• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.16-23
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• 2011

Accurate measurement of uranium enrichment is very important in nuclear material accountability. The analysis uncertainty of the uranium enrichment measurement with gamma-ray analysis was studied in the present work. FRAM (Fixed energy Response function Analysis with Multiple efficiencies) code was used to determine the uranium enrichment. If the shield materials were placed between the detector and the sample, the error was measured and analyzed. Measurement time was varied and the dependency of the analysis uncertainty on the measurement time was studied. Transmitted gamma-ray intensities and FWHMs of the peaks in the energy spectrum were measured as the shield thickness was varied. The transmitted gamma-ray intensity follows shape of the exponential function, and the FWHM was almost independent of the shield thickness. The uncertainty of FRAM analysis was studied when the thick shield material was placed between the detector and the sample. Our work could be helpful in analysis of the fissile material in uranium sample.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.45.1-45.11
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• 2023

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common type of chronic liver disease, with severity levels ranging from nonalcoholic fatty liver to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). The extent of liver fibrosis indicates the severity of NASH and the risk of liver cancer. However, the mechanism underlying NASH development, which is important for early screening and intervention, remains unclear. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) is a useful method for identifying hub genes and screening specific targets for diseases. In this study, we utilized an mRNA dataset of the liver tissues of patients with NASH and conducted WGCNA for various stages of liver fibrosis. Subsequently, we employed two additional mRNA datasets for validation purposes. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was conducted to analyze gene function enrichment. Through WGCNA and subsequent analyses, complemented by validation using two additional datasets, we identified five genes (BICC1, C7, EFEMP1, LUM, and STMN2) as hub genes. GSEA analysis indicated that gene sets associated with liver metabolism and cholesterol homeostasis were uniformly downregulated. BICC1, C7, EFEMP1, LUM, and STMN2 were identified as hub genes of NASH, and were all related to liver metabolism, NAFLD, NASH, and related diseases. These hub genes might serve as potential targets for the early screening and treatment of NASH.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.125-150
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• 2013

This paper intends to present an application of isogeometric analysis in crack problems. An isogeometric formula is developed based on NURBS basis functions - enriched and adopted via X-FEM enrichment functions. The proposed method which is represented by the combination of the two above-mentioned methods, first by using NURBS functions models the geometry exactly and then by defining level set function on domain, identifies available discontinuity in elements. Additional DOFs are allocated to elements containing the crack and X-FEM enrichment functions enrich approximate solution. Moreover, a subelement refinement technique is used to improve the accuracy of integration by the Gauss quadrature rule. Finally, several numerical examples are illustrated to demonstrate the effectiveness, robustness and accuracy of the proposed method during calculation of crack parameters.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.381-390
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• 2001

In this paper, a new improved crack analysis technique by Element-Free Galerkin(EFG) method is proposed, in which the singularity and the discontinuity of the crack successfully described by adding enrichment terms containing a singular basis function to the standard EFG approximation and a discontinuity function implemented in constructing the shape function across the crack surface. The standard EFG method requires considerable addition of nodes or modification of the model. In addition, the proposed method significantly decreases the size of system of equation compared to the previous enriched EFG method by using localized enrichment region near the crack tip. Numerical example show the improvement and th effectiveness of the previous method.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.39.1-39.8
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• 2020

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a chronic, progressive brain disorder that slowly destroys affected individuals' memory and reasoning faculties, and consequently, their ability to perform the simplest tasks. This study investigated the hub genes of AD. Proteins interact with other proteins and non-protein molecules, and these interactions play an important role in understanding protein function. Computational methods are useful for understanding biological problems, in particular, network analyses of protein-protein interactions. Through a protein network analysis, we identified the following top 10 hub genes associated with AD: PTGER3, C3AR1, NPY, ADCY2, CXCL12, CCR5, MTNR1A, CNR2, GRM2, and CXCL8. Through gene enrichment, it was identified that most gene functions could be classified as integral to the plasma membrane, G-protein coupled receptor activity, and cell communication under gene ontology, as well as involvement in signal transduction pathways. Based on the convergent functional genomics ranking, the prioritized genes were NPY, CXCL12, CCR5, and CNR2.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.778-784
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• 2016

HyperGam-U was recently developed to determine uranium enrichment based on ${\gamma}$- and X-ray spectroscopy analysis. The $XK_{\alpha}$ region of the uranium spectrum contains 13 peaks for $^{235}U$ and $^{238}U$ and is used mainly for analysis. To describe the X-ray peaks, a Lorentzian broadened shape function was used, and methods were developed to reduce the number of fitting parameters for decomposing the strongly overlapping peaks using channel-energy, energy-width, and energy-efficiency calibration functions. For validation, eight certified reference material uranium samples covering uranium enrichments from 1% to 99% were measured using a high-resolution planar high-purity germanium detector and analyzed using the HyperGam-U code. When corrections for the attenuation and true coincidence summing were performed for the detection geometry in this experiment, the goodness of fit was improved by a few percent. The enrichment bias in this study did not exceed 2% compared with the certified values for all measured samples.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.98-116
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• 2022

