• BMB Reports
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.773-782
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• 2007

Different isolates of the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis produce multiple crystal (Cry) proteins toxic to a variety of insects, nematodes and protozoans. These insecticidal Cry toxins are known to be active against specific insect orders, being harmless to mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles. Due to these characteristics, genes encoding several Cry toxins have been engineered in order to be expressed by a variety of crop plants to control insectpests. The cotton boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis, and the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, are the major economically devastating pests of cotton crop in Brazil, causing severe losses, mainly due to their endophytic habit, which results in damages to the cotton boll and floral bud structures. A cry1Ia-type gene, designated cry1Ia12, was isolated and cloned from the Bt S811 strain. Nucleotide sequencing of the cry1Ia12 gene revealed an open reading frame of 2160 bp, encoding a protein of 719 amino acid residues in length, with a predicted molecular mass of 81 kDa. The amino acid sequence of Cry1Ia12 is 99% identical to the known Cry1Ia proteins and differs from them only in one or two amino acid residues positioned along the three domains involved in the insecticidal activity of the toxin. The recombinant Cry1Ia12 protein, corresponding to the cry1Ia12 gene expressed in Escherichia coli cells, showed moderate toxicity towards first instar larvae of both cotton boll weevil and fall armyworm. The highest concentration of the recombinant Cry1Ia12 tested to achieve the maximum toxicities against cotton boll weevil larvae and fall armyworm larvae were 230 ${\mu}g/mL$ and 5 ${\mu}g/mL$, respectively. The herein demonstrated insecticidal activity of the recombinant Cry1Ia12 toxin against cotton boll weevil and fall armyworm larvae opens promising perspectives for the genetic engineering of cotton crop resistant to both these devastating pests in Brazil.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.145-164
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• 2010

Since the third generation (3G) mobile communication service has been launched by most mobile communication operators in Korea, the portion of data service in mobile communication service becomes one of the most important factors in mobile communication service market. In past mobile communication market, most mobile communication operators made their profit mostly from voice communication service. However, the portion of profit from data service has gradually increased based on both video phone call and mobile Internet service. In this situation, LG telecom launched the full browsing mobile Internet service. This service provides a new type of mobile Internet service platform which enables to access the World Wide Web using mobile browsers, so we generally access the Web using web browsers in the desktop computer. Under the open network structure of mobile Internet like situation, it is very important to analyze the factors which can affect the competition between mobile communication service companies. So, in this paper, we first present the current state of full browsing service, followed by the expectation of its growth potentials and barriers. Then, we analyze the advantages and disadvantage of LG telecom as a first-mover and SK telecom/KTF as followers. Finally, based on this analysis, we predict the future competition among these companies and the market.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.253-257
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• 2011

Amikacin is a semisynthetic derivative of kanamycin and primarily active against aerobic Gram-negative-pathogens with limited activity against Gram-positive bacteria. Meager study was reported on pharmacokinetic data on multi-days administration of amikacin. Hence, pharmacokinetics study was done in five clinically healthy goats (n = 5), after intravenous bolus injection of amikacin sulfate at the dose rate of 10 mg/kg body weight daily for three consecutive days. The amikacin concentrations in plasma and pharmacokinetics-parameters were analyzed by using microbiological assay technique and noncompartmental open-model, respectively. The mean peak plasma concentrations (Mean ${\pm}$ SD) of amikacin at time zero ($Cp^{0}$) was $114.19{\pm}20.78$ and $128.67{\pm}14.37{\mu}g/mL$, on day 1st and 3rd, respectively. The mean elimination half-life ($t_{1/2}ke$) was $1.00{\pm}0.28h$ on day 1st and $1.22{\pm}0.29h$ on day 3rd. Mean of area under concentration-time curve ($AUC_{0{\rightarrow}{\infty}}$) was $158.26{\pm}60.10$ and $159.70{\pm}22.74{\mu}g.h/mL$, on day 1st and 3rd respectively. The total body clearance ($Cl_{B}$) and volume of distribution at steady state (Vdss) on day 1st and 3rd were $Cl_{B}=0.07{\pm}0.02$ and $0.06{\pm}0.01L/h.kg$ and $Vdss=0.10{\pm}0.03$ and $0.11{\pm}0.05L/kg$, respectively. No-significant difference was noted in both drug-plasma concentration and pharmacokinetics-parameters, respectively. Amikacin concentration in plasma was found higher up-to 4 h and 6 h onward on down-ward trends favour to reduce toxicity. Which also support the pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic way of dosing of aminoglycosides and hence, amikacin may be administered 10 mg/kg intravenously daily to treat principally Gram-negative pathogens and limitedly Gram-positive-pathogens.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.235-245
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• 2016

