• Journal of KIISE:Software and Applications
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• v.34 no.12
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• pp.1056-1064
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• 2007

Biomolecular computing is a new computing paradigm that uses biomolecules such as DNA for information representation and processing. The huge number of molecules in a small volume and the innate massive parallelism inspired a novel computation method, and various computation models and molecular algorithms were developed for problem solving. In the meantime, the use of biomolecules for information processing supports the possibility of DNA computing as an application for biological problems. It has the potential as an analysis tool for biochemical information such as gene expression patterns. In this context, a DNA computing-based model of a biomolecular perceptron has been proposed and the result of its experimental implementation was presented previously. The weight encoding and weighted sum operation, which are the main components of a biomolecular perceptron, are based on the competitive hybridization reactions between the input molecules and weight-encoding probe molecules. However, thermodynamic symmetry in the competitive hybridizations is assumed, so there can be some error in the weight representation depending on the probe species in use. Here we suggest a generalized model of hybridization reactions considering the asymmetric thermodynamics in competitive hybridizations and present a weight encoding method for the reliable implementation of a biomolecular perceptron based on this model. We compare the accuracy of our weight encoding method with that of the previous one via computer simulations and present the condition of probe composition to satisfy the error limit.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.15-23
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• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship among the attitudes on exercise, physical activity and quality of life (QOL) in hemodialysis patients. Methods: A total of 42 patients in a hemodialysis unit participated in this study. Physical activity level was measured directly by 6 minute walking test and grip strength test. Structured questionnaires were also used for measuring their attitudes on exercise, physical activity and QOL. Participants' medical records were reviewed for obtaining their biochemical and clinical information. Statistical analysis was performed using Pearson correlation, and multiple liner regression. Results: A significant positive correlation between participants' attitudes and physical activity level measured by International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) was found. And the physical activity level measured by Korea Activity Scale/Index (KASI) was significantly related to QOL. Conclusion: This study shows that QOL of the hemodialysis patients was significantly associated with their physical activity level.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.459-471
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• 2015

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop a smartphone application and evaluate it's effectiveness and usability for promoting bone health in Korean young adult women. Methods: A smartphone application was developed covering exercise, nutrition, and health habits related to bone health. A pilot testing was conducted using a one-group pre/posttest design. A total of 22 female college students with low bone mass participated in the 8-week use of a pilot testing. Results: The "Strong bone Fit body (SbFb)" application was developed using Android platform. In the pilot testing, bone mineral density, serum CTX, and 25 (OH)Vit.D were significantly decreased. There is no significant change in serum osteocalcin and calcium. Serum phosphorus concentration, nutrient intakes (fiber, VitB6, and pantotenic acid), and all bone composition profiles were significantly increased. Bone-health knowledge was significantly increased but no change in health belief and self-efficacy. Conclusion: The results of this pilot testing suggest the effectiveness of the SbFb application to enhance and promote self-managing abilities for bone health. It can provide continuous feedback and high-quality bone health information. However, some contents and working methods of the application need to be modified and its effectiveness on bone health requires further investigations.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.71-80
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• 2011

Four diazinon-degrading bacteria were isolated from agricultural soil by using an enrichment technique. The biochemical analysis and molecular method including RFLP indicated that these isolates were identical, and one strain designated DI101 was selected for further study. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rDNA sequencing indicated that the strain DI101 clearly belongs to the Serratia marcescens group. The ability of the strain to utilize diazinon as a source of carbon and phosphorus was investigated under different culture conditions. The DI101 strain was able to completely degrade 50 mg/l diazinon in MSM within 11 days with a degradation rate of 0.226 $day^{-1}$. The inoculation of sterilized soil treated with 100 mg/kg of diazinon with $10^6$ CFU/g DI101 resulted in a faster degradation rate than was recorded in non-sterilized soil. The diazinon degradation rate by DI101 was efficient at temperatures from 25 to $30^{\circ}C$ and at pHs from 7.0 to 8.0. The degradation rate of diazinon was not affected by the absence of a phosphorus supplement, and addition of other carbon sources (glucose or succinate) resulted in the slowing down of the degradation rate. The maximum degradation rate ($V_{max}$) of diazinon was 0.292 $day^{-1}$ and its saturation constant ($K_s$) was 11 mg/l, as determined by a Michaelis-Menten curve. The strain was able to degrade diethylthiophosphate-containing organophosphates such as chlorpyrifos, coumaphos, parathion, and isazofos when provided as a source of carbon and phosphorus, but not ethoprophos, cadusafos, and fenamiphos. These results propose useful information for the potential application of the DI101 strain in bioremediation of pesticide-contaminated environments.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.755-764
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• 2017

