• Molecules and Cells
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.282-289
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• 2018

Interleukin-17A (IL-17A) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine mainly derived from T helper 17 cells and is known to be involved in the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Cigarette smoke (CS) has been considered as a primary risk factor of COPD. However, the interaction between CS and IL-17A and the underlying molecular mechanisms have not been clarified. In the current study, we investigated the effects of cigarette smoke extract (CSE) on IL-17A-induced IL-8 production in human bronchial epithelial cells, and sought to identify the underlying molecular mechanisms. IL-8 production was significantly enhanced following treatment with both IL-17A and CSE, while treatment with either IL-17A or CSE alone caused only a slight increase in IL-8 production. CSE increased the transcription of IL-17RA/RC and surface membrane expression of IL-17R, which was suppressed by an inhibitor of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt pathway (LY294002). CSE caused inactivation of glycogen synthase $kinase-3{\beta}$ ($GSK-3{\beta}$) via the PI3K/Akt pathway. Blockade of $GSK-3{\beta}$ inactivation by overexpression of constitutively active $GSK-3{\beta}$ (S9A) completely suppressed the CSE-induced up-regulation of IL-17R expression and the CSE-induced enhancement of IL-8 secretion. In conclusion, inactivation of $GSK-3{\beta}$ via the PI3K/Akt pathway mediates CSE-induced up-regulation of IL-17R, which contributes to the enhancement of IL-17A-induced IL-8 production.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.98 no.3
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• pp.263-271
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• 2009

This study aims to identify negotiation alternatives related to Post-2012 reducing emissions from deforestation (RED) and enhancement of forest carbon stock (EFCS) activities. It also aims to recommend a negotiation strategy considering environmental integrity and national interest on the basis of estimating reduction potentials of each alternative on the assumption that tradable carbon credits play an important role as positive incentives. In order to estimate greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction potentials and income potential from RED and EFCS activities, 99 countries were selected by the Global Forest Resources Assessment of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. A 'baseline and credit' method was applied to estimate RED activities. Gross-net and net-net methods were applied for EFCS activities. According to the results, Brazil, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo have more potential to get positive incentives through RED, while China, Chile, and the Republic of Korea have more potential to get positive incentives through EFCS. This study suggests including both RED and EFCS activities in the boundary of policy approaches and endowment of positive incentives to consider GHG reduction potentials in the global scale and equity among developing countries. Making a discount rate application of forest management activities can be also recommended to factor out the effects of human-induced activities by EFCS activities.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.528-533
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• 2004

The immune system acts to protect the host from infectious agents that exist in the environment and from other noxious insults. The immune system has two functional divisions: the innate and the acquired. Both components involve various factors such as cytokines. A number of methodologies exist to assess aspects of immune function. There are large inter-individual variations in many immune functions even among the healthy. Genetics, age, gender, smoking habits, habitual levels of exercise, alcohol consumption, diet, stage in the female menstrual cycle, stress, history of infections and vaccinations, and early life experiences are likely to be important contributors to the observed variation. While it is clear that individuals with immune responses significantly below 'normal' are more susceptible to infectious agents and exhibit increased infectious morbidity and mortality, it is not clear how the variation in immune function among healthy individuals relates to variation in susceptibility to infection. Oriental medicine is an important factor contributing to immune competence. The author investigated the immune enhancement effects of Bojungikkitanggami-bang (BITB). The forced swimming test (FST) has been used as a screening model for new immune enhancement agents. In the present study, the author investigated the effects of BITB on FST and blood biochemical parameters related to fatigue, glucose (Glc); blood urea nitrogen (BUN); lactate dehydrogenase (LDH); creatinine; and total protein (TP). The author found that BITB (1 g/kg) significantly reduced the immobility time in the FST compared to the control. In addition, the contents of Glc, LDH, BUN, TP in the blood serum were increased in BITB (1g/kg)-fed group. Also, the author investigated the effects of BITB on the production of cytokines in human T-cell line, MOLT-4 cells. BITB (1 mg/ml) significantly increased the interferon (IFN)-vproduction compared with media control (about 2.2-fold for IFN-γ) at 24 h. However, BITB has not affect the production of IL-2 and IL-4. In addition, BITB increased the protein expression level of IFN-γ in MOLT-4 cells. Thus, BITB may have therapeutic value in generating or enhancing immune function in a clinical setting.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.627-633
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• 2015

