• ALGAE
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.277-287
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• 2016

Five fractions separated from Nannochloropsis oculata using solvent-solvent partition chromatography of 80% methanolic extract of N. oculata (NOM) followed by the open silica column chromatography of its hexane fraction (NOMH) for the anti-inflammatory on RAW 264.7 cells and anti-cancer activities on HL-60, A-549, HEP-3B, HCT-116, and SW-480 cancer cells. All the five fractions showed potential anti-inflammatory activities against lipopolysaccharide-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages cells with IC₅₀ values less than 6.25 μg mL⁻¹. Moreover, 90% n-hexane column elution of NOMH (NOMH90) down-regulated lipopolysaccharide-stimulated protein levels of inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase-2. Furthermore, NOMH90 showed marked cytotoxic effect on the HL-60 cells with IC₅₀ value of 23.58 ± 0.09 μg mL⁻¹. In addition, Hoechst 33342 cell permeable dye used to visualize the apoptosis nucleus and cell cycle analysis measured Sub-G1 DNA contents to confirm reduction of the cell viability in NOMH90 treated cells due to induction of apoptosis in HL60. These results are quite related to the phytosterol contents of the NOMH fractions and the results suggest N. oculata extracts might be useful as potential sources of natural anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer compounds. In conclusion, the sterol content in N. oculata might provide a promising role in future medicines in anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.133-141
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• 2007

The excavation damaged zone (EDZ) is an area around an excavation where in situ rock mass properties, stress condition, displacement, groundwater flow conditions have been altered due to the processes induced by the excavation. Various studies have been carried out on EDZ, but most studies have focused on the mechanical bahavior of EDZ by in situ experiment. Even though the EDZ could potentially form a high permeable pathway of groundwater flow, only a few studies were performed on the analysis of groundwater flow in EDZ. In this study, the 'hydraulic EDZ' was defined as the rock zone adjacent to the excavation where the hydraulic aperture has been changed due to the excavation by using H-M coupling analysis. Fundamental principles of distinct element method (DEM) were used in the analysis. In the same groundwater level, the behavior of hydraulic aperture near the cavern was analyzed for different stress ratios, initial apertures, fracture angles and fracture spacings by using a two-dimensional DEM program. We evaluate the excavation induced hydraulic aperture change. Using the results of the study, hydraulic EDZ was defined as an elliptical shape model perpendicular to the joint.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.9-20
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• 1991

The characteristics of the unconsolidated sediment in Gwangyang bay was analyzed from the core samples. The porosity of the sediment showed irregular variation with respect to the sedimentation depth, which indicated that sediment weight-induced consolidation was not significant. Numerical analysis for the mechanical and hydraulic behavior of the unconsolidated sediment due to the tidal sea level change was processed. Because of the delayed excessive pore pressure change in the very low permeable mud medium, the magnitude of the excessive pore pressure for the duration of the minimum sea level exceeded the total stress from the sea water weight, which resulted in the negative (tensional) effective stress below the top surface. The in-situ effective stress, obtained by superposing the tensional effective stress on the solid weight-induced compressive stress, was remained to be tensile (quick-sand condition) near the top surface of the mud deposit. The occurrence of the quirk-sand condition provided a theoretical evidence for the insignificant consolidation and the irregular porosity variation of the sediment. When the sand is distributed on the top surface of the mud layer, the quick-sand condition occurred below the sandy mud layer and the downward movement of sand particles was facilitated.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.69-81
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• 2009

This study was intended to evaluate the objective landscape of rural region using an additive integration index method in the Seondong region of Gochang-gun, Jeollabuk-do, Korea. This study consisted of the following three steps. First, this study developed an additive integration index calculation model for landscape assessment based on indicators and weight to each space type in accordance with three landscape fields which were developed by the expert Delphi method. Second, this study used NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) and permeable area rate, which were available from high resolution satellite image, to calculate the green naturality degree, area rate, and building coverage respectively. Third, this study has calculated the landscape assessment index of rural regions using an additive integration index method made of assessment data and weight for each indicator. This study has found the following results: 1) landscape level was very poor in all 6 types of space, marking grade five; 2) while the highest level of natural landscape and mixed landscape was grade two, that of artificial landscape was grade five; 3) based on objective landscape, grade five showed the highest frequency, and grade one, two, three, and four followed in that order.

