• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.21-26
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• 2005

Homeotic proteins have pivotal roles during the development of both plant and animals. Many homeotic proteins exert control over cell fate in cells where their genes are not expressed, i.e., in a non-cell autonomous manner. Cell-to-cell communication, which delivers critical information for position-dependent specification of cell fate, is an essential biological process in multicellular organisms. In plants, there are two pathways for intercellular communication that have been identified: the ligand/receptor-mediated apoplastic pathway and the plasmodesmata-mediated symplasmic pathway. Regulatory proteins and RNAs traffic symplasmically via plasmodesmata and play a critical role in intercellular communication. Thus, the non-cell autonomous function of homeotic proteins can be explained by the recent discovery of cell-to-cell trafficking of proteins or RNAs. This article specifically focuses on understanding the intercellular movement of homeodomain proteins, a family of homeotic proteins.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.109-114
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• 2011

Atractylodis Rhizoma Alba is commonly used herbal medicine and it has been known that has immuno-regualtory effects and anti-cancer effects. The inhibition of osteoclastogenesis is essential for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of Atractylodis Rhizoma Alba on osteoclast differentiation in vitro and on resorbing activity of osteoclast. Osteoclast formation was evaluated in bone marrow cells (BMC) in the presence or absence of Atractylodis Rhizoma Alba. The expression of c-fos, tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP), OSCAR, DC-STAMP, cathepsin K, MafB and NFATc1 mRNA in osteoclast precursor were assessed by RT-PCR. The levels of TNF receptor-associated factor-6 (TRAF-6), c-fos and NFATc1 protein were assessed by Western blot analysis. Also the correlation with MAPKs and NF-${\kappa}B$ pathways were measured by using Western blot analysis. With bone resorption study, I tried to evaluate the inhibitory effects of Atractylodis Rhizoma Alba on mature osteoclast function. Atractylodis Rhizoma Alba inhibited the RANKL induced osteoclastic differentiation from bone marrow macrophage in a dose dependant manner without cellular toxicity. Gene expression of c-fos and NFATc1 was significantly down regulated with Atractylodis Rhizoma Alba treatment. Atractylodis Rhizoma Alba markedly inhibited the RANKL-induced osteoclastogenesis through suppression of nuclear factor kappa b (NF-${\kappa}B$) pathway, down stream pathway of p38, ERK and JNK pathway. Taken together, I concluded that Atractylodis Rhizoma Alba have beneficial effect on osteoporosis by inhibition of osteoclast differentiation and by inhibition of functioning osteoclast. Thus I expect that Atractylodis Rhizoma Alba could be a treatment option for osteoporosis.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.165-171
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• 2007

Mitomycin C (MMC), an antitumor antibiotic isolated from Streptomyces caespitosus, is used in chemotherapy of gastric, bladder and colorectal cancer. MMC is activated in vivo to alkylate and crosslink DNA, via G-G interstrand bonds, thereby inhibiting DNA synthesis and transcription. This study investigates gene expression changes in response to MMC treatment in order to elucidate the mechanisms of MMC-induced toxicity. MMC was admistered with single dose (0.32 and 1.6 ${\mu}M$) to TK6 cells. Applied Biosystem's DNA chips were used for identifying the gene expression profile by MMC-induced toxicity. We identified up- or down-regulated 90 genes including cyclin M2, cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1A (p21, cip1), programmed cell death 1, tumor necrosis factor (ligand) superfamily, member 9, et al. The regulated genes by MMC associated with the biological pathways apoptosis signaling pathway. Further characterization of these candidate markers related to the toxicity will be useful to understand the detailed mechanism of action of MMC.

