• BMB Reports
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.562-570
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• 2007

Soluble or cell-bound IL-1 receptor accessory protein (IL-1RAcP) does not bind IL-1 but rather forms a complex with IL-1 and IL-1 receptor type I (IL-1RI) resulting in signal transduction. Synthetic peptides to various regions in the Ig-like domains of IL-1RAcP were used to produce antibodies and these antibodies were affinity-purified using the respective antigens. An anti-peptide-4 antibody which targets domain III inhibited 70% of IL-$1\beta$-induced productions of IL-6 and PGE2 from 3T3-L1 cells. Anti-peptide-2 or 3 also inhibited IL-1-induced IL-6 production by 30%. However, antipeptide-1 which is directed against domain I had no effect. The antibody was more effective against IL-$1\beta$ compared to IL-$1\alpha$. IL-1-induced IL-6 production was augmented by coincubation with PGE2. The COX inhibitor ibuprofen blocked IL-1-induced IL-6 and PGE2 production. These results confirm that IL-1RAcP is essential for IL-1 signaling and that increased production of IL-6 by IL-1 needs the co-induction of PGE2. However, the effect of PGE2 is independent of expressions of IL-1RI and IL-1RAcP. Our data suggest that domain III of IL-1RAcP may be involved in the formation or stabilization of the IL-1RI/IL-1 complex by binding to epitopes on domain III of the IL-1RI created following IL-1 binding to the IL-1RI.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.43 no.7
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• pp.626-634
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• 2015

In the present study, numerical predictions of infrared spectra for $CO_2$ molecule were conducted. Absorption coefficients of $CO_2$ which are required for simulating the spectra, were calculated by using a line-by-line method and by adopting spectroscopic parameters from the radiation databases, HITEMP2010 and CDSD-4000. Simulations were made in the 2.7, 4.3, and $15{\mu}m$ band regions, and the results were compared with the measurements of other researchers. It was found that the calculated results are well matched with the various measurements. However, in the $4.3{\mu}m$ band region, the CDSD-4000 based calculation yields a better fit to the measurement than the HITEMP2010 based calculation does.

• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.829-849
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• 2014

The purposes of this study were to compare elementary gifted students with general students in respect of their character strengths, emotional intelligence and learning flow and to analyze the relationships. The results obtained in this study were as follows. First, the character strengths, emotional intelligence, and learning flow of the gifted students were higher than those of the general students. Humanity was the highest virtue for both gifted and general students. Gifted students showed a significantly lower mean difference in humility and modesty than that of general students. The gifted students showed a statistically higher mean value in the sub-regions of emotional intelligence and all sub-areas of the learning flow than that of the general students. Second, the strong correlations were found between character strengths and emotional intelligence, between character strengths and learning flow in gifted students. Third, the results showed that the character strengths of gifted students affected their emotional intelligence and learning flow significantly.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.395-405
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• 2006

We measured the fugacity of $CO_2$ $(fCO_2)$, temperature, salinity, nutrients and chlorophyll a in the surface water of the western North Pacific $(4^{\circ}30'{\sim}33^{\circ}10'N,\;144^{\circ}20'{\sim}127^{\circ}35'E)$ in September 2002. There were zonally several major currents which have characteristics of specific temperature and salinity (NECC, North Equatorial Counter Current; NEC, North Equatorial Current; Kuroshio etc.). Surface $fCO_2$ distribution was clearly distinguished into two groups, tropical and subtropical areas of which boundary was $20^{\circ}N$. In the tropical Int surface $fCO_2$ was mainly controlled by temperature, while in the subtropical area, surface $fCO_2$ was dependent on total inorganic carbon contents. Air-sea $CO_2$ flux showed a large spatial variation, with a range of $-0.69{\sim}0.79 mmole\;m^{-2}day^{-1}$. In the area of AE (Anticyclonic Eddy), SM(Southern Mixed region) and NM (Northern Mixed region), the ocean acted as a weak source of $CO_2$ $(0.6{\sim}0.79 mmole\; m^{-2}day^{-1})$. In NECC, NEC, Kuroshio and ECS (East China Sea), however, the fluxes were estimated to be $-0.3mmole\; m^{-2}day^{-1})$ for the first three regions and $-1.2mmole\; m^{-2}day^{-1})$ for ECS respectively, indicating that these areas acted as sinks of $CO_2$. The average air-sea flux in the entire study area was $0.15mmole\;m^{-2}day^{-1})$, implying that the western North Pacific was a weak source of $CO_2$ during the study period.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.469-485
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• 2018

