• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.11
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• pp.1037-1045
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• 2021

The prevalence of obesity is increasing worldwide, and since obesity is associated with dietary factors and sedentary lifestyles, it is a disease that is readily developing in the modern population. Because obesity is accompanied by serious complications such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, prevention and treatment are important. Currently, drugs such as liraglutide and phentermine are used to treat obesity by suppressing appetite and inducing gastrointestinal motility delay. However, various side effects may occur, including thyroid cancer, cardiovascular problems, and central nervous system disorders. Therefore, to explore an obesity treatment method with relatively few side effects, a method known as "fat browning" was introduced to change white adipose tissue into brown adipose tissue to increase energy consumption. Ongoing studies are attempting to find effective natural substances to safely induce browning. Many natural substances have been identified. The induction of browning by treatment with natural substances generally involves three mechanisms: positive control of browning-inducing factors, inhibition of differentiation into white adipose tissue, and the activation of mechanisms related to browning. In this study, we describe plant extracts with known browning-inducing effects, such as strawberry, black raspberry, cinnamomum cassia, and Ecklonia stolonifera extracts. We also summarize the underlying mechanisms of action identified thus far, including the signaling pathway mediated by these extracts to induce browning. Furthermore, the effects of brown adipose tissue generated through browning on heart disease as an endocrine organ disruptor are discussed.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.65 no.3
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• pp.203-213
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• 2022

Abeliophyllum distichum (A. distichum, Korean endemic plant) is one genus and one species in the Oleaceae family. According to the color variation of petals and calyx, A. distichum is classified as A. distichum (white flower), A. distichum for. lilacinum (pink flowers), A. distichum for. eburneum (ivory flowers), and Okhwang 1 (golden flowers). In previous studies, bioactivities (antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer) of A. distichum have been reported. We conducted a comparison of the differences in bioactive compounds and the anti-inflammatory effects on macrophages among four flowers of A. distichum (FAD). The identification and quantification of glycosides were analyzed by HPLC/PDA and LCMS. These results were shown FAD has rutin, hirsutrin, and acteoside. Antioxidant activity of FAD significantly decreased reactive oxygen species. In addition, FAD reduced the expression of pro-inflammatory mediators (nitric oxide, iNOS, and COX-2) in lipopolysaccharide-induced RAW 264.7 cells. For further study, we investigated the regulation of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathways. In conclusion, FAD may exert anti-inflammatory effects by suppressing inflammatory mediators via regulations of NF-κB and MAPK signaling pathways. Therefore, these findings suggest that FAD is a potential resource as a preventative or therapeutic agent for inflammation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2021.05a
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• pp.365-368
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• 2021

In this study, a plastic bottle recycling bin system that utilizes an infrared sensor was implemented. The proposed system consists of a recognition unit, a control unit, an alarm unit, and a driving unit. The recognition unit detects the plastic bottle, measures the distance between the plastic bottle and the infrared sensor, extracts the value of the bottle, compares the extracted value with a standard range, and then transmits the control value to the control unit if the extracted value of the bottle is outside the standard range. In this case, the result of the presence or absence of a brand label or bottle cap is transmitted to the controller. The control unit opens the entrance of the recycling bin or alerts the alarm unit according to the result value transmitted from the sensor unit. In order to implement the proposed system, the recognition unit was implemented with an infrared sensor, and the control unit was made with an Arduino IDE controller, based on the C programming language. Additionally, the recognition unit and the control unit are able to communicate using analog signals. The proposed system accurately judges the presence or absence of a brand label and bottle cap of plastic bottles according to a predetermined algorithm. It then blocks the entrance of the recycling bin when a brand label or bottle cap is still attached. As the amount of waste discharged per person is relatively high and the majority of such waste is incinerated rather than recycled, the system proposed in this study is expected to increase the recycling rate of plastic bottles.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.3C
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• pp.141-148
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• 2010

