• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.317-321
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• 2008

Macrophages play a key role in iron metabolism by recycling iron through erythrophagocytosis. Ferroportin-l (FPN1) is a transporter protein that is known to mediate iron export from macrophages. Since divalent metals often interact with iron metabolism, we examined if divalent metals could regulate the expression of FPN1 in macrophages. J774 macrophage cells were treated with copper, manganese, zinc, or cobalt at 10, 50, or $100\;{\mu}M$ for 16 to 24 h. Then, FPN1 mRNA and protein levels were determined by quantitative real-time PCR and Western blot analyses, respectively. In addition, effects of divalent metals on FPN1 promoter activity were examined by luciferase reporter assays. Results showed that copper significantly increased FPN1 mRNA levels in a dose-dependent manner. The copper-induced expression of FPN1 mRNA was associated with a corresponding increase in FPN1 protein levels. Also, copper directly stimulated the activity of FPN1 promoter-driven reporter construct. In contrast, manganese and zinc had no effect on the FPN1 gene expression in J774 cells. Interestingly, cobalt treatment in J774 cells decreased FPN1 protein levels without affecting FPN1 mRNA levels. In conclusion, our study results demonstrate that divalent metals differentially regulate FPN1 expression in macrophages and indicate a potential interaction of divalent metals with the FPN1-mediated iron export in macrophages.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.385-390
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• 1996

The electrical resistivity of the ceramic glaze coated on ceramic substrate plays an important role on the characteristics of the thick and thin film electrical circuits. In this study the effects of the various modifiers on the electrical resistivity were examined in SiO2-Al2O3-B2O3-RO-Na2O (RO=CaO , SrO, BaO, PbO) glass system. In alkali free glasses where divalent cations are responsible for electrical conduction the electrical conductivity of th glasses increased with the ionic size of divalent cations due to the decrease in the bond strength between oxyben and divalent cation. In Na2O containing glasses however where Na+ ion is responsible for electrical conduction the ionic conductivity decreased with the ionic size of divalent cations because the blocking effect of the cations on Na+ ion movement increased with larger divalent cations. Na+ ionic conduction also depended on the glass structure relaxation due to the corrdination number changes of B2O3 and Al2O3 which varied with the NaO2 content in the glass.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.108-115
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• 2012

The hyperpolarization-activated current ($I_h$) is an inward cation current activated by hyperpolarization of the membrane potential and plays a role as an important modulator of action potential firing frequency in many excitable cells. In the present study we investigated the effects of extracellular divalent cations on $I_h$ in dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons using whole-cell voltage clamp technique. $I_h$ was slightly increased in $Ca^{2+}$-free bath solution. BAPTA-AM did not change the amplitudes of $I_h$. Amplitudes of $I_h$ were decreased by $Ca^{2+}$, $Mg^{2+}$ and $Ba^{2+}$ dose-dependently and voltage-independently. Inhibition magnitudes of $I_h$ by external divalent cations were partly reversed by the concomitant increase of extracellular $K^+$ concentration. Reversal potential of $I_h$ was significantly shifted by $Ba^{2+}$ and $V_{1/2}$ was significantly affected by the changes of extracellular $Ca^{2+}$ concentrations. These results suggest that $I_h$ is inhibited by extracellular divalent cations ($Ca^{2+}$, $Mg^{2+}$ and $Ba^{2+}$) by interfering ion influxes in cultured rat DRG neurons.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.541-548
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• 1991

Sinterability and stability of TZP ceramics co-stabilized by 12 mol% CeO2 and divalent or trivalent oxides less than 1 mol% were investigated. Divalent and trivalent oxides increased stability of tetragonal ZrO2. 100% tetragonal ZrO2 phase was obtained by doping 12 mol% CeO2 and 0.2 mol% CaO and MgO respectively when sintering was carried out at 1500$^{\circ}C$ for 2 hours. Divalent and trivalent oxides improved sinterability and inhibit grain growth of ZrO2. And it was found that CaO was the most effective sintering aid and grain growth inhibitor for ZrO2 in this study. Incorporation of divalent and trivalent oxides into 12Ce-TZP increased the strength of 12Ce-TZP and particulary 12Ce, 0.4Ca-TZP exhibited a flexural strength of about twofold greater than 12Ce-TZP.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.243-247
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• 1999

