• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.679-687
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• 2019

Litsea populifolia, a plant species of the Lauraceae family, is widely distributed in the tropical and subtropical areas of Asia. The phylogenetic relationships and botanical characteristics of L. populifolia have been reported; however, its anti-oxidative and anti-cancer activities remain unclear. In this study, we evaluated the anti-oxidative and anti-cancer effects of ethanol extracts of L. populifolia (EELP) together with the molecular mechanism of its anti-cancer activity in human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells. EELP showed significant anti-oxidative effects with a 50% inhibitory concentration at $11.71{\mu}g/ml$, which was measured by the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging assay. EELP exhibited cytotoxic activity and induced cell cycle arrest at the G1 phase in A549 cells in a dose-dependent manner, whereas EELP did not have the cytotoxic effect on the normal human lung cell line IMR90. Treatment with EELP also resulted in a decreased expression of G1/S transition-related molecules-including cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 2, CDK6, cyclin D1, and cyclin E-both for the transcription and translation levels. EELP-induced G1 arrest was associated with the phosphorylation of checkpoint kinase 2 (CHK2), p53, cell division cycle 25 homolog A (CDC25A), and the reduction of CDC25A expression in A549 cells. Collectively, these results suggest that EELP may exert an anti-cancer effect by cell cycle arrest at the G1 phase through both p53-dependent and p53-independent (ATM/CHK2/CDC25A/CDK2) pathways in A549 cells.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.81-89
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• 2019

The major problem encountered during the storage of pig slurry (PS) is the release of huge amounts of greenhouse gases (GHGs), which are dominated by methane ($CH_4$). To reduce this, concentrated sulfuric acid has been used as an additive to control the pH of pig slurry to 5.0-6.0. However, other low-risk substitutes have been developed due to some limitations to its use, such as corrosiveness, and hazards to animal and human health. In this study, sugar addition was proposed as an eco-friendly approach for limiting $CH_4$ emission from PS during storage. The pH of PS has been reduced from $7.1{\pm}0.1$ (control) to $5.8{\pm}0.1$, $4.6{\pm}0.1$, $4.4{\pm}0.1$, $4.1{\pm}0.1$, and $4.0{\pm}0.1$, by the addition of 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 g sugar/L, respectively. Lactate, acetate, and propionate were detected as the dominant organic acids and at sugar concentration above 20 g/L, lactate concentration represented 42-72% (COD basis) of total organic acids. For 40 d of storage, $20.6{\pm}2.3kg\;CO_2\;eq./ton\;PS$ was emitted in the control. Such emission, however, was found to be reduced to $8.7{\pm}0.4$ and $0.4{\pm}0.1kg\;CO_2\;eq./ton\;PS$ at 10 and 20 g/L, respectively. Small amount of $CH_4$ from PS at 10 g/L was emitted until 30 d of storage, while for rest of storage period, it has increased to $8.7{\pm}0.4kg\;CO_2\;eq./ton\;PS$ ( 40% of the control) when methanogens have recovered by increasing pH to 7.0. By the end of storage, VS and COD removal in the control reached 24% and 27%, while their ranges reached 15-4% and 12-17% in the sugar added experiments, respectively. It was found that more than 90% of COD removal was done by aerobic biological process.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.19-30
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• 2019

