• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.586-591
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• 2010

Solar cells have been more intensely studied as part of the effort to find alternatives to fossil fuels as power sources. The progression of the first two generations of solar cells has seen a sacrifice of higher efficiency for more economic use of materials. The use of a single junction makes both these types of cells lose power in two major ways: by the non-absorption of incident light of energy below the band gap; and by the dissipation by heat loss of light energy in excess of the band gap. Therefore, multi junction solar cells have been proposed as a solution to this problem. However, the $1^{st}$ and $2^{nd}$ generation solar cells have efficiency limits because a photon makes just one electron-hole pair. Fabrication of all-silicon tandem cells using an Si quantum dot superlattice structure (QD SLS) is one possible suggestion. In this study, an $SiO_x$ matrix system was investigated and analyzed for potential use as an all-silicon multi-junction solar cell. Si quantum dots with a super lattice structure (Si QD SLS) were prepared by alternating deposition of Si rich oxide (SRO; $SiO_x$ (x = 0.8, 1.12)) and $SiO_2$ layers using RF magnetron co-sputtering and subsequent annealing at temperatures between 800 and $1,100^{\circ}C$ under nitrogen ambient. Annealing temperatures and times affected the formation of Si QDs in the SRO film. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed that nanocrystalline Si QDs started to precipitate after annealing at $1,100^{\circ}C$ for one hour. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images clearly showed SRO/$SiO_2$ SLS and Si QDs formation in each 4, 6, and 8 nm SRO layer after annealing at $1,100^{\circ}C$ for two hours. The systematic investigation of precipitation behavior of Si QDs in $SiO_2$ matrices is presented.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.71-76
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• 1997

To develop a promising alkylating agents for anti-cervical cancer chemotherapy, five mitosene analogues were synthesized. Despite the potentiality of better cytotoxicity on solid tumor cells as opposed to that on rapidly-doubled leukemic cells, there have been no reports on the inhibition of the cervical cancer cell line by mitosene analogues. The present experiment was designed to investigate whether mitosene analogues can effectively inhibit the cellular proliferation of cervical cancer cells by using an in vitro chemosensitivty system. The mitosene analogues displayed a potent cytotoxic effect on the tested cervical cancer cell lines. Among the analogues, (22) compound gave the best inhibitory effect on SiHa tumor colonies formation. These data indicate that mitosene analogues can effectively inhibit the growth of cervical cancer cells in vitro.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.8
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• pp.3457-3461
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• 2015

Background: Previous studies have suggested that Morinda citrifolia (Noni) has potential to reduce cancer risk. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of Noni, cisplatin, and their combination on DNA repair genes in the SiHa cervical cancer cell line. Materials and Methods: SiHa cells were cultured and treated with 10% Noni, $10{\mu}g/dl$ cisplatin or their combination for 24 hours. Post culturing, the cells were pelleted, RNA extracted, and processed for investigating DNA repair genes by real time PCR. Results: The expression of nucleotide excision repair genes ERCC1, ERCC2, and ERCC4 and base excision repair gene XRCC1 was increased 4 fold, 8.9 fold, 4 fold, and 5.5 fold, respectively, on treatment with Noni as compared to untreated controls (p<0.05). In contrast, expression was found to be decreased 22 fold, 13 fold, 16 fold, and 23 fold on treatment with cisplatin (p<0.05). However, the combination of Noni and cisplatin led to an increase of 2 fold, 1.6 fold, 3 fold, 1.2 fold, respectively (p<0.05). Conclusions: Noni enhanced the expression of DNA repair genes by itself and in combination with cisplatin. However, high expression of DNA repair genes at mRNA level only signifies efficient DNA transcription of the above mentioned genes; further investigations are needed to evaluate the DNA repair protein expression.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.34 no.10
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• pp.1525-1530
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• 2005

