• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.62-68
• /
• 2012

This study evaluated the screening level assessment of ecological health using four biomarkers and four bioindicators of Misgurnus anguillicaudatus as a indicator species in agricultural area of South Korea during May-June 2011. The endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC) indicators, such as vitellogenin (VTG) and gonado-somatic index (GSI), were not significantly changed in the agricultural site (p>0.05), indicating no effects. The biomarkers and bioindicators were compared between two sites of reference site (RS) and the agricultural site (AS) for screening assessment of ecological health. The ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) activity, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity, and DNA damage were significantly changed in the AS compared with the RS (p<0.05). But the individual level bioindicators such as condition factor (CF), hepato-somatic index (HSI), and gonado-somatic index (GSI) were not significantly different from reference site (RS). These results may indicate impairments of ecological health by toxic chemicals and environmental conditions. Current this study is based on screening assessment of biochemical and individual level biomarkers and bioindicators, so further study is required additional biomarkers and population or community level bioindicators for more specific health assessments in agricultural areas.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.367-380
• /
• 2013

In this study, sub-indicators, and thematic mid-indexes to evaluate the water use characteristics were selected through historical data analysis and factor analysis, and consisted of the subject approach framework. And the integrated index was developed to evaluate water use characteristics of the watershed. Using developed index, the water use characteristics were assessed for 812 standard basins with the exception for North Korea using data of 1990 to 2007 from the relevant agencies. A sensitivity analysis is conducted for this study to determine the proper way through various normalization and weighting methods. To increase the objectivity of developed index, the history of the damage indicators are excluded in the analysis. In addition, in order to ensure its reliability, results from index with and without consideration of the damage history were compared. Also, the index is also applied to real data for 2008 Gangwon region to verify its field applicability. Through the validation process this index confirmed the adequacy for the indicators selection and calculation method. The results of this study were analyzed based on the spatial and time vulnerability of the basin's water use, which can be applied to various parts such as priority decision-making for water business or policy, mitigations for the vulnerable components of the basin, and supporting measures to establishment by providing relevant information about it.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
• /
• v.31 no.1
• /
• pp.1-7
• /
• 2013

In this study, the resistance to ozone and characteristics of ozone-induced damage were investigated on the perennial ground cover plant species. Sedum kamtschaticum and Hosta longipes were exposed to $200{\mu}g{\cdot}kg^{-1}$ ozone for 8 hours per day (from 08:00 to 16:00) in the naturally irradiated phytotron. The extent of ozone-induced damage was measured through the analysis of physiological parameters, such as water use efficiency (WUE), chlorophyll content (Chl. a, Chl. b, Chl. a + b, and Chl. a/b ratio), carotenoid contents, and the induction of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Ozone exposure significantly reduced the daytime WUE in both species. The contents of chlorophyll and carotenoid were also decreased and ROS, such as hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) and superoxide radical ($O_2{^-}$) were accumulated after ozone exposure. The above results of this study suggested that S. kamtschaticum is more resistant to atmospheric ozone than Hosta longipes. Considering its fast responses to ozone, it was also assumed that Hosta longipes can be used as an indicator plant of an increase in atmospheric ozone concentration.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
• /
• v.52 no.6
• /
• pp.441-449
• /
• 2019

Drought is a longer lasting and more extensive disaster than other natural disasters, resulting in significant socioeconomic damage. Even though drought events have same severity, their damage vary from region to region because of spatial, technical, economic, and social circumstances. In this study, drought vulnerability was assessed considering socioeconomic factors. Preliminary factors were identified from the case study for Chungcheong province, and evaluative factors were selected by applying the principal component analysis. The entropy method was applied to determine the weights of evaluative factors. As a result, in Chungcheong province, farm population, number of recipient of basic living, water fare gap indicator, area of industrial complex, amount of underground water usage, amount of water available per capita, water supply ratio, financial soundness for water resources, amount of domestic water usage, amount of agricultural water usage and agricultural land area were chosen as the evaluative factors. Among them, the factors associated with agriculture had larger weights. The overall assessment of vulnerability indicated that Cheongju, Dangjin and Seosan were the most vulnerable to drought.

