• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.251-260
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• 1998

Cromakalim (BRL 34915), known as an airway smooth muscle relaxant, inhibited the releases of mediators in the antigen-induced mast cell activation. It has been suggested that cromakalim, in part, inhibited mediator releases by inhibiting the initial increase of 1,2-diacylglycerol (DAG) produced by the activation of the other phospholipase system which is different from phosphatidylcholine-phospholipase D pathway. The aim of this study is to further examine the inhibitory mechanism of cromakalim on the mediator release in the mast cell activation. Guinea pig lung mast cells were purified by using enzyme digestion and percoll density gradient. In purified mast cells prelabeled with $[^3H]PIP_2$, phospholipase C (PLC) activity was assessed by the production of $[^3H]$insitol phosphates. Protein kinase C (PKC) activity was assessed by measuring the protein phosphorylated from mast cells prelabeled with $[{\gamma}-32P]ATP$, and Phospholipase $A_2\;(PLA_2)$ activity by measuring the lyso-phosphatidylcholine produced from mast cell prelabeled with 1-palmitoyl-2-arachidonyl $phosphatidyl-[^{14}C]choline$. Histamine was assayed by fluorometric analyzer, and leukotrienes by radioimmunoassay. The PLC activity was increased by activation of the passively sensitized mast cells. This increased PLC activity was decreased by cromakalim pretreatment. The PKC activity increased by the activation of the passively sensitized mast cells was decreased by calphostin C, staurosporine and cromakalim, respectively. The $PLA_2$ activity was increased in the activated mast cells. The pretreatment of cromakalim did not significantly decrease $PLA_2$ activity. These data show that cromakalim inhibits histamine release by continuously inhibiting signal transduction processes which is mediated via PLC pathway during mast cell activation, but that cromakalim does not affect $PLA_2$ activity related to leukotriene release.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.82-92
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• 2016

The reduction of carbon dioxide emission is hot issue in the world because we are confronted with serious global warming and climate change. As a part of carbon dioxide reduction efforts, various approaches for increasing filler loading have been carried out in order to decrease the energy consumption in papermaking processes. Effects of the pretreatment of GCC with cationic starch and MFC on the flocculation behaviour of GCC were investigated in this study. Pretreatment of GCC with cationic starch caused the change of electric charge of suspension and flocculation behaviour of GCC. Largest flocculation size was obtained near the isoelectric point in the case of cationic starch treatment. When MFC (30 times grinded) was added after preflocculation of GCC with cationic starch, the flocculation size was increased, but largest flocculation size was obtained at -150 mV of electric charge of suspension in this study. However the addition of highly grinded MFC (60 times grinded) caused smaller flocculation size of GCC than those of MFC (30 times grinded). When GCC and MFC were mixed first, and then cationic starch was added, the characteristics of MFC and the change of electric charge which could be brought by cationic starch did not affect the flocculation size of GCC at all. The flocculation size obtained by the combination of cationic starch and MFC was smaller than those of cationic starch. These results show that flocculation behaviour could be controlled by the change of electric charge of suspension and the combination methods of cationic starch and MFC.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.207-212
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• 2005

Tetragonia tetragonoides (Aizoaceae) has been known as an anti-cancer agent. The activation of proteinase-activated receptor-2 (PAR-2) by trypsin appears to play a role in inflammation. In the present study, we examined the inhibitory effects of Tetragonia tetragonoides water extract (TTWE) on the production of tumor necrosis $factor-{\alpha}\;(TNF-{\alpha})$ and tryptase in trypsin-stimulated human leukemic mast cells (HMC-1) expressing PAR-2. HMC-1 cells were stimulated with trypsin in the presence or absence of TTWE (10, 100, and $1000\;{\mu}g/ml$). The level of $TNF-{\alpha}$ secretion from HMC-1 cells was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). $TNF-{\alpha}$ and tryptase mRNA expression were examined by reverse transcription-PCR. Also, extracellular signal-regulated kinese (ERK) activation was assessed by Western blot analysis. Trypsin activity was measured using the substrate Bz-DL-Arg-p-nitroanilide (BAPNA). It was observed that $TNF-{\alpha}$ secretion, tryptase mRNA and $TNF-{\alpha}$ mRNA expression in trypsin-stimulated HMC-1 cells were inhibited by pretreatment of TTWE ($1000\;{\mu}g/ml$). Furthermore, the pretreatment of TTWE ($1000\;{\mu}g/ml$) resulted in the reduction of ERK phosphorylation and trypsin activity. These results suggest hat TTWE might have the inhibitory effects on the PAR-2-dependent inflammation processes and it is likely to function as PAR-2 antagonist.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.317-322
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• 2005

Various recovery methods were investigated to maximize hemicellulose recovery from lignocellulosic material hydrolyzed by pure water. The pretreatment conditions of water hydrolysis were $170\~180^{\circ}C$ and 1 hour of reaction time. The percentage of hemicellulose solubilized increased as the temperature increased from 170 to $180^{\circ}C$. However, significant decomposition of sugar was observed at temperature of $180^{\circ}C$. From the results of water hydrolysis, the total amount of glucan in solid residue and liquid hydrolyzate was close to the total glucan in the original biomass. For hemicellulose, however, there was a significant difference between both contents. To prove this difference, various recovery methods were proposed. From the total sugar accountability (sugar in liquid + sugar in solid), it was confirmed that hemicellulose recovery in the hydrolyzate was increased if the product including both hydrolyzate and solid residue was physically stimulated by such as heating and ultrasound irradiation. This indicated that, in commercial scale processes that much bigger substrate sizes are used and a sufficient amount of leaching solvent can not be used after pretreatment, a significant amount of oligomers could be trapped in the solid matrix.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.471-487
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• 2013

