• Plant Biotechnology Reports
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.41-46
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• 2008

Salinity stress is a major limiting factor in cereal productivity. Many studies report improvements in salt tolerance using model plants, such as Arabidopsis thaliana or standard varieties of rice, e.g., the japonica rice cultivar Nipponbare. However, there are few reports on the enhancement of salt tolerance in local rice cultivars. In this work, we used the indica rice (Oryza sativa) cultivar BR5, which is a local cultivar in Bangladesh. To improve salt tolerance in BR5, we introduced the Escherichia coli catalase gene, katE. We integrated the katE gene into BR5 plants using an Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated method. The introduced katE gene was actively expressed in the transgenic BR5 rice plants, and catalase activity in $T_1$ and $T_2$ transgenic rice was approximately 150% higher than in nontransgenic plants. Under NaCl stress conditions, the transgenic rice plants exhibited high tolerance compared with nontransgenic rice plants. $T_2$ transgenic plants survived in a 200 mM NaCl solution for 2 weeks, whereas nontransgenic plants were scorched after 4 days soaking in the same NaCl solution. Our results indicate that the katE gene can confer salt tolerance to BR5 rice plants. Enhancement of salt tolerance in a local rice cultivar, such as BR5, will provide a powerful and useful tool for overcoming food shortage problems.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.95-102
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• 2016

A boiling heat transfer is used in various industry such as power generation systems, heat exchangers, air-conditioning and refrigerations. In the boiling heat transfer system, the critical heat flux (CHF) is the important factor, and it indicated safety of the system. It has kept up studies on the CHF enhancement. Recently, it is reported the CHF enhancement, when working fluid used the nanofluid with high thermal properties. But it could be occurred nanoflouling phenomenon from nanoparticle deposition, when nanofluid applied the heat transfer system. And, it is reported that the safety and thermal efficiency of heat transfer system could decrease. Therefore, it is compared and analyzed to the CHF and the boiling heat transfer coefficient on effect of artificial nanofouling (coating) in oxidized multi-wall carbon nanotube nanofluids. As the result, the CHF of oxidized multi-wall carbon nanofluids and the CHF of artificial nanofouling in the nanofluids increased to maximum 99.2%, 120.88%, respectively. A boiling heat transfer coefficient in nanofluid increased to maximum 24.29% higher than purewater, but artificial nanofouling decreased to maximum -7.96%.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.572-577
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• 2001

The feasibility of skin penetration was studied for aspalatone (AM, acetylsalicylic acid maltol ester), a novel antithrombotic agent. In this studys hairless mouse dorsal skins were used as a model to select composition of vehicle and AM. Based on measurements of solubility and partition coefficient, the concentration of PC that showed the highest flux for AM across the hairless mouse skin was found to be 40%. The cumulative amount permeated at 48 h, however, appear inadequate, even when the PC concentration was employed. To identify a suitable absorption enhancer and its optimal concentration for AM, a number of absorption enhancers and a variety of concentration were screened for the increase in transdermal flux of AM. Amongst these, linoleic acid (LOA) at the concentration of 5% was found to have the largest enhancement factor (i.e., 132). However, a further increase in AM flux was not found in the fatty acid concentration greater than 5%, indicating the enhancement effect is in a bell-shaped currie. In a study of the effect of AM concentration on the permeation, there was no difference in the permeation rate between 0.5 and 1% for AM, below its saturated concentration. At the donor concentration of 2%, over the saturated condition, the flux of AM was markedly increased. A considerable degradation of AM was found during permeation studies, and the extent was correlated with protein concentrations in the epidermal and serosal extracts, and skin homogenates. In rat dorsal skins, the protein concentration decreased in the rank order of skin homogenate > serosal extract > epidermal extract. Estimated first order degradation rate constants were $6.15{\pm}0.14,{\;}0.57{\pm}0.02{\;}and{\;}0.011{\pm}{\;}0.004{\;}h^{-1}$ for skin homogenate, serosal extract and epidermal extract, respectively. Therefore, it appeared that AM was hydrolyzed to some extent into salicylmaltol by esterases in the dermal and subcutaneous tissues of skin. taken together, our data indicated that transdermal delivery of AM is feasible when the combination of PC and LOA is used as a vehicle. However, since AM is not metabolically stable, acceptable degradation inhibitors may be nervessary to fully realize the transdermal delivery of the drug.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.273-280
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• 2021

