• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.762-768
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• 2004

Chromium has been known to be involved in the glucose metabolism, and hence the utilization of cellular glucose is impaired in the chromium deficiency. Chromium has been recognized as an essential nutrient since the finding of low-molecular-weight Cr-binding substance (LMWCr) as a biological modifier of insulin action. Clinical chromium deficiency associated with glucose intolerance that respond to the administration of chromium. The major impediment to the use of orally administered chromium is poor absorption of trivalent chromium in its inorganic form. Trivalent chromium is more available in yeast md, more recently, as chromium picolinate for oral absorption. The widespread use of these supplements has resulted in controversy regarding chromium's role as a nutrient, its use for treatment of insulin resistance, and its potential toxicity. Most recent evidence strongly supports tile conclusion that there is little fear of toxic reactions from chromium consumption. This report reviews the evidence for the potential toxicity of chromium supplements in contrast with its usefulness as a nutrient or therapeutic agent in the treatment or prevention of insulin resistance.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.903-910
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• 2016

In this study, the expression level of estrogen receptor in an ovariectomized rat model was effectively enhanced by MS-10, Cirsium japonicum and Thymus vulgaris extract complex, in a reversible manner. MS-10 plays a positive role in enhancing estrogen activity at low concentrations, leading to improved women's health. In order to determine whether or not MS-10 improves menopausal symptoms clinically, a randomized, double-blinded, and placebo-controlled clinical study was carried out on 62 middle-aged women treated with 500 mg of MS-10 or placebo daily for 12 weeks. Clinical menopausal symptoms were evaluated by Kupperman's index (KI) detecting various menopausal symptoms, including hot flushes, parenthesis, insomnia, nervousness, melancholia, dizziness, fatigue, rheumatic pain, palpitations, formication, and headaches. Total KI score decreased significantly by about 18% upon ingestion of MS-10. Colpoxerosis, a main symptom of menopause, was significantly reduced by about 21% upon ingestion of MS-10 in contrast to placebo. In addition, reduction of insulin-like growth factor-1 with age was improved by over 10% upon ingestion of MS-10, whereas there were no significant difference with placebo. No side effects appeared after treatment with MS-10. Thus, MS-10 can be suggested as a plausible natural substance for improving women's health.

• Journal of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.5-14
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• 2000

This study was conducted during the time period of September 1997 to February 1999. in order to provide data concerning important facets of horne care nursing and the degree to which practicing hospital and public health nurses believe themselves to be competent in each area. The study subjects consisted of 610 hospital nurses, 158 public health nurses and 21 other nurses from Seoul and the province of Kyunggi. Korea. Data was collected through self-reporting questionnaires which was used by Kim et al.(1999) to evaluate the status of home health nursing and the varying ideas of self-competence that practicing nurses have. The results of the study were as follows: 1) The mean scores of perceived important components and competencies on home health nursing measured on the Likert 4 point scale were $3.15{\pm}0.36$ for importance. and $2.56{\pm}0.36$ for competency. Of the four categories regarding nursing services, the 'Nursing skill' factor had the highest importance and competency. 2) There were significantly higher scores for hospital nurses' importance components and competencies of home care nursing as compared to those scores for public health nurses. 3) The significant factors of the importance component of home care nursing listed in order of priority were 'general infection control', 'bed sore care skill', 'rehabilitation care', 'keeping maintenance of the client's confidentiality', 'malpractice', 'diabetes patient care', 'ability for problem solving' respectively. In contrast, of low priority in the importance components of home care nursing were 'referring nursing as a job to others'. 'record keeping', 'family dynamics', 'medical equipment', 'economic problems', 'environmental assessment', 'suture removal', 'multidisciplinary coordination' respectively. 4) The high priority of the degree to which practicing nurses believe themselves to be competent in home health nursing were the 'blood sugar test', 'enema skill', 'injection skill', 'skin care', 'bed sore care skill', etc. In contrast, lower competence for home care nursing as perceived by nurses were 'AIDS care', 'family violence care', 'substance abuse care', 'mental health care' respectively.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.187-194
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• 2015

