• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.624-629
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• 2014

Obesity is the leading metabolic disease in industrialized countries and is closely associated with coronary heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and cancer. The objective of this study was to evaluate the anti-adipogenic effects of two roasted coffee beans, Vietnam robusta (VR) and Ethiopia Mocha Sidamo G2 (ES), as well as fermented coffee beans with Monascus ruber (MR) mycelium on differentiation of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. Treatments with 1,000 ${\mu}g/mL$ of hot water extract from coffee beans significantly reduced intracellular lipid accumulation. In addition, VR more effectively inhibited transcription factors such as $PPAR{\gamma}$, $C/EBP{\alpha}$, FAS, and aP2 compared to ES. Further, ES fermented with MR showed more effective anti-adipogenic activity than non-fermented ES. These results suggest that VR and ES inhibit adipocyte differentiation which may contribute to their anti-adipogenic properties.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.434-440
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• 2013

This study was conducted to screen the characteristics and alginate-degrading activity of marine bacterium isolated from brown seaweed (Sargassum thunbergii). The results of 16S ribosomal RNA sequence analysis the strain the genus Vibrio and the strain was subsequently named Vibrio sp. PKA 1003. The optimum culture conditions for the growth of Vibrio sp. PKA 1003 were at pH 7, 3% NaCl, $25^{\circ}C$, and 6% alginic acid, with a 48-hour incubation time. A crude enzyme preparation from Vibrio sp. PKA 1003, showed its highest levels of alginate-degradation activity when cultured at pH 9, $30^{\circ}C$, and 6% alginic acid, with a 63-hour incubation time. Thin layer chromatography analyses confirmed that the crude enzyme released monomers or oligomers from sodium alginate, and results from trypsin treatment showed that the alginate degrading activity depends on this enzyme produced by Vibrio sp. PKA 1003. These results suggest that Vibrio sp. PKA 1003 and its alginate-degrading crude enzyme is useful for the production of alginate oligosaccharides.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.29-34
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• 2015

N,N'-Diferuloyl-putrescine (DFP) present in plants such as Sophora japonica has been reported to have skin depigmentative and antioxidative activities. In this study, DFP, usually presents in nature a very little amount and its derivative (DFP-D) were synthesized in a large quantity for the use as functional cosmetical materials. The antioxidative activities of synthesized DFP and DFP-D were evaluated by the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay, chemiluminescence assay, and cell protective effect induced by $^1O_2$, stress. DFP and DFP-D showed DPPH radical scavenging activities ($FSC_{50}$) at $61.25{\pm}2.25{\mu}M$ and $12.92{\pm}0.72{\mu}M$, respectively. ROS (reactive oxygen species) scavenging activities ($OSC_{50}$) in the $Fe^{3+}-EDTA/H_2O_2$ system of DFP and DFP-D were 2 times ($1.84{\pm}0.12{\mu}M$) and 13 times ($0.174{\pm}0.01{\mu}M$), respectively higher than that of L-ascorbic acid. $^1O_2$, one of ROS playing a key role in the skin photo-aging, induces cellular membrane damages. DFP-D ($50{\mu}M$) showed good cell protective effects (${\tau}_{50}=80.2min$) about 2 times more than that of (+)-${\alpha}$-tocopherol (${\tau}_{50}=43.6min$). These results suggest that the great antioxidative activities of DFP and DFP-D could be applied to cosmetic industries as functional cosmetic materials.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.385-390
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• 1998

The effect of agglomeration treatment was examined to prevent the parched cereal powder from clumping when it is blended with water. Parched cereal powder was composed of 66.9% carbohydrate, 7% water, 12.1% crude protein, 12.1% crude fat and 1.9% ash, respectively. Particle size of parched cereal powder was generally enlarged by agglomeration treatment. This phenomenon was confirmed by particle size analyzer and microscopic observation. The color of agglomerated sample was shown to be slightly darker than the untreated sample. The water absorption indices of agglomerated samples which were steamed for 2min and re-dried were significantly increased as compared with the untreated sample. The water solubility indices of agglomerated samples showed generally lower values than those of untreated samples. In views of quality and processing time, the optimum condition of agglomeration treatment for manufacturing well-dispersable parched cereal powder in water was 15min re-drying after 2min steaming. It is concluded that the agglomeration treatment improves the dispersibility of parched cereal powder and thus facilitates the intake of it after mixing with water.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.348-355
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• 1998

