• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2017

Daecheong Reservoir was made by the construction of a large dam (>15 m in height) on the middle to downstream of the Geum River and the discharge systems have the watergate-spillway (WS), a hydropower penstock (HPP), and two intake towers. The purpose of this study was to investigate the limnological anomalies of turbid water reduction, green algae phenomenon, and oligotrophic state in the lower part of reservoir dam site, and compared with hydro-meteorological factors. Field surveys were conducted in two stations of near dam and the outlet of HPP with one week intervals from January to December 2000. Rainfall was closely related to the fluctuations of inflow, outflow and water level. The rainfall pattern was depended on the storm of monsoon and typhoon, and the increase of discharge and turbidity responded more strongly to the intensity than the frequency. Water temperature and DO fluctuations within the reservoir water layer were influenced by meteorological and hydrological events, and these were mainly caused by water level fluctuation based on temperature stratification, density current and discharge types. The discharges of WS and HPP induced to the flow of water bodies and the outflows of turbid water and nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, respectively. Especially, when hypoxic or low-oxygen condition was present in the bottom water, the discharge through HPP has contributed significantly to the outflow of phosphorus released from the sediment into the downstream of dam. In addition, HPP effluent which be continuously operated throughout the year, was the main factor that could change to a low trophic level in the downreservoir (lacustrine zone). And water-bloom (green-tide) occurring in the lower part of reservoir was the result that the water body of upreservoir being transported and diffused toward the downreseroir, when discharging through the WS. Finally, the hydropower effluent was included the importance and dynamics that could have a temporal and spatial impacts on the physical, chemical and biological factors of the reservoir ecosystem.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.35 no.3 s.99
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• pp.198-212
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• 2002

A numerical variation and abnormalities were studied on egg bags and embryos of Korean salamander, Hynobius leechii from agricultural habitat. The teratogenic and toxic effects of fungicide benomyl were also investigated with early embryos from non-agricultural habitat. We collected 144 egg bags from agricultural region, and 3418 of early embryos were contained. The lengths of egg bags were varied from 10 to 23 cm and the most frequent length was 19 cm. The number of embryos was varied from 7 to 43, and the most frequent range was 22 to 26. Spontaneous abnormalities were occurred in 406 embryos among 116 egg bags, and 24 kinds of external abnormalities were found. Individuals showing severe external defect were histologically studied and they showed optic dyspalsia, thyroid carcinoma, somatic muscular dysplasia, partial biaxial structure, decrease of red blood cells in the heart, cephalic degeneration and intestinal dysplasia. 385 embryos from non-agricultural region were exposed to 200 nM${\sim}$ 1 ${\mu}$M of benomyl at blastula or gastrula for 12 days. All embryo were dead in the concentration of 1 ${\mu}$M (LD$_{100}$) and 75% of embryos were dead in 800nM of benomyl. Speciflc effect due to benomyl was acrania or cephalic dysplasia and this restult suggests that the benomyl inhibit stongly to the development of neural tissue. These abnormal developments may be caused by antimitotic action, inhibition of tubulin complex, destruction of microtubule, inhibitions of neurulation and closing of neural fold, and by the inhibition of the movement of neural crest cells.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.625-639
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• 2019

Microplastics are one of the substances threatening the marine ecosystem. Here, we summarize the status of research on the effect of microplastics on marine life and suggest future research directions. Microplastics are synthetic polymeric compounds smaller than 5 mm and these materials released into the environment are not only physically small but do not decompose over time. Thus, they accumulate extensively on land, from the coast to the sea, and from the surface to the deep sea. Microplastic can be ingested and accumulated in marine life. Furthermore, the elution of chemicals added to plastic represents another risk. Microplastics accumulated in the ocean affect the growth, development, behavior, reproduction, and death of marine life. However, the properties of microplastics vary widely in size, material, shape, and other aspects and toxicity tests conducted on several properties of microplastics cannot represent the hazards of all other microplastics. It is necessary to evaluate the risks according to the types of microplastic, but due to their variety and the lack of uniformity in research results, it is difficult to compare and analyze the results of previous studies. Therefore, it is necessary to derive a standard test method to estimate the biological risk from different types of microplastics. In addition, while most of the previous studies were conducted mostly on spheres for the convenience of the experiments, they do not properly reflect the reality that fibers and fragments are the main forms of microplastics in the marine environment and in fish and shellfish. Furthermore, studies have been conducted on additives and POPs (persistent organic pollutants) in plastics, but little is known about their toxic effects on the body. The effects of microplastics on the marine ecosystems and humans could be identified in more detail if standard testing methods are developed, microplastics in the form of fibers and fragments rather than spheres are tested, and additives and POPs are analyzed. These investigations will allow us to identify the impact of microplastics on marine ecosystems and humans in more detail.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.895-905
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• 2000