Objectives: This study estimated the adult Korean daily intake of acrylamide (AA) and investigated its relationship with demographic, lifestyle and dietary habits by using urinary concentrations of N-acetyl-S-(2-carbamoylethyl)-cysteine (AAMA). Methods: Human data (n=1870) was collected in a nationwide cross-sectional biomonitoring program representing the population (18-69 years) residing in South Korea. Urinary AAMA was analyzed with a LC-MS/MS system. Daily intakes of AA were estimated using mass daily AAMA, which was calculated through urinary AAMA concentration and daily creatinine excretion. Statistical analysis was performed with SAS procedures for calculating geometric means, confidence intervals and the exponentiated beta coefficient of multiple linear regressions. Results: Daily intake of AA was estimated at $0.475{\mu}g/kg$ body weight (BW) per day (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.447-0.503). In the case of current smokers, AA intake was $0.957{\mu}g/kg$ BW per day (95% CI: 0.847-1.067), which was significantly higher than that of former smokers and never smoked (p<0.0001). The strong affecting factors were age (95% CI: 0.68-1.14; p=0.0180), education level (95% CI: 1.05-1.42; p=0.0163), body mass index (BMI) (95% CI: 1.00-1.82; p<0.0001), and smoking status (95% CI: 0.97-3.05; p<0.0001). Korean dietary habits increasing AA intake were coffee (p=0.0005), cup noodles (p=0.0010) and canned foods (p=0.0005). Meanwhile, foods decreasing AA intake were fresh fruit (p=0.0076), cooked beef (p=0.0335) and cooked pork (p=0.0147). Conclusion: The Korean daily intake of AA in adults was estimated to be similar with those found in developed countries. The factors increasing daily AA intake were coffee, cup noodles and canned foods, and decreasing factors were fresh fruit, cooked beef and cooked pork.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.20 no.9
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• pp.1319-1326
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• 2007

Fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (FBP1) is a key regulatory enzyme of gluconeogenesis that catalyzes the hydrolysis of fructose-1,6-bisphosphate to generate fructose-6-phosphate and inorganic phosphate. Deficiency of fructose-1, 6-bisphosphatase is associated with fasting hypoglycemia and metabolic acidosis. The enzyme has been shown to occur in bacteria, fungi, plants and animals. The bovine FBP1 gene was cloned and characterized in this study. The full length (1,241 bp) FBP1 mRNA contained an open reading frame (ORF) encoding a protein of 338 amino acids, a 63 bp 5' untranslated region (UTR) and a 131 bp 3' UTR. The bovine FBP1 gene was 89%, 85%, 82%, 82% and 74% identical to the orthologs of pig, human, mouse, rat and zebra fish at mRNA level, and 97%, 96%, 94%, 93% and 91% identical at the protein level, respectively. This gene was broadly expressed in cattle with the highest level in testis, and the lowest level in heart. An intronic single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) (A/G) was identified in the $5^{th}$ intron of the bovine FBP1 gene. Genotyping of 133 animals from four beef breeds revealed that the average frequency for allele A (A-base) was 0.7897 (0.7069-0.9107), while 0.2103 (0.0893-0.2931) for allele B (G-base). Our preliminary association study indicated that this SNP is significantly associated with traits of Average Daily Feed Intake (ADFI) and Carcass Length (CL) (p<0.01). In addition, the FBP1 gene was assigned on BTA8 by a hybrid radiation (RH) mapping method.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.233-238
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• 1985

