• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.3817-3825
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• 2015

Background: The human protein methyl-transferase DOT1L catalyzes the methylation of histone H3 on lysine 79 (H3K79) at homeobox genes and is also involved in a number of significant processes ranging from gene expression to DNA-damage response and cell cycle progression. Inhibition of DOT1L activity by shRNA or small-molecule inhibitors has been established to prevent proliferation of various MLL-rearranged leukemia cells in vitro, establishing DOT1L an attractive therapeutic target for mixed lineage leukemia (MLL). Most of the drugs currently in use for the MLL treatment are reported to have low efficacy, hence this study focused on various natural compounds which exhibit minimal toxic effects and high efficacy for the target receptor. Materials and Methods: Structures of human protein methyl-transferase DOT1L and natural compound databases were downloaded from various sources. Virtual screening, molecular docking, dynamics simulation and drug likeness studies were performed for those natural compounds to evaluate and analyze their anti-cancer activity. Results: The top five screened compounds possessing good binding affinity were identified as potential high affinity inhibitors against DOT1L's active site. The top ranking molecule amongst the screened ligands had a Glide g-score of -10.940 kcal/mol and Glide e-model score of -86.011 with 5 hydrogen bonds and 12 hydrophobic contacts. This ligand's behaviour also showed consistency during the simulation of protein-ligand complex for 20000 ps, which is indicative of its stability in the receptor pocket. Conclusions: The ligand obtained out of this screening study can be considered as a potential inhibitor for DOT1L and further can be treated as a lead for the drug designing pipeline.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.653-661
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• 2007

The Disinfectants/Disinfection By-products (D/DBP) Rule proposed by the US Environmental Protection Agency requires the implementation of enhanced coagulation as a control strategy for natural organic matter (NOM) removal and as a means of limiting the formation of all DBPs, i.e., not just the trihalomethanes and haloacetica acids. To control DBP formation, several best available technologies (BATs) were determined for removal of DBPs and DBP precursors. The enhanced coagulation is one of the BATs for DBP precursors removal. Treatment facilities that achieve a specified percent removal of total organic carbon (TOC) prior to the application of a continuous disinfectant or that achieve a residual TOC concentration < 2mg/L prior to the application of a continuous disinfectant are considered to be in compliance with enhanced coagulation. The enhanced coagulation was applied to raw water in Korea, the Han River. Raw water were examined and effects of different raw water qualities on enhanced coagulation were investigated. Three analyses were used for raw water characteristics, water quality measurement, molecular weight distributions, hydrophobic/hydrophilic fractionation. The Han River had the relatively low alkalinity and low organic carbon concentration. The results of molecular weight distributions showed significant portions of low molecular weight organics, which is very different from most water in USA. The alum doses for the required TOC removal guided from USEPA manual were quite low (i.e. 10~30 mg/L alum) for the water, probably due to the specific water quality of the Han River.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.143-155
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• 2013

Four membranes were used to separate Chlorella sp. from their culture medium in cross-flow microfiltration (MF) experiments: cellulose acetate (CA), cellulose nitrate (CN), polypropylene (PP) and polyvinylidenefluoride (PVDF). It was found that the hydrophilic CA and CN membranes with a pore size of 1.2 ${\mu}m$ exhibited the best performances among all the membranes in terms of permeation flux. The hydrophobicity of each membrane material was determined by measuring the angle between the water (liquid) and membrane (solid). Contact angle measurements showed that deionized (DI) water had almost adsorbed onto the surfaces of the CA and CN membranes, which gave $0.00^{\circ}$ contact angle values. The PP and PVDF membranes were more hydrophobic, giving contact angle values of $95.97^{\circ}$ and $126.63^{\circ}$, respectively. Although the pure water flux increased with increasing pore diameter (0.8 < 1.2 < 3.0 ${\mu}m$) in hydrophilic CA and CN membranes, the best performance in term of filtration rate for filtering a microalgae suspension was attained by membranes with a pore size of 1.2 ${\mu}m$. The fouled membrane pore sizes and pore blocking were inspected using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). MF with large pore diameters was more sensitive to fouling that contributed to intermediate blocking, where the size of the membrane pores is almost equivalent to that of cells.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.51-55
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• 2016

