• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.33-41
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• 2016

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a major chronic disease which increases global health problems. Diabetes-induced renal damage is associated with inflammation and fibrosis. Alpha (AT) and gamma-tocopherols (GT) have shown antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects in inflammation-mediated injuries. The primary aim of this study was to investigate effects of AT and GT supplementations on hyperglycemia induced acute kidney inflammation in alloxan induced diabetic mice with different levels of fasting blood glucose (FBG). MATERIALS/METHODS: Diabetes was induced by injection of alloxan monohydrate (150 mg/kg, i.p) in ICR mice (5.5-week-old, male) and mice were subdivided according to their FBG levels and treated with different diets for 2 weeks; CON: non-diabetic mice, m-DMC: diabetic control mice with mild FBG levels (250 mg/dl ${\leq}$ FBG ${\leq}$ 450 mg/dl), m-AT: m-DM mice fed AT supplementation (35 mg/kg diet), m-GT: m-DM mice with GT supplementation (35 mg/kg diet), s-DMC: diabetic control mice with severe FBG levels (450 mg/dl < FBG), s-AT: s-DM mice with AT supplementation, s-GT: s-DM mice with GT supplementation. RESULTS: Both AT and GT supplementations showed similar beneficial effects on $NF{\kappa}B$ associated inflammatory response (phosphorylated inhibitory kappa B-${\alpha}$, interleukin-$1{\beta}$, C-reactive protein, monocyte chemotactic protein-1) and pre-fibrosis (tumor growth factor ${\beta}$-1 and protein kinase C-II) as well as an antioxidant emzyme, heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) in diabetic mice. On the other hands, AT and GT showed different beneficial effects on kidney weight, FBG, and oxidative stress associated makers (malondialdehyde, glutathione peroxidase, and catalase) except HO-1. In particular, GT significantly preserved kidney weight in m-DM and improved FBG levels in s-DM and malondialdehyde and catalase in m- and s-DM, while AT significantly attenuated FBG levels in m-DM and improved glutathione peroxidase in m- and s-DM. CONCLUSIONS: the results suggest that AT and GT with similarities and differences would be considered as beneficial nutrients to modulate hyperglycemia induced acute renal inflammation. Further research with careful approach is needed to confirm beneficial effects of tocopherols in diabetes with different FBG levels for clinical applications.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.57-70
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• 2015

Purpose - Open source software has high utilization in most of the server market. The utilization of open source software is a global trend. Particularly, Internet infrastructure and platform software open source software development has increased rapidly. Since 2003, the Korean government has published open source software promotion policies and a supply promotion policy. The dynamism of the open source software market, the lack of relevant expertise, and the market transformation due to reasons such as changes in the relevant technology occur slowly in relation to adoption. Therefore, this study proposes an assessment model of services provided in an open source software service company. In this study, the service level of open source software companies is classified into an enterprise-level assessment area, the service level assessment area, and service area. The assessment model is developed from an on-site driven evaluation index and proposed evaluation framework; the evaluation procedures and evaluation methods are used to achieve the research objective, involving an impartial evaluation model implemented after pilot testing and validation. Research Design, data, and methodology - This study adopted an iteration development model to accommodate various requirements, and presented and validated the assessment model to address the situation of the open source software service company. Phase 1 - Theoretical background and literature review Phase 2 - Research on an evaluation index based on the open source software service company Phase 3 - Index improvement through expert validation Phase 4 - Finalizing an evaluation model reflecting additional requirements Based on the open source software adoption case study and latest technology trends, we developed an open source software service concept definition and classification of public service activities for open source software service companies. We also presented open source software service company service level measures by developing a service level factor analysis assessment. The Behavior-Structure-Evolution Evaluation Model (BSEM) proposed in this study consisted of a rating methodology for calculating the level that can be granted through the assessment and evaluation of an enterprise-level data model. An open source software service company's service comprises the service area and service domain, while the technology acceptance model comprises the service area, technical domain, technical sub-domain, and open source software name. Finally, the evaluation index comprises the evaluation group, category, and items. Results - Utilization of an open source software service level evaluation model For the development of an open source software service level evaluation model, common service providers need to standardize the quality of the service, so that surveys and expert workshops performed in open source software service companies can establish the evaluation criteria according to their qualitative differences. Conclusion - Based on this evaluation model's systematic evaluation process and monitoring, an open source software service adoption company can acquire reliable information for open source software adoption. Inducing the growth of open source software service companies will facilitate the development of the open source software industry.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.221-240
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• 2005

