• Toxicological Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.307-314
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• 2008

The present study was carried out to investigate the potential adverse effects of 1,3-dichloro-2-propanol on pregnant dams after maternal exposure during the gestational days (GD) 6 through 19 in Sprague-Dawley rats. The tested chemical was administered orally to pregnant rats at dose levels of 0, 10, 30, or 90 mg/kg/day. During the test period, clinical signs, mortality, body weights, food consumption, serum biochemistry, gross findings, organ weights, and Caesarean section findings were examined. In the 90 mg/kg group, decreases in the body weight gain and food consumption, and increases in the weights of liver and adrenal glands were observed. Serum biochemical investigations revealed increases in aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), cholesterol (CHO), triglyceride (TG), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and bilirubin (BIL) and decreases in glucose (GLU), albumin (ALB) and total protein (TP). In the 30 mg/kg group, a decrease in the food consumption and an increase in the liver weight were observed. Serum biochemical investigation also showed increases in CHO and TG and a decrease in glucose. Since there were no signs of maternal toxicity in the 10 mg/kg group, it is considered to be the no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) of 1,3-dichloro-2-propanol. It is concluded that successive oral administration of 1,3-dichloro- 2-propanol to pregnant rats for 14 days may cause significant toxicities in body weight and liver at a dose rate ${\geq}$ 30 mg/kg/day.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.503-512
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to check the extent to which "instruction of physician or dentist" defined in the Medical Service Technologists, etc. Act is applied in relation to radiography examination procedures for radiological technologists. In addition, it is intended to present basic data on the requirement to revise the Medical Service Technologists, etc. Act in the radiological technologist's duty area and scope of work, The subjects of this study were radiological technologists with license, and the response data were collected after sending the questionnaire link written on the online questionnaire form. The final number of respondents were 1,018, and the response rate was 6.8%. Most of the negative responses were "I have never received 'instruction' for radiologic examination by a physician or dentist, including a radiologist in a medical environment." There were a high perception that "the professionalism in radiation examination on radiological technologists are higher than that of a physician or dentist." They answered that the current continuing education has a great impact on maintaining and continuing professionalism and learning new knowledge in the radiology field. In addition, the radiological technologists provide a very high level of education in areas related to radiography procedure ethics such as patient care, patient safety, and patient privacy protection, as well as specialized fields such as radiation-related examination methods, radiography examination dose, and patient exposure dose. Radiological technologists replied that they were receiving it consistently. In conclusion, in the current medical environment, the 'instruction' of a physician or dentist cannot be seen as being realistically performed. The phrase 'instruction' of a physician or dentist as defined in the Medical Service Technologists, etc. Act is considered inappropriate in respect of the fact that the state recognizes the qualifications of the medical service technologist through a license. It is thought that revision to a new term suitable for the current medical environment is necessary.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.34-42
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• 2010

With the expanded use of radiation in modern medical practices, the most important issue in regards to efforts to reduce individual exposure dose is quality assurance. Therefore in order to study the present condition of quality assurance, the Gwangju Metropolitan City area was divided into five districts each containing ten hospitals. Four experiments were conducted: a reproducibility experiment for kVp, mA, and examination time (sec) intensity of illumination; half-value layer (HVL) measurement; and beam perpendicularity test matching experiment. The tube voltage reproducibility experiment for all fifty hospitals resulted in a 95.33% passing rate and mA and examination time both resulted in a 77.0% passing rate. The passing rate for intensity of illumination was 86.0% and 52.0% for HVL, which was the lowest passing rate of all four factors. For the beam perpendicularity test matching experiment, generally the central flux is matched to within $1.5^{\circ}$. Of all fifty hospitals 30.0% were beyond $3^{\circ}$. The results of the survey showed that 58% responded that they knew about quality assurance cycle. All fifty respondents stated that they have not received any training in regards to quality assurance at their current place of employment. Although quality assurance is making relative progress, the most urgent issue is awareness of the importance of quality assurance. Therefore, the implementation of professional training focusing on safety management and accurate quality assurance of radiation will reduce the exposure to radiation for radiologists and patients and higher quality imaging using less dosage will also be possible.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.389-396
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• 2018

