Jae‐Hong Kim

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are important regulatory molecules implicated in the signaling cascade triggered by tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, although the events through which TNF-alpha induces ROS generation are not yet well characterized. We therefore investigated selected candidates likely to mediate TNF-alpha-induced ROS generation. Consistent with the role of Rac in that process, stable expression of Rac(Asn-17), a dominant negative Rac1 mutant, completely blocked TNF-alpha-induced R

The pH within individual organelles of the secretory pathway is believed to be an important determinant of their biosynthetic activity. However, little is known about the determinants and regulation of the pH in the secretory organelles, which cannot be readily accessed by [H+]-sensitive probes. We devised a procedure for the dynamic, noninvasive measurement of pH in the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum in intact mammalian cells. A recombinant form of the B subunit of Shiga toxin, previously m

Stem cells are undifferentiated cells, which have the important properties of self-renewal and differentiation. Adipose-derived stem cells (ADSC) have relative advantages in accessibility and abundance compared to other kinds of stem cells. Regeneration therapy using ADSC has received attention in the treatment of various dermatologic diseases. In previous studies, ADSC were shown to have antioxidant, whitening and wound-healing effects in the skin through secretion of growth factors and by acti

Leukotriene B(4) is a potent chemoattractant known to be involved mainly in inflammation, immune responses, and host defense against infection, although the exact signaling mechanisms by which it exerts its effects are not well understood. Here we show that exogenous leukotriene B(4) induces reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation via a Rac-dependent pathway, and that stable expression of Rac(N17), a dominant negative Rac1 mutant, completely blocks leukotriene B(4)-induced ROS generation. In ad

The four-switch inverter, having a lower number of insulated gate bipolar transistors(IGBTs), has been studied for the possibility of reducing the inverter cost. But it has a limited performance in the low-frequency region, because the balance among the phase currents collapses due to the fluctuation of the center tap voltage of the DC-link capacitors. This problem could be solved if the DC-link capacitance is infinitely large, but it is a costly solution. In this paper, this problem is looked a

Perpendicularly magnetized tunnel junctions (p-MTJs) show promise as reliable candidates for next-generation memory due to their outstanding features. However, several key challenges remain that affect CoFeB/MgO-based p-MTJ performance. One significant issue is the low thermal stability (Δ) due to the rapid perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) degradation during annealing at temperatures greater than 300 °C. Thus, the ability to provide thermally robust PMA characteristics is a key steps towa

Ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynecologic malignancy in women. Despite the fact that the metastatic spread is associated with the majority of deaths from ovarian cancer, the molecular mechanisms regulating the invasive and metastatic phenotypes of ovarian cancer are poorly understood. In this study, we demonstrated that BLT2, a low affinity leukotriene B4 receptor, is highly expressed in OVCAR-3 and SKOV-3 human ovarian cancer cells, and that this receptor plays a key role in the invasivenes

Up-regulation of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) in the lung airway epithelium is associated with the epithelium-leukocyte interaction, critical for the pathogenesis of various lung airway inflammatory diseases such as asthma. However, little is known about how ICAM-1 is up-regulated in human airway epithelial cells. In this study, we show that tumor TNF-alpha induces monocyte adhesion to A549 human lung airway epithelium and also up-regulation of ICAM-1 expression. These effects were

We investigated the extent to which phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI 3-kinase) and Rac, a member of the Rho family of small GTPases, are involved in the signaling cascade triggered by tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha leading to activation of c-fos serum response element (SRE) and c-Jun amino-terminal kinase (JNK) in Rat-2 fibroblasts. Inhibition of PI 3-kinase by LY294002 or wortmannin, two specific PI 3-kinase antagonists, or co-transfection with a dominant negative mutant of PI 3-kinase dose

A dual-half-bridge (DHB) converter is integrated with a half-bridge 60-Hz inverter as a converter/inverter system for a small distributed generator. This topology provides an isolation between the power source and the load with a 100-kHz transformer, and therefore, the system volume is small. On the other hand, it reduces the number of switching devices greatly. However, the half-bridge inverter causes severe capacitor-voltage fluctuations. The unbalanced voltage problem can be solved by control

Leukotriene B4 (LTB4) is an inflammatory mediator with potent biological activities in the pathogenesis of many inflammatory diseases. In the present study, we found that expression of BLT2, a low-affinity LTB4 receptor, is significantly upregulated in breast cancer cells. In addition, we observed that inhibition of BLT2 by a specific antagonist, LY255283, or by siBLT2 RNA interference caused dramatic apoptotic cell death in breast cancer cells, especially in the estrogen receptor (ER)-negative