• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.306-311
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• 2009

A new PCR method was developed to detect Pectobacterium carotovorum which is the causative agent of soft rot in Brassica pekinensis. A specific detection primer set based on Lytic murein transglycolase gene was designed and evaluated. Using ERB3_F (5'-TGC GAC ACC TCC TCA TCA CG-3') and ERB3_R (5'-CTT ATC ACG CTG TAA CCA GC-3') primers, 437 nucleotides long fragment was specifically amplified. The amplified products were observed in 52 out of 55 strains of P. carotovorum or Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum. On the other hand, no amplification was observed in 8 organisms including Chinese cabbage and potato. The optimal PCR condition for the ERB3_F/ERB3_R primer set was $58^{\circ}C$ for annealing and 15 mM for $MgCl_2$. With serially diluted templates, the specific PCR sensitivitie limit was $2\times10^3$ copies. Also, this method can be applied not only to DNA but also to field samples. This PCR method may be expected to be useful for specific detection of P. carotovorum.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.354-361
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• 2009

This study was carried out to develop an effective biocarrier-mediated bioaugmentation technology which will be useful for remediation of the crude oil-contaminated marine sediments. Enrichment of several microbial communities was made from several oil-polluted seashore sites and the two distinctively functional consortia have been successfully selected. These two consortia were grown together and used to manufacture the microbial agents for bioaugmentation of marine sediments polluted with crude oil. The most dominant species in the mixed culture was identified as Alcanivorax borkumensis based on pure culture and DGGE analysis. Bioaugmentation of oil-polluted marine sediments with the microbial agent MA-2 formulated using the mixed culture and biocarriers (activated carbon and minerals) was more effective, especially in combination with an oxygen producing (releasing) compound (ORC). Ninty percent of TPH was removed in the presence of ORC in 35 days while 74% in the absence of ORC. This indicated that the indigenous consortial degraders could be immobilized on the active carbon as a biocarrier to manufacture microbial agents and then effectively bioaugmented for remediation of the oil-polluted sediments.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.224-229
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• 2006

FEMLAB is a powerful interactive environment for modeling, solving all kinds of scientific and engineering problems based on partial differential equations(PDEs). Separation process of chiral compound in HPLC columns was simulated by FEMLAB. To study change of elution profile with isotherm models, non-competitive and competitive Langmuir adsorption isotherm were adopted. Separated material was (R, S)-ibuprofen [(R, S)-2-(4-isobutyl phenyl) propionic acid], an anti-inflammatory agent, which retain the pharmacological activity in the (S)-(+)-enantiomer. Sample concentrations were changed from 0.5 mg/ml to 2.0 mg/ml at a flow rate of 1 ml/min and flow rate varied from 1 ml/min to 3 ml/min at an ibuprofen concentration of 2.0 mg/ml and $20{\mu}l$ of injection volume. Simulated results were well fitted with experimental data.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.29-38
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• 2002

Hypertension is an important public health problem because it increases the risk of stroke, angina, myocardial infarction, heart failure, and end-stage renal disease. If it is not actively treated, morbidity and mortality increase with hypertension-induced complications and quality of life decreases. This study was to evaluate the use of antihypertensive drugs and blood pressure changes and to compare algorithms chosen (or the 1st and 2nd line therapy of hypertension based on the JNC VI recommendations. The medical charts of 222 patients with essential hypertension at St. Vincent's Hospital in Suwon from January 1997 to January 2000 were reviewed retrospectively. Data collection and analysis included baseline BP underlying diseases and complications, administered antihypertensives, BP changes, changes of antihypertensive regimen, and adverse effects with treatments. As results, the higher BP the patients had, the more frequent they had target organ damages and clinical cardiovascular diseases. Mean duration to reduce blood pressure less than 140/90 mmHg was 8 weeks in $85.3\%$ of the patients. The rate of control in BP was $82.4\%$ at 6 months. The major antihypertensive drugs prescribed were calcium channel blockers $(61.8\%)$ , ACE inhibitors $(19.1\%),\;\beta-blockers\;(13.7\%)$ and diuretics $(5.3\%)$ as the 1st-line monotherapy. The methods of treatment used as the 1st-line therapy were monotherapy$(59\%)$ and combination therapy $(41\%)$. Blood pressure change was significantly greater for combination therapy than monotherapy$(-26.2\pm21.4\;vs.\;-18.56\pm16.7$ mmHg for systolic blood pressure; P<0.003, $-16.9\pm13.2\;vs.\;-9.2\pm12.8$ mmHg for diastolic blood pressure; p<0.001). When blood pressure was not completely controlled with the first antihypertensive selected, the 2nd line therapy had 4 options: addition of 2nd agent from different class; $66.2\%$, substitution with another drug, $21.9\%$ increase dose $11.9\%$ continue first regimen $27.9\%$ Calcium channel blockers were the most frequently prescribed agents. This was not comparable to the JNC VI guideline which recommended diuretics and $\beta-blockers$ for the 1st-line therapy. Most of patients achieved the goal BP and maintained it until 6 months, but the remaining patients should be controlled more tightly to improve their BP with combination of life style modification, patient education, and pharmacotherapy.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.229-240
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• 2020

