• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.111-123
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• 1988

Neutrophil elastases were purified by a three step procedure consiting of one Sephadex G-75 and two HPLC elutions. The elastases cross-reacted with antibodies to human neutrophil elastase. Three bands with molecular weights between 26,000 and 29,700 were observed by gel electrophoresis. At each stage of purification the quantity of Zn increased, reaching molar ratio of 2:1 with elastase in the most purified samples. Calcium content. was seletively elevated during the earlier stages of purification but decreased to a ratio of 0.25 to 1 with elastase at the final step of purfication. Neutrophil elastase could be inhibited by EDTA, EGTA and 1,10-phenanthroline. EGTA inhbition was noncompetitive inhibition and reversible only if the time of preincubation was relatively short, indicating the instability of the apoenzyme. The concentration of chelator required to show significant inhibition of elastase was also dependent upon the stage of purity and the ionic strength of the reaction mixture. Inhibition by EGTA, followed by the removal of EGTA, could be reversed by Zn. In the presence of EGTA the enzyme could be returened to full activity by the addition of Zn, Mn and Ca, but not Mg or Na. All of the above evidence strongly supports human neturophil elastase could be a metalloenzyme as well as a serine protease.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.252-256
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• 2010

Breathlessness is a frequent and distressing symptom in terminal cancer patients. Refractory breathlessness is defined as a state that does not respond to conventional disease-specific therapy with an exclusion of reversible underlying causes, and the main classes of symptomatic drug treatments include opioids and benzodiazepines. Korean Family Medicine Palliative Medicine Research Group discussed two terminal cancer patients in whom severe breathlessness with different causes were treated with inhalation of nebulized furosemide, which is an emerging option of palliative treatment. It still remains unclear how it becomes effective or how much it is effective, therefore, its routine use seems to be somewhat early. Nevertherless, if a patient with intractable breathlessness does not have a marked obstructive airway lesion, its use should be considered. Based on the discussion in the seminar, we want to share our experience of the application of inhaled furosemide with other palliative care practitioners and strongly recommend further research on this topic in the future.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.196-208
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• 2009

Sophisticated polymeric materials with 'responsive' properties are beginning to reach the market. The use of reversible, noncovalent interactions is a recurring design principle for responsive materials. Recently developed hydrogen-bonding units allow this design principle to be taken to its extreme. Supramolecular polymers, where hydrogen bonds are the only force keeping the monomers together, form materials whose (mechanical) properties respond strongly to a change in temperature or solvent. In this review, we describe some examples of hydrogen-bonded supramolecular polymers that can be utilized for self-healing materials. Synthesis of a rubber-like material that can be recycled might not seem exciting. But one that can also repeatedly repair itself at room temperature, without adhesives, really stretches the imagination. Autonomic healing materials respond without external intervention to environmental stimuli in a nonlinear and productive fashion, and have great potential for advanced engineering systems.

• Journal of Mushroom
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.127-137
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• 2022

Effects of substrate bed interior environments on mushroom qualities were investigated in oyster mushroom cultivation facilities in which either Reversible Air-Circulation Fans (RACF) blowing air in two directions (upwards and downwards) or customary Convection Fans (CF) with air blowing only upwards were operated throughout the cultivation period. Two days before harvest, the deviation ranges of the bed interior temperature and relative humidity in the facility using RACF were in the ranges of 1.0-1.3℃ and 7.8-9.0% in the first growing cycle, and within 0.7-1.1℃ and 10.0-11.4% in the second cycle. In the facility using CF, the ranges of variation in the indoor environment parameters (5.8-6.4℃ and 21.3-23.1% in the first growing cycle, and 3.4-5.7℃ and 14.6-18.3% in the second growing cycle) were much enlarged compared to those associated with RACF. These results strongly indicate that RACF significantly enhances air uniformity. Some mushroom qualities differed between growing cycles. For instance RACF in the first cycle gave somewhat better qualities than CF, but some qualities, like pileus diameter and stipe length, were slightly lower than those described for CF in the second cycle when the cultivation substrate weakened. The observation that some qualities worsened under RACF conditions, despite better air uniformity during the growing cycle, revealed the possibility that downward wind may exert a non-negligible negative effect on mushroom growth. Therefore in the future, making wind measurements on the interior and exterior of substrate beds is necessary to obtain insights into their influences on mushroom qualities. The RACF operation manual needs to be edited to convey this necessity.

