Diagonal quadratic forms representing all binary diagonal quadratic forms

Ji, Yun-Seong,Kim, Myeong Jae,Oh, Byeong-Kweon Kluwer Academic 2018 RAMANUJAN JOURNAL Vol. No.

<P>A (positive definite integral) quadratic form is called diagonally 2-universal if it represents all positive definite integral binary diagonal quadratic forms. In this article, we show that, up to equivalence, there are exactly 18 (positive definite integral) quinary diagonal quadratic forms that are diagonally 2-universal. Furthermore, we provide a 'diagonally 2-universal criterion' for diagonal quadratic forms, which is similar to '15-Theorem' proved by Conway and Schneeberger.</P>

Effects of inorganic nanoparticles on viability and catabolic activities of Agrobacterium sp. PH-08 during biodegradation of dibenzofuran.

Le, Thao Thanh,Murugesan, Kumarasamy,Kim, Eun-Ju,Chang, Yoon-Seok Kluwer Academic Publishers 2014 Biodegradation Vol.25 No.5

<P>This study investigated the cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, and growth inhibition effects of four different inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) such as aluminum (nAl), iron (nFe), nickel (nNi), and zinc (nZn) on a dibenzofuran (DF) degrading bacterium Agrobacterium sp. PH-08. NP (0-1,000 mg L(-1)) -treated bacterial cells were assessed for cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, growth and biodegradation activities at biochemical and molecular levels. In an aqueous system, the bacterial cells treated with nAl, nZn and nNi at 500 mg L(-1) showed significant reduction in cell viability (30-93.6 %, p < 0.05), while nFe had no significant inhibition on bacterial cell viability. In the presence of nAl, nZn and nNi, the cells exhibited elevated levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), DNA damage and cell death. Furthermore, NP exposure showed significant (p < 0.05) impairment in DF and catechol biodegradation activities. The reduction in DF biodegradation was ranged about 71.7-91.6 % with single NPs treatments while reached up to 96.3 % with a mixture of NPs. Molecular and biochemical investigations also clearly revealed that NP exposure drastically affected the catechol-2,3-dioxygenase activities and its gene (c23o) expression. However, no significant inhibition was observed in nFe treatment. The bacterial extracellular polymeric materials and by-products from DF degradation can be assumed as key factors in diminishing the toxic effects of NPs, especially for nFe. This study clearly demonstrates the impact of single and mixed NPs on the microbial catabolism of xenobiotic-degrading bacteria at biochemical and molecular levels. This is the first study on estimating the impact of mixed NPs on microbial biodegradation.</P>

Effects of A379V variant of the Lp-PLA 2 gene on Lp-PLA 2 activity and markers of oxidative stress and endothelial function in Koreans.

Chae, Jey Sook,Kwak, Jung Hyun,Kim, Minjoo,Shin, Kyoung Hun,Lee, Sang-Hyun,Jeong, Tae-Sook,Lee, Jong Ho Kluwer Academic Publishers 2014 Journal of thrombosis and thrombolysis Vol.38 No.4

<P>A379V variant in the lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA 2) gene is known to be functional, but there are contradicting data concerning the A379V polymorphism, Lp-PLA2 activity and cardiovascular disease risk. We determined the interplay between A379V SNP, Lp-PLA2 activity, and markers of oxidative stress and endothelial function with and without the effect of V279F variant. 3,220 unrelated and healthy Koreans (40-79 years) were genotyped for the Lp-PLA 2 polymorphism (A379V and V279F). Lp-PLA2 activity and markers of oxidative stress and endothelial function were measured. Lp-PLA2 activity was 3.9% higher in A/V subjects (n = 821) and 7.8% in V/V (n = 79) than in those with A/A (n = 2,320). Urinary levels of 8-epi-PGF2α were significantly lower in subjects with the A/V or the V/V genotype than in those with the A/A genotype (A/A; 1,426 14, A/V; 1,371 26, V/V; 1,199 58 pg/mg creatinine, P = 0.003). Subjects with the 379 V/V genotype had lower serum concentrations of sICAM-1 and p-selectin compared to those with the A/A or the A/V genotype. When subjects were further stratified into subgroups based on the combination of A379V and V279F genotypes, there was no significant association between A379V genotypes and Lp-PLA2 activities in the 279 V/V group. However, the associations of the A379V SNP with levels of 8-epi-PGF2α, sICAM-1, and p-selectin remained in the subset analysis based on the V279F genotypes. This study showed a reduction in oxidative stress in subjects carrying 379V allele and the recessive effect of the A379V on the endothelial function. It is likely that the A379V polymorphism has a qualitative effect, probably by disrupting the affinity of Lp-PLA2 for platelet-activating factor substrate, towards a more anti-oxidative or anti-atherogenic form.</P>

Depression Index Service Using Knowledge Based Crowdsourcing in Smart Health

Kluwer Academic Publishers 2017 WIRELESS PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS Vol. No.

