• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.462-469
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• 2012

We investigated dietary effects of prickly pear cactus (Opuntina ficus-indica) on plasma lipids, platelet aggregation (PA), hemolysis, plasma TBARS and liver enzymes. Twenty eight volunteer diving women in Jeju island had daily 20 g cactus tea containing 27% prickly pear cactus (PPC) powder for 4 weeks, and data for the study subjects were analyzed, on the basis of diagnostic criteria for blood pressure (BP)(${\geq}$ 140/90 mmHg), plasma cholesterol (${\geq}$ 200 mg/dL) and triglyceride (${\geq}$ 150 mg/dL). The subjects with higher BP had higher plasma total cholesterol (TC) and triglyceride (TG) concentrations than those with normal BP. Those with higher TC also had higher TG. Subjects with normal BP or normal TC had higher initial slope of PA than their higher counterpart in BP and TC. PPC intake decreased plasma TG in those with higher BP. PPC intake significantly decreased the elevated initial slope in groups with normal BP, TC, and TG. Hemolysis after PPC intake decreased significantly in all the subjects and plasma TBARS decreased in the subjects with higher plasma TC and higher TG. Glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT) significantly increased and total bilirubin significantly decreased in all the subjects after PPC intake. The present study with diving women showed that beneficial effects of short term intake of prickly pear cactus might differ depending on the subject conditions in term of blood pressure, and plasma lipids. However, long term usage of prickly pear cactus may provide preventive effects of cardiovascular diseases to all the population, presumably by hypolipidemic, antithrombotic, and antioxidant actions of its bioactive flavonoids and soluble fiber.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.358-365
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• 2019

This study investigated the effects of dietary cactus Opuntia ficus-indica stem and fruit extract on the growth, flesh quality, lysozyme activity, and histological changes of growing Korean rockfish Sebastes schlegeli. Three replicates of fish (152 g/fish) were fed one of the following diets: containing 0 additions (control); 0.1, 0.5, or 1.0% cactus stem powder; or 1.0% fruit extract for 11 weeks. Growth performance did not differ significantly among treatments, including survival, final weight, feed efficiency, and daily feed intake. The experimental diets did not affect the proximate and fatty acid compositions, plasma biochemistry, or dorsal muscle texture of the fish. However, the plasma lysozyme activity of the fish fed the diet containing 0.1% cactus stem was significantly higher than that of the fish fed the control diet. These fish had variously sized lipid vacuoles in the liver tissue compared with the control. Distinct mucosal folds and mucus-secreting goblet cells developed in the fish fed the diet containing 1% cactus stem compared with the other dietary groups. These results suggest that feeding growing Korean rockfish cactus stem might increase the plasma lysozyme activity and induce histological changes in the gastrointestinal tract that might be related to digestion.

• Journal of agriculture & life science
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.45-54
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• 2009

This study was designed to investigate the effect of cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica var. saboten) extracts on the intestinal bacteria, antioxidative activity and angiotensin -I-converting enzyme(ACE) inhibitory activity. The antimicrobial activities were measured using the 96well-plate method and disc plate method with concentration of 20mg of cactus extract. The stem extract of cactus was inhibitory against Eubacterium limosum, Clostridium perfringens, C. butyricum, C. difficile and Staphylococcus aureus, but was not inhibitory against Bacteroides fragilis, Bifidobacterium bifidum, Lactobacillus acidophilis, Streptococcus thermophilus. The fruit extract of cactus showed no inhibition against Bacteroides fragilis, Bifidobacterium bifidum, Lactobacillus acidophilis, and Streptococcus thermophilis. Their inhibitory activities were not reduced after heat and pH treatment. Antioxidative effects of cactus extracts showed high total polyphenol and flavonoid contents and high activity against free radical DPPH. The stem and fruit extract of cactus showed strong ACE inhibitory activities of 88.8% and 69.2%, respectively. In conclusion cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica var. saboten) extract might be utilized as a functional food material to control intestinal microflora.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.80-82
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• 2010

A stem spot disease was observed on Gymnocalycium mihanovichii (Korean name: Bimoran), a scion of graftcactus, in major growing areas of Goyang and Eumseong, Korea during 2008 and 2009. Typical symptoms were initial blackish brown lesions produced mainly on areoles and scars of injured stem tissues, gradually becoming large black spots. A causal organism isolate CD2-7A isolated from the infected stems was identified as Alternaria alternata based on its morphological characteristics and confirmed by the DNA sequencing analysis of ITS, glyceraldehydes-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (gpd), and allergen Alt a1 (Alt a 1) genes. Artificial inoculation of the fungal isolate CD2-7A produced the same rot symptoms on the cactus stems, from which the same fungus was isolated and identified. This is the first report of the black spot caused by A. alternata in the grafted cactus.

