• Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.94-123
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• 2019

Over the past few decades, gender equality has been considered one of the fundamental principles and a significant crosscutting issue in international development. However, beyond applying 'gender equality' as a policy buzzword, there has been a lack of critical reviews on how generally 'gender equality in education' is understood and constructed in Korea's development programs and projects. In this regard, this paper explores the use of vocabularies and semantic meanings of gender equality in the Korean Government's Academic Cooperation Program and its 52 projects. By applying mixed contents analysis as a method, the research resulted in several findings: first, the policy papers recently highlighted Korea's directions on gender mainstreaming and gender-sensitive approaches in international development. Second, 'integrating women and girls' into education institutions was emphasized in various projects; third, the term women rather than gender were used in the texts, highlighting their position as a 'marginalized group.' Lastly, there was a lack of evidence of projects dealing with changing gender-based power relations. The constructed gendered relations and powers were identified throughout projects, usually acting as barriers to project activities. However, they were only identified, not challenged, by the program. In conclusion, whilst Korean international development and educational development discourse actively embrace Women in Development (WID) and Gender and Development (GAD) in their programs, it is time to consider the issue of gender equality from different standpoints, such as identity, rights, and capabilities and a more active engagement with Korea's domestic issues in gender discourse and practices is also needed.

• Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.176-198
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• 2018

Environmental issues are among the most critical issues nowadays. These issues are no longer confined to individual countries, and international society has been progressing in building global dialogues since the early 1970s. Within these international efforts, Germany and Japan have played essential roles in global environmental governance. However, there are major differences in nation-level environmental policies in both countries. Governance based on network structure is more efficient than that based on hierarchy for solving complex problems. The network structure is formed through horizontal cooperation among various autonomous actors, and the relationship intensity among actors is one of the key concepts in the governance. Using social network analysis as a framework to explain complicated societal structures explains how interaction among actors creates networks, and these networks further affect their interactions. The purpose of this study is to investigate the structure of environmental policy governance as collaborative governance in Germany and Japan. To address this goal, this paper analyzes the relationship between the informational dimension of governance networks and its complement resource-sharing networks in both countries. The results show that the information-sharing networks have lower-level network influence on the resource-sharing networks as higher-level networks even if not all of the information factors have singular influences. The results suggest that the information-sharing networks may be one of the pieces of the puzzle for explaining this phenomenon in environmental governance in Germany and Japan.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.1186-1194
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• 2019

Objective: The influence of broiler carcass scalding conditions on chicken breast meat quality parameters was investigated. Methods: Two hundred and seventy Cobb broiler chickens from 42 to 48 days old were slaughtered according to the standard industry practice and scalded in five temperature/time combinations-$T_1$, $54^{\circ}C/210s$; $T_2$, $55^{\circ}C/180s$; $T_3$, $56^{\circ}C/150s$; $T_4$, $57^{\circ}C/120s$; $T_5$, $58^{\circ}C/90s$. Results: Scalding temperature increase resulted in higher values of external and ventral lightness and in protein functionality reduction-determined by emulsification capacity and protein denaturation-in chicken breast fillets 24 h post-mortem. Protein secondary structures had conformational changes, with a decrease of the ${\alpha}$-helix and an increase of the ${\beta}$-sheet and ${\beta}$-turn proportions, mainly in $T_1$ and $T_5$ samples, determined by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy in an attenuated reflectance mode analysis. The chemical composition, pH, water holding capacity and Warner-Bratzler shear force did not differ among the treatments. In the fatty acid profile, the 18:1n-9 was lower in $T_5$, which suggested that the high scalding-temperature could have caused the lipid oxidation. The values of the polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), such as 22:2, 20:4n-6, and 22:6n-3, were highest in the $T_5$, thus being related to the phospholipid cellular membrane collapse in this experimental condition and subsequent release of these PUFA. Conclusion: Intermediate scalding-parameters avoided the negative changes in the chicken meat quality.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.136-142
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• 2020