Background: Doxorubicin has proved to be a useful chemotherapeutic agent especially for osteogenic sarcoma. It induces cancer cell death via apoptosis. Materials and Methods: To explore and analyze the changes of gene expression during doxorubicin induced apoptosis on human osteogenic sarcoma, Saos-2 cell, cDNA microarray was performed. After treatment with doxorubicin, total RNA was purified and expressed genes were investigated with a 17k human cDNA microarray. Results: For analysis of the cDNA microarray, the genes were filtered using the sum of the median value of Cy3 and Cy5 signal intensity of greater than 800. Expression of 264 genes was changed by more than 2 fold, and the expression of 35 genes was changed more than 3 fold after treatment with doxorubicin. The genes were primarily related to cell death, cell growth and maintenance, signal transduction, cellular component, transport, and metabolism. Conclusion: Treatment with doxorubicin induced expressional change of many genes. Some of the genes might be related with apoptosis directly or indirectly. Further study is now needed to characterize these genes.

• Annals of Clinical Microbiology
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.75-79
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• 2018

Background: Urine culture is one of the most frequently requested tests in microbiology. Automated urine analyzers yield much infection-related information. The Sysmex UF-5000 analyzer (Sysmex, Japan) is a new flow cytometry urine analyzer capable of quantifying urinary particles, including bacteria, WBCs, and yeast-like cells (YLCs) and can provide a Gram stainability flag. In this work, we evaluated how many unnecessary urine cultures could be screened out using the UF-5000. Methods: We compared the culture results of 126 urine samples among 453 requested urine cultures (from sources other than the Urology and Nephrology departments) with urinalysis results. Urine cultures were considered positive if bacterial or YLC growth was ${\geq}10^4CFUs/mL$. Results: We used urinalysis cut-off values of $50/{\mu}L$ and $100/{\mu}L$ for bacteria and YLC, respectively. Forty eight of the 126 (38.1%, or 10.6% of 453 requested) cultures were below these cut-off values and did not contain any culture-positive samples. Conclusion: Bacteria and YLC counts generated using the UF-5000 analyzer could be used to screen out negative cultures and reduce urine culture volume by ~10% without sacrificing detection of positive cultures.

• Journal of Pathology and Translational Medicine
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.396-403
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• 2018

Background: In the current American Joint Committee on Cancer staging system of breast cancer, only tumor size determines T-category regardless of whether the tumor is single or multiple. This study evaluated if tumor multiplicity has prognostic value and can be used to subclassify breast cancer. Methods: We included 5,758 patients with invasive breast cancer who underwent surgery at Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea, from 1995 to 2012. Results: Patients were divided into two groups according to multiplicity (single, n=4,744; multiple, n=1,014). Statistically significant differences in lymph node involvement and lymphatic invasion were found between the two groups (p<.001). Patients with multiple masses tended to have luminal A molecular subtype (p<.001). On Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, patients with multiple masses had significantly poorer disease-free survival (DFS) (p=.016). The prognostic significance of multiplicity was seen in patients with anatomic staging group I and prognostic staging group IA (p=.019 and p=.032, respectively). When targeting patients with T1-2 N0 M0, hormone receptor-positive, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative cancer, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis also revealed significantly reduced DFS with multiple cancer (p=.031). The multivariate analysis indicated that multiplicity was independently correlated with worse DFS (hazard ratio, 1.23; 95% confidence interval, 1.03 to 1.47; p=.025). The results of this study indicate that tumor multiplicity is frequently found in luminal A subtype, is associated with frequent lymph node metastasis, and is correlated with worse DFS. Conclusions: Tumor multiplicity has prognostic value and could be used to subclassify invasive breast cancer at early stages. Adjuvant chemotherapy would be necessary for multiple masses of T1-2 N0 M0, hormone-receptor-positive, and HER2-negative cancer.