Objective of this study was to develop an organic fertilizer utilizing domestic livestock horn meal and to investigate the application effect of rice and eggplant. The possibility of utilization of livestock horn meal as an organic resource to replace imported expeller cake fertilizer was examined. In order to select domestic organic resources with high nitrogen content, 8 kinds of organic matter such as chicken manure, fish meal, soybean meal, sesame meal, perilla meal, blood meal, livestock horn meal, and beer sludge were analyzed and organic resources with high nitrogen content were selected. In addition, the conditions for the production of organic fertilizers that can be used in organic agriculture were established by mixing of the rice husk biochar and the rice bran as the supplements with the raw materials for mixing ratios. The content of total nitrogen (T-N) in the livestock horn meal was 12.0 %, which was the next low in 13.5 % blood meal. The content of total nitrogen was 5.9 ~ 7.9 % in fish meal and oil cakes. Total nitrogen content of non-antibiotic chicken manure for organic farming was 3 % and nitrogen content in beer sludge was 3.5 %. Organic fertilizer was produced by using biochar, rice bran as a main ingredient of non-antibiotic chicken manure, livestock horn meal and beer sludge. Compared to nitrogen content (4.0 to 4.2 %) of imported expeller cake fertilizer (ECF), the nitrogen content of organic fertilizer utilizing domestic livestock horn meal is as high as 7.5 %. The developed organic fertilizer is met as Zn 400 mg/kg, Cu 120 mg/kg the quality of organic agricultural materials such as or less. To investigate the effect of fertilizer application on the crops, prototypes of developed organic fertilizer were used for the experiment under selected conditions. As a result of application the developed organic livestock horn meal fertilizer (LHMF) for cultivation of the rice and eggplant, the application quantity of the developed organic LHMF 100 % was decreased by 40 % compared to that of the mixed expeller cake fertilizer (MECF). The application of LHMF, which refers to the application rate corresponding to the nitrogen fertilization recommended by the soil test, was reduced by 40% compared to the application rate of MECF, but the same results were obtained in crop growth and yield. The selection of a new high concentration nitrogen source utilizing domestic organic resources and the development of organic fertilizer is the starting point of the research for substitution of imported ECF using domestic local resources at the present time that the spread of eco-friendly agriculture is becoming increasingly important. If it is expanded in the future, it is expected to contribute to the stable production of eco-friendly agricultural products.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.64 no.2
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• pp.109-126
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• 2019

Genetic resources of 84 species of Setaria italica BEAUVOIS, Sorghum bicolor, and Panicum miliaceum were collected to select the adaptable miscellaneous cereals in Saemangeum reclaimed land. The adaptability of Sorghum bicolor in reclaimed land was the highest among the three cereals cultivated on reclaimed land. The ratio of the average height of Sorghum bicolor plants cultivated in reclaimed land/normal field was 0.82, that of Panicum miliaceum was 0.61, and that of Setaria italica BEAUVOIS was 0.51. Three species of Sorghum bicolor, Satangdajuk, Kkamansusu, and Nampungcharl, were selected as potential genetic resources as they had excellent adaptability to reclaimed land. The yield of Satandaejuk on reclaimed land was 229.4 kg/10a, and the yield ratio of reclaimed land/normal field was 89.3%. The yield of Kkamansusu was 227.4 kg/10a, with reclaimed land/normal field ratio of 87.8%, and yield of Nampungcharl was 239.6 kg/10a, and reclaimed land/normal field ratio of 86%. In order to study the salt tolerance of selected genetic resources, we conducted salinity test. Salinity tolerance of Sorghum bicolor species-Satangdajuk, Kkamansusu, Nampungcharl was excellent compared to that of the other cereals. Among these, Satandaejuk had to highest salt tolerance level. Polyphenols, flavonoids, and detoxification of free radical were also studied. The anti-diabetic property of the cereals was also analyzed by ${\alpha}$-glucosidase inhibitory activity. We confirmed that the functionality of 3 lines in reclaimed land had improved in all the functional analysis categories when compared to that with yield in the normal field. Polyphenol, an antioxidant, increased in the range of 2~26% when cultivated in reclaimed land and the flavonoid content also increased from 8.5 to 55.6%. DPPH elimination capability, the ability to scavenge harmful reactive oxygen, also increased from 16.7 to 47% when cultivated in reclaimed land. The anti-diabetic activity and ${\alpha}$-glucosidase inhibition activity of selected Sorghum bicolor species-Satangdajuk, Kkamansusu, Nampungcharl also increased from 18.4 to 19.9% when cultivated on reclaimed land.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.31-40
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• 2019

In Korea, 51,013 thousand tons of livestock manure was generated in 2018. A total of 46,530 thousand tons, which is 91.2% of the total amount of livestock manure generated, was treated by composting(40,647 thousand tons) or liquid fertilization(5,884 thousand tons) method. At present, the policy of livestock manure treatment in Korea is to make livestock manure into organic fertilizer(compost, liquid fertilizer) and then to applicate it on agricultural land. And this policy is very effective in terms of livestock manure treatment and nutrient recycling. However, considering the steadily declining farmland area for decades, the use of livestock manure compost could be limited in the future. There is also concern that local nutrient overloading, nutrient management regulation, and restrictions on the number of livestock may become serious problem for livestock manure treatment. In addition, there are some opinions that nutrient derived from livestock manure may flow into tributaries of major dams. In recent years, there has been a suspicion that fine dust may be generated from livestock manure compost. In recent years, the use of livestock manure fertilizer has been rapidly increasing, there is a growing demand of the development of new technologies for livestock manure treatment. Especially, cow excretes a larger amount of manure than other livestock, so that the efficiency of development of new technology for cow manure treatment will be high. Therefore, in this study, the combustion characteristics of cow manure pellet were investigated in order to analyzed whether cow manure could be used as source of solid fuel. During the combustion test, the weight loss of the cow manure pellet began to increase when the temperature of the combustion chamber reached $300^{\circ}C$. The ratio of $H_2$, $CH_4$, CO in the pyrolysis gas produced in the pyrolysis process of cow manure pellet were 6.65~11.62%, 0.58~1.54 and 11.47~14.07%, respectively.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.11
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• pp.1369-1378
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• 2018