The purpose of this study is to investigate anti-tumor activities, general composition, elemental composition and mineral contents of fermented liquid stem, root and fruit of Opuntia humifusa. In the general composition, the energy, crude protein, crude lipid and crude carbohydrate contents of fermented liquid stem were 86.21 Kcal, 0.92$\%$, 0.12$\%$, and 20.34$\%$, respectively. Fermented liquid fruit showed 65.32 Kcal, 1.04$\%$, 0.08$\%$, and 15.15$\%$. In mineral analysis, fermented liquid stem and fruit showed 1,800 and 388 mg of calcium per 100g. The ferrous concentrations of fermented liquid stem and fruit were 21 and 10 mg per 100 g, respectively. Methanol, ethanol and water extracts of nonfermented liquid stem and fruit did not inhibit the proliferation in human cervical cancer cells (Caski, SiHa and HaCaT), but the fermented liquid fruit showed the inhibition of Proliferation with dose-response manner in Caski and SiHa cells, but not HaCaT. Therefore, it suggests that fermented cactus may be used as one of potential adjuvant for the treatment of cervical carcinomas.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.41.1-41.1
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• 2009

Aerosol Deposition (AD) is anovel way to fabricate bioactive ceramic coatings in biomedical implants and prostheses applications. In the present work, silicon-substituted hydroxyapatite (HA) coatings on commercially pure titanium were prepared by aerosol deposition using Si-HA powders. The incorporation of silicon in the HA lattice is known to improve the bioactivity of the HA, makingsilicon-substitute HA an attractive alternative to pure HA in biomedical applications. Si-HA powders with the chemical formula $Ca_{10}(PO_4)_6-x(SiO_4)x(OH)_2-x$, having silicon contents up to x=0.5 (1.4 wt%), were synthesized by solid-state reaction of $Ca_2P_2O_7$, $CaCO_3$, and $SiO_2$. The Si-HA powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FT-IR). The corresponding coatings were also analyzed by XRD, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA). The results revealed that a single-phase Si-HA was obtained without any secondary phases such as $\alpha$- or $\beta$-tricalcium phosphate (TCP) for both the powders and the coatings.The Si-HA coating was about $5\;{\mu}m$ thick, had a densemicrostructure with no cracks or pores. In addition, the proliferation and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity of MC3T3-E1 preosteoblast cells grown on the Si-HA coatings were significantly higher than those on the bare Ti and pure HA coating. These results revealed the stimulatory effects induced by siliconsubstitution on the cellular response to the HA coating.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.1589-1595
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• 2014

Objective: Forkhead box C2 (FOXC2) is a member of the winged helix/forkhead box (Fox) family of transcription factors. It has been suggested to regulate tumor vasculature, growth, invasion and metastasis, although it has not been studied in cervical cancer. Here, we analyzed FOXC2 expression in cervical tissues corresponding to different stages of cervical cancer development and examined its correlation with clinicopathological characteristics. In addition, we examined the effects of targeting FOXC2 on the biological behavior of human cervical cancer cells. Methods: The expression of FOXC2 in normal human cervix, CIN I-III and cervical cancer was examined by immunohistochemistry and compared among the three groups and between cervical cancers with different pathological subtypes. Endogenous expression of FOXC2 was transiently knocked down in human Hela and SiHa cervical cells by siRNA, and cell viability and migration were examined by scratch and CCK8 assays, respectively. Results: In normal cervical tissue the frequency of positive staining was 25% (10/40 cases), with a staining intensity (PI) of $0.297{\pm}0.520$, in CIN was 65% (26/40cases), with a PI of $3.00{\pm}3.29$, and in cancer was 91.8% (68/74 cases), with a PI of $5.568 {\pm}3.449$. The frequency was 100% in adenocarcinoma (5/5 cases) and 91.3% in SCCs (63/69 cases). The FOXC2 positive expression rate was 88.5% in patients with cervical SCC stage I and 100% in stage II, showing significant differences compared with normal cervix and CIN. With age, pathologic differentiation degree and tumor size, FOXC2 expression showed no significant variation. On transient transfection of Hela and SiHa cells, FOXC2-siRNA inhibition rates were 76.2% and 75.7%; CCK8 results showed reduced proliferation and relative migration (in Hela cells from $64.5{\pm}3.16$ to $49.5{\pm}9.24$ and in SiHa cells from $60.1{\pm}3.05$ to $44.3{\pm}3.98$) (P < 0.05). Conclusion: FOXC2 gene expression increases with malignancy, especially with blood vessel hyperplasia and invasion degree. Targeted silencing was associated with reduced cell proliferation as well as invasion potential.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.64-67
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• 2016