• Gut and Liver
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.664-673
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• 2018

Background/Aims: Regulatory dendritic cells (rDCs), which can be induced by mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), play an important role in inducing and maintaining homeostasis of regulatory T cells and exhibit anti-inflammatory functions. In this study, we investigated whether MSCs could differentiate DCs into rDCs and compared the therapeutic effects of rDCs and MSCs on dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced chronic colitis mice. Methods: Immature DCs (imDCs) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated mature DCs (mDCs) were co-cultured with MSCs for 48 hours, and then the profiles of surface markers and cytokines and regulatory roles of these DCs for primary splenocytes were analyzed. In addition, the therapeutic effects of MSCs and DCs co-cultured with MSCs were compared in chronic colitis mice. Results: After co-culture of imDCs (MSC-DCs) or LPS-treated mDCs (LPS+MSC-DCs) with MSCs, the expression of CD11c, CD80, CD86, interleukin 6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ (TNF-${\alpha}$), and interferon-${\gamma}$ (IFN-${\gamma}$), was decreased, but that of CD11b, IL-10, and transforming growth factor-${\beta}$ (TGF-${\beta}$) was increased. Furthermore, MSC-DCs and LPS+MSC-DCs induced the expression of CD4, CD25, and Foxp3 in primary splenocytes isolated from mice. In DSS-induced colitis mice, MSCs and MSC-DCs increased colon length, body weight, and survival rate and induced histological improvement. Moreover, in the colon tissues, the expression of IL-6, TNF-${\alpha}$, and IFN-${\gamma}$ decreased, but that of IL-10, TGF-${\beta}$, and Foxp3 increased in the MSC- and MSC-DC-injected groups. Conclusions: Our data suggest that MSCs differentiate DCs into rDCs, which ameliorate chronic colitis. Thus, rDCs stimulated by MSCs may be therapeutically useful for the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.315-321
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• 2019

Background: There have been no studies to date on rhizome development and optimal harvest timing for Rehmannia glutinosa. We therefore, undertook this investigation. Methods and Results: R. glutinosa 'Jihwang 1' was sown in early May and harvested in early November. Growth investigations were carried out at intervals of 10 days between 90 and 180 days after sowing (DAS). Leaf length, leaf width, and number of leaves increased until 150 DAS but decreased after 160 DAS. Rhizome length increased until 120 DAS subsequently, rhizome diameter increased rapidly between 130 and 150 DAS. Thus, the key period for rhizome enlargement in R. glutinosa is thought to be 130 to 150 DAS. Fresh root yield increased sharply from 916 kg/10a to 1,914 kg/10a between 4 and 5 months after sowing (MAS). Dry matter ratio increased gradually from 19.2% at 4 MAS to 24.4% at 6 MAS. Finally, the level of catalpol, a key active ingredient, increased sharply from 0.41% to 4.21% between 5 and 6 MAS. Given the dry matter ratio, catalpol content and yield measured, we suggest that optimal R. glutinosa harvest time is 6 MAS. Conclusions: Based on our results, the key period for rhizome enlargement is 130 to 150 DAS and optimal harvest timing is 6 MAS. We anticipate that these and other results of this study can be used to inform cultivation of R. glutinosa.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.322-329
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• 2021

BACKGROUND: The fungicide of benomyl, a benzimidazole group, has been commonly used for pesticides against fungal diseases in the world. However, benomyl is rapidly hydrolyzed in the environment after using to control plant diseases and has adverse effects by generating carbendazim, which is toxic to plants, humans, and the environment. METHODS AND RESULTS: In this study, the decomposition effect of carbendazim, a degradation product of benomyl was conducted in pot and field after making a prototype of benomyl-degrading microbial agent (BDMA). We found that the carbendazim-degrading microbial agent (CDMA) (10⁵, 10⁶, and 10⁷ cfu/g soil) decomposed carbendazim by 50% or more in all the treatments, compared to the untreated control in the pot tests after four weeks. The effect of 100% decomposition of carbendazim was observed at 7 days after treatment, when the prototype of BDMA was apllied at 10-folds dilution in the field. The decomposition effect at more than 60% and plant growth promoting effect were observed after 7 days of the treatment, compared with the untreated group in the second field experiment,treated with commercially available concentrations of 500-folds and 1,000-folds. CONCLUSION(S): These results might represent that the BDMA would decompose carbendazim effectively, a decomposition product of the fungicide benomyl, remaining in agricultural area, and it could be utilized practically by using a low dilution rate.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.197-206
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• 2018

