• BMB Reports
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• v.46 no.12
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• pp.588-593
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• 2013

Apoptosis, programmed cell death, is a process involved in the development and maintenance of cell homeostasis in multicellular organisms. It is typically accompanied by the activation of a class of cysteine proteases called caspases. Apoptotic caspases are classified into the initiator caspases and the executioner caspases, according to the stage of their action in apoptotic processes. Although caspase-3, a typical executioner caspase, has been studied for its mechanism and substrates, little is known of caspase-6, one of the executioner caspases. To understand the biological functions of caspase-6, we performed proteomics analyses, to seek for novel caspase-6 substrates, using recombinant caspase-6 and HepG2 extract. Consequently, 34 different candidate proteins were identified, through 2-dimensional electrophoresis/MALDI-TOF analyses. Of these identified proteins, 8 proteins were validated with in vitro and in vivo cleavage assay. Herein, we report that HAUSP, Kinesin5B, GEP100, SDCCAG3 and PARD3 are novel substrates for caspase-6 during apoptosis.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.239-246
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• 2017

27-Hydroxycholesterol (27OHChol) has been reported to induce differentiation of monocytic cells into a mature dendritic cell phenotype. We examined the effect of methanol extract of Nardostachys chinensis (Nard) on 27OHChol-induced differentiation using THP-1, a human monocytic cell line. Treatment of monocytic cells with methanol extract of Nard resulted in decreased transcription and surface expression of CD80, CD83, and CD88 elevated by 27OHChol in a dose-dependent manner. Surface levels of MHC class I and II molecules elevated by 27OHChol were also reduced to basal levels by treatment with the Nard extract. Decreased endocytosis activity caused by 27OHChol was recovered by treatment with the Nard extract. CD197 expression and cell attachment were attenuated by the Nard extract. In addition, levels of transcription and surface expression of CD molecules involved in atherosclerosis, such as CD105, CD137, and CD166 upregulated by 27OHChol were significantly decreased by treatment with methanol extract of Nard. These results indicate that methanol extract of Nard down-regulates 27OHChol-induced differentiation of monocytic cells into a mature dendritic cell phenotype and expression of CD molecules associated with atherosclerosis. The current study suggests that biological activity of oxygenated cholesterol derivatives can be inhibited by herbal medication.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.701-709
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• 2006

The Rhus verniciflua Stokes (乾漆-RVS) has been used in traditional East Asia medicine for the therapy of gastritis, stomach cancer, although the mechanism for the biological activity is unclear. In the present study aims to investigate RVS extract contributes to growth inhibitory effect and it's the molecular mechanism on the human gastric cancer cells. AGS (gastric cancer cells) and RIEI (normal cells) were treated to different concentrations and periods of RVS extract $(10{\;}{\sim{{\;}100{\;}ug/mil)$. Growth inhibitory effect was analyzed by measuring FACS study and MTS assay. Cell cycle inhibition was confirmed by measuring CDK2 kinase activity by immunoprecipitation and kinase assay. And apoptosis was confirmed by surveying caspase cascades activation using a pan caspase inhibitor Exposure to RVS extract (50 ug/mll) resulted in a synergistic inhibitory effect on cell growth in AGS cells. Growth inhibition was related with the inhibition of proliferation and induction of apoptosis. The extract induces Gl -cell cycle arrest through the regulation of cyclins, the induction of p27kip1, and the decrease CDK2 kinase activity. And upregulated p27kip1 level is caused by protein stability increment by the reduction of S-phase kinase-associated protein 2 (Skp2), a key molecule related with p27kip1 ubiquitination and degradation, and do novo protein synthesis. Besides, 乾漆 extract induces apoptosis through the expression of Bax, poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) and activation of caspase-3. RVS extract induces Gl -cell cycle arrest via accumulation of p27kip1 and apoptosis in human gastric cancer cells but not in normal cells, therefore we suggest that the extract can be used as a novel class of anti-cancer drugs.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.323-331
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• 2012