The developments of various processed foods and the high quality dried fruits, in particular, are urgently needed for the enhancement of fruit consumption and their competitive values. Therefore, in this study, three variables by three level factorial design and response surface methodology were used to determine optimum conditions for osmotic dehydration of kiwifruit. The relationships of moisture losses, solid gains, weight reductions, sugar contents, titratable acidities and vitamin C contents depending on changes with temperature, sugar concentration and immersion time were investigated. The moisture loss, solid gain, weight reduction and reduction of moisture content after osmotic dehydration were increased as temperature, sugar concentration and immersion time increased. The effect of concentration was more significant than those of temperature and time on mass transfer. Sugar content was increased by increasing sugar concentration, temperature, immersion time during osmotic dehydration. Titratable acidity and vitamin C content were increased by decreasing temperature, immersion time and increasing concentration during osmotic dehydration. The regression models showed a significant lack of fit (P>0.05) and were highly significant with satisfying values of $R^2$. At the given conditions such as $66{\sim}69%$ moisture content, above $24^{\circ}Brix$ sugar content and more than 23 mg% vitamin C, the optimum condition for osmotic dehydration was $37^{\circ}C,\;55^{\circ}Brix$ and 1.5 hour.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2008

Specific protocols to increase the differentiation of neuronal cells from embryonic stem (ES) cells have been well established, such as retinoic acid induction and lineage selection of neuronal cells. For the neuropathological studies, ES-derived neurons (ES neurons) must show normal physiological characteristics related to cell death and survival and should be maintained in vitro for a sufficient time to show insults-specific cell death without spontaneous death. When mouse ES cells were plated onto astrocytes monolayer after retinoic acid induction, most ES cells differentiated into neuronal cells, which were confirmed by the presence of specific neuronal markers, and the cultures were viable for at least four weeks. When these cultures were examined for vulnerability to glutamate excitotoxicity, ES neurons were vulnerable to excitotoxic insults mediated by agonist-specific receptors. The vulnerability to excitotoxic death increased with developmental age of ES neurons in vitro. Specific receptors for Neurotrophin and GDNF family ligands were present in ES neurons. GDNF and NT-3 could modulate the survival and excitotoxic vulnerability of ES neurons. The vulnerability and resistance to toxic insults, which are essential requirements of model culture systems for neuropathological studies, make ES neurons to a useful model culture system. Especially ES cell are highly amenable to genetic modification unlikely to primary neuronal cells, which will give us a chance to answer more complicated neurophysiological questions. Recently there was an outstanding attempt to explore the cellular toxicity using human ES cells (Schrattenholz & Klemm, 2007) and it suggested that ES cells could be a new model system for neurophysiological studies soon and go further a large-scale screening system for pharmacological compounds in the future.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.60 no.1
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• pp.73-78
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• 2017

This study provide activity for beauty food of water and 80 % ethanol extracts from Pinus koraiensis leaves. Total phenolic content of extracts from Pinus koraiensis leaves were each 12.22 mg/g (Drying under hot air) and 17.93 mg/g (Drying under shade), 14.36 mg/g (Lyophilization) in water extracts (WE) and 11.9 mg/g and 20.63 mg/g, 17.96 mg/g in 80 % ethanol extracts (EE). The 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl free radical scavenging activity of extracts from Pinus koraiensis leaves was 96.20 % in EE from drying under shade at extracts concentration. The 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) radical decolorization activity of extracts from drying under shade was 99.85 % in WE and 99.80 % in EE at extracts concentration. The antioxidant protection factor (PF) extracts from drying under shade type was 9.63 PF in WE and 10.48 PF in EE at extracts concentration. The thiobarbituric acid reactive substance from Pinus koraiensis leaf was 89.39 % in EE from drying under shade at extracts concentration. The elastase inhibition activity of EE for anti-wrinkle effect showed an excellent wrinkle improvement effect, showing 71.46 % in EE from lyophilization. Collagenase inhibition activity of EE from drying under shade was 97.48 % in extracts. Tyrosinase inhibition activity which was related to anti-melanogensis was observed. The tyrosinase inhibitory effect of extracts from lyophilization was confirmed to be 60.4 % in EE more than another drying methods at extracts concentration. Through out all results, it can be expected Pinus koraiensis leaves extracts to use as a functional material for anti-oxidant and functional beauty food.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.79-86
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• 2014

In previous work, we fermented coffee beans using solid-state culture with various fungal mycelia to enhance the physiological activity of the coffee. The coffee fermented with Monascus sp. showed a higher physiological activity than non-fermented coffee or other coffees fermented with mushroom mycelium. The aim of this study was to characterize the various fermented coffees with respect to their area of cultivation and their variety using Monascus purpureus (MP) mycelium solid-state culture. Thirty types of green coffee beans, which varied in terms of their cultivation area or variety, were purchased from different suppliers and fermented with MP under optimal conditions. Each MP-fermented coffee was medium roasted and extracted further using hot water (HW) under the same conditions. Of the HW extracts, those derived from MP-Mandheling coffees had the highest yield (13.6-15.5%), and MP-Robusta coffee showed a significantly higher polyphenolic content (3.03 mg gallic acid equivalent/100 mg) and 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) free radical scavenging activity (27.11 mg ascorbic acid equivalent antioxidant capacity/100 mg). Furthermore, in comparison to other MP-fermented coffees at $1,000{\mu}g/mL$, MP-Robusta coffee showed not only the most effective inhibition of tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ (TNF-${\alpha}$) production in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells (67.1% of that in LPS-stimulated control cells), but also an effective inhibition of lipogenesis in 3T3-L1 adipose cells (22.2% of that in differentiated control cells). In conclusion, these results suggest that Vietnam Robusta coffee beans solid-state fermented with MP mycelium are amenable to industrial applications as a functional coffee beverage or material.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.1-18
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• 2015

