• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.44 no.8
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• pp.1186-1193
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• 2015

This study was performed to investigate the changes in monacolin K content and antioxidant activities of Monascus-fermented brown rice with different germination temperatures and periods. Brown rice was germinated at 32, 35 and $37^{\circ}C$ for 1~4 days, after white rice (WB), brown rice (BR), and germinated brown rice (GBR) were fermented with M. pilosus 305-9 at $30^{\circ}C$ for 20 days. The redness, yellowness and Monascus pigments increased after germination. Total monacolin K content increased from 215.85 mg/kg of BR to 1,263.04 mg/kg of GBR ($32^{\circ}C$/1 day), whereas monacolin K content decreased with increase in germination period. Citrinin was not detected in any of the samples. Total polyphenol (TPC) and flavonoid contents (TFC) increased with increase in germination temperature and period, whereas electron donating ability (EDA) and total antioxidant activities (TAA) decreased due to reduction of Monascus pigment content. The TPC and TFC showed the highest values (13.80 mg/g and 1.30 mg/g, respectively) in GBR ($37^{\circ}C$/4 day), whereas EDA and TAA showed the highest values (22.16 mg Trolox equivalent/g and 62.27 mg ascorbic acid equivalent/g, respectively) in GBR ($32^{\circ}C$/1 day). These results indicated that the optimal germination temperature and period for increasing monacolin K content and antioxidant activities was found to be at $32^{\circ}C$ for 1 day. In addition, it was found that M. pilosus 305-9 was a useful strain for increasing monacolin K content without producing citrinin in functional foods and pharmaceutical industrial regions.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.97-103
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• 2007

Purpose : Lewis antigen has been known to have a role in the attachment of H. pylori to the gastric mucosa, but its expression pattern in children with H. pylori infection is still unclear. The recently described blood group antigen-binding adhesin BabA is known to mediate adherence of H. pylori to Lewis B receptors on gastric epithelium. We investigated the expression of Lewis antigen in gastric mucosa of Korean children with H. pylori infection. Methods : The expression of Lewis A ($Le^a$), B ($Le^b$), X ($Le^x$), and Y ($Le^y$) was evaluated by immunohistochemistry in H. pylori positive biopsy specimens from 35 children (antral gastritis in 30, peptic ulcer in 5) and in H. pylori negative specimens from 19 children. PCR assays for cagA and babA2 gene of H. pylori were performed. Results : We confirmed the expression of $Le^a$ in 60%, $Le^b$ in 97%, $Le^x$ in 100%, and $Le^y$ in 100% of the superficial epithelium of the 35 H. pylori positive children. In H. pylori negative patients, $Le^a$, $Le^b$, $Le^x$, and $Le^y$ expression was 52%, 100%, 89%, and 100%, respectively. The cagA gene was detected in 65% and babA2 gene in 25% of 35 patients. No differences in neutrophil activity and chronic inflammation were found according to the presence of cagA and babA2 genes in H. pylori. Conclusion : $Le^b$, $Le^x$ and $Le^y$ antigen were highly expressed in gastric mucosa of Korean children, but they were not associated with the status of H. pylori infection and the positivity of babA2 gene. Further studies for other mucosal receptors and toxins are needed to define the immune responses to H. pylori infection in gastric mucosa of Korean children.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.577-584
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• 2016

