• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.516-523
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of exercise and/or L-arginine on abdominal fat, IGF-1 on GH/IGF-1 axis, fibrinogen, and PAI-1 in aged and obese rats. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with a D-galactose aging inducing agent (50 mg/kg) given intraperitoneally for 12 weeks. Thirty-two male Sprague-Dawley rats were treated and divided into four groups: aging-high fat diet group (AG+HF), AG+HF with L-arginine intake group (AG+LA), AG+HF with exercise group (AG+EX), and AG+EX with L-arginine intake group (AG+LA+EX). The experimental rats underwent treadmill training (60 min/day, 6 days/week at 0% gradient) for 12 weeks. L-arginine was given orally (150 mg/kg/day) for 12 weeks. After the experiment, blood was collected from the left ventricle and abdominal fat was extracted. The results showed that GH was significantly increased in AG+EX and AG+AL+EX. IGF-1 was significantly increased in both the AG+AL+EX and AG+EX group ($p$<0.05), while fibrinogen and PAI-1 were not significantly different among the groups. Abdominal fat was significantly decreased in the AG+LA, AG+EX, and AG+LA+EX groups ($p$<0.05) compared with the AG+HF group. In conclusion, this study suggests that exercise alone or L-arginine alone or a combination not only increases the GH and IGF-1 concentration, but also decreases the abdominal fat mass.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.35-40
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• 2002

Purpose : To evaluate the NMR relaxation properties and imaging characteristics of tissue-specificity for a newly developed macromolecular MR agent. Materials and methods : Phthalocyanine (PC) was chelated with paramagnetic ion, Mn.2.01g (5.2 mmol) of Phthalocyanine was mixed with 0.37g (1.4 mmol) of Mn chloride at $310^{\circ}C$ for 36 hours and then purified by chromatography (CHC13/CH3OH 98/2 v/v, Rf, 0.76) to obtain 1.04g (46%) of MnPC (molecular weight= 2000d). The $T1}T2$ relaxivity of MnPC was measured in 1.5T(64 MHz) MR using 0.1 mM MnPC. The MR image characteristics of MnPC was evaluated using spin-echo (TR/TE=500/14 msec) and gradient-echo (FLASH) (TR/TE=80/4 msec, flip angle=60) techniques in 1.57 MR scanner. The images of rabbit liver were obtained every 10 minutes up to 4 hours. To study the effect of concentration on image, 20 mM, 50 mM, 100 mM of MnPC were tested. Results : The relaxivities of MnPC at 1.5T(64MHz) were Rl=7.28 $mM^{-1}S^{-1},{\;}R2=55.56mM^{-1}S^{-1}$. Compared to the values of Gd-DTPA (Rl[=4.8 $mM^{-1}S^{-1})$], R2[=5.2 $mM^{-1}S^{-1}])$]), both T1/T2 relaxivities of MnPC were higher than those of Gd-DTPA. For both of SE and FLASH techniques, the contrast enhancement reached maximum at 10 minutes after bolus injection and the enhancement continued for more than 2 hours. When compared with small molecular weight liver agents such as Gd-EOB-DTPA, Gd-BOPTA and MnDPDP, MnPC was characterized by more prolonged enhancement time. The time course of MR images also revealed biliary excretion of MnPC. Conclusion : We developed a new macromolecular MR agent, MnPC. The relaxivities of MnPC were higher than those of small molecular weight Gd-chelate. Hepatic uptake and biliary excretion of MnPC suggests that this agent is a new liver-specific MR agent.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.70-77
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• 2013

