• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제28권6호
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• pp.929-935
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• 2007

The objective of this study was to develop a rapid, simple, and qualitative acetylcholinesterase (AChE)- detection kit, based on a modification of the Ellman and ELISA methods, for the detection of organophosphorus (OP) and carbamate (CB) pesticide. The developed kits were used to screen a large number of agricultural samples (spiked and real) for OP and CB pesticide residues. AChE was extracted from the heads of honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) using Triton X-100, and was purified through 3 steps: diethylaminoethylcellulose chromatography (DEAE), affinity chromatography and membrane filtering, and Mono-Q column chromatography. Epoxy-activated Sepharose 6B affinity chromatography was used for large-scale purification. The presence of OP and CB pesticide residues in agricultural samples was assayed on the basis of AchE inhibition value. The presence (6 bands) or absence of some colored bands on the test line indicated a negative or positive result, respectively. The limits of detection for measured organophosphorus (OP) and carbamates (CB) pesticide residues in standard pesticide solutions and fortified samples were ranged from 0.50 to 2.50 ppm and 0.50 to 4.75 ppm, respectively.

• 수산해양교육연구
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• 제29권2호
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• pp.513-525
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• 2017

In the estimation of the exploitable carrying capacity (ECC) in the Korean water of the East China Sea, two approaches, which are the ecosystem modeling method (EMM) and the holistic production method (HPM), were applied. The EMM is accomplished by Ecopath with Ecosim model using a number of ecological data and fishery catch for each species group, which was categorized by a self-organizing mapping (SOM) based on eight biological characteristics of species. In this method, the converged value during the Ecosim simulation by setting the instantaneous rate of fishing mortality (F) as zero was estimated as the ECC of each group. The HPM is to use surplus production models for estimateing ECC. The ECC estimates were 4.6 and 5.1 million mt (mmt) from EMM and HPM, respectiverly. The estimate from the EMM has a considerable uncertainty due to the lack of confidence in input ecological parameters, especially production/biomass ratio (P/B) and consumption/biomass ratio (Q/B). However, ECC from the HPM was estimated on the basis of relatively fewer assumptions and long time-series fishery data as input, so the estimate from the HPM is regarded as more reasonable estimate of ECC, although the ECC estimate could be considerd as a preliminary one. The quality of input data should be improved for the future study of the ECC to obtain more reliable estimate.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• 제41권1호
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• pp.10-22
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• 2017

Background: Asian ginseng and American ginseng are functional foods that share a close genetic relationship and are well-known worldwide. This article aims to investigate the correlation between morphological characteristics and the inherent quality of Asian and American ginsengs. Methods: In this study, an ultra-HPLC-quadrupole/time-of-flight MS (UHPLC-Q/TOF-MS) method was established for the quantitative analysis of 45 ginseng samples. The method developed for determination was precise and accurate. Results: The results showed that Asian ginseng samples with the same growing time (with the same or similar number of stem scars) that had a thinner main root, a longer rhizome and more branch roots contained greater amounts of ginsenosides. For American ginseng, two tendencies were observed in the relationship between the diameter of the main root and contents of ginsenosides. One tendency was that samples with thinner main roots tended to contain higher levels of ginsenosides, which was observed in the samples sold under the commercial name pao-shen. Another tendency was that samples with thicker main roots contained higher contents of ginsenosides, which was observed in the samples sold under the commercial name pao-mian, as well as in samples of American ginseng cultivated in Jilin, China. Conclusion: An approach using ultra-HPLC-quadrupole/time-of-flight MS was successfully established to link morphology and active components for evaluating the quality of Asian and American ginsengs. Clear correlation between visible morphological features and quality of Asian and American ginsengs was found. People can see the difference; this means consumers and vendors can evaluate ginseng by themselves.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• 제8권3호
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• pp.103-107
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• 2010

The imputation of untyped SNPs enables researchers to validate association findings across SNP arrays and also enables them to test a large number of SNPs to reveal the fine structure of the association peak, facilitating interpretation of the results and the location of causal polymorphisms. In this study, we applied the imputation method to a genomewide association study and recapitulated the previously associated gene loci of blood pressure traits in Korean cohorts. A total of 1,827,004 SNPs were imputed by the IMPUTE program, and we conducted a genomewide association study for systolic and diastolic blood pressure. While no SNPs passed the Bonferroni correction p-value (p=$2.74{\times}10^{-8}$ for 1,827,004 SNPs), 12 novel loci for systolic blood pressure and 16 novel loci for diastolic blood pressure were detected by imputed SNPs, with $10^{-5}$ < p-value < $10^{-4}$. Moreover, 7 regions (ATP2B1, 10p15.1, ARHGEF12, ALX4, LIPC, 7q31.1, and TCF7L2) out of 14 genetic loci that were previously reported revealed that the imputed SNPs had lower p-values than those of genotyped SNPs. Moreover, a nonsynonymous SNP in the CSMD1 gene, one of the 14 genes, was found to be associated with systolic blood pressure (p<0.05). These results suggest that the imputation method can facilitate the discovery of novel SNPs as well as enhance the fine structure of the association peak in the loci.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제18권5호
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• pp.958-963
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• 2008

