Dong-Eui University is one of the leading private universities in Busan, a metropolitan city on the southeastern coast of South Korea. The University has 10 colleges, 116 master and doctoral courses in six graduate schools, with 22,992 students and 1,690 faculty and staff members. Dong-Eui has gained fame in the fields of Korean medicine and engineering and has built solid reputations in other fields such as management, health sciences, nursing, and a range of sciences.
Although the various pharmacological activities of albiflorin, a monoterpene glycoside, are closely related to its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities, studies on these activities in macrophages are limited. This study aimed to investigate whether albiflorin, through its anti-inflammatory activity, can mitigate oxidative stress in a lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophage model. Albiflorin substantially reduced the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-6, IL-1β, and tumor necrosis factor-α by lowering their expression. Albiflorin also significantly decreased the secretion of inflammatory mediators such as nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E₂ by downregulating the expression of inducible NO synthase and cyclooxygenase-2 in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. Moreover, albiflorin impeded the LPS-induced phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB). In terms of antioxidant activity, albiflorin significantly decreased LPS-induced reactive oxygen species levels while enhancing heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) expression and promoting nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) activation, suggesting that albiflorin activates the Nrf2/HO-1 pathway. Importantly, the anti-inflammatory effects of albiflorin were reversed by zinc protoporphyrin, a selective HO-1 inhibitor, confirming the critical role of the Nrf2/HO-1 pathway in mediating albiflorin bioactivity. These findings indicate that albiflorin exhibits anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties in an in vitro model, likely mediated through the regulation of the MAPK/NF-κB and Nrf2/HO-1 pathways. These results provide preliminary mechanistic insight and support the need for further investigation to determine its potential relevance in vivo.
This study meticulously examined changes in the surface color of titanium caused by anodization, along with the accompanying surface corrosion. Titanium Grade 4 was anodized using an ethylene glycol-based electrolyte containing NH4F and H2O to precisely investigate surface color variations. The applied voltage varied from 10 V to 100 V in 10 V increments, and the anodization time ranged from 10 to 100 s in 10-s intervals. As the anodizing conditions intensified, the oxidation reaction accelerated, and the TiO2 oxide film grew thicker and denser, providing the structural conditions necessary for vivid optical interference. This controlled film growth produced a wide spectrum of surface colors, including purple, blue, cyan, green, yellow, orange, red, and angle-dependent (goniochromatic) effects, by modulating the wavelength of reflected light through thin-film interference. In addition, the gradual thickening of the oxide layer, which caused the color changes, also enhanced the corrosion resistance of the titanium, demonstrating that the anodization process can tailor both aesthetic and protective properties through precise control of voltage and time.
Muscle atrophy, which is defined as a decrease in muscle mass and strength, is caused by an imbalance between the anabolism and catabolism of muscle proteins. Thus, modulating the homeostasis between muscle protein synthesis and degradation represents an efficient treatment approach for this condition. In the present study, the protective effects against muscle atrophy of ethanol extracts of Morus alba L. (MA) and Angelica keiskei Koidz. (AK) leaves and their mixtures (MIX) were evaluated in vitro and in vivo. Our results showed that MIX increased 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribonucleotide-induced C2C12 myotube thinning, and enhanced soleus and gastrocnemius muscle thickness compared to each extract alone in dexamethasone-induced muscle atrophy Sprague Dawley rats. In addition, although MA and AK substantially improved grip strength and histological changes for dexamethasone-induced muscle atrophy in vivo, the efficacy was superior in the MIX-treated group. Moreover, MIX further increased the expression levels of myogenic factors (MyoD and myogenin) and decreased the expression levels of E3 ubiquitin ligases (atrogin-1 and muscle-specific RING finger protein-1) in vitro and in vivo compared to the MA- and AK-alone treatment groups. Furthermore, MIX increased the levels of phosphorylated phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K), protein kinase B (Akt), and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) that were reduced by dexamethasone, and downregulated the expression of forkhead box O3 (FoxO3a) induced by dexamethasone. These results suggest that MIX has a protective effect against muscle atrophy by enhancing muscle protein anabolism through the activation of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway and attenuating catabolism through the inhibition of FoxO3a.
Long-term prediction of chloride diffusion in marine concrete is challenging because the process is governed by nonlinear interactions among exposure time, environmental conditions, and material properties, which continuously shift the dominant ingress mechanisms over the service life. This study presents an integrated machine learning (ML) and global sensitivity analysis (GSA) framework to model these complex dynamics. For this framework, 107 chloride profiles and their corresponding six variables were collected from 12 operational marine bridges with service lives up to 21 years. Subsequently, Gaussian-noise augmentation was applied to construct a robust dataset for ML modeling and GSA. The GSA module explicitly tracks how variable importance evolves with age, revealing that compressive strength dominates at 10 years, environmental factors overtake it by 15 years, and the importance of the service life variable rises at 20 years. GSA-guided feature selection improved predictive R2 by a maximum of 16 % relative to the model-intrinsic Mean Decrease in Impurity baseline, confirming its effectiveness in identifying key predictors under non-stationary conditions. By identifying life-stage-specific optimal models, the approach supports adaptive maintenance scheduling based on dominant variables and practical engineering decision making. This methodology establishes a transferable paradigm for data-driven prognostics in other aging engineering systems where performance is governed by similar evolving feature interactions.
The effect of the base metal (BM) microstructure on the hot cracking susceptibilities of Alloy 718 during welding was investigated. A forged ring of Alloy 718 was subjected to a series of heat treatments to produce distinct initial BM microstructures with variations in grain size and precipitate distribution. The cracking susceptibilities in the fusion zone (FZ) and heat-affected zone (HAZ) were quantitatively assessed using Varestraint tests. The results revealed that the FZ cracking susceptibility increased with increasing BM grain size, owing to epitaxial grain growth during solidification that promoted the formation of coarser grains in the FZ. In the HAZ, cracking susceptibility was strongly influenced by Nb-rich precipitates formed during solution treatment, such as Laves and grain boundary delta phases, which promoted constitutional liquation and segregation-induced liquation along grain boundaries, respectively.