Phytochemical investigation of Pistacia integerrima has highlighted isolation of two known compounds naringenin (1) and dihydrokaempferol (2). A crude extract and these isolated compounds were here evaluated for their effects on reversion of multidrug resistance (MDR) mediated by P-glycoprotein (P-gp). The multidrug resistance P-glycoprotein is a target for chemotherapeutic drugs from cancer cells. In the present study rhodamine-123 exclusion screening test on human mdr1 gene transfected mouse gene transfected L5178 and L5178Y mouse T-cell lymphoma cells showed excellent MDR reversing effects in a dose dependent manner. In-silico molecular docking investigations demonstrated a common binding site for Rhodamine123, and compounds naringenin and dihydrokaempferol. Our results showed that the relative docking energies estimated by docking softwares were in satisfactory correlation with the experimental activities. Preliminary interaction profile of P-gp docked complexes were also analysed in order to understand the nature of binding modes of these compounds. Our computational investigation suggested that the compounds interactions with the hydrophobic pocket of P-gp are mainly related to the inhibitory activity. Moreover this study s a platform for the discovery of novel natural compounds from herbal origin, as inhibitor molecules against the P-glycoprotein for the treatment of cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.20
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• pp.8931-8936
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• 2014

Background: Herbal compounds such as curcumin which decrease telomerase and gene expression have been considered as beneficial tools for lung cancer treatment. In this article, we compared the effects of pure curcumin and curcumin-loaded NIPAAm-MAA nanoparticles on telomerase and PinX1 gene expression in a lung cancer cell line. Materials and Methods: A tetrazolium-based assay was used for determination of cytotoxic effects of curcumin on the Calu-6 lung cancer cell line and telomerase and pinX1 gene expression was measured with real-time PCR. Results: MTT assay showed that Curcumin-loaded NIPAAm-MAA inhibited the growth of the Calu-6 lung cancer cell line in a time and dose-dependent manner. Our q-PCR results showed that the expression of telomerase gene was effectively reduced as the concentration of curcumin-loaded NIPAAm-MAA increased while expression of the PinX1 gene became elevated. Conclusions: The results showed that curcumin-loaded-NIPAAm-MAA exerted cytotoxic effects on the Calu-6 cell line through down-regulation of telomerase and stimulation of pinX1 gene expression. NIPPAm-MAA could be good carrier for such kinds of hydrophobic agent.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.40 no.8
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• pp.737-742
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• 2016

An elastomer (especially PDMS) sponge is considered to be a promising selective absorber in cleaning up oil spills. The performance of a PDMS sponge in capturing and separating oil from (sea) water depends on several parameters such as surface roughness, physicochemical treatments, and hydrostatic stability. Here, we first present a method of fabricating the PDMS sponges having numerous micro-sized pores that act as absorption and storage spaces for the target material, and then we report an experimental effort undertaken to control the surface physicochemistry (i.e., hydrophobicity or hydrophilicity) of the PDMS sponges by adjusting the size of the pores and the concentration of the surfactant (i.e., silwet L-77). From the experimental results, we develop an in-depth understanding of the mechanism for controlling the surface physicochemistry of PDMS using water-soluble micro-sized particles and a surfactant. The surface energy and absorbing behavior of the PDMS sponges are also extensively discussed.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.15-22
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• 2018

Alpha-pinene is an organic compound that possesses antibiotic and anti-parasitic activities. In this study, we developed a layered nanocomposite to combat against Miamiensis avidus which causes scuticociliatosis in the olive flounder Paralichthys olivaceus. We used a solid-solid reaction to develop the layered nanocomposite, incorporating-pinene ($C_{10}H_{16}$) into organically modified montmorillonite. We used cetyltrimethylammonium cations as the interlayered modifier for the adsorption of hydrophobic pinene molecules. The X-ray diffraction patterns of the nanocomposite structure showed that the basal spacing increased from $9.6{\AA}$ to $30.4{\AA}$. Interestingly, the fraction of ${\alpha}$-pinene released remained constant for a long period of time (228 h) due to the layered nature of the nanocomposite. Additionally, optical microscopic images of the treated scuticociliatids revealed that their cells were lysed, and this effect increased with the increasing concertration of ${\alpha}$-pinene. Histopathological assessment of ${\alpha}$-pinene nanocomposite-treated olive flounder gills revealed no significant morphological changes, even at the highest concentration of the ${\alpha}$-pinene. The nanocomposite has several advantages, including easy handling, high solubility, low toxicity, and the easy formulation of granules or powder, which improve the pesticidal activity of ${\alpha}$-pinene. Collectively, our results suggest that ${\alpha}$-pinene nanocomposite may be a useful treatment against scuticociliatosis.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.36-41
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• 2000