Prunus mume Siebold & Zucc., a member of the Rosaceae family (called Maesil in Korea), has been widely distributed in East Asia, e.g. Korea, Japan and China, and its fruit has been used as a traditional drug and health food. In this study, we evaluated physicochemical properties and physiological activities of condensed Prunus mume juice treated with pectinase (PJ). The values of total acidity, pH, sugar contents, turbidity moisture content of the PJ were 35.81%, 2.73, $54.36^{\circ}Brix$, 2.75 and 51.32%, respectively. The PJ had effective DPPH radical scavenging activity, reducing power effect, $H_2O_2$ scavenging activity and ${\beta}$-carotene bleaching effect. DPPH radical scavenging activities of PJ was 46.31%; their reducing power ($OD_{700}$) was 1.80; $H_2O_2$ scavenging activity of PJ was 91.62%; and ${\beta}$-carotene bleaching effect of PJ was 73.02%. Also, PJ showed effective levels of ${\alpha}$-glucosidase inhibition activity. The cell viability was measured by SRB assay. The PJ significantly decreased the cell viability of mouse melanoma cells (B16) and human melanoma cells (SK-MEL-2 and SK-MEL-28) in a dose-dependent manner, however, there was no effect on human keratinocyte HaCaT. In morphological study, PJ-treated SK-MEL-2 cells showed distorted and shrunken cell masses. Total polyphenol contents and total flavonoid contents of PJ were 588.31 mg% (gallic acid equivalent) and 860.45 mg% (rutin equivalent). The antiproliferative effect of PJ seems to be associated with the antioxidant activity of its flavonoid and polyphenol contents. In conclusion, PJ may be beneficial in development of a functional food material.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.484-491
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• 2019

Proanthocyanidins are naturally occurring polyphenolic compounds abundant in many vegetables, plant skins (rind/bark), seeds, flowers, fruits, and nuts. Numerous in vitro and in vivo studies have demonstrated myriad effects potentially beneficial to human health, such as antioxidation, immunomodulation, DNA repair, and antitumor activity. Among immune cells, macrophages are crucial players in a variety of inflammatory responses to environmental conditions. However, it has been widely reported that macrophages cause chronic inflammation and are involved in a variety of diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and cancer. In this study, we report the suppressive effect of proanthocyanidins via the heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1)-related system, on the immune response of the LPS-stimulated mouse macrophage cell line RAW264.7. Increased HO-1 expression at mRNA and protein levels were found in proanthocyanidins-treated RAW264.7 cells. Further, proanthocyanidins enhanced nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor 2 translocation into the nucleus. RAW264.7 cells were treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) with or without proanthocyanidins, and inflammatory mediator expression levels were assessed. Proanthocyanidins treatment resulted in the attenuation of nitric oxide production and inducible nitric oxide synthase expression in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells. In addition, mRNA and protein expression of proinflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ and interleukin-6, was inhibited by proanthocyanidins treatment in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells. These findings support proanthocyanidins as a promising anti-inflammatory agent.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.152-168
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• 2019

