• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.44-48
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• 2000

Microbial fuel cells comprising the microorganism P. vulgaris, thionin as a mediator, and various mono- and disaccharides in an anodic compartment have been developed. A cathodic compartment containing a Pt electrode and Fe$(CN)_6^{3-}$ was separated from an anode by the Nafion membrane. From absorbance-time measurements, it was found that the absorbance of thionin was not altered by the addition of P. vulgaris, even in the presence of sugars. However, thionin was effectively reduced when P. vulgaris was present. These results differ substantially from the case of safranine O, a phenazine-derivative, indicating that thionin takes up electrons during the metabolic oxidation processes of carbohydrates. Maximum fuel cell efficiency was observed at 37 $^{\circ}C$, optimum temperature for the growth of P. vulgaris, and 0.5 V cell voltage was obtained, which indicates that the metabolism of the microorganism directly affects the efficiency. Thionin concentration was closely related to cell performance. When the charging-discharging characteristics were tested with glucose, galactose, sucrose, maltose, and trehalose as carbon sources, galactose was found to give the highest coulombic efficiency. Cell performance was almost fully recovered with only small degradation when glucose and sucrose were used in the repetitive operation. Current was maintained nearly twice as long for sucrose than in the case of glucose.

• Integrative Medicine Research
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.12-18
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• 2017

Cryopreservation is a process that preserves organelles, cells, tissues, or any other biological constructs by cooling the samples to very low temperatures. The responses of living cells to ice formation are of theoretical interest and practical relevance. Stem cells and other viable tissues, which have great potential for use in basic research as well as for many medical applications, cannot be stored with simple cooling or freezing for a long time because ice crystal formation, osmotic shock, and membrane damage during freezing and thawing will cause cell death. The successful cryopreservation of cells and tissues has been gradually increasing in recent years, with the use of cryoprotective agents and temperature control equipment. Continuous understanding of the physical and chemical properties that occur in the freezing and thawing cycle will be necessary for the successful cryopreservation of cells or tissues and their clinical applications. In this review, we briefly address representative cryopreservation processes, such as slow freezing and vitrification, and the available cryoprotective agents. In addition, some adverse effects of cryopreservation are mentioned.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.225-231
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• 2020

Glial cells, including astrocytes and microglia, interact closely with neurons and modulate pain transmission, particularly under pathological conditions. In this study, we examined the excitability of substantia gelatinosa (SG) neurons of the spinal dorsal horn using a patch clamp recording to investigate the roles of microglial activation in the nociceptive processes of rats. We used xanthine/xanthine oxidase (X/XO), a generator of superoxide anion (O2·-), to induce a pathological pain condition. X/XO treatment induced an inward current and membrane depolarization. The inward current was significantly inhibited by minocycline, a microglial inhibitor, and fluorocitrate, an astrocyte inhibitor. To examine whether toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) in microglia was involved in the inward current, we used lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a highly specific TLR4 agonist. The LPS induced inward current, which was decreased by pretreatment with Tak-242, a TLR4-specific inhibitor, and phenyl N-t-butylnitrone, a reactive oxygen species scavenger. The X/XO-induced inward current was also inhibited by pretreatment with Tak-242. These results indicate that the X/XO-induced inward current of SG neurons occurs through activation of TLR4 in microglial cells, suggesting that neuroglial cells modulate the nociceptive process through central sensitization.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.50
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• pp.16.1-16.11
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• 2020

Silk is produced by a variety of insects, but only silk made by terrestrial arthropods has been examined in detail. To fill the gap, this study was designed to understand the silk spinning system of aquatic insect. The larvae of caddis flies, Hydatophylax nigrovittatus produce silk through a pair of labial silk glands and use raw silk to protect themselves in the aquatic environment. The result of this study clearly shows that although silk fibers are made under aquatic conditions, the cellular silk production system is quite similar to that of terrestrial arthropods. Typically, silk production in caddisworm has been achieved by two independent processes in the silk glands. This includes the synthesis of silk fibroin in the posterior region, the production of adhesive glycoproteins in the anterior region, which are ultimately accumulated into functional silk dope and converted to a silk ribbon coated with gluey substances. At the cellular level, each substance of fibroin and glycoprotein is specifically synthesized at different locations, and then transported from the rough ER to the Golgi apparatus as transport vesicles, respectively. Thereafter, the secretory vesicles gradually increase in size by vesicular fusion, forming larger secretory granules containing specific proteins. It was found that these granules eventually migrate to the apical membrane and are exocytosed into the lumen by a mechanism of merocrine secretion.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.207-211
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• 2009

