• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.185-191
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• 2000

Pest insect control is dependent on about 200 insecticides that work by relatively few mechanisms. The targets they disrupt are mostly involved in the nervous system, respiratory chain, growth and development, or the gut. The major nerve targets are: acetylcholinesterase for the organophosphates and methylcarbamates; the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor for the neonicotinoids; the $\gamma$-aminobutyric acid receptor for several chlorinated hydrocarbons and fipronil; the voltage-gated sodium channel for DDT and pyrethroids. Selection of resistant strains often confers cross-resistance to some or all other insecticides working at the same site. The toxicological properties of different compounds acting on the same target are increasingly considered together, summating the risk even though the compounds are of quite diverse chemical types. Continuing attention is also being given to secondary targets not involved in the primary mechanism of toxicity but instead in side effects that must be considered in the overall safety evaluation. Research on insecticide targets is important in learning to keep up with resistance and changing concepts and policies on safety. These relationships are illustrated by recent studies in the Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology Laboratory of the University of California at Berkeley.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.119-134
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• 1994

In order to assess the possibility of using steel fibers in the fissured ciays, uniaxial compression tests were performed on both unreinforced and reinforced clay samples containing a pre-existing crack. Test results showed that the steel fiber reinforcement increased resistance to cracks initiation and their propagation, and therefore increased both stress at crack growth initiation and peak stress at failure. The increase in resistance to cracks initiation and their propagation was related to the arresting or deflecting the crack propagation in clay samples by steel fibers. A theoretical interpretation of experimental results was made using fracture mechanics theory and pull-out mechanisms in fiber reinforced materials. It was revealed that the steel fibers had bridging effect through their pull-out action that caused an increased resistance to the propagation of the cracks in the samples. The predicted pull-out force based on theoretical analyses agreed reasonably well with the measured values obtained from pull-out tests.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.315-320
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• 2013

In this paper, the properties of strain sensors made of spin-capable multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were characterized and their sensing mechanisms analyzed. The key contribution of this paper is a new fabrication technique that introduces a simpler transfer method compared to spin-coating or dispersion CNT. Resistance of the MWCNT sheet strain sensor increased linearly with higher strain. To investigate the effect of CNT concentration on sensitivity, two strain sensors with different layer numbers of MWCNT sheets (one and three layers) were fabricated. According to the results, the sensor with a three-layer sheet showed higher sensitivity than that with one layer. In addition, experiments were conducted to examine the effects of environmental factors, temperature, and gas on sensor sensitivity. An increase in temperature resulted in a reduction in sensor sensitivity. It was also observed that ambient gas influenced the properties of the MWCNT sheet due to charge transfer. Experimental results showed that there was a linear change in resistance in response to strain, and the resistance of the sensor fully recovered to its unstressed state and exhibited stable electromechanical properties.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.246-254
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• 1998

In order to investigate the characteristics of resistance and conduction of vulcanized styrene butadiene rubber (SBR)/ carbon black (CB) composites, surface/ volume resistivity, point to point resistance, decay time, and electrical conduction experiments with four different kinds of non-conductive carbon black were measured. When about 50phr of carbon black were loaded in SBR, all resistivites suddenly decreased and critical region (Rc) was shown. Current densities of SBR/CB composites showed critical point (Pc) and increased with the electric fields. Electrical conduction mechanisms of SBR/CB composites could be considered as the ohmic conduction at low electric fields and the space charge limited conduction (SCLC) at high electric fields, respectively.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.1-27
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• 2013

Discrete steel fibres can increase significantly the bending and the shear resistance of concrete structural elements when Steel Fibre Reinforced Concrete (SFRC) is designed in such a way that fibre reinforcing mechanisms are optimized. To assess the fibre reinforcement effectiveness in shallow structural elements failing in bending and in shear, experimental and numerical research were performed. Uniaxial compression and bending tests were executed to derive the constitutive laws of the developed SFRC. Using a cross-section layered model and the material constitutive laws, the deformational behaviour of structural elements failing in bending was predicted from the moment-curvature relationship of the representative cross sections. To evaluate the influence of the percentage of fibres on the shear resistance of shallow structures, three point bending tests with shallow beams were performed. The applicability of the formulation proposed by RILEM TC 162-TDF for the prediction of the shear resistance of SFRC elements was evaluated. Inverse analysis was adopted to determine indirectly the values of the fracture mode I parameters of the developed SFRC. With these values, and using a softening diagram for modelling the crack shear softening behaviour, the response of the SFRC beams failing in shear was predicted.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.195-207
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• 2021

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a bacterial pathogen capable of causing human diseases, such as soft tissue infection, bacteremia, endocarditis, toxic shock syndrome, pneumonia, and sepsis. Although the incidence rate of diseases caused by MRSA has declined in recent years, these diseases still pose a clinical threat due to their consistently high morbidity and mortality rates. However, the role of virulence factors in staphylococcal infections remains incompletely understood. Methicillin resistance, which confers resistance to all β-lactam antibiotics in cellular islets, is mediated by the mecA gene in the staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec). Differences in SCCmec types and differences in their sizes and structures serve epidemiological purposes and are used to differentiate between hospital-associated (HA)-MRSA and community-associated (CA)-MRSA. Some virulence factors of S. aureus are also providing a distinction between HA-MRSA and CA-MRSA. These factors vary depending on the presence of toxins, adhesion, immune evasion, and other virulence determinants. In this review, we summarized an overview of MRSA such as resistance mechanisms, SCCmec types, HA- and CA-MRSA, and virulence factors that enhance pathogenicity or MRSA epidemiology, transmission, and genetic diversity.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.277-287
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• 2023