Apolipoprotein B-100 (apo B-100), the main protein component that makes up LDL (Low density lipoprotein), consists of 4,536 amino acids and serves to combine with the LDL receptor. The oxidized LDL peptides by malondialdehyde (MDA) or acetylation in vivo were act as immunoglobulin (Ig) antigens and peptide groups were classified into 7 peptide groups with subsequent 20 amino acids (P1-P302). The biomimetic peptide P99 (KGTYG LSCQR DPNTG RLNGE) out of B-group peptides carrying the highest value of IgM antigens were selected for structural studies that may provide antigen specificity. Circular Dichroism (CD) spectra were measured for peptide secondary structure in the range of 190-260 nm. Experimental results show that P99 has pseudo α-helice and random coil structure. Homonuclear (COSY, TOCSY, NOESY) 2D-NMR experiments were carried out for NMR signal assignments and structure determination for P99. On the basis of these completely assigned NMR spectra and proton distance information, distance geometry (DG) and molecular dynamic (MD) were carried out to determine the structures of P99. The proposed structure was selected by comparisons between experimental NOE spectra and back-calculated 2D NOE results from determined structure showing acceptable agreement. The total Root-Mean-Square-Deviation (RMSD) value of P99 obtained upon superposition of all atoms were in the set range. The solution state P99 has mixed structure of pseudo α-helix and β-turn(Gln[9] to Thr[13]). These NMR results are well consistent with secondary structure from experimental results of circular dichroism. Structural studies based on NMR may contribute to the prevent oxidation studies of atherosclerosis and observed conformational characteristics of apo B-100 in LDL using monoclonal antibodies.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.58-63
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• 2021

Apolipoprotein B-100 (apo B-100), the main protein component that makes up LDL (Low density lipoprotein), consists of 4,536 amino acids and serves to combine with the LDL receptor. The oxidized LDL peptides by malondialdehyde (MDA) or acetylation in vivo act as immunoglobulin (Ig) antigens and peptide groups were classified into 7 peptide groups with subsequent 20 amino acids (P1-P302). The biomimetic peptide P143 (IALDD AKINF NEKLS QLQTY) out of C-group peptides carrying the highest value of IgG antigens were selected for structural studies that may provide antigen specificity. Experimental results show that P143 has β-sheet in Ile[1]-Asn[9] and α-helice in Gln[16]-Tyr[20] structure. Homonuclear 2D-NMR (COSY, TOCSY, NOESY) experiments were carried out for NMR signal assignments and structure determination for P143. On the basis of these completely assigned NMR spectra and proton distance information, distance geometry (DG) and molecular dynamic (MD) were carried out to determine the structures of P143. The proposed structure was selected by comparisons between experimental NOE spectra and back-calculated 2D NOE results from determined structure showing acceptable agreement. The total Root-Mean-Square-Deviation (RMSD) value of P143 obtained upon superposition of all atoms were in the set range. The solution state P143 has a mixed structure of pseudo α-helix and β-turn(Phe[10] to Glu[12]). These results are well consistent with calculated structure from experimental data of NOE spectra. Structural studies based on NMR may contribute to the prevent oxidation studies of atherosclerosis and observed conformational characteristics of apo B-100 in LDL using monoclonal antibodies.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.45 no.8
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• pp.575-587
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• 2022

Human ABCB6 is an ATP-binding cassette transporter that regulates heme biosynthesis by translocating various porphyrins from the cytoplasm into the mitochondria. Here we report the cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structures of human ABCB6 with its substrates, coproporphyrin III (CPIII) and hemin, at 3.5 and 3.7 Å resolution, respectively. Metal-free porphyrin CPIII binds to ABCB6 within the central cavity, where its propionic acids form hydrogen bonds with the highly conserved Y550. The resulting structure has an overall fold similar to the inward-facing apo structure, but the two nucleotide-binding domains (NBDs) are slightly closer to each other. In contrast, when ABCB6 binds a metal-centered porphyrin hemin in complex with two glutathione molecules (1 hemin: 2 glutathione), the two NBDs end up much closer together, aligning them to bind and hydrolyze ATP more efficiently. In our structures, a glycine-rich and highly flexible "bulge" loop on TM helix 7 undergoes significant conformational changes associated with substrate binding. Our findings suggest that ABCB6 utilizes at least two distinct mechanisms to fine-tune substrate specificity and transport efficiency.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.45 no.12
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• pp.911-922
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• 2022