Background: To study the effect of parecoxib, a novel cyclooxygenase-2 selective inhibitor, on the radiation response of colorectal cancer (CRC) cells and its underlying mechanisms. Materials and Methods: Both in vitro colony formation and apoptosis assays as well as in vivo mouse xenograft experiments were used to explore the radiosensitizing effects of parecoxib in human HCT116 and HT29 CRC cells. Results: Parecoxib sensitized CRC cells to radiation in vitro with a sensitivity enhancement ratio of 1.32 for HCT116 cells and 1.15 for HT29 cells at a surviving fraction of 0.37. This effect was partially attributable to enhanced apoptosis induction by parecoxib combined with radiation, as illustrated using an in vitro apoptosis assays. Parecoxib augmented the tumor response of HCT116 xenografts to radiation, achieving growth delay more than 20 days and an enhancement factor of 1.53. In accordance with the in vitro results, parecoxib combined with radiation resulted in less proliferation and more apoptosis in tumors than radiation alone. Radiation monotherapy decreased microvessel density (MVD) and microvessel intensity (MVI), but increased the hypoxia level in xenografts. Parecoxib did not affect MVD, but it increased MVI and attenuated hypoxia. Conclusions: Parecoxib can effectively enhance radiation sensitivity in CRC cells through direct effects on tumor cells and indirect effects on tumor vasculature.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.273-283
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• 2020

This study was attempted to provide basic data for developing future clinical competency enhancement of long-term care hospital nurses. Data were collected from 166 long-term care hospital nurses in G-do. Analysis was done using t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient, and Multiple regression with IBM SPSS WIN/21.0. The subjects' clinical competency was positively correlated to death awareness (r=.28, p<.001). The most influential factor on the subjects' clinical competency was death awereness (β=.235, p=.002), followed by marital status 'married' (β=-.214, p=.004), and have choice in days off 'agree' (β=.235, p=.002). The explanatory power was 16.2% (F=10.528, p<.001). Therefore, educational programs raising awareness of death, consideration of fellow nurses to have days off when desired, and encouraging married nurses to work are needed to enhance the clinical competency of long-term care hospital nurses. Utilizing the results of this study as basic data for clinical competency enhancement and in working schedule adjustment of long-term care hospital nurses is expected.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.57-62
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• 2011

The energy conversion efficiency of DSSCs (Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells) is dependent on the powder size, the structure, and the morphology of $TiO_2$ electrode. The higher efficiency is obtained with high surface area of the nanoanatase-$TiO_2$ powder adsorbed onto a lot more of the dye. Also, the enhancement of light scattering increases the efficiency with high adsorption of the dye. Powder size, crystalline phase, and shape of $TiO_2$ obtained by hydrothermal method have 15-20 nm, anatase and round. $TiO_2$ electrode has fabricated with the mixture of scattering $TiO_2$ particle with 0.4 ${\mu}m$ in nano-sized powder. Conversion efficiency of series of DSSCs was measured with volume fraction of scattering particle. Photovoltaic characteristics of DSSCs with 10% scattering particles are 3.51 mA for Jsc (short circuit current), 0.79 V for Voc(open circuit potential), filling factor 0.619 and 6.86% for efficiency. Jsc was improved by 11% and enhancement of efficiency by 0.77% compared with that of no scattering particles. The confinement of inserted light by light scattering particles has more increase of the injection of exiton(electron-hole pair) and decrease of moving path in electron. Efficiencies of DSSCs with more than 10% for scattering particles have reduced with increasing the pore in the $TiO_2$ electrode.