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of phosphorus acid (H₃PO₃) addition to the horticultural bed soil on the initial growth of red pepper (Capsicum annuum L. cv.), cucumber (Cucumis sativus L. cv.), and kimchi cabbage (Brassica campestris L. ssp. pekinensis (Lour.) Rupr. cv.). The stem heights of red pepper and cucumber were 46.1% and 23.0% greater in the 50 mg/L of phosphorus acid treatment than the untreated (control). Further, the stem diameter of pepper and cucumber were 48.7% and 23.0% greater in the 50 mg/L of phosphorus acid treatment than the control. In addition, the number of kimchi cabbage leaves was 47.5% greater in the 50 mg/L of phosphorus acid treatment than the control. The dry weights of red pepper, cucumber and kimchi cabbage were 72.9%, 16.5%, and 30.4% heavier in the 50 mg/L than the control, respectively. Cations (K, Ca, and Mg) and total phosphorus (T - P) were quantitatively analyzed for these three horticultural crops. The concentrations of K, Ca, and Mg, and T - P were higher in the 50 mg/L of phosphorus acid than the control, respectively. Based on the results obtained in this study, it appears that treatment of phosphorus acid in horticultural bed soil enhanced the growth of red pepper, cucumber and Kimchi cabbage.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.391-401
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• 2010

A reduction in risk of occupational exposure to chemical hazards within the workplace has been the focus of attention both through industry initiatives and legislation. The aims of this study were to develop an exposure matrix by industry and process, and to apply this matrix to control the risk of occupational exposure to Dichloromethane (DCM). The exposure matrix is a tool to convert information on industry and process into information on occupational risk. The exposure matrix comprised industries and processes involving DCM, based on an exposure database provided by KOSHA (the Korean Occupational Safety and Health Agency), which was gathered from a workplace hazards evaluation program in Korea. The risk assessment of the exposure matrix was performed using Hallmark risk assessment tool. The results of the risk assessment were indicated by a Danger Value (DV) calculated from the combination of hazard rating (HR), duration of use rating (DUR), and risk probability rating (RPR) of exposure to the chemical, and were divided into four control bands which were related to control measures. The applicability of the risk assessment of the exposure matrix was evaluated by a field study, and survey of the employees of the exposure matrix groups. Among 45 industries examined, this study found that greater attention should be paid to two industries: the manufacture of other optical instruments and photographic equipment, and the manufacture of printing ink, and to one process among 47 examined, the packing process in the manufacture of printing ink, because these were regarded as carrying the highest risk. This tool of a risk assessment for the exposure matrix can be applied as a general exposure information system for hazard control, risk quantification, setting the occupational exposure limit, and hazard surveillance. The exposure matrix includes workforce data, and it provides information on the numbers of exposed workers in Korea by agent, occupation, and level of exposure and risk.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.341-349
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• 2002

The target controlled infusion(TCI) pump system is a logical approach to the development of improved administration techniques of an intravenous anaesthetic agent. The principle of TCI system is based on an understanding of the pharmacokinetic properties, three or four compartment model. The TCI system is optimal and flexible control of the plasma drug concentration. But the clinical goal is always to achieve a therapeutic drug effect, not a therapeutic concentration. So we developed the algorithm to target the concentration at the site of drug effect rather than the concentration in the plasma. If impulse drug is inputted into body, the decline of plasma concentration with time is shown, resulting in the expression of the differential equation. Therefore, we must reformulate our three-compartment model as four-compartment model with the effect compartment. And we tested plasma targeting and effect targeting algorithm by computer simulation using four-compartment model. So we developed the TCI capable of applying all intravenous drugs by adjusting individual pharmacokinetic parameters independently.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.133-138
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• 2000