A series of experiments were conducted to assess the effectiveness of rhizobacteria containing 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase for growth promotion of peas under drought conditions. Ten rhizobacteria isolated from the rhizosphere of different crops (peas, wheat, and maize) were screened for their growth promoting ability in peas under axenic condition. Three rhizobacterial isolates, Pseudomonas fluorescens biotype G (ACC-5), P. fluorescens (ACC-14), and P. putida biotype A (Q-7), were selected for pot trial on the basis of their source, ACC deaminase activity, root colonization, and growth promoting activity under axenic conditions. Inoculated and uninoculated (control) seeds of pea cultivar 2000 were sown in pots (4 seeds/pot) at different soil moisture levels (25, 50, 75, and 100% of field capacity). Results revealed that decreasing the soil moisture levels from 100 to 25% of field capacity significantly decreased the growth of peas. However, inoculation of peas with rhizobacteria containing ACC deaminase significantly decreased the "drought stress imposed effects" on growth of peas, although with variable efficacy at different moisture levels. At the lowest soil moisture level (25% field capacity), rhizobacterial isolate Pseudomonas fluorescens biotype G (ACC-5) was found to be more promising compared with the other isolates, as it caused maximum increases in fresh weight, dry weight, root length, shoot length, number of leaves per plant, and water use efficiency on fresh and dry weight basis (45, 150, 92, 45, 140, 46, and 147%, respectively) compared with respective uninoculated controls. It is highly likely that rhizobacteria containing ACC deaminase might have decreased the drought-stress induced ethylene in inoculated plants, which resulted in better growth of plants even at low moisture levels. Therefore, inoculation with rhizobacteria containing ACC deaminase could be helpful in eliminating the inhibitory effects of drought stress on the growth of peas.

• Toxicological Research
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• 제21권3호
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• pp.209-218
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• 2005

We investigated effects of recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) on profiles of mRNA transcripts in 6 male cynomolgus (M. fascicularis) monkey's spleen for 4 weeks. Six monkeys, composed of control and treatment group (Control : M1, M2, M3: Treatment : M4, M5, M6) were intravenously administered 3 times per week without or with a dose of rHuEPO 2730 IU/0.1 ml/kg. After 4 weeks rHuEPO treatment, spleen was removed for RNA isolation. Splenic gene expression was assessed using Affymetrix U133A 2.0 arrays containing 18,400 transcripts and variants, including 14,500 well-characterized human genes. Gene expression pattern was very different between individuals even in same treatment. In rHuEPO treated groups showed number of genes were up- or down-regulated (M4: 79: M5: 48; M6: 73 genes). Six genes (epidermal growth factor receptor, calgranulin A, estrogen receptor binding site associated antigen, matrix metalloproteinase 19, zinc finger and BTB domain containing 16, progestin and adipoQ receptor) were commonly expressed in rHuEPO treated group. The different individual response could be major considering factor in monkey experiment. Further study is needed to clarify the different individual response to rHuEPO in molecular level. This study will be valuable in the fundamental understanding and validation of molecular toxicology for bio-generic drugs including rHuEPO in cynomolgus monkey.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제11권1호
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• pp.35-50
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• 2008

Wind and temperature have been shown to be the critical sources causing changes in the modal properties of large-scale bridges. While the individual effects of wind and temperature on modal variability have been widely studied, the investigation about the effects of multiple environmental factors on structural modal properties was scarcely reported. This paper addresses the modeling of the simultaneous effects of wind and temperature on the modal frequencies of an instrumented cable-stayed bridge. Making use of the long-term monitoring data from anemometers, temperature sensors and accelerometers, a neural network model is formulated to correlate the modal frequency of each vibration mode with wind speed and temperature simultaneously. Research efforts have been made on enhancing the prediction capability of the neural network model through optimal selection of the number of hidden nodes and an analysis of relative strength of effect (RSE) for input reconstruction. The generalization performance of the formulated model is verified with a set of new testing data that have not been used in formulating the model. It is shown that using the significant components of wind speeds and temperatures rather than the whole measurement components as input to neural network can enhance the prediction capability. For the fundamental mode of the bridge investigated, wind and temperature together apply an overall negative action on the modal frequency, and the change in wind condition contributes less to the modal variability than the change in temperature.

