• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.308-313
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of Oja-Shingiwhan(OS) in contracted corpus cavernosum smooth muscle and its mechanism. To evaluate the relaxation of OS in contracted corpus cavernosum, OS was treated in strips which were precontracted with phenylephrine(PE). To examine its mechanism, OS was treated into corporal strips contracted by PE after pretreatment of Nω-nitro-L-arginine(L-NNA) and compared with non-pretreatment of _L-NNA. In calcium chloride(Ca²⁺)-free krebs solution, Ca²⁺ 1 mM was treated into corporal strips contracted by PE after pretreatment of OS and compared with non-pretreatment of OS. action were measured by histochemical, immunohistochemical methods. OS significantly affected on the relaxation of corporal strips, and the relaxation effects were inhibited by pretreatment of L-NNA. Contractions induced by Ca²⁺ influx were inhibited by pretreatment of OS in Ca²⁺-free krebs solution. OS increased eNOS positive reaction in corpus cavernosum, but decreased PDE-5 positive reaction. These result suggest that the effect of OS in contracted corpus cavernosum smooth muscle are shown by suppressing extracellular Ca²⁺ influx and increase of eNOS, NO production and decrease of PDE-5.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.169-174
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• 2017

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect and action mechanism of quercetin on penile corpus cavernosum smooth muscle (PCCSM). PCCSM precontracted with phenylephrine (Phe) was treated with four different concentrations of quercetin ($10^{-7}$, $10^{-6}$, $10^{-5}$ and $10^{-4}M$). PCCSM were preincubated with N-Nitro-L-arginine methyl ester hydrochloride (L-NAME) and 1H-[1,2,4]oxadiazolo[4,3-a]quinoxalin-1-one (ODQ) to block nitric oxide synthase and guanylate cyclase, respectively. The changes in PCCSM tension were recorded, and cyclic nucleotides in the perfusate were measured by radioimmunoassay. The interactions of quercetin with phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (PDE5-Is) such as sildenafil, udenafil and mirodenafil, were also evaluated. PCCSM relaxation induced by quercetin occurred in a concentrationdependent manner. The application of quercetin to PCCSM pre-treated with L-NAME and ODQ significantly inhibited the relaxation. Quercetin significantly increased cGMP in the perfusate. Furthermore, quercetin enhanced PDE5-Is-induced relaxation of PCCSM. Quercetin relaxed the PCCSM by activating the NO-cGMP signaling pathway, and it may be a therapeutic candidate or an alternative treatment for patients with erectile dysfunction who do not completely respond to PDE5-Is.

• The Korean Journal of Applied Statistics
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.665-679
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• 2017

When measuring productive efficiency, often it is necessary to have knowledge of the production frontier function that shows the maximum possible output of production units as a function of inputs. Canonical parametric forms of the frontier function were initially considered under the framework of stochastic frontier model; however, several additional nonparametric methods have been developed over the last decade. Efforts have been recently made to impose shape constraints such as monotonicity and concavity on the non-parametric estimation of the frontier function; however, most existing methods along that direction suffer from unnecessary non-smooth points of the frontier function. In this paper, we propose methods to estimate the smooth frontier function with monotonicity for stochastic frontier models and investigate the effect of imposing a monotonicity constraint into the estimation of the frontier function and the finite dimensional parameters of the model. Simulation studies suggest that imposing the constraint provide better performance to estimate the frontier function, especially when the sample size is small or moderate. However, no apparent gain was observed concerning the estimation of the parameters of the error distribution regardless of sample size.

• Journal of KIISE:Software and Applications
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• v.28 no.10
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• pp.699-705
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• 2001

As it became possible to generate 3D sound on a PC environment due to the advances in computing performance and digital signal processing technology, 3D sound technology gains its focus in the multimedia area Specifically a two-channel based 3D sound technology is being studied by many researchers because of its space efficiency and economical structure. While the positional sound effect is simple in its implementation, the moving sound effect has many problems to be resolved as there are only discrete measured point of HRTF database. In this paper, we propose the method of generating smooth moving sound in a two-channel based 3D sound technique with respect to generating smooth trajectory, and the interpolation method of discrete measured HRTF data. We perform the tests in the PC environment and prove the utility of the proposed method.

• Design & Manufacturing
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.13-17
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• 2018

It was analyzed and experimented on the change of the material thickness according to the size of the "R" of the punch and die corners using the material of SCP-1 0.25mm As a result, the following conclusions were obtained. Tensile strength analysis and safety analysis of materials are very important process for each process in strip layout, and Through this, the Influx of material and the deformation of the material were found. As a result of safety analysis and tensile thickness analysis, when the corner R of the punch was 0.3 mm and the edge R of the die was 1.0 mm The inflow of the material was not smooth, and the thickness of the corner part became 0.2 mm, causing cracks. when the corner R of the punch was 0.5 mm and the edge R of the die was 1.5 mm The inflow of the material was smooth, The thickness of the corners of the product is 0.21mm and It was considered that cracks do not occur when the thickness of the bottom surface and the body part becomes thin. The results obtained by applying the results obtained from the analysis, In Experimental Condition 1, a crack occurred in the same part of the analysis In Experimental Condition 2, the flow of the material was smooth and the drawing processing could be performed without generating cracks.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.2 s.82
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• pp.204-210
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• 2007

