• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.1191-1196
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• 2008

Staphylococcus aureus is a common etiologic agent for Gram-positive sepsis, and its lipoteichoic acid (LTA) may be important in causing Gram-positive bacterial septic shock. Here, we demonstrate that highly purified LTA (pLTA) isolated from Lactobacillus plantarum inhibited S. aureus LTA (aLTA)-induced TNF-${\alpha}$ production in THP-1 cells. Whereas pLTA scarcely induced TNF-${\alpha}$ production, aLTA induced excessive TNF-${\alpha}$ production. Interestingly, aLTA-induced TNF-${\alpha}$ production was inhibited by pLTA pretreatment. Compared with pLTA, aLTA induced a strong signal transduction through the MyD88, NF-${\kappa}B$, and MAP kinases. This signaling, however, was reduced by a pLTA pretreatment, and resulted in the inhibition of aLTA-induced TNF-${\alpha}$ production. Whereas dealanylated LTAs, as well as native LTAs, contributed to TNF-${\alpha}$ induction or TNF-${\alpha}$ reduction, deacylated LTAs did not, indicating that the acyl chain of LTA played an important role in the LTA-mediated immune regulation. These results suggest that pLTA may act as an antagonist for aLTA, and that an antagonistic pLTA may be a useful agent for suppressing the septic shock caused by Gram-positive bacteria.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.338-338
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• 2011

최근 FPD (Flat Pannel Display) 시장이 커짐에 따라 고효율, 저비용 제작 공정이 화두로 떠오르고 있다. ELA (Excimer Laser Annenling)을 이용한 LTPS (Low Temperature Poly Silicon) 공정은 mobility와 전류 점멸비 등에서 장점을 가지지만, 고비용, 대면적과 short-range에서 uniformity가 어렵다는 단점이 있다. 이를 극복하기 위한 방법으로 dLTA (diode Laser Thermal Annealing) 공정에 대한 연구가 진행되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 Flexible Display을 만들기 위한 방법으로 dLTA 공정을 진행하였다. 이 방법은 PI (Poly imide) 기판 위에 a-Si을 ICP CVD로 증착시킨 후, Diode Laser (980 nm)를 이용한 annealing을 통하여 a-Si이 poly-Si으로 결정화가 되는 것을 확인하였고, 에너지 조사량에 따른 grain boundary와 grain size을 통하여 비교 분석하였다. 실험 결과 ELA 공정을 이용한 것과 버금가는 실험 결과를 얻을 수 있었다.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.8
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• pp.1051-1058
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• 2014

Platelet-activating factor receptor (PAFR) plays an important role in bacterial infection and inflammation. We examined the effect of the bacterial cell wall components lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and lipoteichoic acid (LTA) from Lactobacillus plantarum (pLTA) and Staphylococcus aureus (aLTA) on PAFR expression in THP-1, a monocyte-like cell line. LPS and aLTA, but not pLTA, significantly increased PAFR expression, whereas priming with pLTA inhibited LPS-mediated or aLTA-mediated PAFR expression. Expression of Toll-like receptor (TLR) 2 and 4, and CD14 increased with LPS and aLTA treatments, but was inhibited by pLTA pretreatment. Neutralizing antibodies against TLR2, TLR4, and CD14 showed that these receptors were important in LPS-mediated or aLTA-mediated PAFR expression. PAFR expression is mainly regulated by the nuclear factor kappa B signaling pathway. Blocking PAF binding to PAFR using a PAFR inhibitor indicated that LPS-mediated or aLTA-mediated PAF expression affected TNF-${\alpha}$ production. In the mouse small intestine, pLTA inhibited PAFR, TLR2, and TLR4 expression that was induced by heat-labile toxin. Our data suggested that pLTA has an anti-inflammatory effect by inhibiting the expression of PAFR that was induced by pathogenic ligands.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.8
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• pp.1310-1317
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• 2018

The stems of Dendrobium moniliforme have been used in traditional herbal medicine for the treatment of fever and lack of body fluid in Korea. In this study, we investigated anti-inflammatory effects of the aqueous extract of D. moniliforme stems (DM) in response to lipoteichoic acid (LTA), a major constituent of the cell wall of Gram-positive bacteria. DM inhibited LTA-induced expression of a pro-inflammatory mediator inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in the murine macrophages. And DM induced expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) at the transcriptional level. Conversely, the knockdown of HO-1 expression by siRNA markedly reversed the inhibitory effects of DM on LTA-induced iNOS expression. We also demonstrated that nuclear translocation of Nrf2 was increased following treatment with DM. In addition, DM-mediated Nrf2 activation and HO-1 expression were suppressed by PI3K/Akt and p38 inhibitors; treatment with DM also resulted in phosphorylation of Akt and p38. These results suggest that DM inhibits the expression of iNOS in LTA-stimulated macrophages, and that these effects are mediated by the upregulation of HO-1 expression via PI3K/Akt/p38-Nrf2 signaling.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society of Poultry Science Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.84-85
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• 2006

This study was carried out to ascertain phylogenetic status of long-tail chicken which found recently in Korea and was presumed to be a kind of Korean Natives. 10 loci microsatellites were analysed for 449 birds of 11 groups and 2 region of mitochondrial DNA were sequenced for 135 birds of the same groups, that consist of 3 introduced breeds and 8 Korean Natives including 3 long-tail chicken. In mean numbers of alleles per locus(MNA) for microsatellites, long-tail chicken were smaller (2.60${\sim}$3.20) than the others, but in heterozygosities, were higher(0.4087${\sim}$0.5375) than others that were the same level of MNA. And in the neighbor joining bootstrap tree drawing by Nei's standard distance, they made a cluster with some Korean Native groups. All of the nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial cytochrome b gene and D-loop were classified into 23 haplotypes. In long-tail chicken, the haplotypes were 3 kinds, and were different among the groups (LTA, LTB and LTD). Resultly, it was supposed that 3 groups of the long-tail chicken be all a kind of Korean Natives.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.26 no.7
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• pp.1090-1096
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• 2005

