• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권12호
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• pp.4815-4821
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• 2014

Background: This study aimed to examine the relationship between respiratory health of Malaysian adolescents with secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure and smoke-free legislation (SFL) implementation. Materials and Methods: A total of 898 students from 21 schools across comprehensive- and partial-SFL states were recruited. SHS exposures and respiratory symptoms were assessed via questionnaire. Prenatal and postnatal SHS exposure information was obtained from parental-completed questionnaire. Results: The prevalence of respiratory symptoms was: 11.9% ever wheeze, 5.6% current wheeze, 22.3% exercise-induced wheeze, 12.4% nocturnal cough, and 13.1% self-reported asthma. SHS exposure was most frequently reported in restaurants. Hierarchical logistic regression indicates living in a comprehensive-SFL state was not associated with a lower risk of reporting asthma symptoms. SHS exposure in public transport was linked to increased risk for wheeze (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) 16.6; 95%confidence interval (CI), 2.69-101.7) and current wheezing (AOR 24.6; 95%CI, 3.53-171.8). Conclusions: Adolescents continue to be exposed to SHS in a range of public venues in both comprehensive- and partial-SFL states. Respiratory symptoms are common among those reporting SHS exposure on public transportation. Non-compliance with SFL appears to be frequent in many venues across Malaysia and enforcement should be given priority in order to reduce exposure.

• 한국자동차공학회논문집
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• 제18권4호
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• pp.31-39
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• 2010

Although driving patterns strongly influence greenhouse gas and air pollutant emission rate from light duty vehicles, emission measurements have been mainly based on chassis dynamometer testing with one standard driving pattern. And there has been limited work on quantifying the independent effect of driving parameters on emission rate because of multidimensional nature of real-world driving pattern. The objective of this study is to obtain the quantitative effect of relative positive acceleration (RPA) on vehicle emission rate. RPA has been used to define the occurrence of acceleration demanding large amounts of power in certain driving distance and shown to be a significant affecting parameter for real-world emission rate. 40 driving patterns have been developed with fixed driving parameters to investigate independent effect of RPA. For the same values of average vehicle speed and power, the trend in carbon dioxide emission rate and fuel consumption with respect to RPA is very clear. Emission rate of nitrogen oxide and particulate matter also increase with respect to RPA, but the trend is less clear. Carbon dioxide emission from diesel vehicle appear to be more affected by high accelerations compared to that from gasoline vehicle because of high intake air restriction during acceleration caused by turbocharger and intercooler. The results have implications for the possible reduction of environmental effects through better traffic planning and management, driver education and car design.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• 제44권2호
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• pp.155-161
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• 2006

Comparative analysis of microbial communities in a sequencing batch reactor which performed enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) was carried out using a cultivation-based technique and 16S rRNA gene clone libraries. A standard PCR protocol and a modified PCR protocol with low PCR cycle was applied to the two clone libraries of the 16S rRNA gene sequences obtained from EBPR sludge, respectively, and the resulting 424 clones were analyzed using restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) on 16S rRNA gene inserts. Comparison of two clone libraries showed that the modified PCR protocol decreased the incidence of distinct fragment patterns from about 63 % (137 of 217) in the standard PCR method to about 34 % (70 of 207) under the modified protocol, suggesting that just a low level of PCR cycling (5 cycles after 15 cycles) can significantly reduce the formation of chimeric DNA in the final PCR products. Phylogenetic analysis of 81 groups with distinct RFLP patterns that were obtained using the modified PCR method revealed that the clones were affiliated with at least 11 phyla or classes of the domain Bacteria. However, the analyses of 327 colonies, which were grouped into just 41 distinct types by RFLP analysis, showed that they could be classified into five major bacterial lineages: ${\alpha},\;{\beta},\;{\gamma}-$ Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and the phylum Bacteroidetes, which indicated that the microbial community yielded from the cultivation-based method was still much simpler than that yielded from the PCR-based molecular method. In this study, the discrepancy observed between the communities obtained from PCR-based and cultivation-based methods seems to result from low culturabilities of bacteria or PCR bias even though modified culture and PCR methods were used. Therefore, continuous development of PCR protocol and cultivation techniques is needed to reduce this discrepancy.

• 한국습지학회지
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• 제18권3호
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• pp.218-225
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• 2016

수변지역은 하천의 수질 및 수생태계의 보전과 수변경관의 훼손 방지 특히, 안정적인 상수원의 확보를 위하여 다양한 정책과 계획이 수립되어 왔다. 그럼에도 불구하고 상수원보호구역과 수변구역 등 특정지역을 제외한 수변지역은 소규모 개발사업이 무분별하게 입지하게 되면서 하천의 수질 및 경관을 훼손되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 사업유형별로 동 식물, 지형 지질, 경관, 수질 등의 측면에서 예상되는 환경영향을 분석하고, 환경적 영향 정도에 따라 3-12점까지의 환경점수를 부여하여 중점검토사업과 일반검토사업, 간이검토사업 등으로 구분하였다. 마지막으로 사업유형별로 예상되는 환경영향을 회피하거나 최소화할 수 있도록 평가항목별로 평가기준을 마련하여, 수변지역의 소규모 개발사업을 합리적으로 규제하여 친환경적 개발이 이루어질 수 있도록 하였다.

