• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
• /
• v.37 no.1
• /
• pp.65-76
• /
• 2016

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify the inhibitory effects of Hwangheuk-san (HHS), a Korean multi-herb formula comprising four medicinal herbs, on cell migration and invasion, two critical cellular processes that are often deregulated during metastasis, using the human bladder cancer 5637 cell line.Methods: Cell viability, motility, and invasion were assessed by 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2 thiazolyl)-2,5-diphnyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT), wound healing migration, and Transwell assays, respectively. Gene expression was detected by Western blot analysis. In addition, the activities of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and the values for transepithelial electrical resistance (TER) were analyzed using a Gelatinase Activity Assay Kit and an Epithelial Tissue Voltohmmeter, respectively.Results: Our data indicated that within the concentration range that was not cytotoxic, HHS effectively inhibited the cell motility and invasiveness of 5637 cells. HHS markedly decreased the expression and activity of MMP-2 and MMP-9, which was associated with unregulation of tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase (TIMP)-1 and TIMP-2. Further investigation revealed that phosphorylation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) and AKT was decreased in HHS-treated 5637 cells, and a PI3K/AKT inhibitor synergistically reduced the inhibition of migration and invasion and also inactivated MMP-2 and MMP-9. Moreover, HHS increased the tightening of tight junctions (TJs), which was demonstrated by an increase in the TER, and reduced the expression the levels of claudin family members (claudin-3 and -4), which are major components involved in the tightening of TJs.Conclusions: The present findings demonstrated that HHS attenuated the migration and invasion of bladder cancer 5637 cells by modulating the activity of the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway and also through TJ tightening.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
• /
• v.22 no.3
• /
• pp.79-85
• /
• 2010

Purpose: Many trials for new therapeutic approaches such as stem cell-based transplantation have been conducted to improve the repair and regeneration of injured cord tissue and to restore functions following spinal cord injury (SCI) in animals and humans. Adipose tissue-derived stromal cells (ATSCs) have multi-lineage potential to differentiate into cells with neuron-like morphology. Most studies of stem cell transplantation therapy after SCI are focused on cellular regeneration and restoration of motor function, but not on unwanted effects after transplantation such as neuropathic pain. This study was focused on whether transplantation of ATSCs could facilitate or attenuate hindpaw pain responses to heat, cold and mechanical stimulation, as well as on improvement of locomotor function in a rat with SCI. Methods: A spinal cord injury rat model was produced using an NYU impactor by dropping a 10 g rod from a height of 25 mm on to the T9 segment. Human ATSCs (hATSCs; approximately $5{\times}10^5$ cells) or DMEM were injected into the perilesional area 9 days after the SCI. After transplantation, hindpaw withdrawal responses to heat, cold and mechanical allodynia were measured over 7 weeks. Motor recovery on the Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan (BBB) locomotor rating scale and on the inclined plane test were also evaluated. Results: The present study demonstrated that increased hindpaw withdrawal responses to cold allodynia was observed in both groups after transplantation, but the development of cold-induced allodynia in the hATSC transplantation group was significantly larger than in the control group. The difference between the two groups in locomotor functional improvement after SCI was also significant. Conclusion: Careful consideration not only of optimal functional benefits but also of unintended side effects such as neuropathic pain is necessary before stem cell transplantation therapy after SCI.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2011.02a
• /
• pp.204-205
• /
• 2011

In thin film silicon solar cells, p-i-n structure is adopted instead of p/n junction structure as in wafer-based Si solar cells. PECVD is a most widely used thin film deposition process for a-Si:H or ${\mu}c$-Si:H solar cells. For best performance of thin film silicon solar cell, the dopant profiles at p/i and i/n interfaces need to be as sharp as possible. The sharpness of dopant profiles can easily achieved when using multi-chamber PECVD equipment, in which each layer is deposited in separate chamber. However, in a single-chamber PECVD system, doped and intrinsic layers are deposited in one plasma chamber, which inevitably impedes sharp dopant profiles at the interfaces due to the contamination from previous deposition process. The cross-contamination between layers is a serious drawback of a single-chamber PECVD system in spite of the advantage of lower initial investment cost for the equipment. In order to resolve the cross-contamination problem in single-chamber PECVD systems, flushing method of the chamber with NH3 gas or water vapor after doped layer deposition process has been used. In this study, a new plasma process to solve the cross-contamination problem in a single-chamber PECVD system was suggested. A single-chamber VHF-PECVD system was used for superstrate type p-i-n a-Si:H solar cell manufacturing on Asahi-type U FTO glass. A 80 MHz and 20 watts of pulsed RF power was applied to the parallel plate RF cathode at the frequency of 10 kHz and 80% duty ratio. A mixture gas of Ar, H2 and SiH4 was used for i-layer deposition and the deposition pressure was 0.4 Torr. For p and n layer deposition, B2H6 and PH3 was used as doping gas, respectively. The deposition temperature was $250^{\circ}C$ and the total p-i-n layer thickness was about $3500{\AA}$. In order to remove the deposited B inside of the vacuum chamber during p-layer deposition, a high pulsed RF power of about 80 W was applied right after p-layer deposition without SiH4 gas, which is followed by i-layer and n-layer deposition. Finally, Ag was deposited as top electrode. The best initial solar cell efficiency of 9.5 % for test cell area of 0.2 $cm^2$ could be achieved by applying the in-situ plasma cleaning method. The dependence on RF power and treatment time was investigated along with the SIMS analysis of the p-i interface for boron profiles.