Collaborative filtering(CF) algorithm has been popularly used for recommender systems in both academic and practical applications. A general CF system compares users based on how similar they are, and creates recommendation results with the items favored by other people with similar tastes. Thus, it is very important for CF to measure the similarities between users because the recommendation quality depends on it. In most cases, users' explicit numeric ratings of items(i.e. quantitative information) have only been used to calculate the similarities between users in CF. However, several studies indicated that qualitative information such as user's reviews on the items may contribute to measure these similarities more accurately. Considering that a lot of people are likely to share their honest opinion on the items they purchased recently due to the advent of the Web 2.0, user's reviews can be regarded as the informative source for identifying user's preference with accuracy. Under this background, this study proposes a new hybrid recommender system that combines with users' review mining. Our proposed system is based on conventional memory-based CF, but it is designed to use both user's numeric ratings and his/her text reviews on the items when calculating similarities between users. In specific, our system creates not only user-item rating matrix, but also user-item review term matrix. Then, it calculates rating similarity and review similarity from each matrix, and calculates the final user-to-user similarity based on these two similarities(i.e. rating and review similarities). As the methods for calculating review similarity between users, we proposed two alternatives - one is to use the frequency of the commonly used terms, and the other one is to use the sum of the importance weights of the commonly used terms in users' review. In the case of the importance weights of terms, we proposed the use of average TF-IDF(Term Frequency - Inverse Document Frequency) weights. To validate the applicability of the proposed system, we applied it to the implementation of a recommender system for smartphone applications (hereafter, app). At present, over a million apps are offered in each app stores operated by Google and Apple. Due to this information overload, users have difficulty in selecting proper apps that they really want. Furthermore, app store operators like Google and Apple have cumulated huge amount of users' reviews on apps until now. Thus, we chose smartphone app stores as the application domain of our system. In order to collect the experimental data set, we built and operated a Web-based data collection system for about two weeks. As a result, we could obtain 1,246 valid responses(ratings and reviews) from 78 users. The experimental system was implemented using Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications(VBA) and SAS Text Miner. And, to avoid distortion due to human intervention, we did not adopt any refining works by human during the user's review mining process. To examine the effectiveness of the proposed system, we compared its performance to the performance of conventional CF system. The performances of recommender systems were evaluated by using average MAE(mean absolute error). The experimental results showed that our proposed system(MAE = 0.7867 ~ 0.7881) slightly outperformed a conventional CF system(MAE = 0.7939). Also, they showed that the calculation of review similarity between users based on the TF-IDF weights(MAE = 0.7867) leaded to better recommendation accuracy than the calculation based on the frequency of the commonly used terms in reviews(MAE = 0.7881). The results from paired samples t-test presented that our proposed system with review similarity calculation using the frequency of the commonly used terms outperformed conventional CF system with 10% statistical significance level. Our study sheds a light on the application of users' review information for facilitating electronic commerce by recommending proper items to users.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.356-361
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• 2007

Cyanobacteria are a very old group of prokaryotic organisms that produce very diverse secondary metabolites, especially non-ribosomal peptide and polyketide structures. Although some cyanobacteria produce lethal toxins such as microcystins and anatoxins, some may be useful either for development into commercial drugs or as biochemical tools. Detection of unknown secondary metabolites was carried in the present study by a screening of 98 cyanobacterial strains from Cyanobiotech GmbH in order to establish a screening process, isolate pure substances and determine their bioactivities. A degenerated polymerase chain reaction technique as molecular approaches has been used for general screening of NRPS gene and PKS gene in cyanobacteria. A putative PKS gene was detected by DKF/DKR primer in 38 strains (38.8%) and PCR amplicons resulted from a presence of NRPS gene were showed by MTF2/MTR2 primer in 30 strains (30.6%), respectively. A screening of interesting strains was performed by comparing PCR screening results with HPLC analyses of extracts. HPLC analysis for a detection of natural products was performed in extracts from biomass. 5 strains were screened for further scale-up processing. 7 pure substances were isolated from the scale-up cultures and tested for bioactivities under consideration to purity, amount and molecular weight of substances. One substance isolated from CBT 635 showed cytotoxic activity. This substance may be regarded as Microcystin LR.