Cell division in biological education is an important and unintelligible unit. Most of students have no interest in learning the content, and don't concentrate on it because cell division unit contains relatively difficult content. In this vein, during considering the effective learning methods, the researcher found role-play as the method for student's positive access to important and unintelligent learning content. Effect of role-play on their learning achievement of science was analysed through the Chapter of cell division on 3rd grade of middle school students. For this study three levels of middle school students were selected from the school located in Seoul. And divided this students into experiment group and control group by 2 classes respectively. Before putting into practice this instruction, there took into account the before and after of students' learning achievement and their learning attitude by using same questionnaire. On the other hand, the researcher put into practice co-variate analysis by using SPSS statistical package as the measurement method.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.116-122
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• 2000

The molecular modification of antiepileptic drugs and direct synthesis of new drugs with the predetermined antiepileptic properties are perspective. New neurochemical attacking to solve the problem including prevention and inhibition of seizures seems to be related to ginsenosides and ginseng polypeptides. The main study based on the severity of febrile convulsions of rat pups has been done from the earlier investigations of antiepileptical action of ginsenosides between KGTRI and MSU (Chepurnov, Park et al., 1995) with different kinds of experimental models of epilepsy. From the cultured cell line DAN25 of ginseng root, the extracts of ginsenosides made in "BIOKHIMMASH" were studied by the project of preclinical anticonvulsant screening (Stables, Kupferberg, 1997). The inhibition of severity of convulsions, decrease of seizures threshold, decrease of audiogenic seizures in rats of different strains and normalization of cerebral blood flow (measured by hydrogen test) were demonstrated in rats after i.c.v., intraperitoneally and orally administration, respectively. The antiepileptical effects by the combination of compounds from ginseng; were compared with the iuluence of Rg1, Rb1, Rc and with the well known antiepileptical drugs such as carbamazepine, valproic acid. The base for the research is obtained by using the WAG/Rij strain (Luijtelaar, Coenen, Kuznetcova), an excellent genetic model for human generalized absence epilepsy. The improving action of gensinosides was effectively demonstrated on the model of electrical kindling of amygdala of WAG/Rij rats with genetically determined absences, and the influences of ginsenosides on the slow wave discharges have also been being investigated. The different characteristics of a kindling process exerted in the sex-different region of the amygdala and demonstrated that the level of sex steroids and content of neurosteroids in amygdaloid tissue can modify the development of seizures. The chemical structures of ginsenosides not only have some principal differences from well-known antiepileptical drugs but the Plant Pharmacology gives us unique possibility to develop new class of antiepileptic drugs and to improve its biological activity.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.492-497
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• 2006

The epoxy composites are prepared with mixing temperature of epoxy/montmorillonite (MMT) melt master batch and the dielectric properties of the composites are also compared with intercalation of MMT. The exfoliation mainly occurrs iii the low content of MMT composites, while in the composites with high content of MMT the interspacing distance increases as the mixing temperature of epoxy/MMT master batch is increased. Class transition temperature of the composite which the MMT are effectively exfoliated is increased with the appropriate postcuring condition. Since the orientation polarization of dipoles in the epoxy molecules is restricted by the clay nanolayers exfoliated, the dielectric constant and dielectric loss of the composites are reduced. Furthermore, the dielectric properties could be improved by controling the mixing temperature and time of epoxy/MMT master batch as well as postcuring condition.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.328-333
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• 2005

Small heat shock proteins (sHSPs) are widely distributed, and their function and diversity of structure have been much studied in the field of molecular chaperones. In plants, which frequently have to cope with hostile environments, sHSPs are much more abundant and diverse than in other forms of life. In response to high temperature stress, sHSPs of more than twenty kinds can make up more than 1% of soluble plant proteins. We isolated a genomic clone, NtHSP18.3, from Nicotiana tabacum that encodes the complete open reading frame of a cytosolic class I small heat shock protein. To investigate the function of NtHSP18.3 in vitro, it was overproduced in Escherichia coli and purified. The purified NtHSP18.3 had typical molecular chaperone activity as it protected citrate synthase and luciferase from high temperature-induced aggregation. When E. coli celluar proteins were incubated with NtHSP18.3, a large proportion of the proteins remained soluble at temperatures as high as $70^{\circ}C$. Native gel analysis suggested that NtHSP18.3 is a dodecameric oligomer as the form present and showing molecular chaperone activity at the condition tested. Binding of bis-ANS to the oligomers of NtHSP18.3 indicated that exposure of their hydrophobic surfaces increased as the temperature was raised. Taken together, our data suggested that NtHSP18.3 is a molecular chaperone that functions as a dodecameric complex and possibly in a temperature-induced manner.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.119-141
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• 2015

