• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.69-78
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• 2023

This study aimed to investigate the protective effect of enzymatically modified stevia (EMS) on C2C12 cell-based model of dexamethasone (DEX)-induced muscle atrophy to provide baseline data for utilizing EMS in functional health products. C2C12 cells with DEX-induced muscle atrophy were treated with EMS (10, 50, and 100 ㎍/mL) for 24 h. C2C12 cells were treated with EMS and DEX to test their effects on cell viability and myotube formation (myotube diameter and fusion index), and analyze the expression of muscle strengthening or degrading protein markers. Schisandra chinensis Extract, a common functional ingredient, was used as a positive control. EMS did not show any cytotoxic effect at all treatment concentrations. Moreover, it exerted protective effects on C2C12 cell-based model of DEX-induced muscle atrophy at all concentrations. In addition, the positive effect of EMS on myotube formation was confirmed based on the measurement and comparison of the fusion index and myotube diameter when compared with myotubes treated with DEX alone. EMS treatment reduced the expression of muscle cell degradation-related proteins Fbx32 and MuRF1, and increased the expression of muscle strengthening and synthesis related proteins SIRT1 and pAkt/Akt. Thus, EMS is a potential ingredient for developing functional health foods and should be further evaluated in preclinical models.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.281-289
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• 2022

The effect of five different constant temperatures (18, 21, 24, 27, and 30±1℃) and a photoperiod of 14 : 10 (L :D) h on the reproduction parameters of Spodoptera frugiperda was studied. The longevity of adult female S. frugiperda decreased with increasing temperature (22.4 days at 21℃ and 13.9 days at 30℃) but not at 18℃. The pre-oviposition period and oviposition period was the shortest at 30℃ compared to the other temperatures. The total fecundity egg count was 887.4, 1,246.4, 1,348.9, 1,154.9, and 1,034.2 at 18, 21, 24, 27 and 30℃, respectively, during its life span. The survival rate of female S. frugiperda decreased rapidly after 13 days at 18℃, after 14 days at 21℃, after 15 days at 27℃, and after 9 days at 24℃, and 30℃. On the third day after the start of oviposition, 50% of the total fecundity was accomplished. In corn fields at less than the 10-leaf stage, the distribution of S. frugiperda egg masses was observed in the middle and lower plant regions, corresponding to 46.8% and 41.4% of the total egg masses, respectively. Egg masses were mostly found on the underside of the leaf blade (abaxial) of corn(66.7%). After releasing S. frugiperda adults on May 12, May 17, May 25, and May 30, the number of eggs per egg mass was 89.9, 88.5, 126.6, and 127.9, respectively. Egg masses of the subsequent generations of S. frugiperda were observed from late June, and the number of eggs per egg mass was 155.8 in late June, 270.7 in early July, and 303.5 in mid-July.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.43-51
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• 2022

Regulation of the hair follicle cycle in association with dermal papilla cells is one of the most interesting targets for promoting hair regrowth. In this study, we examined whether steam-dried Betula platyphylla extracts (BPE) promote hair growth by upregulating in vitro and in vivo responses of dermal papilla cells. The data showed that BPE3 contained high amounts of phenolic compounds with higher antioxidant effects and increased hair growth-related genes, including fibroblast growth factor7 and Wnt7b, in dermal papilla cells. Notably, BPE3 effectively enhanced the formation of hair follicles by increasing FGF7, Wnt7b, and vascular endothelial growth factor in C57BL/6N dorsal skins. Additionally, BPE3 significantly decreased the expression of inflammatory repertoires, inducible nitric oxide synthase, interleukin-6, and cyclooxygenase 2. Several small molecules, such as betulin and unsaturated fatty acids, support the pharmacological activity of BPE3. In conclusion, BPE3 effectively promoted hair growth by activating dermal papilla cells and enhancing hair follicle cycles by attenuating the inflammatory environment in the scalp.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.365-373
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• 2000

