• Horticultural Science & Technology
• /
• v.32 no.4
• /
• pp.517-524
• /
• 2014

As an assessment of substantial equivalence and environmental risks of branchless chrysanthemum GM lines (LeLS69, LeLS76, LeLS80) developed in Korea, we investigated their degree of branchlessness and developmental characteristics including growth and flowering, as well as the stability of populations of insect pests and soil microbes. The GM lines were compared with a control variety, 'Jinba'. LeLS80 showed the highest level of branchlessness among the three GM lines, whereas abnormal axillary buds developed in lines LeLS76 and LeLS69. There were no significant differences between the growth characteristics of 'Jinba' and the GM lines. The branchlessness LeLS80 was increased during the summer season, suggesting that it is a useful germplasm for developing elite branchless cultivars. These GM lines showed no significant differences in the occurrence of five insect pests including aphids, mites, leaf miners, thrips, and whiteflies. Similarly, for soil microbes including bacteria and actinomycetes, there were no significant differences between 'Jinba' and the GM lines. However, there was a higher occurrence of fungi in the GM lines compared to 'Jinba'. Our findings suggest that 'Jinba' and the GM lines are substantially equivalent, although further monitoring studies are needed to confirm this.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.54-64
• /
• 2006

Chromated copper arsenate (CCA), a wood preservative, has been widely used to protect wood products from attacks by bacteria, fungi and insects. However, the use of CCA is currently forbidden or limited to some applications in many countries because the toxic elements (Cr, Cu, and As) of CCA are released into the environments during outdoor uses, which may cause adverse health effects on humans and ecological systems. This study was conducted to investigate the distributions of chromium, copper and arsenic in soils adjacent to two CCA-treated wood structures. In a 7 month old pond entry structure, ten surface soil samples (0-2.5 cm) were collected at lateral distances of 0, 0.5, and 1 m from the stairway, and nine surface soil samples were collected beneath the deck. Nine top soil samples were taken from a 2 year old sound barrier structure at lateral distances of 0, 1, and 2 m. Background surface soil samples were also collected from each structure. Samples were analyzed for some physicochemical properties such as pH, electrical conductivity, organic matter content, and soil texture. Following the extraction of the elements with a microwave digestion system, samples were analyzed for Cr, Cu, and As. The concentrations of the three elements in soils adjacent to the structures were significantly elevated compared to the background levels, indicating that the elements have been leached out of the structures. Released e1ements showed lateral concentration gradients within 1 m. The elevations of the three elements in soils underneath the deck did not seem different (background-corrected concentrations: Cr, 5.01 mg/kg; Cu, 5.50 mg/kg; As, 4.91 mg/kg), while the elements in soils near the sound barrier were elevated in the order of As>Cu>Cr with measured concentrations of 49.7, 44.7 and 52.5 mg/kg, respectively. Background As, Cu, and Cr concentrations near the sound barrier were 9.88, 30.8, and 46.5 mg/kg, respectively. These results showed that CCA constituents are released into the environment and it is suggested that risk assessment need to be conducted to investigate harmful effects of the released elements on humans and ecological systems.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.53 no.3
• /
• pp.241-254
• /
• 2020

Three introduced fish species, Japanese white crucian carp (Carassius cuvieri Temminck and Schlegel, 1846), bass (Micropterus salmoides Lacepède, 1802) and bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus Rafinesque, 1819), are dominant fishes in Korean freshwater ecosystem. In this study, we analyzed habitat environment conditions of these three species and their impacts to fish communities in streams across South Korea. Fish community data were obtained from the database of the Stream/River Ecosystem Survey and Health Assessment program maintained by the Ministry of Environment and the National Institute of Environmental Research, Korea. Our results showed that species richness and Shannon diversity of fish were higher at the presence sites of introduced fish than at the absence sites. However, when the abundance of these introduced fish species was increased, the species richness and abundance of fish were decreased. An association analysis showed that the introduced fish species had a low similarity in their appearance with some indigenous fishes such as Siniperca scherzeri and Channa argus and some endemic fishes of Korea such as Zacco koreanus, Sarcocheilichthys variegatus wakiyae, and Acheilognathus yamatsutae. In addition, the introduced fish species had a low appearance similarity with a large number of fishes in their association networks. Finally, our results presented that these introduced fish species influenced the negative impacts to the stream fish communities, and they were potential risk factors for fish community in Korean freshwater ecosystem. Therefore, it is necessary that continuous monitoring and establishment of management strategy for introduced fish species to preserve fish resource and biodiversity in the Korean streams.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.14 no.3
• /
• pp.402-413
• /
• 2001

