• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.41 no.5
• /
• pp.327-334
• /
• 2015

Objectives: In order to review both the effects of sewage sludge dewaterability and deodorizing ability in the existing advanced sewage treatment process, BIO-CLOD (a solidified mixture of 10% Bacillus concentrate and inorganics) was used as an inorganic conditioner effective for deodorization treatment in addition to the removal of organic matter and nutritive salts. Methods: Sludge dewaterability was evaluated using specific resistance to filtration (SRF) experiments with six agitators and two types of commercially available BIO-CLOD; one that is made by grinding solid matter (powdered BIO-CLOD) and one that has been obtained by sieving a separation with a particle diameter of 100 mesh (100 mesh BIO-CLOD). For deodorization odor treatment experiments, 20 g of commercially available solid BIO-CLOD was submerged in four liters of sewage sludge and mixed and agitated for 45 days. Results: When BIO-CLOD was injected into sewage sludge to experimentally compare specific resistance to filtration (SRF), the optimum amount of BIO-CLOD to be injected was shown to be 2% w/v and the SRF value in this case was $1.35{\times}10^{12}m/kg$. pH changes following BIO-CLOD injection were within 6.5-7.0. By 14 days after submerging BIO-CLOD into the sewage sludge to evaluate its deodorizing ability, $H_2S$ decreased by 68% and methyl mercaptan decreased by 74%. By 45 days after the submergal, both items decreased by 100%, indicating deodorizing ability. Conclusion: To compare the levels of dewaterablity of sewage sludge at different particle sizes of inorganic conditioner, powdered BIO-CLOD, particle size 100 mesh BIO-CLOD, and bentonite were tested. It could be seen that as the powdered BIO-CLOD increased, the precipitability increased up to 62% in 30 minutes. As an inorganic conditioner, BIO-CLOD was identified as a stable sludge conditioner that does not affect pH.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.248-254
• /
• 2022

Background: Occupational hazards in crop farms vary diversely based on different field operations as soil management, harvesting processes, pesticide, or fertilizer application. We aimed at evaluating the immunological status of crop farmers, as limited systematic investigations on immune alteration involved with crop farming have been reported yet. Methods: Immunological parameters including plasma immunoglobulin level, major peripheral immune cells distribution, and level of cytokine production from activated T cell were conducted. Nineteen grape orchard, 48 onion open-field, and 21 rose greenhouse farmers were participated. Results: Significantly low proportion of natural killer (NK) cell, a core cell for innate immunity, was revealed in the grape farmers (19.8±3.3%) in comparison to the onion farmers (26.4±3.1%) and the rose farmers (26.9±2.5%), whereas cytotoxic T lymphocyte proportion was lower in the grape and the onion farmers than the rose farmers. The proportion of NKT cell, an immune cell implicated with allergic response, was significantly higher in the grape (2.3±0.3%) and the onion (1.6±0.8%) farmers compared with the rose farmers (1.0±0.4%). A significantly decreased interferon-gamma:interleukin-13 ratio was observed from ex vivo stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells of grape farmers compared with the other two groups. The grape farmers revealed the lowest levels of plasma IgG1 and IgG4, and their plasma IgE level was not significantly different from that of the onion or the rose farmers. Conclusion: Our finding suggests the high vulnerability of workplace-mediated allergic immunity in grape orchard farmers followed by open-field onion farmers and then the rose greenhouse farmers.