The element arsenic, which is abundant in the Earth's crust, is used for various industrial purposes including materials for disease treatment and household goods. Various human activities, such as the disposal of soil waste, metal mining and smelting, and combustion of fossil fuels, have caused the pollution of the environment with arsenic. Recently, guidelines for arsenic in rice have been adopted by the Korean ministry of food and drug safety to prevent health risks based on rice consumption. Because of the exposure to arsenic and its accumulation in the human body through various channels, such as air inhalation, skin contact, ingestion of drinking water, and food consumption, integrated multimedia risk assessment is required to adopt appropriate risk management policies. Therefore, integrated human health risk assessment was carried out in this study using integrated exposure assessment based on multimedia (e.g., air, water, and soil) and multi-route (e.g., oral, inhalation, and dermal) scenarios. The results show that oral uptake via drinking water is the most common pathway of arsenic into the human body, accounting for 57%-96% of the total arsenic exposure. Among various age groups, the highest exposures to arsenic were observed in infants because the body weight of infants is low and the surface areas of infant bodies are large. Based on the results of the exposure assessment, the cancer and non-cancer risks were calculated. The cancer risk for CTE and RME is in the range of 2.3E-05 to 6.7E-05 and thus is negligible because it does not exceed the cancer probability of 1.0E-04 for all age groups. On the other hand, the cancer risk for RME varies from 6.4E-05 to 1.8E-04 and from 1.3E-04 to 1.8E-04 for infants and preschool children, exceeding the excess cancer risk of 1.0E-04. The non-cancer risks range from 5.4E-02 to 1.9E-01 and from 1.5E-01 to 6.8E-01, respectively. They do not exceed the hazard index 1 for all scenarios and all ages.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.492-498
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• 2019

Previously, three kinds of lipases, lipAD1, lipAD2, and lipAD3, and lipase chaperone, lipBD, of Acinetobacter schindleri DYL129 isolated from soil sample were reported. In this report, three lipase and lipase chaperone were cloned into the pET32a(+) or pGEX-6P-1 vectors for protein expression in Escherichia coli, and named as pETLAD1, pETLAD2, pETLAD3 and pETLBD or pGEXLAD1, pGEXLAD 2, pGEXLAD3 and pGEXLBD, respectively. Protein expression rate was higher in pET system than in pGEX system. Although LipAD1 and LipAD2 were produced as inclusion bodies, their expression levels were high. So LipAD1 and LipAD2 could be solubilized in 8 M urea buffer and purified. LipAD3 and LipBD were overexpressed in soluble form and purified. Those proteins were purified by His-tag affinity chromatography connected in AKTA prime system. The activities of the purified lipases were demonstrated with 1% tributyrin agar plate. After purification, molecular mass was determined with sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. LipAD1 showed high activity toward ${\rho}$-nitrophenyl acetate and ${\rho}$-nitrophenyl butyrate, LipAD2 showed high activity toward ${\rho}$-nitrophenyl acetate and ${\rho}$-nitrophenyl myristate, and LipAD3 showed high activity toward ${\rho}$-nitrophenyl acetate, ${\rho}$-nitrophenyl butyrate, and ${\rho}$-nitrophenyl miristate, respectively. Three lipases, LipAD1, LipAD2, and LipAD3, showed optimal reaction at $50^{\circ}C$ using ${\rho}$-nitrophenyl butyrate, as substrate.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.237-251
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• 2011

This study presents a review on the recent climate change over the Korean peninsula, which has experienced a significant change due to the human-induced global warming more strongly than other regions. The recent measurement of carbon dioxide concentrations over the Korean peninsula shows a faster rise than the global average, and the increasing trend in surface temperature over this region is much larger than the global mean trend. Recent observational studies reporting the weakened cold extremes and intensified warm extremes over the region support consistently the increase of mean temperature. Surface vegetation greenness in spring has also progressed relatively more quickly. Summer precipitation over the Korean peninsula has increased by about 15% since 1990 compared to the previous period. This was mainly due to an increase in August. On the other hand, a slight decrease in the precipitation (about 5%) during Changma period (rainy season of the East Asian summer monsoon), was observed. The heavy rainfall amounts exhibit an increasing trend particularly since the late 1970s, and a consecutive dry-day has also increased primarily over the southern area. This indicates that the duration of precipitation events has shortened, while their intensity became stronger. During the past decades, there have been more stronger typhoons affecting the Korean peninsula with landing more preferentially over the southeastern area. Meanwhile, the urbanization effect is likely to contribute to the rapid warming, explaining about 28% of total temperature increase during the past 55 years. The impact of El Nino on seasonal climate over the Korean peninsula has been well established - winter [summer] temperatures was generally higher [lower] than normal, and summer rainfall tends to increase during El-Nino years. It is suggested that more frequent occurrence of the 'central-Pacific El-Nino' during recent decades may have induced warmer summer and fall over the Korean peninsula. In short, detection and attribution studies provided fundamental information that needed to construct more reliable projections of future climate changes, and therefore more comprehensive researches are required for better understanding of past climate variations.