• Molecules and Cells
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.175-181
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• 2007

The present study was undertaken to determine whether $SM22{\alpha}$ participates in the regulation of vascular smooth muscle contractility using $SM22{\alpha}$ knockout mice and, if so, to investigate the mechanisms involved. Aortic ring preparations were mounted and equilibrated in organ baths for 60 min before observing contractile responses to 50 mM KCl, and then exposed to contractile agents such as phenylephrine and phorbol ester. Measurement of isometric contractions using a computerized data acquisition system was combined with molecular or cellular experiments. Interestingly, the aortas from $SM22{\alpha}$-deficient mice ($SM22^{-/-LacZ}$) displayed an almost three-fold increase in the level of $SM22{\beta}$ protein compared to wild-type mice, but no change in the levels of caldesmon, actin, desmin or calponin. $Ca^{2+}$-independent contraction in response to phenylephrine or phorbol ester was significantly decreased in the $SM22{\alpha}$-deficient mice, whereas in the presence of $Ca^{2+}$ neither contraction nor subcellular translocation of myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) in response to phenylephrine or 50 mM KCl was significantly affected. A decrease in phosphorylation of extracellular signal regulated kinase (ERK) 1/2 was observed in the $SM22{\alpha}$-deficient mice and this may be related to the decreased vascular contractility. Taken together, this study provides evidence for a pivotal role of $SM22{\alpha}$ in the regulation of $Ca^{2+}$-independent vascular contractility.

• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.29-40
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• 2003

This study was aimed to verify a comparison by dental alloys upon the marginal fitness of dental prosthesis. Firstly, we waxed up on 45 epoxy resin dies, pressed the margin with hands, and identified the marginal fitness with microscope. And we made a single direct spruing system type of sprue by 3 dental alloys - metal crown alloys, PFM crown alloys, and gold crown alloys - each 15, total 45 waxing up, adjusting W/P ratio and invested the cast ring. Then, we made the dental prosthesis using the electric casting machine. In these processes we followed the manufacturer's instructions, in order to maintain the other conditions from the inner and outer, which included investment and burning out. After we tried on the dental prosthesis on epoxy resin dies, we have got the means of marginal gap at 9 points with same distances, around the cervical line which was checked already, using microscope($\times$300). The results of this study were as follows : 1. Metal crown alloys showed 2.9% better in marginal fitness than PFM crown alloys, and the difference was not statistically significant(P=0.497). 2. Gold crown alloys showed 31.3% better in marginal fitness than Metal crown alloys, and the difference was statistically significant(P=0.004). 3. Gold crown alloys showed 32.4% better in marginal fitness than PFM crown alloys, and the difference was statistically significant(P=0.002). 4. We saw that Gold crown alloys was the best dental alloys in the marginal fitness among the three.(P=0.049).

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.38-43
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• 2009

We provide a method to infer finger flexing motions using a 4-channel surface electromyogram (sEMG). Surface EMGs are harmless to the human body and easily acquired. However, they do not reflect the activity of specific nerves or muscles, unlike invasive EMGs. On the other hand, the non-invasive type is difficult to use for discriminating various motions while using only a small number of electrodes. Surface EMG data in this study were obtained from four electrodes placed around the forearm. The motions were the flexion of the thumb, index, middle, ring, and little linger. One subject was trained with these motions and another left was untrained. The maximum likelihood estimation was used to infer the finger motion. Experimental results have showed that this method could be useful for recognizing finger motions. The average accuracy was as high as 95%.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.92-99
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• 2001

