• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.294-304
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• 2020

Objective: The study was conducted to evaluate the effects of the absorbent (a mixture of activated carbon and hydrated sodium calcium aluminosilicate) on growth performance, blood profiles and hepatic genes expression in broilers fed diets naturally contaminated with aflatoxin. Methods: A total of 1,200 one-day-old male chicks were randomly assigned to 6 treatments with 10 replicate cages per treatment. The dietary treatments were as follows: i) control (basal diets); ii) 50% contaminated corn; iii) 100% contaminated corn; iv) control+1% adsorbent; v) 50% contaminated corn+1% absorbent; vi) 100% contaminated corn+1% absorbent. Results: During d 1 to 21, feeding contaminated diets reduced (p<0.05) body weight (BW), average daily gain (ADG), and average daily feed intake (ADFI), but increased (p<0.05) feed-to-gain ratio (F/G). The absorbent supplementation increased (p<0.05) BW, ADG, and ADFI. There were interactions (p<0.05) in BW, ADG, and ADFI between contaminated corn and absorbent. Overall, birds fed 100% contaminated diets had lower (p<0.05) final BW and ADG, but higher (p<0.05) F/G compared to those fed control diets. The absorbent addition increased (p<0.05) serum albumin concentration on d 14 and 28 and total protein (TP) level on d 28, decreased (p<0.05) alanine transaminase activity on d 14 and activities of aspartate aminotransferase and alkaline phosphatase on d 28. Feeding contaminated diets reduced (p<0.05) hepatic TP content on d 28 and 42. The contaminated diets upregulated (p<0.05) expression of interleukin-6, catalase (CAT), and superoxide dismutase (SOD), but downregulated (p<0.05) glutathione S-transferase (GST) expression in liver. The absorbent supplementation increased (p<0.05) interleukin-1β, CAT, SOD, cytochrome P450 1A1 and GST expression in liver. There were interactions (p<0.05) in the expression of hepatic CAT, SOD, and GST between contaminated corn and absorbent. Conclusion: The results suggest that the naturally aflatoxin-contaminated corn depressed growth performance, while the adsorbent could partially attenuate the adverse effects of aflatoxin on growth performance, blood profiles and hepatic genes expression in broilers.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.25-32
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• 2014

Nitric oxide (NO) is recognized as a mediator and regulator of inflammatory responses. NO is produced by nitric oxide synthase (NOS), and NOS is abundantly expressed in the human dental pulp cells (HDPCs). NO produced by NOS can be cytotoxic at higher concentrations to HDPCs. However, the mechanism by which this cytotoxic pathway is activated in cells exposed to NO is not known. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the NO-induced cytotoxic mechanism in HDPCs. Sodium nitroprusside (SNP), a NO donor, reduced the viability of HDPCs in a dose- and time-dependent manner. We investigated the in vitro effects of nitric oxide on apoptosis of cultured HDPCs. Cells showed typical apoptotic morphology after exposure to SNP. Besides, the number of Annexin V positive cells was increased among the SNP-treated HDPCs. SNP enhanced the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and N-acetylcysteine (NAC) ameliorated the decrement of cell viability induced by SNP. However, a soluble guanylate cyclase inhibitor (ODQ) did not inhibited the decrement of cell viability induced by SNP. SNP increased cytochrome c release from the mitochondria to the cytosol and the ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 expression levels. Moreover, SNP-treated HDPCs elevated activities of caspase-3 and caspase-9. While pretreatment with inhibitors of caspase (z-VAD-fmk, z-DEVD-fmk) reversed the NO-induced apoptosis of HDPCs. From these results, it can be suggested that NO induces apoptosis of HDPCs through the mitochondria-dependent pathway mediated by ROS and Bcl-2 family, but not by the cyclic GMP pathway.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.31-42
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• 2000

Consolidation and permeability are major engineering properties of soil. In clay, coefficient of permeability and consolidation can be calculated by incremental loading consolidation test. However, it is known that the incremental loading test has several deficiencies including long testing time, non-uniform stress state, very soft clay and problem of back pressure saturation. Specially, it is not performed with horizontal consolidation test. Several methods have been proposed for obtaining reliable values of $C_v$. Among these, the square root of time-fitting method proposed by Taylor(1948) and logarithm of time-fitting method, also called Casagrande's method, are used extensively in soil engineering practice. But these methods are not amenable for the absence of initial linear portion and have the difficulties involved in distinguishing secondary compression from primary compression. Rowecell consolidation tests were carried out in this study with different trimming axis and sample size. The results were compared with those of other methods; Casagrande,$Taylor,\; Casagrande,\; Hyperbolic,\; \delta/t-logt$. From the results, we explained a relationship between horizontal coefficient of permeability and void ratio was obtained. Finally, the directly measured horizontal coefficient of permeability obtained by using the Rowecell was compared with the permeability derived indirectly from the consolidation test result.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.333-340
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• 2018

