• The Journal of the Korean Society for Microbiology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.87-95
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• 2000

Staphylococcus aureus infections are often life-threatening. Relatively little is known about the host response to these infections, in particular, the implication of apoptosis induced by this microorganism. In this study, we have shown that S. aureus was cytotoxic to J774A.1 cell, a murine macrophage cell line. The cell death mediated by S. aureus occurred through apoptosis, as shown by increase in the proportion of fragmented host cell DNA. Although phagocytosis and NO production had important role in the induction of apoptosis, the contact between bacteria and host cells was not essential for this pathway. A certain bacterial product could also induce typical caspase-dependent apoptosis of J774A.1 cell. It is expected that new interpretation may be possible to host-parasite relationship based on these results.

• Proceedings of the Korea Committee for Ocean Resources and Engineering Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.79-83
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• 2000

A sliding mode fuzzy control (SMFC) with disturbance estimator is applied to design a controller for the third generation benchmark problem on an wind-excited building. A distinctive feature in vibration control of large civil infrastructure is the existence of large disturbances, such as wind, earthquake, and sea wave forces. Those disturbances govern the behavior of the structure, however, they cannot be precisely measured, especially for the case of wind-induced vibration control. Since the structural accelerations are measured only at a limited number of locations without the measurement of the wind forces, the structure of the conventional control may have the feed-back loop only. General structure of the SMFC is composed of a compensation part and a convergent part. The compensation part prevents the system diverge, and the convergent part makes the system converge to the sliding surface. The compensation part uses not only the structural response measurement but also the disturbance measurement, so the SMFC has a feed-back loop and a feed-forward loop. To realize the virtual feed-forward loop for the wind-induced vibration control, disturbance estimation filter is introduced. the structure of the filter is constructed based on an auto regressive model for the stochastic wind force. This filter estimates the wind force at each time instance based on the measured structural responses and the stochastic information of the wind force. For the verification of the proposed algorithm, a numerical simulation is carried out on the benchmark problem of a wind-excited building. The results indicate that the present control algorithm is very efficient for reducing the wind-induced vibration and that the performance indices improve as the filter for wind force estimation is employed.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea TE
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.41-53
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• 2000

In this paper, the Maekjin and the Yangdorak Diagnosis algorithm by using a neuro-fuzzy method is proposed and it is implemented on the DSP-based system. Maekjin is measured by 3-channels of the Maekjin board through Maekjin probe which is attached on Chon, Kwan and Chuk of patient's wrist. First, we experiment Chon, Kwan and Chuk, 3-parts simultaneously and second perform one part of Chon, Kwan and Chuk respectively, The experimental results show that the Maekjin signal is measured precisely with any Maekjin probe. In Yangdorak diagnosis, the pulse generated by electric stimulator stimulates a portion of body and the response signal is measured through electrodes which is attached on representative points of 12 kyungmaks. The experimental methods are (1) 1 channel-measure, (2) 2 channels-measure, (3) 6 channels-measure and (4) 24 channels-measure. A fuzzy diagnosis is performed and neural networks is learned using fuzzy values as inputs, and we show that neuro-fuzzy diagnosis method is performed well.

• Environmental Sciences Bulletin of The Korean Environmental Sciences Society
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.231-240
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• 2000

Effects of Jasmonic Acid and Wounding on Polyphenol Oxidase Activity in Senescing Tomato Leaves The effects of jasmonic acid(JA) and wounding on polyphenol oxidase(PPO) during leaf senescence was investigated by measuring the PPO activity in detached tomato(Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) leaves of two-week-old seedlings. The PPO activity in the detached senescing leaves increased significantly in the dark. The leaf segments responded to the application of JA with accelerated senescence, as indicated by the loss of chlorophyll and rapid increase in the PPO activity. The senescence-promoting action of JA differed in the light and dark. Wounding the detached senescing leaves by scraping surface segments or making punctures with needles considerably delayed the loss of chlorophyll and had a significant effect on the PPO activity, the amounts of which were roughly proportional to the intensity of the wounding. In the dark, the combination of wounding plus JA resulted in stable levels of chlorophyll and PPO. JA and ABA acted similarly in both unwounded and wounded leaves, however, the amount of chlorophyll and PPO in the wounded segments was always higher than in the respective controls. JA was found to eliminate the senescence-retarding action of benzyladenine. In a histochemical localization test, the PPO activity was found to be localized in the cell walls of the parenchyma tissue, thereby indicating moderate cytoplasmic reactions. In the JA-treated plants, the PPO activity was intense in the cells of the cortex and phloem parenchyma. Accordingly, based on these observations it would appear that PPO is a component of a defense response maker, whereas JA plays an integral role in the intracellular signal transduction involved in inducible defense mechanisms.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.67-73
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• 2000

