• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.32-37
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• 2011

The effects of herbal ethanol extract from Gynostemma pentaphyllum (GP extract) on chronic stress-induced anxiety in mice were investigated. The animals were treated with GP extracts (50 and 100 mg/kg/day, p.o.) for 21 days before exposure to electric footshock (EF; duration and interval 10 sec for 3 min, 2 mA) for chronic stress once a day. The ambulatory locomotor activity was reduced by chronic EF stress and it was recovered by 12.9-15.1% in GP extract-treated groups. The grip strength was also significantly decreased by chronic EF stress, however, the EF-stressed groups treated with GP extract increased grip strength from 13.9% to 56.8% compared to EF-stressed groups. In addition, the serum levels of corticosterone were significantly elevated by chronic EF stress to 197% of the control levels, which was reduced to 73.1% by treatment with GP extract (100 mg/kg). In contrast, the brain levels of dopamine and serotonin were reduced to 67.6% and 63.1% by chronic EF stress, which was recovered to 90% of the control levels by treatment with GP extract. These results indicate that GP extract shows the ameliorating effects on chronic EF stress-induced anxiety in mice and it can be developed as the promising anti-anxiety agent.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.32 no.8C
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• pp.675-680
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• 2007

This paper presents a new method for classification of underwater transient signals, which employs frame-based decision with Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients(MFCC). The MFCC feature vector is extracted frame-by-frame basis for an input signal that is detected as a transient signal, and Euclidean distances are calculated between this and all MFCC feature. vectors in the reference database. Then each frame of the detected input signal is mapped to the class having minimum Euclidean distance in the reference database. Finally the input signal is classified as the class that has maximum mapping rate in the reference database. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method is very promising for classification of underwater transient signals.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.510-515
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• 2011

Isoquinoline compounds including berberine enhance L-DOPA-induced cytotoxicity in PC12 cells. In this study, the effects of berberine on L-DOPA therapy in unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced rat models of parkinsonism were investigated. Rats were prepared for the models of Parkinson's disease by 6-OHDA-lesioning for 14 days and then treated with L-DOPA (10 mg/kg) with or without berberine (5 and 30 mg/kg, i.p.) for 21 days. Treatment with berberine (5 and 30 mg/kg, i.p.) showed a dopaminergic cell loss in substantia nigra of 6-OHDA-lesioned rats treated with L-DOPA: 30 mg/kg berberine was more intensive neurotoxic. The levels of dopamine were also decreased by berberine (5 and 30 mg/ kg) in striatum-substantia nigra of 6-OHDA-lesioned rats treated with L-DOPA. These results suggest that berberine aggravates cell death of dopaminergic neurons in L-DOPA-treated 6-OHDA-lesioned rat models of Parkinson's disease. Therefore, the long-term L-DOPA therapeutic patients with isoquinoline compounds including berberine may need to be checked for the adverse symptoms.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.92-100
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• 2014

Hydrophobic magnesium hydroxide [$Mg(OH)_2$] was modified by hydrothermal method using non-ionic sorbitol surfactant with Span series. Mganesium chloride [$MgCl_2$] and sodium hydroxide [NaOH] were used for synthesis of $Mg(OH)_2$. Also non-ionic surfactant were added as a stabilizer, dispersant and surface modifier. Addition of non-ionic surfactant was favourable to obtain small sized $Mg(OH)_2$ particles with better dispersibility and hydrophobic property of $Mg(OH)_2$ particles. The obtained product were characterized by particle size analysis(PSA), scanning electron microscope(SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy(EDS), x-ray diffraction(XRD) and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FT-IR). The results show that the product are prepared with this method has a well hydrophobic properties and dispersity compared with unmodified $Mg(OH)_2$ particles. The improve properties of surface modified $Mg(OH)_2$ particles were also verified by similarity synthesizing under slightly different conditions.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.77-86
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• 2013

The neuroprotective effects of herbal ethanol extract (GP-EX) from Gynostemma pentaphyllum on dopamine neurons in animal model of Parkinson's disease (PD) were investigated. Rats and mice were administered with rotenone (2.5 mg/kg) for 28 days and 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP, 30 mg/kg) for 5 days for the PD models, respectively and the animals were simultaneously treated with GP-EX (30 mg/kg, daily). After preparing the PD models, the animals were also administered with L-DOPA (10 mg/kg) for 14 days with or without GP-EX treatment. Treatment with GP-EX (30 mg/kg) inhibited the rotenone- and MPTP-induced neurotoxic effects in dopamine neurons of rats or mice, which was determined by the numbers of tyrosine hydroxylase-immunohistochemical staining survival cells, as well as the levels of dopamine, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid and homovanillic acid. GP-EX (30 mg/kg) also showed the protective effects on neurotoxicity which was induced by long-term administration of L-DOPA (10 mg/kg) in rotenone- and MPTP-induced animal model of PD. The used doses of GP-EX (30 mg/kg) did not produce any signs of toxicity, such as weight loss, diarrhea, or vomiting, in rats and mice during the treatment periods. These results suggest that GP-EX has the protective functions against chronic L-DOPA-induced neurotoxic reactions in dopamine neurons of rotenone- and MPTP-induced animal model of PD. Therefore, the natural GP-EX may be beneficial in the prevention of PD progress and L-DOPA-induced neurotoxicity in PD patients.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.896-903
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• 2015

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of nitrite substitution of sausage with purple sweet potato by examining the quality characteristics of sausage. Four sausage samples were prepared as follows: F1 (0.15% sodium nitrite), F2 (0.2% pigment), F3 (0.2% pigment and 5% powder), and F4 (0.2% pigment and 10% powder). A substitution of sodium nitrite with 0.2% purple sweet potato pigment reduced redness while increased yellowness. However, the addition of 5% purple sweet potato powder to 0.2% purple sweet potato pigment increased redness while reduced yellowness, which was similar to those of sausage with 0.15% addition of sodium nitrite. Further, color change increased as the content of purple sweet potato increased. As the amount of purple sweet potato increased, the contents of Ca, K, and Mg increased but hardness, gumminess, and chewiness decreased. In the sensory evaluation, the addition of purple sweet potato did not influence on appearance, color, or flavor. However, the addition of 10% purple sweet potato decreased the taste and texture of sausage. Correlation coefficients between overall acceptability, texture, appearance, color, taste, and flavor were 0.901, 0.895, 0.877, 0.844, and 0.688, respectively. Therefore, proper content of purple sweet potato powder and purple sweet potato pigment were determined to be 5% and 0.2%, respectively, for the substitution of sodium nitrite.