CYPRUS is a web-based waste disposal research comprehensive information management program developed by the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute over three years from 2004. This program is stored as existing quality assurance documents and data, and the research results can be viewed at any time. In addition, it helps to perform all series of tasks related to the safety evaluation study of the repository in accordance with the quality assurance system. In the future, it is necessary to improve the user convenience by clarifying the relationship between FEP and scenarios and upgrading output functions such as visualization and automatic report generation. This purpose of this study is to research and develop the advanced program of CYPRUS. This study is based on building FEP, DIM and scenario databases. It is necessary to develop an algorithm to analyze and visualize the FEP, DIM and scenario relationship. This project is an integrated information processing platform for DB management and visualization considering user convenience. The first development goal is to build long-term evolutionary FEP, DIM, and scenarios as a database. The linkage by FEP item was designed in consideration of convenience by using a mixed delimiter of letters and numbers. This design provides information on detailed interactions and impacts between FEP items. Scenario data lists a series of events and characteristic change information for performance evaluation in chronological order. In addition, it includes information on FEP occurrence and mutual nutrition by period, and information on whether or not the repository performance is satisfied by item. The second development goal is to realize the relationship analysis and visualization function of FEP and scenario based on network analysis technique. Based on DIM, this function analyzes and visualizes interactions between FEPs in the same way as PID, RES, etc. In addition, this function analyzes FEP and DIM using network analysis technique and visualizes it as a diagram. The developed platform will be used to construct and visualize the FEP DB covering research results in various disposal research fields, to analyze and visualize the relationship between core FEP and scenarios, and finally to construct scenarios and calculation cases that are the evaluation target of the comprehensive performance evaluation model. In addition, it is expected to support the knowledge exchange of experts based on the FEP and scenario integrated information processing platform, and to utilize the platform itself as a part of the knowledge transfer system for knowledge preservation.

Cu/PET composite films are widely used in a variety of wearable electronics. Lifetime of the electronics is determined by adhesion between the Cu film and the PET substrate. The formation of an anisotropic nanostructure on the PET surface by surface modification can enhance Cu/PET interfacial adhesion. The shape and size of the anisotropic nanostructures of the PET surface can be controlled by varying the surface modification conditions. In this work, the effect of Cu/PET interface nanostructures on the failure mechanism of a Cu/PET flexible composite film is studied. From observation of the morphologies of the anisotropic nanostructures on plasma-treated PET surfaces, and cross-sections and surfaces of the fractured specimens, the Cu/PET interface area and nanostructure width are analyzed and the failure mechanism of the Cu/PET film is investigated. It is found that the failure mechanism of the Cu/PET flexible composite film depends on the shape and size of the plasmatreated PET surface nanostructures. Cu/PET interface nanostructures with maximal peel strength exhibit multiple craze-crack propagation behavior, while smaller or larger interface nanostructures exhibit single-path craze-crack propagation behavior.

This study aimed to examine the effect of a mild elevation in serum cholesterol level in a porcine coronary overstretch restenosis model using a balloon angioplasty catheter or drug-eluting coronary stent. Pigs were divided into two groups and were fed a commercial normal diet (CND, n = 4) or a high-fat diet (HFD, n = 4) for 5 weeks. Coronary overstretch injury by balloon angioplasty or stent implantation was induced in the left anterior descending and left circumflex artery after 1 week of feeding. Histopathological analysis was performed at 4 weeks after coronary injury. During the experiment, the total cholesterol level in the HFD group increased by approximately 44.9% (from 65.9 ± 3.21 mg/dL at baseline to 95.5 ± 9.94 mg/dL at 5 weeks). The lumen area in the CND group was reduced in comparison with that in the HFD group after balloon angioplasty. After stent implantation, the injury score showed no significant difference. There were significant differences in the neointimal area (2.7 ± 0.33 mm2 in the CND group vs. 3.3 ± 0.34 mm2 in the HFD group, p<0.05), lumen area (2.6 ± 0.54 mm2 in the CND group vs. 2.0 ± 0.33 mm2 in the HFD group, p<0.05), and percent area stenosis (52.0 ± 7.96% in the CND group vs. 62.4 ± 5.15% in the HFD group, p<0.05). Body weight change was not different between the two groups. Increased serum cholesterol level activated vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation in the porcine coronary overstretch model.

