• Molecules and Cells
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• 제20권2호
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• pp.263-270
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• 2005

Transactivation of EGF-receptor (EGFR) by G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) is emerging as an important pathway in cell proliferation, which plays a crucial role in the development of atherosclerotic lesion. Angiotensin II (Ang II) has been identified to have a major role in the formation of atherosclerotic lesions, although the underlying mechanisms remain largely unclear. We hypothesize that Ang II promotes the proliferation and migration of smooth muscle cells through the release of heparin-binding epidermal growth factor like growth factor (HB-EGF), transactivation of EGFR and activation of Akt and Erk 1/2, with matrix metalloproteases (MMPs) playing a dispensable role. Primary rat aortic smooth muscle cells were used in this study. Smooth muscle cells rendered quiescent by serum deprivation for 12 h were treated with Ang II (100 nM) in the presence of either GM6001 ($20{\mu}M$), a specific inhibitor of MMPs or AG1478 ($10{\mu}M$), an inhibitor of EGFR. The levels of phosphorylation of EGFR, Akt and Erk 1/2 were assessed in the cell lysates. Inhibition of MMPs by GM6001 significantly attenuated Ang II-stimulated phosphorylation of EGFR, suggesting that MMPs may be involved in the transactivation of EGFR by Ang II receptor. Furthermore Ang II-stimulated proliferation and migration of smooth muscle cells were significantly blunted by inhibiting MMPs and EGFR and applying HB-EGF neutralization antibody, indicating that MMPs, HB-EGF and EGFR activation is necessary for Ang-II stimulated migration and proliferation of smooth muscle cells. Our results suggest that inhibition of MMPs may represent one of the strategies to counter the mitogenic and motogenic effects of Ang II on smooth muscle cells and thereby prevent the formation and development of atherosclerotic lesions.

• 한국콘크리트학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국콘크리트학회 2005년도 봄학술 발표회 논문집(II)
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• pp.477-480
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• 2005

The discharge of sewage sludge is rapidly increasing in Korea. But the most common sewage sludge disposal alternative is to incinerate and to deposit it in controlled landfills. However, space limitations on existing landfill sites, and increasing environmental concerns have prompted the investigation of alternative ash disposal routes. The utilization of sewage sludge ash would contribute to the elimination of an environmental problem and to the development of new high-performance materials. The purpose of this study is to apply to Alkali Activation into solidification of sewage sludge ash. It achieves leaching test, chemical composition and compressive strength test. As a result of tests, the sewage sludge ash has sufficient potential for use of pozzolanic raw material. However, it is judge to be available to construction material if research is continuously gone.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• 제29권6호
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• pp.678-684
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• 2021

Luteolin, a flavonoid present in several fruits, vegetables, nuts, and herbs reportedly exhibits anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties. However, the effect of luteolin on endometriosis, a painful condition characterized by the ectopic growth of endometrial tissue and pelvic inflammation, remains elusive. Herein, we observed that luteolin inhibited cell growth and induced apoptosis of 12Z human endometriotic cells by activating caspase-3, -8, and -9. Additionally, luteolin significantly inhibited the expression of key chemokines, C-C motif chemokine ligand 2 (CCL2) and CCL5, required for monocyte/macrophage influx at endometriotic sites. In macrophages stimulated by endometriotic cells, luteolin treatment suppressed the intracellular expression of M2 markers and endometriosis-promoting factors. Collectively, our data suggest that luteolin exerts anti-endometriotic effects by stimulating endometriotic cell apoptosis and hindering the alternative activation of macrophages.