• 청정기술
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• 제18권1호
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• pp.1-13
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• 2012

2000년 중반기 이후, 산업 경쟁력에서 환경 규제, 특히 제품 함유 유해물질 규제가 EU를 중심으로 점차 강화되어 큰 영향을 미쳐왔고, 이는 1990년 초 섬유산업에서 시작하여 전기전자산업을 거쳐 전 산업으로 확장되고 있다. 본 총설에서는 EU의 제품 함유 유해물질 규제 흐름을 알아보고, EU에서 규제하고 있는 유해물질의 종류, 규제 사유, 관련 근거 및 법령을 주요 섬유제품 에코라벨인 Oeko-Tex Standard, 전기전자 제품의 RoHS (Restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment) 및 REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of CHemicals)의 SVHC (Substances of Very High Concern, 고위험성 물질)를 중심으로 고찰해 보면서 NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) 단체들의 활동으로 도출되고 있는 ChemSec (the International Chemical Secretariat)의 SIN (Substitute It Now) list와 그 의미를 조사해보았다. 또한, 국내 수출기업이 국제시장에서 받고 있는 클레임 사례를 통해 규제 유해물질이 시장에 주는 영향을 살펴보고, 유해물질로 인한 국제환경규제의 단기 및 중장기 대응 방안을 고찰해 보기로 한다.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• 제55권2호
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• pp.137-142
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• 2017

Cryptosporidium and Cyclospora are well-known coccidian protozoa that can cause waterborne and food-borne diarrheal illnesses. There have been a few reports regarding contamination in different vegetables with Cryptosporidium, but no data are available regarding the sources of Cyclospora infections in Korea. In the present study, we collected 6 kinds of vegetables (perilla leaves, winter-grown cabbages, chives, sprouts, blueberries, and cherry tomatoes) from July 2014 to June 2015, and investigated contamination by these 2 protozoa using multiplex quantitative real-time PCR. Among 404 vegetables, Cryptosporidium and Cyclospora were detected in 31 (7.7%) and 5 (1.2%) samples, respectively. In addition, Cryptosporidium was isolated from all 6 kinds of vegetables, whereas Cyclospora was detected in 4 kinds of vegetables (except perilla leaves and chives). Cryptosporidium (17.8%) and Cyclospora (2.9%) had the highest detection rates in chives and winter-grown cabbages, respectively. Cryptosporidium was detected all year long; however, Cyclospora was detected only from October to January. In 2 samples (sprout and blueberry), both Cryptosporidium and Cyclospora were detected. Further investigations using TaqI restriction enzyme fragmentation and nested PCR confirmed Cryptosporidium parvum and Cyclospora cayetanensis, respectively. In conclusion, we detected C. cayetanensis in vegetables for the first time in Korea. This suggests that screening should be employed to prevent these protozoal infections in Korea.

• 한국환경과학회지
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• 제14권2호
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• pp.231-240
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• 2005

The number of cases exceeding environmental standards of atmospheric ozone in the major cities in Korea has steadily increased during the past decades. In order to understand and analyze the atmospheric reactions in the atmosphere, especially the secondary photochemical reactions, smog chambers studies have been performed very actively by many research groups worldwide. However, these studies have focused on the mechanism of photochemical reactions in high concentration conditions, not at the ambient levels. Therefore, in-depth studies in these conditions are essentially needed to realize exact mechanism in the atmosphere near the earth surface, especially at Korean atmospheric conditions. In this experiment, the mechanism of photochemical smog was examined through a comparative experiment of smog chambers under sun light and black light conditions. The results of our study indicated that concentrations of ozone, aldehyde, and PAN increased as the radiation of light source increases. Photochemical reaction patterns can be considered quite similar for both black light and sun light experiments. Based on our experiments using toluene as a reactant which is present at significant high levels in ambient air relative to other VOCs, it was found that toluene could contribute notably to oxidize NO to $NO_2$, this reaction can eventually generate some other photochemical oxidants such as ozone, aldehyde, and PAN. The results of simulation and experiments generally showed a good agreement quite well except for the case of $O_3$. The restriction of oxidization of NO to $NO_2$ seems to cause this difference, which is mainly from the reaction of peroxy radical itself and other reactants in the real gas.

