• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.391-397
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• 2005

Escherichia coli is a common inhabitant of the intestinal tracts of animals and humans. The intestines of animals also represent an ideal environment for the selection and transfer of antimicrobial resistance genes. The aim of this study was to investigate the resistance of E. coli isolated from chicken fecal samples to fluoroquinolones and to analyze the characterization of mutations in its gyrA and parC gene related resistance. One hundred and twenty-eight E. coil isolates showed a high resistance to ciprofloxacin (CIP; $60.2\%$), enrofloxacin (ENO; $73.4\%$) and norfloxacin (NOR; $60.2\%$). Missense mutation in gyrA was only found in the amino acid codons of Ser-83 or Asp-87. A high percentage of isolates ($60.2\%$) showed mutations at both amino acid codons. Missense mutation in parC was found in the amino acid codon of Ser-80 or Glu-84, and seven isolates showed mutations at both amino acid codons. Isolates with a single mutation in gyrA showed minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) for CIP (${\le}0.5\;to\;0.75{\mu}g/ml$), ENO (1 to $4{\mu}g/ml$) and NOR (0.75 to $4{\mu}g/ml$). These MIC were level compared to isolates with two mutations, one in gyrA and one in parC, and three mutations, one in gyrA and two in parC (CIP, ${\le}0.5\;to\;3{\mu}g/ml;\;ENO,\;2\;to\;32<{\mu}g/ml;\;NOR,\;1.5\;to\;6\;{\mu}g/ml$). However, the isolates with two mutation in gyrA regardless of whether there was a mutation in parC showed high MIC for the three fluoroquinolones (CIP, 0.75 to $32{\le}{\mu}g/ml;\;ENO,\;3\;to\;32{\le}{\mu}g/ml;\;NOR,\;3\;to\;32{\le}{\mu}g/ml$). Interestingly, although the E. coil used in this study was isolated from normal flora of chicken, not clinical specimens, a high percentage of isolates showed resistance to fluoroquinolones and possessed mutations at gyrA and parC associated with fluoroquinolone resistance.

• BMB Reports
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• v.46 no.11
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• pp.544-549
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• 2013

High mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) is involved in the pathogenesis of vascular diseases. Unlike activated protein C (APC), the activation of PAR-1 by thrombin is known to elicit proinflammatory responses. To determine whether the occupancy of EPCR by the Gla-domain of APC is responsible for the PAR-1-dependent antiinflammatory activity of the protease, we pretreated HUVECs with the PC zymogen and then activated PAR-1 with thrombin. It was found that thrombin downregulates the HMGB1-mediated induction of both TNF-${\alpha}$ and IL-6 and inhibits the activation of both p38 MAPK and NF-${\kappa}B$ in HUVECs pretreated with PC. Furthermore, thrombin inhibited HMGB1-mediated hyperpermeability and leukocyte adhesion/migration by inhibiting the expression of cell adhesion molecules in HUVECs if EPCR was occupied. Collectively, these results suggest the concept that thrombin can initiate proinflammatory responses in vascular endothelial cells through the activation of PAR-1 may not hold true for normal vessels expressing EPCR under in vivo conditions.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.120-126
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• 2020