• BMB Reports
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.64-69
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• 1998

Recent studies have suggested that integrin (CR3) participates in the signal transduction pathways of certain GPI-anchored phagocytic receptors including $Fc{\gamma}RIIIB$. One consequence of this functional linkage is an inducible association between CR3 and cortical microfilaments that is triggered by $Fc{\gamma}RIIIB$ binding to immobilized immune complexes (IC). That this signaling event requires the co-expression of $Fc{\gamma}RIIIB$ with CR3 was documented by the use of NIH 3T3 transfectants expressing both CR3 and $Fc{\gamma}RIIIB$ (clone 3-23), CR3 alone (clone 3-19), and $Fc{\gamma}RIIIB$ alone (clone 3-15). Pretreatment of 3-23 cells with protein kinase inhibitors such as staurosporine and methyl 2,5-dihydroxycinnamate (MDHC) blocked IC-stimulated CR3 microfilament proximity without affecting the extent to which $Fc{\gamma}RIIIB$ constrains the lateral membrane mobility of a subset of CR3 on the cell surface (as measured in fluorescence recovery after photobleaching experiments). These data support that CR3 and $Fc{\gamma}RIIIB$ molecules are physically and functionally associated and that ligation of FcgRIIIB triggers CR3-dependent signal transduction.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.435-444
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• 2003

In 1957, Schwarz and Foltz discovered that selenium (Se) was an essential trace mineral and nutritionists then started extensive studies to figure out the metabolic function of this element which has been called as toxic mineral. The discovery that glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) contained Se demonstrated a biochemical role for Se as an essential trace element. The major physiological function of Se containing GSH-Px is thought to maintain low levels of $H_2O_2$ and other hydroperoxides in the cell to prevent tissues from peroxidation damages. It is known that the GSH-Px activity is increased when animals were fed high dietary levels of Se. Chemical properties of Se have much in common with sulfur (S) therefore Se would follow the sulfur pathways in its metabolism in animal body. Two sources of Se are available for supplementation of Se in animal feed. Inorganic Se can also exist in selenide (-2), elemental (0), selenite (+4) and selenate (+6) oxidation state with other minerals. When sulfur in S containing amino acids is replaced by Se, organic Se can be made and named "eleno"prior to the name of S containing amino acid, i.e. selenomethionine. Selenium deficiency affects humans as well as animals and dysfunctions such as exudative diathesis, retained placenta, mastitis, liver necrosis, Keshan disease, numerous diseases and cancer. From several centuries ago, Se toxicity was recognized in various animal species and much of the current toxic Se levels has been established largely based upon the controlled toxicity studies used inorganic Se. Toxic effects of Se in animal result in reduced feed intake, growth retardation, ataxia, diarrhea, alopecia and sloughing of hooves. However, several experiments demonstrated that Se deficiencies or toxicities were varied by dietary Se levels and sources. Recent studies demonstrated that the incidence of colorectal and prostate cancer was reduced by approximately 50% when humans consumed 200 ${\mu}g$ of Se daily.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.8
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• pp.3355-3360
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• 2015

Background: Zinc transporters have been considered as essential regulators in many cancers; however, their mechanisms remain unknown, especially in gliomas. Isocitrate dehydrogenase 1(IDH1) mutation is crucial to glioma. This study aimed to investigate whether zinc transporters are correlated with glioma grade and IDH1 mutation status. Materials and Methods: IDH1 mutation status and mRNA expression of four zinc transporters (ZIP4, ZIP9, ZIP11, and ZnT9) were determined by subjecting a panel of 74 glioma tissue samples to quantitative real-time PCR and pyrosequencing. The correlations between the expression levels of these zinc transporter genes and the grade of glioma, as well as IDH1 mutation status, were investigated. Results: Among the four zinc transporter genes, high ZIP4 expression and low ZIP11 expression were significantly associated with higher grade (grades III and IV) tumors compared with lower grade (grades I and II) counterparts (p<0.0001). However, only ZIP11 exhibited weak correlation with IDH1 mutation status (p=0.045). Samples with mutations in IDH1 displayed higher ZIP11 expression than those without IDH1 mutations. Conclusions: This finding indicated that zinc transporters may interact with IDH1 mutation by direct modulation or action in some shared pathways or genes to promote the development of glioma. Zinc transporters may play an important role in glioma. ZIP4 and ZIP11 are promising molecular diagnostic markers and novel therapeutic targets. Nevertheless, the detailed biological function of zinc transporters and the mechanism of the potential interaction between ZIP11 and IDH1 mutation in gliomagenesis should be further investigated.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.179-186
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• 2014

