• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.18-27
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• 2016

Purpose: Our previous study demonstrated the hypoglycemic effects of mulberry (Morus alba L.) leaf and the underlying mechanisms. Here we explored the potency of mulberry twigs (TW) and root barks (RB) in postprandial hypoglycemic effects in vitro and in vivo. Methods: The major components of TW and RB were determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Alpha-glucosidase inhibition and glucose/fructose uptake inhibition in Caco-2 cells were determined for TW, RB, and their major components, followed by an oral sugar tolerance test (OSTT) in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Male Wistar rats were fed a high-fat diet for 2 weeks and then a single dose of streptozotocin (35 mg/kg B.W) was administered by intraperitoneal injection. Rats with fasting blood glucose levels above 126 mg/dL were randomly divided into 5 groups (n = 8/group) for the following treatments by gavage for 4 weeks: vehicle (normal control and diabetic control), 200 mg/kg B.W of TW or RB or 100 mg/kg B.W of oxyresveratrol (OXY). Results: OXY and mulberroside A were identified as the major components of TW and OXY, mongolicin, and kuwanon H for RB. A significant inhibitory activity on ${\alpha}-glucosidase$ was found for TW, RB, and OXY (p = 0.0099). There was a dose-dependent inhibition of TW and RB on the intestinal sugar uptakes in Caco-2 cells, showing a greater impact on fructose compared to glucose. The OSTT showed that TW and RB significantly delayed time to maximal concentration (p = 0.0088) and decreased maximal concentration (p = 0.0043) compared to the control group. Conclusion: These results suggest that TW and RB may have a postprandial hypoglycemic effect, particularly in the case of high fructose or sucrose intake. OXY was suggested as a contributor to the hypoglycemic effect of TW and RB. Further studies are needed for the systemic effect of TW and RB in circulation.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.24-31
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• 2016

The increase of impervious area in cities caused the unbalanced water cycle system and the accumulated various contaminants, which make troubles as introducing into watershed. In Korea, most of rainfall in a year precipitate in a summer season. This indicate that non-point source pollution control should be more important in summer and careful rainfall reuse strategy is necessary. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to monitor the characteristics of rainfall contaminants harvested in roofs and to develop the rainfall treatment system which are designed to fit well in a typical domestic household including rain garden. The rain garden consists of peatmoss, gravel and san to specially treat the initial rainfall contaminants. For this purpose, lab scale experiments with synthetic rainfall had been conducted to optimize the removal efficiency of TN, TP and CODcr. After lab scale experiments, field scale rainfall treatment system installed as a pilot scale in a field. This system has been monitored during June to July in 2015 in four time rainfall events as investigating the function of time, rainfall, and pollutant concentrations. As results, high loading of pollutants were introduced to the rainfall treatment system and its removal efficiency is increased as increase of pollutant concentrations. Since it is common that the mega-size of rainfall treatment system is not attractive in urban area, small scale rainfall treatment system is promising to treat the non-point source contaminants from cities. In addition, this small scale rainfall treatment system could have a potential to water resue system in islands, which usually suffer the shortage of water.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.5-21
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• 2015

An energy pile is a novel type of ground heat exchangers (GHEX's) which sets up heat exchange pipes inside a pile foundation, and allows to circulate a working fluid through the pipe for exchanging thermal energy with the surrounding ground stratum. Using existing foundation structure, the energy pile can function not only as a structural foundation but also as a GHEX. In this paper, six full-scale energy piles were constructed in a test bed with various configurations of the heat exchange pipe inside large-diameter cast-in-place piles, that is, three parallel U-type heat exchangers (5, 8 and 10 pairs), two coil type heat exchangers (with a 500 mm and 200 mm pitch), and one S-type heat exchanger. During constructing the energy piles, the constructability of each energy pile was evaluated with consideration of the installation time, the number of workers and any difficulty for installing. In order to evaluate the thermal performance of energy piles, the thermal performance tests were carried out by applying intermittent (8 hours operating-16 hours pause) artificial cooling operation to simulate a cooling load for commercial buildings. Through the thermal performance tests, the heat exchange rates of the six energy piles were evaluated in terms of the heat exchange amount normalized with the length of energy pile and/or the length of heat exchange pipe. Finally, the economic feasibility of energy pile was evaluated according to the various types of heat exchange pipe by calculating demanded expenses per 1 W/m based on the thermal performance test results along with the market value of heat exchange pipes and labor cost.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.39-51
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• 2003

