• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.287-294
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• 2021

Background: Ginsenoside Rb1 (G-Rb1), one of the major active compounds in Panax ginseng, has already been shown to reduce inflammation in various diseases. Osteoarthritis (OA) has traditionally been considered a degenerative disease with degradation of joint articular cartilage. However, recent studies have shown the association of inflammation with OA. In the present study, we investigated whether Rb1 had an antiinflammatory effect on monoiodoacetate (MIA)-induced OA in ovariectomized rats as a model of postmenopausal arthritis. Methods: G-Rb1 at a dosage of 3 and 10 ㎍/kg body weight was administered every 3 days intraarticularly for a period of 4 weeks to observe antiarthritic effects. Diclofenac (10 mg/kg) served as a positive control. Results: The administration of Rb1 significantly ameliorated OA inflammatory symptoms and reduced serum levels of inflammatory cytokines. Furthermore, G-Rb1 administration considerably enhanced the expression of bone morphogenetic protein-2 and collagen 2A and reduced the levels of matrix metalloproteinase-13 genes, indicating a chondroprotective effect of G-Rb1. G-Rb1 also significantly reduced the expression of several inflammatory cytokines/chemokines (interferon gamma (IFN-γ), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1)/CCL-2, interleukin [IL]-1β, and IL-6). Histological analysis demonstrated that G-Rb1 significantly attenuated the pathological changes in MIA-induced OA in ovariectomized rats. Safranin O and toluidine blue staining further demonstrated that G-Rb1 effectively prevented the degradation of cartilage and glycosaminoglycans, respectively. Conclusion: Overall, our results suggest that G-Rb1 exerts cartilage protective effect on MIA-induced ovariectomized OA rats, by inhibiting inflammatory mediators such as IL-6, IL-1β, MCP-1/CCL-2, cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), and prostaglandin E₂ (PGE2). These results shed a light on possible therapeutic application of G-Rb1 in OA.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.21-25
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• 2021

We aimed to develop and validate a sensitive analytical method of nannozinone A, active metabolite of Nannochelins A extracted from the Myxobacterium Nannocytis pusilla, in mouse plasma using a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Mouse plasma samples containing nannozinone A and 13C-caffeine (internal standard) were extracted using a liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) method with methyl tert-butyl ether. Standard calibration curves were linear in the concentration range of 1 - 1000 ng/mL (r2 > 0.998) with the inter- and intra-day accuracy and precision results less than 15%. LLE method gave results in the high and reproducible extraction recovery in the range of 78.00-81.08% with limited matrix effect in the range of 70.56-96.49%. The pharmacokinetics of nannozinone A after intravenous injection (5 mg/kg) and oral administration (30 mg/kg) of nannozinone A were investigated using the validated LC-MS/MS analysis of nannozinone A. The absolute oral bioavailability of nannozinone A was 8.82%. Plasma concentration of nannozinone A after the intravenous injection sharply decreased for 4 h but plasma concentration of orally administered nannozinone A showed fast distribution and slow elimination for 24 h. In conclusion, we successfully applied this newly developed sensitive LC-MS/MS analytical method of nannozinone A to the pharmacokinetic evaluation of this compound. This method can be useful for further studies on the pharmacokinetic optimization and evaluating the druggability of nannozinone A including its efficacy and toxicity.

• Journal of the Korean Mathematical Society
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• v.58 no.1
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• pp.29-44
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• 2021