BACKGROUND: The present study aimed to examine the crops capable of growing and adapting to the external environment and various stresses of reclaimed agriculture land for the development of high value-added agricultural utilization technology based on reclaimed land through standardization and empirical study of cultivation environment for cultivating crops. METHODS AND RESULTS: Two crops namely turnips and beets were selected for the salt tolerance test of soil environmental conditions on reclaimed land. Turnip and beet seedlings were planted on the soil collected at the 'Seokmun' reclaimed land. There are five treatments such as non-treatment, 1.0, 2.0 (control), 4.0 and $8.0dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$ of EC. The contents of betacyanin in beet roots was highest in control and decreased with increasing salt concentration. The GSL contents in the turnip roots waswere highest at EC 2.0 and decreased with increasing salt concentration, whereas those in turnip leaves waswere high both in the non-treated control and atthe EC 1.0-treatment. But, tThere was, however, no statistical differences among the treatments. CONCLUSION: The degree of salt tolerance of crops was examined, and the limit EC iswas expected to be $3.0{\sim}4.0dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$ as reported to date. If the soil improvement is performed and irrigation systems are used in the actual reclaimed land, the EC of supplied irrigation will be low, and desalination effecttreatment by the lower EC of the supplied irrigation on the soil will lead to more favorable soil condition of the rhizosphere and cultivation environment offor the crops than those in the port experiment. Therefore, monitoring the salinity, water content and ground water level will enable prediction of the rhizosphere environment, and setting up irrigation management and supplying irrigation will lead to crop cultivation results that are close to normal.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.207-212
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• 2018

BACKGROUND: Recently, the need for a method to cultivate 'Haryejosaeng' Satsuma mandarin has been increasing. However, there is limited information available as this is a new Satsuma mandarin cultivar, which was bred by the RDA in 2004. Many farmers who cultivate this cultivar follow the cultivation method similar to that used for 'Miyagawa' Satsuma mandarin, and suffer low production of optimum-sized fruits. METHODS AND RESULTS: This study was conducted to find out the optimum ratio of leaf-to-fruit for the stable production of high quality 'Haryejosaeng' Satsuma mandarin fruits in a non-heated plastic film house. Seven-year-old 'Haryejosaeng' Satsuma mandarin trees were used in the study. Before the treatment, the leaf-to-fruit ratio ranged from 5.7 to 17.9. The treatments included 10, 20, 30, and 40 leaves per fruit. The fruits were removed if over fruiting was observed at day 60 after full bloom. We investigated the fruit size and quality on the day of harvest. Flowering and fruiting patterns in each treatment were recorded for the following year. In the experiments, the flower-to-leaf ratio was 1.12 to 1.74. As the leaf-to-fruit ratio decreased, the fruit size and weight also decreased. Contrarily, the higher the ratio of leaf-to-fruit, the higher fruit size and weight were. It was noted that the ratio of 20:1 was ideal to produce the M grade optimum-sized Satsuma mandarin fruits on the day of harvest. However, higher ratio might result in fruits weighting above 100 g. There was no difference among the treatments in terms of fruit quality, such as total soluble solid contents, titratable acid, and color. In the subsequent years, flowering and fruiting in the treatments were lowered when the leaf number per fruit was 10, but they were improved when the leaf number per fruit was above 20. CONCLUSION: Based on the above results, the optimum ratio of leaf-to-fruit was found to be 20:1 for flowering and fruiting of 'Haryejosaeng' Satsuma mandarin. It is important that optimum ratio of leaf-to-fruit is set as a standard to produce good grade and quality of 'Haryejosaeng' Satsuma mandarin fruits.