• 동의생리병리학회지
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• 제21권4호
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• pp.1017-1024
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• 2007

Thymus and activation-regulated chemokine (TARC/CCL-17), produced by keratinocytes, is a CC chemokine known to selectively Th2 type T cells via $CCR4^+$ and is implicated in the development of atopic dermatitis (AD). TARC/CCL17 expression was induced by cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ (TNF-${\alpha}$) and interferon-${\gamma}$ (IFN-${\gamma}$). We recently found that the wogonin, a flavone isolated from Scutellaria baicalensis, suppressed TARC expression via heme oxygenase 1 (HO1) in human keratinocytes induced with mite antigen. However, little is known about the inhibitory mechanism of wogonin on TARC/CCL-17 expression stimulated with cytokines. To investigate the inhibitory mechanism, I determined the inhibitory effects of wogonin on the activation of nuclear factor-${\kappa}B$ (NF-${\kappa}B$) and $I{\kappa}B{\alpha}$ phosphorylation, and also examined the activation of p38 MAP kainase in HaCaT keratinocytes stimulated with TNF-${\alpha}$ and IFN-${\gamma}$. Wogonin inhibited NF-${\kappa}B$-DNA complex, NF-${\kappa}B$ binding activity, and the phosphorylation of $I{\kappa}B{\alpha}$ in a dose dependent manner. Wogonin also inhibited the translocation of NF-${\kappa}B$ from cytosol to nucleus. Moreover, the phosphorylation of of p38 MAP kinase in the TNF-${\alpha}$ and IFN-${\gamma}$-stimulated HaCaT keratinocytes were suppressed by wogonin in a dose dependent manner. These results suggest that wogonin may inhibit cytokine-induced NF-${\kappa}B$ activation by $I{\kappa}B{\alpha}$ degradation via suppression of p38 MAP kinase signaling pathway in keratinocytes and modulation of wogonin signaling pathway may be beneficial for the treatment of AD.

• 한국식품과학회지
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• 제34권2호
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• pp.290-295
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• 2002

김치 및 발효유 제품으로부터 분리한 유산균과 공시균주 12종을 대상으로 보체 용혈 분석법을 이용하여 면역계에서 중요한 역할을 담당하고 있는 보체계 활성화(항보체 활성, $TCH_{50}$) 정도를 측정한 결과, 김치로 부터 분리한 Lactobacillus plantarum이 타 유산균 종에 비해 높은 활성을 나타내었다. 이들 균주로 부터 조제된 세포벽 획분의 경우 세포질 획분보다도 높은 활성을 보였으며 각 획분의 활성은 농도 의존적 경향을 나타내었다. L. plantarum의 세포질 획분과 세포벽 획분의 경우 pronase 소화 후에는 활성의 변화가 없는 반면, 과요오드산 처리에 의해서는 급격한 활성의 감소를 나타내는데 이들 결과로부터 L. plantarum의 세포질과 세포벽 획분에 의한 보체계 활성화가 주로 다당 영역에 기인함을 알수 있었다. 한편 anti-human C3를 이용한 2차원 면역전기영동에 의해, $Ca^{++}$ 이온을 제거한 상태에서도 세포질과 세포벽 획분에 의한 C3 활성화 산물을 동정할 수 있었다. 또한 L. plantarum의 세포벽 획분에 의한 항보체 활성은 동일 조건에서 활성을 유지한 반면, 세포질 획분에 의한 활성화 정도는 동일 조건에서 상당히 감소하였다. 이상의 결과로부터 L. plantarum 세포벽 획분의 보체계 활성화 양식은 주로 alternative pathway의 활성화에 의한 것이며, 세포질 획분에 의한 활성화는 classical pathway와 alternative pathway 양 경로를 경유함을 알 수 있었다.

• 한국연소학회지
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• 제9권4호
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• pp.35-46
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• 2004

Activation energy asymptotics (AEA) for Linan#s premixed-flame regime is revisited in this paper. First, the detailed AEA procedure for the premixed-flame regime is demonstrated, so that the practitioners of AEA could easily apply the method to their own problems. In addition, the controversies surrounding the premixed-flame regime, namely the closure controversy and fast-time instability paradox, are explained. Finally, the limitation of AEA, mainly arising from the wrong prediction of fuel leakage through the reaction zone, is examined and the Zel#dovich-Linan kinetics is introduced as an alternative to meet the needs of modern combustion analysis, where the detailed chemical structure of flame is demanded.