A structural protein of SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), nucleocapsid (N) protein is phosphorylated by glycogen synthase kinase (GSK)-3 on the serine/arginine (SR) rich motif located in disordered regions. Although phosphorylation by GSK-3β constitutes a critical event for viral replication, the molecular mechanism underlying N phosphorylation is not well understood. In this study, we found the putative alpha-helix L/FxxxL/AxxRL motif known as the GSK-3 interacting domain (GID), found in many endogenous GSK-3β binding proteins, such as Axins, FRATs, WWOX, and GSKIP. Indeed, N interacts with GSK-3β similarly to Axin, and Leu to Glu substitution of the GID abolished the interaction, with loss of N phosphorylation. The N phosphorylation is also required for its structural loading in a virus-like particle (VLP). Compared to other coronaviruses, N of Sarbecovirus lineage including bat RaTG13 harbors a CDK1-primed phosphorylation site and Gly-rich linker for enhanced phosphorylation by GSK-3β. Furthermore, we found that the S202R mutant found in Delta and R203K/G204R mutant found in the Omicron variant allow increased abundance and hyper-phosphorylation of N. Our observations suggest that GID and mutations for increased phosphorylation in N may have contributed to the evolution of variants.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.46 no.8
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• pp.513-525
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• 2023

Orange carotenoid protein (OCP) of photosynthetic cyanobacteria binds to ketocarotenoids noncovalently and absorbs excess light to protect the host organism from light-induced oxidative damage. Herein, we found that mutating valine 40 in the α3 helix of Gloeocapsa sp. PCC 7513 (GlOCP1) resulted in blue- or red-shifts of 6-20 nm in the absorption maxima of the lit forms. We analyzed the origins of absorption maxima shifts by integrating X-ray crystallography, homology modeling, molecular dynamics simulations, and hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics calculations. Our analysis suggested that the single residue mutations alter the polar environment surrounding the bound canthaxanthin, thereby modulating the degree of charge transfer in the photoexcited state of the chromophore. Our integrated investigations reveal the mechanism of color adaptation specific to OCPs and suggest a design principle for color-specific photoswitches.

• Archives of Craniofacial Surgery
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.18-23
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• 2023

Background: When performing reduction of zygomatic arch fractures, locating the inward portion of the fracture can be difficult. Therefore, this study investigated the discrepancy between the locations of the depression on the soft tissue and bone and sought to identify how to determine the inward portion of the fracture on the patient's face. Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of chart with isolated zygomatic arch fractures of type V in the Nam and Jung classification from March 2013 to February 2022. For consistent measurements, a reference point (RP), at the intersection between a vertical line passing through the end point of the root of the ear helix in the patient's side-view photograph and a transverse line passing through the longest horizontal axis of the external meatus opening, was established. We then measured the distance between the RP and the soft tissue depression in a portrait and the bone depression on a computed tomography (CT) scan. The discrepancy between these distances was quantified. Results: Among the patients with isolated zygomatic arch fractures, only those with a fully visible ear on a side-view photograph were included. Twenty-four patients met the inclusion criteria. There were four types of discrepancies in the location of the soft tissue depression compared to the bone depression: type I, forward and upward discrepancy (7.45 and 3.28 mm), type II, backward and upward (4.29 and 4.21 mm), type III, forward and downward (10.06 and 5.15 mm), and type IV, backward and downward (2.61 and 3.27 mm). Conclusion: This study showed that discrepancy between the locations of the depressions on the soft tissue and bone exists in various directions. Therefore, applying the transverse and vertical distances measured from a bone image of the CT scan onto the patient's face at the indicated RP will be helpful for predicting the reduction location.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2022

The current, retrospective study aimed to assess the short-term prognosis and postoperative complications associated with the surgical correction of elongated soft palate using harmonic scalpel and to compare the postoperative complications associated with the application of harmonic scalpel and traditional surgery using Metzenbaum scissors. Harmonic scalpel was used to perform staphylectomy in 21 dogs. A total of ten dogs underwent sacculectomy; six dogs with harmonic scalpel and four dogs using Metzenbaum scissors. Stenotic nares were corrected by wedge resection. Postoperative complications were recorded through monitoring and radiographic examinations. Telephone interviews were conducted on the first, third, and seventh day after discharge and continued until the resolution of postoperative complications. Postoperative edema at the surgical site was identified and mitigated within a day or two. Snoring and dyspnea improved dramatically in the group that underwent staphylectomy alone. Moreover, three dogs presented with postoperative gastrointestinal complications, especially retching. The symptoms persisted for seven days and ten days in two dogs that underwent sacculectomy with harmonic scalpel and for two days in one dog that underwent sacculectomy with Metzenbaum scissors. The clinical signs and symptoms of brachycephalic syndrome disappeared without recurrence. Harmonic scalpel provides a hemostatic effect during staphylectomy, is convenient, and does not cause postoperative complications. Conversely, the use of harmonic scalpel during sacculectomy necessitated a longer period for the resolution of complications without any significant hemostatic efficacy, compared to traditional surgery.