• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.65-71
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• 2015

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) and reversible airway obstruction. Methacholine (MCh) is widely used in broncho-provocation test to evaluate airway resistance. For experimental investigation, ovalbumin-induced sensitization is frequently used in rodents (Ova-asthma). However, albeit the inflammatory histology and AHR in vivo, it remains unclear whether the MCh sensitivity of airway smooth muscle isolated from Ova-asthma is persistently changed. In this study, the contractions of airways in precision-cut lung slices (PCLS) from control, Ova-asthma, and IL-13 overexpressed transgenic mice (IL-13TG) were compared by analyzing the airway lumen space (AW). The airway resistance in vivo was measured using plethysmograph. AHR and increased inflammatory cells in BAL fluid were confirmed in Ova-asthma and IL-13TG mice. In the PCLS from all three groups, MCh concentration-dependent narrowing of airway lumen (${\Delta}AW$) was observed. In contrast to the AHR in vivo, the $EC_{50}$ of MCh for ${\Delta}AW$ from Ova-asthma and IL-13TG were not different from control, indicating unchanged sensitivity to MCh. Although the AW recovery upon MCh-washout showed sluggish tendency in Ova-asthma, the change was also statistically insignificant. Membrane depolarization-induced ${\Delta}AW$ by 60 mM $K^+$ (60K-contraction) was larger in IL-13TG than control, whereas 60K-contraction of Ova-asthma was unaffected. Furthermore, serotonin-induced ${\Delta}AW$ of Ova-asthma was smaller than control and IL-13TG. Taken together, the AHR in Ova-asthma and IL-13TG are not reflected in the contractility of isolated airways from PCLS. The AHR of the model animals seems to require intrinsic agonists or inflammatory microenvironment that is washable during tissue preparation.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.295-301
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• 2011

Aquaporin is a water channel protein, which is classified as Major Intrinsic Protein (MIP), found in almost all organisms from bacteria to human. To date, more than 200 members of this family were identified. There are two major categories of MIP channels, orthodox aquaporins and aquaglyceroporins, which facilitate the diffusion across biological membranes of water or glycerol and other uncharged compounds, respectively. The full genome sequencing of various fungal species revealed 3 to 5 aquaporins in their genome. Although some functions of aquaporins found in yeast were characterized, however, no functional characteristics were studied so far in filamentous fungi, including Aspergillus sp. In this study, one orthodox aquaporin homolog gene, aqpA, and four aquaglyceroporin homologs, aqpB-E, in a model filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans were identified and the function of the aqpA gene was characterized. Knock-out of the aqpA gene didn't show any obvious phenotypic change under the osmotic stress, indicating that the function of the gene does not involved in the osmotic stress response or the function could be redundant. However, the mutant showed antifungal susceptibility resistance phenotype, suggesting that the function of the aqpA gene could be involved in sensing the antifungal substances rather than the osmotic stress response.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.337-340
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• 2005

Fourteen strains out of fifty six strains of lactic acid bacteria isolated from Kimchi showed a resistance to artificial gastric juice. In particular, lactobacilli AK 3, AK 7, BK 28, and DK 37 showed a strong resistance and their viable cell counts of the initial stage were no change after the 2 hours cultivation in an artificial gastric juice. All five lactic acid bacteria were used as starters in producing yogurts. The physicochemical characteristics of yogurts were examined. The original pH, titratable acidity, visicosity and viable cell counts of yogurts were $3.78{\sim}4.32,\;0.96{\sim}1.41%,\;1,659{\sim}2,348\;cps\;and\;1.1{\times}10^9{\sim}2.1{\times}10^9cfu/mL$, respectively. The ${\beta}-galactosidase$ activity reached maximum at 48 hr, and reduced gradually during incubation.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.92-98
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• 2010