This review paper was written to provide background information as well as future application for aquatic ecologists interested in using stable isotope. Stable isotope techniques has proved to be an extremely useful to elucidate a lot of environmental and ecological problems. Stable isotopes have been used as possible tracers to identify sources, to quantify relative inputs in a system. When utilized carefully, stable isotope tools provides apparent advantages for the scientists to find out the processes of material cycles in various environments and energy flows in natural ecosystems.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.229-236
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• 2014

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitrogen species (RNS) are implicated in cellular signaling processes and as a cause of oxidative stress. Recent studies indicate that ROS and RNS are important signaling molecules involved in nociceptive transmission. Xanthine oxidase (XO) system is a well-known system for superoxide anions ($O{_2}^{{\cdot}_-}$) generation, and sodium nitroprusside (SNP) is a representative nitric oxide (NO) donor. Patch clamp recording in spinal slices was used to investigate the role of $O{_2}^{{\cdot}_-}$ and NO on substantia gelatinosa (SG) neuronal excitability. Application of xanthine and xanthine oxidase (X/XO) compound induced membrane depolarization. Low concentration SNP ($10{\mu}M$) induced depolarization of the membrane, whereas high concentration SNP (1 mM) evoked membrane hyperpolarization. These responses were significantly decreased by pretreatment with phenyl N-tert-butylnitrone (PBN; nonspecific ROS and RNS scavenger). Addition of thapsigargin to an external calcium free solution for blocking synaptic transmission, led to significantly decreased X/XO-induced responses. Additionally, X/XO and SNP-induced responses were unchanged in the presence of intracellular applied PBN, indicative of the involvement of presynaptic action. Inclusion of GDP-${\beta}$-S or suramin (G protein inhibitors) in the patch pipette decreased SNP-induced responses, whereas it failed to decrease X/XO-induced responses. Pretreatment with n-ethylmaleimide (NEM; thiol-alkylating agent) decreased the effects of SNP, suggesting that these responses were mediated by direct oxidation of channel protein, whereas X/XO-induced responses were unchanged. These data suggested that ROS and RNS play distinct roles in the regulation of the membrane excitability of SG neurons related to the pain transmission.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.233-241
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• 2015

Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane has high resistance to chlorine, which is a great advantages in chemical cleaning to recover water flux during membrane processes in drinking water systems. A humic kaolin water with approximately 4 mg/L of DOC and 10 NTU of turbidity was prepared as a feed water. Coagulation pretreatment with or without settling was applied. The coagulation with settling showed the greatest water production. The reduced flux was effectively recovered by NaOCl cleaning, i.e., 21% recovery by 50 mg/L of NaOCl cleaning and 49% recovery by 500 mg/L NaOCl cleaning. The images of SEM and AFM analyses were corresponded to the water flux variation. However, when the floc was accumulated on the membrane surfaces, the efficiency of NaOCl cleaning was substantially limited. In addition, dynamic contact angle became greater after cleaning, which indicates changes in characteristics of fouling layer such as surface hydrophobicity. Proper cleaning technologies during enhanced backwash using NaOCl would expand application of PTFE membranes in drinking water systems.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.349-352
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• 2010

The production process of cellulosic ethanol from rice straw using acidic saccharification was studied in this experimental work. The hydration by ultrasonic energy and the acidic saccharification using 10~30 wt% of $H_2SO_4$ were performed as pretreatment processes. Also, 10~50 wt% of yeast for 3~6 days was used for fermentation process. The yield of cellulosic ethanol was decided in the fermentation process. The optimum pretreatment condition was 375W of ultrasonic power and 30 min of hydration time using 20 wt% of $H_2SO_4$ and 2 h of the acidic saccharification time. Finally, the optimum fermentation condition was at the condition of 30 wt% of yeast and 3 days of fermentation time.

• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.10-18
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• 2005

The hard coatings on the polycarbonate plate were performed with the object of substitution the glass in the car to the polycarbonate plate. In this research, tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS), methyltriethoxysilane (MTES) were used to prepare the coatings by sol-gel process. The optimum conditions and formulation to get the excellent physical properties were determined. The pretreatment condition of polycarbonate plate, the mole ratio of TEOS and MTES, selection of the solvent, the aging time, the amount of acid catalyst, and the number of folds of coating were characterized. Pretreatment with poly(methyl methacrylate) was very effective to increase the adhesion strength. The smooth coating which got the 2 H class in pencil hardness was formed in this research by sol-gel process.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.362-372
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• 2010

Although different disposal routes of waste-activated sludge are possible, anaerobic digestion plays an important role for its abilities to further transform organic matter into methane. The potential of using methane as energy source has long been widely recognised and the present paper extensively reviews the principles of anaerobic digestion, the process parameters and hydrolysis. Hydrolysis is recognised as rate-limiting step in the complex digestion process. To accelerate the digestion and enhance the production of biogas, various pre-treatments can be used to improve the rate-limiting hydrolysis. These treatments include mechanical, thermal, chemical and biological interventions to the feedstock. All pre-treatments result in a lysis or disintegration of sludge cells, thus releasing and solubilizing intracellular material into the water phase and transforming refractory organic material into biodegradable species. The reader will finally be guided to extensive discussion for anaerobic digestion processes.