BACKGROUND: Nitroxoline is an antibiotic agent. It is used for the treatment of the second bacterial infection by the colibacillosis, salmonellosis and viral disease of the poultry. When the nitroxoline is indiscreetly used, the problem about the abuse of the antibiotics can occur. Therefore, this study presented the residue analytical method of nitroxoline in food for the safety management of animal farming products. METHODS AND RESULTS: A simple, sensitive and specific method for nitroxoline in chicken muscle by high performance liquid chromatograph with PDA was developed. Sample extraction with acetonitrile, purification with SPE cartridge (MCX) were applied, then quantitation by HPLC with C18 column under the gradient condition with 0.1 % tetrabutylammonium hydroxide-phosphoric acid and methanol was performed. Standard calibration curve presented linearity with the correlation coefficient ($r^2$) > 0.999, analysed from 0.02 to 0.5 mg/L concentration. Limit of quantitation in chicken muscle showed 0.02 mg/kg, and average recoveries ranged from 72.9 to 88.1 % in chicken muscle. The repeatability of measurements expressed as coefficient of variation (CV %) was less than 12 % in 0.02 and 0.04 mg/kg. CONCLUSION(S): Newly developed method for nitroxoline in chicken muscle was applicable to food inspection with the acceptable level of sensitivity, repeatability and reproducibility.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.306-317
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• 2014

This study has been executed to understand the additional and removal processes of nutrients in the Saemangeum Salt-water Lake, and discussed with other monthly-collected environmental parameters such as water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, suspended solids, and Chl-a from 2008 to 2010. $NO_3$-N, TP, $PO_4$-P, and DISi showed the removal processes along with the salinity gradients at the surface water of the lake, whereas $NO_2$-N, $NH_4$-N, and Chl-a showed addition trend. In the bottom water all water quality parameters except $NO_3$-N appeared addition processes indicating evidence of continuous nutrients suppliance into the bottom layer. The mixing modelling approach revealed that the biogeochemical processes in the lake consume $NO_3$-N and consequently added $NH_4$-N and $PO_4$-P to the bottom water during the summer seasons. The $NH_4$-N and $PO_4$-P appeared strong increase at the bottom water of the river-side of the lake and strong concentration gradient difference of dissolved oxygen also appeared in the same time. DISi exhibited continuous seasonal supply from spring to summer. Internal addition of $NH_4$-N and $PO_4$-P in the river-side of the lake were much higher than the dike-side, while the increase of DISi showed similar level both the dike and river sides. The temporal distribution of benthic flux for DISi indicates that addition of nutrients in the bottom water was strongly affected by other sources, for example, submarine ground-water discharge (SGD) through bottom sediment.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.76-84
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• 1999

The differentiation between malignancy-related ascites(MRA) and non-malignant ascites (NMA) is important for further diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Although many parameters were investigated, none has provided a complete distinction between MRA and NMA. We investigated several ascitic fluid parameters to determine the differential power, and to differentiate malignant-related from nonmalignant-related ascites with a sequence of sensitive parameters followed by specific parameters. For the present study, 80 patients with ascites were divided into two groups: MRA and NMA, The MRA group was consisted of 27 patients with proven malignancy by image study, biopsy, and follow up: 21 of these patients had peritoneal carcinomatosis, but the remaining 6 showed no evidence of peritoneal carcinomatosis. The NMA group was consisted of 53 patients with no evidence of malignancy: among these patients, one had SLE, and others had liver cirrhosis, The samples of blood and ascites were obtained simultaneously, and then the levels of ascites cholesterol, CEA. protein and LDH, cytology, albumin gradient, ascites/serum concen-tration ratios of LDH(LDH A/S), and ascites/serum concentration ratios of protein(protein A/S) were measured. Applying cut-off limits for determined parameters, we estimated the diagnostic efficacy of each parameter, Among the eight parameters investigated, ascites fluid cholesterol yielded the best sensitive value of 93%(cut-off value 30mg/dl), and cytologic examination and the protein A/S(cut-off value 0.5) showed the most specific value of 100% and 96%, respectively. Based on the above results, the diagnostic sequence with cholesterol as a sensitive parameter followed by the combination of cytologic examination and protein A/S as specific parameters, was tested in 80 patients. This diagnostic sequence identified 81.5% of patients with malignancy, and all patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis were classified as malignancy-related ascites. In spite of many limitations, this proposed diagnostic sequence may permit a cost-effective and simple differentiation of malignancy-related ascites from nonmalignant ascites.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.693-699
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• 2013