• The Korean Journal of Applied Statistics
• /
• v.33 no.6
• /
• pp.697-712
• /
• 2020

New infectious diseases have broken out repeatedly across the world over the last 20 years; COVID-19 is causing drastic changes and damage to daily lives. Furthermore, as there is no denying that new epidemics will appear in the future, there is a continuous need to develop measures aimed towards responding to economic damage. Against this backdrop, the living population is an important indicator that shows changes in citizens' life patterns. This study analyzes time-based and socio-environmental characteristics by detecting and classifying changes in everyday life caused by COVID-19 from the perspective of the floating population. k-shape Clustering is used to classify living population data of each of the 424 dong's in Seoul measured by the hour; then by applying intervention analysis and One-way ANOVA, each cluster's characteristics and aspects of change in the living population occurring in the aftermath of COVID-19 are scrutinized. In conclusion, this study confirms each cluster's obvious characteristics in changes of population flows before and after the confirmation of coronavirus patients and distinguishes groups that reacted sensitively to the intervention times on the basis of COVID-related incidents from those that did not.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
• /
• v.5 no.4
• /
• pp.333-342
• /
• 2001

Adriamycin is a commonly used chemotherapeutic agent for cancer, including acute leukemia, lymphoma, and a number of solid human tumors. However, recent studies have recognized severe cardiotoxicity after an acute dose, which are likely the result of generation of free radicals and lipid peroxidation. Therefore, the clinical uses of adriamycin have been limited. Melatonin, the pineal gland hormone known for its ability to modulate circardian rhythm, has recently been studied in its several functions, including cancer growth inhibition, stimulating the immune system, and acting as an antioxidant and radical scavenging effects. In the present study, we evaluated the effect of melatonin administration on adriamycin-induced cardiotoxicity in rat. Heart slices were prepared using a Stadie-Riggs microtome for the measurement of malondialdehyde (MDA) content used as an index of lipid peroxidation and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release as an indicator of lethal cell injury. Serious adriamycin-induced lethality was observed in rat by a single intraperitoneal injection in a dose-dependent manner. A single injection of adriamycin (25 mg/kg, i.p.) induced a lethality rate of 86%, with melatonin (10 mg/kg s.c. for 6 days) treatment reducing the adriamycin-induced lethality rate to 20%. The severe body weight loss caused by adriamycin was also significantly attenuated by melatonin treatment. Treatment of melatonin marked reduced adriamycin-induced the levels of MDA formation and LDH release. A cell damage indicated by the loss of myofibrils, swelling of the mitochondria as well as cytoplasmic vacuolization was seen in adriamycin-treated group. Melatonin attenuated the adriamycin-induced structural alterations. These data provide evidence that melatonin prevents adriamycin-induced cardiotoxicity and might serve as a combination with adriamycin to limit free radical-mediated cardiotoxicity.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.31-45
• /
• 1991

Present experiment was performed in order to establish the optimal reaction conditions for determination of urinary AAP and GRS activities and to investigate the applicability of urinary AAP and GRS in nephrotoxicity test in rat. The results were as follows ; 1. The optimal pH of phosphate buffer for determination of urinary AAP activity was 7.8. 2. The Michaelis constant of urinary AAP ranged from 0.8 to 1.0mmol/$\ell$ 3. The optimal wave length for determination of urinary GRS activity was 405nm. 4. The optimal pH of acetate buffer for determination of urinary GRS activity was 5.6. 5. The Michaelis constant of urinary GRS ranged from 0.65~0.79mmo1/$\ell$. 6. The AAP activities in gel-filtered samples were significantly higher than those in crude samples. Mean values of AAP activities in gel-filtered samples and crude samples were 29$\pm$20 and 20$\pm$13U/$\ell$, respectively. 7. There was not significant difference between gel-filtered samples and crude samples in urinary GRS activities. Mean values of GRS activities in gel-filtered samples and crude samples were 57$\pm$40 and 56$\pm$39U/$\ell$, respectively. 8. Limits of linearity of urinary AAP and GRS activities were 2.0 and 3.6U/$\ell$, respectively. 9. Within-run imprecisions of the assays, were acceptable, as the coefficients of the AAP activities ranged from 5.5 to 6.3% and those of GRS activities ranged from 1.4 to 6.2%, respectively. 10. Urinary AAP excretion was 675$\pm$227mu/24hrs.kg before administration of potassium dichromate, and increased significantly to 4246$\pm$2567mU/24hrs.kg within 24 hours after administration of potassium dichromate. 11. Urinary GRS excretion did not increase significantly after administration of potassim dichromate. 12. From these findings it is concluded that urinary AAP excretion is early and sensitive Indicator to detect kidney damage in nephrotoxicity experiment.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.100-107
• /
• 1997

