• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.206-210
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• 2022

Calystegia dahurica (Herb.) Choisy is a natural product that has not been studied for efficacy or active ingredients. The purpose of this study is to investigate the activation effect of natural killer cells using a natural extract composition based on Calystegia dahurica (Herb.) Choisy extract (CDCE). We evaluated the activity of natural killer cells in natural products using PBMCs from healthy participants. All natural products were extracted with 50% ethanol. Based on the results of the cell viability assay, PBMCs of healthy participants were treated with extracts at various concentrations. Then, analysis was performed using flow cytometry to measure the cd107a surface expression of natural killer cells. As a result, treatment with a single extract of PBMCs increased the expression of cd107a in a concentration-dependent. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the treatment of the extract composition showed the highest expression of cd107a. In conclusion, it is expected that the extract composition containing CDCE according to this study can be used for prevention or treatment of cancer cells, tumor cells, and immune diseases.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.46 no.7
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• pp.399-413
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• 2023

cAMP responsive element-binding protein (CREB) is one of the most intensively studied phosphorylation-dependent transcription factors that provide evolutionarily conserved mechanisms of differential gene expression in vertebrates and invertebrates. Many cellular protein kinases that function downstream of distinct cell surface receptors are responsible for the activation of CREB. Upon functional dimerization of the activated CREB to cis-acting cAMP responsive elements within the promoters of target genes, it facilitates signal-dependent gene expression. From the discovery of CREB, which is ubiquitously expressed, it has been proven to be involved in a variety of cellular processes that include cell proliferation, adaptation, survival, differentiation, and physiology, through the control of target gene expression. In this review, we highlight the essential roles of CREB proteins in the nervous system, the immune system, cancer development, hepatic physiology, and cardiovascular function and further discuss a wide range of CREB-associated diseases and molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of these diseases.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.355-362
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• 2023

Physical exercise, especially intense exercise and high intensity interval training (HIIT) by trampoline, can lead to muscle injuries. These effects can be reduced with intelligent products made of nanocomposite materials. Most of these nanocomposites are polymers reinforced with silicon dioxide, alumina, and titanium dioxide nanoparticles. This study presents a polymer nanocomposite reinforced with silica. As a result of the rapid reaction between tetraethyl orthosilicate and ammonia in the presence of citric acid and other agents, silica nanostructures were synthesized. By substituting bis (4-amino phenoxy) phenyl-triptycene in N, N-dimethylformamide with potassium carbonate, followed by catalytic reduction with hydrazine and Pd/C, the diamine monomer bis (4-amino phenoxy) phenyl-triptycene is prepared. We synthesized a new polyaromatic (imide) with triptycene unit by sol-gel method from aromatic diamines and dianhydride using pyridine as a condensation reagent in NMP. PI readily dissolves in solvents and forms robust and tough polymer films in situ. The FTIR and NMR techniques were used to determine the effects of SiO₂ on the sol-gel process and the structure of the synthesized nanocomposites. By using a simultaneous thermal analysis (DTA-TG) method, the appropriate thermal operation temperature was also determined. Through SEM analysis, the structure, shape, size, and specific surface area of pores were determined. Analysis of XRD results is used to determine how SiO₂ affects the crystallization of phases and the activation energy of crystallization.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.63-76
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• 2022

Emotional labor, characterized by a dysfunctional type of emotional regulation called surface acting, has detrimental psychological consequences on employees, including depression and social anxiety. Because such disorders exhibit psychological characteristics manifested through brain activation, previous studies have succeeded in distinguishing individuals with depression and social anxiety from healthy controls using their functional connectivity characteristics. However, it has not been established whether the functional connectivity characteristics associated with emotional labor are distinguishable. Thus, we obtained resting-state fMRI data from participants in the emotion labor (EL) group and control (CTRL) group, and we subjected their whole-brain functional connectivity matrices to a linear support vector machine classifier. Our analysis revealed that the EL and CTRL groups could be successfully distinguished on the basis of individuals' connectivity patterns, and confidence in the classification was correlated with the scores on the depression and social anxiety scales. These results are expected to provide insight on the neurobiological characteristics of emotional labor and enable the sorting of employees undergoing adverse emotional labor utilizing neurobiological observations.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.151-155
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• 2023