• 한국작물학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국작물학회 2017년도 9th Asian Crop Science Association conference
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• pp.342-342
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• 2017

Rice seeds are a home to endophytic bacterial communities which serve as a source of the plant's endophytes. As rice undergo physiological and adaptive modifications through cross breeding in the process of attaining salinity tolerance, this may also lead to changes in the endophytic bacterial community especially those residing in the seeds. This study explores the community structure of seed bacterial endophytes as influenced by rice parental lineage, genotype and physiological adaptation to salinity stress. Endophytic bacterial diversity was studied through culture dependent technique, cloning and Terminal-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis. Results revealed considerably diverse communities of bacterial endophytes in the interior of rice seeds. The richness of ribotypes ranges from 5-14 T-RFs corresponding to major groups of bacterial endophytes in the seeds. Endophytic bacterial diversity of the salt-sensitive IR29 is significantly more diverse compared to those of salt-tolerant cultivars. Proteobacteria followed by Actinobacteria and Firmicutes dominated the overall endophytic bacterial communities of the indica rice seeds based on 16S rDNA analysis of clones and isolates. Community profiles show common ribotypes found in all cultivars of the indica subspecies representing potential core microbiota belonging to Curtobacterium, Flavobacterium, Enterobacter, Xanthomonas, Herbaspirillum, Microbacterium and Stenotrophomonas. Multivariate analysis showed that the bacterial endophytic community and diversity of rice seeds are mainly influenced by their host's genotype, physiological adaptation to salt stress and parental lineage.

• 한국작물학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국작물학회 2017년도 9th Asian Crop Science Association conference
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• pp.244-244
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• 2017

Soil salinity due to accumulation of salts particularly sodium chloride affects agricultural lands and their vegetation. Generally, rice is a moderately sensitive plant with some cultivars with varying tolerance to salinity. Though there are physiological differences between salt-sensitive and salt-tolerant rice cultivars, both are still affected especially during high salinity and prolonged exposure. This also ultimately affects their indigenous bacterial endophytes particularly those that inhabit the rice seed endosphere. This study investigates the dynamic structure of seed bacterial endophytes of salt-sensitive and tolerant rice cultivars grown in different levels of soil salinity. Endophytic bacterial diversity was studied Terminal-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis. Results revealed a very interesting pattern of diversity and shifts in community structure of bacterial endophytes in the rice seeds. There is a general decrease in diversity for the salt-sensitive rice cultivar, IR29 as soil salinity increases. For the salt-tolerant cultivars, IC32 and IC37, diversity interestingly increased at moderate salinity then decreased at high soil salinity. The patterns of community structure is also strikingly different for the salt-sensitive and salt-tolerant rice cultivars. IR29 has a more even distribution of abundance, but under soil salinity, the community shifted where Curtobacterium, Pantoea, Flavobacterium and Microbacterium become the more dominant bacterial communities. For IC32 and IC37, the dominant bacterial groups under normal stress conditions were also the dominant bacterial groups during salt stress conditions. Their seed bacterial community is dominated by endophytes belonging to Microbacterium, Flavobacterium, Pantoea, Kosakonia and Enterobacter. Stenotrophomonas and Xanthomonas have not changed in terms of abundance under different salinity stress level in the salt-sensitive and salt-tolerant rice cultivars. This study showed that soil salinity greatly influenced the seed bacterial communities of rice seeds irrespective of their physiological tolerance to salinity.

• 한국환경보건학회지
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• 제48권3호
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• pp.159-166
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• 2022

Background: A quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) model was adopted in the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH, EU) regulations as well as the Act on Registration, Evaluation, etc. of Chemicals (AREC, Republic of Korea). It has been previously used in the registration of chemicals. Objectives: In this study, we investigated the correlation between the predicted data provided by three prediction programs using a QSAR model and actual experimental results (acute fish, daphnia magna toxicity). Through this approach, we aimed to effectively conjecture on the performance and determine the most applicable programs when designating toxic substances through the AREC. Methods: Chemicals that had been registered and evaluated in the Toxic Chemicals Control Act (TCCA, Republic of Korea) were selected for this study. Two prediction programs developed and operated by the U.S. EPA - the Ecological Structure-Activity Relationship (ECOSAR) and Toxicity Estimation Software Tool (T.E.S.T.) models - were utilized along with the TOPKAT (Toxicity Prediction by Komputer Assisted Technology) commercial program. The applicability of these three programs was evaluated according to three parameters: accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity. Results: The prediction analysis on fish and daphnia magna in the three programs showed that the TOPKAT program had better sensitivity than the others. Conclusions: Although the predictive performance of the TOPKAT program when using a single predictive program was found to perform well in toxic substance designation, using a single program involves many restrictions. It is necessary to validate the reliability of predictions by utilizing multiple methods when applying the prediction program to the regulation of chemicals.