• BMB Reports
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.297-302
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• 2016

Loss of pancreatic β-cells by oxidative stress or cytokines is associated with diabetes mellitus (DM). DJ-1 is known to as a multifunctional protein, which plays an important role in cell survival. We prepared cell permeable wild type (WT) and mutant type (M26I) Tat-DJ-1 proteins to investigate the effects of DJ-1 against combined cytokines (IL-1β, IFN-γ and TNF-α)-induced RINm5F cell death. Both Tat-DJ-1 proteins were transduced into RINm5F cells. WT Tat-DJ-1 proteins significantly protected against cell death from cytokines by reducing intracellular toxicities. Also, WT Tat-DJ-1 proteins markedly regulated cytokines-induced pro- and anti-apoptosis proteins. However, M26I Tat-DJ-1 protein showed relatively low protective effects, as compared to WT Tat-DJ-1 protein. Our experiments demonstrated that WT Tat-DJ-1 protein protects against cytokine-induced RINm5F cell death by suppressing intracellular toxicities and regulating apoptosisrelated protein expression. Thus, WT Tat-DJ-1 protein could potentially serve as a therapeutic agent for DM and cytokine related diseases.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.319-325
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• 2020

In this study, we developed mixed matrix membranes by blending thermoplastic elastomer, i.e. polystyreneblock-polybutadiene-block-polystyrene (SBS) block copolymer with the synthesized UiO-66 particles for CO₂/N₂ gas separation. To investigate the effect of UiO-66 particles in the SBS matrix, we prepared different mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) by varying the mass ratio of SBS and UiO-66 in the blend. To fabricate well-dispersed UiO-66, the SBS/UiO-66 mixture was sonicated and stirred thoroughly. The physico-chemical properties of prepared membranes were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The gas separation performance was measured by time-lag method. The permeability of the MMMs increased significantly as the content of UiO-66 increased, but the CO₂/N₂ selectivity did not decrease significantly. The membranes containing 20% of UiO-66 particles showed the best performance with the CO₂ permeability and CO₂/N₂ selectivity of 663.8 barrer and 13.3, respectively. This result showed performance closer to upper bound than pure SBS membrane in the Robeson plot, as the added UiO-66 particles did not significantly sacrifice selectivity and more than doubled gas permeability.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.77-82
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• 2000

Seven constructed and three natural tidal flats were compared to evaluate state-of- the-art of creation and restoration technology for tidal flats. parameters studied were physico-chemical and biological characteristics of soils and rate of respiration. The natural tidal flats had higher contents of silts, nitrogen and organic matter compared to the constructed ones. The natural ones had reductive Bone below 2 cm whereas the constructed ones had oxidative zone from the surface to below 20 cm. The bacterial population in the soil of the constructed tidal flats was one to two magnitudes lower than that in the natural ones. Biomass of macrobenthos and microbial respiration rate, however, were not different significantly between the natural and the constructed tidal flats. The purification capacity by diatom+bacterial+meiobenthos and macrobenthos in the constructed tidal flats was higher than that in the natural ones due to deeper permeable layer for purification in the constructed tidal flats. There was an exceptional constructed tidal flat with similar physico-chemical and biological characteristics to natural ones. Shearing stress to the surface of the tidal flat by the flow of seawater was as low as that of natural ones. These hydraulic conditions seemed to be a controlling factor on structures and functions of tidal flats. The control of hydraulic condition seemed to be one of the most important factors to create natural-like tidal flats.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.4 no.6
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• pp.445-453
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• 2000