Electrical noises like self potential, burst noises and 60-Hz electrical noises are one of the causes to reduce reliability of electrical resistivity survey. Even the PDC-R (Pseudo DC resisitivity) technique, recently developed, is suffering from the problem of low reliability due to electrical noises. That is, both DC-based and AC-based resistivity technique is subject to reliability problem due to electrical noises embedded in urban geotechnical sites. In this research, a new technique to enhance reliability of the PDC-R technique by minimizing influence of electrical noises was proposed. In addition, an automated procedure was also proposed to facilitate data analysis and interpretation of PDC-R measurements. The proposed technique is composed of two steps: 1. to extract information only related with the input current by means of multiple-filter technique, and 2. to undertake a task to sort out signal information only to show stable and reliable characteristics. This automated procedure was verified by a synthetic harmonic wave including DC shift, burst random noises and 60-Hz electrical noises. Also the procedure was applied to site investigation at urban areas for proving its feasibility and accuracy.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.39 no.6_1
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• pp.1245-1254
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• 2023

Significant research has been conducted on the W-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system that utilizes the 77 GHz frequency modulation continuous wave (FMCW) radar. To reconstruct the high-resolution W-band SAR image, it is necessary to transform the point cloud acquired from the stereo cameras or the LiDAR in the direction of 6 degrees of freedom (DOF) and apply them to the SAR signal processing. However, there are difficulties in matching images due to the different geometric structures of images acquired from different sensors. In this study, we present the method to extract an optimized depth map by obtaining 6 DOF of the point cloud using a gradient descent method based on the entropy of the SAR image. An experiment was conducted to reconstruct a tree, which is a major road environment object, using the constructed W-band SAR system. The SAR image, reconstructed using the entropy-based gradient descent method, showed a decrease of 53.2828 in mean square error and an increase of 0.5529 in the structural similarity index, compared to SAR images reconstructed from radar coordinates.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.67-75
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• 2024

Skin aging progresses due to external factors such as ultraviolet rays and infections. These factors cause skin fibroblasts to secrete proteolytic enzymes, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). MMPs induce the degradation of collagen located in the extracellular matrix, directly influencing aging. The stems of Akebia quinata Decaisne have been reported to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. However, the anti-aging effect of Akebia quinata Decaisne stem ethanol extract (AQSEE) is not known. Therefore, we studied the TNF-α-induced MMP-1 inhibitory effect in human fibroblasts. When the cell viability of AQSEE was confirmed through MTT asaay, it showed no toxicity up to 400 ㎍/mL. The inhibition of MMP-1 mRNA and protein secretion was confirmed through RT-qPCR and ELISA, and results showed a significant decrease at concentrations of 100, 200, 400 ㎍/mL. We also confirmed by Western blotting that phosphorylation of MAPKs signaling pathway and transcription factors was reduced. As a result, phosphorylation of p38, c-Jun, p65 was significantly decreased at all concentrations. DPPH and ABTS assays were performed to confirm the radical scavenging ability of AQSEE, and the results showed a significant decrease at all concentrations. The results of this study confirmed the MMP-1 inhibitory effect and radical scavenging ability, which suggests that it can be used as an anti-aging substance.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.66
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• pp.213-220
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• 2023

The most common skin disease, acne, often occurs in adolescence, but it is also detected/observed in adults due to air pollution and drug abuse. One of the causative agents of acne, Cutibacterium acnes (C. acnes) plays a role in the development of skin acne by inducing inflammatory mediators. Torreya nucifera (TN) is an evergreen tree of the family Taxaceae, having well reported antioxidant, anti-proliferative, liver protection, and nerve protection properties. Improvement of these bioactive properties of natural products is one of the purposes of natural product chemistry and pharmaceuticals. We believe biorenovation could be one improvement strategy that utilizes microbial metabolism to produce unique derivatives having enhanced bioactivity. Therefore, in this study, the C. acnes-induced RAW264.7 inflammation model was used to evaluate the anti-inflammatory activity of the biorenovated Torreya nucifera product (TNB). The results showed improved viability of TNB-treated cells compared to TN-treated cells in the concentration range of 50, 100, and 200 ㎍/mL. At non-toxic concentrations, TNB inhibited the production of nitric oxide and prostaglandin E2 by suppression of inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase-2 protein expression. TNB also attenuated the expression of interleukin-1β, interleukin-6, interleukin-8, and tumor necrosis factor-α induced by C. acnes. Furthermore, TNB inhibited the nuclear factor-κB signaling pathway, a transcription factor known to regulate inflammatory mediators. Based on these results, this study suggests the potential of using TNB as natural material for the treatment of acnes and thus, supporting our postulation of biorenovation as an bioactivity improvement strategy.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.466-477
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• 2018

