• Title/Summary/Keyword: natural form

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The Application of DNA Chip Technology to Identify Herbal Medicines: an Example from the Family Umbelliferae

  • Kim, Pil-Ho;Park, Jisoo;Kim, Yeong Shik;Suh, Youngbae
    • Natural Product Sciences
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    • v.21 no.3
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    • pp.185-191
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    • 2015
  • Comparative molecular analysis has been frequently adopted for the authentication of herbal medicines as well as the identification of botanical origins. Roots and rhizomes of the family Umbelliferae have been used as traditional herbal medicines to relieve various symptoms such as inflammation, neuralgia and paralysis in countries of East Asia. Since most herbal medicines of the Umbelliferae roots or rhizomes are generally supplied in the form of dried slices, morphological examination does not often provide sufficient evidence to identify the botanical origin. Using species-specific probes developed by the comparative analysis of nrDNA ITS sequences, a DNA chip was developed to identify herbal medicines for 13 species in the Umbelliferae. The developed DNA Chip proves its potential as a rapid, sensitive and effective tool for authenticating herbal medicines in future.

Interactive Region Segmentation Method Using Agglomerative Clustering

  • Park, Sanghyun
    • Journal of Advanced Information Technology and Convergence
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    • v.8 no.2
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    • pp.89-99
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    • 2018
  • Due to global warming, various natural disasters such as floods and droughts are increasing. If we can detect the possibility of natural disasters in advance, we can prevent massive damages caused by natural disasters. Recent advances in visual sensor technologies have enabled remote monitoring of a variety of natural environments, including lakes, rivers, and shores. In this paper, we propose a method to segment an image obtained from video sensor networks into regions in order to monitor the environment effectively. In the proposed method, we first partition the image into superpixels and model the connections between superpixels as a graph. Then, initial seeds for each region are set by using the prior information, and the initial seeds are expanded to form regions using agglomerative clustering. Experimental results show that the proposed method extracts the regions from natural environment images easily and accurately.

A Study on applied possibility of Organic Form In Architectural space-Design (공간구성에 있어서 유기적 형태의 응용 가능성에 관한 연구)

  • 김성혜
    • Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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    • no.14
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    • pp.10-18
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    • 1998
  • This study aims to make clear visual quality of organic form and structural order that is immanent in nature about a form as formative principles of architectural space design the significanced of this study is to prove the application possibility in to functional form architectural space design. All organic forms in nature has a unique shape and pattern in structure to be self-controled and good in order. Such an order in nature comes from regular construction and ratio principles which has aesthetical order by mathmetics. The specialty of beauty in nature can be revealed not only visual form but also the ratio balance and rhythm of structural principles. As we examine the aesthetic source embodied some object can be developed in to basic principles. Furthermore through this study we can find out that the form construction theory in nature forms share the quality attribute with geometrical form to be shown in architectural space design. Natural forms are ultimate visual expression of power that effects on the architectural space design. The rule of power in nature as nature formal characteristics have a direct influence and can be also applied to architectural construction. Therefore I expect that this study will be linked and continued to another structural view.

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MethA Fibrosarcoma Cells Expressing Membrane-Bound Forms of IL-2 Enhance Antitumor Immunity

  • Sonn, Chung-Hee;Yoon, Hee-Ryung;Seong, In-Ock;Chang, Mi-Ra;Kim, Yong-Chan;Kang, Han-Chul;Suh, Seok-Cheol;Kim, Young-Sang
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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    • v.16 no.12
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    • pp.1919-1927
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    • 2006
  • Tumor cells genetically engineered to secrete cytokines are effective in tumor therapy, but various unexpected side effects are observed, which may result from the bulk activation of various bystander cells. In this study, we tested tumor vaccines expressing various membrane-bound forms of IL-2 (mbIL-2) on MethA fibrosarcoma cells to focus antitumor immune responses to CTL. Chimeric forms of IL-2 with whole CD4, deletion forms of CD4, and TNF were expressed on the tumor cell surface, respectively. Tumor clones expressing mbIL-2 or secretory form of IL-2 were able to support the cell growth of CTLL-2, an IL-2-dependent T cell line, and the proliferation of spleen cells from 2C TCR transgenic mice that are responsive to the $p2Ca/L^d$ MHC class I complex. Expression of mbIL-2 on tumor cells reduced the tumorigenicity of tumor cells, and the mice that once rejected the live IL-2/TNF tumor clone acquired systemic immunity against wild-type MethA cells. The IL-2/TNF clone was inferior to other clones in tumor formation, and superior in the stimulation of the CD8+ T cell population in vitro. These results suggest that the IL-2/TNF clone is the best tumor vaccine, and may stimulate CD8+ T cells by direct priming. Expression of IL-2/TNF on tumor cells may serve as an effective gene therapy method to ameliorate the side effects encountered in the recombinant cytokine therapy and the conventional cytokine gene therapy using the secretory form of IL-2.