A number of sedative alkaloids were isolated from Sanjoin(酸棗仁), the seeds of Zizyphus vulgaris Lamark var. spinosus Bunge (Rhamnaceae) which is an important Chinese medicinal material used to treat insomnia and sometimes to treat sleepiness. Those compounds were designated as Sanjoinine-A, B, C, D, etc. depending on the order of increasing polarity. Sanjoinine-A, $C_{31}H_{42}N_4O_4$, $mp\;249^{\circ}$, $[{\alpha}]^{27}_D-316$, Sanjoinine-B, $C_{30}H_{40}N_4O_4$, $mp\;212{\sim}4^{\circ}$, Sanjoinene, $C_{29}H_{35}N_3O_4$, $mp\;281{\sim}2^{\circ}$, $[{\alpha}]^{22}_D-272$, Sanjoinine-D, $C_{32}H_{46}N_4O_5$, $mp\;256{\sim}8^{\circ}$, $[{\alpha}]^{22}_D-53.6$, Sanjoinine-F, $C_{31}H_{42}N_4O_5$, $mp\;228{\sim}9^{\circ}$, $[{\alpha}]^{22}_D-215$, and $Sanjoinine-G_1,\;C_{31}H_{44}N_4O_5,\;mp\;236{\sim}8^{\circ},\;[{\alpha}]^{22}_D-68.6$, were found as 14-membered cyclic peptide alkaloids, $Sanjoinine-G_2,\;C_{30}H_{42}N_4O_4,\;mp\;182^{\circ},\;[{\alpha}]^{22}_D-79.2$, as being open chain peptide alkaloid, and Sanjoinine-E, $C_{19}H_{21}NO_2$, $mp\;166^{\circ}$, $[{\alpha}]^{20}_D-146.2$, N-Methylasimilobine, $C_{18}H_{19}NO_2$, $mp\;193{\sim}5^{\circ}$, $[{\alpha}]^{20}_D-204$, Sanjoinine-Ia, $C_{18}H_{19}NO_2$, $mp\;155{\sim}7^{\circ}$, $[{\alpha}]^{20}_D-140$, Sanjoinine-Ib, $C_{19}H_{21}NO_4$, $mp\;184^{\circ}$, Sanjoinine-K, $C_{16}H_{19}NO_3$, $mp\;159{\sim}61^{\circ}$, $[{\alpha}]^{20}_D+35$, Caaverine, $C_{17}H_{17}NO_2$, $mp\;204^{\circ}$, $[{\alpha}]^{20}_D-80$, and Zizyphusine, $C_{20}H_{24}NO_4$, $mp\;214{\sim}6^{\circ}$, $[{\alpha}]^{20}_D+317$ as being aporphine alkaloids. The heat treatment of the cyclic peptide alkaloids produced their isomeric products which showed enhanced sedative activity. The chemical structure of the isomeric products will be discussed.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.8-16
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• 2013

A GAL4 type transcription factor gene (formally annotated as AN3912) locating downstream of sndA (AN3911) was characterized. The putative transcription factor carries both Zn(II)2Cys6 binuclear cluster DNA-binding domain and transcription activator domain. The gene named gtfA (gal4 type transcription factor) had an open reading frame which consisted of 762 amino acids and was disrupted by three introns. The deletion mutant produced reduced amount of conidia but increased amount of fruiting bodies, suggesting that the GtfA make function in decision of asexual preferential to sexual development. The forced over expression of gtfA caused the retardation of fruiting body formation on high glucose concentration. The transcript level of gtfA was kept constant through the life cycle except late vegetative stage and early sexual development stage during which slight increase was found. The expression of gtfA was not significantly affected by sexual or asexual development regulators, such as VeA, NsdD or FluG, FadA, and SfaD. The GtfA repressed the nsdC transcription, which suggested that GftA control sexual development negatively via negative regulation of nsdC expression.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.293-305
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• 2009