Metabolomics is the study of changes in the metabolic status of an organism as a consequence of drug treatment, environmental influences, nutrition, lifestyle, genetic variations, toxic exposure, disease, stress, etc, through global or comprehensive identification and quantification of every single metabolite in a biological system. Since most chronic diseases have been demonstrated to be linked to nutrition, nutritional metabolomics has great potential for improving our understanding of the relationship between disease and nutritional status, nutrient, or diet intake by exploring the metabolic effects of a specific food challenge in a more global manner, and improving individual health. In particular, metabolite profiling of biofluids, such as blood, urine, or feces, together with multivariate statistical analysis provides an effective strategy for monitoring human metabolic responses to dietary interventions and lifestyle habits. Therefore, studies of nutritional metabolomics have recently been performed to investigate nutrition-related metabolic pathways and biomarkers, along with their interactions with several diseases, based on animal-, individual-, and population-based criteria with the goal of achieving personalized health care in the future. This article introduces analytical technologies and their application to determination of nutritional phenotypes and nutrition-related diseases in nutritional metabolomics.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.605-612
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• 2017

Climate change affects the natural ecosystem and human socioeconomic activities by acting on various constituents such as the atmospheric, oceanic, biological, and land constituents of the climate. Predicting the impacts of ongoing climate change will be an important factor in adapting to the climate of the future. In this study, precipitation-streamflow elasticity analysis of the Nakdong River area was conducted using the RCP 4.5 scenario developed by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). Precipitation and streamflow in the Nakdong River area was analyzed using monthly, seasonal, and yearly data. Results found that the climate would become very humid climate by 2100. Results of this study can be applied to adaptation of climate change, management of water resources and efficient utilization of hydraulic structures.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.287-295
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• 2012

Purpose: Some of the most representative approaches are to apply next generation technologies to save energy consumption, fully automated control system to appropriately maintain environmental conditions, and autonomous assistance system to reduce labor load and ensure operator's safety. Nevertheless, improvement of upcoming method for soil cultured greenhouse has not been sufficiently achieved. Geometrical complexity of ground in protected crop cultivation might be one of the most dominant factors in design of autonomous vehicle. While there is a practical solution fairly enough to promise an accurate travelling, such as autonomous sprayer guided by rail or induction coil, for various reasons including the limitation of producer's budget, the previously developed sprayer has not been widely distributed to market. Methods: In this study, we developed an autonomous sprayer considering travelling performance on geometrical complexity of ground in soil cultured greenhouse. To maintain a stable travelling and to acquire a real time feedback, common wire with 80 mm thick and body frame and sprayer boom. To evaluate performance of the prototype, tracking performance, climbing performance and spraying boom's uniform leveling performance were individually evaluated by corresponding experimental tests. Results: The autonomous guidance system was proved to be sufficiently suitable for accurate linear traveling with RMS as lower than approximately 10 cm from designated path. Also the prototype could climb $10^{\circ}$ of ground's slope angle with 40 kg of water weight. Uniform leveling of spraying boom was successfully performed within $0.5^{\circ}$ of sprayer boom's slope. Conclusions: Considering more complex pathways and coarse ground conditions, evaluations and improvements of the prototype should be performed for promising reliability to commercialization.

• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
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• v.1997 no.11
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• pp.87-90
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• 1997

Electrical stimulation has been used or diagnosis and treatment of impairment on the auditory system. Unfortunately, there were no standard methods or theoretical background or choosing stimulus conditions because of the lack of understanding on the current propagation through the auditory pathways. Nine guniea pigs, experimental group(A) and control group(B), were used for the experiment. ABR and ECochG were obtained under our experimental conditions, before tinnitus and 1, 6, 12 hours after tinnitus induction using salicylate. Electrical stimulations were applied to the group A, and the changes on ABR/ECochG's correlation coefficients were observed. Results showed that an electrical stimulation brings ABR waveform back to the normal states well in the group A compare to the group B, which proved the effectiveness of the stimulation. Based on the results of this experiment, establishment of an electrical model which provide the quantitative information regarding diagnosis and treatment of tinnitus could be achievied.