The set D of column vectors of a generator matrix of a linear code is called a defining set of the linear code. In this paper we consider the problem of constructing few-weight (mainly two- or three-weight) linear codes from defining sets. It can be easily seen that we obtain an one-weight code when we take a defining set to be the nonzero codewords of a linear code. Therefore we have to choose a defining set from a non-linear code to obtain two- or three-weight codes, and we face the problem that the constructed code contains many weights. To overcome this difficulty, we employ the linear codes of the following form: Let D be a subset of ��2n, and W (resp. V ) be a subspace of ��2 (resp. ��2n). We define the linear code ��D(W; V ) with defining set D and restricted to W, V by $${\mathcal{C}}_D(W;V )=\{(s+u{\cdot}x)_{x{\in}D^{\ast}}|s{\in}W,u{\in}V\}$$. We obtain two- or three-weight codes by taking D to be a Vasil'ev code of length n = 2m - 1(m ≥ 3) and a suitable choices of W. We do the same job for D being the complement of a Vasil'ev code. The constructed few-weight codes share some nice properties. Some of them are optimal in the sense that they attain either the Griesmer bound or the Grey-Rankin bound. Most of them are minimal codes which, in turn, have an application in secret sharing schemes. Finally we obtain an infinite family of minimal codes for which the sufficient condition of Ashikhmin and Barg does not hold.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.41-47
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to apply a deep learning model that can distinguish lung perfusion and lung ventilation images in nuclear medicine, and to evaluate the image classification ability. Image data pre-processing was performed in the following order: image matrix size adjustment, min-max normalization, image center position adjustment, train/validation/test data set classification, and data augmentation. The convolutional neural network(CNN) structures of VGG-16, ResNet-18, Inception-ResNet-v2, and SE-ResNeXt-101 were used. For classification model evaluation, performance evaluation index of classification model, class activation map(CAM), and statistical image evaluation method were applied. As for the performance evaluation index of the classification model, SE-ResNeXt-101 and Inception-ResNet-v2 showed the highest performance with the same results. As a result of CAM, cardiac and right lung regions were highly activated in lung perfusion, and upper lung and neck regions were highly activated in lung ventilation. Statistical image evaluation showed a meaningful difference between SE-ResNeXt-101 and Inception-ResNet-v2. As a result of the study, the applicability of the CNN model for lung scintigraphy classification was confirmed. In the future, it is expected that it will be used as basic data for research on new artificial intelligence models and will help stable image management in clinical practice.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.345-372
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• 2021

The analysis of nonlinear vibrations, buckling, post-buckling, flutter boundary determination and post-flutter behavior of a homogeneous curved plate assuming cylindrical bending is conducted in this article. Other assumptions include simply-supported boundary conditions, supersonic aerodynamic flow at the top of the plate, constant pressure conditions below the plate, non-viscous flow model (using first- and third-order piston theory), nonlinear structural model with large deformations, and application of mechanical and thermal loads on the curved plate. The analysis is performed with constant environmental indicators (flow density, heat, Reynolds number and Mach number). The material properties (i.e., coefficient of thermal expansion and modulus of elasticity) are temperature-dependent. The equations are derived using the principle of virtual displacement. Furthermore, based on the definitions of virtual work, the potential and kinetic energy of the final relations in the integral form, and the governing nonlinear differential equations are obtained after fractional integration. This problem is solved using two approaches. The frequency analysis and flutter are studied in the first approach by transferring the handle of ordinary differential equations to the state space, calculating the system Jacobin matrix and analyzing the eigenvalue to determine the instability conditions. The second approach discusses the nonlinear frequency analysis and nonlinear flutter using the semi-analytical solution of governing differential equations based on the weighted residual method. The partial differential equations are converted to ordinary differential equations, after which they are solved based on the Runge-Kutta fourth- and fifth-order methods. The comparison between the results of frequency and flutter analysis of curved plate is linearly and nonlinearly performed for the first time. The results show that the plate curvature has a profound impact on the instability boundary of the plate under supersonic aerodynamic loading. The flutter boundary decreases with growing thermal load and increases with growing curvature.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.59-79
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• 2022

Conventional wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) do not fully remove micropollutants. Enhanced treatment of sewage effluents is being considered or implemented in some countries to minimize the discharge of problematic micropollutants from WWTPs. Representative enhanced sewage treatment technologies for micropollutant removal were reviewed, including their current status of research and development. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) such as ozonation and UV/H₂O₂ and adsorption processes using powdered (PAC) and granular activated carbon (GAC) were mainly discussed with focusing on process principles for the micropollutant removal, effect of process operation and water matrix factors, and technical and economic feasibility. Pilot- and full-scale studies have shown that ozonation, PAC, and GAC can achieve significant elimination of various micropollutants at economically feasible costs(0.16-0.29 €/m³). Considering the current status of domestic WWTPs, ozonation and PAC were found to be the most feasible options for the enhanced sewage effluent treatment. Although ozonation and PAC are all mature technologies, a range of technical aspects should be considered for their successful application, such as energy consumption, CO₂ emission, byproduct or waste generation, and ease of system construction/operation/maintenance. More feasibility studies considering domestic wastewater characteristics and WWTP conditions are required to apply ozonation or PAC/GAC adsorption process to enhance sewage effluent treatment in Korea.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.599-611
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• 2022

