• BMB Reports
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• v.56 no.7
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• pp.374-384
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• 2023

Fibrosis is a pathological condition that is characterized by an abnormal buildup of extracellular matrix (ECM) components, such as collagen, in tissues. This condition affects various organs of the body, including the liver and kidney. Early diagnosis and treatment of fibrosis are crucial, as it is a progressive and irreversible process in both organs. While there are certain similarities in the fibrosis process between the liver and kidney, there are also significant differences that must be identified to determine molecular diagnostic markers and potential therapeutic targets. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), a class of RNA molecules that do not code for proteins, are increasingly recognized as playing significant roles in gene expression regulation. Emerging evidence suggests that specific lncRNAs are involved in fibrosis development and progression by modulating signaling pathways, such as the TGF-β/Smad pathway and the β-catenin pathway. Thus, identifying the precise lncRNAs involved in fibrosis could lead to novel therapeutic approaches for fibrotic diseases. In this review, we summarize lncRNAs related to fibrosis in the liver and kidney, and propose their potential as therapeutic targets based on their functions.

• ALGAE
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.123-135
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• 2021

The taxonomy of green microalgae relies traditionally on morphological traits but has been rapidly changing since the advent of molecular methods. Stichococcus Nägeli is a cosmopolitan terrestrial algal genus of the class Trebouxiophyceae that has recently been split into seven lineages, which, along with Pseudostichococcus, comprise the Stichococcuslike group; there is a need to further characterize these genera, since they are morphologically enigmatic. Here we used organic osmolytes as chemotaxonomic marker to verify the phylogenetic position of Stichococcus-like strains and were also able to exclude a strain hitherto identified as Gloeotila contorta from this group. Stichococcus-like organisms, including those recently revised, were characterized by the production of the polyol sorbitol and the disaccharide sucrose in high amounts, as is typical of Prasiola-clade algae. The results demonstrate that organic osmolyte chemotaxonomy can support green algal taxonomic designations as fundamental research.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.366-371
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• 2010

Accompanying the rapid advance of nanotechnology, various nano-particles have shown promise as strong antimicrobial agents against a broad spectrum of microorganisms. These nanoparticles also have potential applications in medical devices, water treatments systems, environmental sensors and so on. However, with increasing concerns about the impact of engineered nanoparticles, many researchers are recently reporting the cytotoxicity of nanoparticles. In this review paper, we summarized the antimicrobial activities and mechanisms of various kinds of engineered nanoparticles to imprale understanding about these characteristics of nanoparticles.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.333-343
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• 1997

The purpose of the present study was to investigate an appropriate instructional model in order to remedy students' misconception. As hypotheses of this study, three instructional models, cognitive conflicting, hypothesis testing, and learning cycle models, on biological 'osmosis' concept were tested in 176 high school students. Results of the present study are as follows: 1. All groups used one of three instructional models showed a statistically significant improvement in conceptual change on the 'osmosis' concept between before and after the instruction. In addition, the three hypothesized instructional models were more effective in conceptual change than a traditional expository instruction. 2. There was a statistically significant difference among three experimental groups. Cognitive conflicting model and hypothesis testing model was more effective than learning cycle models. 3. An interviewing after instruction showed that students who had scientific concept on the 'osmosis' through the instruction could effectively apply the concept to other context more than students who had no scientific concept through instruction. The present study indicated that instructional model play an important role on students' conceptual change in science classroom. According to the result of this study, the instruction emphasizing students' active participation in class and scientific reasoning process is more appropriate to remedy misconception that the instruction using students' passive participation in class and expository teaching procedure. This study also indicated that students' concept acquired through instruction is one of important factors to apply it to other context.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.26-28
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• 2005

Evaluation of larvicidal activities of Chamaecyparis obtusa and Thuja orientalis oils against 4th-instar larvae of Aedes aegypti and Culex pipiens pallens revealed larvicidal activities of leaf oils extracted from C. obtusa and T. orientalis were significantly higher than those of stem, fruit, and seed oils. Strong mortality was observed in age class II of C. obtusa and T. orientalis against Ae. aegypti and Cx. pipiens pallens larvae. These results show both leaf part and age class II of C. obtusa and T. orientalis have strong larvicidal activity against Ae. aegypti and Cx. pipiens pallens. Leaf oils of C. obtusa and T. orientalis leaves show promise as natural larvicides against Ae. aegypti and Cx. pipiens pallens.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.11 no.10
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• pp.830-836
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• 2005

Application of microarray technologies which monitor simultaneously the expression pattern of thousands of individual genes in different biological systems results in a tremendous increase of the amount of available gene expression data and have provided new insights into gene expression during drug development, within disease processes, and across species. There is a great need of data mining methods allowing straightforward interpretation, visualization and analysis of the relevant information contained in gene expression profiles. Specially, classifying biological samples into known classes or phenotypes is an important practical application for microarray gene expression profiles. Gene expression profiles obtained from tissue samples of patients thus allowcancer classification. In this research, molecular classification of microarray gene expression data is applied for multi-class cancer using computational biology such gene selection, principal component analysis and fuzzy clustering. The proposed method was applied to microarray data from leukemia patients; specifically, it was used to interpret the gene expression pattern and analyze the leukemia subtype whose expression profiles correlated with four cases of acute leukemia gene expression. A basic understanding of the microarray data analysis is also introduced.