Fluoroquinolone (FQ) resistant uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) have become a major problem in urinary tract infections (UTIs). The purpose of this study was to compare the quinolone resistance-determining region (QRDR) and plasmid mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) determinants of FQ resistant UPEC between 1989 and 2010-2014. A total of 681 strains of UPEC clinical isolates was collected from Korean healthcare facility in 1989 (123 strains) and in 2010-2014 (558 strains). The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of FQs were determined by agar dilution method. QRDRs (gyrA, gyrB, parC and parE) and PMQR determinants (qnrA, qnrB, qnrS, aac(6')-Ib-cr and qepA) were analyzed polymerase chain reaction and sequencing method. Among 681 isolates, FQ resistant UPEC were 3 strains (2.4%) in 1989 isolates and 220 strains (39.4%) in 2010-2014 isolates. The rate of the FQ resistant UPEC strains in 2010-2014 isolates was increased than that of in 1989 isolates. UPEC isolates from 1989 and 2010-2014 were shown to carry mutations in gyrA (Ser83 and Asp87), gyrB (Ser464 and Thr469), parC (Ser80 and Glu84) and parE (Glu460, Ser458, Ile464 and Leu445). The most common mutations of QRDRs in 1989 isolates were Ser83Leu and Asp87Gly in gyrA and Ser80Ile in parC (2 strains: 66.7%) while those in 2010-2014 isolates were Ser83Leu and Asp87Asn in gyrA and Ser80Il2 and Glu84Val in parC (88 strains: 40.0%). PMQR determinants were detected only in 2010-2014 UPEC strains (47 strains: 21.4%).

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.40 no.10
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• pp.1488-1492
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• 2011

This study was carried out to evaluate the effects of hydrocolloids such as arabic gum, carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), and pectin on the quality and sensory properties of frozen-par baked baguettes according to frozen storage periods. Exactly 0.2 and 0.5% hydrocolloids were added to the baguettes based on flour. Specific loaf volume, hardness, moisture content, and sensory evaluation of baguettes were analyzed. Specific loaf volume of baguette with added 0.2% CMC was the highest after 3 weeks of storage at $-18^{\circ}C$. Moisture contents were not significantly different between control and experimental baguettes. In terms of hardness, baguette with added 0.2% pectin had the lowest value after 3 weeks of storage at $-18^{\circ}C$. In sensory evaluation, baguette with 0.2% pectin among hydrocolloids had the highest score for external and internal properties, as well as total acceptance. Consequently, 0.2% pectin increased the quality of baguette.

• The Transactions of the Korea Information Processing Society
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.1620-1632
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• 1998

This paper presents a fast parallel algorithm for volume rendering and its implementation using C language and MPI MasPar Programming Language) on the 4,096 processor MasPar MP-2 machine. This parallel algorithm is a parallelization hased on the Lacroute' s sequential shear - warp algorithm currently acknowledged to be the fastest sequential volume rendering algorithm. This algorithm reduces communication overheads by using the sheared space partition scheme and the load balancing technique using load estimates from the previous iteration, and the number of voxels to be processed by using the run-length encoded volume data structure.Actual performance is 3 to 4 frames/second on the human hrain scan dataset of $128\times128\times128$ voxels. Because of the scalability of this algorithm, performance of ]2-16 frames/sc.'cond is expected on the 16,384 processor MasPar MP-2 machine. It is expected that implementation on more current SIMD or MIMD architectures would provide 3O~60 frames/second on large volumes.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.30 no.4C
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• pp.230-238
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• 2005

An orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system consists of a number of independently modulated subcarriers and, thus, a high peak-to-average power ratio (PAR) can occur when the subcarriers are added coherently. The high PAR brings such disadvantages as an increased complexity of the analog-to-digital (ADC) and digital-to-analog (DAC) converters and a reduced efficiency of the radio frequency (RF) power amplifier. In this paper, we propose a novel PAR reduction scheme called selective mapping of partial tones (SMOPT). The SMOPT scheme has a reduced complexity, lower sensitivity to peak reduction tones (PRT) positions, and a shorter processing time as compared with the conventional tone reservation (TR) scheme. The performance of the SMOPT scheme is analyzed based on the IEEE 802.1la wireless local area network(WLAM) physical layer model. Numerical results show that the SMOPT scheme outperforms the TR scheme under various scenarios.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.30 no.12C
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• pp.1181-1185
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• 2005