The effects of combined irradiation of neutrons and ${\gamma}$-rays were analysed by means of Tradescantia stamen hair (TSH) assay. Potted plants were irradiated with $0{\sim}2$ Gy of ${\gamma}$-rays. For the combined treatments, the plants were irradiated with neutrons from $^{252}Cf$ 24 hours before or after ${\gamma}$-irradiation. The slopes of dose-response curves were 5.98, 6.17 and 7.48, in ${\gamma}$-rays, ${\gamma}$-rays+neutrons, and neutrons+${\gamma}$ -rays irradiated groups, respectively. The biological efficacy of radiations in the induction of pink mutations increased by 25% in neutrons+${\gamma}$-rays irradiated group, while it increased by 12% in ${\gamma}$-rays+neutrons irradiated group. The combined irradiation with two kinds of radiations results in the different efficacy of radiation depending on the order of irradiations, which is of great importance in the related fields such as sterilization and radiotherapy.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.88-94
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• 2000

For efficient operation, vital hand controls must be easily controlled by the operator from his or her normal working position. The primary working area based on the operator-perceived working comfort was developed to serve as a design guideline to the control panel layout. Six male and four female subjects voluntarily participated in the experiment in which working comfort was measured for two types of controls - knob and lever. The operator-perceived working comfort was examined for the frontal and sagittal distances from the body center and the slope of a work surface. The response surface methodology using a central composite design was employed to develop a prediction model for operator's working comfort on each type of controls. The proposed working areas based on the actual working comfort of an operator avoided the dichotomy that considers only the reachability of control devices, and showed a distinct shape, when compared to the existing normal working areas following the Farley's concept. It was shown that the distance from the body to control devices and the slope of a work surface have a quadratic relationship to the working comfort, and that the most comfortable area for seated tasks is located at the distance of about 2∼4 cm in the sagittal direction and about 42∼43 cm in the frontal direction from the shoulder, respectively. It was also found that the working comfort varies within the working area even at the positions with an equal distance from the body. It is expected that the isocomfort working area generated in the study will be used as a useful guideline for control panel layout.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.4 no.5
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• pp.451-470
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• 2013

It generally accepted that most building structures shall exhibit a nonlinear response when subjected to medium-high intensity earthquakes. It is currently known, however, that this phenomenon is not properly modelled in the majority of cases, especially at the design stage, where only simple linear methods have effectively been used. Recently, as a result of the exponential progress of computational tools, nonlinear modelling and analysis have gradually been brought to a more promising level. A wide range of modelling alternatives developed over the years is hence at the designer's disposal for the seismic design and assessment of engineering structures. The objective of the study presented herein is to test some of these models in an existing structure, and observe their performance in nonlinear static and dynamic analyses. This evaluation is done by the use of two of a known range of advanced computer programs: SAP2000 and SeismoStruct. The different models will focus on the element flexural mechanism with both lumped and distributed plasticity element models. In order to appraise the reliability and feasibility of each alternative, the programs capabilities and the amount of labour and time required for modelling and performing the analyses are also discussed. The results obtained show the difficulties that may be met, not only in performing nonlinear analyses, but also on their dependency on both the chosen nonlinear structural models and the adopted computer programs. It is then suggested that these procedures should only be used by experienced designers, provided that they are aware of these difficulties and with a critical stance towards the result of the analyses.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.4853-4858
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• 2015