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the fusion pulses and fusion media on fusion rate and the development of embryos produced by somatic cell nuclear transfer in Hanwoo (Korean cattle). Nuclear donor cumulus and fetal fibroblast cells were cultured in Dulbecco's modified Eagle medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum at 38.5$^{\circ}C$ in a humidified atmosphere of 5% $CO_2$in air. The in vitro matured oocytes were enucleated and then the isolated donor cells were introduced. The cumulus cell and cytoplast were fused using one pulse of 70 volts for 40$mutextrm{s}$, two pulses of 70 volts for 40$mutextrm{s}$ and one pulse of 180 volts for 15$mutextrm{s}$. The fetal fibroblast cell and cytoplast were fused using one pulse of 180 volts for 15$mutextrm{s}$ or 30$mutextrm{s}$. The cumulus cell and cytoplast were fused using mannitol and Zimmerman cell fusion medium (ZCFM) as a fusion medium. The fused embryos were activated after the fusion with 10 $\mu$M calcium ionophore for 5 min and 2 mM 6-dimethyl- aminopurine for 3 h. The nuclear transfer embryos were cultured in 500 ${mu}ell$ well of modified CR1aa supplemented with 3 mg/$m\ell$ BSA in th $\varepsilon$ four well dish cove red with mineral oil. After 3 days culture, culture medium was changed into modified CRlaa medium containing 1.5 mg/$m\ell$ BSA and 5% FBS for 4 days. The incubation environment was 5% $CO_2$, 5% $O_2$, 90% $N_2$ at 38.5$^{\circ}C$. When the cumulus cells were fused with enucleated oocytes by three different fusion pulses, one pulse of 180 volts for 15 $mutextrm{s}$ yielded the highest fusion rate and developmental rate to blastocyst among the pulses (P＜0.05). When the fetal fibroblast cells were fused with enucleated oocytes, one pulse of 180 volts for 30$mutextrm{s}$ yielded significantly higher fusion rate compared with that for 15 $mutextrm{s}$(P＜0.05). The present result indicates that the fusion rate between karyoplast and cytoplast was affected by the cell type and the optimal fusion condition was different according to cell type or size. When the fusion was conducted by the use of mannitol and ZCFM, the fusion rate was 71.2% and 65.8%, respectively. The developmental rates to blastocyst were 37.8% and 39.8%, respectively. There was no significant difference between two fusion media in the developmental rate of cumulus cell nuclear transfer embryos. These results indicate that optimal electric current should be selected according to cell type.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.327-337
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• 2001

This study investigated the effects of superoxide dismutase (SOD) on lipid peroxidation and fertilizing ability in vitro of boar spermatozoa frozen-thawed. The percentages of motile sperm were highest when SOD of 10 units/$m\ell$ was added to washing medium for spermatozoa. However, the rates of motile sperm were not significantly different in different concentrations of SOD. On the other hand, the motile rates of sperm washed with SOD were lower in sperm inculbated for 120 min than 30 min regardless of the different concentrations of SOD. The percentage of spermatozoa that reached acrosome reaction were increased with incubation periods prolonged. No significant differences, however, were observed in acrosome reaction rates between sperm incubated with and without SOD supplementation for 0, 60 and 120 min. When oocyies inseminated with different concentrations of SOD, the penetration rates were significantly (P＜0.05) higher in medium with 1 unit/$m\ell$ than 0, 10 and 100 units/$m\ell$ of SOD. However, the proportions of polyspermit oocytes were significantly (P＜0.05) lower in medium with 10 and 100 units/$m\ell$ than 0 unit/$m\ell$ of SOD. In another experiment, the sperm suspension were also treated with different concentrations of SOD and were assayed far sulfhydryl(-SH) group content. In the groups treated with 100 units/$m\ell$ of SOD, sperm-SH group were higher than another groups. However, sperm-SH group content were not siginificantly different in spermatozoa treated with different concentrations of SOD. Under the same conditions, the lipid peroxidation of sperm was evaluated on the basis of malondialdehyde production. The addition of SOD to sperm suspension decreased the formation or malondialdehyde. However, there were not significantly different in sperm treated with different concentrations of SOD. The activity of sperm binding to zona pellucida was also evaluated through binding to salt-stored porcine oocytes. The sperm binding to zona pellucida were gradually increased with SOD concentrations added. The number of spermatozoa binded to zona pellucida were significantly (P＜0.05) higher in medium with 100 units/$m\ell$ than 0 units/$m\ell$ of SOD. These findings suggested that SOD cause an enhancement penetrarion ability and sperm zona binding in boar spermatozoa frozen-thawed.