<P>The development of the IT convergence technology has been serving as the basis for the application of the IoT devices to the products being used in our everyday life, such as clock, health band, scale, TV, light and doorlock. The government and companies have been developing the IoT-based smart home, smart city and smart health to enhance the national health as well as the life convenience. In particular, the government has been providing its diverse supports to the smart health in order to utilize electronic medical records, personal health record and self-diagnosis. The Ministry of Health and Welfare has been expanding the self-diagnosis service through conducting an epidemiologic survey on mental illness and mental health, the two issues that are becoming a major problem in our society. The results of the survey-based self-diagnosis may vary depending on the environment surrounding the users as well as the mental state of the users. In this paper, we propose the depression index service using the knowledge-based crowdsourcing within the smart health platform. The proposed method provides the index suitable for the context of each user through using the knowledge-based crowdsourcing within the smart health platform to compare the actual users with the similar users and predict the depression level. The prediction of the depression index uses the collaborative filtering model based on the comparison of users with other users, and uses the crowdsourcing to supplement the sparsity problem. CES-D is used as the criterion for determining the depression level, and the CES-D data is collected through the crowdsourcing. In the preexisting crowdsourcing process, the highly expert/reliable knowledge base to which the context information of the users is applied is constructed. The context information of the users is additionally collected through the self-diagnosis process, and the data are determined through the preconditioning process. The actual users data and determined data are applied to the Pearson's correlation coefficient to analyze the similarity level of between the actual/preexisting users. Then the analyzed similarity is used to service the result of the self-diagnosis to the actual users. This is a flexible service to which the context information of the users is applied, and it contributes to the users' decision-making.</P>

Cold adaptation of a psychrophilic chaperonin from Psychrobacter sp. and its application for heterologous protein expression.

Kim, Han-Woo,Wi, Ah Ram,Jeon, Byoung Wook,Lee, Jun Hyuck,Shin, Seung Chul,Park, Hyun,Jeon, Sung-Jong Kluwer Academic Publishers 2015 Biotechnology letters Vol.37 No.9

<P>A chaperonin, PsyGroELS, from the Antarctic psychrophilic bacterium Psychrobacter sp. PAMC21119, was examined for its role in cold adaptation when expressed in a mesophilic Escherichia coli strain. Growth of E. coli harboring PsyGroELS at 10 A degrees C was increased compared to the control strain. A co-expression system using PsyGroELS was developed to increase productivity of the psychrophilic enzyme PsyEst9. PsyEst9 was cloned and expressed using three E. coli variants that co-expressed GroELS from PAMC21119, E. coli, or Oleispira antarctica RB8(T). Co-expression with PsyGroELS was more effective for the production of PsyEst9 compared tothe other chaperonins. PsyGroELS confers cold tolerance to E. coli, and shows potential as an effective co-expression system for the stable production of psychrophilic proteins.</P>

Biotransformation of oleic acid into 10-ketostearic acid by recombinant Corynebacterium glutamicum-based biocatalyst.

Lee, Byeonghun,Lee, Saebom,Kim, Hyeonsoo,Jeong, Kijun,Park, Jinbyung,Lee, Eunyeol,Lee, Jinwon Kluwer Academic Publishers 2015 Biotechnology letters Vol.37 No.5

<P>To produce 10-ketostearic acid from oleic acid.</P>

Adaptive Forwarding Scheme for Bounded Time Constraint in Delay Tolerant Networks

Kluwer Academic Publishers 2017 WIRELESS PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS Vol. No.

Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Lysozyme Against HMGB1 in Human Endothelial Cells and in Mice.

Lee, Wonhwa,Ku, Sae-Kwang,Na, Dong Hee,Bae, Jong-Sup Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers 2015 INFLAMMATION Vol.38 No.5

<P>High mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) was recently shown to be an important extracellular mediator of severe vascular inflammatory disease, sepsis. Lysozyme protects us from the ever-present danger of bacterial infection and binds to bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) with a high affinity. Here, we show, for the first time, the anti-septic effects of lysozyme in HMGB1-mediated inflammatory responses in vitro and in vivo. The data showed that lysozyme posttreatment suppressed LPS-mediated release of HMGB1 and HMGB1-mediated cytoskeletal rearrangement. Lysozyme also inhibited HMGB1-mediated hyperpermeability and leukocyte migration in human endothelial cells. In addition, lysozyme inhibited the HMGB1-mediated activation of Akt, nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), extracellular regulated kinases (ERK) 1/2 and production of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) in HUVECs. Furthermore, lysozyme reduced the cecal ligation and puncture (CLP)-induced release of HMGB1, migration of leukocytes, septic mortality, and pulmonary damage in mice. Collectively, these results suggest lysozyme as a candidate therapeutic agent for the treatment of vascular inflammatory diseases via inhibition of the HMGB1 signaling pathway.</P>

Distributed Fair Resource Allocation for Cognitive Femtocell Networks

Shi, Lin,Yoo, Sang-Jo Kluwer Academic Publishers 2017 WIRELESS PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS Vol. No.

<P>The emergence of femtocell and cognitive radio technology has led them to be considered promising solutions for improved wireless broadband access. The low-power and short-range femtocells equipped with cognitive functionality allow opportunistic access to the macro spectrum by sensing the wireless environment. A key role is to dynamically allocate available resources in the most efficient manner and manage the interference effectively. However, the issue of fair resource allocation is also an important problem to be addressed in cognitive femtocell networks. In this paper, we propose a distributed fair resource allocation scheme in a cognitive femtocell network while mitigating the inter-cell interference. The proposed distributed fair resource allocation (DFRA) algorithm guarantees fairness by applying channel state difference ranks and satisfaction degrees of femtocells. Additionally, the DFRA algorithm works in a fully distributed manner reducing the signal overhead compared to centralized schemes. Simulation results indicate that the proposed DFRA algorithm is able to significantly improve fairness among femtocells while maintaining considerable throughput performance.</P>

Modulation of Pharmacokinetic and Cytotoxicity Profile of Imatinib Base by Employing Optimized Nanostructured Lipid Carriers.

Gupta, Biki,Poudel, Bijay Kumar,Tran, Tuan Hiep,Pradhan, Roshan,Cho, Hyuk-Jun,Jeong, Jee-Heon,Shin, Beom Soo,Choi, Han-Gon,Yong, Chul Soon,Kim, Jong Oh Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers 2015 Pharmaceutical research Vol.32 No.9

<P>To prepare, optimize and characterize imatinib-loaded nanostructured lipid carriers (IMT-NLC), and evaluate their pharmacokinetic and cytotoxicity characteristics.</P>