This study was carried out to introduce functional groups onto wood by reacting with 2-methacryloyloxyethyl isocyanate(MOI). The effects of the catalyst and the reaction conditions(temperature and time) on the treatment were investigated. The evidence of bonding between wood and MOI were examined by infrared(IR) spectroscopy. The change in surface characteristics of MOI treated wood was examined by water contact angle measurement and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS). Wood reacted quickly with MOI in the presence of di-n-butiltin dilaurate catalyst. Especially, the increase in weight percent gain(WPG) with increasing in reaction time was remarkable at the reaction temperature of over $50^{\circ}C$. The IR spectrum of wood reacted with MOI showed a strong urethane absorption(1715 $cm^{-1}$) but no isocyanate(2235 $cm^{-1}$) absorption. It also showed a sharp olefinic C=C double bond absorption at 1635 $cm^{-1}$. This means that an introduced methacrylate group becomes the starting point of further graft copolymerization with another vinyl monomers. The wood modified with MOI showed a gradual increase in contact angle with increasing in WPG, which means that the hydrophilic wood surface become quite hydrophobic. Also, it was cleared that most parts of the wood surface were modified with MOI by XPS analysis.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.78-85
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• 2013

A high thermal conductivity material, namely graphene is treated by planetary ball milling machine to transport the heat by increasing the temperature. Experiments were performed to assess the heat transfer enhancement benefits of coating the bottom wall of copper substrate with graphene. It is well known that the graphene is unable to disperse into base fluid without any treatment, which is due to the several reasons such as attachment of hydrophobic surface, agglomeration and impurity. To further improve the dispersibility and thermal characteristics, planetary ball milling approach is used to grind the raw samples at optimized condition. The results are examined by transmission electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, Raman spectrometer, UV-spectrometer, thermal conductivity and thermal imager. Thermal conductivity measurements of structures are taken to support the explanation of heat transfer properties of different samples. As a result, it is found that the planetary ball milling approach is effective for improvement of both the dispersion and heat carriers of carbon based material. Indeed, the heat transfer of the ground graphene coated substrate was higher than that of the copper substrate with raw graphene.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.921-927
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• 2008

Discovery of $\alpha$-glucosidase inhibitors has been actively pursued with the aim to develop therapeutics for the treatment of diabetes and the other carbohydrate mediated diseases. As a method for the discovery of new novel inhibitors of $\alpha$-glucosidase, we have addressed the performance of the computer-aided drug design protocol involving the homology modeling of $\alpha$-glucosidase and the structure-based virtual screening with the two docking tools: FlexX and the automated and improved AutoDock implementing the effects of ligand solvation in the scoring function. The homology modeling of $\alpha$-glucosidase from baker’s yeast provides a high-quality 3-D structure enabling the structure-based inhibitor design. Of the two docking programs under consideration, AutoDock is found to be more accurate than FlexX in terms of scoring putative ligands to the extent of 5-fold enhancement of hit rate in database screening when 1% of database coverage is used as a cutoff. A detailed binding mode analysis of the known inhibitors shows that they can be stabilized in the active site of $\alpha$- glucosidase through the simultaneous establishment of the multiple hydrogen bond and hydrophobic interactions. The present study demonstrates the usefulness of the automated AutoDock program with the improved scoring function as a docking tool for virtual screening of new $\alpha$-glucosidase inhibitors as well as for binding mode analysis to elucidate the activities of known inhibitors.