$Ag_4Br_4$ nanoclusters have been synthesized in about 75% of the sodalite cavities of fully $K^+$-exchanged zeolite A (LTA). An additional KBr molecule is retained in each large cavity as part of a near square-planar $K_4Br^{3+}$ cation. A single crystal of $Ag_{12}$-A, prepared by the dynamic ion-exchange of $Na_{12}$-A with aqueous 0.05 M $AgNO_3$ and washed with $CH_3OH$, was placed in a stream of flowing 0.05 M KBr in $CH_3OH$ for two days. The crystal structure of the product ($K_9(K_4Br)Si_{12}Al_{12}O_{48}{\cdot}0.75Ag_4Br_4$, a = 12.186(1) $\AA$) was determined at 294 K by single-crystal X-ray diffraction in the space group Pm m. It was refined with all measured reflections to the final error index $R_1$ = 0.080 for the 99 reflections for which $F_o\;{\gt}\;4_{\sigma}\;(F_o)$. The thirteen $K^+$ ions per unit cell are found at three crystallographically distinct positions: eight $K^+$ ions in the large cavity fill the six-ring site, three $K^+$ ions fill the eight-rings, and two $K^+$ ions are opposite four-rings in the large cavity. One bromide ion per unit cell lies opposite a four-ring in the large cavity, held there by two eight-ring and two six-ring $K^+$ ions ($K_4Br^{3+}$). Three $Ag^+$ and three $Br^-$ions per unit cell are found on 3-fold axes in the sodalite unit, indicating the formation of nano-sized $Ag_4Br_4$ clusters (interpenetrating tetrahedra; symmetry $T_d$; diameter ca. 7.9 $\AA$) in 75% of the sodalite units. Each cluster (Ag-Br = 2.93(3) $\AA$) is held in place by the coordination of its four $Ag^+$ ions to the zeolite framework (each $Ag^+$ cation is 2.52(3) $\AA$ from three six-ring oxygens) and by the coordination of its four $Br^-$ ions to $K^+$ ions through six-rings (Br-K = 3.00(4) $\AA$).

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.31-36
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• 2004

Background and Objectives : It has been shown that the epilaryngeal tube in the human airway is responsible for vocal ring, or the singer's formant. In previous study, authors showed that in trained tenors, besides the conventional singer's formant in the region of ,5500Hz, another energy peak was observed in the region of 8,000Hz. This peak was interpreted as the second resonance of the epilarynx tube. Singers in other voice categories who produce vocal ring are assumed to have the same peak, but no measurements have as yet been made. Materials and Methods : Fifteen tenors, fourteen baritones, seven sopranos and five mezzo sopranos attending the music college, department of vocal music who could reliably produce the head and chest registers were chosen for this study. Each subject was asked to produce an/ah/sound for at least three seconds for the head register sound(tenors ; G4, barions ; E4 sopranos ; F5 and mezzosopranos ; C5) and for the chest register sound (tenors ; C3, baritones ; D3, sopranos ; D4 and Mezzosoprano ; A3). The sound data was analyzed using the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT)-based power spectrum, Long term average(LTA) power spectrum using the FFT algorithm of the Computerized Speech Lab (CSL, Kay elemetrics, Model 4300B, USA). Statistical analysis was performed using the Mann-Whitney test of the Statistical Package for Social sciences(SPSS). Results : For head register sounds, a significant increase was seen in the 2,200-3,400Hz region(p<0.05) and the Similar to the head register sounds, there was a significant increase in energy in the four trained singer group compared with the untrained group in the 2,200-3,100Hz region(p<0.05), the 7,800-8,400Hz region(p<0.05) for the chest register sounds. Conclusions : When good vocal production was made for the head and chest registers, an energy peak was observed near 2,500Hz, a frequency already known as the "singer's formant', in all subjects in the study group. Another region of increased energy was observed around 8,000Hz that had not been noticed previously. The authors believe this region to be the second singer's formant.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.54-63
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• 2010

Baicalin, a flavonoid, was shown to have diverse effects such as anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-viral, anti-bacterial and others. Recently, we found that the baicalin inhibits adipogenesis through the modulations of anti-adipogenic and pro-adipogenic factors of the adipogenesis pathway. In the present study, we further characterized the molecular mechanism of the anti-adipogenic effect of baicalin using microarray technology. Microarray analyses were conducted to analyze the gene expression profiles during the differentiation time course (0 day, 2 day, 4 day and 7 day) in 3T3-L1 cells with or without baicalin treatment. We identified a total of 3972 genes of which expressions were changed more than 2 fold. These 3972 genes were further analyzed using hierarchical clustering analysis, resulting in 20 clusters. Four clusters among 20 showed clearly up-regulated expression patterns (cluster 8 and cluster 10) or clearly down-regulated expression patterns (cluster 12 and cluster 14) by baicalin treatment for over-all differentiation period. The cluster 8 and cluster 10 included many genes which enhance cell proliferation or inhibit adipogenesis. On the other hand, the cluster 12 and cluster 14 included many genes which are related with proliferation inhibition, cell cycle arrest, cell growth suppression or adipogenesis induction. In conclusion, these data provide detailed information on the molecular mechanism of baicalin-induced inhibition of adipogenesis.