C-FLIP Promotes the Motility of Cancer Cells by Activating FAK and ERK, and Increasing MMP-9 Expression

  • Park, Deokbum;Shim, Eunsook;Kim, Youngmi;Kim, Young Myeong;Lee, Hansoo;Choe, Jongseon;Kang, Dongmin;Lee, Yun-Sil;Jeoung, Dooil
    • Molecules and Cells
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    • v.25 no.2
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    • pp.184-195
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    • 2008
  • We examined the role of c-FLIP in the motility of HeLa cells. A small interfering RNA (siRNA) directed against c-FLIP inhibited the adhesion and motility of the cells without affecting their growth rate. The long form of c-FLIP ($c-FLIP_L$), but not the short form ($c-FLIP_S$), enhanced adhesion and motility. Downregulation of $c-FLIP_L$ with siRNA decreased phosphorylation of FAK and ERK, while overexpression of $c-FLIP_L$ increased their phosphorylation. Overexpression of FAK activated ERK, and enhanced the motility of HeLa cells. FRNK, an inhibitory fragment of FAK, inhibited ERK and decreased motility. Inhibition of ERK also significantly suppressed $c-FLIP_L$-promoted motility. Inhibition of ROCK by Y27632 suppressed the $c-FLIP_L$-promoted motility by reducing phosphorylation of FAK and ERK. Overexpression of $c-FLIP_L$ increased the expression and secretion of MMP-9, and inhibition of MMP-9 by Ilomastat reduced $c-FLIP_L$- promoted cell motility. A caspase-like domain (amino acids 222-376) was found to be necessary for the $c-FLIP_L$-promoted cell motility. We conclude that $c-FLIP_L$ promotes the motility of HeLa cells by activating FAK and ERK, and increasing MMP-9 expression.

Application of 3D Digital Documentation to Natural Monument Fossil Site (천연기념물 화석산지의 3차원 디지털 기술 적용)

  • Kong, Dal-Yong;Lim, Jong-Deock;Wohn, Kwang-Yeon;Ahn, Jae-Hong;Kim, Kyung-Soo
    • The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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    • v.11 no.11
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    • pp.492-502
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    • 2011
  • 20 fossil sites of numerous fossil sites in Korea have been designated as Natural Monument for protection and conservation. Many of the sites which is located at the coastal area have been gradually disfigured by natural weathering, erosion and human activity. Thus the conservation of the original form and the documentation for the original figure are necessary. In this study, we applied 3D digital documentation to Natural Monument No. 394, Haenam Uhangri dinosaur, pterosaur, and bird footprint fossil site, for maintaining the original form of the dinosaur footprints. We were able to obtain the 3D digital data on two dinosaur footprint sites, a high resolution distributional map, and more accurate digital data of the dinosaur footprints applied the rendering method by ambient occlusion. 3D digital data on the dinosaur footprints is worth for the conservation and research data, moreover content for applying to the various fields such as to make 3D brochure, interactive contents, and so on.

Crystallization and Preliminary X-Ray Crystallographic Analysis of UDP-N-Acetylglucosamine Enolpyruvyl Transferase from Haemophilus influenzae in Complex with UDP-N-Acetylglucosamine and Fosfomycin

  • Yoon, Hye-Jin;Ku, Min-Je;Ahn, Hyung Jun;Lee, Byung Il;Mikami, Bunzo;Suh, Se Won
    • Molecules and Cells
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    • v.19 no.3
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    • pp.398-401
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    • 2005
  • The bacterial enzyme UDP-N-acetylglucosamine enolpyruvyl transferase catalyzes the first committed step of peptidoglycan biosynthesis, i.e., transfer of enolpyruvate from phosphoenolpyruvate to UDP-N-acetyl-glucosamine. We have overexpressed the enzyme from Haemophilus influenzae in Escherichia coli and crystallized it in the apo-form, as well as in a complex with UDP-N-acetylglucosamine and fosfomycin using ammonium sulfate as the precipitant. X-ray diffraction data from a crystal of the apo-form were collected to $2.8{\AA}$ resolution at 293 K. The crystal quality was improved by co-crystallization with UDP-N-acetylglucosamine and fosfomycin. X-ray data to $2.2{\AA}$ have been collected at 100 K from a flash-frozen crystal of the complex. The complex crystals belong to the orthorhombic space group I222 (or $I2_12_12_1$) with unit-cell parameters of a = 63.7, b = 124.5, and $c=126.3{\AA}$. Assuming a monomer of the recombinant enzyme in the crystallographic asymmetric unit, the calculated Matthews parameter ($V_M$) is $2.71{\AA}^3Da^{-1}$ and solvent content is 54.6%.