• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.73-83
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• 2017

The surveyed mines are located in a polymetallic vein, replacement, and skarn mineral district in the central Andes of Peru. Iscaycruz, which includes underground and open pit mines that produce zinc and lead concentrates, was the largest mineral deposit of an important group of base metal deposits in the Andes of central Peru. The deposits are sub-vertical seams of polymetallic ores(Zn, Cu, and Pb). These seams are hosted by Jurassic and Cretaceous sedimentary rock formation. The intrusion of igneous rocks in these formations originated metallic deposits of metasomatic and skarn types. The Raura mine is composed of polymetallic deposit of veins and replacement orebodies. The main sedimentary unit in the area is Cretaceous Machay Limestone. The Raura depression contains several orebodies each with different mineralization: predominantly Pb-Zn bearing Catuvo orebody; Ag-rich galena-bearing Lake Ninacocha orebody; Cu-Ag bearing Esperanza and Restauradora orebody. Huaron is a hydrothermal polymetallic deposit of silver, lead, zinc, and copper mineralization hosted within structures likely related to the intrusion of monzonite dikes, principally located within the Huaron anticline. Mineralization is encountered in veins parallel to the main fault systems, in replacement bodies known as "mantos" associated with the calcareous sections of the conglomerates and other favourable stratigraphic horizons, and as dissemination in the monzonitic intrusions at vein intersections.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.169-177
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• 2005

This study focuses on investigating roles of microorganisms in decontamination of reed rhizosphere in Sunchon Bay, Korea, which is considered one of the marsh and mud environment severely affected by human activities such as agriculture and fisheries. In general, the bay is known to play the role of the buffering zone to reduce the sudden impact or change by environmental stresses. In our initial efforts to elucidate the microbial functions in decontamination process in reed rhizosphere, pure bacteria capable of degrading aromatic hydrocarbons were isolated from reed (Phragmites communis) rhizosphere of Sunchon bay by enrichment culture using either benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, or xylene (BTEX) as a sole source of carbon and energy. Measurement of the rates of BTEX degradation and cell growth during the incubation in BTEX media under several temperature conditions demonstrated maximized degradation of BTEX at $37^{\circ}C$ in both strains. Both strains were also resistant to all the heavy metals and antibiotics tested in this study, as well as they grew well at $42^{\circ}C$. Identification of the isolates based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, and a variety of phenotypic and morphologic properties revealed that the two strains capable of BTEX catabolism were among Microbacterium sp., and Rhodococcus sp. with over $95{\%}$ confidence, designated Microbacterium sp. EMB-1 and Rhodococcus sp. EMB-2, respectively This result suggested that in the rhizosphere of reed, one of major salt marsh plants they might play an important roles in decontamination process of reed rhizosphere contaminated with petroleum such as BTEX.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.317-336
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• 1992

The garden soils, main road dusts, residential road dusts, and playground soils/dusts of Seoul, Geumsan, Onsan, and Taebaek areas were analyzed in order to investigate the level of heavy metal pollution by urbanization and industrialization. The soil pH is in the range of 5.48~8.40 and was generally neutral. The color of soils and dusts is mainly Raw Umber to dark greyish Raw Umber. Some samples from Taebaek city, a coal mining area, showed a deep black color due to contamination by coal dusts. Major minerals of the dusts and soils are quartz, feldspars, and micas, reflecting the composition of the parent rocks. However, pyrite was found as a major mineral in the samples of industrial road dusts of Onsan, a smelting area, and resicential road dusts of Taebaek. Thus, the high level of heavy metals in mining and smelting areas can be explained with the sulfide minerals. The mode of occurences of heavy metals in Seoul, a comprehensive urbanized area, were related to the metallic pollutants and organic materials through observation by scanning eletron microscopy. In main road and residential road dusts of Onsan area, Cd, Zn, and Cu were extremely high. Some industrial road and residential road dusts of Seoul area showed high Cu, Zn, and Pb contents, wereas some garden soils and residential road dusts of Taebaek area were high in As content. In general, the heavy metal contents in dust samples were two to three times higher than those in soil samples. Main road dust samples were the most reflective from the discriminant analysis of multi-element data. Cadmium, Sb, and Se in Onsan area, As in Taebaek area, Pb and Te in Seoul area were most characteristic in discriminating the studied areas. Therefore, Cd in smelting areas, As in coal mining areas, and Pb in metropolitan areas can be suggested as the characteristic elements of each pollution pattern. The dispersion of heavy metal elements in urban areas tends to orignate in main roads and deposit in garden soils through the atmosphere and residential roads. The heavy metal contamination in Seoul is characteristic in areas with high population, factory, road, and traffic decsities. Heavy metal contents are high in the vicinity of smelters in Onsan area and are decayed to background levels from one kilometer away from the smelters.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.61-69
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• 2014