• Journal of agriculture & life science
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.91-98
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• 2016

This aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of phosphate on the quality properties of the surimi-like materials. Surimi-like materials as a control was prepared with beef heart by three times of washing treatment. Three types of surimi-like materials were manufactured by different conditions(T1: 2% salt, T2: 1.95% salt+0.05% phosphate, T3: 1.90% salt+0.10% phosphate). The moisture content was significantly lower in T1 than the control, and T3 sample had the highest crude protein content(P<0.05). The cooking loss was significantly lower in T2 than the control, and T2 sample had the highest water-holding capacity(P<0.05). The lightness and whiteness values were significantly lower in the treatment samples compared to the control sample; whereas redness values was higher than the control(P<0.05). Beef heart surimi-like materials added with salt and phosphate had higher in texture properties in the control, and T3 sample had the highest hardness, cohesiveness, gumminess and chewiness values(P<0.05). Therefore, the addition of phosphate could increase the protein content and gel properties as well as water-holding capacity of surimi-like materials from beef heart.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.498-505
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• 2023

Solanum tuberosum Linnaeus cv Hongyoung, which represents red potato, was developed in Korea. Hongyoung is known to have anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, and anti-tumor properties, but no research has been conducted on the growth inhibition and apoptosis effects of hongyoung in YD-10B oral cancer cells. In this study, the combined treatment of hongyoung ethanol extract (HEE) and cisplatin were examined to determine its ability to inhibit cancer cell growth, induce apoptosis, and inhibit matrix metalloproteinases (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 cancer metastasis. The cell viability was investigated using a 2-(2-methoxy-4-nitrophenyl)-3-(4-nitrophenyl)-5-(2,4-disulfophenyl)-2H- tetrazolium monosodium salt (MTS) assay, and the ability to induce apoptosis was analyzed using an FACS analyzer. The mRNA expression and protein activity of MMP-2 and MMP-9 were measured via RT-PCR and zymography. The YD-10B oral cancer cells showed an increase in growth inhibition as the concentration of HEE increased. The combination of 200 µM cisplatin and 500 ㎍/ml HEE reduced the growth of the YD-10B oral cancer cells by more than 50% compared to cisplatin alone. When phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA)-treated YD-10B oral cancer cells were co-treated with 200 µM cisplatin and 500 ㎍/ml HEE, both the mRNA expression and protein activity of the MMP-2 and MMP-9 decreased. In addition, the percentage of the sub-G1 phase, which indicates apoptosis ability, more than doubled when treated in combination with 200 µM cisplatin and 500 ㎍/ml HEE than when cisplatin alone was used. The results of this study therefore suggest the possibility of using a combination of HEE and cisplatin in the development of effective drugs to treat oral cancer.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.2335-2347
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• 2023

