• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.294-299
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• 2007

Natural gypsum has been used as a soil amendment in the United States. However, flue gas desulfurization (FGD)-gypsum has not traditionally been used for agricultural purpose although it has potential benefit as a soil amendment. To expand use of FGD-gypsum for agricultural purpose, the effect of FGD-gypsum on soil chemical properties was investigated in the field scales. Application rates for this study were 0 (control), 1.1, and 2.2 Mg ha-1 of FGD-gypsum. After two year application, the soil samples were taken to 110 cm depth and sub-sampled at 10 cm intervals. The heavy metal contents in FGD-gypsum were lower than ceiling levels allowed by regulations for land-applied biosolids. Soil pH was not largely affected by FGD-gypsum application. Although degree of calcium (Ca) saturation in surface horizons increases only slightly with respect to the control, there is a clear decrease in exchangeable aluminum (Al). FGD-gypsum clearly increases the soil electrical conductivity (EC) with increasing application rate. Water-soluble Ca and sulfate is increased with FGD-gypsum application and these ions moved to a depth of at least 80 cm after only 2 years. We conclude that surface application of FGD-gypsum can mitigate toxicity of Al and deficiency of Ca in subsoil of acid soil.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.165-172
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• 2020

Heavy metals are common pollutants in the freshwater environment and have toxicological effect in habitat organisms. The heavy metals highly accumulated in sediment and organism, and observed various physiological responses. In this study, we investigated the molecular response to heavy metal toxicity (Al, Aluminum; Cr, Chromium; Cu, copper; Mn, Manganese; Zn, Zinc) through expression of heat shock protein 40, 70, 90 (HSP40, 70, 90), cytochrome 450 (CYP450), Glutathione S-transferase (GST) and Serine-type endopeptidase (SP). HSPs showed up-regulation in Cu and Zn exposures. Furthermore, HSPs expression in treated groups tended to be higher than the control group. The tendency of CYP450 and GST mRNA expression was higher for Cr and Cu than for other exposure group. The expression of SP gene was low at Al exposure and other group were measured to be similar to control. These results suggest that heavy metal toxicity in freshwater ecosystem may affect physiological and molecular process. Also, the comprehensive gene expression in the aquatic midge Chironomus riparius give useful information to potential molecular biomarkers for assessing heavy metal toxicity.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.135-142
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• 2021

Biopolymers have been known as eco-friendly soil strengthening materials and studied to apply levees. However, the effect of biopolymer on vegetation is not fully understood. In this study, we analyzed the root growth of Camelina sativa L. (Camelina) when the xanthan gum was amended to soil in Aluminum (Al) stress conditions. Amendment of 0.05% xanthan gum increased root growth of Camelina under Al stress conditions. Under the Al stress condition, expression of aluminum activate malate transporter 1 (ALMT1) gene of Camelina root was induced but showed a lower level of expression in xanthan gum amended soil than non-amended soil. Additionally, the binding capacity of xanthan gum with Al ions in the solution was confirmed. Using morin staining and ICP-OES analysis, the Al content of the roots in the xanthan gum soil was lower than in the non-xanthan gum soil. These results suggest that xanthan gum amended soils may reduce the detrimental effects of Al on the roots and positively affect the growth of plants. Therefore, xanthan gum is not only an eco-friendly construction material but also can protect the roots in the disadvantageous environment of the plant.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.131-142
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• 2004

In recent years, adjuvants have received much attention because of the development of purified subunit and synthetic vaccines which are poor immunogens and require adjuvants to evoke the immune response. Therefore, immunologic adjuvants have been developed and testing for most of this century. During the last years much progress has been made on development, isolation and chemical synthesis of alternative adjuvants such as derivatives of muramyl dipeptide, monophosphoryl lipid A, liposomes, QS-21, MF-59 and immunostimulating complexes (ISCOMS). Biodegradable polymer microspheres are being evaluated for targeting antigens on mucosal surfaces and for controlled release of vaccines with an aim to reduce the number of doses required for primary immunization. The most common adjuvants for human use today are aluminum hydroxide and aluminum phosphate. Calcium phosphate and oil emulsions have been also used in human vaccination. The biggest issue with the use of adjuvants for human vaccines is the toxicity and adverse side effects of most of the adjuvant formulations. Other problems with the development of adjuvants include restricted adjuvanticity of certain formulations to a few antigens, use of aluminum adjuvants as reference adjuvant preparations under suboptimal conditions, non-availability of reliable animal models, use of non-standard assays and biological differences between animal models and humans leading to the failure of promising formulations to show adjuvanticity in clinical trials. The availability of hundreds of different adjuvants has prompted a need for identifying rational standards for selection of adjuvant formulations based on safety and sound immunological principles for human vaccines. The aim of the present review is to put the recent findings into a broader perspective to facilitate the application of these adjuvants in general and experimental vaccinology.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.162-167
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• 2021

