• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.143-164
• /
• 2008

Concern about perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) is growing nationally as well as globally. PFCs could be considered emerging POPs due to their environmentally persistent, bioaccumulative, and potentially harmful properties. Moreover. perfluoroalkylates (PFAs) such as PFOS and PFOA are reported to experience long-range transport (LRT) to the Arctic in spite of their low volatility and strong solubility. The possible pathways contributing to LRT have been proposed but are still in debate in combination with unclear source definition and uncertain physico-chemical properties. The environmental fate of PFCs is more complicated because of the presence of precursors that are degraded to PFAs and are extremely different from their daughters, PFAs. in physico-chemical properties. To what extent and through what pathways are human and wildlife exposed is determined by the environmental fate and distribution of PFCs. To define uncertainties in fate and distribution thus is critical to prevent erroneous policy and/or determination related with exposure and risk reduction. This article aimed to review controversy and/or uncertain issues for the environmental fate and distribution of PFCs and to prospect research topics necessary to dissolve uncertainties.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
• /
• 2004.09a
• /
• pp.334-337
• /
• 2004

Groundwater chemistry in Namwon area, Korea, was investigated to understand the contribution of geochemical processes on groundwater chemistry. For this study, a total of 279 groundwater samples were collected from 93 wells distributed over the study area. Higher concentrations of major ions are generally encountered in the shallow alluvial wells, suggesting that these chemicals are originated from the surface contamination sources. Mass balance analysis based on reaction stoichiometry reveals that the water chemistry is regulated by three major chemical processes: weathering of silicate/ carbonate minerals, input of C1/SO$_4$ salts, and nitrate generating processes. The results show that mineral weathering is the most dominating factor regulating the groundwater chemistry. However, the groundwaters with the higher salt concentration indicate the larger mineral weathering effect, suggesting that some part of the mineral weathering effect is also associated with the anthropogenic activities such as limes applied to the cultivated lands, carbonates (CaCO$_3$) in the cement materials.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.28 no.8 s.227
• /
• pp.1183-1189
• /
• 2004

A novel cell count method, which can improve the count efficiency and reduce contamination problem, was presented using micro lattice engraved on culture dish. The micro lattice has feature of $50{\mu}m{\times}50{\mu}m$ rectangular shape, $2{\mu}m$ line width, and $2{\mu}m$ depth in $3mm{\times}3mm$ area. In this paper, nickel mold was fabricated with thickness of 3mm and diameter of 80 mm, and transcription of the micro lattice on a polystyrene cell culture dish was performed by hot embossing at $200\;^{\circ}C$. The tedious and error-prone harvest/load processes of conventional cell counts with a hemocytometer could be omitted, and these advantages became magnified during periodical counts involving long-term cultures. SupT1 cells and HeLa cells were cultivated with the dish for 7 days in $CO_2$ incubator and counted as $371.84/mm^2$ and $123.36/mm^2$, respectively, during the cultivation without harmful effects on the cells.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
• /
• v.10 no.6
• /
• pp.230-238
• /
• 2010

Background: The MK1 strain, a novel bacterial isolate from soft-rotten tissue of the Neungee mushroom, produces copious amounts of exopolysaccharide (EPS) in a dextrose minimal medium. This study examined the molecular characteristics and immunomodulatory activity of MK1 EPS. Methods: The EPS in the culture supernatant was purified by cold ethanol precipitation, and characterized by SDS- PAGE/silver staining and Bio-HPLC. The immunomodulatory activities of the EPS were examined using the mouse monocytic cell line, RAW 264.7 cells. Results: The molecular weights of the purified EPS were rather heterogeneous, ranging from 10.6 to 55 kDa. The EPS was composed of glucose, rhamnose, mannose, galactose, and glucosamine at an approximate molar ratio of 1.00 : 0.8 : 0.71 : 0.29 : 0.21. EPS activated the RAW cells to produce cytokines, such as TNF-${\alpha}$ and IL-$1{\beta}$, and nitric oxide (NO). EPS also induced the expression of co-stimulatory molecules, such as B7-1, B7-2 and ICAM-1, and increased the phagocytic activity. The macrophage-activating activity of EPS was not due to endotoxin contamination because the treatment of EPS with polymyin B did not reduce the macrophage-activating activity. Conclusion: The EPS produced from the MK1 strain exerts macrophage-activating activity.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.83-91
• /
• 2015

Mine soil contamination by high levels of metal ions that prevents the successful vegetation poses a serious problem. In the study presented here, we used the microbial biocatalyst of urease producing bacterium Sporosarcina pasteurii or plant extract based BioNeutro-GEM (BNG) agent. The ability of the biocatalysts to bioremediate contaminated soil from abandoned mine was examined by solid-state composting vegetation under field conditions. Treatment of mine soil with the 2 biocatalysts for 5 months resulted in pH increase and electric conductivity reduction compared to untreated control. Further analyses revealed that the microbial catalysts also promoted the root and shoot growth to the untreated control during the vegetation treatments. After the Sporosarcina pasteurii or plant extract based BNG treatment, the microbial community change was monitored by culture-independent pyrosequencing. These results demonstrate that the microbial biocatalysts could potentially be used in the soil bioremediation from mine-impacted area.