This study aimed to estimate the effect of inoculant application level on chemical composition and bacterial count of fermented chestnut meal (FCM), and its rumen fermentation characteristics. The inoculant contained Lactobacillus acidophilus ($1.2{\times}10^{10}cfu/g$), Bacillus subtilis ($2.1{\times}10^{10}cfu/g$), and Saccharomyces cerevisiae ($2.3{\times}10^{10}cfu/g$). The chestnut meal mixed with molasses, double distilled water, and inoculant at 1 kg, 3 g, 480 mL, and 20 mL ratio for the basal chestnut meal diet. The double distilled water from basal chestnut meal diet was substituted with bacterial inoculant at a level of 0 (Control), 20 (Medium), and 40 mL (High) in the experimental diets. The mixed experimental diets were incubated at $39^{\circ}C$ for 7, 14, and 21 days, respectively. On 7 days of FCM incubation, the contents of crude protein (CP) (quadratic, P=0.043) and neutral detergent fiber (quadratic, P=0.071) decreased by increases of inoculant application levels, whereas bacterial count (quadratic, P=0.065) and rumen $NH_3-N$ (linear, P=0.063) increased. By increases of inoculant application levels on 14 days of FCM incubation, the increases were found on dry matter (DM) (quadratic, P=0.085), CP (quadratic, P=0.059), acid detergent fiber (quadratic, P=0.056), in vitro DM digestibility (linear, P=0.002), rumen total volatile fatty acid (VFA) (linear, P=0.057), and rumen iso-butyrate (linear, P=0.054). However, the decreases were found on bacterial count (linear, P=0.002), propionate (linear, P=0.099), and butyrate (quadratic, P=0.082). On 21 days of FCM incubation, in vitro DM digestibility (linear, P=0.002) and total VFA (linear, P=0.001) increased by increases of inoculant application levels, whereas the contents of CP (quadratic, P=0.034) and neutral detergent fiber (quadratic, P=0.047) decreased. These results indicate that the FCM with a medium level of inoculant application and 14 of fermentation had beneficial effects by increasing DM digestibility and rumen total VFA content, without altering bacterial count.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.15
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• pp.6451-6455
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• 2015

Background: Primary bone neoplasms are rare, contributing only 0.2% of the global burden of all human malignancies. Osteosarcoma (OS) and chondrosarcoma (CS) are the most common malignancies of bone. The giant cell tumor of bone (GCTb) is a benign tumor with behavior characterized by osteolytic bone destruction. The OS, CS and GCTb affect both sexes, all races and generally have incidence peaks regarding the age of the patient which vary according to the tumor type. We analyzed the incidences of OS, CS and GCTb and their relations with gender and age in patients treated in the National Rehabilitation Institute (INR, for its acronym in Spanish) over a period of nine years. Materials and Methods: In the study period, clinic pathological data for 384 patients were obtained with clinical, radiological and histopathological diagnosis for OS, GCTb and CS. Data analysis was performed using the chi-square and Fisher's exact tests. Results: From 2006 to 2014 were recorded 384 cases of bone malignancies in the database of INR. The GCTb had the highest incidence (53.1%), followed by OS (31.3%) and finally the CS (15.6%). The overall average age was $33.6{\pm}15.8$ years and the overall frequency of gender had a ratio of 1/1.03 male/female. The states with the highest incidence were Distrito Federal and Estado de Mexico with 29.2% and 25.3% respectively. Malignant neoplasms of bone assessed in the course of nine years show three significant increases in 2008, 2011 and 2014 (p=0.14). We found association between sex and tumor type (p=0.03), GCTb and CS predominated in females (54.9% and 56.6% respectively), while for the OS males were most affected (59.1%). Age was different in relation with tumor type (p=0.0001), average age was $24.3{\pm}11.2$ years for OS, $34.5{\pm}13$ years for GCTb and $49.2{\pm}18.5$ years for CS. Furthermore, associations of tumor type with topographic location of the primary tumor (P=0.0001) were found. Conclusions: In this study we can see that incidence of musculoskeletal tumor in our population is continuously increasing and in nine years an approximately 200% increase of musculoskeletal tumor cases was observed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.363-363
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• 2014

