• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.395-404
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• 2017

Fungal cell walls and cell membranes are the main targets of antifungals. In this study, we report on the antifungal activity of an ethanol extract from Paeonia lactiflora against Candida albicans, showing that the antifungal activity is associated with the synergistic actions of preventing cell wall synthesis, enabling membrane depolarization, and compromising permeability. First, it was shown that the ethanol extract from P. lactiflora was involved in damaging the integrity of cell walls in C. albicans. In isotonic media, cell bursts of C. albicans by the P. lactiflora ethanol extract could be restored, and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the P. lactiflora ethanol extract against C. albicans cells increased 4-fold. In addition, synthesis of $(1,3)-{\beta}-{\small{D}}-glucan$ polymer was inhibited by 87% and 83% following treatment of C. albicans microsomes with the P. lactiflora ethanol extract at their $1{\times}MIC$ and $2{\times}MIC$, respectively. Second, the ethanol extract from P. lactiflora influenced the function of C. albicans cell membranes. C. albicans cells treated with the P. lactiflora ethanol extract formed red aggregates by staining with a membrane-impermeable dye, propidium iodide. Membrane depolarization manifested as increased fluorescence intensity by staining P. lactiflora-treated C. albicans cells with a membrane-potential marker, $DiBAC_4(3)$ ((bis-1,3-dibutylbarbituric acid) trimethine oxonol). Membrane permeability was assessed by crystal violet assay, and C. albicans cells treated with the P. lactiflora ethanol extract exhibited significant uptake of crystal violet in a concentration-dependent manner. The findings suggest that P. lactiflora ethanol extract is a viable and effective candidate for the development of new antifungal agents to treat Candida-associated diseases.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.62 no.6
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• pp.626-634
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• 2019

Objective : Nerve growth factor (NGF) is a member of the neurotrophic factor family and plays a vital role in the physiological processes of organisms, especially in the nervous system. Many recent studies have reported that NGF is also involved in the regulation of tumourigenesis by either promoting or suppressing tumor growth, which depends on the location and type of tumor. However, little is known regarding the effect of NGF on interspinal schwannoma (IS). In the present study, we aimed to explored whether mouse nerve growth factor (mNGF), which is widely used in the clinic, can influence the growth of interspinal schwannoma cells (ISCs) isolated from IS in vitro. Methods : ISCs were isolated, cultured and identified by S-100 with immunofluorescence analysis. S-100-positive cells were divided into five groups, and separately cultured with various concentrations of mNGF (0 [phosphate buffered saline, PBS], 40, 80, 160, and 320 ng/mL) for 24 hours. Western blot and quantantive real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were applied to detect tyrosine kinase A (TrkA) receptor and p75 neurotrophin receptor ($p75^{NTR}$) in each group. Crystal violet staining was selected to assess the effect of mNGF (160 ng/mL) on ISCs growth. Results : ISCs growth was enhanced by mNGF in a dose-dependent manner. The result of crystal violet staining revealed that it was significantly strengthened the cells growth kinetics when cultured with 160 ng/mL mNGF compared to PBS group. Western blot and quantantive real time PCR discovered that TrkA receptor and mRNA expression were both up-regualated under the condition of mNGF, expecially in 160 ng/mL, while the exoression of $p75^{NTR}$ demonstrated no difference among groups. Conclusion : From these data, we conclude that exogenous mNGF can facilitate ISC growth by activating both TrkA receptor and $p75^{NTR}$. In addition, patients who are suffering from IS should not be administered mNGF in the clinic.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.325-336
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• 2018

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are a new class of photovoltaic devices, which have attracted significant attention due to their remarkable optoelectrical properties, including high absorption coefficients, high carrier mobilities, long carrier diffusion lengths, tunable bandgaps, low cost, and facile fabrication. PSCs have reached efficiencies of 22.70% and 18.36% on rigid fluorine-doped tin oxide and poly(ethylene terephthalate) substrates, respectively; these are comparable to those of single-crystal silicon and copper-indium-gallium-selenium solar cells. Over the past eight years, the photo conversion efficiency of PSCs has been significantly improved by device-architecture adjustments, and absorber and electron/hole transport layer optimization. Each layer is important for the performance of PSCs; hence, we discuss achievements in flexible perovskite solar cells (FPSCs), covering electron/hole-transport materials, electrode materials. We give a comprehensive overview of FPSCs and put forward suggestions for their further development.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2000.01a
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• pp.195-196
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• 2000

Fast response time is realized by using LTN-LCDs. To calculate the dynamic electro-optical characteristics, Ericksen-Leslie theory is used for the dynamic profile of molecules and order tensor representation is adopted for the free energy calculation.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.183-190
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• 2002