Purpose: E-cadherin is an adhesion molecule essential for tight connection between cells, forming the cadherin/catenin complex. Truncated $\beta$-catenin disrupts the interaction between E-cadherin and $\alpha$-catenin, leading to the loss of intercellular adhesion. Met protein, the hepatocyte growth factor receptor, plays important roles in signal transduction. We investigated the relationships between the expressions of E-cadherin, $\beta$-catenin, and c-met protein and the clinicopathological and prognostic parameters in gastric adenocarcinomas. Materials and Methods: The patterns of E-cadherin, $\beta$-catenin, and c-met protein expression were studied using immunohistochemistry in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded archival tissues from 76 surgically resected gastric adenocarcinomas. Results: Increased expressions of E-cadherin, $\beta$-catenin, and c-met were more significantly correlated in early gastric cancers (EGC) than in advanced gastric cancers (AGC) (P=0.002, P=0.003 and P=0.026). The positive immunoreactivities of all three markers were markedly lower in signet ring-cell type and poorly differentiated type lesions than in intestinal-type lesions. Decreased expression of the $\beta$-catenin protein correlated well with increased tumor invasion depth (P=0.039), and increased lymph node metastasis correlated well with reduced expression of c-met (P=0.046). Conclusion: In gastric cancers, reduced expressions of the E-cadherin, $\beta$-catenin, and c-met proteins may play some role in poorer tumor differentiation, deeper tumor invasion, and increased lymph node metastasis. Also, the c-met gene is thought to play a specific role in the mechanism of the yet unknown catenin action.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.21 no.9
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• pp.1055-1064
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• 2020

Objective: To assess the incremental prognostic value of coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) in comparison to a clinical risk model (Framingham risk score, FRS) and coronary artery calcium score (CACS) for future cardiac events in ischemic stroke patients without chest pain. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study included 1418 patients with acute stroke who had no previous cardiac disease and underwent CCTA, including CACS. Stenosis degree and plaque types (high-risk, non-calcified, mixed, or calcified plaques) were assessed as CCTA variables. High-risk plaque was defined when at least two of the following characteristics were observed: low-density plaque, positive remodeling, spotty calcification, or napkin-ring sign. We compared the incremental prognostic value of CCTA for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) over CACS and FRS. Results: The prevalence of any plaque and obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) (stenosis ≥ 50%) were 70.7% and 30.2%, respectively. During the median follow-up period of 48 months, 108 patients (7.6%) experienced MACE. Increasing FRS, CACS, and stenosis degree were positively associated with MACE (all p < 0.05). Patients with high-risk plaque type showed the highest incidence of MACE, followed by non-calcified, mixed, and calcified plaque, respectively (log-rank p < 0.001). Among the prediction models for MACE, adding stenosis degree to FRS showed better discrimination and risk reclassification compared to FRS or the FRS + CACS model (all p < 0.05). Furthermore, incorporating plaque type in the prediction model significantly improved reclassification (integrated discrimination improvement, 0.08; p = 0.023) and showed the highest discrimination index (C-statistics, 0.85). However, the addition of CACS on CCTA with FRS did not add to the prediction ability for MACE (p > 0.05). Conclusion: Assessment of stenosis degree and plaque type using CCTA provided additional prognostic value over CACS and FRS to risk stratify stroke patients without prior history of CAD better.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.218-221
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• 2007

The polyene antifungal antibiotics, mostly produced by Gram-positive soil actinomycetes, are a family of type I polyketide macrolide ring compounds with 20$\sim$40 carbon backbone contain 3$\sim$8 conjugated double bonds. Using polyene-specific genomic screening strategy, we previously isolated three novel polyene-producing actinomycetes strains from soil, implying the potential application of these strains' spores as microbial pesticides. Here, we report that the sonication is a very efficient method for actinomycetes spore generation with a sonicator power-dependent manner. In addition, these sonication-driven actinomycetes spores retained significant portion of their cell viabilities as well as antifungal activities after freeze-drying procedure, implying the potential application of these strains' spores as microbial pesticides.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.148-154
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• 2005

As the exciting point of each phase is determined by the position of rotor, the rotor's accurate position-information is needed for the Switched Reluctance Motor(SRM). When using an absolute-encoder or a resolver, to detect the location of rotor the initial starting is possible, as early sensing of rotor's location is possible. However, this is not appropriate, considering the economical efficiency, and in case of using the incremental-encoder, there's a problem at initial starting as it is not easy to track down the location of rotor at the very beginning. When using Hall-ICs, there's a fault, as it needs a special ring magnet. Considering the initial starting and economical efficiency, the optical sensor technique using a slotted-disk and an opto-interrupter is appropriate, however, this method needs three opto-interrupters and a slotted-disk when using the 6/4 pole SRM. Nevertheless, in this paper, it used only two optical sensors to operate 6/4 pole SRM and made the start up and also forward and reverse operation possible. By excluding the slotted-disc md shortening a optical sensor, it improved the convenience and economical efficiency of the production. Also, as the space for slotted-disc is no more needed, it was able to reduce the size of motor.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.60 no.3
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• pp.186-192
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• 2023