• 한국전산유체공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.47-50
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• 2005

The Grid'[1] means the collaboration of computing and experimental resources in dispersed organizations by high-speed network. It has been paid much attention for an unlimited number of potential resources available and the easiness to build collaborative environments among multiple disciplines. However, the difficulty in establishing the environments and accessing and utilizing the resources has prevented application scientists from conducting Grid computing. Thus, the present study focuses on building PSE(Problem Solving Environment) which assists application researchers to easily access and utilize the Grid. The Cactus toolkit, originally developed by astrophysicists, is used as a base frame for Grid PSE. Some modules are newly developed and modified for CFD(Computational Fluid Dynamics) analysis. Simultaneously, a web portal, Grid-One portal, is built for remote monitoring/control and job migration. Cactus frame through the web portal service has been applied to various CFD problems, demonstrating that the developed PSE is valuable for large-scaled applications on the Grid.

• Korean Journal Plant Pathology
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.661-663
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• 1998

Bipolaris stem rot of cactus severely occurred up to 77% at the field of Koyang and Kimcheon from 1996 to 1997. The symptom was initially light yellow, water soaked round lesion, subsequently turned light brown and dried to death. The causal fungus was identified as Bipolaris cactivora (Petrak) Alcorn. Conidia were obclavate to fusoid, rounded ends, light brown color, 1~4 septate, and conidial size was 23~42$\times$6~9 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ (av. 32.5$\times$7.5 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$). Conidiophores were caespitose, straight, pale to golden brown and 67~280 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ in length. When healthy cacti were inoculated with the isolates obtained form the lesion of diseased plants, the same characteristic symptoms as those in the field were produced. The symptom of four-month-old cactus was developed more rapidly than that of six-month-old cactus. The pathogen was reisolated from the artificially inoculated lesions.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.314-317
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• 2007

A soft stem rot disease was observed on Chamaecereus silvestrii (Korean name: Sanchui), a scion of graft-cactus, in major growing areas of Suwon (National Horticulture Research Institute), Anseong, Eumseong, Cheonan, Daegu, and Goyang, Korea during 2000 and 2001. Typical symptoms were soft rots characterized by moist and watery decay of the whole cactus stem, which initiated as small water-soaked lesions and enlarged rapidly to the entire stem. The causal organism isolated from the infected stems was identified as Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum (Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora) based on its physiological and biochemical characteristics and confirmed by the cellular fatty acid composition and Biolog analyses. Artificial inoculation of the bacterium produced the same soft rot symptoms on the cactus stems, from which the same bacterium was isolated and identified. This is the first report of the P. carotovorum subsp. carotovorum in the graft-cactus C. silvestrii in Korea.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.621-626
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• 1998

Cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica var saboten Makino) is a tropical or subtropical plant, which is widely used as folk medicine for burned wound, edema and indigestion. We previously found that the ethanol extract of cactus stem showed anti-inflanunatory action. This investigation was designed to isolate the active fraction of anti-inflanimatory action from cactus stem by solvent extraction and colunm chromatography. Carrageenan-induced paw edema in rats and acetic acid-induced writhing test in mice were used as animal models to search anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities. respectively. The ethanol extract of cactus stem was consecutively extracted with hexane, ethyl acetate, and n-butanol. The hexane fraction was the most effective in carrageenan-induced paw edema, and then was separated in colunm chromatography of silica gel by the elution with hexane/ethyl acetate mixture. The most effective fraction 1 was separated in a second colunm chromatography by eluting with hexane/diethyl ether mixture. The most effective fraction 1-5 was obtained, and separated in a third column chromatography by eluting with hexane/chloroform mixture. It produced the most effective fraction 1-5-1. Moreover, fraction 1-5-1 showed an inhibitory effect on acetic acid-induced writhing in the doses of 30mg/kg and 60mg/kg,p.o.,indicating that it also contained analgesic activity.

• Communications of the Korean Mathematical Society
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.283-295
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• 2015

The atom-bond connectivity index of a graph G (ABC index for short) is defined as the summation of quantities $\sqrt{\frac{d(u)+d(v)-2}{d(u)d(v)}}$ over all edges of G. A cactus graph is a connected graph in which every block is an edge or a cycle. The aim of this paper is to obtain the first and second maximum values of the ABC index among all n vertex cactus graphs.

• Korean Journal Plant Pathology
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.463-466
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• 1998

A Fusarium species was isolated from stems of cactus(Hylocereus trigonus) showing rot symptoms at Koyang, Kyonggi province in 1997. This pathogen was identified as Fusarium oxysporum based on mycological characteristics. The rot symptom appeared at the soil line and roughly circular lesions, 1∼3 mm in diameter, appeared on basal stems. The pathogen formed both microconidia and macroconidia. Microconidia were formed abundantly in false-heads on short monophialides, oval to kidney-shaped. Macroconidia were slightly sickle-shaped, 3∼5-septated with an attenuated apical cell and a foot-shaped basal cell. Colony color on PDA was white, peach or purple. Chlamydospores were formed abundantly on PDA. The pathogen was able to cause stem rot symptoms to cactus by wound inoculation as well as non-wound inoculation.