As we are trying to in-situ treat (purify or immobilize) heavy metals or radionuclides in groundwater, one of the geochemical factors to be necessarily considered is the value of oxidation/reduction potential (ORP) of the groundwater. A biogeochemical impact on the characteristic ORP change of groundwater taken from the KAERI underground was observed as a function of time by adding electron-donor (lactate), electron-acceptor (sulfate), and indigenous bacteria in a laboratory condition. There was a slight increase of Eh (slow oxidation) of the pure groundwater with time under a $N_2$-filled glove-box. However, most of groundwaters that contained lactate, sulfate or bacteria showed Eh decrease (reduction) characteristics. In particular, when 'Baculatum', a local indigenous sulfate-reducing bacterium, was injected into the KAERI groundwater, it turned to become a highly-reduced one having a decreased Eh to around -500 mV. Although the sulfate-reducing bacterium thus has much greater ability to reduce groundwater than other metal-reducing bacteria, it surely necessitated some dissolved ferrous-sulfate and finally generated sulfide minerals (e.g., mackinawite), which made a prediction for subsequent reactions difficult. As a result, the ORP of groundwater was largely affected even by a slight injection of nutrient without bacteria, indicating that oxidation state, solubility and sorption characteristics of dissolved contaminants, which are affected by the ORP, could be changed and controlled through in-situ biostimulation method.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.838-844
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• 2010

A fibrinolytic enzyme of Streptomyces corcohrussi from soil sediment was purified by chromatography using DEAE-Sephadex A-50 and Sephadex G-50. The analysis of SDS-polyacrylamide gel suggested that the purified enzyme is a homogeneous protein and the molecular mass is approximately 34 kDa. The purified enzyme showed activity of 0.8 U/ml in a plasminogen-rich fibrin plate, while its activity in a plasminogen-free fibrin plate was only 0.36 U/ml. These results suggested that the purified enzyme acts as a plasminogen activator. The fibrinolytic activity of the enzyme under the supplementation of protease inhibitors, $\varepsilon$-ACA, t-AMCHA and mercuric chloride in the enzyme reaction was less than 24%, indicating that it could be modulated by the plasmin and/or fibrinogen inhibitors involved in the fibrinogen-to-fibrin converting process. As time passed, $Zn^{2+}$, a heavy metal ion, inhibited the activity to 34.1%. The optimum temperature of the purified enzyme was approximately $50^{\circ}C$ and over 92% of the enzyme activity was maintained between pH 5.0 and 8.0. Therefore, our results provide a potential fibrinolytic enzyme as a noble thrombolytic agent from S. corcohrussi.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.1308-1314
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• 2017

The Chinese red-headed centipede Scolopendra subspinipes mutilans, a member of the arthropod class Chilopoda, is a traditional medicine used for the treatment of several allergic diseases, such as atopy. S. subspinipes mutilans samples were collected from different regions of South Korea: Sancheong, Gyeongnam; Yeonggwang, Jeonnam and Jeju-do. The nutritional values of the centipedes were analyzed to extend the species' applications. The crude protein and fat contents of all samples were high and ranged from 54.9-55.8% and from 26.8-30.6%, respectively. Essential amino acids were present; lysine was the most common and accounted for 3.4-3.6% of the essential amino acids. Glutamic acid, which assists in improving concentration, memory and other cognitive abilities, was the most common non-essential amino acid at 6.8-7.1%. It had a similar content percentage in all three regions' samples. Additionally, unsaturated fatty acids were present, and oleic acid, which prevents cancer and cardiac disease, was the most common at 41.3-48.6% of each sample. Mercury, a hazardous substance, was detected at a range of 0.08-0.11 mg/kg in all samples; the amount was lower than the standard food allowance. Additionally, no pathogenic microorganisms, such as Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp., were detected. There were no significant differences between the nutritional factors of the S. subspinipes mutilans samples from the three regions. Based on the nutritional analysis, Chinese red-headed centipedes have the potential to be food and medicinal ingredients due to their proteins, essential amino acids, unsaturated fatty acids and nutritive capacities.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.84-90
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• 2008