Previous reports indicated that the carboxyl terminal residues, glutamine276-threonine277 in particular, were important for actin affinity of the unacetylated smooth ${\alpha}-tropomyosin$. To determine the role of the glutamine and threonine residues in C-terminal region in actin binding, we constructed mutant striated muscle ${\alpha}-tropomyosin$ (TMs), in which these two residues were individually substituted. These mutant tropomyosins, designated TM18 (HT) and TM19 (QA), were overexpressed in E. coli as an either unacetylated form or Ala-Ser. (AS) dipeptide fusion form, and were analyzed F-actin affinity by cosedimentation. Unacetylated TM19 (QA) bound to actin approximately three times stronger than TM18 (HT) and much stronger than ST (HA). AS/TM19 (QA) showed four times stronger, in actin affinity than AS/ST (HA) while AS/TM14 (QT) bound to actin stronger to some extent than AS/TM18 (HT). These results suggested that the presence of Gln residue at 276 be primarily attributed to higher actin affinity of smooth ${\alpha}-tropomyosin$.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.44-50
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• 2006

We investigated the possible role of p38 MAPK and $ET_B$ receptors in ET-1 induction of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and prostaglandin $E_2$ ($PGE_2$) in cultured feline esophageal smooth muscle cells (ESMC). Confluent layers of ESMC were stimulated with 10 nM ET-1 and expression of COX-1 and COX-2, involvement of receptors, and activation of p38 MAPK, were examined by Western blot analysis. Levels of $PGE_2$ induced by ET-1 were measured by Elisa. Using $ET_A$and $ET_B$ antagonists (BQ-123 and BQ-788, respectively), the contribution of the ET receptors to COX-1 and COX-2 expression induced by ET-1 was determined. Western blot analysis revealed that treatment of ESMC with ET-1 resulted in transient expression of COX-2 and activation of p38 MAPK. Activation of p38 MAPK was maximal after 1 h. SB202190, a p38 MAPK inhibitor, reduced expression of COX-2, but not COX-1. ET-1-induced release of $PGE_2$ was also blocked by SB202190. COX-2 expression was upregulated only via the $ET_B$ receptor, and COX-1 expression was not affected by either antagonist. Taken together, our data suggest that ET-1 causes p38 MAPK-dependent expression of COX-2 by interacting with $ET_B$ receptors on ESMC.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.116-120
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• 2011

Abnormal proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) plays an important role in the development and progression of proliferative cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension and atherosclerosis. To find antiproliferative agent (A)-8 had inhibitory effect on VSMCs proliferation. Therefore, we examined the antiproliferative effect of A-8, a newly synthesized obovatol derivative. To investigate the antiproliferative effect of A-8, we examined cell counting and [$^3H$]-thymidine incorporation assays. The pre-incubation of A-8 (1~4 ${\mu}M$) significantly inhibited proliferation and DNA synthesis of 5% fetal bovine serum (FBS)-stimulated rat aortic VSMCs in concentration-dependent manner. Whereas, A-8 did not show any cytotoxicity in rat aortic VSMCs in this experimental condition by WST-1 assay. In addition, A-8 significantly inhibited 5% FBS-induced cell cycle progression in rat aortic VSMCs. These results show that A-8 may be developed as a potential antiproliferative agent for treatment of angioplasty restenosis and atherosclerosis. Furthermore, A-8 should be examined for further clinical application either as a single agent or in combination with other angioplasty restenosis or atherosclerosis agents.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.499-504
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• 1998

For the formation of cobalt polycide gate electrode, CoSi, was grown on columnar poly-Si, granular poly-Si or amorphous Si by depositing either Co monolayer or Co/Ti bilayer and its thermal stability was compared to study effects of the substrate crystallinity and the silicide formation method. When specimens were rapidly heat-treated at 90$0^{\circ}C$ up to 600 seconds, using amorphous Si or Co/Ti on all substrates improved the thermal stability. This was attributed to the uniform chemical composition of initial CoSi, and its smooth interface with the substrates, induced by smooth and clean Si surface and delayed Co diffusion. The main factors determining the thermal stability were found to be composition uniformity and smooth interface of $CoSi_2$, intially formed at the early stage of the heat-treatment.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.1 s.81
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• pp.45-50
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• 2007

This study investigated biological activity of tumor necrosis factor $(TNF)-\alpha$ secreted from smooth muscle cell (SMC) destined for death by expressing Fas associated death domain containing protein (FADD) (FADD-SMC) when the cells are grown without tetracycline in culture medium. In the absence of tetracycline the FADD-SMC secreted approximately 1000 pg/ml $TNF-\alpha$, whereas hardly detectable amount of the cytokine existed in the presence of tetracycline. The culture medium collected from the FADD-SMC grown in the absence of tetracycline increased phosphorylated form of p38 MAPK and up-regulated nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB). The medium collected without tetracycline also caused death of L929 cells. Depletion of $TNF-\alpha$ with the soluble TNF receptor (sTNFR) inhibited the phosphorylation of p38 MAPK, the up-regulation of NF-kB activity and the death activity of the medium collected from FADD-SMC in the absence of tetracycline. These results indicate that $TNF-\alpha$ secreted from SMC undergoing death is biologically active and can affect cellular function.