A simple, sensitive, and specific method for quantifying the nicotine content of synthetic favoring substances (SFS) was developed using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with a photo-diode array detector (PDA). Nicotine was extracted from SFS samples by using an acid-base liquid-liquid extraction method with dichloromethane and distilled water. The nicotine content was quantified by HPLC/PDA (261.9 nm) with a $C_{18}$ column under a gradient of 10% acetonitrile with 20 mM ammonium formate (ammonia solution adjusted to pH 8.7) to 100% acetonitrile. The calibration curve, analyzed from concentration standards between 0.1 to 2 mg/L, presented linearity with a correlation coefficient ($r^2$)>0.9999. The limit of quantitation (LOQ) of nicotine in SFS was 0.4 mg/kg, and the average recoveries ranged from 76.4% to 96.3%. The repeatability of measurements, expressed as the coefficient of variation (CV%), ranged from 1.74 to 5.12%. This newly developed method for nicotine quantification in SFS can be considered an analytical method with an acceptable level of sensitivity and repeatability.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.119-128
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• 2017

BACKGROUND: Miscellaneous cereal have been largely consumed in Korea as due to their physiological functions beneficial to human health. The cereals are currently a social concern because they have been found to contain heavy metals. Thus, monitoring heavy metals in the cereals is an important requirement for food safety analysis. In this study, we determined arsenic concentration in the cereals randomly harvested from different markets. METHODS AND RESULTS: Inorganic arsenic was determined by ICP-MS coupled with HPLC system. The HPLC-ICP-MS analysis was optimized based on the limit of detection and recover test to reach $0.13-1.24{\mu}g/kg$ and 94.3-102.1%, respectively. The concentrations of inorganic arsenic equivalent to daily exposure were levels of $19.91{\mu}g/day$ in mixed grain, $1.07{\mu}g/day$ in glutinous rice, $0.77{\mu}g/day$ in black brown rice, $0.13{\mu}g/day$ in barley and $0.11{\mu}g/day$ in soybeans. CONCLUSION: The levels of arsenic in miscellaneous cereals were found lower than the recommended The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) levels, suggesting that the cereals marketed in Korea are not potential concern in risk assessment.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.703-712
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• 1995

Background: Peripheral blood monocytes are important immune effector cells that play a fundamental role in cellular immunity. In addition to their antigen-presenting and phagocytic activities, monocytes/macrophage produce a vast array of regulatory and chemotactic cytokines. Interleukin-8(IL-8), a potent neutrophil-activating and chemotactic peptide, is produced in large quantities by mononuclear phagocytes and may be an important mediator of local and systemic inflammation. Overexpression by IL-8 of such inflammation may be an important step of tissue injury frequently seen in inflammatory reaction. So it could be hypothesized that the agents which block the production of IL-8 can decrease the inflammatory reaction and tissue injury. To evaluate this, we described the effect of Dexamethasone, $PGE_2$, Indomethacin and Interferon-$\gamma$(IFN-$\gamma$) on IL-8 mRNA and protein expression from LPS-stimulated human peripheral blood monocytes(PBMC). Method: PBMC was isolated from healthy volunteers. To evaluate the effect of Dexamethasone, $PGE_2$ & Indomethacin, these drug were treated for 1 hour before and after LPS stimulation and IFN-$\gamma$ was only treated I hour before the LPS stimulation. Northern blot analysis for IL-8 mRNA and ELISA for immunoreactive IL-8 protein in culture supernatant were performed. We repeated above experiment three times for Northern blot analysis and two times for ELISA and got the same result. Results: 1) Pre- and post-treatment of Dexamethasone suppressed both the LPS stimulated IL-8 mRNA expression and IL-8 protein release in PBMC. 2) IFN-$\gamma$ pre-treatment suppressed the IL-8 mRNA expression and IL-8 protein release in unstimulated cells. 3) In LPS stimulated cells, IFN-$\gamma$ suppressed the IL-8 mRNA expression but IL-8 protein release suppression was not observed. 4) $PGE_2$ and Indomethacin exert no effect on the LPS-stimulated IL-8 mRNA and protein expression in concentration used in this experiment ($PGE_2;10^{-6}M$, Indomethacin; $10{\mu}M$). Conclusion: One of the mechanism of antiinflammatory action of Dexamethasone can be explained by the suppressing effect of IL-8 production in some extent and by this antiinflammatory effect, dexamethasone can be used to suppress local and systemic inflammation mediated by IL-8.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.47 no.spc
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• pp.48-56
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• 2014