The objectives of this study were I) to compare the acid resistance (AR) of seven non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) serogroups, including O26, O45, O103, O111, O121, O145, and O157:H7 STEC isolated from various sources, in 400 mM acetic acid solution (AAS) at pH 3.2 and $30^{\circ}C$ for 25 min with or without glutamic acid and II) to determine strain survival upon exposure to simulated gastric fluid (SGF, pH 1.5) at $37^{\circ}C$ for 2 h after acid adaptation in apple, pineapple, orange, and strawberry juices at pH 3.8, $4^{\circ}C$ and $20^{\circ}C$. Results show that the O111 serogroup strains had the strongest AR (0.12 log reduction CFU/mL) which was very similar to that of O157:H7 STEC (P>0.05), compared to other serogroups in AAS without glutamic acid, whereas O26 serogroup strains showed the most sensitive AR. However, there was no significant (P>0.05) difference of AR among seven serogroups in AAS with glutamic acid. In the SGF study, 05-6545 (O45:H2), 08023 (O121:H19), and 03-4669 (O145:NM) strains adapted in fruit juices at $4^{\circ}C$ and $20^{\circ}C$ displayed enhanced survival with exposure to SGF for 60 min compared to 06E0218 (O157:H7) strains (P<0.05). In addition, 4 STEC strains adapted in pineapple juice at $4^{\circ}C$ showed enhanced survival with exposure to SGF for 60 min compared to those strains acid-adapted in the other fruit juices. Generally, adaptation at $4^{\circ}C$ in fruit juices resulted in significantly enhanced survival levels compared to acid-adapted at $20^{\circ}C$ and non-adapted conditions. The AR caused by adaptation in fruit juices at low temperature may thus increase survival of non-O157 STEC strain in acidic environments such as the gastrointestinal tract. These results suggest that more careful strategies should be provided to protect against risk of foodborne illness by non-O157 STEC.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.736-745
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• 2016

Cheonggukjang, a traditional Korean fermented soy food, was prepared by inoculation of Bacillus subtilis EMD4 or Bacillus amyloliquefaciens EMD17 with anti-bacterial or anti-fungal activities into soybeans. Cheonggukjang was also prepared by co-inoculation of EMD4 and EMD17 (1:1, v/v). Control cheonggukjang was prepared by using B. subtilis KACC16450 (Natto strain). Growth of B. cereus cells spiked with starter organisms was completely inhibited by B. amyloliquefaciens EMD17 after 12 h of fermentation at $37^{\circ}C$. Growth of B. cereus was also inhibited by B. subtilis EMD4, but the degree of inhibition was weaker. After 48 h of fermentation, cheonggukjang samples were stored for 10 days at $4^{\circ}C$. B. cereus cells were not detected from cheonggukjang inoculated with EMD4, whereas significant numbers still present in control. The pH values of cheonggukjang samples were not significantly different. During fermentation, cheonggukjang fermented with EMD17 showed the highest fibrinolytic activity and during storage, cheonggukjang fermented with a Natto strain was the highest. Cheonggukjang fermented with a Natto strain also showed the highest amount of total phenolic compounds. The results show that control of B. cereus in cheonggukjang is possible by using starters such as B. amyloliquefaciens EMD17.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.797-808
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• 2016

The experiment of grape leafroller (Herpetogramma luctuosalis) was carried out at Okcheon area from 2007 to 2009 and 2015. The grape leafroller had been occurred at a campbell early' organic vineyard in Okcheon. It's larva was rolling the leaf of grape and ate the leaf. So the leaf of grape decreased. In organic vineyards, adult grape leafroller' generation rate per year showed the first peak in mid-June, the second peak in early -August and the third in mid-September. The larva showed the first peak in early July and the second peak in late August-early September. The grape leaf roller had three generations per year. And it took $60.9{\pm}1.09days$ from egg to adult in growth chamber (VS-91G09M-1300) which the relative humidity conditions was $60{\pm}10%$, temperature $25{\pm}2^{\circ}C$ and photoperiod 16L:8D (The egg : $12{\pm}0days$, larvae : $22.2{\pm}0.22days$, pupa : $10.6{\pm}0.75days$ and adult : $16.1{\pm}0.45days$). It was conducted to find out the effect of microbial pesticide treatments to control H. luctuosalis. The 4 microbial pesticides (Bacillus thurigiensis) were treated twice on the grape leaves in June 11 and 21 at an organic vineyard in Okcheon. On 10 days after last treatment, the control value of all microbial pesticides were more than 95%. When the dates of spraying to the grape leaves were on May 22, June 12 and July 2 each, the effects of microbial pesticide were 73.9%, 93.5% and 43.6% respectively. As a result, it was effective that Bt was sprayed to grape leaves on mid and late June for controling the H. luctuosalis in organic vineyard. And microbial pesticide Bt was thought to be useful to control the grape leafroller in organic vineyard.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.21-26
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• 2010