In this study, L. plantarum, when reacting with the culture media of potential pathogenic bacteria, exhibited an increase in growth rate and antimicrobial activity. In order to examine the characteristics and the nature of the reaction with the bacteria, this study carried out experiments involving culturing the test bacteria in M9 minimal media. Subsequently, the supernatant was incrassated by the decompression-drying method. Through colony forming unit assay, it was confirmed that L. plantarum had the function of growth inhibition to various bacteria. After culturing L. plantarum with bacterial media, the growth rate of L. plantarum was measured by absorbance (OD₆₀₀), the results showed that the growth rate (E. coli treatment group: OD₆₀₀ = 0.848, S. typhimurium treatment group: OD₆₀₀ = 0.848) increased, as compared with the non-treated control group (OD₆₀₀ = 0.48). In contrast, the concentrate itself did not induce the growth of L. plantarum. These results were observed as a universal phenomenon of the Lactobacillus species. Moreover, the increase in antimicrobial activity was observed in L. plantarum, which reacted with the culture media of E. coli and S. typhimurium, through a disc diffusion assay, and the result of growth inhibition against various bacteria was induced. Finally, based on the analysis results of the characteristics of bacteria culture media, which increased the growth rate of L. plantarum and antibacterial activity, the bacterial media had a tolerance for catabolic enzymes, pH 2−8 and heat. Therefore, this substance can be said to be a small molecule which is highly stable under various conditions.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.17-23
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• 2015

This study was aimed to determine the effect of basal application of Effective Microorganisms (EM) on the grow and yield of cucumber. For treatments, the EM was applied to soil with fertilizer composed with $N-P_2O_5-K_2O$-manure (24.0-16.4-23.8-2,000kg) in the 1.0 strength (defined as EM+1S), 2/3 strength (defined as EM+2/3S), 1/2 strength (defined as EM+1/2S), without fertilizer (defined as EM), or only fertilizer in the 1.0 strength (defined as 1S). In result, there was no significant differences of organic substance content and pH with the EM treatment. While the EC (Electric conductivity) concentration was decreased, plant-available P (phosphorus) was markedly increased. Chlorophyll content was highest in the treatment of EM+standard application rate for both semi-forcing and retarding culture. In contrast, no significant difference was found in plant height and internode length under the fertilizer treatment. Weekly harvested number of cucumber was highest at the treatment of EM+standard application for the semi-forcing culture, while it was 3.6 at the EM+1/2 application for the retarding culture. Weekly yield was greatest at the EM+standard application treatment and decreased with the decrease of fertilizer application rate. In addition, weekly yield was significantly reduced in the treatment of EM. There was no significant difference in yields by production time with the fertilizer applications?. Yield was increased with temperature for the semi-forcing culture, while consistent pattern was maintained for the retarding culture.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.901-905
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• 2004

The degradation and mineralization of crude oil were investigated over 50-days in three soils, loamy sand, sand, and combusted loamy, which were artificially contaminated with crude oil (50 g $kg^{-1}$) and inoculated with Nocardia sp. H17-1. The degradation efficiency of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) in sand was the highest at 76% among the three soils. The TPH degradation rate constants $(k_{TPH})$ in loamy sand, sand, and combusted loamy sand were 0.027 $d^{-1}$, 0.063 $d^{-1}$, and 0.016 $d^{-1}$, respectively. In contrast, the total amount of $CO_2$ evolved was the highest at 146.1 mmol in loamy sand. The $CO_2$ evolution rate constants (k_{CO2})$ in loamy sand, sand, and combusted loamy sand were 0.057 $d^{-1}$, 0.066 $d^{-1}$, and 0.037 $d^{-1}$, respectively. Therefore, it seems that the degradation of crude oil in soils can be proportional to the soil pore space and that mineralization can be accelerated with the increase of organic substance.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.10
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• pp.1495-1500
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• 2008

In an attempt to develop a probiotic formulation for poultry feed, a number of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were isolated from chicken intestinal specimens and a series of in vitro experiments were performed to evaluate their efficacy as a potential probiotic candidate. A total of 650 LAB strains were isolated and screened for their antagonistic potential against each other. Among all the isolates only three isolates (TMU121, 094 and 457) demonstrated a wide spectrum of inhibition and were thus selected for detailed investigations. All three selected isolates were able to inhibit the growth of E. coli and Salmonella species, although to variable extent. The nature of the inhibitory substance produced by the isolates TMU121 and 094 appeared to be associated with bacteriocin, as their activity was completely lost after treatment with proteolytic enzymes, while pH neutralization and catalase enzyme had no effect on the residual activity. In contrast, isolate TMU457 was able to resist the effect of proteolytic enzymes while pH neutralization completely destroyed its activity. Attempts were made to study the acid, bile tolerance and cell surface hydrophobicity of these isolates. TMU121 showed high bile salt tolerance (0.3%) and high cell surface hydrophobicity compared to the other two strains studied, while TMU094 appeared the most pH resistant strain. Based on these results, the three selected LAB isolates were considered as potential ingredients for a chicken probiotic feed formulation and were identified to species level based on their carbohydrate fermentation pattern by using API 50CH test kits. The three strains were identified as Lactobacillus fermentum TMU121, Lactobacillus rhamnosus TMU094, and Pediococcus pentosaceous TMU457.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.173-179
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• 2004