To develop flexible adsorbents for compact volatile organic compound (VOC) air purifiers, flexible as-spun zeolite fibers are prepared by an electrospinning method, and then zeolite particles are exposed as active sites for VOC (toluene) adsorption on the surface of the fibers by a thermal surface partial etching process. The breakthrough curves for the adsorption and temperature programmed desorption (TPD) curves of toluene over the flexible zeolite fibers is investigated as a function of the thermal etching temperature by gas chromatography (GC), and the adsorption/desorption characteristics improves with an increase in the thermal surface etching temperature. The effect of acidity on the flexible zeolite fibers for the removal of toluene is investigated as a function of the SiO2/Al2O3 ratios of zeolites. The acidity of the flexible zeolite fibers with different SiO2/Al2O3 ratios is measured by ammonia-temperature-programmed desorption (NH3-TPD), and the adsorption/desorption characteristics are investigated by GC. The results of the toluene adsorption/desorption experiments confirm that a higher SiO2/ Al2O3 ratio of the flexible zeolite fibers creates a better toluene adsorption/desorption performance.

Oxalic acid has a nematicidal activity against the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita. High producer of oxalic acid was isolated, and then named as Aspergillus niger F22. Oxalic acid production was investigated under various temperatures from 20 – 33oC and rotational speeds in 5 L jar fermenters. Yield of oxalic acid increased with decreasing temperature. The highest yield was obtained at 23oC, showing the yield of oxalic acid of 8.7 g/L, whereas oxalic acid production was least at 33oC. At 20oC, the yield was lower than that of 23oC. At a rotational speed of 300 rpm, serious oxygen depletion was present from 48 - 72 h, resulting in low productivity of 26.2 mg /L·h. When a rotational speed was set at 600 rpm, dissolved oxygen tension was over 40% and oxalic acid production increased up to approximately 55%. Viscosity during the culture differed with temperatures. Viscosity increased with the increment of temperatures. When A. niger F22 was cultured at 23oC, viscosity was 810 cP, which was favorable for oxalic acid production.

핵연료 운반용 실린더의 재사용을 위한 용기세척공장의 제염공정에 대한 성능을 평가하기 위하여 Na2CO3 + H2O2 혼합용액의 조합을 약간 달리한 2회의 시험을 실행하였다. 각 시험은 모두 일련의 5 단계에 걸쳐 실시되었다. 우라늄 제염의 주 화학종은 Na4UO2(CO3)3 로 식별되었다. 그리고 첫 단계에서의 세척액은 물이었으며, 이 단계에서 50% 이상의 우라늄이 제염되었다. 그 이후로는 단계가 더해 갈수록 우라늄의 제염양은 지수함수적으로 감소하는 경향을 나타내었으며, 화학양론적으로 제거된 우라늄에 비하여 투여된 Na2CO3 의 양은 과다함을 나타내었다. 이러한 결과들에 의하면, 공정최적화를 통하여 Na2CO3 의 투여량 감축, 세척폐액의 감량, 제염단계 축소 등을 꾀할 수 있을 것으로 판단된다.

Hepatocytes and hepatic progenitors derived from human ES cells may be a useful source for clinical application. Therefore, identification and purification of these cell types would be following important issues. There are very few candidate surface markers that can be used to identify and purify hepatic progenitor cells. In addition, indocyanine-green can be uptaken by mature hepatocytes, but cannot be applied for fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) due to its long emission wavelength. In the present study, we tested EpCAM as a potential marker for magnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS) of hepatic progenitors and also modified indocyanine-green into fluorescent indomonocarbocyanine for FACS-mediated sorting of mature hepatocytes after differentiation of human ES cells. Hepatic progenitor cells were sorted by MACS after incubation with anti-human EpCAM antibodies. After the final differentiation, the differentiated cells and mouse primary hepatocytes (control group) were incubated with indomonocarbocyanine and were sorted by FACS. MACS and immunocytochemistry data showed that approximately 45% of differentiated cells were EpCAM-positive cells. EpCAM-positive cells expressed α-fetoprotein, FOXa2, HnF4a, and CK18. Differentiation efficiency into albumin-positive cells was significantly higher in EpCAM-positive cells, compared to EpCAM-negative cells. Importantly, indomonocarbocyanine successfully stained cells that expressed ALB. Furthermore, FACS analysis data showed that the purity of hepatocytes that expressed albumin was significantly increased after purification of indomonocarbocyanine-positive cells. Our data demonstrated that human ES cell-derived hepatic progenitors can be efficiently isolated by MACS using EpCAM antibody. In addition, we also showed that indomonocarbocyanine can be successfully used to identify and purify mature hepatocytes using FACS.