Ferritic stainless steels, which have relatively small thermal expansion coefficient and excellent corrosion resistance, are increasingly being used in vehicle manufacturing, in order to increase the lifetime of exhaust manifold parts. But, there are limits on use because of the problem related to cosmetic resistance, corrosions of condensation and high temperature salt etc. So, Aluminum-coated stainless steel instead of ferritic stainless steel are utilized in these parts due to the improved properties. In this investigation, Al-8wt% Si alloy coated 409L ferritic stainless steel was used as the base metal during Gas Tungsten Arc(GTA) welding. The effects of coated layer on the microstructure and hardness were investigated. Full penetration was obtained, when the welding current was higher than 90A and the welding speed was lower than 0.52m/min. Grain size was the largest in fusion zone and decreased from near HAZ to base metal. As welding speed increased, grain size of fusion zone decreased, and there was no big change in HAZ. Hardness had a peak value in the fusion zone and decreased from the bond line to the base metal. The highest hardness in the fusion zone resulted from the fine re-precipitation of the coarse TiN and Ti(C, N) existed in the base metal during melting and solidification process and the presence of fine $Al_2O_3$ and $SiO_2$ formed by the migration of the elements, Al and Si, from the melted coating layer into the fusion zone.

• The Journal of Korea Institute of Information, Electronics, and Communication Technology
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.438-443
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• 2021

This paper uses a multiplex deposition sputter system and aims to improve transmittance and reduce production costs by depositing a CdS thin film on an ITO glass substrate. When manufacturing CdS thin films, we wanted to find excellent conditions when manufacturing solar cells by changing heat treatment time. It was observed that thickness and sheet resistance were not significantly different depending on heat treatment time changes. The specific resistance was measured from a minimum of 6.68 to a maximum of 6.98. When the heat treatment time was more than 20 minutes, the transmittance was measured to be more than 75%. When the heat treatment time was 10 minutes, the bandgap was 3.665 eV and more than 20 minutes was 3.713 eV, which was measured as the same result. The XRD analysis showed that the structure of CdS was hexagonal and only CdS thin films were deposited without any other impurities. The result of calculating the FWHM was a maximum of 0.142 when the heat treatment time was 20 minutes, and a minimum of 0.133 when the heat treatment time was 40 minutes, so there was no significant difference in the FWHM when the heat treatment time was changed. The particle size was measured at 11.65 Å when the heat treatment time was 40 minutes, and at 10.93 Å when the heat treatment time was 20 minutes.

• Journal of The Korean Society For Urban Railway
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.383-392
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• 2018

This study investigated the change of additional axial stress of rail and reaction force at bridge bearings due to the track-bridge interaction when laying CWR on non-ballasted railway bridges including truss bridges with relatively long span. According to the results of the present study, additional axial stresses of rail and reaction forces at bridge bearings showed a large increase when CWR is installed on the non-ballasted railway bridge. The additional axial stress of rail can be acceptable if sufficient lateral resistance can be obtained. However, if the reaction force increases, there is a risk of damage of the bearing or pier, and therefore, it is necessary to take measures to mitigate the reaction force. It is found that additional axial stress of rail decreases when considering the frictional resistance of the bridge movable support, but its effect on the bearing reaction force is very small. On the other hand, when the longitudinal track restraint decreases, both additional axial stress of rail and bearing reaction force are reduced to a large extent. Also, when the ZLR fastening devices are applied to the region where the additional axial stress of rail is highest, bearing reaction force as well as additional axial stress of rail greatly decreased. Therefore, the application of ZLR fastening devices with the reduction of the longitudinal track restraints is very effective for installing CWR on non-ballasted railway bridges.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.65-74
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• 2021

With recent innovations in the ICT industry, the demand for wearable sensing devices to recognize and respond to biological signals has increased. In this study, a three-dimensional (3D) spacer fabric was embedded in a single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) dispersive solution through a simple penetration process to develop a monolayer piezoresistive pressure sensor. To induce electrical conductivity in the 3D spacer fabric, samples were immersed in the SWCNT dispersive solution and dried. To determine the electrical properties of the impregnated specimen, a universal testing machine and multimeter were used to measure the resistance of the pressure change. Moreover, to examine the changes in the electrical properties of the sensor, its performance was evaluated by varying the concentration, number of penetrations, and thickness of the specimen. Samples that penetrated twice in the SWCNT distributed solution of 0.1 wt% showed the best performance as sensors. The 7-mm thick sensors showed the highest GF, and the 13-mm thick sensors showed the widest operating range. This study confirms the effectiveness of the simple process of fabricating smart textile sensors comprising 3D spacer fabrics and the excellent performance of the sensors.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.810-818
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• 2021