• Animal cells and systems
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• 제5권2호
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• pp.153-156
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• 2001

A key aspect of genomic research in the “post-genome era”is to associate sequence variations with heritable phenotypes. The most common variations in the human genome are single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that occur approximately once in every 500 to 1,000 bases. Although analyzing the phenotypic outcome of these SNPs is crucial to facilitate large-scale association studies of genetic diseases, detection of SNPs from an extended number of human DNA samples is often difficult, labor-intensive and time-consuming. Recent development in SNP detection methods using DNA microarrays and mass spectrophotometry has allowed automated high throughput analyses, but such equipments are not accessible to many scientists. In this study, we demonstrate that a simple PCR-based method using primers with a mismatched base at the 3'-end provides a fast and easy tool to identify known SNPs from human genomic DNA in a regular molecular biology laboratory. Results from this PCR amplification of specific alleles (PASA) analysis efficiently and accurately typed the Q576R polymorphism of human IL4 receptor from the genomic DNAs of 29 Koreans, including 9 samples whose genotype could not be discerned by the conventiona1 PCR-SSCP (single strand conformation polymorphism) method. Given the increasing attention to disease-associated polymorphisms in genomic research, this alternative technique will be very useful to identify SNPs in large-scale population studies.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제30권3호
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• pp.281-292
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• 2019

In this paper, analysis of critical fluid velocity and heat transfer in the nanocomposite pipes conveying nanofluid is presented. The pipe is reinforced by carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and the fluid is mixed by $AL_2O_3$ nanoparticles. The material properties of the nanocomposite pipe and nanofluid are considered temperature-dependent and the structure is subjected to magnetic field. The forces of fluid viscosity and turbulent pressure are obtained using momentum equations of fluid. Based on energy balance, the convection of inner and outer fluids, conduction of pipe and heat generation are considered. For mathematical modeling of the nanocomposite pipes, the first order shear deformation theory (FSDT) and energy method are used. Utilizing the Lagrange method, the coupled pipe-nanofluid motion equations are derived. Applying a semi-analytical method, the motion equations are solved for obtaining the critical fluid velocity and critical Reynolds and Nusselt numbers. The effects of CNTs volume percent, $AL_2O_3$ nanoparticles volume percent, length to radius ratio of the pipe and shell surface roughness were shown on the critical fluid velocity, critical Reynolds and Nusselt numbers. The results are validated with other published work which shows the accuracy of obtained results of this work. Numerical results indicate that for heat generation of $Q=10MW/m^3$, adding 6% $AL_2O_3$ nanoparticles to the fluid increases 20% the critical fluid velocity and 15% the Nusselt number which can be useful for heat exchangers.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• 제23권1호
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• pp.21-28
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• 2019

Swertiamarin (STM) is an iridoid compound that is present in the Gentianaceae swertia genus. Here we investigated antiapoptotic effects of STM on carbon tetrachloride ($CCl_4$)-induced liver injury and its possible mechanisms. Adult male Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into a control group, an STM 200 mg/kg group, a $CCl_4$ group, a $CCl_4+STM$ 100 mg/kg group, and a $CCl_4+STM$ 200 mg/kg group. Rats in experimental groups were subcutaneously injected with 40% $CCl_4$ twice weekly for 8 weeks. STM (100 and 200 mg/kg per day) was orally given to experimental rats by gavage for 8 consecutive weeks. Hepatocyte apoptosis was determined by TUNEL assay and the expression levels of Bcl-2, Bax, and cleaved caspase-3 proteins were evaluated by western blot analysis. The expression of $TGF-{\beta}1$, collagen I, collagen III, CTGF and fibronectin mRNA were estimated by qRT-PCR. The results showed that STM significantly reduced the number of TUNEL-positive cells compared with the $CCl_4$ group. The levels of Bax and cleaved caspase-3 proteins, and $TGF-{\beta}1$, collagen I, collagen III, CTGF, and fibronectin mRNA were significantly reduced by STM compared with the $CCl_4$ group. In addition, STM markedly abrogated the repression of Bcl-2 by $CCl_4$. STM also attenuated the activation of the PI3K/Akt pathway in the liver. These results suggested that STM ameliorated $CCl_4$-induced hepatocyte apoptosis in rats.