As the causative agent of Anthrax, Bacillus anthracis causes an acute fatal disease in herbivores such as cattle, sheep, and horses as well as humans. The therapeutics and prevention of anthrax currently available are based on antibiotics and the live attenuated vaccine strains, which may be problematic due to the emergency of antibiotic resistant strains or residual virulence in those vaccine strains. Therefore, it has been required to develop novel therapeutics and vaccines which are safer and applicable to humans. Recently, the development of the multivalent vaccine targeting both spores and vegetative cells of B. anthracis along with anthrax toxin has been reported. In our attempts to screen potential candidates for those multivalent vaccines, the whole genomic expression library of B. anthracis was constructed in this study. To the end, the partial digests of the genomic DNA from B. anthracis (ATCC 14578) with Sau3AI were ligated with the inducible pET30abc expression vectors, resulting in approximately $1{\times}10^5$ clones in E. coli BL21(DE3). The redundancy test by DNA nucleotide sequencing was performed for the randomly selected 111 clones and found 56 (50.5%) B. anthracis genes, 17 (15.3%) vector sequences, and 38 (34.2%) unknown genes with no sequence homology by BLAST. An inducible expression of the recombinant proteins was confirmed by Western blot. Interestingly, some clones could react with the antiserum against B. anthracis. These results imply that the whole genomic library constructed in this study can be applied for analyzing the immunomes of B. anthracis.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.228-236
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• 2013

Campylobacter jejuni is one of important food-borne pathogens causing human gastroenteritis. We isolated 42 strains of C. jejuni from diarrhea patients and 4 food-poisoning outbreaks in 2010, Gyeonggi-do. In this study, 42 strains were tested for genetic characteristics, the serotype distribution and antimicrobial resistant rate. The presence of hipO (100%), cdtB (100%), and mutated gyrA (95.2%) genes was detected in C. jejuni by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Detection of mutated gyrA gene correlated with ciprofloxacin resistance. Forty isolates had mutated gyrA gene and were actually resistant to ciprofloxacin. Furthermore, comparing the gyrA DNA sequence data, ciprofloxacin-resistant isolates had a mutation of the DNA sequence from ACA (threonine) to ATA (isoleucine). But 41 strains (97.6%) of patient isolates were susceptible to erythromycin and azithromycin. A total of 35.7% among 42 C. jejuni isolates were identified into 4 different serotypes. The serotype distribution of C. jejuni strains were shown to be HS2(B), HS3(C), HS4(D), HS19(O). To investigate the genotypes of C. jejuni isolated in Gyeonggi province, repetitive sequence polymerase chain reaction (rep-PCR) analysis and SmaI-digested pulsed-filed gel electrophoresis (PFGE) profile analysis were performed. From the PFGE analysis of 42 C. jejuni strains, 12 clusters of PFGE profile were obtained. On the other hand, 11 clusters of rep-PCR profile were obtained from 42 strains of C. jejuni.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.550-555
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• 1997

Vibrio cholerae non-O1 (V. cholerae non-O1) was previously called nonagglutinable or noncholera vibrios, since it fails to react with polyvalent O1 antisera. This organism is biochemically and genetically indistinguishable from V. cholerae O1 except serological difference. V. cholerae non-O1 strains are often detected in the environment including bays, estuaries, and fresh water, and also found in food. Therefore it is designated food borne bacterium in Japan. However, research papers on V. cholerae non-O1 are very rare in Korea. In order to investigate bacteriological characteristics of V. cholerae non-O1, we isolated V. cholerae non-O1 from the environmental sea water. Among the isolated V. cholerae non-O1 strains, we selected the strain which had the most strong hemolytic activity, named as V. cholerae non-O1 FM-3. The optimum growth conditions of V. cholerae non-O1 FM-3 were $37^{\circ}C$ and pH 8.5 in BHI broth (containing $0.5\%$ sodium chloride), and it grew better than V. cholerae non-O1 ATCC 25872. But both were not able to grow in BHI broth added $5.0\%$ of sodium chloride or adjusted to pH 5.0. According to the experimental results on the susceptibility test against various antibiotics, there were no significant differences between the isolated strain and reference strain (V. cholerae non-O1 ATCC 25872). Most of the antibiotics examined had bacteriostatic action against V. cholerae non-O1 FM-3 while vancomycin, oxacillin, colistin, polymyxin B, and sulfadiazine had no bacteriostatic activity.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.48-54
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• 2005