The Kori-1 Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), WH 2-Loop Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) operated for approximately 40 years in Korea, was permanently ceased on June 18, 2017. To reduce worker exposure to radiation by reducing the dose rate in the system before starting main decommissioning activities, the permanently ceased Kori-1 NPP will be subjected to full system decontamination. Generally, the range of system decontamination includes Reactor Pressure Vessels (RPV), Pressurizer (PZR), Steam Generators (SG), Chemical & Volume Control System (CVCS), Residual Heat Removal System (RHRS), and Reactor Coolant System (RCS) piping. In order to decontaminate these systems and equipment in an effective manner, it is necessary to evaluate the influence of the flow characteristics in the RCS during the decontamination period. There are various methods of providing circulating flow rate to the system decontamination. In this paper, the flow characteristics in Kori-1 NPP reactor coolant according to RHR pump operation were evaluated. The evaluation results showed that system decontamination using an RHR pump was not effective at decontamination due first to impurities deposited in piping and equipment, and second to the extreme flow unbalance in the RCS caused deposition of impurities.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.91-99
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• 2011

Risk ranking must be determined for various hazards/food combinations to conduct microbial risk management effectively. Risk Ranger is a simple, easy-to-use calculation tool developed in Microsoft Excel and designed to rank the risk (low, medium, and high) for semi-quantitative microbial risk assessment. The user is required to answer 11 questions in Risk Ranger related to 1) severity of the hazard, 2) likelihood of a disease-causing dose of the hazard being present in the meal, and 3) the probability of exposure to the hazard in a defined time. This study determined the risk ranking for twenty three combinations of foodborne pathogens/potentially hazardous foods (PHFs) using a Risk Ranger. In this study, pathogenic E. coli in fresh cut produce salad was scored as 79, which was the highest rank among the 23 combinations of the foodborne pathogens and PHFs. On the other hand, zero risk was obtained with V parahaemolyticus in sushi, Salmonella in meat products and E. coli O157:H7 in hamburger patties. Although Risk Ranger is very simple method to rate the risk of foodborne pathogens and PHFs combination, the accuracy of result was mainly affected by the availability and accuracy of data in the literature. According to the result of literature review, the data are needed for contamination rate of raw materials, consumption amount/frequency of PHFs, and the effect of processing on pathogen. Risk ranking must be continuously revalidated with new data.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.13-29
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• 1988

In order to elucidate the regulatory mechanism of intracellular calcium ion concentrations, contractions or contractures induced by $Na^{+}-removal$, calcium-application or ouabain-treatment as an index of $Na^+/Ca^{2+}$ exchange activity were studied in atrial muscle or vascular smooth muscle (aorta and renal artery) of the rabbit. The magnitude of low sodium contractures in atrial trabeculae increased with sigmoid shape when external sodium concentrations were reduced to sodium-free condition, whereas that of calcium contracture intensified in a parabolic pattern when external calcium concentrations were elevated to 8 mM. $Na^{+}-removal$ contractures were induced in a duration-dependent manner to $K^{+}-free$ exposure and same findings were observed with ouabain treatment. $Na^{+}-free$ contractures were not affected by verapamil treatment, but stimulated by $100{\mu}M\;Mn^{2+}$ and inhibited by high concentrations of $Mn^{2+}\;(2{\sim}8mM)$ in a dose-dependent manner. Ryanodine which is known to suppress the release of calcium from internal store abolished spontaneous twitch contractions induced by $K^{+}-free$ solution, but had no effect on the development $Na^{+}-free$ contractures. Na-free contractures were not always induced in vascular smooth muscle preparations. Contractures by $O\;mM\;Na^+$ were usually seen in aorta, but not often in renal artery.$50\;mM\;K^+$, noradrenaline (NA) and angiotensin II (AII) always evoked very large contraction in all preparations of vascular smooth muscle. Contractures developed by $O\;mM\;Na^+$ were not sensitive to verapamil treatment as in atrial trabeculae, but were abolished by $100{\mu}M\;Mn^{2+}$. In contrast to $Na^{+}-free$ contractures, $Mn^{2+}(100{\mu}M)$ had no effect on the contractures induced by NA or 50 mM$K^+$. Caffeine in the concentration of 10 mM evoked transient contracture in the distal renal artery. The rate of spontaneous relaxation in caffeine contracture was dependent upon the concentrations of external sodium, and had double component of relaxation when the rate of relaxation was plotted in the semilogarithmic scale of relative tension versus time. Especially late components of relaxation had more direct relation to $Na^+$ concentrations. It could be concluded that $Na^+/Ca^{2+}$ exchange mechanism in the heart has a large capacity, inhibited by $Mn^{2+}$ but not by verapamil and ryanodine, while $Na^+/Ca^{2+}$ exchange system in vascular smooth muscle has a very low capacity especially in small artery, inhibited by low concentration of $Mn^{2+}\;(100{\mu}M)$ but not affected by verapamil and ryanodine.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.43-50
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• 2007