On September 26, 2017, South Korean government has established the Particulate Matter Comprehensive Plan to improve Korean air quality by 2022, which aims to reduce annual mean surface $PM_{2.5}$ concentration to $18{\mu}g/m^3$. This study demonstrates quantitative assessment of predicted $PM_{2.5}$ concentrations over 17 South Korean regions with the enforcement of the comprehensive plan. We utilize the Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) modeling system with CAPSS 2013 and CREATE 2015 emissions inventories. Simulations are conducted for 2015 with the base emissions and the planned emissions, and impacts from model biases are minimized using the RRF (Relative Response Factor). With effective emission reduction scenario suggested by the comprehensive plan, the model demonstrates that the surface $PM_{2.5}$ concentration may decrease by $6{\mu}g/m^3$ ($23{\mu}g/m^3{\rightarrow}17{\mu}g/m^3$) and $7{\mu}g/m^3$ ($25{\mu}g/m^3{\rightarrow}18{\mu}g/m^3$) for Seoul and South Korea, respectively. The number of high $PM_{2.5}$ days(daily mean>$25{\mu}g/m^3$) also decreases from 21 days to 4 days.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.83-88
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• 2007

The roots of Liriope platyphylla (Liliaceae) are widely used in traditional Chinese medicine. In the present study, we investigated the effects of ethanol (70%) extract of the roots of Liriope platyphylla (ELP70) on learning and memory using behavioral and immunohistochemical methods in mice. Control animals were treated with vehicle (10% Tween 80). With sub-chronic treatments of ELP70 (p.o.) for 14 days, the latency time was significantly increased compared with that of the vehicle-treated control group (50, 100 and 200 mg/kg; P<0.05). Moreover, immunopositive cells for brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) were significantly increased in the hippocapmpal dentate gyrus and CA1 regions after ELP70 treatments for 14 days (50, 100 and 200 mg/kg; P < 0.05). In addition, those cells for nerve growth factor (NGF) were also increased in the hippocapmpal dentate gyrus region (50, 100 and 200 mg/kg; P<0.05). These results suggest that the sub-chronic administration of ELP70 improves learning and memory, and that their beneficial effects are mediated, in part, by the enhancement of BDNF or NGF expression.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.9
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• pp.1643-1649
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• 2016

The aims of this study were to characterize the molecular epidemiological profiles of CTX-M-producing uropathogenic Escherichia coli isolates from a tertiary hospital in Daejeon, Korea, and to investigate the genetic diversity and compare the prevalence of sequence types (STs) in different areas. Extended spectrum β-lactamase-producing E. coli strains isolated from urine were analyzed for CTX-M, integrons, and insertion sequence common regions (ISCRs) by PCR and sequencing. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST), pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), phylogenetic analysis, and rep-PCR were also used for molecular typing of the isolates. Of 80 CTX-M producers, 31 and 46 expressed CTX-M-15 and CTX-M-14, respectively. MLST analysis indicated that the most prevalent ST was ST131 (n = 34, 42.5%), followed by ST38 (n = 22, 27.5%), ST405 (n = 8, 10.0%), and ST69 (n = 6, 7.5%). Most CTX-M producers harbored class 1 integrons. ST131 strains belonged to phylogenetic group B2 and showed identical rep-PCR patterns, whereas ST69, ST38, and ST405 strains belonged to phylogenetic group D; the ST38 and ST405 strains displayed the same rep-PCR pattern, respectively. ST131 and ST38 isolates showed 21 and 19 distinct types, respectively, by PFGE. In Daejeon, D-ST38 CTX-M-14 producers were relatively more prevalent than in other countries and Korean cities. Our results indicate that CTX-M-producing E. coli isolates belonged mostly to ST131 or ST38 and were more related to hospital-onset than to community-onset infections and that the bla_CTX-M gene may vary according to the ST.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.10
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• pp.1800-1807
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• 2016