Lung cancer despite advancement in the medical field continues to be a major threat to human lives and accounts for a high proportion of fatalities caused by cancers globally. The current study investigated vanillin oxime, a derivative of vanillin, against lung cancer cells for development of treatment and explored the mechanism. Cell viability changes by vanillin oxime were measured using MTT assay. Vanillin oxime-mediated apoptosis was detected in A549 and NCI-H2170 cells at 48 h of exposure by flow cytometry. The CEBP homologous protein (CHOP) and death receptor 5 (DR5) levels were analysed by RT-PCR and protein levels by Western blotting. Vanillin oxime in concentration-dependent way suppressed A549 and NCI-H2170 cell viabilities. On exposure to 12.5 and 15 μM concentrations of vanillin oxime elevated Bax, caspase-3, and -9 levels in A549 and NCI-H2170 cells were observed. Vanillin oxime exposure suppressed levels of Bcl-2, survivin, Bcl-xL, cFLIP, and IAPs proteins in A549 and NCI-H2170 cells. It stimulated significant elevation in DR4 and DR5 levels in A549 and NCI-H2170 cells. In A549 and NCI-H2170 cells vanillin oxime exposure caused significant (p < 0.05) enhancement in CHOP and DR5 mRNA expression. Vanillin oxime exposure of A549 and NCI-H2170 cells led to significant (p < 0.05) enhancement in levels of phosphorylated extracellular-signal-regulated kinase and c-Jun N-terminal kinase. Thus, vanillin oxime inhibits pulmonary cell proliferation via induction of apoptosis through tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) mediated pathway. Therefore, vanillin oxime may be studied further to develop a treatment for lung cancer.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.38.1-38.12
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• 2020

Dendritic cells (DCs) are professional antigen-presenting cells (APCs) that initiate both T-cell responses and tolerance. Tolerogenic DCs (tDCs) are regulatory DCs that suppress immune responses through the induction of T-cell anergy and Tregs. Because lactoferrin (LF) was demonstrated to induce functional Tregs and has a protective effect against inflammatory bowel disease, we explored the tolerogenic effects of LF on mouse bone marrow-derived DCs (BMDCs). The expression of CD80/86 and MHC class II was diminished in LF-treated BMDCs (LF-BMDCs). LF facilitated BMDCs to suppress proliferation and elevate Foxp3⁺ induced Treg (iTreg) differentiation in ovalbumin-specific CD4⁺ T-cell culture. Foxp3 expression was further increased by blockade of the B7 molecule using CTLA4-Ig but was diminished by additional CD28 stimulation using anti-CD28 Ab. On the other hand, the levels of arginase-1 and indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase-1 (known as key T-cell suppressive molecules) were increased in LF-BMDCs. Consistently, the suppressive activity of LF-BMDCs was partially restored by inhibitors of these molecules. Collectively, these results suggest that LF effectively causes DCs to be tolerogenic by both the suppression of T-cell proliferation and enhancement of iTreg differentiation. This tolerogenic effect of LF is due to the reduction of costimulatory molecules and enhancement of suppressive molecules.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.569-579
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• 2019

Objective: To investigate the usefulness of computed tomography (CT) texture analysis (CTTA) in estimating histologic tumor grade and in predicting disease-free survival (DFS) after surgical resection in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Materials and Methods: Eighty-one patients with a single HCC who had undergone quadriphasic liver CT followed by surgical resection were enrolled. Texture analysis of tumors on preoperative CT images was performed using commercially available software. The mean, mean of positive pixels (MPP), entropy, kurtosis, skewness, and standard deviation (SD) of the pixel distribution histogram were derived with and without filtration. The texture features were then compared between groups classified according to histologic grade. Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazards analyses were performed to determine the relationship between texture features and DFS. Results: SD and MPP quantified from fine to coarse textures on arterial-phase CT images showed significant positive associations with the histologic grade of HCC (p < 0.05). Kaplan-Meier analysis identified most CT texture features across the different filters from fine to coarse texture scales as significant univariate markers of DFS. Cox proportional hazards analysis identified skewness on arterial-phase images (fine texture scale, spatial scaling factor [SSF] 2.0, p < 0.001; medium texture scale, SSF 3.0, p < 0.001), tumor size (p = 0.001), microscopic vascular invasion (p = 0.034), rim arterial enhancement (p = 0.024), and peritumoral parenchymal enhancement (p = 0.010) as independent predictors of DFS. Conclusion: CTTA was demonstrated to provide texture features significantly correlated with higher tumor grade as well as predictive markers of DFS after surgical resection of HCCs in addition to other valuable imaging and clinico-pathologic parameters.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.946-954
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• 2020