• Journal of the Institute of Convergence Signal Processing
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.222-230
• /
• 2013

Retinal bipolar cells according to the light stimulus respond to potential slowly, emit neurotransmitter release(glutamine acid) to depend on membrane potential. In this paper, the several physiological information on neurotransmitter release mechanism in the presynaptic terminal of the ON-type bipolar cells are incorporated into the formula model. The source of fast components and slow components of neurotransmitter release was arranged in parallel, this model was able to reproduce the membrane potential and intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ concentration dependence of neurotransmitter release faithfully. In addition, because the fast releasable components of neurotransmitter was represented by the membrane potential dependence of trapezoid type, whereas the slow releasable components was represented by the membrane potential dependence of a bell type, $Ca^{2+}$ concentration rise in intracellular is suppressed by $Ca^{2+}$ buffer to reduce slow releasable components, it was confirmed that the membrane potential dependence of neurotransmitter release was characteristics of a trapezoid type. And, in the light response of ON type bipolar cell, the result of the simulation of the neurotransmitter release caused by the components of transient and persistent was that the start of light response occurred the fast release of neurotransmitter, it was confirmed that the transient component and persistent component of the light response occurred the slow release. It was confirmed that the later of persistent component of the light response occurred due to the continuous release by synaptic vesicle supplemented from the storage pool.

• Analytical Science and Technology
• /
• v.27 no.6
• /
• pp.308-313
• /
• 2014

The effect of electrochemical characteristics of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) upon employing multi-wall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) on both working electrode and counter electrode were examined with using EIS, J-V curves and UV-Vis absorption spectrometry. When 0.1 wt% of MWCNT was employed in the $TiO_2$-MWCNT composit on working electrode, the energy conversion efficiency increased about 12.5% compared to the $TiO_2$ only working electrode. The higher light conversion efficiency may attribut to the high electrical conductivity of MWCNT in $TiO_2$-MWCNT composite which improves the electron transport in the working electrode. However, higher amount of MWCNT than 0.1 wt% in the $TiO_2$-MWCNT composite decreases the light conversion efficiency, which is mainly ascribed to the decreased transmittance of light by MWCNT and to the decreased adsorption of dye onto $TiO_2$. The MWCNT employed counter electrode exhibited much lower light conversion efficiency of DSSC than the Pt-counter electrode, while the MWCNT-Pt counter electrode showed similar in light conversion efficiency to that of Pt-counter electrode.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.38 no.4
• /
• pp.371-377
• /
• 2014

In tissue engineering, a scaffold is a three-dimensional(3D) structure that serves as a template for regeneration the functions of damaged tissues or organs. Among materials for scaffolds, polycaprolactone(PCL) and ${\beta}$-tricalcium phosphate(${\beta}$-TCP) are biodegradable and biocompatible. In this study, we fabricated 3D PCL, blended PCL (60 wt %)/${\beta}$-TCP (40 wt %), and pure ${\beta}$-TCP scaffolds by a multi-head scaffold fabrication system. Scaffolds with a pore size of $600{\pm}20{\mu}m$ was observed by scanning electron microscopy. The effects of 3D PCL, blended PCL (60 wt %)/${\beta}$-TCP (40 wt %) and pure ${\beta}$-TCP scaffolds were analyzed by evaluating their mechanical characteristics. In addition, in an in-vitro study using osteoblast-like saos-2 cells, we confirmed the effects of 3D scaffolds on cellular behaviors such as cell adhesion and proliferation. In summary, the 3D blended PCL (60 wt %)/${\beta}$-TCP (40 wt %) scaffold was found to be suitable for human cancellous bone in terms of its the compressive strength, biocompatibility, and osteoconductivity. Thus, blending PCL and ${\beta}$-TCP could be a promising approach for fabricating 3D scaffolds for effective bone regeneration.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.323-330
• /
• 2012

