Neuroprotective and Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Evernic Acid in an MPTP-Induced Parkinson’s Disease Model

Oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and neuroinflammation are strongly associated with the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease (PD), which suggests that anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory compounds might provide an alternative treatment for PD. Here, we evaluated the neuroprotective effects of evernic aid (EA), which was screened from a lichen library provided by the Korean Lichen Research Institute at Sunchon National University. EA is a secondary metabolite generated by lichens, including Ramalina, Evernia, and Hypogymnia, and several studies have described its anticancer, antifungal, and antimicrobial effects. However, the neuroprotective effects of EA have not been studied. We found that EA protected primary cultured neurons against 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridium (MPP⁺)-induced cell death, mitochondrial dysfunction, and oxidative stress, and effectively reduced MPP⁺-induced astroglial activation by inhibiting the NF-κB pathway. In vivo, EA ameliorated MPTP-induced motor dysfunction, dopaminergic neuronal loss, and neuroinflammation in the nigrostriatal pathway in C57BL/6 mice. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that EA has neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory effects in PD models and suggest that EA is a potential therapeutic candidate for PD.     

Effects of Co content on the Cu diffusion barrier property of electroless NiCoP film

The characteristics of electroless NiCoP films were investigated as a function of Co content. Sheet resistance of a multi-stacked film of SiO₂/Ta/Cu/NiP dramatically increased after annealing at 500 °C, but as more Co was co-plated in NiCoP film, the change in sheet resistance of the stacked film of SiO₂/Ta/Cu/NiCoP at 500 °C became smaller. A CoP/Cu film showed no change in resistance value after annealing, which indicates the CoP film is the most effective Cu diffusion barrier. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that an as-plated NiP film of amorphous structure is easily crystallized by thermal annealing over 300 °C, while CoP showed an insignificant change in crystal structure by thermal annealing up to 500 °C. This result reveals that the CoP film is capable of preventing the diffusion of Cu at 500 °C due to the thermal stability of CoP film.     

Activation of Nrf2/HO-1 by Peptide YD1 Attenuates Inflammatory Symptoms through Suppression of TLR4/MYyD88/NF-κB Signaling Cascade

In this study, we investigate the immunomodulatory effects of a novel antimicrobial peptide, YD1, isolated from Kimchi, in both in vitro and in vivo models. We establish that YD1 exerts its anti-inflammatory effects via up-regulation of the Nrf2 pathway, resulting in the production of HO-1, which suppresses activation of the NF-κB pathway, including the subsequent proinflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α. We also found that YD1 robustly suppresses nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE₂) production by down-regulating the expression of the upstream genes, iNOS and COX-2, acting as a strong antioxidant. Collectively, YD1 exhibits vigorous anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity, presenting it as an interesting potential therapeutic agent.     

Antimicrobial performance of alkaline ionic fluid (GC-100X) and its ability to remove Escherichia coli O157:H7 from the surface of tomatoes

An efficacy test of GC-100X, a noncorrosive alkaline ionic fluid (pH 12) composed of free radicals and supplemented with xylitol, was carried out against six major foodborne pathogens-Staphylococcus aureus FRI 913, Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis ATCC 13076, S. enterica serovar Typhimurium DT104 Korean isolate, Vibrio parahaemolyticus ATCC 17803, Escherichia coli O157:H7 ATCC 43894, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa KCTC 1637-at three different temperatures (4, 25, and 36 degrees C) with or without organic load (2% yeast extract). Results revealed a more than 4-log10 (CFU/ml) reduction (1.0 x 10(4) CFU/ml reduction) against all pathogens reacted at 37 degrees C for 3 h in the absence of organic material. GC-100X solution diluted with an equal volume of distilled or standard hard water (300 ppm CaCO3) showed effective bactericidal activity, particularly against gram-negative bacteria. Washing efficacy of GC-100X solution was compared against E. coli O157:H7 on cherry tomato surfaces with those of a commercially used detergent and chlorine water (100 ppm). Viable cell counts of E. coli O157:H7 that had penetrated to the cores of tomatoes after sanitizing treatment revealed that GC-100X stock and its 5% diluted solutions had similar washing effects to 100-ppm chlorine water and were more effective than the other kitchen detergent. These results indicate that GC-100X has good bactericidal and sanitizing activities and is useful as a new sanitizer for food safety and kitchen hygiene.     