In this study, the anti-inflammatory activities of the extracts of different parts of Hovenia dulcis such as leaves, stems, and roots were investigated. Among them, the roots extract (RE) showed the most potent suppressive effect against pro-inflammatory mediators in LPS-stimulated mouse macrophage cells. RE induced dose-dependent reduction of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and concomitantly reduced the production of NO and $PGE_2$. Additionally, pre-treatment with RE significantly suppressed the production of inflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis $factor-{\alpha}$ ($TNF-{\alpha}$), interleukin $(IL)-1{\beta}$, and IL-6, as well as mRNA levels. Moreover, phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and nuclear translocation of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kB) were also strongly attenuated by RE in RAW264.7 cell. Furthermore, RE induced HO-1 expression through nuclear translocation of nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and increase HO-1 activity in RAW264.7 macrophages. Therefore, these results indicate that RE strongly inhibits LPS-induced inflammatory responses by blocking NF-kB activation, inhibiting MAPKs phosphorylation, and enhancing HO-1 expression in macrophages, suggesting that RE of H. dulicis and a major component, 27-O-protocatechuoylbetulinic acid could be applied as a valuable natural anti-inflammatory material.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.643-649
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• 2013

The antioxidant activity and amino acid composition of various Cheonggukjang extracts, such as the water extract from Cheonggukjang (CWE), the alcohol extract from Cheonggukjang (CEE), the water extract from Cheonggukjang with black garlic (BWE) and the alcohol extract from Cheonggukjang with black garlic (BEE), were examined to investigate the effect of black garlic on the sensory quality and functional properties of Cheonggukjang. The total polyphenol contents of various extracts were 7.03 mg/100 g (BWE), 3.64 mg/100 g (CWE), 2.88 mg/100 g (BEE) and 0.81 mg/100 g (CEE). The radical scavenging activity of the DPPH radical was highest in BWE (91.83%), followed by BEE (37.35%), CWE (25.54%) and CEE (14.80%), in that order. The SOD-like activity was highest in BWE (20.20%), followed by BEE (9.22%), CWE (7.91%) and CEE (6.45%). The thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) were highest in BWE (35.18%), followed by BEE (28.33%), CWE (17.40%) and CEE ((14.93%). The total amino acid content of Cheonggukjang (CC) was higher than that of Cheonggukjang with black garlic (CCWB), but the essential amino acid content of CCWB (43.18%) was higher than that of CC (42.27%). The 27 kinds of free amino acid were found in CC, but only 23 kinds were found in CCWB. The L-lysine content was highest (9.23%) in CC, and the L-phenylalanine content was highest (23.14%) in CCWB. The free amino acids (L-threonine, L-serine, L-sarcosine, L-proline, L-alanine, L-valine and D,L-${\beta}$-aminoisobutyric acid) were found in CC but not in CCWB. The ${\gamma}$-amino-n-butyric acid (GABA) was found in CCWB but not in CC. These results suggest that the addition of black garlic has beneficial effects on the functionality of Cheonggukjang without decreasing its sensory characteristics.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.36 no.10
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• pp.1326-1333
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• 2007

For preparing the basic ingredients of Gomtang-like products from the extracts of salmon frame, the extraction conditions of salmon frame were examined, and the characteristics of the extracts were compared with commercial Gomtang. Based on the crude protein, Ex-N and sensory attributes, the extractions were optimized by extracting pretreated-salmon frame in 12 times (v/w) of water for 12 hrs, before filtering with cheese cloth to yield 3 times the volume of the raw material. The concentrations of heavy metals in extracts from salmon frame were below the safety limits suggested by KFDA. The mai or amino acids were glutamic acid and aspartic acid as the free amino acids, and glycine, proline, and glutamic acid as the total amino acids. The calcium and phosphorus contents were 18.0 mg/100 mL and 33.1 mg/100 mL, respectively, and they accounted for 20% and 18% of the recommended daily allowance for mineral intake. The angiotensin I converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity was improved by incubation with Flavourzyme for 4 hrs and its $IC_{50}$ was 2 mg/mL. The results above suggested that the enzymatic hydrolysates from extracts of salmon frame could be used as a basic ingredient for preparing Gomtang-like products.