Purpose : The pathologic mechanisms of central nervous system(CNS) injuries in human meningitis are not yet completely understood. Recent studies indicate that the host inflammatory responses are as important in brain damage as the infecting organisms and toxins. There have been some reports on the relationship of nitric oxide(NO), macrophage inflammatory protein-$1{\alpha}$(MIP-$1{\alpha}$), and lactoferrin in bacterial meningitis, but few reports in aseptic meningitis. Thus, we investigated the concentrations of NO, MIP-$1{\alpha}$ and lactoferrin in cerebrospinal fluid(CSF) and serum of patients with aseptic meningitis and control subjects and evaluated their relationship with other parameters of meningitis. Methods : CSF and blood were obtained from 25 subjects with aseptic meningitis and 15 control subjects. After centrifugation, supernatants were stored at $-70^{\circ}C$ and we assayed the concentrations of NO, MIP-$1{\alpha}$ and lactoferrin with the ELISA method. There were no patients with neurologic sequelae after being recovered from aseptic meningitis. Results : Concentrations of CSF and serum NO, MIP-$1{\alpha}$ were not increased in aseptic meningitis subjects compared to control subjects. Concentration of CSF lactoferrin was significantly elevated in patients with aseptic meningitis and concentration of serum lactoferrin was significantly decreased in patients with aseptic meningitis compared with those in control subjects(P<0.05). CSF lactoferrin level was positively correlated with CSF WBC counts($r_s=0.449$, P=0.007), especially with neutrophil counts($r_s=0.574$, P<0.001) and CSF protein level($r_s=0.508$, P=0.002). Conclusion : Lactoferrin plays an important role in aseptic meningitis and may be released from neutrophils recruited from blood to the CSF through breakdown of blood-brain barrier. NO and MIP-$1{\alpha}$ may not be important factors in the pathogenesis of aseptic meningitis without neurologic sequelae.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.146-153
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• 2010

Purpose: Recent studies have reported an increase in the incidence of community-acquired Clostridium difficile-associated disease (CA-CDAD) among children. There is an overall lack of information on CA-CDAD in the pediatric population. The aim of our study was to compare the epidemiologic and clinical features between CA-CDAD and hospital-acquired C. difficile-associated disease (HA-CDAD) in children. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of all patients who were diagnosed with C. difficile-associated disease (CDAD) at Gil Hospital between April 2008 and March 2009. The diagnosis of CDAD was made when patients with gastrointestinal symptoms had positive results for C. difficile toxins A and B assay or stool culture. Results: Sixty-one (male, 32 and female, 29) patients were included. The mean age was 3.79${\pm}$4.54 years. Of the 61 patients, 22 (36.1%) were <1 year of age. Twenty-three patients (37.7%) had a history of antibiotic exposure in the previous 3 months. Forty-one patients (67.2%) were diagnosed with CA-CDAD. There were no significant differences in age, gender, symptoms, laboratory findings, recovery period, complications, and recurrence between the CA-CDAD and HA-CDAD groups. On the other hand, exposure to antibiotics was significantly more frequent among patients in the HA-CDAD group (p=0.005). Conclusion: This study suggests that the occurrence of CA-CDAD is increasing in the pediatric population, especially in younger children with no history of exposure to antibiotics and in outpatients. Awareness of the increasing incidence of CA-CDAD and prompt investigation of C. difficile in susceptible patients is needed to avoid misdiagnosis and for appropriate therapy.