• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.267-272
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• 2007

Environmental and anthropogenic changes affect the health and stability of marine ecosystem. In this study we aimed to identify molecular biomarkers for ecotoxicological pollutants risk assessment in the rockfish (Sebastes schlegeli). We designed primers based on conserved sequences by multiple alignments of target genes from related species, and cloned the partial cDNAs of cytochrome P450 (CYP1A1), glutathione S-transferase (GST), metallothionein (MT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), ubiquitin (UB), vitellogenin (VTG) and $\beta$-actin by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) from S. schlegeli. Northern blot results indicated that these six genes expressions were significantly induced by benzo[a]pyrene (BaP, 1 ${\mu}M$) and that the level of each of their transcripts increased in BaP-exposed rockfish in a time-dependent manner. This study suggests that transcriptional changes in these six genes may be used for monitoring environmental exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.119-124
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• 2018

Three cases of simple exanthematous eruption were suspected during Sumsu (Bufonis Venenum) pharmacopuncture (SP) topical anesthesia for acupotomy. Patients had skin rash with pruritus on both ankle, posterior neck, and left shoulder after 11, 12, and 7 times of SP treatment, respectively. There were no cases of systemic manifestations or changes in vital signs. As a result of using the World Health Organization-Uppsala Monitoring Centre (WHO-UMC) causality assessment, all the cases were evaluated as 'unlikely'. However, the results of using the Korean algorithm for assessing the causality of drug adverse reactions version 2.0 were evaluated as 'possible'. This report is the first case report on adverse events suspected of occurring after SP treatment. Although the causal relationship between suspected intervention and the adverse event is not clear, there was a difficulty in completely excluding the possibility. Additional safety studies will be required to make SP more widely available.

• BMB Reports
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.161-167
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• 1999

The role of oxidative stress in the initiation and the complication of diabetes was examined by monitoring blood glucose increase and oxidative DNA damage in rats treated with alloxan or streptozotocin (STZ). Oxidative DNA damage was assessed by quantitating 8-oxo-2'-deoxyguanosine ($oxo^8dG)$ excreted in urine and the $oxo^8dG$ accumulated in pancreas DNA. Both alloxan and STZ treatments resulted in an abrupt increase in blood glucose and significant increases in urinary and pancreatic $oxo^8dG$. Pretreatment of buthionine sulfoximine (BSO), a glutathione-depleting agent, slightly potentiated the increase of blood glucose and urinary $oxo^8dG$ in the alloxan- and STZ-treated rats. Furthermore, the BSO pretreatment caused significant amplification of pancreatic $oxo^8dG$ increase in the rats. On the other hand, pretreatment with 1,10- phenanthroline (o-phen), a chelator of divalent cations, showed different results between alloxan- and STZ-treated rats. The o-phen pretreatment completely blocked diabetes and the increase of $oxo^8dG$ by alloxan treatment, while it potentiated the increase of blood glucose and $oxo^8dG$ by STZ treatment. The results demonstrate that the causative effect of alloxan on diabetes may be the generation of reactive oxygen species through a Fenton type reaction, but that of STZ may not.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.203-209
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• 2013

A simple and rapid liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the quantification of ${\varepsilon}$-acetamidocaproic acid (AACA), the primary metabolite of zinc acexamate (ZAC), in rat plasma by using normetanephrine as an internal standard. Sample preparation involved protein precipitation using methanol. Separation was achieved on a Gemini-NX $C_{18}$ column ($150mm{\times}2.0mm$, i.d., 3 ${\mu}m$ particle size) using a mixture of 0.1% formic acid-water : acetonitrile (80 : 20, v/v) as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 200 ${\mu}l/min$. Quantification was performed on a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer employing electrospray ionization and operating in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) and positive ion mode. The total chromatographic run time was 4.0 min, and the calibration curves of AACA were linear over the concentration range of 20~5000 ng/ml in rat plasma. The coefficient of variation and relative error at four QC levels were ranged from 1.0% to 5.8% and from -8.4% to 6.6%, respectively. The present method was successfully applied for estimating the pharmacokinetic parameters of AACA following intravenous or oral administration of ZAC to rats.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.193-196
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• 2010

Multiplex PCR-based short tandem repeat (STR) analysis is considered as a good tool for monitoring bone marrow engraftment after sex-mismatched allogeneic transplantation and provides a sensitive and accurate assessment of the contribution of both donor and/or recipient cells in post-transplantation specimens. Forensic STR analysis and quantitative real time PCR are used to determine the proportion of donor versus recipient each contained within the total DNA. The STR markers were co-amplified in a single reaction by using commercial $PowerPlex^{(R)}$ 16 system and $AmpFISTR^{(R)}$ $Identifiler^{(R)}$ / $Yfiler^{(R)}$ PCR amplification kits. Separation of the PCR products and fluorescence detection were performed by ABI $PRIS^{(R)}$ 3100 Genetic Analyzer with capillary electrophoresis. The $GeneMapper^{TM}$ ID software were used for size calling and analysis of STR profiles. Extracted DNA was quantified by the $Quantifiler^{TM}$ Human DNA / Y Human Male DNA Quantification Kit The intent of this study was to analyze the ratio of donor versus recipient cells in the post-transplant peripheral blood, spleen, lung and kidney specimens. Specimens were taken from the traffic accident male victim who had been engrafted from bone marrow female donor. Blood and spleen specimens displayed female donor DNA profile. Kidney specimen showed male recipient DNA profile. Interestingly, lung tissue showed mixed profiles. The findings of this study indicate that the forensic STR analysis using fluorescence labeling PCR combined with capillary electrophoresis is quick and reliable enough to assess the ratio of donor versus recipient cells and to monitor the mixed chimeric patterns.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.447-456
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• 2018