In this study, the sensing membranes for detection of pH and dissolved oxygen(DO) were prepared by immobilizing 6-aminofluorescein or ruthenium complex onto the sol-gel matrixes of GPTMS, MTMS, and TEOS and then recoated with the mixture of hydrophobic sol-gel and graphite for light insulation. The pH and DO sensing membranes recoated with the light insulation layer showed a higher sensitivity than those without light insulation layer. The sensing membranes were immobilized on the wells of 24-well microplate and used to monitor the fluorescence intensity for pH and DO in E.coli JM109 and P.pastoris X-33 fermentation processes. The change of the fluorescence intensity in the DO sensing membrane agreed with the growth patterns of microorganisms, that the membranes are valuable to monitor the DO in fermentation processes. In the case of pH monitoring, the fluorescence intensity has showed good correlation to the off-line pH data, that the pH membranes are valuable to monitor pH values in fermentations.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.67-73
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• 2019

In this study, to optimize the production and utilization of biogas for organic waste resources, the precision monitoring of on-site facilities and the energy balance by facility were analyzed, and the solutions for field problems were investigated, and the design and operation guidelines for pretreatment facilities and generators were presented. Gas pre-treatment is required to solve frequent failures and efficiency degradation in operation of high quality refining facilities, and processing processes such as desulfurization, dehumidification, deoxidization, dust treatment, volatile organic compounds, etc. Since these processes are substances that are also eliminated from the high-quality process, quantitative guidelines are not presented in the gas pretreatment process, but are suggested to operate during the processing process as a qualitative guideline. In particular, dust, siloxane, and volatile organic compounds are the main cause of frequent failure of high-quality processes if they are not removed from the gas pretreatment process. Design of the biogas high-quality process. The operation guidelines provide quality standards [Methane content (including propane) of 95% or more] with 90% or more utilization of the total gas generation, two systems, and a margin of 10% or more. It also proposed installing gas equalization tank, installing thermal automatic control system for controlling equalization of auxiliary fuel, installing dehumidification device at the back of high quality for removing moisture generated in the process of gas compression, installing heat-resisting facilities to prevent freezing of facilities in winter and reducing efficiency, and installing membrane facilities in particular.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.155-163
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• 2017

Membrane filtration has become more popular in drinking water treatment recently, since the filtration can control not only particulate matters but also pathogenic microorganisms such as giardia and cryptosporidium very effectively. Pilot-scale ($120m^3/d$ of treatment capacity) and test-bed ($25,000m^3/d$ of treatment capacity) microfiltration experiments were conducted to find optimum operating mode and the critical flux. Optimum operating mode of pilot-test was assessed as inflow 1.0 min, filtration 36.5 min, air backwash 0.9 min, backwash 1.0 min and outflow 1.0 min with 50 LMH ($L/min{\cdot}m3^$) of critical flux. Critical Flux was calculated to be $50L/m^2-h$ (within TMP 0.5 bar) based on the increase formula of the transmembrane pressure difference according to the change of time at Flux 20, 40, 56 and 62 LMH in pilot operation. Chemical cleaning was first acid washed twice, and alkali washing was performed secondarily, and a recovery rate of 95% was obtained in the test-bed plant. The results of operating under these appropriate conditions are as follows. Turbidity of treated water were 0.028, 0.024, 0.026 and 0.028 NTU in spring, summer, autumn and winter time, respectively. Microfiltration has superior treatment capability and performance characteristics in removing suspended solids and colloidal materials, which are the main cause of turbidity and important carrier of metal elements, and it has shown great potential in being an economically substitute to traditional processes (sand filtration).