This study deals with the experiments of liquid dampers with multi cells whose vertical tubes are divided into several square columns for easily changing natural frequencies. Shaking table test is performed to verify control effectiveness of the dampers which are installed on a building structure. To design liquid dampers, a 64-story building structure is reduced to a SDOF structure with 1/20 of similitude laws based on acceleration. The structure model is made up to adjust its mass and stiffness easily, with separate mass and drive parts. Mass parts indicate real structure's weights and drive parts indicate real structure's stiffness with springs and LM guides. Manufactured liquid damper has 18 cells and its natural frequency ranges are 0.65Hz to 0.81Hz. Shaking table test is carried out with one way excitation to compare with only accelerations of a large-scale structure and a structure installed with liquid dampers. Control performance of the liquid damper is expressed by the transfer function from shaking table accelerations to the large-scale structure ones. Testing results show that the liquid damper reduced a large-scale structure's response by tuned natural frequencies.

• The KIPS Transactions:PartC
• /
• v.10C no.6
• /
• pp.747-754
• /
• 2003

Thia paper suggests a milti user-authentication system comprises that DNA biometric informatiom, owner's RFID(Radio Frequency Identification) smartcard of hardware token, and PKI digital signqture of software. This system improved items proposed in [1] as follows : this mechanism provides one RFID smartcard instead of two user-authentication smartcard(the biometric registered seal card and the DNA personal ID card), and solbers user information exposure as RFID of low proce when the card is lost. In addition, this can be perfect multi user-autentication system to enable identification even in cases such as identical twins, the DNA collected from the blood of patient who has undergone a medical procedure involving blood replacement and the DNA of the blood donor, mutation in the DNA base of cancer cells and other cells. Therefore, the proposed system is applied to terminal log-on with RFID smart card that stores accurate digital DNA biometric information instead of present biometric user-authentication system with the card is lost, which doesn't expose any personal DNA information. The security of PKI digital signature private key can be improved because secure pseudo random number generator can generate infinite one-time pseudo randon number corresponding to a user ID to keep private key of PKI digital signature securely whenever authenticated users access a system. Un addition, this user-authentication system can be used in credit card, resident card, passport, etc. acceletating the use of biometric RFID smart' card. The security of proposed system is shown by statistical anaysis.

• Animal cells and systems
• /
• v.6 no.3
• /
• pp.271-275
• /
• 2002

Rph1 and Gisl are damage-responsive repressors involved in PHR1 expression. They have two $C_{2}$H/ sub 2/ zinc finger motifs as putative DNA binding domains and N-terminal conserved domain with unknown function. They are also found in the human retinoblastoma binding protein 2 and the mouse jumonji- encoded protein. The repressors are able to bind to A $G_{4}$ sequence within a 39-bp sequence called upstream repressing sequence of PHR1 promoter (UR $S_{PHR1}$) responsible for the damage-response of PHR1. We report here that Rph1 is predominantly localized in the nucleus as examined by fluorescence microscopic analysis with GFP-Rph1 fusion protein. On the basis of the fact that the A $G_{4}$ sequence that is recognized by Rph1 and Gisl is also recognized by Msn2 and Msn4 in a process of stress response, we a1so tried to examine the in vivo function of A $G_{4}$ and the role of Msn2 and Msn4 in PHR1 expression. Our results demonstrate that Msn2 and Msn4 are actually required for the basal transcription of PHR1 expression but not for its damage induction. When A $G_{4}$ sequence was inserted into the minimal promoter of the cyc1-LacZ reporter, the increased LacZ expression was observed indicating its involvement in transcriptional activation. The data suggest that the A $G_{4}$ is primarily required for basal transcriptional activation of PHR1 or CYC1 promoter through the possible involvement of Msn2 and Msn4. However, since the A $G_{4}$ is also involved in the repression of PHR1 via Rphl and Gisl, it is proposed that A $G_{4}$ functions as either URS or upstream activating sequence (UAS) depending on the promoter context.t.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
• /
• v.46 no.1
• /
• pp.7-14
• /
• 2009

Lately, NAND flash cards have been used to store massive amounts of multimedia data. However, these nand flash cells itself has a slow operation time and by that, the nand flash cards are not appropriate for high performance massive data transfer. Indeed, most flash card products have a disadvantage in that they require plenty of time to transfer massive amounts of data. Therefore, we propose a new architectural design for the hardware and software of the NAND flash cards by improving their data transfer rate. Our design is based on a multiprocessing which is different from the conventional serial processing method. We simulated our design under the VIP (Virtual IP) environment, and verified our work using FPGA test platforms. As a result, the downloading performances was approximately 160MB/s on VIP and 85.3MB/s on FPGA.