Purpose: This study examined the effect of the degree of neck flexion on the muscle activity of the upper trapezius and sternocleidomastoid muscles in the sitting position. Methods: Twenty-five healthy young adults participated in this study. The study was designed to compare the muscle activity of the upper trapezius and sternocleidomastoid muscles according to the neck flexion angle under the three conditions (neutral position, 15° neck flexion, and 45° neck flexion) in the sitting position. During the neck position of three conditions in sitting, the electromyography (EMG) data (% maximum voluntary isometric contraction) of the muscles were recorded using a wireless surface EMG system. Results: The muscle activity of the upper trapezius muscle and the sternocleidomastoid muscles showed a significant difference according to the three-neck position conditions (p<0.05), and in the post-hoc test results, both muscles showed significant differences between the neutral position and 15° flexion, the neutral position and 45° flexion, and the 15° flexion and 45° flexion, respectively. Conclusion: The load on the muscles around the neck and shoulders increased as the neck flexion angle increased. This suggests that performing various daily activities and tasks with the neck as neutral as possible can prevent muscle fatigue or musculoskeletal disorders.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.17-28
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• 2018

In this study, catalytic activation using sulfuric acid lignin (SAL), the condensed solid by-product from saccharification process, with potassium hydroxide at $750^{\circ}C$ for 1 h in order to investigate its potential to nanoporous carbon In this study, catalytic activation using sulfuric acid lignin (SAL), the condensed solid by-product from saccharification process, with potassium hydroxide at $750^{\circ}C$ for 1 h in order to investigate its potential to nanoporous carbon material. Comparison study was also conducted by production of activated carbon from coconut shell (CCNS), Pinus, and Avicel, and each activated carbon was characterized by chemical composition, Raman spectroscopy, SEM analysis, and BET analysis. The amount of solid residue after thermogravimetric analysis of biomass samples at the final temperature of $750^{\circ}C$ was SAL > CCNS > Pinus > Avicel, which was the same as the order of activated carbon yields after catalytic activation. Specifically, SAL-derived activated carbon showed the highest value of carbon content (91.0%) and $I_d/I_g$ peak ratio (4.2), indicating that amorphous large aromatic structure layer was formed with high carbon fixation. In addition, the largest changes was observed in SAL with the maximum BET specific surface area and pore volume of $2341m^2/g$ and $1.270cm^3/g$, respectively. Furthermore, the adsorption test for three kinds of organic pollutants (phenol, 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, and carbofuran) were conducted, and an excellent adsorption capacity more than 90 mg/g for all activated carbon was determined using 100 ppm of the standard solution. Therefore, SAL, a condensed structure, can be used not only as a nanoporous carbon material with high specific surface area but also as a biosorbent applied to a carbon filter for remediation of organic pollutants in future.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.904-910
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• 2006

Dendritic cells (DCs) are the only antigen presenting cells (APCs) capable of initiating immune responses, which is crucial for priming the specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response and tumor immunity. Upon activation by DCs, CD4+ helper T cells can cross-prime CD8+ CTLs via IL-12. However, recently activated DCs were described to prime in vitro strong T helper cell type 1 $(Th_1)$ responses, whereas at later time points, they preferentially prime $Th_2$ cells. Therfore, we examined in this study the optimum kinetic state of DCs activation impacted on in vivo priming of tumor-specific CTLs by using ovalbumin (OVA) tumor antigen model. Bone-marrow-derived DCs showed an appropriate expression of surface MHC and costimulatory molecules after 6 or 7-day differentiation. The 6-day differentiated DCs pulsed with OVA antigen for 8 h (8-h DC) and followed by restimulation with LPS for 24 h maintained high interleukin (IL)-12 production potential, accompanying the decreased level in their secretion by delayed re-exposure time to LPS. Furthermore, immunization with 8-h DC induced higher intracellular $interferon(IFN)-{\gamma}+/CD8+T$ cells and elicited more powerful cytotoxicity of splenocytes to EG7 cells, a clone of EL4 cells transfected with an OVA cDNA, than immunization with 24-h DC. In the animal study for the evaluation of therapeutic or protective antitumor immunity, immunization with 8-h DC induced an effective antitumor immunity against tumor of EG7 cells and completely protected mice from tumor formation and prolonged survival, respectively. The most commonly used and clinically applied DC-based vaccine is based on in vitro antigen loading for 24 h. However, our data indicated that antigen stimulation over 8 h decreased antitumor immunity with functional exhaustion of DCs, and that the 8-h DC would be an optimum activation state impacted on in vivo priming of tumor-specific CTLs and subsequently lead to induction of strong antitumor immunity.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.77-77
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• 2016