In case of a fire outbreak in a uni-directional road tunnel, the flow of traffic immediately behind the fire disaster will be stalled all the way back to the entrance of the tunnel. Furthermore, when the vehicle passengers try to flee away from the fire toward the entrance of the tunnel, the extremely hot fume that propagates in the same direction will be fatal to the multitudes evacuating, but may also cause damage to the ventilation equipments and the vehicles, compounding the evacuation process. This paper will present the 3-dimensional modelling analysis of the preventive measures of such a fume propagation in the same direction as the evacuating passengers. For the analysis, the fire hazard was assumed to be a perfect combustion of methane gas injected through the 1 m X 2 m nozzle in the middle of the tunnel, and the product of $CO_2$ as the indicator of the fume propagation. From the research results, when the fire hazard occurred in middle of the 400 m road tunnel, the air density decreased around the fire point, and the maximum temperatures were 996 K and 499 K at 210 m and 350 m locations, respectively, 60 seconds after fire disaster occurred, when the fumes were driven out only towards the exit-direction of the tunnel. By tracing the increase of $CO_2$ level over 1% mole fraction, the minimum longitudinal ventilation velocity was found to be 2.40 m/sec. Furthermore, through Analysis of the temperature distribution graphs, and observation of the cross-sectional distribution of $CO_2$ over 1% mole fraction, it was found that the fume did not mix with the air, but rather moved far in a laminar flow towards exit of the tunnel.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
• /
• v.62 no.3
• /
• pp.51-61
• /
• 2020

Drought events are not clear when those start and end compared with other natural disasters. Because drought events have different timing and severity of damage depending on the region, various studies are being conducted using satellite images to identify regional drought occurrence differences. In this study, we investigated the applicability of drought assessment using the Evaporative Stress Index (ESI) based on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite images. The ESI is an indicator of agricultural drought that describes anomalies in actual and reference evapotranspiration (ET) ratios that are retrieved using remotely sensed inputs of Land Surface Temperature (LST) and Leaf Area Index (LAI). However, these approaches have a limited spatial resolution when mapping detailed vegetation stress caused by drought, and drought hazard in the actual crop cultivation areas due to the small crop cultivation in South Korea. For these reasons, the development of a drought index that provides detailed higher resolution ESI, a 500 m resolution image is essential to improve the country's drought monitoring capabilities. The newly calculated ESI was verified through the existing 5 km resolution ESI and historical records for drought impacts. This study evaluates the performance of the recently developed 500 m resolution ESI for severe and extreme drought events that occurred in South Korea in 2001, 2009, 2014, and 2017. As a result, the two ES Is showed high correlation and tendency using Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) analysis. In addition, it will provide the necessary information on the spatial resolution to evaluate regional drought hazard assessment and and the small-scale cultivation area across South Korea.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
• /
• v.35 no.9
• /
• pp.919-925
• /
• 2002

Iron deficiency is a severe nutritional problem in the world. Coffee intake of the people is increasing every year and it can increase the loss of several essential body minerals including iron. Either iron deficiency or coffee intake may increase the oxidative stress of the body. However, the effect of iron deficiency and/or coffee intake on peroxidation have not been studied much. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of coffee intake on oxidative stress and antioxidative enzyme activities of iron-deficient rats. Forty-eight male rats of Sprague-Dawley strain were divided into two groups by dietary iron levels. Iron deficient group were fed 5 ppm iron diet and iron-sufficient group were fed 50 ppm iron diet. Each iron group were divided into three sub-groups by coffee levels (0%, 1%, 4%) included in the experimental diet. The experimental diets were fed for 4 weeks. The hemoglobin level was significantly low in iron deficient group and the level was exacerbated by high coffee intake. The malondialdehyde concentration of the plasma and liver were not affected by iron or coffee level in this study. However, plasma aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase, the indicator of the liver damage, were increased by high coffee intake. The erythrocyte and liver superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities were elevated in iron deficient groups. Coffee intake increased erythrocyte SOD activity in iron sufficient groups. Glutathione peroxidase and catalase activities were not influenced much by either iron or coffee intake. In conclusion, high coffee intake in iron deficiency may not only increase the anemia symptoms, but also may increase the oxidative stress of the body.(Korean J Nutrition 35(9) : 919~925, 2002)