The mechanism by which catechin-mediated cytotoxicity against tumor cells remains to be elusive. To elucidate the mechanical mights of anti-tumor effects, (-)epigallocatechin-gallate (EGCG) of catechin was applied to human prostate cancer DU 145 cells. Cell viability was measured by crystal violet staining. Cell lysates were wed to measure the catalytic activity of caspases by using fluorogenic peptide: Ac-DEVD-AMC for caspase-3 protease, Z-IETD-AFC for caspase-8 protease, Ac-LEHD-AFC for caspase-9 protease as substrates. The equal amounts of protein from cell lysate was separated on SDS-PAGE and analyzed by western blotting with anti-Fas antibody, anti-FasL antibody, anti-BCL2 antibody and anti-Bax antibody. (-)EGCG induced the death of DUl45 cells, which was revealed as apoptosis shown by DNA fragmentation. (-)EGCG induced the activation of caspase family cysteine proteases including caspase-3, -8 and -9 proteases in DU145 cells. Also, (-)EGCG increased the expression of Fas and Fas ligand (FasL) protein in DU145 colls. The expression level of BCL2 was decreased in (-)EGCG treated DU145 cells, whereas Bax protein was increased in a time-dependent manner. We suggest that (-)EGCG-induced apoptosis of DU145 cells is mediated by signaling pathway involving caspase family cysteine protease, mitochondrial BCL2-family protein and Fas/FasL.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2002.07b
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• pp.707-710
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• 2002

Spinel $LiMn_2O_4$ and $LiMn_{1.9}Mg_{0.05}Zn_{0.05}O_4$ powders were synthesized by solid-state method at $800^{\circ}C$ for 36h. Crystal structure and electrochemical properties were analyzed by X-ray diffraction, charge-discharge test, cyclic voltammetry and ac impedance to $LiMn_2O_4$ and $LiMn_{1.9}Mg_{0.05}Zn_{0.05}O_4/Li$. All cathode material showed spinel structure in X-ray diffraction. $LiMn_{1.9}Mg_{0.05}Zn_{0.05}O_4/Li$ cell substituted $Mg^{2+}$ and $Zn^{2+}$ showed excellent discharge capacities than other cells, which it presented about 120mAh/g at the 1st cycle and about 73mAh/g at the 250th cycle, respectively. AC impedance of $LiMn_{1.9}Mg_{0.05}Zn_{0.05}O_4/Li$ cells showed the similar resistance of about $65{\sim}110{\Omega}$ before cycling.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.433-433
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• 2007

In this paper, we investigated the feasibility of applying ZnO:Al films to display devices as transparent electrodes, and reported the electro-optical (EO) characteristics of VA cells using ZnO:Al electrodes and compared them with those of VA cells using ITO electrodes. The experiment results show that a uniform vertical LC alignment and a large pretilt angle were achieved. Also, the good voltage-transmittance curve, response time, and capacitance-voltage characteristics were observed for the rubbing aligned VA-LCD using ZnO:Al electrodes m comparison with ITO electrodes. In other words, the vertical alignment mode based on the ZnO:Al electrodes showed appropriate electro-optical characteristics and high transparency in comparison with that based on the ITO electrodes. These results indicated that the transparent ZnO:Al electrodes of the liquid crystal displays could substitute the ITO electrodes.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.64-69
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• 2019

Methylammonium lead triiodide ($MAPbI_3$)-based perovskite solar cells potentially have potential advantages such as high efficiency and low-cost manufacturing procedures. However, $MAPbI_3$ is structurally unstable and has low phase-change temperatures ($30^{\circ}C$ and $130^{\circ}C$); it is necessary to solve these problems. We investigated the crystal structure and phase separation using real-time temperature-change X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and electron energy loss spectroscopy. $MAPbI_3$ has a tetragonal structure, and at about $35^{\circ}C$ the c-axis contracts, transforming $MAPbI_3$ into the related cubic crystal structure. In addition, at $130^{\circ}C$, phase separation occurs in which $CH_3NH_2$ and HI at the center of the unit cell of the perovskite structure are extracted by gas, leavingand only $PbI_2$ of the three-component structure, is produced as the final solid product.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.263-274
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• 1996

Titanium dioxide ($TiO_{2}$) film has been widely used as anti-reflection coating for solar cells but not as masking oxide for metallisation and diffusion of impurities. In this paper we have investigated the properties of $TiO_{2}$ for possible incorporation into solar cell processing sequence. Thus the use of a spray deposition system to form the $TiO_{2}$ film and the characterisation of this film to ascertain its suitability to solar cell processing. The spray-on $TiO_{2}$ film was found to be resistant to all the chemicals used in conjunction with solar cell processing. The high temperature anealing (in oxygen ambient) of the spray-on $TiO_{2}$ film resulted in an increased refractive index, which indicated the growth of an underlying thin film of $SiO_{2}$ film for the passivation of silicon surface which would reduce the recombination activities of the fabricated device. Most importantly, the successful incorporation of the $TiO{2}$ film will lead to the reduction of the many high temperature processing steps of solar cell to only one.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.289-294
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• 2010

Ni-YSZ (Yttria Stabilized Zirconia) composite powders for SOFC were fabricated by glycine nitrate process. $ZrO(NO_3)_2{\cdot}2H_2O$, $Y(NO_3)_3{\cdot}6H_2O$, $Ni(NO_3)_2{\cdot}6H_2O$ and glycine were chosen as the starting materials. The structural properties of the sintered Ni-YSZ cermets have been investigated with respect to the volume contents of Ni. A porous microstructure consisting of homogeneously distributed Ni and YSZ phases together with well-connected grains was observed. The sintered Ni-YSZ cermets showed a porous microstructure consists of homogeneously distributed Ni and YSZ phases and the grains were well-connected. It was found that the open porosity is sensitive to the volume content of Ni. The Ni-YSZ cermet containing 35 vol% Ni seems to be suitable for the electrode material of SOFC since it provides sufficient open porosity higher than 30%.