A combining of MIMO signal processing with OFDM is regarded as a promising solution of enhancing the performance of next generation wireless system. Therefore, in this paper, an OFDM-based wireless system employing layered space-time architecture is considered for a high-rate transmission. In the MIMO-OFDM system, we evaluate the PAR performance using the SLM approaches. The investigated SLM scheme for MIMO-OFDM signals selects the transmitted sequence with lowest average PAR over all transmitting antennas and retrieves the side information very accurately at the expense of a slight degradation of the PAR performance. The low probability of false side information can improve the overall detection performance of the MIMO-OFDM system with erroneous side information compared to the ordinary SLM approache, respectively. Also, we provide closed form of the average BER performance in MIMO-OFDM system using analytic approach.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.455-459
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• 2007

Plasma catalytic methane conversion was carried out in the presence of sol-gel derived $Pt/TiO_2$ catalysts within a dielectric-barrier discharge (DBD) reactor. Plasma-assisted reduction (PAR) was applied to reduce the prepared $Pt/TiO_2$ catalysts in DBD reactor, and prepared catalysts were successively reduced by PAR within 20 min irrespective of the Pt loading and the calcination temperature. The highest methane conversion was 40% when 3 wt% $Pt/TiO_2$ and 5 wt% $Pt/TiO_2$ catalysts were used after calcination at $600^{\circ}C$. The selectivities of light alkanes ($C_2H_6$, $C_3H_8$, $C_4H_{10}$) were highly increased when $Pt/TiO_2$ catalysts were used in DBD reactor.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.247-254
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• 2014

To investigate the acquisition of quinolone resistance, we examined mutations in the quinolone resistance-determining region (QRDR) of type II topoisomerase genes in ciprofloxacin (CIP)-resistant clinical isolates and in vitro mutants of Streptococcus parauberis. The CIP-resistant clinical isolates had one base change responsible for a Ser-79${\rightarrow}$Thr in the QRDR of parC. However, the CIP-resistant in vitro mutants had an altered QRDR of parC (Ser-79${\rightarrow}$Ile) that differed from that of the isolates. None of the CIP-resistant S. parauberis clinical isolates or in vitro mutants exhibited amino acid changes in gyrA or gyrB. However, even though involvement in the increased resistance was not clear, an Arg-449${\rightarrow}$Ser mutation outside of the QRDR of parE was detected in CIP-resistant mutant 2P1. These results suggest that the topoisomerase IV gene, parC (and possibly parE, as well), is the primary ciprofloxacin target in S. parauberis. Additionally we established a high-resolution melting (HRM) assay capable of detecting the dominant mutation in four type II topoisomerase genes conferring ciprofloxacin resistance. These rapid and reliable assays may provide a convenient method of surveillance for genetic mutations conferring antibiotic resistance.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.217-224
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• 2021

Fluoroquinolone (FQ) resistant gram-negative pathogens have emerged worldwide, and the recent increase in FQ resistant Escherichia coli is of great concern in Korea. This study investigated FQ resistance determinants and the epidemiological relationship of 56 ciprofloxacin-resistant E. coli isolated from a tertiary hospital in Daejeon, South Korea from June to December 2018. Molecular epidemiology was investigated by multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequence analysis were performed to identify chromosomal mutations in the quinolone resistance determining regions (QRDR) of gyrA, gyrB, parC, and parE and to describe the occurrence of the following plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) genes: aac(6)-Ib-cr, qepA, qnrA, qnrB, qnrC, qnrD, and qnrS. MLST analysis showed 12 sequence types (STs) and the most prevalent ST was ST131 (31/56, 55.4%), followed by ST1193 (13/56, 23.2%), and ST405 (3/56, 5.4%). In 56 ciprofloxacin-resistant E. coli isolates, Ser83→Leu and Asp87→Asn in gyrA and Ser80→Ile and Glu84→Val in parC (51.8%, 29/56) were the most frequent amino acid substitutions and aac(6)-Ib-cr (33.9%, 19/56) was the most common PMQR gene. These results of FQ resistance determinants were more frequently observed in ST131 compared with other clones. Continuous monitoring of the epidemiological characteristics of ciprofloxacin-resistant E. coli isolates and further investigation of FQ resistance determinants are necessary.