Thin films synthesized by plasma processes have been widely applied in a variety of industrial sectors. The structure control of thin film is one of prime factor in most of these applications. It is well known that the structure of this film is closely associated with plasma parameters and species of plasma which are electrons, ions, radical and neutrals in plasma processes. However the precise control of structure by plasma process is still limited due to inherent complexity, reproducibility and control problems in practical implementation of plasma processing. Therefore the study on the fundamental physical properties that govern the plasmas becomes more crucial for molecular scale control of film structure and corresponding properties for new generation nano scale film materials development and application. The thin films are formed through nucleation and growth stages during thin film depostion. Such stages involve adsorption, surface diffusion, chemical binding and other atomic processes at surfaces. This requires identification, determination and quantification of the surface activity of the species in the plasma. Specifically, the ions and neutrals have kinetic energies ranging from ~ thermal up to tens of eV, which are generated by electron impact of the polyatomic precursor, gas phase reaction, and interactions with the substrate and reactor walls. The present work highlights these aspects for the controlled and low-temperature plasma enhanced chemical vapour disposition (PECVD) of Si-based films like crystalline Si (c-Si), Si-quantum dot, and sputtered crystalline C by the design and control of radicals, plasmas and the deposition energy. Additionally, there is growing demand on the low-temperature deposition process with low hydrogen content by PECVD. The deposition temperature can be reduced significantly by utilizing alternative plasma concepts to lower the reaction activation energy. Evolution in this area continues and has recently produced solutions by increasing the plasma excitation frequency from radio frequency to ultra high frequency (UHF) and in the range of microwave. In this sense, the necessity of dedicated experimental studies, diagnostics and computer modelling of process plasmas to quantify the effect of the unique chemistry and structure of the growing film by radical and plasma control is realized. Different low-temperature PECVD processes using RF, UHF, and RF/UHF hybrid plasmas along with magnetron sputtering plasmas are investigated using numerous diagnostics and film analysis tools. The broad outlook of this work also outlines some of the 'Grand Scientific Challenges' to which significant contributions from plasma nanoscience-related research can be foreseen.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.394-399
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• 2015

In this study, the Cu catalyst decorated with activated carbon fibers were prepared for improving $SO_2$ adsorption properties. Flame retardant and heat treatments of Lyocell fibers were carried out to obtain carbon fibers with high yield. The prepared carbon fibers were activated by KOH solution for the high specific surface area and controlled pore size to improve $SO_2$ adsorption properties. Copper nitrate was also used to introduce the Cu catalyst on the activated carbon fibers (ACFs), which can induce various reactions in the process; i) copper nitrate promotes the decomposition reaction of oxygen group on the carbon fiber and ii) oxygen radical is generated by the decomposition of copper oxide and nitrates to promote the activation reaction of carbon fibers. As a result, the micro and meso pores were formed and Cu catalysts evenly distributed on ACFs. By Cu-impregnation process, both the specific surface area and micropore volume of carbon fibers increased over 10% compared to those of ACFs only. Also, this resulted in an increase in $SO_2$ adsorption capacity over 149% than that of using the raw ACF. The improvement in $SO_2$ adsorption properties may be originated from the synergy effect of two properties; (i) the physical adsorption from micro, meso and specific surface area due to the transition metal catalyst effect appeared during Cu-impregnation process and ii) the chemical adsorption of $SO_2$ gas promoted by the Cu catalyst on ACFs.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.472-478
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• 2003

In this work, the zeolite/diglycidylether of bisphenol A(DGEBA) systems were investigated in terms of the cure kinetics and mechanical interfacial properties of the composites. The 4, 4-diamino diphenyl methane(DDM) was used as a curing agent for epoxy. Two types of zeolite(PZ) were prepared with 15 and 35 wt% KOH treatments(15-BZ and 35-BZ, respectively) for 24 h, and their surface characteristics were studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction(XRD). Cure kinetics of the composites were examined in the context of differential scanning calorimetry(DSC), and mechanical interfacial properties were investigated in critical stress intensity factor($K_{IC}$) and critical strain energy release rate($G_{IC}$). In the results of XPS and XRD, sodium ion(Na) of zeolite was exchanged for potassium ion(K), resulting from the treatment of KOH. Also, $Si_{2p}/Al{2p}$ composition ratios of the treated zeolite were increased, which could be attributed to the weakening of Al-O bond in framework. Cure activation energy($E_a$) of 15-BZ composites was decreased, whereas KIC and $G_{IC}$ were increased, compared with those of the pure zeolite/DGEBA composites. It was probably accounted that the acidity of zeolite was increased by surface treatments and the cure reaction between zeolite and epoxy was influenced on the increased acidity of zeolite.