Food safety is a term broadly applied to food quality that may adversely affect human health. These include zoonotic diseases and acute and chronic effects of ingesting natural and human-made xenobiotics. There are two major areas of concern over the presence of residues of antibiotics in animal-derived foodstuffs with regard to human health. The first is allergic reactions. Some antibiotics, such as penicillins can evoke allergic reactions even though small amounts of them are ingested or exposed by parenteral routes. The second is development of antibiotic resistance in gut bacteria of human. Recently multi-resistant pneumococcal, glycopeptide-resistant enterococci and gram negative bacteria with extended-spectrum $\beta$-lactamases have spread all over the world, and are now a serious therapeutic problem in human. Although it is evident that drugs are required in the efficient production of meat, milk and eggs, their indiscriminate use should never be substituted for hygienic management of farm. Drug should be used only when they are required. In addition to veterinary drugs, environmental contaminants that were contaminated in feed, water and air can make residues in animal products. Mycotoxins, heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals derived from industries can be harmful both to animal and human health. Most of organic contaminants, such as dioxin, PCBs and DDT, and metals are persistent in environment and biological organisms and can be accumulated in fat and hard tissues. Some of them are suspected to have endocrine disrupting, carcinogenic, teratogenic, immunodepressive and nervous effects. The governmental agencies concerned make efforts to prevent residue problems; approval of drugs including withdrawal times of each preparation of drugs, establishment of tolerances, guidelines regarding drug use and sanitation enforcement of livestock products. National residue program is conducted to audit the status of the chemical residues in foods. Recently HACCP has been introduced to promote food safety from farm to table by reducing hazardous biological, chemical and physical factors. Animal Production Food Safety Program, Quality Assurance Programs, Food Animal Residue Avoidance Databank are para- or non-governmental activities ensuring food safety. This topic will cover classification and usage or sources of chemical residues, their adverse effects, and chemical residue status of some countries. Issues are expanded to residue detection methodologies, toxicological and pharmacokinetic backgrounds of MRL and withdrawal time establishments, and the importance of non-governmental activities with regard to reducing chemical residues in food.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.67-77
• /
• 2010

Growth of oil and chemical industries has been remarkable during recent years. Hazardous materials (Hazmat) make frequent use in the wide range of industries. It increases the frequency of Hazmat transport and it leads to increase the number of accidents. Optimal Hazmat routes can reduce damage. Thus, the objective of this study is to minimize the areas impacted by Hazmat accidents by adopting experts' opinion in planning the route. We calculated weights using AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) and deduced the best route by applying this weights. Results showed that in the case of shortest route versus weighted route, the percentage of population damage has been decreased by 33.4% in the comparison between shortest route and optimally weighted route. And the percentage of environmental damage also has been decreased by 21.8%. Social damage has been decreased by 1521.7%. In the case of none weighted route versus weighted route, the percentage of population damage has been decreased by 2.6% when we adopted weighted route. Consequently, the recommended route with weighted risk assessment avoids densely populated area comparing with none weighted route. Further research needs to be carried out in order to figure out the specific cost-effectiveness analysis applying the equal cost unit for each factor.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.43 no.3
• /
• pp.259-266
• /
• 2015