Highly homogeneous and functional stem cell-derived hepatocyte-like cells (HLCs) are considered a promising option in the treatment of liver disease and the development of effective in vitro toxicity screening tool. However, the purity of cells and expression and/or activity of drug metabolizing enzymes in stem cell-derived HLCs are usually too low to be useful for clinical or in vitro applications. Here, we describe a highly optimized differentiation protocol, which produces more than 90% albumin-positive HLCs with no purification process. In addition, we show that hepatic enzyme gene expressions and activities were significantly improved by generating three-dimensional (3D) spheroidal aggregate of HLCs. The 3D differentiation method increased expressions of nuclear receptors that regulate the proper expression of key hepatic enzymes. Furthermore, a significantly increased hepatic functions such as albumin and urea secretion were observed in 3D hepatic spheroids and HLCs in the spheroid exhibited morphological and ultrastructural features of normal hepatocytes. Importantly, we show that repeated exposures to xenobiotics facilitated the functional maturation of HLC, as confirmed by increased expression of genes for drug metabolizing enzymes and transcription factors. In conclusion, the 3D culture system with repeated exposures to xenobiotics may be a new strategy for enhancing hepatic maturation of stem cell-derived HLCs as a cell source for in vitro high-throughput hepatotoxicity models.

Hepatocyte-like cells (HLCs) derived from human pluripotent stem cells have received extensive attention in the development of drug screening and toxicity testing. However, it has been reported that stem cell-derived HLCs showed hepatic functions that were too limited to be of use in drug screening and toxicity testing, possibly due to the lack of sufficient intercellular communication under conventional two-dimensional (2D) culture conditions. Therefore, a 3D differentiation system may overcome the in vitro limitation of 2D culture to produce stem cell-derived hepatocytes with mature metabolic functions. In this study, the feasibility of using a silicone-based spherofilm, specifically designed to produce spherical cell clusters, to generate uniformly sized 3D hepatic spheroids from hESCs was investigated. Hepatic spheroids generated on the spherofilm showed more homogenous size and shape than those generated in conventional low-attachment suspension culture dishes. Results of immunohistochemical analysis showed that expression of the mature hepatic marker albumin (ALB) increased over time during the hepatic maturation process. Furthermore, the 3D culture system mimicked the in vivo 3D microenvironment. Laminin, which is an important component of hepatic ECM, was expressed in hepatic spheroids. The results of immunohistochemical analysis indicated that the 3D culture environment is capable of generating an in vivo-like microenvironment. In addition, quantitative PCR analysis showed that the mature hepatic marker ALB and cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes CYP3A4 and CYP3A7 were expressed at higher levels in 3D culture than in 2D culture. This indicates that the 3D culture system is suitable for hepatic maturation and that our size-controlled 3D culture conditions might accelerate hepatic function. These results suggest that 3D hepatic spheroids significantly enhance metabolic maturation of hepatocytes derived from hESCs

MFG-E8 (Milk fat globule-epidermal growth factor VIII), also called lactadherin or BA46, SED1 is a glycoprotein found in milk and mammary epithelial cells, it is a major protein component associated with milk fat globule membrane. Previously, our study showed that expression of MFG-E8 is gradually increased with hepatic differentiation of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). Therefore, we hypothesized that MFG-E8 would be an early cancer stem cell marker, which may predict cancer progression. Our results showed that MFG-E8 was expressed in various human cancer cell lines such as HepG2, Hep3B, and Huh7. Production and secretion of the MFG-E8 were also confirmed in the conditioned media of those three cell lines using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Next, we analyzed the MFG-E8 expression in 11 clinical cases of cholangiocellular carcinoma (CC) and 33 cases of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by immunohistochemistry and examined the potential correlation with β-catenin and AFP, which are known cancer markers. According to hitological criteria, the progression of HCC and CC was evaluated and classified into high, low, metastatic, and well-, moderate-, poor-differentiated, respectively. Statistical analysis indicated that incidence of both HCC and CC is significantly associated with male compared to female (P<0.05). Tumor size also has positive correlation with age (r2=08948). Our immunohistochemistry data showed that MFG-E8 was expressed both HCC and CC tissue. Interestingly, the MFG-E8 expression was significantly increased with cancer progression (P<0.05) in both cases. Additionally, b-cateninexpression was increased and its localization was changed from membrane to cytoplasm and nucleus with the degree of HCC. Likely b-catenin, AFP was also increased with the degree of HCC but it was not correlated with severalty of CC. Importantly, both AFP and b-catenin were highly co-localized with MFG-E8 in HCC. These results suggest that MFG-E8 may have important physiological roles and its expression in HCC and CC would be considered as an important prognostic factor.