Effects of divalent cations on self-splicing inhibition by the antibiotic spectinomycin of the phage T4 thymidylate synthase intron (td) have been investigated. $Ca^{2+}$ ion at 1mM concentration suppressed splicing inhibition of spectinomycin by 10% and 50 ${\mu}M\;Co^{2+}$ ion also suppressed splicing inhibition of specinomycin by 10%. $Mg^{2+}$ ion at 6 mM concentration decreased splicing inhibition of spectinomycin by 42% while $Mn^{2+}$ ion decreased the splicing inhibition by 10%. $Zn^{2+}$ ion at 10 uM concentration lowered the splicing inhibition by spectinomycin of 15%. Of all divalent cations tested, $Mg^{2+}$ ion was the most effective in suppressing splicing inhibition by specinomycin whereas $Ca^{2+}$ ion was the least effective. The results suggest that spectinomycin may interact with specific and functional $Mg^{2+}$-binding sites within intron RNA that lead to a displacement of $Mg^{2+}$ essential for catalytic activity.

• Textile Coloration and Finishing
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.61-73
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• 1995

Inorganic salts have negative or positive effects on the rates of many chemical reactions and also the rates of acidic and alkaline hydrolysis of carboxylic esters. The direction of salt effects on the hydrolysis of ester depends on the charge of esters. It is expected that the rate of the alkaline hydrolysis of Poly(ethylene terephthalte)(PET), polymeric solid carboxytic polyester with carboxyl end group at the polymer end, is also influenced by inorganic salts. In the present work, to clarify the effect of divalent cations on the alkaline hydrolysis of PET, many salts with divalent cations like $MgCl_{2},CaCl_{2},SrCl_{2},BaCl_{2},$ were added to the aqueous alkaline solutions. Then PET was hydrolyzed with aqueous NaOH solution having many salts under various conditions. Some conclusions obtained from the experimental results were summarized as follows. Many salts with various divalent cations increased or decreased the reaction rate of alkaline hydrolysis of PET depending on their electrophilicity, hydration property, ability of ion pair formation, solubility, and the degree of interactions between divalent cations and anions, etc. The hydrolysis was interrupted in the order of $Ca^{+2} and was generally accelerated in the order of $Ba^{+2}. It was inferred from the increase in ΔS$^*$and the decrease in the ΔG$^*$that the divalent cations $Sr^{+2}$ and $Ba^{+2}$attracted by PET increased the collision frequency between carbonyl carbon and $OH^{-}$ion and then accelerated the reaction rate. $Mg^{+2}$and $Ca^{+2}$decreased the reaction rate because of their strong interaction with $OH^{-}$.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.1097-1103
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• 2006

The divalent antibody-toxins are expected to have increased binding avidities to target cells because of the two cell-binding domains. However, previous studies showed that the refolding yield of divalent antibody-toxin is very low, and it is assumed that homodimer formation of antibody-toxin is strongly interfered by the repulsion between the two large toxin domains that come close to each other during dimer formation. In this study, B3 antibody was used as a model antibody, and its Fab domain was used to construct three different kinds of Fab divalent molecules, $[B3(Fab)-toxin]_{2}$. The monomer Fab-toxin molecules were made by fusing the Fab domain of monoclonal antibody B3 to PE38, a truncated mutant form of Pseudomonas exotoxin (PE), and a connecting sequence that contained spacer amino acid sequence (G4S)n (n=l, 2, 3) was inserted between Fab and PE38. The prepared divalent molecules were $[Fab-S\;1,\;2,\;3-PE38]_{2}\;(=[Fab-SKPCIST-KAS(G_{4}S)nGGPE-PE38]_{2}\;(n=1,\;2,\;3))$, and they are derivatives of previously studied $[Fab-H2cys-PE38]_{2}\;(=[Fab-SKPCIST-KASGGPE-PE38]_{2})$. In $[Fab-Sl,\;2,\;3-PE38]_{2}$, two Fab-S1, 2, 3-PE38 monomers were covalently linked by the disulfide bond bridge made from cysteine in the -SKPCIST- sequence. The insertion of spacer amino acids after the disulfide bridge resulted in a 12-18 fold higher yield of dimer formation than previously constructed $[Fab-Hlcys-PZ38]_{2}[7]$, 3-4-fold higher than $[Fab-ext-PZ38]_{2}[25]$. These two molecules have less amino acid spacer sequence between the disulfide bridge and PE38 domain. The design of $[Fab-PE38]_{2}$ in this study gave molecules with a higher refolding yield. The results of cytotoxicity assay showed a higher cytotoxic effect of these divalent molecules than that of the monovalent scFv-PE38 molecule.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.613-617
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• 1998