Terbinafine is an orally active antifungal agent as it inhibits the fungal enzyme squalene epoxidase, which is important in the early biosynthetic pathway of ergosterol. This leads to abnormal development of the fungal cell membrane. Bioequivalence of two terbinafine tablets, $Lamisil^{TM}$ (Novartis Korea Ltd.) and $Terbina^{TM}$ (Korean Drug Co., Ltd.), was evaluated according to the guidelines of Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA). Sixteen normal male volunteers, $23.56{\pm}1.75$ years old and $65.60{\pm}8.54\;kg$ of body weight, were divided into two groups and a randomized $2{\times}2$ cross-over study was employed. After one tablet containing 125 mg of terbinafine was orally administered, blood was taken at predetermined time intervals and the serum concentrations of terbinafine were determined using an HPLC method with UV detector. The pharmacokinetic parameters $(AUC_t,\;C_{max}\;and\;T_{max})$ were calculated and ANOVA test was utilized for the statistical analysis of parameters. The results showed that the differences in $AUC_t,\;C_{max}\;and\;T_{max}$ between two tablets based on $Lamisil^{TM}$, tablet were -2.53%, -2.98% and 8.13%, respectively. The powers $(1-{\beta})$ for $AUC_t,\;C_{max}\;and\;T_{max}$ were 85.21%, 98.21% and 93.11%, respectively. Minimum detectable differences $({\Delta})$ at ${\alpha}=0.1\;and\;1-{\beta}=0.8$ were all less than 20%. The 90% confidence intervals were all within ${\pm}20%$. All the parameters above met the criteria of KFDA for bioequivalence, indicating that $Terbina^{TM}$ tablet is bioequivalent to $Lamisil^{TM}$ tablet.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.8
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• pp.1383-1391
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• 2016

The fungal strain EML-DML3PNa1 isolated from leaf of white dogwood (Cornus alba L.) showed strong nematicidal activity with juvenile mortality of 87.6% at a concentration of 20% fermentation broth filtrate at 3 days after treatment. The active fungal strain was identified as Aspergillus oryzae, which belongs to section Flavi, based on the morphological characteristics and sequence analysis of the ITS rDNA, calmodulin (CaM), and β-tubulin (BenA) genes. The strain reduced the pH value to 5.62 after 7 days of incubation. Organic acid analysis revealed the presence of citric acid (515.0 mg/kg), malic acid (506.6 mg/kg), and fumaric acid (21.7 mg/kg). The three organic acids showed moderate nematicidal activities, but the mixture of citric acid, malic acid, and fumaric acid did not exhibit the full nematicidal activity of the culture filtrate of EML- DML3PNa1. Bioassay-guided fractionation coupled with ¹H- and ¹³C-NMR and EI-MS analyses led to identification of kojic acid as the major nematicidal metabolite. Kojic acid exhibited dose-dependent mortality and inhibited the hatchability of M. incognita, showing EC₅₀ values of 195.2 μg/ml and 238.3 μg/ml, respectively, at 72 h post-exposure. These results suggest that A. oryzae EML-DML3PNa1 and kojic acid have potential as a biological control agent against M. incognita.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.9
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• pp.1701-1710
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• 2017

Classical swine fever virus (CSFV) is the etiologic agent of classical swine fever, a highly contagious disease that causes significant economic losses to the swine industry. The lapinized C-strain, a widely used vaccine strain against CSFV, has low growth efficiency in cell culture, which limits the productivity in the vaccine industry. In this study, a recombinant virus derived from C-strain was constructed and subjected to continuous passaging in PK-15 cells with the goal of acquiring a high progeny virus yield. A cell-adapted virus variant, RecCpp80, had nearly 1,000-fold higher titer than its parent C-strain but lost the ability to induce fever in rabbits. Sequence analysis of cell-adapted RecC variants indicated that at least six nucleotide changes were fixed in RecCpp80. Further adaption of RecCpp80 variant in swine testicle cells led to a higher virus yield without additional mutations. Introduction of each of these residues into the wild-type RecC backbone showed that one mutation, M979R (T3310G), located in the C-terminal region of E2 might be closely related to the cell-adapted phenotype. Rabbit inoculation revealed that $RecCpp40_{+10}$ failed to induce fever in rabbits, whereas $RecCpp80_{+10}$ caused a fever response similar to the commercial C-strain vaccine. In conclusion, the C-strain can be adapted to cell culture by introducing specific mutations in its E2 protein. The mutations in RecCpp80 that led to the loss of fever response in rabbits require further investigation. Continuous passaging of the C-strain-based recombinant viruses in PK-15 cells could enhance its in vitro adaption. The non-synonymous mutations at 3310 and 3531 might play major roles in the enhanced capacity of general virus reproduction. Such findings may help design a modified C-strain for improved productivity of commercial vaccines at reduced production cost.