• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.21-33
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• 2009

In this study, we investigated the effect of Rhei Rhizoma (RR; 大黃) water extract on gene expression in a hypoxia model of cultured rat hippocampal neurons. RR water extract $(2.5{\mu}g/ml)$ was added to the culture media on day 10 in vitro (DIV10), and a hypoxic shock (2% $O_2$/5% $CO_2$, $37^{\circ}C$, 3 h) was given on DIV13. After maintaining the cultures in normoxia for 24 hr, total RNA was isolated and used for microarray analysis. The MA-plot indicated that most genes were up- or downregulated within 2-fold. There were more downregulated genes (725 ea) than upregulated ones (472 ea) when larger than Global M value 0.2 (i.e., >15% increase) or smaller than Global M value -0.2 (i.e., >15% decrease) were considered. Antiapoptosis genes such as Tegt (2.4-fold), Nfkb1 (2.4-fold) Veg (1.8-fold), Ngfr (1.6-fold) were upregulated, while pro-apoptosis genes such as Bad (-64%), Cstb (-66%) were downregulated. Genes for combating environmental stress (stress response genes) such as Defb3 (2.7-fold), Cygb (2.2-fold), Ahsg (2.18-fold), Alox5 (2-fold) were upregulated. Genes for cell proliferation (cell cycle-related genes) such as Erbb2 (1.84-fold), Mapk12 gene (1.8-fold) was upregulated. Therefore, RR water extracts upregulate many pro-survival genes while downregulating many pro-death genes. It is interpreted that these genes, in combination with other regulated genes, can promote neuronal survival in a stress such as hypoxia.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.156-161
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• 2020

Since industrialization, the production and utilization of various chemicals has contributed to improving the quality of our lives, but the subsequent discharge of massive waste is inevitable, and environmental pollution is becoming more serious every day. Exposure to chemicals as a result of environmental pollution is having a negative effect on human health and the ecosystem, and cleaning up the polluted environment that can affect our lives is a very important issue. Toxic aromatic compounds have been detected frequently in soil, groundwater, and wastewater because of the extensive use of oil products, and phenol, which is used to produce synthetic resins, textiles, and dyes, is one of the major pollutants, along with insecticides and preservatives. Phenol can cause dyspnea, headache, vomiting, mutation, and carcinogenesis. Phenol-degrading bacterium DWB-1-8 was isolated from the activated sludge of textile wastewater; this strain was identified as Comamonas testosteroni by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The optimal culture conditions for the cell growth and degradation of phenol were 0.7% K₂HPO₄, 0.6% NaH₂PO₄, 0.1% NH₄NO₃, 0.015% MgSO₄·7H₂O, 0.001% FeSO₄·7H₂O, an initial pH of 7, and a temperature of 30℃. The strain was also able to grow by using other toxic compounds, such as benzene, toluene, or xylene (BTX), as the sole source of carbon.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.595-604
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• 1992

Carbonate-type polyurethane resins containing anionic moieties were systhesized from NCO-terminated prepolymer method. Membranes were manufactured from the polymer solution and the separation of aqueous ethanol solution was investigated. To enhance the property of urethane resin, carbonate-type polyol(PTMCG) was used. ${\alpha}^{\prime},{\alpha}^{{\prime}{\prime}}$-dimethylolpropionic acid was used as a chain extender to increase the hydrophilicily of the urethane membrane. The ionization of the pendent carboxylic groups in urethane resin was carried out using trimthylamine. To confirm the formation of anionic groups in urethane resin, IR spectra of model compounds were compared with those of urethane resins. It was confirmed that the concentration of hard segment and hydrogen bond contributed to the property of the concentration of hard segment and hydrogen bond contributed to the property of urethane resin in which the mole ratio of chain extender and polyol was from 3:1 to urethane resin in which the mole ratio of chain extender and polyol was from 3:1 to 5:1. The carbonate-type polyurethane containing pendent carboxylic grop(PU) had Tg of around-$25^{\circ}C$ and Tm, $45^{\circ}C$ measured by DSC. Transition temperatures of one containing pendent anionic group(APU) prepared from the ionization of PU shifted to $8{\sim}10^{\circ}C$ lower temperature region than those of PU. Pervaporation membrane was prepared through the casting method. N, N-dimethylformamide (DMF) were used as a solvent and hexamethylene diisocyanate(HMDl) as a crosslinking agent. Swelling degree increased with ethanol concentration in mixure and the control of the swelling degree of the membrane could be achieved by crossliking. The results of pervaporation were as follows : separation factor, 2.3~9.8 ; flux, $27{\sim}79.5g/m^2hr$. Pervaporation separation capacity could be enhanced by reducing the molecular weight of polyol from 2,000 to 1,000.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.189-196
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• 2011

