• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.111-118
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• 2008

In usual safety signs are final means to transmit hazard information so that the importance of them cannot be emphasized too much. Nevertheless, in Korea, few people are interested in functions of safety signs so that evaluation of safety signs are seldom committed. This research was conducted to evaluate and compare perceptional characteristics of safety signs, especially "Fall" signs, by Semantic Differential Method and Multi-dimensional Scaling Method, with undergraduate students as well as industrial workers. According to research results on several signs evaluated high through suggested procedure, action inducibility was different for students majoring in different sciences, but it had common elements in the sense of 'openness' or 'arrangements'. Besides, perceptional images on safety signs were mainly recognized with bases of 'arrangement' for student group and 'simplicity' for industrial workers, respectively, and their maps corresponded well with each other by partial rotating so that students and workers seemed to recognize safety signs with similar factors though their name might be different. However, since perceptional characteristics including image map, comprehensibility, and action inducibility were similar for student group whereas those were not for worker group, it was concluded that the test for action inducibility would be absolutely necessary for safety signs for workers' group.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.111-117
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• 2016

Vagal nerve activity has been known to play a crucial role in the induction and maintenance of atrial fibrillation (AF). However, it is unclear how the distribution and concentration of local acetylcholine (ACh) promotes AF. In this study, we investigated the effect of the spatial distribution and concentration of ACh on fibrillation patterns in an in silico human atrial model. A human atrial action potential model with an ACh-dependent $K^+$ current ($I_{KAch}$) was used to examine the effect of vagal activation. A simulation of cardiac wave dynamics was performed in a realistic 3D model of the atrium. A model of the ganglionated plexus (GP) and nerve was developed based on the "octopus hypothesis". The pattern of cardiac wave dynamics was examined by applying vagal activation to the GP areas or randomly. AF inducibility in the octopus hypothesis-based GP and nerve model was tested. The effect of the ACh concentration level was also examined. In the single cell simulation, an increase in the ACh concentration shortened $APD_{90}$ and increased the maximal slope of the restitution curve. In the 3D simulation, a random distribution of vagal activation promoted wavebreaks while ACh secretion limited to the GP areas did not induce a noticeable change in wave dynamics. The octopus hypothesis-based model of the GP and nerve exhibited AF inducibility at higher ACh concentrations. In conclusion, a 3D in silico model of the GP and parasympathetic nerve based on the octopus model exhibited higher AF inducibility with higher ACh concentrations.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.96-101
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• 2007

Usually pictograms embedded in safety signs are such final means to transmit hazard information that the importance of them cannot be emphasized too much. Nevertheless, in Korea, few people are interested in safety signs and their functions so that evaluation of safety signs are seldom committed nor safety signs draw workers' attention to fulfill their functions. Therefore this research aimed to standardize the procedure for developing safety signs in order not only to give practical help to industrial workers but to match them international standards, and to develop a few examples through the suggested standard procedure. As results, a procedure for developing industrial safety signs was developed by combining both ANSI Z535.3 and ISO 9186 with a special emphasis on action inducibility as the former emphasized as well as comprehensibility as the latter suggested. According to test results with undergraduate students as well as industrial workers on a few signs developed through the suggested procedure, action inducibility was higher whereas confusion rate was lower than expected on one hand, and it could be concluded that the procedure would supply results that can be satisfied on the other hand.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.245-249
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• 1994

An amino-terminal 14 amino acids deletion and three site-directed mutations were created to investigate the mechanism of induction and repression of MerR regulatory protein in R100 mer operon from gramnegative Shigella flexneri. The amino-terminal 14 amino acids deletion, Cysl17Ser, and Cys126Ser mutations abolished the inducibility of the mer operon and the Hisl18Ala mutation resulted in the reduction of inducibility (about 9.1 % remaining) in complementation experiment in the presence of $Hg^{2＋}$ at subtoxic level ($1\mu M$). The complementation experiment with $Hg^{2＋}$ absent showed that Hisl18Ala, Cys126Ser, and wild-type MerR could repress the operon but Cysl17Ser could not, and the amino-terminal deletion mutant could neither induce nor repress the R100 mer operon.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.29 no.12
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• pp.1154-1157
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• 2006

The ermK gene from Bacillus lichenformis encodes an inducible rRNA methylase that confers resistance to the macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin B antibiotics. The ermK mRNA leader sequence has a total length of 357 nucleotides and encodes a 14-amino acid leader peptide together with its ribosome binding site. The secondary structure of ermK leader mRNA and a leader peptide sequence have been reported as the elements that control expression. In this study, the contribution of specific leader peptide amino acid residues to induction of ermK was studied using the PCR-based megaprimer mutation method. ermK methylases with altered leader peptide codons were translationally fused to E. coli ${\beta}-galactosidase$ reporter gene. The deletion of the codons for Thr-2 through Ser-4 reduced inducibility by erythromycin, whereas that for Thr-2 and His-3 was not. The replacement of the individual codons for Ser-4, Met-5 and Arg-6 with termination codon led to loss of inducibility, but stop mutation of codon Phe-9 restored inducibility by erythromycin. Collectively, these findings suggest that the codons for residue 4, 5 and 6 comprise the critical region for induction. The stop mutation at Leu-7 expressed constitutively ermK gene. Thus, ribosome stalling at codon 7 appears to be important for ermK induction.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.314-319
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• 2007