• Analytical Science and Technology
• /
• v.8 no.4
• /
• pp.739-744
• /
• 1995

The two main methods to prepare water samples for analyzing volatile organic compounds(VOC's) were investigated. One is the purge and trap(PT) method and another is the head space(HS) sampling method. Both methods were effective to transfer the low boiling point components from the water sample onto the capillary column. The cryo-focusing at the top of the main capillary column was an effective way to obtain the sharpness of the chromatographic peaks but could be avoided when a semi-wide bore column was used. The recovery from the same amount of the sample was better in PT than in HS but a larger sample volume in HS method could compensate the lower efficiency. Therefore PT is suitable to the analysis of drinking water where the very low concentration must be determined. HS is suitable to waste water analysis because of the easiness of the operation. The repeatability was good and similar in both methods. For the contamination of the former sample, both methods were tough and could be used without any problems. The matrix effect which could change the equilibrium parameters in HS method was find negligible in many components. The actual samples such as tap water and river water were analyzed with both methods concerning 16 components regulated in Korea.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.33 no.3
• /
• pp.205-215
• /
• 2000

The Anyang River runs through highly industrialized area and joins the lower part of the Han River. loading out large amounts of potential pollutants. Attempts were made to understand geochemical behavior of trace elements in the stream sedimens collected from the bottom of the river and the stream water. Bottom sediments, suspended solids and stream waters were collected and analysed for the chemical and mineralogical composition. Heavy metals including Cr, Zn, Ni, and Co in the sediments were enriched appeared to reflect anthropogenic input. Pb, Cu, As were also enriched between several to 10 times , compared to background levels. Although some heavy metals were derived from anthropogeic input, geochemical associations seem to implyh much of the elements are originated from natural sources as well, mainly from granitic rocks . This is also supported by the mineralogical composition of the suspended solids, which are mainly composed of quartz, feldspar and mica. Most of the elements are associated with total carbon and clay sized fractions, with high values of correlation coefficient. Most of the elements are associated with total carbon and clay sized fractions , with high values of correlation coefficient. It was noteworthy that Hg was detected between 2 and 4 ppb in the stream water.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
• /
• 1997.07d
• /
• pp.1528-1530
• /
• 1997

As device size shrinks, contamination will increasingly affect the reliability and yield of device. Therefore, contaminants must be removed from the surfaces of Si wafers prior to each process. But it becomes out increasingly difficult to clean silicon surfaces with finer patterns by the conventional wet treatment because of the viscosity and surface tension of solutions. Hence, a damage less dry cleaning process is needed for the silicon surfaces. For the removal of Si native oxide by UV-enhanced dry cleaning. $F_2$ gas and $F_2/H_2$ mixed gas were applied. As a result of analysis, UV-enhnaced $F_2/H_2$ treatment is more suitable than UV-enhanced $F_2$ treatment for removal of native oxide on the surfaces of Si wafers.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
• /
• v.24 no.5
• /
• pp.523-532
• /
• 2008

A phase II site investigation and feasibility study was conducted at a military mortar shooting range near the demilitarized zone (Kyunggi, South Korea) to assess the extent of contaminants migration to the nearby Imjin river in which a flood control dam is under construction. The results showed that silty-clay soils around target areas were co-contaminated with heavy metals (Cd, Cu, and Pb) and explosives (HMX, RDX, and TNT). The total amount of contaminant was estimated to be 497.1 kg-RDX, 20.6 kg-HMX, 1.4 kg-TNT, 35.2 kg-Cd, 4,331 kg-Cu, and 5,115 kg-Pb, respectively. Both heavy metals and explosives were almost equally distributed on each soil particle size fraction. Neither subsurface soil samples nor ground water samples showed signs of contamination above the environmental criteria. The major migration route of contaminants was soil particles in surface run-off during rain at which a mass discharge rate of 30.0 mg-RDX/hour was observed.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.196-199
• /
• 2003

We investigated the antagonistic effects of two lactococcal bacteriocins, nisin or lacticin NK24, on the growth and the survival of Listeria monocytogenes in vacuum or modified atmosphere-packaged ground beef, Ground beef was inoculated with approximately 3 log colony-forming units (CFU) of L. monocytogenes ATCC 15313 culture per gram of ground beef. Inoculated samples were blended with/without 100 AU/g nisin or lacticin NK24, and subsequently vacuum or modified atmosphere packed at 4$^{\circ}C$. Listeria in the bacteriocin-treated and control samples was subsequently isolated from both vacuum and modified atmosphere packs and enumerated as CFU on Listeria Isolation Agar medium. Microbial counts in ground beef treated with bacteriocin declined steadily, while those of non-treated beef samples increased steadily. The results obtained demonstrate that nisin inhibits the growth of L. monocytogenes more effectively than lacticin NK24 at 100 AU/g. The use of lactococcal bacteriocins, such as nisin or lacticin NK24, in vacuum or modified atmosphere packaging offers a promising approach for eliminating or reducing the risk of L monocytogenes contamination in ground beef.