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.600-606
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• 2010

Purpose: Although traditional and current treatment strategies may demonstrate success, persistence or recurrence of difficult-to-heal wounds remain significant problems. A novel product, Hyalomatrix$^{(R)}$ (Fidia Advanced Biopolymer, Abano Terme, Italy) is a bilayer of an benzyl esterified hyaluronan scaffold beneath a silicone membrane. The scaffold delivers hyaluronan to the wound, and the silicone membrane acts as a temporary epidermal barrier. We present the results obtained with Hyalomatrix$^{(R)}$ in the treatment of difficult-to-heal wounds. Methods: From November, 2008 to March, 2010, Hyalomatrix$^{(R)}$ has been used on total 10 patients with wounds that were expected difficult to heal with traditional and other current strategies. After average 37.4 days from development of wounds, Hyalomatrix$^{(R)}$ was applied after wound debridement. On the average, Hyalomatrix$^{(R)}$ application period was 17.6 days. After average 16.5 days from removal of Hyalomatrix$^{(R)}$, skin grafts was performed. Results: In all cases, regeneration of fibrous granulation tissues and edge re-epithelization were present after the application of the Hyalomatrix$^{(R)}$. And all of the previous inflammatory signs were reduced. After skin grafts, no adverse reactions were recorded in 9 cases. But in one case, postoperative wound infection occured due to a lack of efficient fibrous tissues. In this model, the Hyalomatrix$^{(R)}$ acts as a hyaluronan delivery system and a barrier from the external environments. In tissue repair processes, the hyaluronan performs to facilitate the entry of a large number of cells into the wounds, to orientate the deposition of extracellular matrix fibrous components and to change the microenvironment of difficult-to-heal wounds. Conclusion: Our study suggests that Hyalomatrix$^{(R)}$ could be a good and feasible approach for difficult-to-heal wounds. The Hyalomatrix$^{(R)}$ improves microenvironments of difficult-to-heal wounds, reduces infection rates and physical stimulus despite of aggravating factors.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.8-13
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• 2016

This study investigated the removal of a radioactive cesium ($Cs^+$) in the water at the water treatment processes. Since cesium is mostly present as the $Cs^+$ ion state in water, it is not removed by sand filtration, and coagulation with polyaluminum chloride (PACl), powdered activated carbon (PAC) and mixture of PACl and PAC. However, it is known that the removal rate of cesium increases as the turbidity increases in raw water. As the turbidity was adjusted by 74 NTU and 103 NTU using the surrounding solids near G-water intake and yellow soils, removal rate of cesium was about 56% and 51%, respectively. In case of a GAC filtration with supernatants after jar-mixing/setting was conducted, 80% of cesium is approximately eliminated. The experimental results show that it is efficient to get rid of cesium when the turbidity of the raw water is more than 80 NTU. In case of a GAC filtration, about 60% of cesium is removed and it is considered by the effect of adsorption. Cesium is not eliminated by microfiltration membrane while about 75% of cesium is removed by reverse osmosis.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.255-268
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• 2016

Climate change has increased the need to secure a new water resource in addition to the traditional water resources such as surface water and ground water. The seawater desalination market is growing sharply in accordance with this situation in Korea, "seawater engineering & architecture of high efficiency reverse osmosis (SEAHERO)" program was launched in 2007 to keep pace with world market trend. SEAHERO program was completed in 2014, contributed to turn the domestic technology in evaporative desalination technology to RO desalination technology. Currently, it is investigated that the average specific energy consumption of the whole RO plant is around $3.5kWh/m^3$. The Busan Gi-jang plant has shown $3.7{\sim}4.0kWh/m^3$, including operational electricity for plant and maintenance building. Although not world top level, domestic RO technology is considered to be able to compete in desalination market. Separately, many researchers in the world are developing new technologies for energy savings. Various processes, forward osmosis (FO), membrane distillation (MD) process are expected to compete with RO in the future market. In Korea, FO-RO hybrid process, MD and pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) process are under development through the research program in Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT). The desalination technology level is expected to decrease to $2.5kWh/m^3$.