Observed trends in climate change, globalization and an aging population have an effect on public health conditions in Korea, prompting a reevaluation of current environmental regulations. In this study, we evaluated the performance of the total coliform (TC) standard, which is the only microbiological standard in the current regulation regime for hot spring water, by estimating correlation with the presence/absence of Legionella, a non-fecal opportunistic pathogen with heat-tolerance. Microbiological data in 7 studies that surveyed Legionella in hot spring waters were subjected to meta-analyses with the odds ratio (OR) as the effect size. The presence/absence of Legionella was significantly correlated to TC levels [OR = 3.1(1.5–6.4, 95% CI), p = 0.002]. Due to there being no direct explanation as to the reason for the occurrence of TC, mesophilic fecal bacteria, being coupled with Legionella presence, the mechanism of the correlation between the two kinds of bacteria was further investigated. Legionella presence was more prevalent with a high heterotrophic plate count [HPC; 4.0(2.2–7.2); p < 0.001] and water temperature [4.3(1.4–13.6), p = 0.011] when the temperature range was <40℃. However, it was reverse-correlated with water temperature when the temperature was >50℃ [0.2(0.1–0.4), p < 0.001]. Therefore, bacterial standing crops in hot spring waters appear to be determined by water temperature in general, and this forces TC and Legionella levels be correlated. In accordance with this relationship, HPC rather than TC reflect the levels of non-fecal contamination better. Therefore, employing HPC as the sole microbiological standard, or adding HPC into the current standard of hot spring water assessment, is suggested as a proactive measure to prevent health issues arising from contamination.

• Toxicological Research
• /
• v.31 no.3
• /
• pp.255-264
• /
• 2015

Heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and acrylamide are unintended hazardous substances generated by heating or processing of foods and are known as carcinogenic and mutagenic agents by the animal experiments. A simple method was established for a rapid and accurate determination of 12 types of HCAs (IQ, MeIQ, Glu-P-1, Glu-P-2, MeIQx, Trp-P-1, Trp-P-2, PhIP, $A{\alpha}C$, $MeA{\alpha}C$, Harman and Norharman) and acrylamide in three food matrices (non-fat liquid, non-fat solid and fat solid) by isotope dilution liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). In every sample, a mixture of internal standards including $IQ-d_3$, $MeIQx-d_3$, $PhIP-d_3$, $Trp-P-2-^{13}C_2-^{15}N$ and $MeA{\alpha}C-d_3$ was spiked for quantification of HCAs and $^{13}C_3$-acrylamide was also spiked for the analysis of acrylamide. HCAs and acrylamide in sample were extracted with acetonitrile and water, respectively, and then two solid-phase extraction cartridges, ChemElut: HLB for HCAs and Accucat: HLB for acrylamide, were used for efficiently removing interferences such as pigment, lipid, polar, nonpolar and ionic compounds. Established method was validated in terms of recovery, accuracy, precision, limit of detection, limit of quantitation, and linearity. This method showed good precision (RSD < 20%), accuracy (71.8~119.1%) and recovery (66.0~118.9%). The detection limits were < 3.1 ng/g for all analytes. The correlation coefficients for all the HCAs and acrylamide were > 0.995, showing excellent linearity. These methods for the detection of HCAs and acrylamide by LC-MS/MS were applied to real samples and were successfully used for quantitative monitoring in the total diet study and this can be applied to risk assessment in various food matrices.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.236-246
• /
• 2014

Pesticide is used to protect the crops, but also become a cause of polluting the environment. Perform a risk assessment using physical and chemical properties, environmental fate and toxicity data in order to determine the pesticide registration. The aquatic model estimates pesticide concentrations in water bodies that result from pesticide applications to rice paddies and apple orchard. The used models are the PRZM, EXAMS and AGRO shell (PA5), Rice Water Quality Model (RICEWQ) and Screening Concentration In GROund Water (SCI-GROW). The residual concentration of water body was estimated using meteorological data, crop calendar and soil series of Korea. The chosen pesticides were butachlor, carbofuran, iprobenfos and tebuconazole. It has shown the potential that the RICEWQ is possible to predict residue level in water of butachlor and iprobenfos, because the maximum value in water monitoring data is lower than the peak concentration of the model, and the minimum value is lower than the average annual concentration of the model. But RICEWQ was insufficient to predict exposure concentrations in ground water. The estimated exposure concentrations of carbofuran in ground water is very higher than in surface water because of its low soil adsorption coefficient. Although tebuconazole were not detected in the water monitoring that means very low concentration, it is possible that the PA5 can be used to predict residue level in water.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.62-73
• /
• 1985