Objectives: The Profile of Mood States (POMS) has been used broadly and frequently in various medical studies with various subjects. For the development and application of the Korean edition of POMS, called K-POMS, we translated POMS into Korean and then evaluated the reliability and validity of K-POMS. Methods: The subjects were 161 male students with a mean age of 18.1 years (15-30) and 244 female students with a mean age of 16.6 years (14-23). They were requested to perform K-POMS and SCL-90-R (Korean version) at the same time. Means, reliability coefficients, and test-retest correlations of K-POMS were calculated. Content validities, correlations with SCL-90-R, and discrimination validities in comparison with 76 depressive patients were obtained, and factor analyses were carried out. Results: Mean scores of Total Mood Disturbance (TMD) and some subscales (T, F, C, V factor) showed a significant difference between male and female students. The internal consistency coefficient ($\alpha$) of the total 65 items was 0.93, and ranged from 0.67 to 0.90 for subscales. Test-retest correlations of 43 subjects ranged from 0.27 to 0.63. Seven psychiatrists rated the properness of the content of each item as more than moderate degree (mean scale points=2.66, in the range of 0 to 4). Every subscale of KPOMS exhibited significant correlation with the matching subscale of SCL-90-R. Mean scores of K-POMS of the total 405 subjects were significantly different from those of the 76 depressive subjects after age correction. Six factors were extracted, accounting for 51.2% of total variance. Factor 6 consisted of 6 items which came from various subscales of POMS and represented "uncertainty and helplessness," which may be somewhat different to depression or sadness proper. Conclusion: The validity and reliability of K-POMS could be confirmed. The significant difference in K-POMS scores between depressive subjects and normal subjects suggests that K-POMS can be used clinically for the evaluation and screening of depression. The main structure of K-POMS is very similar to that of POMS, except the Confusion-Bewilderment factor which shows weak factor consistency in K-POMS. This may reflect some emotional characteristic of Koreans such as an undifferentiated aspect of cognitive efficiency. The sixth factor newly extracted from K-POMS also may be indicative of an unique emotional aspect of young Koreans.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.97-107
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• 2001

Background : Tuberculosis itself causes not only lung parenchymal destruction but also pulmonary vascular damage. Secondary emphysema also causes pulmonary vascular damage, which can develop as a late sequela of pulmonary tuberculosis. Therefore, pulmonary circulatory impairment tends to be more severe in post-tuberculosis emphysema than in primary emphysema. In post-tuberculosis emphysema, the right ventricular function may play an important role. However, little information regarding the right ventricular function is available. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the right ventricular function between post-tuberculosis emphysema and primary emphysema. Method: Post-tuberculosis emphysema(PTE) or primary emphysema(PE) was diagnosed by history, HRCT finding and pulmonary function. Twenty patients with post-tuberculosis emphysema were matched with 20 patients with primary emphysema according to both $FEV-1$ and FVC. Arterial blood gas analysis and echocardiography were done at rest and immediately after symptom-limited exercise. The right ventricular function was evaluated with the right ventricular ejection fraction using a modification of Simpson's method. Results : There was no significant difference in the demographics and pulmonary function between the two groups. In post-tuberculosis emphysema, the $PaCO_2$ was higher ($42.9{\pm}4.7$ vs $38.8{\pm}3.1\;mmHg$ at rest; $47.9{\pm}7.0$ vs $41.1{\pm}5.9\;mmHg$ after exercise; p<0.01) and the right ventricular ejection fraction was lower ($57.6{\pm}6.5$ vs $61.4{\pm}4.7%$ at rest; $51.1{\pm}10.8$ vs $59.8{\pm}6.6%$ after exercise; p<0.01) both at rest and after exercise. The $PaCO_2$ after exercise was also lower ($65.7{\pm}12.6$ vs $80.2{\pm}14.4\;mmHg$, p<0.01), while the Pa02 at rest tended to be lower($82.9{\pm}12.0$ vs $87.8{\pm}7.5$, p>0.05). In both groups, right ventricular ejection fraction correlated with the $PaCO_2$ after exercise(PTE r=0.536, PE r=0.557), and the $PaCO_2$ at rest(PTE r=-0.576, PE r=-0.588) and after exercise(PTE r=-0.764, PE r=-0.619). Conclusion : Impairment of the right heart function and gas exchange were more serious in post-tuberculosis emphysema than in primary emphysema, and gas exchange may be influenced by the right ventricular function in post-tuberculosis emphysema.