The Chsl, Chs2, and Chs3 activities of a pathogenic fungus, Candida albicans, perform the same biochemical reactions, but exert different functions. Therefore, the determination of each enzyme activity is important. The three chitin synthases differ in their optimal pH and the effect of divalent cations as either stimulatory or inhibitory factors. The CAChsl, CAChs2, and CAChs3 activities are optimal at pH 7.5, 6.5, and 8.5, respectively. $Co^{2+} stimulates CAChsl and CAChs3, but inhibits CAChs2. $Ni^{2＋}$ inhibits CAChsl and CAChs2 with little effect on CAChs3. $Mg^{2＋}$ stimulates CAChs2 and CAChs3, but hardly affects CAChsl. These characteristics are similar to those of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae enzymes except in degree. The sensitivity against $Ni^{2＋}$ of CAChsl is higher than that of CAChs2, whereas the reverse is true in S. cerevisiae. Metal dependence of chitin synthases in C. albicans is less marked than that in S. cerevisiae, except for CAChs2. The activities of CAChsl and CAChs3 from EDTA-treated membranes were increased 1.5 fold, while that of CAChs2 was stimulated 7 fold in the presence of divalent cations. These results could provide new criteria for screening systems of antifungal agents.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.445-456
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• 2013

In this study, desalination by electrodialysis with ion exchange membranes was applied to synthetic waters with various ion concentrations and also for ground waters from coastal areas in Korea. Electrodialysis performance on the synthetic solutions showed the similar tendency in operation time and current curves, i.e., shorter operation time and higher maximum current with increasing applied voltages. The ED results of synthetic waters with different ion compositions, i.e., $Na_2SO_4$, $MgSO_4$, $CaSO_4$, at the similar conductivity condition, i.e., $1,250{\mu}s/cm$ revealed that effects of mono- and divalent ions on water quality and performance in electrodialysis were different. The divalent ions had less efficiency in the ED compared to monovalent sodium ions and also divalent calcium ions showed better performance than Mg ions. The electrodialysis on the ground waters produced high quality of drinking water. The groundwater from SungRoe however showed a buildup of membrane resistance. Organic matter concentrations and great portions of divalent ions in the groundwater were possible causes of the deteriorated performance.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.103-108
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• 1997

To improve the detection of methicillin resistant staphylococci, lowered incubation temperature (30.deg.) and inclusion of sodium chloride in media have been empirically recommended. However, in this study, we found that sodium chloride in Peptone-Yeast Extract-K$\_$2/HPO$\_$4/ (PYK) medium decreased methicillin minimum inhibitory concentrations. Divalent cations were shown to restore the expression of staphylococcal methicillin resistance. However, when it was determined by efficiency of plating, sodium chloride increased methicillin resistance expression on agar medium in which higher divalent cations were contained in the agar medium. The decrease of minimum inhibitory concentrations at 30.deg.C by sodium chloride occurred in Brain Heart Infusion but did not occur in other media investigated. Interestingly, both PYK and Brain Heart Infusion media had peptone, which contain cholic acids having detergent activities. Inclusion of sodium chloride in PYK caused a higher rate of autolysis. Penicillin binding protein 2a that has a low affinity to beta-lactam antibiotics, was highly inducible in methicillin resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis strains. In this study, we found that autolysins that are activated by the sodium chloride decreased the minimum inhibitory concentration at 30.deg.C, and peptidoglycan is weakened due to the presence of methicillin. Peptone in the media may aggravate the fragile cells. However, stabilization due to the presence of divalent cations and production of penicilin binding protein 2a increase the survival of staphylococci.