Methane, as a greenhouse gas, is some 21~25 times more detrimental to the environmental than carbon dioxide. Landfills generally constitute the most important anthropogenic source, and methane emission from landfill was estimated as 35~73 Tg per year. Biological approaches using biocover (open system) and biofilter (closed system) can be a promising solution for older and/or smaller landfills where the methane production is too low for energy recovery or flaring and installation of a gas extraction system is inefficient. Methanotrophic bacteria, utilizing methane as a sole carbon and energy source, are responsible for the aerobic degradation (oxidation) of methane in the biological systems. Many bench-scale studies have demonstrated a high oxidation capacity in diverse filter bed materials such as soil, compost, earthworm cast and etc. Compost had been most often employed in the biological systems, and the methane oxidation rates in compost biocovers/boifilters ranged from 50 to $700\;g-CH_4\;m^{-2}\;d^{-1}$. Some preliminary field trials have showed the suitability of biocovers/biofilters for practical application and their satisfactory performance in mitigation methane emissions. Since the reduction of landfill methane emissions has been linked to carbon credits and trading schemes, the verified quantification of mitigated emissions through biocovers/biofilters is very important. Therefore, the assessment of in situ biocovers/biofilters performance should be standardized, and the reliable quantification methods of methane reduction is necessary.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.31 no.9
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• pp.1446-1456
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• 1998

Bones are important parts in sustaining the shape of the body, but they are also metabolic organs which undergo bone remodeling by constant bone resorption and formation. Osteoporosis, the typical metabolic bone disease, is characterized by a reduction in bone mineral density (BMD). Women more than men are at risk fir osteoporosis-related fractures, especially in the lumbar spine, wrist, and hip region. Risk of fracture depends on one's BMD, which open determined by the peak bone mass value achieved at skeletal maturity and followed by subsequent age-and menopause-related bone loss. Genetic and environmental factors are known to play a key role in bone metabolism and diet is considered as one of the important environmental factors. The purpose of the present study was to assess the status of BMD and bone mineral content(BMC) to clarify the relationships between dietary intakes and the risk of osteoporosis in adult women in Taegu. Subjects were 130 healthy females in between 20 and 69 years of age. BMD and BMC of the lumbar spine(venebrae L2-4) of the subjects were measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. The average age of the subjects was 47.4${\pm}$11.7 years old, the average weight was 57.2${\pm}$8.4kg, the average age of menarche was 16.6${\pm}$1.9 years old and the average age of menopause was 48.4${\pm}$5.3 years old. The nutrient intakes of the subjects measured by the convenient method were generally lower than the level of RDA. The result of nutrient intake assessed has shown that the average energy intake was 1701${\pm}$316kca1 which is 85.1% of the RDA and the average calcium intake was 485.4${\pm}$172.3mg which is 69.3% of the RDA. The intakes of protein, vitamin A, vitamin B$_1$, niacin were greater than the RDA, whereas the remaining nutrient intakes were lower than the RDA. The average BMD of the subjects was shown to be 1.06${\pm}$1.09g/$\textrm{cm}^2$. The highest BMD of 1.24${\pm}$0.14g/$\textrm{cm}^2$ was noticed in the subjects of 30s compared to 20s, 40s, 50s, 60s. The BMD values were compared by the relative body weight(R3W) of the menopause subjects, and it was found that the underweight group had significant lower BMB while the rest of the groups did not have any differences in BMD. The most strongly correlated nutrient with BMD among the menopause subjects appeared to be calcium. The women whose Ca intakes were higher than 500mg showed the significantly higher BMD than those with Ca intakes lower than 500mg. This study suggests that the most effective way to prevent osteoporosis and to reduce the incidences of fractures seems to be minimizing bone loss through the adequate intake of calcium as well as avoiding underweight, especially in menopausal women. (Korean J Nutrition 31(9) . 1446-1456, 1998)

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.165-174
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of three sub-factors of family resilience on family strength as perceived by university students. The subjects were 409 university students in G area. This study investigated the perception level of family resilience and family strength, the difference in the family strength between the resilient group and non-resilient group and the effect of family resilience on family strength. The study results were as follows: First, the students' perceptions of family resilience and family strength were moderately high. Second, the students with positive perceptions of all three family resilience sub-factors (resilient group) also had a higher perceived family strength than the non-resilient group. Third, gender was found to have an influence on family strength, with the male students having a higher perceived family strength. All three sub-factors of family resilience were statistically significant and the belief system and organizational pattern had a strong influence on the family strength. In particular, the belief system was the most powerful factor affecting the family strength. The role clarity, family cohesion and family resource of the family organizational pattern were significant factors. Moreover, collaborative problem solving and open emotional communication also had a significant influence on family strength.