Objective: To investigate preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings associated with resection margin status in patients with invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) who underwent breast-conserving surgery. Materials and Methods: One hundred and one patients with ILC who underwent preoperative MRI were included. MRI (tumor size, multifocality, type of enhancing lesion, distribution of non-mass enhancement [NME], and degree of background parenchymal enhancement) and clinicopathological features (age, pathologic tumor size, presence of ductal carcinoma in situ [DCIS] or lobular carcinoma in situ, presence of lymph node metastases, and estrogen receptor/progesterone receptor/human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 status) were analyzed. A positive resection margin was defined as the presence of invasive cancer or DCIS at the inked surface. Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine pre- and postoperative variables associated with positive resection margins. Results: Among the 101 patients, 21 (20.8%) showed positive resection margins. In the univariable analysis, NME, multifocality, axillary lymph node metastasis, and pathologic tumor size were associated with positive resection margins. With respect to preoperative MRI findings, multifocality (odds ratio [OR] = 3.977, p = 0.009) and NME (OR = 2.741, p = 0.063) were associated with positive resection margins in the multivariable analysis, although NME showed borderline significance. Conclusion: In patients with ILC, multifocality and the presence of NME on preoperative breast MRI were associated with positive resection margins.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.665-670
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• 2012

This study investigated the effect of endurance exercises on blood pressure, angiogenesis, and the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression in the skeletal muscle of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Five week old SHRs and Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY) were randomly divided into 3 groups: Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY, n=9), SHR control (SHR-C, n=9), and SHR endurance exercise training (SHR-E, n=9). Endurance exercise training was performed on a treadmill (12-20 m/min, 0% grade, 60 min/day, 5 days/week, 16 weeks). Systolic blood pressure was monitored with the tail-cuff method. The expression of VEGF protein and capillary density were identified using western blotting and H&E staining in the soleus muscle, respectively. Systolic blood pressure was reduced by endurance exercise in SHR ($p$ <0.05). The capillary density of skeletal muscles in SHR-C was lower than in WKY ($p$ <0.05), but it was recovered by endurance exercise training (SHR-E) compared to SHR-C ($p$ <0.05), and VEGF protein was also increased by endurance exercise training compared to SHR-C ($p$ <0.05). These data suggest that the enhancement of capillary density via an increase of VEGF expression in skeletal muscles by endurance exercise training could be an important factor to inhibit blood pressure elevation in SHR.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.15 no.11
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• pp.83-93
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• 2017

Purpose - The study aims to analyze the VMD(Visual Merchandising) perception factors in recent sporting goods store and clarify the effect of each VMD perception factors on brand image, satisfaction, and customer revisit intention. The VMD perception factors play an important role in attracting and actually inducing sales to the visiting customers. It has investigated the effect of VMD perception on customer satisfaction and revisit intention. It is expected that the company's marketing strategy with VMD will be differentiated and competitive in sports item stores, brand image enhancement, customer retention, and acquisition. Research design, data, and methodology - In order to verify the hypotheses of this study, a total of 380 questionnaires had been distributed. 360 respondents were used in the final analysis excluding 20 respondents' incomplete answers. The SPSS 18.0 program was used and the data analysis was conducted for the demographic characteristics and distribution behavior. Principal Components Analysis was used for the common factor extraction for validity analysis, and factor analysis was conducted to verify such as validity in brand image or brand attitude. As for Multiple regression analysis, was performed to verify and in the research model, and in and , the mediation was defined through the Sobel Test in order to verify the brand image mediating effects on VMD, store satisfaction, and revisit inquiry of sports store. Results - Qualitative research shows that VMD sub-variables such as aesthetic, fitness, and functional convenience influence store satisfaction and revisit intention. As a result of analyzing the mediating effect of the brand image, the more VMD is strengthened, the more brand image is improved and store satisfaction is also increased. Conclusions - VMD enhancement requires a VMD strategy aligned with the company's management policies and objectives, a visual directing and consistent concept that delivers a strong message to customers. The customer actual purchasing behavior is a combination of various factors such as sports item stores' interior design, display, advertisement promotion like POP(Point of Purchase), salespersons and their service quality, so that the VMD image and the brand image must be consistent and a unique strategic plan is required.

• Journal of KIISE:Databases
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.688-701
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• 2001

Web caching has become an important problem addressing the performance issues in web applications. In this paper we propose a method that enhances the performance of web caching by incorporating the expiration time of web data we introduce the notion of the effective reference probability that incorporates the effect of expiration time into the reference probability used in the existing cache replacement algorithms .We formally define the effective reference probability and derive it theoretically using a probabilistic model. By simply replacing probabilities with the effective reference probability in the existing cache replacement algorithms we can take the effect of expiration time into account The results of performance evaluation through experiments show that the replacement algorithms using the effective reference probability always outperform the existing ones. The reason is that the proposed method precisely reflects the theoretical probability of getting the cache effect, and thus, incorporates the influence of the expiration time more effectively. In particular when the cache fraction is 0.05 and data update is comparatively frequent (i.e. the update frequency is more than 1/0 of the reference frequency) the performance enhancement is more than 30% in LRU-2 and 13% in Aggarwal's method (PSS integrating a refresh overhead factor) The results show that effective reference probability contributes significantly to the performance enhancement of the web cache in the presence of expiration time.