Aluminum (Al) stress in acidic pH is known to decrease the growth and productivity of alfalfa. However, not much is known about how the application of silicon (Si) affects the Al stress response in alfalfa. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of exogenous application of Si on the growth of alfalfa seedlings exposed to Al stress in pots. Alfalfa seedlings grown in pots for 2 weeks were treated either Al stress (pH 4.0, 0.2 mM Al) or Al stress + Si (1 mM) for 5 days, lengths and biomass of shoot and root, and chlorophyll and carotenoid contents in leaf tissues were analyzed respectively. Al stress treatment inhibited shoot and root growth, and decreased fresh and dry weights, and chlorophyll content in leaves, but increased carotenoid content. In contrast, when alfalfa seedlings treated with Al stress combined with Si, delayed growth caused by Al stress of shoot and root of alfalfa seedlings was restored, dry weight was increased and chlorophyll content of leaf tissue was increased, but carotenoid content was decreased. These results suggest that Si has a function of alleviating Al toxicity in alfalfa, of which it exhibits a mitigating effect by a function that overlaps with some of the intracellular functions of carotenoids.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.393-399
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• 2020

The use of different types of wastewater (WW) for the cultivation of microalgae and cyanobacteria during recent decades has provided important economic and environmental benefits. However, direct use of WW can lead to growth inhibition and biomass contamination. In the present study, we separated the key WW nutrients, namely nitrate and phosphate, by adsorption and regeneration and used the resulting regenerated water to cultivate the cyanobacterium Spirulina platensis. The adsorbent was granular γ-alumina derived from waste aluminum cans. This procedure recovered 19.9% of nitrate and 23.7% of phosphate from WW. The cyanobacterial cultures efficiently assimilated the nutrients from the medium prepared using regenerated WW, and the growth and nutrient uptake were similar to those in a synthetic medium. In addition, imposing nutrient limitations to increase carbohydrate productivity was easily achieved using regenerated wastewater nutrients, without requiring additional dilution or complex processing. In acute toxicity tests, the harvested biomass in a regenerated medium had similar toxicity levels compared to the biomass obtained from a synthetic medium. The proposed method of using regenerated WW to produce contamination-free biomass has broad potential applications.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.357-368
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• 2017

To establish new metal groundwater standard, 5 metals such as aluminum, chromium, iron, manganese, and selenium were evaluated by Chemical Ranking Of groundWater pollutaNts (CROWN) including possibility of exposure, toxicity, interest factor, connection standard for other media, and data reliability. 430 groundwater samples in 2013 and 2014 were collected semiannually from 110 groundwater wells and they were analyzed for selenium, manganese, iron, chromium, and aluminum. For this study, 430 groundwater samples were categorized into 3 geological distribution features, such as igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rock region and geological background levels were divided by pre-selection methods. For the results, the average concentrations of aluminum, chromium, iron, manganese, and selenium in 430 groundwater samples were $0.0008mg\;L^{-1}$, $0.0001mg\;L^{-1}$, $0.174mg\;L^{-1}$, $0.083mg\;L^{-1}$, and $0.0004mg\;L^{-1}$, respectively. In addition, among various geologies, average concentration of selenium was the highest in igneous rock region, average concentrations of chromium, manganese and aluminum were the greatest in sedimentary rock region, and average concentration of iron was the most high in metamorphic rock region. As a result of the geological background concentration with pre-selection method, background concentrations of selenium and aluminum in groundwater samples were the highest from sedimentary rock as $0.0010mg\;L^{-1}$ and $0.0029mg\;L^{-1}$ and background concentrations of manganese and iron in groundwater samples were the greatest from metamorphic rock as $0.460mg\;L^{-1}$ and $1.574mg\;L^{-1}$, and no chromium background concentration in groundwater samples was found from all geology.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 1999

To find the latent effect of paper mill sludges (PMS) with and without alum, and alum paper mill sludge compost(PMSC) on aluminum toxicity of crops, the pH buffer capacity and the acidification resistance index (ARI) for PMSs and PMSC were investigated, comparing to upland soil. Buffer capacities of PMS with and without alum, and PMSC were significantly higher than $2.5cmol^+kg^{-1}$ of check soil as 137, 250, and $147cmol^+kg^{-1}$, respectively. Owing to such high buffer capacity of PMS and PMSC, they showed to be well-resisted to acidification.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.131-138
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• 1997

In this study, the effect of the various operating conditions on the removal of $Cr^{6+}$ from $Cr^{6+}$ containing wastewater which has strong toxicity by using electrolysis with iron electrode as anode and aluminum electrode as cathode was investigated. The removal efficiency of $Cr^{6+}$ was increased as the pH was decreased, as the distance of electrode was decreased and the voltage was increased. The reaction temperature slightly affected the removal efficiency. The optimum conditions for the treatment of $Cr^{6+}$ containing wastewater were initial pH 3, 5 volt and the distance of electrode was 1cm. The feasibility of the electrochemical treatment to the $Cr^{6+}$ containing industrial wastewater was verified from this study.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.346-353
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• 1996

The anthropometric measurements, nutrient intake, concentrations of minerals in scalp hair and urine and urinary 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid(5-HIAA) of 30 autistic children not taking psychoactive drugs and 30 nonautistic control children were determined. The autistic children were taking significantly lower amounts of vitamin A, niacin, ascorbic acid and iron. The intake of vitamin A, niacin, and iron in autistic children were found to be 22$\%$, 75$\%$ and 58 of RDA, respectively. The decreased anthropometric measurements in height and weight of autistic children seems partly due to lower intake of these micronutrients. The food intake in vitamin and mineral group of autistic children was significantly lower. It is probably related to decreased intake of fruit in autistic children. There was no toxicity of cadmium and aluminum in both groups according to their contents in scalp hair. Autistic children showed elevated levels of hair calcium and zinc but lowered levels of copper and iron. The urinary excretion urinary excretion of 5-HIAA.