• Clinics in Shoulder and Elbow
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.16-24
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• 2012

Purpose: This study was designed to investigate the rate of incidence, location and the clinical value of the rotator cuff retear by analyzing MRI scans, which was taken after an arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. Materials and Methods: This study included a total of 109 patients, who underwent a shoulder MRI scan after an average of 10.6 months later from the arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. We only defined the 'retear' when the Sugaya type IV and V was observed in the sagittal section of the MRI. The location of the retear was divided into the medial and lateral areas by the site, which was 1 cm medial to the anchor insertion. We investigated the incidence rate and the location of the retear, in terms of the age, sex, initial tear size and the suture method. Also, we compared the functional score of the retear group and the non-retear group, after an average of 13.9 months follow-up. Results: There were 38 of the 109 patients that showed the rotator cuff retear. Of these patients, 25 were male patients, and 13 were female patients. Of the 38 patients with the rotator cuff retear, 21 patients were included in the <3 cm retear group, and 17 were included in the ${\geqq}3$ cm retear group. At the end of the follow up period, all 109 patients showed a statistical significant improvement in the shoulder functional score. Conclusion: According to the follow up of the MRI scan, which was taken after the rotator cuff repair, the retear rate reached 34.9 %, and there were no significant differences on the age and the suture method. More rotator cuff retear occurred in male patients, and the initial tear size was positively correlated with the incidence rate of the rotator cuff retear. Also, the retear was more frequently observed at the medial side. That is because when the suture was performed, excessive tension was loaded on the medial side of the suture site.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.56-66
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• 2003

Purpose : Human umbilical vein endothelial cells(HUVECs) play an important role in regulating blood flow by releasing vasoactive substances. It has been reported that endothelial impairment and dysfunction might be a primary cause of placental vascular disease, which is manifested clinically as preeclampsia in mother and intrauterine growth restriction in fetus. Furthermore, the frequency of apoptotic changes is increased in umbilical and placental tissues from growth-restricted pregnancies. However, the various mechanisms of umbilical endothelial cell apoptosis have not been broadly proposed. We investigate the effects of amiloride derivatives on apoptotic death of HUVECs and identify their ionic mechanism. Methods : HUVECs were purchased from Clonetics, and cultured on endothelial cell growth medium. MTT assay and flow cytometry were used for assessing cytotoxic effect and confirming the apoptosis. Changes in intracellular ion concentrations were measured with specific fluorescent dyes and fluorescence imaging analysis system. Results : Amiloride derivatives elicited cytotoxic effects on HUVECs with dose-dependent manners and the rank order of potency is HMA($IC_{50}\;11.2{\mu}M$), MIA>EIPA>>amiloride. HMA-induced cytotoxicity is dependent on extra- and intracellular pH, that is, increase extra- and intracellular pH augmented the cytotoxic effects of HMA. HMA dose-dependently reduced intracellular major ions, such as $K^+$ and $Cl^-$. Interestingly, the depletion of intracellular ions induced by HMA was also significantly enhanced at alkaline extracellular pH. Conclusion : Amiloride derivatives induce apoptosis of HUVECs with dose and pH dependent manners. They reduce intracellular $K^+$ and $Cl^-$ concentration, which is also extracellular pH dependent.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.31-40
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• 2008