• Food Science and Industry
• /
• v.51 no.2
• /
• pp.157-164
• /
• 2018

Recently demand for safer and healthier food has augmented with advancements in health conditions. Food ingredients with yet to be known safety and functionality, are being investigated for their safety or detrimental effects. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has introduced "health functional food" by the "Health Functional Food Act" to evaluate bio-functional and safety properties of raw materials using standard methods including in-vitro and in-vivo testing before human consumption. Despite recent growth in net worth of domestic functional food market, most of the raw materials are not from local Korean industries with own research and development, and mostly terrestrial not marine resources. Geographically, Korea has access to diverse marine bio-resources that need to be managed and utilized sustainably. Recently, diverse novel physiologically active substances have been reported from marine organisms. Hence, the development of functional foods from marine bio-resources is considered as an inevitably important task.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
• /
• v.30 no.6
• /
• pp.686-692
• /
• 2017

The aim of this study was to determine the suitability of surfactant to extract higher phenolic compound, flavonoid and antioxidant activity from Tartary buckwheat and evaluate the potentiality of surfactant as a screening agent for breeding purpose. Primarily, we employed two types of surfactant (Hydrophilic: Tween 20 and Lipophilic: Span 80) to select the suitable surfactant agent for the extraction of optimum bioactive compounds. Between two surfactants, Tween 20 showed highest efficiency at 4 mM concentration to extract total phenolic content (TP), total flavonoid (TF) and antioxidant activity (AA). Tween 20 at 4 mM concentration was fixed for further analysis along with hot water ($90^{\circ}C$) treatment as a control. In our findings, highest TP (118 mg/g), TF (38 mg/g) and AA (76%) was achieved in KW21 and KW22 among the fifteen accessions of Tartary buckwheat. In other way, TP, TF and AA was 200%, 120% and 110% higher in surfactant formulation compared with control treatment, respectively.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.403-409
• /
• 2008

Eclipta prostrata grows abundantly in the tropical and the sub-tropical parts of the world including most part of the Korean Peninsula. The plant has been traditionally used for the treatment of a number of inflammatory diseases including hepatitis and enteritis but the nature of its immuno-modulating activity needs more studies. In this study, water-soluble sugar-containing fractions were purified from the herb and their effects on the culture of mouse splenocytes were examined. One of the fractions significantly suppressed apoptosis of the splenocytes in culture, which involves the gene expression regulation of a number of cytokines and cytokine receptors including MIP1-$\beta$. This study could explain an immunological activity of Eclipta prostrata and would lead to identify an immuno-active compound from the plant.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.214-222
• /
• 2010

Many research results have indicated that many kinds of useful ingredients are rich in buckwheat, which have high nutritional values and medicinal properties, so, buckwheat has been cultivated around Asia and Europe. In this paper, genetic diversity of common and tartary buckwheat germplasms were studied based on morphological and molecular markers in order to provide useful information for conservation and utilization of buckwheat genetic resources. The length, width, thick, value and weight of the seed of the common and tartary buckwheat were measured and analyzed by the statistics methods. The result has shown that there are morphological variation both in common buckwheat and tartary buckwheat seeds collected from different regions. It also has shown that the morphological variation of tartary seeds was significantly correlated to geographical regions. The nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacers (ITS) of the tartary buckwheat collected from different countries were cloned, sequenced and statistically analyzed. The data showed that ITS sequences were informative to analyze the phylogeny of the tartary buckwheat and the data also showed that the genetic distances varied among different tartary buckwheat seeds collected from different countries.

• Molecules and Cells
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.143-148
• /
• 2009

EBV-transformed lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) are used as a resource for human genetic, immunological, and pharmacogenomic studies. We investigated the biological activity of 20 LCL strains during continuous long-term subculture up to a passage number of 160. Out of 20 LCL strains, 17 proliferated up to a passage number of 160, at which point LCLs are generally considered as "immortalized". The other three LCL strains lost the ability to proliferate at an average passage number of 41, during which these LCLs may have undergone cellular crisis. These non-immortal LCL strains exhibited no telomerase activity, decreased EBV gene expression, and a lower copy number of the EBV genome and mitochondrial DNA when compared with immortal LCLs. Thus, this study suggests that sustained EBV viral activity as well as telomerase activity may be required for complete LCL immortalization.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.477-481
• /
• 2020