The present study was conducted to investigate effects of auto milking system (AMS) on milk yield and milk composition in dairy cow using dairy herd improvement (DHI) record. DHI records for 147 cows were compared between a year before and after AMS use. AMS significantly increased daily milk yield compared with the conventional milking system (30.4kg vs 34.3 kg for CMS and AMS, respectively). There were no significant differences in the contents of milk fat (3.7% vs 3.8% for CMS and AMS) and milk protein (3.2% vs 3.2% for CMS and AMS) between CMS and AMS. But the yields of milk fat and milk protein were significantly higher for AMS than for CMS. Average somatic cell counts were 169,400/ml (1st grade) before AMS use but increased by 314,400/ml (2nd grade) after AMS use. Overall, AMS increased milk yield and the yields of milk fat and protein without affecting milk composition but also increased somatic cell count.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.840-849
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• 2006

Severe brain injuries induced by toxin pose one of the most important problems on our health care because of their high morbidity and mortality, are implicated to leucocyte infiltration more premature or immature brain than mature brain. Chemokines are the induction meditators for infiltration of inflammatory cells to the inflammation sites. In order to study the mechanism of leucocyte infiltration, the expression of several chemokines, MCP-1, $MIP-1{\alpha}$ and MIP-2 was studied in lipopolysaccharide(LPS)-stimulated neonatal and adult brain. One week old Sprague-Dawley rats or adult male rats weighing 300-350 g were used for the experiment. After anesthetization, $1\;{\mu}l$ LPS (0.5 mg/ml) subsequently was injected in the right caudate nucleus of the brain with stereotaxic frame. Animals were sacrificed at 6 hours, 24 hours, and 72 hours after injection. The present study was carried out using RT-PCR for the mRNA and immunohistochemistry for the expression of the proteins. In the neonatal rat brain, prominent interstitial edema with significant accumulation of leukocytes was detected at 24 and 72 hours after LPS injection. A semiquantitative analysis of RT-PCR revealed that the MCP-1, $MIP-1{\alpha}$, and MIP-2 mRNA expression peaked at 24 hours in neonatal and adult rat brain. Neonatal rats showed about 2.6, 1.4, and 1.2 times more expression of the MCP-1, $MIP-1{\alpha}$, and MIP-2 than that of the adult rats in the brain tissue. Immunohistochemical analysis also showed that MCP-1 immunoreactivity was paralleled with the RT-PCR results. MCP-1 protein was significantly detected at 24 and 72 hours in the brain parenchyma. $MIP-1{\alpha}$protein was highly expressed at 24 hours. The results of leukocyte infiltration in H&E stain was parallelled with that of the immunohistochemistry. Chemokine proteins were markedly detected at 24 hours after injection of LPS and neutrophil influx into intraparenchymal was prominent at 24 hours. These results suggest that the leukocyte infiltration in the intracranial infection may be controlled by mechanisms influenced by chemokine producing cells in the central nervous system such as microglia, astrocyte and endothelial cell.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.108-114
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• 2013