We investigated the influences of Ag nanoparticle (NP) arrays and surface nanohole (NH) patterns on the optical characteristics of 10-${\mu}m$-thick c-Si wafers using finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations. In particular, we comparatively studied the plasmonic effects of both monomer arrays (MA) and heptamer arrays (HA) consisting of identical Ag NPs. HA improved the optical absorption of the c-Si wafers in much wider wavelength range than MA, with the help of hybridized plasmon modes. The light trapping capability of the NH array pattern is superior to that of the Ag plasmonic NPs. We also found that the addition of the Ag HA on the wafers with surface NH patterns further enhanced optical absorption: the expected short-circuit current density was as high as $34.96mA/cm^2$.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.14
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• pp.5867-5872
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• 2014

Background: Cervical cancer is listed as one of high-incidence endemic diseases in Xinjiang. Our study aimed to evaluate the expression of TLR9 in uterine cervical tissues of Uyghur women and examine associations with clinicopathological variables. We further characterized the direct effects of TLR9 upon the selective silencing of human papillomavirus (HPV) E6 and E7 oncoprotein expression in HPV 16-positive human cervical carcinoma cells treated with siRNA in vitro. Materials and Methods: Immunohistochemistry was applied to evaluate TLR9 expression in 97 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded cervical samples from Uyghur women; 32 diagnosed with cervical squamous cell carcinomas (CSCC), 14 with low-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasias (CINI), 10 medium-grade (CINII), 24 high-grade (CINIII), and 17 chronic cervicitis. $BLOCK-iT^{TM}$ U6 RNAi Entry Vector $pENTR^{TM}$/U6-E6 and E7 was constructed and transfected the entry clone directly into the mammalian cell line 293FT. Then the HPV 16-positive SiHa human cervical carcinoma cell line was infected with RNAi recombinant lentivirus. RT-PCR and Western blotting were used to determine the expression of TLR9 in both SiHa and HPV 16 E6 and E7 silenced SiHa cells. Results: Immunohistochemical staining showed that TLR9 expression was undetectable (88.2%) or weak (11.8%) in chronic cervicitis tissues. However, variable staining was observed in the basal layer of all normal endocervical glands. TLR9 expression, which was mainly observed as cytoplasmic staining, gradually increased in accordance with the histopathological grade in the following order: chronic cervicitis (2/17, 11.8%)

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.528-533
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• 2021

The microalga, Tetrathelmis tetrathele, is used in the development of products for the aquaculture, food, and nutraceutical industries. In the present study, we investigated whether the T. tetrathele ethanolic extract (TTE), which has anti-inflammatory properties, can confer protection against alopecia and improve scalp health, influence the proliferation of human keratinocytes, HaCaT cells, and human hair follicle dermal papilla cells (HFDPC), or inhibit 5α-reductase activity. We found that TTE inhibited the production of the inflammatory mediator, nitric oxide (NO), and prostaglandin E₂ (PGE₂) without cytotoxicity in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. In addition, TTE encouraged the proliferation of HaCaT cells and HFDPC. Our results showed that TTE had anti-inflammatory activities, proliferated HaCaT cells and HFDPC, and inhibited 5α-reductase activity. Therefore, we suggest that T. tetrathele could be a potent therapeutic agent for alopecia prevention and scalp improvement.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.514-523
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• 2019

We investigated the gene expression patterns and the mechanisms of action of the apoptotic response by microarray analysis of human keratinocyte HaCaT cells treated with ginsenoside Rb1, a saponin of Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer. Genes related to apoptosis, the G2/M transition of the mitotic cell cycle, cell division, mitotic nuclear division, and intracellular protein transport were 2-fold up-regulated in HaCaT cells treated with the ginsenoside Rb1, whereas genes related to DNA repair, regeneration fission, and extracellular matrix organization were 2-fold down-regulated. Apoptosis signaling may be mediated by FAS and PLA2G4A, and pathway analysis indicated that STAT3 might be an upstream regulator of these genes. The activity of FAS and PLA2G4A was verified by qPCR, which showed that FAS was increased about 2-fold in HaCaT cells treated with $10{\mu}g/ml$ of ginsenoside Rb1 for 24 hr, PLA2G4A was increased about twice after 6 hours, and gene expression was increased more than 2-fold after 24 hr. Knockdown of STAT3 with siRNA decreased FAS expression and increased PLA2G4A expression but only FAS was passed from the upstream regulator STAT3. These results indicate that STAT3, which is an upstream regulator, induces apoptosis via FAS during treatment with ginsenoside Rb1.