Viability plays an important role in the beneficial microbes (probiotics) to produce health benefits. However, this idea has been changed after the invention of the term "paraprobiotics," indicating that non-viable microbes could produce health benefits similar to those produced by live probiotics. Occasionally, it might be dangerous to administer live probiotics to people with weak immunity. In such cases, ingestion of paraprobiotics could be a potential alternative. The definition of paraprobiotics refers to the use of inactivated (non-viable) microbial cells or cell fractions to provide health benefits to the consumer. Paraprobiotics have attracted much attention because of their long shelf life, safety, and beneficial effects, such as modulation of immunity, modification of biological responses, reduction of cholesterol, anti-inflammatory, and antiproliferative properties. These features indicate that paraprobiotics may play a vital role in improving the health of the consumer by enhancing particular physiological functions, even though the exact underlying mechanisms have not yet been completely elucidated. In this mini-review, we briefly discuss the historical backgrounds of paraprobiotics and evidence of their health-promoting effects, prophylactic, and therapeutic properties.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 2023.04a
• /
• pp.41-41
• /
• 2023

Red pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is one of the most consumed vegetable worldwide. In this study, we tried to suggest the possibility of Cheongyang pepper as a functional cosmetic material by identifying the physiological activity, especially antioxidant and whitening effects of Cheongyang pepper through bibliometric analysis and experimental studies. A bibliometric analysis was performed through co-word analysis of 8,892 papers retrieved from SCOPUS. 4 research fields were obtained by cluster mapping from VOSviewer software, among which we noted the antioxidant activity of extracts from Capsicum annum L.. Phenol as a useful ingredient of Cheongyang pepper was analyzed using HPLC (high-performance liquid chromatography). Antioxidant and whitening effects were evaluated by measuring DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging activity, hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity, and tyrosinase inhibitory activity. Cheongyang pepper extract showed contents of 0.106 ± 0.01 and 0.105 ± 0.02 mg/g, respectively, in the order of gallic acid and protocatechuic acid. The extract exhibited 56.95% DPPH scavenging activity and 43.97% hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity at a concentration of 1,000 ㎍/ml. In addition, 1,000 ㎍/ml of the extract inhibited tyrosinase activity by 52.44% and 42.61%, respectively in a whitening efficacy test using L-tyrosine and L-DOPA (L-3,4- dihydroxyphenylalanine) as substrates. These results suggest that Cheongyang pepper extract and its active ingredients have antioxidant and whitening effects, and the possibility of future development as a whitening functional cosmetic material.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.119-137
• /
• 2011

A bio-inspired two-mode structural health monitoring (SHM) system based on the Na$\ddot{i}$ve Bayes (NB) classification method is discussed in this paper. To implement the molecular biology based Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) array concept in structural health monitoring, which has been demonstrated to be superior in disease detection, two types of array expression data have been proposed for the development of the SHM algorithm. For the micro-vibration mode, a two-tier auto-regression with exogenous (AR-ARX) process is used to extract the expression array from the recorded structural time history while an ARX process is applied for the analysis of the earthquake mode. The health condition of the structure is then determined using the NB classification method. In addition, the union concept in probability is used to improve the accuracy of the system. To verify the performance and reliability of the SHM algorithm, a downscaled eight-storey steel building located at the shaking table of the National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering (NCREE) was used as the benchmark structure. The structural response from different damage levels and locations was collected and incorporated in the database to aid the structural health monitoring process. Preliminary verification has demonstrated that the structure health condition can be precisely detected by the proposed algorithm. To implement the developed SHM system in a practical application, a SHM prototype consisting of the input sensing module, the transmission module, and the SHM platform was developed. The vibration data were first measured by the deployed sensor, and subsequently the SHM mode corresponding to the desired excitation is chosen automatically to quickly evaluate the health condition of the structure. Test results from the ambient vibration and shaking table test showed that the condition and location of the benchmark structure damage can be successfully detected by the proposed SHM prototype system, and the information is instantaneously transmitted to a remote server to facilitate real-time monitoring. Implementing the bio-inspired two-mode SHM practically has been successfully demonstrated.