A leakage current of ESS is classified mainly by the occurrence from a PCS(Power Conditioning System) section and an unbalanced grid current. The reason for the leakage current from the PCS section is a voltage change by IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) switching and stray capacitance between the IGBT and heatsink. The leakage current caused by the grid unbalanced current flows to the ESS through the neutral line of grid-connected transformer for the ESS with a three limb iron type of Yg-wire connection. This paper proposes a mechanism for the occurrence of leakage current caused by stray capacitance, which is calculated using the heatsink formula, from the aspect of the PCS section and grid unbalance current. Based on the proposed mechanisms, this study presents the modeling of the leakage current occurrence using PSCAD/EMTDC S/W and evaluates the characteristics of leakage currents from the PCS section and grid unbalanced current. From the simulation result, the leakage current has a large influence on the battery side by confirming that the leakage current from the PCS is increased from 7[mA] to 34[mA], and the leakage current from an unbalanced load to battery housing is increased from 3.96[mA] to 10.76[mA] according to the resistance of the housings and the magnitude of the ground resistance.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.47-56
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• 2021

Plants protect against viruses through passive and active resistance mechanisms, and in most cases characterized thus far, natural recessive resistance to potyviruses has been mapped to mutations in the eukaryotic initiation factor eIF4E or eIF(iso)4E genes. Five eIF4E copies and three eIF(iso)4E copies were detected in Brassica rapa. The eIF4E and eIF(iso)4E genes could interact with turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) viral protein linked to the genome (VPg) to initiate virus translation. From the yeast two-hybrid system (Y2H) and bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) assays, the TuMV-CHN2/CHN3 VPgs could not interact with BraA.eIF4E.a/c or BraA.eIF(iso)4E.c, but they could interact with BraA.eIF(iso)4E.a in B. rapa. Further analysis indicated that the amino acid substitution L186F (nt T556C) in TuMV-UK1 VPg was important for the interaction networks between the TuMV VPg and eIF(iso)4E proteins. An interaction model of the BraA. eIF(iso)4E protein with TuMV VPg was constructed to infer the effect of the significant amino acids on the interaction of TuMV VPgs-eIF(iso)4Es, particularly whether the L186F in TuMV-UK1 VPg could change the structure of the TuMV-UK1 VPg protein, which may terminate the interaction of the BraA.eIF(iso)4E and TuMV VPg protein. This study provides new insights into the interactions between plant viruses and translation initiation factors to reveal the working of key amino acids.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.102-113
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• 2023

This review discusses the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which the endometrial estrogen and progesterone receptors regulate local estrogen production, expression of the specific estrogen receptors, progesterone resistance, inflammatory responses and the differentiation and survival of endometriotic cells in endometrial inflammation. The epigenetic aberrations of endometrial stromal cells play an important role in the pathogenesis and progression of endometriosis. In particular, differential methylation of the estrogen receptor genes changes in the stromal cells the dominancy of estrogen receptor from ERα into ERβ, and results in the abnormal estrogen responses including inflammation, progesterone resistance and the disturbance of retinoid synthesis. These stromal cells also stimulate local estrogen production in response to PGE2 and the SF-1 mediated induction of steroidogenic enzyme expression, and the increased estradiol then feeds back into the ERβ to repeat the vicious inflammatory cycle through the activation of COX-2. In addition, high levels of ERβ expression may also change the chromatin structure of endometrial mesenchymal stem cells, and together with the repeated menstrual cycles can induce formation of the endometriotic tissue. The cascade of these serial events then leads to cell adhesion, angiogenesis and survival of the differentiation-disregulated stromal cells through the action of inflammatory factors such as ERβ-mediated estrogen, TNF-α and TGF-β1. Therefore, understanding of the dynamic hormonal changes during the menstrual cycle and the corresponding signal transduction mechanisms of the related nuclear receptors in endometrium would provide new insights for treating inflammatory diseases such as the endometriosis.