The small GTPase RhoA has been studied extensively for its role in actin dynamics. In this study, multiple bioinformatics tools were applied cooperatively to the microarray dataset GSE64714 to explore previously unidentified functions of RhoA. Comparative gene expression analysis revealed 545 differentially expressed genes in RhoA-null cells versus controls. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was conducted with three gene set collections: (1) the hallmark, (2) the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway, and (3) the Gene Ontology Biological Process. GSEA results showed that RhoA is related strongly to diverse pathways: cell cycle/growth, DNA repair, metabolism, keratinization, response to fungus, and vesicular transport. These functions were verified by heatmap analysis, KEGG pathway diagramming, and direct acyclic graphing. The use of multiple gene set collections restricted the leakage of information extracted. However, gene sets from individual collections are heterogenous in gene element composition, number, and the contextual meaning embraced in names. Indeed, there was a limit to deriving functions with high accuracy and reliability simply from gene set names. The comparison of multiple gene set collections showed that although the gene sets had similar names, the gene elements were extremely heterogeneous. Thus, the type of collection chosen and the analytical context influence the interpretation of GSEA results. Nonetheless, the analyses of multiple collections made it possible to derive robust and consistent function identifications. This study confirmed several well-described roles of RhoA and revealed less explored functions, suggesting future research directions.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.1819-1823
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• 2013

Objective: Microarray data were analyzed to explore key genes and their functions in progression of colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods: Two microarray data sets were downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified using corresponding packages of R. Functional enrichment analysis was performed with DAVID tools to uncover their biological functions. Results: 631 and 590 DEGs were obtained from the two data sets, respectively. A total of 32 common DEGs were then screened out with the rank product method. The significantly enriched GO terms included inflammatory response, response to wounding and response to drugs. Two interleukin-related domains were revealed in the domain analysis. KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed that the PPAR signaling pathway and the renin-angiotensin system were enriched in the DEGs. Conclusions: Our study to systemically characterize gene expression changes in CRC with microarray technology revealed changes in a range of key genes, pathways and function modules. Their utility in diagnosis and treatment now require exploration.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.1955-1963
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• 2021

As the IAEA has applied integrated safeguards and a state level approach to member states, the importance of national inspection has increased. However, the requirements for national inspection for some member states are different from the IAEA safeguards. In particular, the national inspection for the ROK requires on-site U concentration analysis due to a domestic notification. This research proposes an on-site U concentration analysis (OUCA) method for UO₂ pellets using gamma spectroscopy to satisfy the domestic notification requirement. The OUCA method calculates the U concentration of UO₂ pellets using the measured net X-ray counts and declared ²³⁵U enrichment. This research demonstrates the feasibility of the OUCA method using both MCNP simulation and experiment. It simulated and measured the net X-ray counts of different UO₂ pellets with different U concentrations and ²³⁵U enrichments. The simulated and measured net X-ray counts were fitted to polynomials as a function of U concentration and ²³⁵U enrichment. The goodness-of-fit results of both simulation and experiment demonstrated the feasibility of the OUCA method.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.768-774
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• 2007

To study the effect of dietary docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) enrichment on the expression of hepatic genes in pigs, weaned, crossbred pigs (30 d old) were fed diets supplemented with either 2% tallow or DHA oil for 18 d. Hepatic mRNA was extracted. Suppression subtractive hybridization was used to explore the hepatic genes that were specifically regulated by dietary DHA enrichment. After subtraction, we observed 288 cDNA fragments differentially expressed in livers from pigs fed either 2% DHA oil or 2% tallow for 18 d. After differential screening, 7 genes were found to be differentially expressed. Serum amyloid A protein 2 (SAA2) was further investigated because of its role in lipid metabolism. Northern analysis indicated that hepatic SAA2 was upregulated by dietary DHA enrichment (p<0.05). In a second experiment, feeding 10% DHA oil for 2d significantly increased the expression of SAA2 (compared to the 10% tallow group; p<0.05). The porcine SAA2 full length cDNA sequence was cloned and the sequence was compared to the human and mouse sequences. The homology of the SAA2 amino acid sequence between pig and human was 73% and between pig and mouse was 62%. There was a considerable difference in SAA2 sequences among these species. Of particular note was a deletion of 8 amino acids, in the pig compared to the human. This fragment is a specific characteristic for the SAA subtype that involved in acute inflammation reaction. Similar to human and mouse, porcine SAA2 was highly expressed in the liver of pigs. It was not detectable in the skeletal muscle, heart muscle, spleen, kidney, lung, and adipose tissue. These data suggest that SAA2 may be involved in mediation of the function of dietary DHA in the liver of the pig, however, the mechanism is not yet clear.