Since the first discovery of antibiotics, introduction of new antibiotics has been coupled with the occurrence of antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Rapid dissemination of ARB and ARGs in the aquatic environments has become a global concern. ARB and ARGs have been already disseminated in the aquatic environments via various routes. Main hosts of most of ARGs were found to belong to Gammaproteobacteria class, including clinically important potential pathogens. Transmission of ARGs also occurs by horizontal gene transfer (HGT) mechanisms between bacterial strains in the aquatic environments, resulting in ubiquity of ARGs. Thus, a few of ARGs and MGEs (e.g., strA, sul1, int1) have been suggested as indicators for global comparability of contamination level in the aquatic environments. With ARB and ARGs contamination, the occurrence of critical pathogens has been globally issued due to their widespread in the aquatic environments. Thus, active surveillance systems have been launched worldwide. In this review, we described advancement of methodologies for ARGs detection, and occurrence of ARB and ARGs and their dissemination in the aquatic environments. Even though numerous studies have been conducted for ARB and ARGs, there is still no clear strategy to tackle antibiotic resistance (AR) in the aquatic environments. At least, for consistent surveillance, a strict framework should be established for further research in the aquatic environments.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.327-335
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• 2021

Riemerella anatipestifer (RA) can cause septicemia, polyserositis, and ataxia in ducks. It can also colonize the upper respiratory tract of healthy ducks. These differences in pathogenicity are probably the result of diverse mechanisms of virulence in different strains. Since serum resistance is a feature frequently found in systemic pathogens, 130 RA strains having different clinical origins were tested. A variety of serum susceptibility levels were detected. Pharynx strains from healthy ducks were mainly susceptible to the bactericidal effect of the serum, while systemic strains were serum resistant. Heat-treatment of the sera abolished the bactericidal activity, indicating that complement is a key factor in this effect. In an attempt to associate serum-resistance to surface determinant genes of the bacteria, we screened for six genes involved in lipopolysaccharide synthesis and membrane proteins in RA. Of these, three genes (AS87_09335, AS87_00480, and AS87_05195) encoding outer membrane proteins might be implicated in serum resistance statistically. The results indicate that serum resistance is a virulence mechanism in RA.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.699-705
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• 2015

Vemurafenib has recently been used as drug for treatment of melanomas with $BRAF^{V600E}$ mutation. Unfortunately, treatment with only vemurafenib has not been sufficiently effective, with recurrence after a short period. In this study, three vemurafenib-resistant $BRAF^{V600E}$ melanoma cell lines, $A375P^R$, $A375M^R$ and SKMEL-$28^R$, were established from the original A375P, A375M and SKMEL-28 cell lines. Examination of the molecular mechanisms showed that the phosphorylation levels of MEK and ERK, which play key roles in the RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK signaling pathway, were reduced in these three cell lines, with increased phosphorylation levels of pAKTs limited to SKMEL-$28^R$ cells. Treatment of SKMEL-$28^R$ cells with 100 nM paclitaxel resulted in increased apoptosis and decreased cellular proliferation, invasion and colony formation via reduction of expression levels of EGFR and pAKTs. Moreover, vemurafenib-induced pAKTs in SKMEL-$28^R$ were decreased by treatment with an AKT inhibitor, MK-2206. Taken together, our results revealed that resistance mechanisms of $BRAF^{V600E}$-mutation melanoma cells to vemurafenib depended on the cell type. Our results suggested that paclitaxel should be considered as a drug in combination with vemurafenib to treat melanoma cells.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2005.03a
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• pp.57-64
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• 2005

Since the allowable bearing capacities of piles in weathered/fractured rock are mainly governed by settlement, the load-displacement behavior of the rock socketed pile should be well known. To predict pile head settlement at the design stage, the exact understanding of the load-transfer mechanisms is essential. Therefore, in this research, the load-transfer mechanisms of drilled shaft socketed into weathered rock was investigated. For that, 5 cast-in-place concrete piles with diameters of 1,000 mm were socketed into weathered gneiss. The static axial load tests and the load-transfer measurements were performed to examine the axial resistant behavior of the piles. A comprehensive field/laboratory testing program on weathered rock at the field test sites was also performed to describe the in situ rock mass conditions quantitatively. And then, the effect of rock mass condition on the load transfer mechanism was investigated. The side shear resistance of the pile in moderately weathered rock reached to yielding point at a few millimeter displacements, and after that, the rate of resistance increment dramatically decreased. However, that in the highly /completely weathered rock did not show the obvious yielding point, and gradually increased showing the hyperbolic pattern until with the relatively high displacement (>10 mm). The end bearing-displacement curves showed linear increase at least until with the base displacement of approximately 10 mm, regardless rock mass conditions.