• The Journal of Korea Institute of Information, Electronics, and Communication Technology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.17-24
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• 2024

In this paper, we propose a highly secure technique to hide confidential data in image pixels using a quadruple encryption techniques. In the proposed technique, the boundary surface where the image outline exists and the flat surface with little change in pixel values are investigated. At the boundary of the image, in order to preserve the characteristics of the boundary, one bit of confidential data that has been multiply encrypted is spatially encrypted again in the LSB of the pixel located at the boundary to hide the confidential data. At the boundary of an image, in order to preserve the characteristics of the boundary, one bit of confidential data that is multiplely encrypted is hidden in the LSB of the pixel located at the boundary by spatially encrypting it. In pixels that are not on the border of the image but on a flat surface with little change in pixel value, 2-bit confidential data that is multiply encrypted is hidden in the lower 2 bits of the pixel using location-based encryption and spatial encryption techniques. When applying the proposed technique to hide confidential data, the image quality of the stego-image is up to 49.64dB, and the amount of confidential data hidden increases by up to 92.2% compared to the existing LSB method. Without an encryption key, the encrypted confidential data hidden in the stego-image cannot be extracted, and even if extracted, it cannot be decrypted, so the security of the confidential data hidden in the stego-image is maintained very strongly. The proposed technique can be effectively used to hide copyright information in general commercial images such as webtoons that do not require the use of reversible data hiding techniques.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.175-184
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• 2000

A lab-scale MF membrane reactor was installed to investigate the membrane permeability, characteristics of membrane fouling at each conditions, and quality of permeate (liquid livestock manure) in the separation of solid-matters using membrane. Experiment was divided three filtration type such as follows; continuous filtration, gravity filtration, and intermittent filtration. As a result of experiment, flux 1 LMH was maintained for 7days, and trans-membrane pressure(TMP) was increased gradually under 10cmHg, but it was increased immediately after 10cmHg, respectively. However, the flux was increased, the Tmax was decreased exponential more and more. During the pure-flux test, most of the fouling of membrane was reversible. At the gravity filtration, permeate could be obtained as 1.75 LMH for 3.5days without any other electronic pressure. As an investigation of membrane surface, this study could be decided that the reason of fouling at the lower flux (Run 1 and 2) was attached matters in membrane surface, but at the higher flux (Run 4-6) was concentration polarization.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.591-599
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• 2009

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) play important roles in nervous system functions and are involved in a variety of diseases. We previously demonstrated that ginsenosides, the active ingredients of Panax ginseng, inhibit subsets of nAChR channel currents, but not ${\alpha}7$, expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes. Mutation of the highly conserved Leu247 to Thr247 in the transmembrane domain 2 (TM2) channel pore region of ${\alpha}7$ nAChR induces alterations in channel gating properties and converts ${\alpha}7$ nAChR antagonists into agonists. In the present study, we assessed how point mutations in the Leu247 residue leading to various amino acids affect 20(S)-ginsenoside $Rg_3$ ($Rg_3$) activity against the ${\alpha}7$ nAChR. Mutation of L247 to L247A, L247D, L247E, L247I, L247S, and L247T, but not L247K, rendered mutant receptors sensitive to $Rg_3$. We further characterized $Rg_3$ regulation of L247T receptors. We found that $Rg_3$ inhibition of mutant ${\alpha}7$ nAChR channel currents was reversible and concentration-dependent. $Rg_3$ inhibition was strongly voltage-dependent and noncompetitive manner. These results indicate that the interaction between $Rg_3$ and mutant receptors might differ from its interaction with the wild-type receptor. To identify differences in $Rg_3$ interactions between wild-type and L247T receptors, we utilized docked modeling. This modeling revealed that $Rg_3$ forms hydrogen bonds with amino acids, such as Ser240 of subunit I and Thr244 of subunit II and V at the channel pore, whereas $Rg_3$ localizes at the interface of the two wild-type receptor subunits. These results indicate that mutation of Leu247 to Thr247 induces conformational changes in the wild-type receptor and provides a binding pocket for $Rg_3$ at the channel pore.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.554-564
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• 1996