Ruthenium (Ru) has attractive material properties due to its promising characteristics such as a low resistivity ($7.1{\mu}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ in the bulk), a high work function of 4.7 eV, and feasibility for the dry etch process. These properties make Ru films appropriate for various applications in the state-of-art semiconductor device technologies. Thus, it has been widely investigated as an electrode for capacitor in the dynamic random access memory (DRAM), a metal gate for metal-oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET), and a seed layer for Cu metallization. Due to the continuous shrinkage of microelectronic devices, better deposition processes for Ru thin films are critically required with excellent step coverages in high aspect ratio (AR) structures. In these respects, atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a viable solution for preparing Ru thin films because it enables atomic-scale control of the film thickness with excellent conformality. A recent investigation reported that the nucleation of ALD-Ru film was enhanced considerably by using a zero-valent metallorganic precursor, compared to the utilization of precursors with higher metal valences. In this study, we will present our research results on the synthesis and characterization of novel ruthenium complexes. The ruthenium compounds were easy synthesized by the reaction of ruthenium halide with appropriate organic ligands in protic solvent, and characterized by NMR, elemental analysis and thermogravimetric analysis. The molecular structures of the complexes were studied by single crystal diffraction. ALD of Ru film was demonstrated using the new Ru metallorganic precursor and O2 as the Ru source and reactant, respectively, at the deposition temperatures of $300-350^{\circ}C$. Self-limited reaction behavior was observed as increasing Ru precursor and O2 pulse time, suggesting that newly developed Ru precursor is applicable for ALD process. Detailed discussions on the chemical and structural properties of Ru thin films as well as its growth behavior using new Ru precursor will be also presented.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.469-474
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• 2004

We have fabricated and designed wavelength-tunable sampled grating distributed Bragg reflector laser diodes(SGDBR-LD) by using, for the first time, planar buried heterostructures(PBH). The diodes have low threshold current values and high-performance of laser operation. Growth condition using metal organic chemical vapor deposition(MOCVD) was optimized for the formation of a good butt-coupling at the interface. A maximum output power of the fabricated device was 20 mW under 200 mA continuous wave(CW) operation at $25^{\circ}C$. Average threshold current and voltage were 12 mA and 0.8 V, approximately. This output power is higher than those of ridge waveguide(RWG) and buried ridge stripe(BRS) structures by amounts of 9 mW and 13 mW, respectively. We obtained a tuning range of 44.4nm which is well matched with the target value of our design. The side mode suppression ratio of more than 35 dB was obtained for the whole tuning range. Optical output power variation was less than 5 dB, which is 4 dB smaller than that of RWG structures.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.214-218
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• 2020

In this study, Mg_xZn_1-xO thin films, which can be applied not only to active layers of light-emitting devices (LEDs), such as UV-LEDs, but also to solar cells, high mobility field-effect transistors, and power semiconductor devices, are fabricated using the sol-gel method. ZnO and Mg_0.3Zn_0.7O solution synthesized by the sol-gel method and the thin film were grown by spin coating on a Si (100) substrate and sapphire substrate. The solutions are synthesized by dissolving precursor materials in 2-methoxyethanol (2-ME) solvent, and then monoethanolamine (MEA) was added to the mixed solution as a sol stabilizer. Zinc acetate dihydrate is used as a ZnO precursor, while Mg nitrate hexahydrate and Mg acetate tetrahydrate are used as an MgO precursor. Then, the optical and structural characteristics of the fabricated thin films are compared. The molar concentration of the Zn precursor in the solvent is fixed at 0.3 M, and the amount of the Mg precursor is 30% of Mg²⁺/Zn²⁺. The optical characteristics are measured using an UV-vis spectrophotometer, and the transmittance of each wavelength is measured. Structural characteristics are measured using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Composition analyses are performed using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The Mg_0.3Zn_0.7O thin film was well formed at the ratio of the Mg precursor added regardless of the type of Mg precursor, and the c-axis of the thin film was decreased, while the band gap was increased to 3.56 eV.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.127-134
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• 2008