The present investigation tested the hypothesis that the activation of protein kinase G (PKG) leads to a phosphorylation of $Ca^{2+}-activated$ potassium channel $(K_{Ca}\;channel)$ and is involved in the activation of $K_{Ca}$ channel activity in cerebral arterial smooth muscle cells of the rabbit. Single-channel currents were recorded in cell-attached and inside-out patch configurations of patch-clamp techniques. Both molsidomine derivative 3-morpholinosydnonimine-N-ethylcarbamide $(SIN-1,\;50\;{\mu}M)$ and 8-(4-Chlorophenylthio)-guanosine-3',5'-cyclic monophosphate $(8-pCPT-cGMP,\;100\;{\mu}M),$ a membrane-permeable analogue of cGMP, increased the $K_{Ca}$ channel activity in the cell-attached patch configuration, and the effect was removed upon washout of the drugs. In inside-out patches, single-channel current amplitude was not changed by SIN-1 and 8-pCPT-cGMP. Application of ATP $(100\;{\mu}M),$ cGMP $(100\;{\mu}M),$ ATP+cGMP $(100\;{\mu}M\;each),$ PKG $(5\;U/{\mu}l),$ ATP $(100\;{\mu}M)+PKG\;(5\;U/{\mu}l),$ or cGMP $(100\;{\mu}M)+PKG\;(5\;U/{\mu}l)$ did not increase the channel activity. ATP $(100\;{\mu}M)+cGMP\;(100\;{\mu}M)+PKG\;(5\;U/{\mu}l)$ added directly to the intracellular phase of inside-out patches increased the channel activity with no changes in the conductance. The heat-inactivated PKG had no effect on the channel activity, and the effect of PKG was inhibited by 8-(4-Chlorophenylthio)-guanosine-3',5'-cyclic monophosphate, Rp-isomer $(Rp-pCPT-cGMP,\;100\;{\mu}M),$ a potent inhibitor of PKG or protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A, 1 U/ml). In the presence of okadaic acid (OA, 5 nM), PP2A had no effect on the channel activity. The $K_{Ca}$ channel activity spontaneously decayed to the control level upon washout of ATP, cGMP and PKG, and this was prevented by OA (5 nM) in the medium. These results suggest that the PKG-mediated phosphorylations of $K_{Ca}$ channels, or some associated proteins in the membrane patch increase the activity of the $K_{Ca}$ channel, and the activation may be associated with the vasodilating action.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.225-231
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• 1997

As it has been reported that the depolarization-induced norepinephrine (NE) release is modulated by activation of presynaptic $A_1-adenosine$ heteroreceptor and various lines of evidence indicate the involvement of adenylate cyclase system in $A_1-adenosine$ post-receptor mechanism in hippocampus, it was attempted to delineate the role of adenylate cyclase system in the $A_1-receptor-mediated$ control of NE release in this study. Slices from rat hippocampus were equilibrated with $[^3H]-NE$ and the release of the labelled products was evoked by electrical stimulation.(3 Hz, $5Vcm^{-1}$, 2 ms, rectangular pulses). The influence of various agents on the evoked tritium-outflow was investigated. $N^6-Cyclopentyladenosine$ (CPA), a specific $A_1-adenosine$ receptor agonist, in concentrations Tanging from 0.1 to $10{\mu}M$ decreased the $[^3H]-NE$ release in a dose-dependent mauler without any change of basal rate of release. 8-Cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine (DPCPX, $2{\mu}M$), a selective $A_1-receptor$ antagonist, inhibited the CPA effect. The responses to N-ethylmaleimide $(3&10{\mu}M)$, a SH-alkylating agent of G-protein, were characterized by increments of the evoked NE-release and the CPA effects were completely abolished by NEM pretreatment. Forskolin, a specific adenylate cyclase activator, in concentrations ranging from 0.1 to $30{\mu}M$ increased the evoked and basal rate of NE release in a dose-dependent manner and the CPA effects were inhibited by forskolin pretreatment. Rolipram $(1&10{\mu}M)$, a phosphodiesterase inhibitor, did not affect the evoked NE release but reduced the CPA effect. And 8-bromo-cAMP $(100&300{\mu}M)$, a membrane permeable cAMP analogue inhibited the CPA effect significantly. These results suggest that the $A_1-adenosine$ heteroreceptor plays an important role in NE-release via nucleotide-binding protein $G_i$ in the rat hippocampus and that the adenylate cyclase system might be participated in this process.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.272-278
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• 2016

Porous pavements are recommended as a Low-Impact Development (LID) method which is a strategy to develop a water cycle as close to a natural state as possible, and to solve the urban impervious surface problems. Porous pavements can yield a solution if it provides a more permeable surface with extra space to contain extra water from building roofs. But there are few applications in Korea because of a lack of recognition and experience. Highway engineers are mainly concerned about the infiltration of water into pavement structures. They worry about the weakening of the asphalt mixture and subgrade, and freezing during the winter season due to the infiltration of water. Meanwhile, hydrological experts doubt the effects of the amount of water to control during the flooding season, and environmental experts prefer a non-point pollution treatment system established beside highway. In this study, from reviewing the history and the body of literature about porous pavements, conclusions regarding the most advanced technologies were made. First, traditional thickness designs can be used for porous pavement, no extra distresses was found by weakening and freezing during the winter season. Second, hydrological design can be made by controlling the thickness of the pavement and the outlet of water. Third, the treatment efficiency of non-point pollution of porous pavements is not worse than any other method. Importantly, it's a more eco-friendly solution because of its lower requirement for de-icing agents.