• The Journal of Advanced Prosthodontics
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.152-160
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• 2011

PURPOSE. This study was to investigate the effects of recombinant human platelet-derived growth factor (rhPDGF-BB) and heparin to titanium surfaces for enhancement of osteoblastic functions and inhibition of inflammation activity. MATERIALS AND METHODS. The anodized titanium discs, not coated with any material, were used as a control group. In heparinized-Ti group, dopamine was anchored to the surface of Ti substrates, and coated with heparin. In PDGF-Ti group, rhPDGF-BB was immobilized onto heparinized Ti surface. The surface morphologies were investigated by the scanning electron microscope in each group. The release kinetics of rhPDGF-BB were analyzed, and cytotoxicity tests for each group were conducted. The biocompatibilities were characterized by measuring cell proliferation, alkaline phosphatase activity, and calcium deposition using MG-63 cells. Statistical comparisons were carried out by one-way ANOVA tests. Differences were considered statistically significant at $^*$P<.05 and $^{**}$P<.001. RESULTS. The combination of rhPDGF-BB and heparin stimulated alkaline phosphatase activity and OCN mRNA expression in osteoblastic cells ($^*$P<.05 and $^{**}$P<.001). MG-63 cells grown on PDGF-Ti had significantly higher amounts of calcium deposition than those grown on anodized Ti ($^{**}$ P<.001). Heparinized Ti was more anti-inflammatory compared to anodized Ti, when exposed to lipopolysaccharide using the transcript levels of TNF-${\alpha}$ and IL-6 of proinflammatory cytokine ($^*$P<.05 and $^{**}$P<.001). CONCLUSION. The result of this study demonstrated that the incorporation of rhPDGF-BB and heparin onto Ti surface enhanced osteoblastic functions and inhibited inflammation.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.7 no.7
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• pp.896-904
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• 2004

In this paper, We present an efficient variable rate speech coder for spectral efficiency and packet processing technique for packet loss compensation of a voice codec with 10msec frame in VoIP service. Through disconnecting the users from the spectral resource during silence interval of about 60% period, a variable rate voice coder based on a voice activity detection(VAD) can increase spectral gain by two times. The performance of the method was analyzed by variation of detected voice activity factor and degraded speech frame ratio under various background noise level, and compared those of G.729B of ITU-T 8kbps standard speech codec. A method to compensate lost packets utilized addition of recovery data to a main stream and error concealment scheme for speech quality enhancement, the performance is verified by reconstructed speech quality. The proposed scheme can achieve spectral gain by two times or enhance speech quality by 3dB through reserved bandwidth of VAD. Therefore, the proposed method can enhance a spectral efficiency or speech quality of VoIP.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.221-225
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• 2007

Monte Carlo calculations were performed to demonstrate the dose modulation with dynamic magnetic fields in phantom. The goal of this study is to obtain the uniform dose distributions at a depth region as a target on the central axis of photon beam under moving transverse magnetic field. We have calculated the depth dose curves for two cases of moving magnetic field along a depth line, constant speed and optimal speed. We introduced step-by-step shift and time factor of the position of the electromagnet as an approximations of continuous moving. The optimal time factors as a function of magnetic field position were calculated by least square methods using depth dose data for static magnetic field. We have verified that the flat depth dose is produced by varying the speed of magnetic field as a function of position as a results of Monte Carlo calculations. For 3 T magnetic field, the dose enhancement was 10.1% in comparison to without magnetic field at the center of the target.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.34 no.10
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• pp.1566-1571
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• 2005

Consumer's perception and consumption pattern of fresh-cut agri-food Products were surveyed to Provide basic information for quality enhancement. The results are summarized as follows: The respondents had a preference for a discount store (60.5$\%$) to purchase fruits and vegetables and the frequency of purchase was one time Per week (46.1$\%$). Fruits and vegetables were purchased frequently by full-time housewives compared with workers. The reasons for purchasing fresh-cut agri-food generally resulted from a consideration of the saving in cooking time, the ease of handling and the desire to serve appropriate portions. On the other hand, the reasons for not purchasing fresh-cut agri-food Products were the comparatively high price, a perception of unsanitary handling. Freshness was considered to be the most important factor when purchasing these products. The preferred price for the fresh-cut agri-food products were approximately 110 $\∼$ 140$\%$ of that for the unprocessed products. 87.7$\%$ of respondents answered that they will purchase fresh-cut agri-food products continuously if some problems that they considered, would be improved.