The problems of growth & development due to maladjustment are gradually increasing while need for the treatment of children's diseases is decreasing. The level of developmental deficiency or delay correlates with neonatal birth weight and also with gestational age, i.e. degrees of prematurity. There-fore, developmental defects and potential risk factors' are more Common in premature infants than in full term infants. The purpose of this study is to define the difference in the growth at developmental status between premature and full term infants, and to define the relation between the developmental status and the physical growth during the first 3 years' Data were collected from January 10, 1985 to April 6, 1985 at 3 hospitals including St. Mary's Hospital, and through home visiting. The subjects of this study consisted of 79 Premature infants (G.A. <37wks. & B.W. <2.5kg) and 94 full term infants (G.A.≥37 wks. & B.W.≥2.5kg). The study method used was a questionnaire, anthropometric assessment and DDST for normative data of growth & development. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square test and t-test. The results of the study were as follows: Hypothesis: 1 : That the prematures will differ from the full term infants in the physical growth status during the first 3 years was partially supported (p＜0.02) : The prematures reached up the full term infants in the physical growth status in the first 6 months. And, the first hypothesis was supported (P<0.01) : There are more cases which is below‘the Korean children's physical. growth standards’in prematures than in full term infants. Hypothesis 2 : That the prematures will differ from the full term infants in the developmental status during the first 3 years was supported (P< 0.001)；‘Normal’developmental status due to DDST was less in prematures than in full term infants. And, the second hypothesis was Partially supported (P<0.02) : The developmental status of the pre-matures was different from that of the full term infants within the first 3 months by analysis of passed items in DDST, Hypothesis 3 : That the prematures' developmental status will relate to their physical growth during the first 3 years was supported (P<0.001) : If the prematures' developmental status is in delayed status, then, their physical growth status is also in delayed status. This study shows that the prematures differed significantly from the full term infants in the growth at developmental status during their infancy. This means that the nurse can foster the growth & development of the prematures by supportive care during their infancy. Further longitudinal study is needed to verify these findings for the environmental factors.

• Toxicological Research
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.261-266
• /
• 2010

In the workplace, the arsenic is used in the semiconductor production and the manufacturing of pigments, glass, pesticides and fungicides. Therefore, workers may be exposed to airborne arsenic during its use in manufacturing. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential toxicity of particulate matters (PMs) doped with arsenic (PMs-Arsenic) using a rodent model and to compare the genotoxicity in various concentrations and to examine the role of PMs-Arsenic in the induction of signaling pathway in the lung. Mice were exposed to PMs $124.4{\pm}24.5\;{\mu}g/m^3$ (low concentration), $220.2{\pm}34.5\;{\mu}g/m^3$ (middle concentration), $426.4{\pm}40.3\;{\mu}g/m^3$ (high concentration) doped with arsenic $1.4\;{\mu}g/m^3$ (Low concentration), $2.5\;{\mu}g/m^3$ (middle concentration), $5.7\;{\mu}g/m^3$ (high concentration) for 4 wks (6 h/d, 5 d/wk), respectively in the whole-body inhalation exposure chambers. To determine the level of genotoxicity, Chromosomal aberration (CA) assay in splenic lymphocytes and Supravital micronucleus (SMN) assay were performed. Then, signal pathway in the lung was analyzed. In the genotoxicity experiments, the increases of aberrant cells were concentration-dependent. Also, PMs-arsenic caused peripheral blood micronucleus frequency at high concentration. The inhalation of PMs-Arsenic increased an expression of phosphorylated Akt (p-Akt: protein kinase B) and phpsphorylated mammalian target of rapamycin (p-mTOR) at high concentration group. Taken together, inhaled PMs-Arsenic caused genotoxicity and altered Akt signaling pathway in the lung. Therefore, the inhalation of PMs-Arsenic needs for a careful risk assessment in the workplace.