Weekly changes of water environments and phytoplankton community with the salinity gradients were investigated at Gyoungpo Lake from April to November in 1998 and 2012. Underwater crossam in Gyoungpo Lake was removed in 2004. Thereafter, average salinity of Gyoungpo lake increased from 7.5 ppt in 1998 to 20 ppt in 2012. A total of 99 and 80 species of phytoplankton was observed from the sampled in 1998 and 2012, respectively. The number of common species during the 2 separate years was 40. Transparency, SS, $NO_3-N$ concentration and N/P ratio in 2012 were lower than those in 1998. During the period of water shortage (April, May) of 2012 transparency decreased due to decreased salinity and increased SS and Chl. a. Correlation coefficients between species and community scores of DCA ordination based on data matrix of the phytoplankton revealed larger variation among sampling seasons in 1998 than in 2012. The increase of seawater influx and conversion rates following the removal of the underwater crossbeam might explain such a differential variation. Gymnodium sp., Peridinium sp., Prorocentrum sp., Nitzschia longissima, Schroederia setigera, Lyngbya sp., Asterococcus limneticus, Asterococcus superbus and Cyclotella meneghiniana were found to well adapt at the high salinities in 2012. Comparatively, Asterrionella formosa, Nitzschia frustulum, Chlorella ellipsoidea, Scenedesmus bijuga and Scenedesmus ellipsoideus were observed at lower salinities in 1998. Two quite contrasting phytoplankton communities were found in the two seasons of a year, spring with limited precipitation and summer, the flood season.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2001

Total upland area for cultivating the vegetable crops in the Alpine soils of Northeastern South Korea has been extending its limit to meet the increasing demand of vegetable food in recent decades. About 70% of these alpine soils are located in over 7% of the slope and most of vegetable crops have been cultivated intensively without practicing the best management systems. Thus, soil erosion and continuous cropping system have degenerated the soil fertility and shown detrimental effects on water quality. We initiated an intensive and extensive investigation to characterize the fertility problems encountered in these uplands. Objectives of this paper were to characterize the fertility status in the Alpine soils cultivated with vegetable crops for many years and to provide the recommendations for adequate soil management measures including fertilization and erosion control. Soils in general have good drainage with textural classes of loam or sandy loam. Their topographical characteristics tended to lead them to shallow plow layers, and the steepness of the terrain created erosion hazard. Of the soils examined, about 11% of uplands over 30% gradient was found in need of an urgent reforestation. A high content of gravel and firm hardness of soil attributed to inhibit the utilization of farm machinery and plant-root development. The average soil pH 5.6 was slightly low relative to pH 5.70 of the national average. Organic matter content was high compared with 2.0% of national average, but decreased with the prolonged cultivation periods. Available $P_2O_5$ concentration was unusually high due to the consequence of over dose application with chemical and organic fertilizers. Exchangeable cations as Ca, Mg, and K were appeared to be decreased in these regions with prolonging the cultivation periods. There were no significant differences in cation exchange capacity (CEC) and electrical conductivity (EC) among locations. Heavy metal contents were mostly lower than the threshold of danger level designated by Soil Environment Conservation Law of South Korea. Results indicated that a proper countermeasure and the best management practice should be immediately implemented to conserve the top soil and fertility in the Alpine regions.