As the population of senior citizens has been increasing very rapidly, the importance of their education is gradually emphasized. To maintain their mental and physical health, the solution on the biological, physical, and educational approach might be helpful and effective. Especially in the aspect of the educational approach, the mathematics education can be regarded as an important subject for keeping the seniors in a good mental health. The reason is that the ultimate goal of mathematics education is to pursue an enhancement of mathematical thinking ability. By the reason, this study aimed to develop mathematical materials for enhancing seniors' thinking ability, and the seniors usually belong to fifties and sixties. To this purpose, this study selected the six essential mathematical thinking elements and four mathematical domains of 'number and operation', 'shape and measurement', 'possibility', and 'patterns'. Based on these elements, the mathematical materials including the nine types of activities using games and commercial manipulatives were developed. On the subject of 52 female seniors, the instruction was conducted using a part of the materials during 100 minutes. Also, 13 survey items were developed beforehand, and the survey was implemented after the class, and eventually 48 seniors responded in the survey. As a result, it is meaningful to develop the materials not only for enhancing mathematical thinking ability but for understanding and utilizing the content of materials. Furthermore, it is requested that those materials be differentiated according to the degree or the difference of age, academic ability, and sex.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.43 no.7
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• pp.607-618
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• 2020

microRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding RNA molecules involved in the regulation of gene expression. miRNAs inhibit gene expression by binding to the 3' untranslated region (UTR) of their target gene. miRNAs can originate from transposable elements (TEs), which comprise approximately half of the eukaryotic genome and one type of TE, called the long terminal repeat (LTR) is found in class of retrotransposons. Amongst the miRNAs derived from LTR, hsa-miR-3681 was chosen and analyzed using bioinformatics tools and experimental analysis. Studies on hsa-miR-3681 have been scarce and this study provides the relative expression analysis of hsa-miR-3681-5p from humans, chimpanzees, crab-eating monkeys, and mice. Luciferase assay for hsa-miR-3681-5p and its target gene SHISA7 supports our hypothesis that the number of miRNA binding sites affects target gene expression. Especially, the variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) and hsa-miR-3681-5p share the binding sites in the 3' UTR of SHISA7, which leads the enhancer function of hsamiR-3681-5p to inhibit the activity of VNTR. In conclusion, hsa-miR-3681-5p acts as a super-enhancer and the enhancer function of hsa-miR-3681-5p acts as a repressor of VNTR activity in the 3' UTR of SHISA7.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Applied Microbiology Conference
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• 2004.06a
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• pp.215-218
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• 2004

Dextrans make up a class of polysaccharides that are D-glucans of various structures with contiguous $\alpha$-1longrightarrow6 ~6 glycosidic linkages in the main chains and $\alpha$-1longrightarrow2, $\alpha$-1longrightarrow3, or $\alpha$-1longrightarrow4 branch glycosidic linkages, depending on the specificity of the particular dextransucrase. Glucansucrases that catalyze glucans synthesis from sucrose. When other carbohydrates, in addition to sucrose, are present in the enzyme digest, the enzyme transfers glucose to the carbohydrate acceptors in the secondary reaction that diverts some of the glucose from incorporation into glucan. Many carbohydrate acceptors have been recognized and the products that result are dependent on the particular enzyme and the structure of the particular acceptor. Because of these unique catalytic characteristics, various dextransucrases have many important industrial and medical uses. To improve the understanding of their action mode and extend their applications, this study describes mechanism of glucan synthesis and potential industrial uses of dextransucrases, and our recent findings on the structural, functional organization and directed evolution of the glucansucrases to offer for designing glucansucrases with improved properties.