To understand how human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) might change and evolve after reactivation, it is very important to understand how the nucleotide sequence of cultured HCMV changes after in vitro passaging in cell culture, and how these changes affect the genome of HCMV and the consequent variation in amino acid sequence. Strain JHC of HCMV was propagated in vitro for more than 40 passages and its biological and genetic changes were monitored. For each passage, real-time PCR was performed in order to determine the genome copy number, and a plaque assay was employed to get virus infection titers. The infectious virus titers gradually increased with passaging in cell culture, whereas the number of virus genome copies remained relatively unchanged. A linear correlation was observed between the passage number and the log₁₀ infectious virus titer per virus genome copy number. To understand the genetic basis underlying the increase in HCMV infectivity with increasing passage, the whole-genome DNA sequence of the high-passage strain was determined and compared with the genome sequence of the low-passage strain. Out of 100 mutations found in the high-passage strain, only two were located in an open reading frame. A G-T substitution in the RL13 gene resulted in a nonsense mutation and caused an early stop. A G-A substitution in the UL122 gene generated an S-F nonsynonymous mutation. The mutations in the RL13 and UL122 genes might be related to the increase in virus infectivity, although the role of the mutations found in noncoding regions could not be excluded.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.313-318
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• 2016

The aim of this study was to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) influencing teat number traits in an $F_2$ intercross between Landrace and Korean native pigs (KNP). Three teat number traits (left;right;and total) were measured in 1105 $F_2$ progeny. All experimental animals were genotyped with 173 informative microsatellite markers located throughout the pig genome. We detect that seven chromosomes harbored QTLs for teat number traits: genome regions on SSC1;3;7;8;10;11;and 13. Six of fourteen identified QTL reached genome-wide significance. In SSC7;we identified a major QTL affecting total teat number that accounted for 5.6 % of the phenotypic variance;which was the highest test statistic (F-ratio = 61.1 under the additive model;nominal $P=1.3{\times}10^{-14}$) observed in this study. In this region;QTL for left and right teat number were also detected with genome-wide significance. With exception of the QTL in SSC10;the allele from KNP in all 6 identified QTLs was associated with decreased phenotypic values. In conclusion;our study identified both previously reported and novel QTL affecting teat number traits. These results can play an important role in determining the genetic structure underlying the variation of teat number in pigs.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.407-416
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• 2017

$CO_2$ emission is increasingly focused by public. Beijing and Tianjin are conceived to be a new economic point of growth in China. However, both of them are suffering serious environmental stress. In order to seek for the effect of socioeconomic factors on the $CO_2$ emission of this region, a novel methodology -symbolic regression- is adopted to investigate the relationship between $CO_2$ emission and influential factors of Beijing and Tianjin. Based on this method, $CO_2$ emission models of Beijing and Tianjin are built respectively. The models results manifested that Beijing and Tianjin own different $CO_2$ emission indicators. The RMSE of models in Beijing and Tianjin are 255.39 and 603.99, respectively. Further analysis on indicators and forecast trend shows that $CO_2$ emission of Beijing expresses an inverted-U shaped curve, whilst Tianjin owns a monotonically increasing trend. From analytical results, it could be argued that the diversity rooted in different development orientation and the mixture of different natural and industrial environment. This research further expands the investigation on $CO_2$ emission of Beijing and Tianjin region, and can be used for reference in the study of carbon emissions in similar regions. Based on the investigation, several policy suggestions are presented.