Soybean self-sufficiency in Korea was 22.5% in year 2011, and as free trade agreement between Korea and US comes into effect, the amount of soybean importation increases. In 2012, paddy field soybean cultivation was over 0.1 million ha and it is expected to increase continuously due to rise in market price of soybean. Moreover, double cropping system including paddy field soybean is widely adopted nationwide, but studies on appropriate cultivar for this environment are insufficient. In this research, the effect of planting date and different cultivars on soybean growth and yield was investigated for three planting dates (June 20, July 5, and July 20) with 15 cultivars. According to ANOVA test, soybean yield was significantly different depending on sowing date and cultivars and interaction between sowing date and cultivars was also detected, meaning each of cultivars resulted different yield depending on sowing date. When planted on July 20, stem length, nod number, branch number and grain weight was decreased because of short growing period, resulting in yield decrease. Percentage of yield obtained from July 20 in contrast to that of June 20 showed that Pungwon, Nampung and Daepung recorded the least yield decrease and the highest yield when planted late. Evaluation of late-sowing-adaptable soybean cultivar in paddy field is now being carried on following last year.

Wild rice might have previously unidentified genes important for disease resistance and stress tolerance in response to biotic and abiotic stresses. A set of subtractive library was constructed both from leaves of wild rice plants, Oryza grandiglumis (CCDD, 2n=48), treated with fungal elicitor and from wounded leaves. A partial fragment that was homologous to PR10 genes from other plant species was identified via suppression subtractive hybridization and cDNA macroarray. The obtained full-length cDNA sequence (OgPR10) contains an open reading frame of 480 bp nucleotide, encoding 160 amino acids with a predicted molecular mass of 16.944 kDa and an isoelectric point (pI) of 4.91. The multiple alignment analyses showed the higher sequence homology of OgPR10 with PR10 genes identified in rice plants at amino acid level. The OgPR10 mRNA was not expressed by treatment with wounding, jasmonic acid, and salicylic acid, but markedly expressed in leaves treated with protein phosphatase inhibitors cantharidin and endothall, and yeast extract. In addition, the expression of OgPR10 mRNA was induced within 72 h after treatment with probenazole, one of well-known chemical elicitors, and reached the highest level at 144 h. Heterologous expression of OgPR10 caused growth inhibition and seedling lethality in E. coli and Arabidopsis, respectively. Chemically induced OgPR10 expression with glucocorticoid-mediated transcriptional induction system further reconfirmed its lethality on Arabidopsis seedling. In addition, OgPR10-expressing rice plants, Oryzae sativar were resistant against the infection of rice blast fungus, Magnaporthe grisea. These results indicate that OgPR10 is involved in probenazole- and microbe associated molecular patterns-mediated disease resistance responses in plants and is a potential gene for developing disease resistance crop plants.

An unbalance of rice productions and consumptions caused serious problems in both of agricultural area and grain market of korea. In recently, various efforts for rice processing products such as rice noodles and rice wines are in progress to overcome the unstable rice market. Among them, waxy rice is predominant items in processing rice. However, varietal features of starch viscosity are not considered in the processing industries and rice breeding field. In this study, 12 waxy rices and 2 cultivars Ilmibyeo(japonica) and IR72(Indica) were studied for physicochemical and amylogram to characterize the use of waxy rices. The amylose contents of waxy rices were from 7.1 to 8.1% with soft gel consistency and relatively low alkali digestion value(1.4% KOH) compare to Ilmibyeo. In the amylogram analysis(RVU) of waxy rices, unlikely normal rices, very fast peak time(about 3.5 min.) was obtained compare to that of 6.2 min. of Ilmibyeo. And 2 to 3 groups were classified based on peak viscosity and consitency of RVU. Wangchal, Odorokimochi and Hangangchal showed relatively high peak viscosity seemed not suitable for rice cake due to the hardness speed. And most of waxy rices developed in korea were believed to be suitable for oil fried cakes(Hankwa) because of a certain grade of starch degradation speed. And Mochiminori and Midoromochi originated from japan could be a good sources in waxy rice breeding program to improve the cooking properties especially in slow down of hardness speed with very low peak viscosity, hot viscosity and cool viscosity.