To describe the comparative awareness between media and industry, we conducted a survey with a professional group including 28 food safety managers at food corporations and 17 food journalists to find out the differences in perception of 'reporting terms' and 'correspondence terms' when food safety incident occurs. We surveyed by questionnaire methods and did the statistical analysis by SPSS. The results showed that 70.6% of the journalists and 92.9% of the corporation workers answered 'yes indeed' about the question whether the media has a great influence when food safety incident occurs. In the perception that use of the stimulating terms of the media was the cause of company damage, 83% of the corporate workers answered 'yes indeed', and 70.6% of the journalists answered 'yes'. It means that both groups agreed on stimulating terms causing company damage. In the question whether the 'reporting terms' of the media and the 'correspondence terms' of the government and academia made a difference in the consumers' perception and the spread of the incident, 92.9% of the corporate workers and 35.3% of the journalists answered 'yes indeed'. It means that both groups showed a common opinion that the difference in choice of words expanded the perception of consumers, and the spread of the incident. However, the corporate workers agreed with this in a more serious manner than the journalist group. In standardization of 'reporting terms' and restricting use, corporate workers were overall at a positive stand while journalists showed a big difference in opinion within the group. In conclusion, it is necessary to establish a measure to standardize the terms used by corporations, journalists, and professionals in order to decrease the differences of terms and the damage of consumers and the company when food safety incident occurs.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.213-220
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• 1994

Gastrodia (G) Rhizoma has been used clinically as an oriental herbal medicine with sedative, anticonvulsive, and depressor effects. The present study tested effects of G. Rhizoma extracts on the coronary circulation and myocardial oxygen consumption in perfused rat hearts. Sprague Dawley rats (SD) and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) were employed as experimental animals and nonworking Langendorff heart perfusion technique introduced for heart experiments. G. Rhizoma extracts were prepared from grinding G. Rhizoma into powder, extracting in water and 50% ethanol for 4 or 16 hr and diluting with Krebs-Henseleit bicarbonate perfusion buffer to be 70%. Hearts were perfused with bicarbonate buffer oxygenated with 95% $O_{2}:$ 5% $CO_{2}$ at constant coronary perfusion pressure of $90cmH_{2}O$. The diluted extracts were infused into coronary arteries in a concentration of $1{\sim}5\;{\mu}M$ for $7{\sim}8 min. While in SD water- or ethanol-extracts of G. Rhizoma extracted for 16 hr increased coronary perfusate flow (CPF) and decreased coronary vascular resistance (CVR), ethanol-extracts in SHR produced coronary vasoconstriction associated with enhanced CVR. G. Rhizoma extracts-induced increase in CPF reduced myocardial oxygen extraction, and thus myocardial oxygen consumption ($MVO_{2}$) remained at that observed prior to infusion of extracts. In SD and SHR 16 hr-water-extracts markedly altered coronary venous effluent pH and $Pco_{2}$ and evoked metabolic acidosis, which could be a coronary vasodilator mechanism decreasing CVR. In this study, the extracts decreasing CVR in SD and SHR did not augment the lactate production. Therefore, although the effects of the extracts on cardiac function and coronary circulation depended on solvents and duration for extraction, the 16hr-water-extracts, at least, exhibited coronary vasodilation in SD and SHR. Conversely, ethanol-extracts constricted coronary arteries in SHR. G. Rhizoma extracts-induced vasodilation might be due to the metabolic acidosis rather than due to the increased lactate production. The results indicate that G. Rhizoma extracts obtained from proper extracting procedures can be used as a safe and clinically applicable herbal medicine in the cardiovascular diseases such as coronary artery disease and hypertension for vasodilatory and antihypertensive actions.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.53-59
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• 2007