Veterinary antibiotics have been widely used to increase feed efficiency, to prevent disease, and to promote growth as well as to control disease. The antibiotics administered can be excreted through the urine and feces. One of the major routes of veterinary antibiotics entering soil and water environment is via the application of animal manure to agricultural land as an organic fertilizer source. Since little is known about impacts of antibiotics on the environment, this study was conducted to prioritize the veterinary antibiotics based on the consumption and potential to reach the environment. Among 83 veterinary antibiotics consumed in Korea, ten antibiotics were used at the greater dose than 25 Mg in 2004. Potential to reach the environment was determined according to excretion rate after administered to animals and sorption affinity to soil solids after applied to agricultural land. Seventeen antibiotic active ingredients (Ais) were classified as 'High' priority in terms of the potential to reach the environment. An overall priority score was determined by combining priority score based on consumption with the degree of potential environment exposure. Twenty veterinary antibiotic AIs were classified as 'Very high' or 'High' priority requiring detailed assessment. The antibiotic AIs were identified four aminoglycosides, two macrolides, two penicillins, five sulfonamides, three tetracyclines, two quinolones, and two miscellaneous. Eight veterinary antibiotic AIs including amoxicillin, carbadox, chlortetracycline, neomycin, oxytetracycline, sulfamethazine, sulfathiazole, and tylosin were identified to have a greater priority of environmental risk in Korea.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.4773-4780
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• 2014

Background: To investigate the effects of small interference RNA (siRNA) targeting BCR/ABL mRNA on proliferation and apoptosis in the K562 human chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) cell line and to provide a theoretical rationale and experimental evidence for its potential clinical application for anti-CML treatment. Materials and Methods: The gene sequence for BCR/ABL mRNA was found from the GeneBank. The target gene site on the BCR/ABL mRNA were selected according to Max-Planck-Institute (MPI) and rational siRNA design rules, the secondary structure of the candidate targeted mRNA was predicted, the relevant thermodynamic parameters were analyzed, and the targeted gene sequences were compared with BLAST to eliminate any sequences with significant homology. Inhibition of proliferation was evaluated by MTT assay and colony-formation inhibiting test. Apoptosis was determined by flow cytometry (FCM) and the morphology of apoptotic cells was identified by Giemsa-Wright staining. Western blotting was used to analyze the expression of BCR/ABL fusion protein in K562 cells after siRNA treatment. Results: The mRNA local secondary structure calculated by RNA structure software, and the optimal design of specific siRNA were contributed by bioinformatics rules. Five sequences of BCR/ABL siRNAs were designed and synthesized in vitro. Three sequences, siRNA1384, siRNA1276 and siRNA1786, which showed the most effective inhibition of K562 cell growth, were identified among the five candidate siRNAs, with a cell proliferative inhibitory rate nearly 50% after exposure to 12.5nmol/L~50nmol/L siRNA1384 for 24,48 and 72 hours. The 50% inhibitory concentrations ($IC_{50}$) of siRNA1384, siRNA1276 and siRNA1786 for 24hours were 46.6 nmol/L, 59.3 nmol/L and 62.6 nmol/L, respectively, and 65.668 nmol/L, 76.6 nmol/L, 74.4 nmol/L for 72 hours. The colony-formation inhibiting test also indicated that, compared with control, cell growth of siRNA treated group was inhibited. FCM results showed that the rate of cell apoptosis increased 24 hours after transfecting siRNA. The results of annexinV/PI staining indicated that the rate of apoptosis imcreased (1.53%, 15.3%, 64.5%, 57.5% and 21.5%) following treamtne with siRNAs (siRNA34, siRNA372, siRNA1384, siRNA1276 and siRNA1786). Morphological analysis showed td typical morphologic changes of apoptosis such as shrunken, fragmentation nucleus as well as "apoptotic bodies" after K562 cell exposure to siRNA. Western blot analysis showed that BCR/ABL protein was reduced sharply after a single dose of 50nmol/L siRNA transfection. Conclusions: Proliferation of K562 cells was remarkbly inhibited by siRNAs (siRNA1384, siRNA1276 and siRNA1786) in a concentration-dependent manner in vitro, with effective induction of apoptosis at a concentration of 50 nmol/L. One anti-leukemia mechanism in K562 cells appeared that BCR/ABL targeted protein was highly down-regulated. The siRNAs (siRNA1384, siRNA1276 and siRNA1786) may prove valuable in the treatment of CML.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.20-28
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• 2017