In this research, the target process was a modified type of a conventional aeration tank with four different influent feeding points and alternated aeration to obtain nitrogen removal. For more accurate switching of influent feeding, the process was operated under a designed control strategy based on monitoring of $NH_4-N$ and $NO_X-N$ concentrations in the tank. However, the strategy did have some limitations. For example, it was not sensitive to detecting the end of each reaction when losing the balance between nitrification and denitrification of each opposite part of biological tank. To overcome the limitations of the existing control strategy, a diagnosis-based control strategy was suggested in this research using the diagnosis results classified as normal (N), ammonia accumulation (AA) and nitrate accumulation (NA). Using the pre-designed rules for control actions, the aeration and volume of the aerated part of the reactor could be increased or decreased at a fixed mode time. In simulations of the suggested diagnosis-based control strategy, the $NH_4-N$ and $NO_X-N$ removal rates in the reactor were maintained at higher levels than those of the existing control strategy.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.313-316
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• 2003

This paper presents stand-alone electric power generator using bridge vibration for charging system of health monitoring sensor unit of bridge structure. In this paper, a novel electric power generator utilizing vertical vibration is proposed, which has minimum effect of armature reaction, and the related mechanical and electrical design equations are obtained and then a pilot electric power generator has been implemented. Moreover, the free oscillation test reveals that diode characteristics of rectifier is dominant factor in charging process. Also, simulation results with the Namhae bridge data showed the validity and effectiveness for stand-alone electric power generation.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.101-113
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• 2016

To properly manage and remediate groundwater contaminated with chlorinated hydrocarbons such as trichloroethylene (TCE), it is necessary to assess natural attenuation processes of contaminants in the aquifer along with investigation of contamination history and aquifer characterization. This study evaluated natural attenuation processes of TCE at an industrial site in Korea by delineating hydrogeochemical characteristics along the flow path of contaminated groundwater, by calculating reaction rate constants for TCE and its degradation products, and by using geochemical and reactive transport modeling. The monitoring data showed that TCE tended to be transformed to cis-1,2-dichloroethene (cis-1,2-DCE) and further to vinyl chloride (VC) via microbial reductive dechlorination, although the degree was not too significant. According to our modeling results, the temporal and spatial distribution of the TCE plume suggested the dominant role of biodegradation in attenuation processes. This study can provide a useful method for assessing natural attenuation processes in the aquifer contaminated with chlorinated hydrocarbons and can be applied to other sites with similar hydrological, microbiological, and geochemical settings.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.14-16
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• 1999

Genetic variability was monitored by random amplified polymorphic DNA-polymerase chain reaction (RAPD-PCR) in dicofol-susceptible (S), dicofol-resistant (R) and its reverse-selected (RS) strains of two-spotted spider mite, of Tetranychus urticae. Before the reverse-selection, RS strain, selected reversely from R strain, was 23-fold resistance ratio at {TEX}$LC_{50}${/TEX} to S strain. The resistance was started to in incline slowly to the resistance level of S strain after one year, and the resistance ratio was 4-fold in the 7 years after then. PCR-amplification of T. urticae DNA showed polymorphism in the amplifications with 12 primers in 100 kinds of arbitrary DNA sequences. RAPD amplification with primer OPR-12 (5`-ACAGGTGCGT-3`) showed amplified bands at 1,000 base pair in the S-and RS-strain, and at 350 base pair in R-strain. The results of polymorphism are genetic variabilities derived from development and selection of resistance in each strain. The peculiarly amplified fragments were guessed to participate in dicofol resistance. From the analysis of genetic similarity, it is inferred the gene composition of S-and RS-strain is much closer than that of R-strain.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.63-67
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• 2009

Escherichia coli K-12 (E. coli K-12) is a representative indicator globally used for distinguishing and monitoring dynamic fates of pathogenic microorganisms in the environment. This study investigated how to most critically quantify lacZ ($\beta$-galactosidase) gene in E. coli K-12 by two different real-time polymerase chain reaction (real-time PCR) in association with three different DNA extraction practices. Three DNA extractions, i.e., sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)/proteinase K, magnetic beads and guanidium thiocyanate (GTC)/silica matrix were each compared for extracting total genomic DNA from E. coli K-12. Among them, GTC/silica matrix and magnetic beads beating similarly worked out to have the highest (22-23 ng/${\mu}L$) concentration of DNA extracted, but employing SDS/proteinase K had the lowest (10 ng/${\mu}L$) concentration of DNA retrieved. There were no significant differences in the quantification of the copy numbers of lacZ gene between SYBR Green I qPCR and QProbe-qPCR. However, SYBR Green I qPCR obtained somewhat higher copy number as $1{\times}10^8$ copies. It was decided that GTC/silica matrix extraction or magnetic beads beating in combination with SYBR Green I qPCR can be preferably applied for more effectively quantifying specific gene from a pure culture of microorganism.