The current review seeks to highlight the concerns that have been raised on pre-slaughter stress, contributing factors and its consequent effects on cattle behavioural responses and the quality of beef; inter-linking the activities involved from birth to slaughter. Such information is crucial in light of the consumer concerns on overall animal welfare, quality of meat and food security. Slaughter animals are exposed to different conditions during production and transportation to abattoirs on a daily basis. However; the majority of studies that have been done previously singled out different environments in the meat production chain, while conclusions have been made that the welfare of slaughter animals and the quality of meat harvested from them is dependent on the whole chain. Behaviour is a critical component used to evaluate the animals' wellbeing and it has been reported to have an effect on product quality. Apart from the influence of on-farm, transportation and abattoir conditions, the genetic background of the animal also affects how it perceives and responds to certain encounters. Stress activates the animals' hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal activity, triggering release of various stress hormones such as catecholamines and cortisol, thus glycogen depletion prior slaughter, elevated ultimate pH and poor muscle-meat conversion. Pre-slaughter stress sometimes results to cattle attaining bruises, resulting to the affected parts of the carcass being trimmed and condemned for human consumption, downgrading of the carcass and thus profit losses.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.218-226
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• 2001

This study was performed to assess the nutritional status, frequency of visiting and necessity of nutrition programs for 157 elderly(male:49, female:108) visiting public health centers in Puchon. The purpose of the study was to provide the basic data for developing a nutrition service model. The subject were investigated by interviews with a questionnaire to obtain dietary data and other information related to public health center. Blood tests for analyzing biochemical status were also carried out. The elderly showed low income status. Ninety two percent of them showed their monthly income was less than 400,000 won and 72.6% was observed as having 30,000 won/month as their pocket money. The most frequent disease reported as having or being treated were hypertension(32.6%), rheumatic arthritis(28.5%), diabetes(10.2%), and stomach disease(8.2%) for males and hypertension(33.1%), diabetes(19.4%), rheumatic arthritis(16.7%), anemia(11.1%) for females. The nutrients whose daily intakes were less than 2/3 of RDA were calcium(37.5% RDA),vitamin A(49.9% RDA), iron(60.0% of RDA) and protein(62.0% RDA) for males and vitamin A(27.7% RDA), vitamin B$_2$(33.3% RDA), calcium(44.1% RDA), iron(53.3% RDA), and niacin(60.0% RDA) for females, respectively. Prevalence of anemia, assessed by hemogloben using WHO definition, were 4.1% for males and 18.5% for females. The percentage of males with hypercholesterolemia( 220 mg/dl) was 2.1% and 19.4% fir females, Two percent of males and 12.0% of females were observed as having a LDL-C higher than 165 mg/dl. The mean fasting blood glucose(FBG) level of males and female was 84.2 mg/dl and 101.7 mg/dl respectively. Two percent of males and 8.3% of females were found with a FBG higher than 140 mg/dl. Seventy one percent of elderly reported they were visiting public health centers at least once per week or more frequently. They were satisfied most with the low medical bills but showed the lowest satisfaction for the facilities of the public health centers. What the nutrition service programs wanted most was nutrition counseling and guidance.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.22 no.2 s.55
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• pp.147-159
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• 1983

In general, herbicides have been classified according to selectivity, mobility. time of application, methods of application, mode of action and chemical property and structure. However, there was no generally accepted classification system for practical use in the field. The primary processes affected by the majority of herbicides are the growth process through cell elongation and/or cell division, the photosynthetic process specifically the light reaction, the oxidative phosphorylation and the integrity of the membrane systems. The usual approach in the study of the mechanism by which herbicides kill or inhibit the growth of plants is to initially determine the morphological phototoxicity systems, The mechanism by which a herbicide kills a plant or suppresses its development is actually the resultant effect of primary and secondary(or side) effects. In most instances, the death of the plant is due to the secondary effects. To induce the desired response, a herbicide must be able to gain entry into the plants and once inside, to be transported within the plant to its site(s) of activity in concentrations great enough. Obstacles to the entry and movement of herbicides in plants are generally classified by leaf and soil obstacles, translocation obstacles and biochemical obstacles, and these obstacles are also strongly influenced by plant species and by environmental factors such as light, temperature, rainfall and relative humidity. And hence, in most instances, results obtained from laboratory or greenhous vary from those of field experiment. Author attempted to classify herbicides from the field experiment using the two-dimensional ordination analysis to obtain practical information for selecting effective herbicides or to choose effective herbicide combinations for increasing herbicidal efficacy or reducing the chemical cost. Based on this two-dimensional diagram, desired herbicides or combinations were selected and further investigated for the interaction effects whether these combinations are synergistic, additive or antagonistic. From the results, it was concluded that these new approach could possibly be give more comprehensive informations about effective use of herbicide than any other systems.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.245-256
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• 2004