Amyloid ${\beta}-peptide\;(A{\beta})$ contributes to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD), causing neuronal death through apoptosis. In this study, the neuroprotective role of BF-7, extracted form sericultural product, was examined against $A{\beta}-induced$ toxicity in cultured human neuronal cell SKN-SH. In order to know if the BF-7 has positive role on the cognition and memory in human, the mixture of BF-7, DHA and EPA (BDE) was examined using Rey Kim and K-WAIS test with 50 healthy high school student. We report here that BDE significantly attenuated $A{\beta}-induced$ apoptosis through the reduction of ROS accumulation, and diminished caspase-like protease activity. Moreover, the memory index and memory preservation, and attentative concentration of BDE treated group for 1 month were significantly improved, in contrast to the case of placebo control treated with DHA and EPA. This result represent that the BF-7 play significant positive role on learning memory. Taken together, our result suggested the natural product BF-7 is a good substance for the brain functionally and physiologically.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.509-516
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• 2007

Starters of lactic acid bacteria(LAB) were isolated from the commercial yoghurt products and the four isolates have been studied on their identification and some physiological characteristics. For the purpose of identification, microscopic examination, API test, and 16s rRNA gene sequencing were conducted. Isolate A from a yogurt product of local dairy company A was shown to be Gram-positive rod-shaped bacterium. All strains isolated were turned out to be as Lactobacillus paracasei by using a API 50 CHL kit. In contrast, isolate A was identified as a strain of Lactobacillus helveticus based on the 16S rRNA sequencing data, and L. casei ssp. casei for both B and D and L. paracasei for C. All the isolates survived the simulated gastric juice, pH 2.0 within 3 hours and sharply decreased in viability so that no viable cell was observed after 4.5 hours incubation. In addition, the four isolated strains were almost identical in antibiotic susceptibility to six different kinds of antibiotics including erythromycin ($15\;{\mu}g$), ampicillin ($10\;{\mu}g$), gentamycin ($10\;{\mu}g$), neomycin ($30\;{\mu}g$), but rather resistant to colistin ($10\;{\mu}g$) and streptomycin ($10\;{\mu}g$). It was noteworthy that four isolates were confirmed to produce antibacterial substance against foodborne pathogens of Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and Gram-negative Escherichia coli 0157:H7 as test organisms based on the inhibitory zones on an MRS soft agar medium. At presence, the inhibitory factor is unknown so that further studies are required to ascertain the active factor responsible for the inhibitory activities.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.197-204
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• 2021

In MBR, extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) is known as an important factor of fouling; soluble EPS (sEPS) affects internal contamination of membrane, and bound EPS (bEPS) affects the formation of the cake layer. The production of EPS changes according to the composition of influent, which affects fouling characteristics. Therefore, in this study, the effects of the F/M ratio on the sEPS concentration, bEPS content, and fouling were evaluated. The effects of F/M ratio on the amount and composition of EPS were confirmed by setting conditions that were very low or higher than the general F/M ratio of MBR, and the fouling occurrence characteristics were evaluated by filtration resistance distribution. As a result, it was found that the sEPS increased significantly with the increase of the F/M ratio. When the substrate was depleted, bEPS content decreased because bEPS was hydrolyzed into BAP and seemed to be used as a substrate. In contrast, when the substrate is sufficient, UAP (utilization-associated products) was rapidly generated in proportion with the consumption of the substrate. UAP has a relatively higher Protein/Carbohydrate ratio (P/C ratio) than BAP, and this means, it has a higher adhesive force to the membrane surface. As a result, UAP seems like causing fouling rather than BAP (biomass-associated products). Therefore, R_f (Resistance of internal contamination) increased rapidly with the increase of UAP, and R_c (Resistance of cake layer) increased with the accumulation of bEPS in proportion, and as a result, the fouling interval was shortened. According to this study, a high F/M ratio leads to an increment in UAP generation and accumulation of bEPS, and by these UAP and bEPS, membrane fouling is promoted.