• 전자공학회논문지C
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• 제35C권1호
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• pp.42-54
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• 1998

For decreasing intersymbol interference (ISI) due to band-limited channels in digitalcommunication, the uses of equalization techniques are necessary. Among the useful adaptive equalization techniques, because of their ease of implementation and nonlinear capabilites, the neural networks have been used as an alternative for effectively dealing with the channel distortion. In this paepr, a complex-valued multilayer percepron is proposed as a nonlinear adaptive equalizer. After the important properties that a suitable complex-valued activation function must possess are discussed, a new complex-valued activation function is developed for the proposed schemes to deal with M-ary QAM signals of any constellation sizes. It has been further proven that by the nonlinear transformation of the proposed function, the correlation coefficient between the real and imaginary parts of input data decreases when they are jointly Gaussian random variables. Lastly, the effectiveness of the proposed scheme is demonstrated by simulations. The proposed scheme provides, compared with the linear equalizer using the least mean squares (LMS) algorith, an interesting improvement concerning Bit Error Rate (BER) when channel distortions are nonlinear.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국정보디스플레이학회 2005년도 International Meeting on Information Displayvol.I
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• pp.310-313
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• 2005

CW laser dopant activation (CLDA) is suggested as an alternative to conventional thermal annealing. The sheet resistance of the ion doped poly-Si after CLDA is sufficiently low compared to the value measured after thermal annealing. The surface damage due to ion doping on the poly-Si can be recovered while CW laser scan for dopant activation. Therefore, the CLDA can be applied to LTPS processing.

• 한국약용작물학회지
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• 제18권6호
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• pp.398-404
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• 2010

Complementary and alternative medicines are considered as a promising research field to develop new therapies for various allergic diseases. In this study, we investigated the anti-allergic effect of Agrimonia pilosa Ledeb (AP) by using passive cutaneous anaphylaxis in mice and its mechanism of action in mast cells. The extract of AP reversibly inhibited degranulation in RBL-2H3 cells and bone marrow-derived mast cells (BMMCs). AP also suppressed the passive cutaneous anaphylaxis inducing by IgE and antigen (Ag) in a dose-dependent manner. In the study to find its mechanism of action, AP inhibited the phosphorylation of Syk kinase, a pivotal protein which is regulated by Src-family kinase for activation of mast cells. In addition, AP also suppressed activation of Akt and Erk1/2 that are critical for the production of cytokines in mast cells. The results strongly suggest that AP exerts anti-allergic activity in vitro and in vivo through the inhibition of activation of Syk in mast cells.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• 제17권1호
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• pp.14-21
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to investigate the anti-allergy activities of persimmon leaf extract (PLE) on a phthalic anhydride (PA)-induced allergic mouse model. A human leukemic mast cell line (HMC-1) was used to examine the inhibitory activity of PLE on the histamine release by human leukemic mast cells. PLE inhibited histamine release from HMC-1 cells in response to cross-linkage of high-affinity IgE receptor-${\alpha}$ ($Fc{\varepsilon}RI{\alpha}$). Additionally, a PA-induced allergic mouse model was used to investigate the effects of PLE in vivo. Mice were orally administrated with or without PLE of single dose (250 mg/kg/day) for 31 days. Oral intake of PLE significantly inhibited passive cutaneous reactions. Oral administration of PLE to PA-induced allergic mice also led to a striking suppression of the development of contact dermatitis, ear swelling and lymph node weight. In addition, PA-specific IL-4 production of draining lymph node cells was markedly diminished by PLE oral administration, but not IFN-${\gamma}$. Furthermore, PLE treatment suppressed PA-induced thymus and activation-regulated chemokine (CCL17) and cutaneous T cell-attracting chemokine (CCL27) expressions in ear tissues. Based on these results, we suggest that PLE may have therapeutic potential as an effective material for management of irritant contact dermatitis or related inflammatory diseases.