The simple biosphere model 2 (SiB2), which is one of the land surface models, simulates the exchange of momentum, energy and mass such as water vapor and carbon dioxide between atmosphere and biosphere, and includes the biochemical sub-model for representation of stomatal conductance and photosynthetical activities. Throughout the SiB2 simulation, the significant information not only to understand of water and carbon budget but also to make an analysis of interaction such as feed-back and-forward between environment and vegetation is given. Using revised SiB2-Paddy, one sample study which is the evaluation of the runoff in Chaophraya river basin according to land use/cover change is presented in this review. Hence, SiB2 is available in order to ecological studied, if revised SiB2 for realistic simulation about soil respiration, computing leaf area index, vegetation competition and soil moisture is improved.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.888-896
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• 2012

Considering the dearth of information regarding the medicinal properties of Luffa cylindrica, we assessed the antioxidative, antimutagenic and hyperplasia inhibitory activity of cancer cells from Luffa cylindrica extracts by employing biological and biochemical assays. Ethanol extracts of Luffa cylindrica inhibited MDA-BSA (malondialdehyde-bovine serum albumin) conjugation reaction ($66.38{\pm}2.65$), DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl) radical production ($60.13{\pm}0.42$) and lipid peroxidation ($56.04{\pm}3.24$). In this study, Luffa cylindrica is believed to exert possible antioxidative effects. The direct and indirect antimutagenic effects of the ethanol extracts of Luffa cylindrica were examined by the Ames test using Salmonella typimurium TA98 and TA100. The inhibitory effects on indirect and direct mutagenicity shows an weak tendency, particularly in direct mutagenicity mediated by 2-nitrofluorene in Salmonella typimurium TA98 ($5.82{\pm}5.74$) and in indirect mutagenicity mediated by 2-anthramine in Salmonella typimurium TA100 ($5.76{\pm}2.15$). The ethanol extracts of Luffa cylindrica on cancer cell hyperplasia inhibitory activity via MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay exerted cytotoxic effects on Hela cells ($55.83{\pm}3.83$) and MCF-7 cells ($33.03{\pm}2.09$), which were used in this study. Based on these results, it believed that the ethanol extracts of Luffa cylindrica have antioxidative capacities as well as hyperplasia inhibitory activity of cancer cells. Furthemore, Luffa cylindrica is a candidate for the prevention and dietetic treatment of chronic diseases and for the development of functional food.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.343-354
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• 2018

Aluminum oxide nanoparticles ($Al_2O_3$ NPs) are among the most widely used nanomaterials; however, relatively little information about their risk identification and assessment is available. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the potential toxicity of $Al_2O_3$ NPs following repeated inhalation exposure in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Rats were exposed to $Al_2O_3$ NPs for 28 days (5 days/week) at doses of 0, 0.2, 1, and $5mg/m^3$ using a nose-only inhalation system. During the experimental period, we evaluated the clinical signs, body weight change, hematological and serum biochemical parameters, necropsy findings, organ weight, and histopathology findings. Additionally, we analyzed the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), including differential leukocyte counts, and aluminum contents in the major organs and blood. Aluminum contents were the highest in lung tissues and showed a dose-dependent relationship in the exposure group. Histopathology showed alveolar macrophage accumulation in the lungs of rats in the $5mg/m^3$ group during exposure and recovery. These changes tended to increase at the end of the recovery period. In the BALF analysis, total cell and neutrophil counts and lactate dehydrogenase, tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$, and interleukin-6 levels significantly increased in the 1 and $5mg/m^3$ groups during exposure. Under the present experimental conditions, we suggested that the no-observed-adverse-effect level of $Al_2O_3$ NPs in male rats was $1mg/m^3$, and the target organ was the lung.