This study was conducted to determine the effects of dietary supplementation with probiotics on the growth and meat quality of finishing pigs. A total of forty eight ($Landrace{\times}Yorkshire{\times}Duroc$) pigs ($55.3{\pm}1.5 kg$ average initial body weight) were randomly assigned to four groups and fed on a diet supplemented with 0, 0.2, 0.5 or 1% probiotics for 58 days. The pigs were slaughtered at approximately 105 kg live weight. Supplementation with 0.2% probiotics significantly (p<0.05) increased daily gain compared to the control. The daily gain of pigs in the 0.2% probiotic group was 0.95 kg whereas that of the control was 0.85 kg. The average feed intake was 2.79-2.84 kg and there were no significant differences in feed intake between the control and test groups. The feed conversion of the 0.2% probiotic group was 2.96 kg whereas the control showed a feed conversion of 3.28 kg. The results of this study imply that supplementation with 0.2% probiotics may improve the feed conversion of pigs. There were significant differences in carcass weight, carcass ratio, backfat thickness, and frequency percentage of A grade carcasses between the control and probiotic test groups. In addition, the moisture, crude protein and crude ash contents of the probiotic treated groups did not differ significantly from the control group, however the crude fat values of the 0.2% probiotic test group was significantly tower than the other groups. The muscle pH levels of all samples ranged from 5.63-5.67 which is the normal pH of pork. The supplementation of probiotics resulted in decreased lightness ($L^*$) values and increased redness ($a^*$) values. Furthermore, the saturated fatty acid contents of the 0.2% and 0.5% probiotic test groups decreased and the unsaturated fatty acid contents increased relative to the control.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.357-365
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• 2016

We observed the ${\gamma}-ray$ shielding characteristics and compressive strength of five types of concrete using general aggregates and high-weight aggregates. The aggregates were classified into fine aggregate and coarse aggregate according to the average size. The experimental results obtained an attenuation coefficient of $0.371cm^{-1}$ from a concrete with the oxidizing slag sand (OSS) and oxidizing slag gravel (OSG) for a ${\gamma}-ray$ of $^{137}Cs$, which is improved by 2% compared with a concrete with typical aggregates of sand and gravel. In the unit weight measurement, a concrete prepared by iron ore sand (IOS) and OSG had the highest value of $3,175kg{\cdot}m^{-3}$. Although the unit weight of the concrete with OSS and OSG was $3,052kg{\cdot}m^{-3}$, which was lower than the maximum unit weight condition by $123kg{\cdot}m^{-3}$, its attenuation coefficient was improved by $0.012cm^{-1}$. The results of chemical analysis of aggregates revealed that the magnesium content in oxidizing slag was lower than that in iron ore, while the calcium content was higher. The concrete with oxidizing slag aggregates demonstrated enhanced ${\gamma}-ray$ shielding performance due to a relatively high calcium content compared with the concrete with OSS and OSG in spite of a low unit weight. All sample concretes mixed with high-weight aggregates had higher compressive strength than the concrete with typical sand and gravel. When OSS and IOS were used, the highest compressive strength was 50.2 MPa, which was an improvement by 45% over general concrete, which was achieved after four weeks of curing.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.264-272
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• 2013

Climate changes have caused not only changes in the frequency and intensity of extreme climate events, but also temperature and precipitation. The damages on agricultural production system will be increased by heavy rainfall and snow. In this study we assessed vulnerability of crop cultivation facility and animal husbandry facility by heavy rain in 232 agricultural districts. The climate data of 2000 years were used for vulnerability analysis on present status and the data derived from A1B scenario were used for the assessment in the years of 2020, 2050 and 2100, respectively. Vulnerability of local districts was evaluated by three indices such as climate exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity, and each index was determined from selected alternative variables. Collected data were normalized and then multiplied by weight value that was elicited in delphi investigation. Jeonla-do and Gangwon-do showed higher climate exposures than the other provinces. The higher sensitivity to abnormal weather was observed from the regions that have large-scale cultivation facility complex compared to the other regions and vulnerability to abnormal weather also was higher at these provinces. In the projected estimation based on the SRES A1B, the vulnerability of controlled agricultural facility in Korea totally increased, especially was dramatic between 2000's and 2020 year.