvent mediators. Electrodes exhibited good linear responses of 40∼55 mV decade$^{-1}$ for Tl$^+$ ion within the concentration ranges 10$^{-1}$∼10$^{-5}$M TlNO$_3$. Selectivity coefficients of interfering ions (alkali metal, alkaline earth metal and some transition metal ions) for Tl$^+$-ISE were determined by separate solution method and were sufficiently small for most of them. These crown ether type ion-selective electrodes are suitable for use with aqueous solution at pH > 3.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.9
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• pp.1554-1562
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• 2018

The type I interferons (IFNs) play a vital role in activation of innate immunity in response to viral infection. Accordingly, viruses have evolved to employ various survival strategies to evade innate immune responses induced by type I IFNs. For example, hepatitis E virus (HEV) encoded papain-like cysteine protease (PCP) has been shown to inhibit IFN activation signaling by suppressing K63-linked de-ubiquitination of retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I) and TANK-binding kinase 1 (TBK1), thus effectively inhibiting down-stream activation of IFN signaling. In the present study, we demonstrated that HEV inhibits polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (poly(I:C))-induced $IFN-{\beta}$ transcriptional induction. Moreover, by using reporter assay with individual HEV-encoded gene, we showed that HEV methyltransferase (MeT), a non-structural protein, significantly decreases RIG-I-induced $IFN-{\beta}$ induction and $NF-{\kappa}B$ signaling activities in a dose-dependent manner. Taken together, we report here that MeT, along with PCP, is responsible for the inhibition of RIG-I-induced activation of type I IFNs, expanding the list of HEV-encoded antagonists of the host innate immunity.