This study was performed to investigate the removal efficiencies of pollutants at various filtration rates and the quality of the filtered water along the depth of filter media during treatment of a BNR process effluent by a dual-media gravitational rapid filtration. The results of the experiments at filtration rates of 200, 300 and 400 m/day using the effluent of a pilot scale 4-stage BNR plant showed that turbidity of the filtered water was below 2.6 NTU, satisfying the Korean standard for water for reuse. Even though the SS removal efficiency deteriorated as the filtration rate increased, the average SS concentration of the filtered water was 1.3 mg/L at all filtration rates. Simultaneous biological nitrification and denitrification was observed with nitrification efficiencies of 17.4, 18.8 and 14.3%, and denitrification efficiencies of 32.3, 27.7 and 21.4% respectively at filtration rates of 200, 300 and 400 m/day. At the latter period of each filtration cycle, the effluent T-P concentration was higher than influent T-P concentration by 6.1 to 21.4% due to phosphorous release under DO-deficient condition.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.791-799
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• 2015

This study focuses on the algae growth restraining. Many researches on a critical damage from algae growth are published, but it is hard to find how th restrain. Abnormal algae increasing is a problem, because it makes red tides, biodeterioration, etc. Therefore this study aims to decrease the damage from algae growth. Some metal ions have been used microorganism killing materials from old times. Especially, Cu ions are highly effective. Based on these uses of the metal ions, a functional mortar which restrains algae growth is developed. The mortar contains soluble glass which dissolve in water. The soluble glass was made of Cu ions and phosphates. When the soluble glass is dissolved, Cu ions are soaked out stably from the soluble glass. Culture mediums which incubate algae were made to evaluate the developed mortar specimens. Culture mediums were filled with fresh water and sea water. Algae were incubated for fourteen days in culture mediums. The evaluating methods are measuring volume of the dissolved organic carbon and the chlorophyll. Using these two measurements, the mortar specimens are judged that can restrain algae or not. According to the result, the functional mortars of culture medium filled with fresh and sea water shows similar trend. The functional mortar for restraining algae growth performs that's role well.

• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.77-83
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• 2009

PDMS was selected for a coating material of implantable biosensors and the cytotoxicity of extracts released from a polymer was evaluated using ISO 10993-5, Biological evaluation of medical devices-Part 5: Tests for in vitro cytotoxicity. Organo-tin was used as a positive control and a medium without serum was used as a negative control. Materials extract were prepared by incubating specimens in RPMI medium without serum ($125{\mu}L/cm^2$) for 24 h, 1 week and 6 weeks at $38^{\circ}C$. The evaluation of cytotoxicity was performed by two different methods : 1) seeding cells with extracts at the beginning 2) incubating extracts with cell sheets already formed on the plate. Both cell morphology and MTT numerical data were shown for the confirmation of cytotoxicity and cell spreading on the surface of PDMS.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.9
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• pp.818-826
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• 2021

5-Aminolevulinic acid phosphate (5-ALA-p) is a substance obtained by eluting 5-ALA (a natural delta amino acid) with aqueous ammonia, adding phosphoric acid to the eluate, and then adding acetone to confer properties suitable for use in photodynamic therapy applications. However, its pharmacological efficacy, including potential mechanisms of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory reactions, remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the effects of 5-ALA-p on oxidative and inflammatory stresses in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. Our data showed that 5-ALA-p significantly inhibited excessive phagocytic activity via LPS and attenuated oxidative stress in LPS-treated RAW 264.7 cells. Furthermore, 5-ALA-p improved mitochondrial biogenesis reduced by LPS, suggesting that 5-ALA-p restores mitochondrial damage caused by LPS. Additionally, 5-ALA-p significantly suppressed the release of nitric oxide (NO) and pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-1β, and IL-6, which are associated with the inhibition of inducible NO synthase and respective cytokine expression. Furthermore, 5-ALA-p reduced the nuclear translocation of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) and inhibited phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), indicating that the anti-inflammatory effect of 5-ALA-p is mediated through the suppression of NF-κB and MAPK signaling pathways. Based on these results, 5-ALA-p may serve as a potential candidate to reduce inflammation and oxidative stress.