Peroral administration is the most convenient one for the administration of pharmaceutically active compounds. Most of poorly water-soluble drugs administered via the oral route, however, remain poorly available due to their precipitation in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and low permeability through intestinal mucosa. In this study, one of drug delivery carriers, lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) were designed in order to reduce side effects and improve solubility and stability in GI tract of the poorly water soluble drugs. However, plain LNPs are generally unstable in the GI tract and susceptible to the action of acids, bile salts and enzymes. Accordingly, the surface of LNPs was modified with polyethylene glycol (PEG) for the purpose of improving solubility and GI stability of paclitaxel (PTX) in vitro. PEG-modified LNPs containing PTX was prepared by spontaneous emulsification and solvent evaporation (SESE) method and characterized for mean particle diameter, entrapping efficiency, zeta potential value and in vitro GI stability. Mean particle diameter and zeta potential value of PEG-modified LNP containing PTX showed approximately 86.9 nm and -22.9 mV, respectively. PTX entrapping efficiency was about 70.5% determined by UV/VIS spectrophotometer. Futhermore, change of particle diameter of PTX-loaded PEG-LNPs in simulated GI fluids and bile fluid was evaluated as a criteria of GI stability. Particle diameter of PTX-loaded PEG-LNPs were preserved under 200 nm for 6 hrs in simulated GI fluids and bile fluid at $37^{\circ}C$ when DSPE-mPEG2000 was added to formulation of LNPs above 4 mole ratio. As a result, PEG-modified LNPs improved stability of plain LNPs that would aggregate in simulated GI fluids and bile solution. These results indicate that LNPs modified with biocompatible and nontoxic polymer such as PEG might be useful for enhancement of GI stability of poorly water-soluble drugs and they might affect PTX absorption affirmatively in gastrointestinal mucosa.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.418-425
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• 2008

The purpose of this study was to investigate correlations between bone mineral density (BMD) and dietary and non-dietary factors in female college students. The BMD of the subjects (n = 38) was measured using DEXA (Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry) at lumbar spine and three femoral sites including femoral neck, ward's triangle, and femoral trochanter. Three-day 24-hour dietary recall data were collected from each subject to assess consumption levels of nutrients and food groups. The mean (${\pm}SD$) values of age, age of menarche, height, weight, body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), fat mass, and % body fat of the subjects were 21.34 (${\pm}1.73$) years, 13.1 (${\pm}1.2$) years, 161.3 (${\pm}5.0$) cm, 53.7 (${\pm}7.2$) kg, 20.6 (${\pm}2.6$) $kg/m^2$, 0.80 (${\pm}0.04$), 15.4 (${\pm}4.4$) kg, and 28.2 (${\pm}4.7$), respectively. The BMD values of lumbar spine, femoral neck, ward's triangle, and femoral trochanter as T-value were $1.150{\pm}0.13\;g/cm^2$, $0.932{\pm}0.11\;g/cm^2$, $0.850{\pm}0.13\;g/cm^2$, and $0.721{\pm}0.10\;g/cm^2$, respectively. The daily mean energy intake of the subjects was 1660.6 kcal. The intake levels of carbohydrate, calcium, iron, vitamin C, and folic acid were lower than the KDRIs, while those of fat, phosphorus, sodium, vitamin A, and vitamin $B_6$ were higher than the KDRIs. Significantly negative correlation were detected between consumption of fat and oils and the BMD of all sites measured (p < 0.05). Potato and starch intake was negatively correlated to the BMD of femoral neck and word's triangle (p < 0.05). The intake of cereals was found to be negatively correlated to the BMD of ward's triangle (p v 0.05). There was also negative correlation of intake of soybeans and products with the BMD of lumbar spine (p < 0.05). Weight and muscle mass were positively correlated to the BMD of both lumbar spine and femurs (p < 0.01). Significantly positive correlations between BMI, and fat mass and the BMD of lumbar spine were observed (p < 0.001). Additionally fat mass was positively correlated to the BMD of femoral neck. WHR and % body fat were positively correlated to the BMD of lumbar spine (p < 0.05). Negative correlation was found between a serum calcium level and the BMD of femoral neck (p < 0.05). In summary non-dietary factors generally showed significant correlations with the BMD of lumbar spine, while several dietary factors showed significant correlations with the BMD of femurs.