This study was aimed at evaluating the effect of red-yeast-rice supplementation on cholesterol-lowering and glucose control in subjects with impaired fasting glucose (IFT) or impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). We conducted a doubleblind, placebo-controlled study with 3 groups; placebo, low dose group (red yeast rice 210.0mg/capsule, 2.52g/day) and high dose group (red yeast rice 420.0mg/capsule, 5.04g/day), which were randomly assigned to subjects with impaired fasting glucose or impaired glucose tolerance. We measured fasting serum concentrations of total-, LDL-, HDL-cholesterol, triglyceride, glucose, insulin, free fatty acid (FFA) and 2 h oral glucose tolerence test (OGTT) before and after the supplementation. Both low dose and high dose groups had significant decrease in LDL cholesterol and atherogenic index (AI) compared with placebo group (p<0.05). Additionally, total and HDL cholesterol improved significantly in high dose group compared with placebo group (p<0.05). Fasting serum glucose decreased in test groups and increased in placebo group after intervention. However, it was not significant differences. In subjects which fasting blood glucose is more than 110mg/dL, fasting glucose had a tendency to decrease in high dose group (p<0.1) and Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) had significant decrease in low dose group (p<0.05), while insulin and HOMA-IR had a tendency to increase in placebo group after intervention. Mean changes of glucose related parameters (fasting glucose, insulin, HOMA-IR) compared with placebo group did not show significant differences. In conclusion, subjects with impaired fasting glucose or impaired glucose tolerance were significantly improved in serum lipid profile by red yeast rice supplementation without serious side effects. These are more effective in the case of a high dose. The effects of red yeast rice supplementation on glucose control were insignificant.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.33-49
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• 1991

In order to disclose the contamination of the Mushim-Cheon by pollutants and to establish the countermeasures, the water samples collected in November of 1989(lst sample), February(2nd), May(3rd) and August of 1990(4th) were analyzed to obtain the following results : 1. The water temperatures of the seasonal samples ranged from 8.6 to 16.2, 8.3 to 25.2, 18 to 26, and 24 to 32$^{\circ}C$, in the 1st, 2nd , 3rd, and 4th samples, respectively. 2. The pHs of all the samples ranged from 6.5 to 8.5. 3. In the 3rd sample, especially, DO was observed to fall down to 0.8 ppm at the downstream of St 13, which is not allowed even for agricultural use. 4. The BOD and COD values in sewers were much higher than those in the main stream, and especially the values of St 14-A reached 107-608 and 176-635 ppm, respectively, which far exceeded the limit of 40 ppm, the allowed value for the discharges from the disposal facilities. The SS value of St 14A ranged from 142 to 1, 900 ppm, which far exceeded the limit of 70 ppm, the allowed value for the discharges from the disposal facilities. 5. It turned out that the water quality of the Mushim-Cheon flowing through Cheong Ju was more worsened at sewers than the main stream, and at the downstream than the upstream of the surveyed area. Accordingly, the sewage disposal plant and the expansion of the disposal facilities are urgently needed.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.203-215
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• 2006

Field observations on the spatio-temporal distribution of organic matter of the surface sediment were carried out at 15 stations in the central parts of the South Sea of Korea from April 2002 to January 2003. The range of water temperature and salinity in bottom waters, mud content and water content of surface sediment were $8.06{\sim}23.35^{\circ}C,\;29.20{\sim}34.51\;psu,\;71.2{\sim}99.9%$ and $38.7{\sim}68.9%$, respectively. Measured parameters on the surface sediments of ignition loss (IL), chemical oxygen demand (CODs), phaeopigment, particulate organic carbon (POC) and particulate organic nitrogen (PON) also ranged in $3.9{\sim}l2.5%,\;9.60{\sim}44.05\;mgO_2/g-dry,\;1.58{\sim}29.51\;{\mu}g/g-dry,\;3.12{\sim}13.01\;mgC/g-dry$ and $0.49{\sim}2.00\;mgN/g-dry$, respectively. The spatio-temporal distribution of organic matter demonstrated higher concentrations offshore than at lesions near the coastal line. Higher concentrations occurred in the summer and spring. The results indicated that the origin of organic matter in surface sediments in the central part of the South Sea was autochthonous rather than allocthonous because the organic matter had an average C/N ratio of 6.44 (${\pm}0.51$). However, the composition of autochthonous organic matter was mainly derived from detritus rather than living phytoplankton, which was Indicated by the results of the POC/phaeopigment ratio. A principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that 73.2% of the variability in the data was described by two factors: 1) an 'environmental factor concerning the accumulation of materials (57.3%)' and 2) 'origin of organic matter and the composition by primary production (15.9%)'. The sedimentary environment in the central part of the South Sea was divided into four regions from the factor score of the PCA by the concentrations of organic matter and the composition ratio of organic matters from phytoplankton in surface sediments.