Background: Colorectal cancer is the most common gastrointestinal cancer in Oman with an increasing incidence. We here report the presenting features, treatment outcomes and survival in a University hospital in Oman and compare our data with regional and international studies. Materials and Methods: Medical records of patients with colorectal cancer were reviewed retrospectively between June 2000 and December 2013 and were followed until June 2014. Results: A total of 162 patients were diagnosed with colorectal cancer. The majority were males (58.6%), with a median age of 56 years. Rectum was involved in 29.6% of patients, followed by ascending and sigmoid colon. The majority of patients had stage III (42.6%) and stage IV (32.7%) disease at presentation. K-Ras status was checked for 79 patients, and 41 (51.9%) featured the wild type. Median relapse free survival was 22 months. Median overall survival for all patients was 43 months. Observed 5 year overall survival (OS) for stages I, II and III was 100%, 60% and 60% respectively. On Log rank univariate analysis, age, BMI, diabetes, hypertension, metformin use, stage, clinical nodal status for rectal cancer, pathological T and nodal status, site of metastasis, surgical intervention, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, chemotherapy regimen, no of cycles of chemotherapy, response, RFS, site of recurrence and administration of $2^{nd}$ line chemotherapy were significant factors affecting OS. On Cox regression multivariate analysis none of the factors independently affected the OS. Conclusions: The majority of patients present with advanced disease and at young age. The survival rates are comparable to the published regional and international literature.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.3253-3258
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• 2012

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) plus chemotherapy versus WBRT alone for treating brain metastases (BM) from lung cancer by performing a meta-analysis based on randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Methods: The PubMed, Embase, CENTRAL, ASCO, ESMO, CBM, CNKI, and VIP databases were searched for relevant RCTs performed between January 2000 and March 2012. After quality assessment and data extraction, the meta-analysis was performed using the RevMan 5.1 software, with funnel plot evaluation of publication bias. Results: 19 RCTs involving 1,343 patients were included. The meta-analyses demonstrated that compared to WBRT alone, WBRT plus chemotherapy was more effective with regard to the objective response rate (OR = 2.30, 95% CI = 1.79 - 2.98; P < 0.001); however, the incidences of gastrointestinal reactions (RR = 3.82, 95% CI = 2.33 - 6.28, P <0.001), bone marrow suppression (RR = 5.49, 95% CI = 3.65 - 8.25, P < 0.001), thrombocytopenia (RR = 5.83, 95% CI = 0.39 - 86.59; P = 0.20), leukopenia (RR = 3.13, 95% CI = 1.77 - 5.51; P < 0.001), and neutropenia (RR = 2.75, 95% CI = 1.61 - 4.68; P < 0.001) in patients treated with WBRT plus chemotherapy were higher than with WBRT alone. There was no obvious publication bias detected. Conclusion: WBRT plus chemotherapy can obviously improve total efficacy rate, butalso increases the incidence of adverse reactions compared to WBRT alone. From the limitations of this study, more large-scale, high-quality RCTs are suggested for further verification.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Bioinformatics Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.74-82
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• 2000

Prostate cancer initially responds and regresses in response to androgen depletion therapy, but most human prostate cancers will eventually recur, and re-grow as an androgen independent tumor. Once these tumors become hormone refractory, they usually are incurable leading to death for the patient. Little is known about the molecular details of how prostate cancer cells regress following androgen ablation and which genes are involved in the androgen independent growth following the development of resistance to therapy. Such knowledge would reveal putative drug targets useful in the rational therapeutic design to prevent therapy resistance and control androgen independent growth. The application of genome scale technologies have permitted new insights into the molecular mechanisms associated with these processes. Specifically, we have applied functional genomics using high density cDNA microarray analysis for parallel gene expression analysis of prostate cancer in an experimental xenograft system during androgen withdrawal therapy, and following therapy resistance, The large amount of expression data generated posed a formidable bioinformatics challenge. A novel template based gene clustering algorithm was developed and applied to the data to discover the genes that respond to androgen ablation. The data show restoration of expression of androgen dependent genes in the recurrent tumors and other signaling genes. Together, the discovered genes appear to be involved in prostate cancer cell growth and therapy resistance in this system. We have also developed and applied tissue microarray (TMA) technology for high throughput molecular analysis of hundreds to thousands of clinical specimens simultaneously. TMA analysis was used for rapid clinical translation of candidate genes discovered by cDNA microarray analysis to determine their clinical utility as diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic targets. Finally, we have developed a bioinformatic approach to combine pharmacogenomic data on the efficacy and specificity of various drugs to target the discovered prostate cancer growth associated candidate genes in an attempt to improve current therapeutics.