Tendon reinforced cemented soil is applied extensively in foundation stabilisation and improvement, especially in areas with soft clay. To solve the deterioration problem led by steel corrosion, the glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) tendon is introduced to substitute the traditional steel tendon. The interface bond strength between the cemented soil matrix and GFRP tendon demonstrates the outstanding mechanical property of this composite. However, the lack of research between the influence factors and bond strength hinders the application. To evaluate these factors, back propagation neural network (BPNN) is applied to predict the relationship between them and bond strength. Since adjusting BPNN parameters is time-consuming and laborious, the particle swarm optimisation (PSO) algorithm is proposed. This study evaluated the influence of water content, cement content, curing time, and slip distance on the bond performance of GFRP tendon-reinforced cemented soils (GTRCS). The results showed that the ultimate and residual bond strengths were both in positive proportion to cement content and negative to water content. The sample cured for 28 days with 30% water content and 50% cement content had the largest ultimate strength (3879.40 kPa). The PSO-BPNN model was tuned with 3 neurons in the input layer, 10 in the hidden layer, and 1 in the output layer. It showed outstanding performance on a large database comprising 405 testing results. Its higher correlation coefficient (0.908) and lower root-mean-square error (239.11 kPa) were obtained compared to multiple linear regression (MLR) and logistic regression (LR). In addition, a sensitivity analysis was applied to acquire the ranking of the input variables. The results illustrated that the cement content performed the strongest influence on bond strength, followed by the water content and slip displacement.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.447-456
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• 2022

Korea's self-support program has constituted one of the most important workfare policy for the past 25 years. However, many pointed out the lack of field perceptions in the performance indicators of self-support program, such as overemphasis on the economic performance and uniform application regardless of regional types. This research intends to derive policy implications to improve performance indicators of self-support program by analyzing field perceptions, utilizing ISA(Importance-Satisfaction Analysis) method. Analysis on the difference between importance and satisfaction shows that the procedure was perceived more important than the consequences. It also reveals that current indicators were not satisfactory enough to reflect field practices. Finally, ISA matrix classified indicators into keep, improve, policy reconsideration area, and obvious differences were found by regional type. These findings suggest the importance of field-orientation in performance indicators, and by which, can serve as an exploratory study for the improvement of performance indicators.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.13.1-13.11
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• 2023

Objectives: Natural extracts have been investigated as a biomimetic strategy to mechanically strengthen the collagen network and control the biodegradation of extracellular matrix. This study evaluated the effect of epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) on abfraction lesions prior to the composite resin. Materials and Methods: The sample consisted of 30 patients (aged between 28 and 60 years) with abfraction lesions located in 2 homologous premolars. The teeth were randomly assigned according to dentin treatment: 0.02% EGCG solution or distilled water (control). After enamel acid etching, the solutions were applied immediately for 1 minute. The teeth were restored with Universal Adhesive (3M) and Filtek Z350 XT (3M). Analyzes were done by 2 independent examiners using modified USPHS (retention, secondary caries, marginal adaptation, and postoperative sensitivity) and photographic (color, marginal pigmentation, and anatomical form) criteria at baseline (7 days) and final (18 months). The data analysis used Friedman and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests (α = 0.05). Results: At baseline, all restorations were evaluated as alpha for all criteria. After 18 months, restorations were evaluated as alpha for secondary caries, color, and marginal pigmentation. There was significant difference between baseline and 18 months (p = 0.009) for marginal adaptation and postoperative sensitivity (p = 0.029), but no significant difference were verified between treatments (p = 0.433). The EGCG group had a restoration retention rate of 93.3%, while the control group had 96.7%. Conclusions: The application of EGCG solution on abfraction lesions did not significantly influence the survival of the restorations based on clinical and photographic criteria.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.235-241
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• 2023

Hyaluronidase (HAase) can enhance drug diffusion and dissipate edema by degrading hyaluronic acid (HA) in the extracellular matrix into unsaturated HA oligosaccharides in mammalian tissues. Microorganisms are recognized as valuable sources of HAase. In this study, a new hyaluronate lyase (HAaseD) from Bacillus sp. CQMU-D was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21, purified, and characterized. The results showed that HAaseD belonged to the polysaccharide lyase (PL) 8 family and had a molecular weight of 123 kDa. HAaseD could degrade chondroitin sulfate (CS) -A, CS-B, CS-C, and HA, with the highest activity toward HA. The optimum temperature and pH value of HAaseD were 40℃ and 7.0, respectively. In addition, HAaseD retained stability in an alkaline environment and displayed higher activity with appropriate concentrations of metal ions. Moreover, HAaseD was an endolytic hyaluronate lyase that could degrade HA to produce unsaturated HA oligosaccharides. Together, our findings indicate that HAaseD from Bacillus sp. CQMU-D is a new hyaluronate lyase and with excellent potential for application in industrial production.