The effects of common variants of CYP1A2 gene (CYP1A2$^*$1C and CYP1A2$^*$1F) on the CYP1A2 activity and inducibility were controversial. The aim of the present study is to investigate the effects of CYP1A2$^*$1C and CYP1A2$^*$1F on the activity of CYP1A2 determined by urinary caffeine metabolite ratio in Koreans. As might be expected, there was large inter-individual variation (16-folds) of CYP1A2 activity ranged from 2.41 to 39.58. The mean CYP1A2 activity of smokers was significantly higher than that of non-smokers. The frequencies of CYP1A2$^*$1C (-3858A) and $^*$1F (-164A) alleles were 0.219 and 0.646, respectively. The effect of CYP1A2$^*$1C on the CYP1A2 activity was not significant. However, the CYP1A2 activity of subjects with AA genotype for CYP1A2$^*$1F allele was significantly lower than that of non-AA genotypes (CC, or CA). Interestingly, the significant effect of CYP1A2$^*$1F allele on CYP1A2 activity was not observed in nonsmokers. Our results suggest that CYP1A2$^*$1F allele rather than CYP1A2$^*$1C allele significantly influences on the inducibility of CYP1A2 in Koreans. Owing to small sample size of our study, further studies should be conducted to reveal the inter-ethnic difference or the gene-environmental interaction.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.285-302
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• 1992

Human and rat hepatocytes were isolated by nonperfusion method and cultured for longer than 5 days. Human liver biopsy sample and rat liver were used as hepatocyte source. Several physical and chemical factors which were influencing on hepatocyte isolation procedure were examined and a batch isolation procedure was established for small size sample of rat liver. Isolated hepatocytes showed normal morphlologica characteristics in microscopy and electron microscopical examinations and a morphologica response to phalloidin. Isolated cells were cultured as a monolayer and proven to have intact morphological characteristics for longer than 15 days. Because human liver sample is harder and tighter compared with rat liver, a standard procedure for rat hepatocytes was slightly modified to reduce mechanical damage. Similarly with rat hepatocytes, isolated human hepatocytes showed a normal morphological characteristics and could be cultured for longer than 15days. Human and rat hepatocytes were examined on their functional integrities including cytochrome-P450 related enzyme activity and it's inducibility, hormonal inducibility of AIB uptake and TAT activity, albumin synthesis, DNA synthesis, cellular protein maintenance. In all parameters used in the present study, human and rat hepatocytes showed normal functional characteristics.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.579-590
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• 2001

Background : The aging process may be induced, at least in part, by reactive oxygen species(ROS). It has been thought that the lung could be a good source of ROS because it has a high oxygen tension. In the present study, we invetigated the inducibility of the first and last lines against oxidative stress, superoxide dismutases(CujZn-SOD and Mn-SOD) as a scavenger of ${O_2}^-\;{\cdot}$ and metallothionein(MT) as a scavenger of $OH{\cdot}$, respectively, in mouse lungs with age. Methods : Oxidative stress was induced by paraquat, an intracellular superoxide generator, at 1, 4, 8, and 12 months of age and then SODs and MT mRNAs were determined by RT-PCR method. Results : The steady-state level of Mn-SOD mRNA increased from 1 to 8 months but decreased thereafter. However, Mn-SOD mRNA was not induced by paraquat after 1 month. On the other hand, there was no change in the steady-state level of Cu/Zn-SOD mRNA, which decreased abruptly at 12 months of age. Additionally, Cu/Zn-SOD mRNA was not induced by paraquat at any age. There was no change in the steady-state level of MT mRNA with age whereas its inducibility by paraquat was intact at all ages. Conclusion : These results indicate that lack of induction of SODs with age may be one of the causative factors in the aging process while induction of MT may play an important role in the defense against oxidative stress. It is therefore implicated that the tissue antioxidant/prooxidant balance could be one of determinants of mean life span.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2000.04a
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• pp.434-437
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• 2000

Streptomyces setonii(ATCC 39116) is a thermophilic gram-positive soil bacteria which undergoes an ortho-cleavage pathway in the presence of phenol or benzoate as a sole carbon and energy source. The specific activities of catechol-1,2-dioxygenase in S. setonii, a key enzyme in ortho-cleavage pathway, were induced by various aromatic compounds such as benzoate, phenol, m-hy-benzoate, p-hy-benzoate, catechol, o-cresol, m-cresol, p-cresol, benzene, toluene, ethyl-benzene, 2-chloro-phenol, and 4-chloro-phenol, among which the phenol showed the highest inducibility in the presence of 0.01% glucose. More than 0.1% glucose dramatically reduced the specific activities of catechol-1,2-dioxygenase induced by most of the single aromatic compounds tested.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.355-361
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• 2001

A Chromate tolerant strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from the effluent of a tannery showed significant enzymatic activity of chromate reduction. Cells grown in chromate-supplemented medium reduced 8 $\mu\textrm{g}$ chromate/mg protein/h in the presence of NADH/NADPH. The chromate reducing activity was inducible as cells pregrown in chromate showed higher chromate reduction. In contrast, the periplasmic fraction of cells gown in chromate reduce $75\%$ chromate in 4 h and the spheroplast fraction failed to do so, indicating that chromate reductase may be located in the periplasm. The presence of a 30 kDa protein in the periplasmic extracts of cells grown in the presence of chromate, but its absence of the protein in cells grown without chromate, points out a possible role of this protein in chromate reduction.