• Journal of Species Research
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• v.12 no.spc2
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• pp.33-44
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• 2023

In 2021, a total of 27 bacterial strains were isolated from soil, tree bark, moss, wetland, sea sediment, tidal flat, seawater and seaweed within Republic of Korea. Based on the analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequence (>98.7% sequence similarity), these isolates were assigned to the class Alphaproteobacteria as unrecorded species in Korea. The 27 strains were classified into the 10 families: Maricaulaceae of the order Caulobacterales; Brucellaceae, Methylobacteriaceae, Nitrobacteraceae and Rhizobiaceae of the order Hyphomicrobiales; Micropepsaceae of the order Micropepsales; Rhodobacteraceae of the order Rhodobacterales; Azospirillaceae of the order Rhodospirillales; and Erythrobacteraceae and Sphingomonadales of the order Sphingomonadaceae. There is no official report of these 27 species in Korea. Therefore, we report 27 isolates as unrecorded species, and described isolation sources, Gram-stain reactions, physiological and biochemical properties and morphologies of these strains.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.567-578
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• 2022

In this study, we examine whether the description of the elementary science curriculum guide, the concept of evolution, and the beliefs of teachers affect the teaching practice in classes related to adaptation of elementary school teachers. First, we examined the alternative concept among the sentences described in the bio-adaptation-related unit of the 2009 Elementary Science Curriculum Teacher's Guide and identified the effects of this description on the teaching practice of elementary school teachers. Next, six elementary school teachers were classified according to the results of the evolutionary concept test paper and the evolutionary belief test paper, and based on the class recording data and interview data, whether there is a difference in teaching execution. As a result, it was confirmed that there were a total of 18 descriptions corresponding to the concept of evolutionary alternatives in the analysis of instruction descriptions, and that these descriptions influenced elementary school teachers' adaptation concepts and teaching practice. Next, the group with high and low levels of evolution differ in the areas of "recognition of importance in the unit, distinction between adaptation concepts in the general sense and adaptation concepts in the biological sense, errors in the class," and "recognition of evolutionary education needs in the elementary curriculum." This study is meaningful in that it qualitatively confirms the research on the evolution concept of elementary school teachers, which has been approached quantitatively, and in-depth, confirms how the description, evolution concepts, and evolutionary beliefs affect elementary school teachers' biological adaptation concepts.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.149-155
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• 2019

In this study, the multiplicity of synchronous online class discussion activity is explored at conceptual level. From the cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT), each utterance may be considered as a product of the activity system. Alderfer's ERG theory is employed as another theoretical framework for the study. Based on the subject's existence, relationship, growth needs, their class discussion activities constitute four different dimensions: physical/biological, cultural/institutional, social/relational, and cooperative knowledge construction. It is inherent in individual activities and has a different arrangement according to their interests and situations, and at the same time acts as a factor of cooperation and competition among the participants. Through this, collective discussion activities represent complex and dynamic development patterns.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.1042-1052
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• 2010

Forty-seven Salmonella Typhimurium (33 zoonotic, 14 clinical) strains were tested for antimicrobial resistance using the standard disk diffusion method. The presence of relevant resistance genes and class 1 integrons were investigated by using PCR. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and plasmid profiling were carried out to determine the genomic diversity of Salmonella Typhimurium. Approximately 57.4% of the S. Typhimurium strains were multidrug resistant (MDR) and showed high resistance rates to tetracycline (70.2%), sulfonamides (57.4%), streptomycin (53.1%), ampicillin (29.7%), nalidixic acid (27.6%), kanamycin (23.4%), chloramphenicol (21.2%), and trimethoprim (19.1%). Resistance towards cephalosporins was noted for cephalothin (27.6%), cephradine (21.2%), amoxicillin clavulanic acid (17.0%), and cephalexin (17.0%). Resistance genes, $bla_{TEM}$, strA, aadA, sul1, sul2, tetA, tetB, and tetC, were detected among the drug-resistant strains. Thirtythree strains (70.2%) carried class 1 integrons, which were grouped in 9 different profiles. DNA sequencing identified sat, aadA, pse-1, and dfrA genes in variable regions on class 1 integrons. Thirty-five strains (74.4%) were subtyped to 22 different plasmid profiles, each with 1-6 plasmids (2.0 to 95 kb). PFGE subtyped the 47 strains into 39 profiles. In conclusion, high rates of multidrug resistance were found among the Malaysian Salmonella Typhimurium strains. The emergence of multidrug-resistant Salmonella Typhimurium to cephalosporin antibiotics was also observed. The strains were very diverse and no persistent clone was observed. The emergence of MDR Salmonella Typhimurium is a worldwide problem, and this report provides information for the better understanding of the prevalence and epidemiology of MDR S. Typhimurium in Malaysia.