A preliminary study on the development of an easy method for beef freshness using a cyclic voltammetric system

This study was carried out to develop an easy method for beef freshness using a cyclic voltammetric system. Prime graded (USDA) beef loin at 48 h postmortem was cut into pieces 3 cm thick, packaged into commercial plastic zipper bag, and then stored at 4 °C for 0, 3, 6 and 9 days. A commercial cyclic voltammetry and data processing software were used for this study and the interdigitated electrode was fabricated according to semiconductor manufacturing. The homogenated beef was filtered through Whatman No. 1 filter paper and 250 μL of the filtrate was applied on the interdigitated electrode sensor chip for electrochemical detection. Electrochemical signals changed as storage periods increased. The shape of the cyclic voltammogram changed from a roundish curve to a shapely curve. Redox values (V) also increased during storage. Electrochemical signals matched well with lipid oxidation values (Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances: TBARS). A linear relationship between redox value and TBARS was obtained with a correlation factor of 0.957. Thus, the electrochemical signal of a cyclic voltammetric system can be used as an indicator of beef freshness.     

STL File Generation with Data Reduction by the Delaunay Triangulation Method in Reverse Engineering

Reverse engineering has been widely used for the shape reconstruction of an object without CAD data and typical steps include the scanning of a clay or wood model and the generation of manufacturing data such as an STL file. A new approach to remove point data with Delaunay triangulation is introduced to deal with the size problems of the STL file and the difficulties in the operation of the rapid prototyping (RP) process. The selection of a group of triangles, based on the angle, is used for a robust and reliable implementation of the Delaunay triangulation method. The developed software enables the user to specify the criteria for the selection of the group of triangles by the angle between triangles, the percentage of reduced triangles, and the allowable area. This approach can be used to reduce the measuring data from the laser scanner, thus save the handling time of point data during the modelling process and is useful for verifying and slicing the STL model during the RP process.     

Large Scale Indoor Localization System Based on Wireless Sensor Networks for Ubiquitous Computing

The task of formulating an efficient system for determining the location of an object, results in the creation of a wide number of applications and services. For this reason, most wireless sensor network applications assume the availability of sensor location information. In this paper, an indoor localization scheme, which is based on synchronized sensor nodes, is proposed. It is efficient in terms of power consumption and location update rate. Furthermore, it resolves the scalability problem usually found in most conventional indoor localization systems in large scale indoor environments. The performance of the proposed scheme is evaluated through experimental implementation and is compared with the Cricket system. The results demonstrate that the proposed scheme is a promising and feasible localization system for a large scale indoor environment.     

A Novel Cogging Torque Reduction Method for Interior-Type Permanent-Magnet Motor

This paper presents a novel design method to reduce the cogging torque of interior-type permanent-magnet (PM) motor. In the design method, the optimal notches are put on the rotor pole face, which have an effect on the variation of PM shape or the residual flux density of PM. Through the space harmonic field analysis, the positions of notches are found, and the optimal shapes of notches are determined by using finite element method. The validity of the proposed method is confirmed by experiments.     

Effect of foreign exchange management on firm performance using genetic algorithm and VaR

Management of foreign exchange risk is considered to be as important as trading results in firm performance when international trading and transaction of different kind of currencies are getting popular. Most previous researches on this issue have been based on the foreign exchange market and financial investing and accounting, focusing on theoretical point of view. And it is difficult to apply these research results to each company, since all companies in industry have different financial circumstances. In this paper, the solution for the foreign exchange management is proposed using GA and VaR which is very practical to export-oriented companies. The developed software enables a user to specify the criteria for the foreign exchange trading condition, constraints on dealing amount, GA operator and penalty, and variables in VaR. This approach is useful for managing foreign exchange holdings of a company in a practical way, analyzing past exchange rate trend with dealing results.     

An introduction to the new degradation of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) shower hose

Recently, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) shower hoses have hardened throughout the eastern Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. According to the elemental analysis results, the carbon and oxygen concentrations were much lower in the damaged hoses. These findings reveal that oxygen-containing, carbon-based plasticisers may leach from the damaged hose. As a result, the hoses lost flexibility after one year of use. The highest number of heterotrophic bacteria was detected by PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis in the shower water, and the bacterial DNA concentration was higher when hot water contacted the hose surface. I conclude that the plasticiser was leached from the stiffened hose through a bioaccumulation process.