Oxygen reduction in an alkaline fuel cell was studied by using perovskite of $La_{0.6}Sr_{0.4}Co_{1-x}Fe_xO_3$(x=0.00, 0.01, 0.10, 0.20, 0.35, and 0.50) as an oxygen electrode catalyst. The changes in the catalytic properties as a function of Fe content were investigated by XRD, TG, and TPR. XRD patterns gave different lattice parameters of the catalysts. TG study revealed that Fe was so stabilized in the perovskite structure as to be hardly reduced even up to $900^{\circ}C$, and the amount of oxygen which was eliminated at high temperature increased with the fraction of Fe because Fe induced the increase of Co-O binding energy. From TPR study, ${\alpha}$-(low temperature peak) and ${\beta}$-(high temperature peak)states were observed. The bond strength of the ${\beta}$-species which was associated strongly with Co of the perovskite increased proportionally with the fraction of Fe. The ${\alpha}$-species, reversible oxygen, was the active species in the oxygen reduction. The ${\alpha}$-peak temperature which reflected the binding energy between Co and ${\alpha}$-state oxygen moved to lower temperature with the increase of lattice parameter of the catalytst due to the increase of Fe content. The decrease in the binding energy increased the activity in the oxygen reduction, but the decrease of ${\alpha}$-species with the increase of Fe content decreased the activity. The increase in the surface area with Fe content had little effect on the activity.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.52-62
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• 2006

In previous reports we demonstrated that ginsenosides, active ingredients of Panax ginseng, affect some subsets of voltage-dependent $Ca^{2+}$ channels in neuronal cells expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes. However, the major component(s) of ginseng that affect cloned $Ca^{2+}$ channel subtypes such as ${\alpha}_{1C}$(L)-, ${\alpha}_{1B}$(N)-, ${\alpha}_{1A}$(P/Q)-, ${\alpha}_{1E}$(R)- and ${\alpha}_{1G}$(T) have not been identified. Here, we used the two-microelectrode voltage clamp technique to characterize the effects of ginsenosides and ginsenoside metabolites on $Ba^{2+}$ currents ($I_{Ba}$) in Xenopus oocytes expressing five different $Ca^{2+}$ channel subtypes. Exposure to ginseng total saponins (GTS) induced voltage-dependent, dose-dependent and reversible inhibition of the five channel subtypes, with particularly strong inhibition of the ${\alpha}_{1G}$-type. Of the various ginsenosides, $Rb_1$, Rc, Re, Rf, $Rg_1$, $Rg_3$, and $Rh_2$, ginsenoside $Rg_3$ also inhibited all five channel subtypes and ginsenoside $Rh_2$ had most effect on the ${\alpha}_{1C}$- and ${\alpha}_{1E}$-type $Ca^{2+}$ channels. Compound K (CK), a protopanaxadiol ginsenoside metabolite, strongly inhibited only the ${\alpha}_{1G}$-type of $Ca^{2+}$ channel, whereas M4, a protopanaxatriol ginsenoside metabolite, had almost no effect on any of the channels. $Rg_3$, $Rh_2$, and CK shifted the steady-state activation curves but not the inactivation curves in the depolarizing direction in the ${\alpha}_{1B}$- and ${\alpha}_{1A}$-types. These results reveal that $Rg_3$, $Rh_2$ and CK are the major inhibitors of $Ca^{2+}$ channels in Panax ginseng, and that they show some $Ca^{2+}$ channel selectivity.