Bacterial colonies which were able to oxidize the manganese were isolated from six soil samples in Byungchon area. Among them, one bacterial strain was selected for this study based on its high manganese oxidation activity. This selected bacterial strain was identified as Pseudomonas sp. MN5 through physiological-biochemical test and analysis of its 16s rRNA sequence. This selected bacterial strain was able to utilize fructose and maltose, but they doesn't utilizing various carbohydrates as a sole carbon source. Pseudomonas sp. MN5 showed a very sensitive to antibiotics such as kanamycin, chloramphenicol, streptomycin and tetracycline, but a high resistance up to mg/ml unit to heavy metals such as lithium, manganese and barium. Optimal manganese oxidation condition of Pseudomonas sp. MN5 was pH 7.5 and manganese oxidation activity was inhibited by proteinase K and boiling treatment. The manganese oxidizing protein produced by Pseudomonas sp. MN5 was purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation, HiTrap Q FF anion exchange chromatography and G3000sw $_{XL}$ gel filtration chromatography. By sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, three manganese oxidizing protein with estimated molecular weights of 15 kDa, 46.7 kDa and 63.5 kDa were detected. Also, it was estimated that manganese oxidizing protein produced by Pseudomonas sp. MN5 were a kind of porin proteins through internal sequence and N-terminal sequence analysis.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.664-668
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• 2013

To evaluate Protaetia brevitarsis as a food material, we investigated its composition of nutritional and harmful components. Analysis of nutritional composition (moisture, crude protein, crude fat, crude ash, crude fiber, and carbohydrates) showed that the content of crude protein, fat, fiber, and ash were $57.86{\pm}0.01$%, $16.57{\pm}1.81$%, $5.31{\pm}0.10$%, and $8.36{\pm}0.10$% in Protaetia brevitarsis powder, respectively. Amino acids were composed of 17.68% essential and 33.97% non-essential in Protaetia brevitarsis powder. Protaetia brevitarsis powder contained 61.10% unsaturated fatty acid with oleic acids. Additionally, Protaetia brevitarsis powder had a large quantity of minerals related to body organization, such as K (1597 mg/100 g), P (724.1 mg/100 g), Mg (366.3 mg/100 g), and so on. We also confirmed that all bacteria and all heavy metals analyzed in this study, except for very small amount of Hg ($0.1{\pm}0.042$ mg/kg), were not detected in the lysophilized Protaetia brevitarsis powder.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.191-197
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• 2005

A new method, ToxTemp (TOXcity test based on TEMPerature control) using Ceridaphnia dubia was applied to evaluate the toxicity of insecticide materials and compared with the standard 48 hr acute bioassay. BPMC, diazinon and fenitrothion may cause the inhibition to the biological process in sewage treatment plant and need to detect toxicity within short contact time. The ToxTemp method showed sensitive detection with more shorter contact of 1-1.5 hr time than that of the standard 48 hr acute bioassay. To evaluate toxicity of real wastewater/sewage, the inhibition rate of nitrification and oxygen uptake rate (OUR) using activated sludge, the standard 48hr acute bioassay and ToxTemp method using C. dubia were compared, respectively. On the basis of the inhibition rate of nitrification, the OUR test showed the less sensitive results at the relatively strong toxic sewage. On the other hands, the standard 48hr acute bioassay and ToxTemp method using C. dubia represented the toxicity of each wastewater/sewage with high sensitivity. Even the slightly low (about 1.5%) sensitivity, the ToxTemp method showed the high applicability to the real site of sewage treatment plant.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.689-698
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• 2000

The quality of stormwater runoff has been a major concern in water quality preservation. Characteristics of heavy metals and conventional pollutants in surface runoff from industrial complex, during the first flush, were not completely understood, Generally, separated sewer system is known for their water quality with untreated wastewater during storm events. In this study, the quality and characteristics of surface runoff from the industrial complex were investigated. The target area in the industrial complex catchment was divided 4 sub-areas, and the quality of stormwater runoff from the selected drainage areas was investigated using a grab sampling method. The petro-chemical industry and the junkyard discharged relatively high concentration of conventional pollutants, such as BOD, COD, SS, and TN through the first flush runoff samples. On the other hand, a higher level of heavy metals was found in the first flush runoff from the metal-mechanical industry and the scrap storage yard. For metals, Fe, Zn and Cu were the most prevalent species found in the first flush runoff from all sites for every surface runoff samples, while Pb, As, Cd, Cr and Ni were the least prevalent species and Hg was not found in any sample at any site. These results suggest that the nature of pollutants in surface runoff from the industrial complex was related to the type of industry, and the concentration of pollutants was determinated by the degree of exposed pollutant sources and the characteristic of rainfall events at the sites.