As medical facilities are usually built at urban areas, special concrete aggregates and evaluation methods are needed to optimize the design of concrete walls by balancing density, thickness, material composition, cost, and other factors. Carbon treatment rooms require a high radiation shielding requirement, as the neutron yield from carbon therapy is much higher than the neutron yield of protons. In this case study, the maximum carbon energy is 430 MeV/u and the maximum current is 0.27 nA from a hybrid particle therapy system. Hospital or facility construction should consider this requirement to design a special heavy concrete. In this work, magnetite is adopted as the major aggregate. Density is determined mainly by the major aggregate content of magnetite, and a heavy concrete test block was constructed for structural tests. The compressive strength is 35.7 MPa. The density ranges from 3.65 g/cm³ to 4.14 g/cm³, and the iron mass content ranges from 53.78% to 60.38% from the 12 cored sample measurements. It was found that there is a linear relationship between density and iron content, and mixing impurities should be the major reason leading to the nonuniform element and density distribution. The effect of this nonuniformity on radiation shielding properties for a carbon treatment room is investigated by three groups of Monte Carlo simulations. Higher density dominates to reduce shielding thickness. However, a higher content of high-Z elements will weaken the shielding strength, especially at a lower dose rate threshold and vice versa. The weakened side effect of a high iron content on the shielding property is obvious at 2.5 µSv=h. Therefore, we should not blindly pursue high Z content in engineering. If the thickness is constrained to 2 m, then the density can be reduced to 3.3 g/cm³, which will save cost by reducing the magnetite composition with 50.44% iron content. If a higher density of 3.9 g/cm³ with 57.65% iron content is selected for construction, then the thickness of the wall can be reduced to 174.2 cm, which will save space for equipment installation.

• Journal of Marine Life Science
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.20-26
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• 2017

In this study, we evaluated the toxic effects of heavy metals (As, Cr and Pb) on the population growth rate (r) of the marine diatom, Skeletonema costatum. The r of the species was determined after 96 h (4 days) exposure to As (0, 0.31, 0.63, 1.25, 2.50 and 5.00 mg L^-1), Cr (0, 0.16, 0.31, 0.63, 1.25 and 2.50 mg L^-1) and Pb (0, 1.25, 2.50, 5.00, 10.00 and 20.00 mg L^-1). It was observed that r in the control (absence of As, Cr and Pb) were greater than 0.04, however suddenly decreased with increased heavy metal concentrations. As, Cr and Pb reduced r in a dose-dependent manner and a significant reduction were occurred at concentration of greater than 0.31, 0.31 and 5.00 mg L^-1, respectively. Based on the toxicity, the heavy metal were ranked as Cr>As>Pb, with EC₅₀ (50% effective concentration) values of 0.80, 2.57 and 13.88 mg L^-1, respectively. The lowest-observed-effective-concentration (LOEC) of r in exposed to As, Cr and Pb were 0.63, 0.63 and 10.00 mg L^-1, respectively. Precisely, a concentration of greater than 0.63 mg L^-1 of As, 0.63 mg L^-1 of Cr and 10.00 mg L^-1 of Pb in marine ecosystems induced toxic effect on the r of S. costatum. Based on our results, we suggested that the r of S. costatum might be a useful bio-indicator for the toxicity assessment of heavy metals on the producer in marine ecosystems.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.34.3-34.3
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• 2020

Faint z ~ 5 quasars with M1450 ~ -23 mag are known to be the potentially important contributors to the ultraviolet ionizing background in the post-reionization era. However, their number density has not been well determined, making it difficult to assess their role in the early ionization of the intergalactic medium (IGM). In this work, we present the updated results of our z ~ 5 quasar survey using the Infrared Medium-deep Survey (IMS), a near-infrared imaging survey covering an area of 85 square degrees. From our spectroscopic observations with the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on the Gemini-South 8 m Telescope, we discovered eight new quasars at z ~ 5 with -26.1 ≤ M1450 ≤ -23.3. Combining our IMS faint quasars with the brighter Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) quasars, we derive, for the first time, the z ~ 5 quasar luminosity function (QLF) without any fixed parameters down to the magnitude limit of M1450 = -23 mag. We find that the faint-end slope of the QLF is very flat (-1.2) with a characteristic luminosity of -25.7 mag. The number density of z ~ 5 quasars from the QLF gives lower ionizing emissivity and ionizing photon density than those in previous works. These results imply that quasars are responsible for only 10-20% of the photons required to completely ionize the IGM at z ~ 5, disfavoring the idea that quasars alone could have ionized the IGM at z ~ 5.