Physical sterilization methods using ultraviolet radiation and ionizing radiation such as gamma ray and electron beam are applied in various industry fields due to disinfection effects and economic efficiency but may also cause microbial mutation. In this research, Salmonella enterica and Escherichia coli strains were treated with ionizing and ultraviolet radiation and their survival rate, mutation rate, and DNA damage were studied to evaluate the genetic safety. The survival rate of the strains decreased drastically as the irradiation dose of ultraviolet ray, gamma ray, and electron beam increased, and over 90% of the strain was exterminated at a dosage of $0.40{\sim}25.06mJ/cm^3$, 0.11~0.22 kGy, 0.14~0.53 kGy respectively. In SOS / umu-test, genotoxicity causing DNA damage was identified in all samples. In Ames test, back-mutation rate increased to $3.82{\times}10^{-4}$ and $9.84{\times}10^{-6}$ respectively when exposed to ultraviolet ray and gamma ray. At exposure to ultraviolet ray, gamma ray, and electron beam with dosage of over 99.99% extinction rate of S. enterica TA100, back-mutation rate increased 347 times, 220 times, 0.6 times respectively to the spontaneous back-mutation rate. Rifampicin resistance mutation rate of E. coli CSH100 exposed to ultraviolet ray, gamma ray, and electron beam was $2.46{\times}10^{-6}$, $1.66{\times}10^{-6}$, $4.12{\times}10^{-7}$ respectively. Therefore, gamma radiation is effective in microorganism control from the perspective of disinfection and electron beam has the advantage of sterilizing with little DNA damage and bacterial mutation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.31-35
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• 2010

Recently, the incidents of direct or indirect radiation exposure due to increase of use of radiation or radioisotope are on the increase in medical and industrial circles. If cells are irradiated, free radicals are created through biological process, and cells are directly or indirectly damaged. This research intends to explore into the effect of saponin at the level of cell (in vitro) and entity (in vivo), using red ginseng extract "saponin", as radioprotective agent. In the experiment implemented at the level of cell (in vitro), degree of cell activity was measures by adding mouse mesenchymal stem cells "C3H/10T1/2 cells" into red ginseng extract "saponin(0, 0.05, 0.2, and 0.4 g/L)", and then the optimal concentration of saponin influencing cells was calculated, in 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours after gamma irradiation at the optimal concentration of saponin, each cell survival rate was observed through XTT assay. The best time period of cultivation for the optimal activity of C3H/10T1/2 cells was as 48 hours, and the degree of optimal activity was shown at 0.05 g/L. In 48 hours after irradiation of 5 Gy to C3H/10T1/2 cells at 0.05 g/L, the degree of activity of cells increased by 10%. In the experiment implemented at the level of entity (in vivo), red ginseng extract "saponin" at a dose of 100 mg/kg/day was injected into the abdominal cavity of six-week immature mouse for two weeks. Right after the last abdominal injection, total body irradiation of gamma rays was carried out at a dose of 5 Gy and 10 Gy. And after irradiation, the blood sample was taken, and then the number of red corpuscles was counted. In result, the decrement of experimental group treated with red ginseng extract "saponin" was 2.3 times larger than that of control group. In view of the results so far achieved, it was revealed that red ginseng extract "saponin" has a radiation exposure protection effect in the experiment implemented at the level of cell (in vitro). In case of animal experiment, the decrement of number of red corpuscles decreased. Finally, it is necessary to carry out more various researches continuously.