According to the regulation on the pollution of the marine environment, SOx emission from ships has to be reduced. A SOx scrubbing system installed in a funnel of a ship is considered in order to reduce SOx emission. A scrubbing layer with a porous material is present in the funnel to increase the contact area between exhaust gas and water. In this study, experiments on the pressure drop characteristics in the scrubbing layer are conducted to investigate the effect of the scrubber on the engine load. The pressure drop according to flow rate of air instead of exhaust gas was measured for fillers such as sphere, pall ring and saddle in the scrubbing layer. First of all, porosity is experimentally measured for the three types of filler and it is confirmed that the porosity of the saddle-type filler was the largest. The pressure drop according to the change in air flow rate was measured for the three types of fillers in the scrubbing layer. As a result, the pressure drop was the smallest in the scrubbing layer with the saddle-type filler which has the largest porosity. In addition, the effect of spraying water flowing counter flow against air flow is experimentally examined. It is known that the pressure drop is increased because the air flow space is reduced when water is sprayed. In the case of the saddle, the pressure drop is about 1.5 to 2 times greater than that when only air flows at the optimum exhaust gas-water injection ratio.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.227-233
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• 2014

This study investigates the vibration characteristics of a wire-bonding piezoelectric transducer and ultrasonic horn for high-speed and precise welding. A ring-type piezoelectric stack actuator is excited at 136 kHz to vibrate a conical-type horn and capillary system. The nodal lines and amplification ratio of the ultrasonic horn are obtained using a theoretical analysis and FEM simulation. The vibration modes and frequencies close to the driving frequency are identified to evaluate the bonding performance of the current wire-bonder system. The FEM and experimental results show that the current wire-bonder system uses the bending mode of 136 kHz as the principal motion for bonding and that the transverse vibration of the capillary causes the bonding failure. Because the major longitudinal mode exists at 119 kHz, it is recommended that the design of the current wire-bonding system be modified to use the major longitudinal mode at the excitation frequency and to minimize the transverse vibration of capillary in order to improve the bonding performance.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society of Poultry Science Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.31-43
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• 2005

Isoflavones are naturally occurring plant chemicals belonging to the 'phytoestrogen' class. The isoflavones are strikingly similar in chemical structure to natural estrogens. The phenolic ring is a key structural element of most compounds that bind to estrogen receptors. Dietary components that recently have received attention for their action as phytoestrogens are soy isoflavones. Soy products are the most significant dietary sources of isoflavones. Recently It is concerned clinical nutrition of isoflavone that is driven by reason of alternative sources of exogenous estrogen are constantly being needed. Estrogen therapy after the menopause offers protection from cardiovascular disease, reduces the extent of osteoporosis and relieves menopausal symptoms. Exogenous estrogen treatment is a fear of possible increased risk of developing breast cancer and because of side effects. Daily intake of soybean or soy food can affirmative effect to disease occurrence, that is based on mechanical investigation, experimental results of animals and human. Research into isoflavone is going on various field to relieve hormone - dependent disease such as cancer, menopausal symptom, cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis. Isoflavone is plenty in soybean meal, soy by-product, but only limited information is available on isoflavone efficacy into animal husbandry. Thus we conducted three experiments to investigate the effects of dietary isoflavone on productivities, antioxidative responses and bone metabolism in poultry. Dietary supplementation of isoflavone resulted in preventing the lipid oxidation of plasma and egg yolk. Dietary isoflavone improved bone development in egg-type growing chicks and broilers in terms of tibial strength. It was suggested that the proper use of feed additives such as isoflavone might provide means of improving antioxidative effect, skeletal strength, egg and eggshell quality.