• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.236-243
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• 2022

Background: In the case of multiple exposures to different types of heavy metals, such as the conditions faced by residents living near a smelter, it would be preferable to group hazardous substances with similar characteristics rather than individually related substances and evaluate the effects of each group on the human body. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the utility of factor analysis in the assessment of health effects caused by exposure to two or more hazardous substances with similar characteristics, such as in the case of residents living near a smelter. Methods: Heavy metal concentration data for 572 people living in the vicinity of the Janghang smelter area were grouped based on several subfactors according to their characteristics using factor analysis. Using these factor scores as an independent variable, multiple regression analysis was performed on health effect markers. Results: Through factor analysis, three subfactors were extracted. Factor 1 contained copper and zinc in serum and revealed a common characteristic of the enzyme co-factor in the human body. Factor 2 involved urinary cadmium and arsenic, which are harmful metals related to kidney damage. Factor 3 encompassed blood mercury and lead, which are classified as related to cardiovascular disease. As a result of multiple linear regression analysis, it was found that using the factor index derived through factor analysis as an independent variable is more advantageous in assessing the relevance to health effects than when analyzing the two heavy metals by including them in a single regression model. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that regression analysis linked with factor analysis is a good alternative in that it can simultaneously identify the effects of heavy metals with similar properties while overcoming multicollinearity that may occur in environmental epidemiologic studies on exposure to various types of heavy metals.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.712-720
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• 2022

In this study, we evaluated the production and photoreactivity of CDOM of two polar phytoplanktons - Phaeocystis antarctica and Phaeocystis pouchetii, in order to find out UV effects on phytoplanktons. In visible region, CDOM in media of both phytoplanktons under UV-R decreased during 48hrs incubation period. However, in UV region CDOM decreased 30 % in the media of P. antarctica, but increased 10% in media of P. pouchetii, compared to CDOM concentrations of control after 48 hr incubation. This result indicates that biota in polar environment would not well protected from UV-R harmful effect when P. antarctica is dominant because of loss of CDOM, but when P. pouchetii is dominant species, production of UV absorbing organic matter could play more efficiently for UV screening for marine biota. Also we confirmed that FDOM of humic substance (C-peak) produced by these phtoplanktons under UV-R stress were well matched with fluorescence characteristics of the UV-protecting compound, MAAs. This finding shows that Phaeocystis pouchetti with low photoreactivity would contribute to DOM pool of polar marine environment under stratification by global warming.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2022

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to reveal the circumstances under which the cases of harm to health caused by humidifier disinfectant were neglected and show the points where the number of victims and the degree of damage could have been reduced. In addition, it attempts to describe how damage management proceeded immediately after the incident and actually exacerbated the damage. Finally, it explores the unfortunate aspects of the recent trial. By doing so, it attempts to take this as an opportunity to consider whether a tragic event such as the humidifier disinfectant incident could occur in the future. Methods: This study collected and analyzed data on chemical material characteristics related to humidifier disinfectants, data on health effect characteristics, data on related laws and regulations from the Ministry of Environment, data related to the damage investigation by the Korea Environmental Industry and Technology Institute, and current contents. Results: The lack of related systems and laws is the area where the greatest responsibility for the cause of the humidifier disinfectant disaster falls, so it is difficult for the government to escape this responsibility. Establishing a dedicated department to identify the prevalence of certain diseases within the functions of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service to monitor health can greatly contribute to the prevention and management of diseases through early detection and management of group outbreaks caused by harmful factors. Humidifier disinfectant damage relief should have been expanded earlier beyond HDLI (humidifier disinfectant lung injury) to include non-specific diseases such as asthma, pneumonia, and interstitial pneumonia. The scope of relief benefits should have also been expanded earlier to include the payment of disability benefits. Fortunately, with the 2020 revision of the Special Act, the conditions for estimating causal relations were eased and individual screening systems such as health impact assessment were reorganized along with the introduction of a rapid screening system. Conclusions: The management system for chemical substances in a country is clearly of paramount importance, and the ministry in charge must have a response system in case of damage to health effects. Administration that looks at the victims' situation from their point of view is needed, and technical countermeasures are required to quickly recognize the prevalence of certain diseases.

• Journal of Dental Rehabilitation and Applied Science
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.9-17
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• 2022

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate how open contacts impact the natural teeth and dental implant prostheses. Materials and Methods: Following criteria were used to select 20 implant crowns with open proximal contacts as the experimental group (Group A): the restorations were delivered in Chosun University Dental Hospital between 2008 and 2018, the restorations are in the posterior region, opposing teeth are fixed dental prostheses, neighboring teeth are sound natural teeth, the patient had been on the maintenance program for at least 3 years. Another 20 implant crowns with closed proximal contacts were selected as the control group (Group B) using the same criteria. Between the two groups, dental caries and food impaction of the neighboring natural teeth and marginal bone-loss of the implants were compared and evaluated. Results: There was no statistically significant difference between Group A and Group B in the occurrence rates of dental caries, food impaction, and marginal bone-loss. The amount of marginal bone-loss, however, revealed statistically significant differences between the two groups, with Group A showing 0.80 ± 0.39 mm loss and Group B showing 1.1 ± 0.43 mm loss. Conclusion: Implant prostheses with open contacts could be clinically considered in select cases as such restorations revealed no harmful effects on neighboring teeth and implant restorations within the perimeters of this study.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.159-167
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• 2023

Titanium dioxide (TiO₂) is commonly used in sunscreen formulations to protect the skin surface and prevent the penetration of harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays by the physical scattering action of light. However, a disadvantage of using TiO₂ is that it can cause white turbidity when used on skin due to its inactive mineral ingredient. In addition, when TiO₂ particles are reduced to nanosize to eliminate opacity, they can increase the transmittance of visible light and reduce whitening, but may lead to serious skin problems, such as allergic inflammation. To overcome these issues, the bandgap of TiO₂ was controlled by adjusting the amount of oxygen defect and nitrogen amount, resulting in color TiO₂ tailored to the skin. This innovative technology can reduce the whitening phenomenon and effectively block blue light, which is known to cause skin aging by inducing active oxygen. The bandgap controlled TiO₂ compounds proposed in this study are hypoallergenic, broad-spectrum, and environmentally friendly. Furthermore, these compounds have been shown to significantly enhance sun protection factor (SPF) of sunscreens, demonstrating their compatibility with blue light blocking products.

• Journal of Practical Agriculture & Fisheries Research
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.163-179
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• 2015

The aim of this study is to investigate to which degree farmers did the crop switching and cultivar renewal as a confrontational strategy to climate change, and which problems they had in that process, and then to provide the supporting plans for them. We conducted a questionnaire survey of 15 citrus farmers of the KNCAP graduates in Jeju Island. Most of the survey respondents agreed to the climate change of Jeju Island and the subtropical climate of its coastal area. The farmers have experienced irregular weather such as abnormal high temperature, frequent rain, and droughts, resulting in the harmful insects and new weeds attack. As the climate change strategies, they are adopting a greenhouse culture system, improving a soil drainage using reorganization of planting space, making a new pest management program, and trying to switch a crop to subtropical fruits. It is expected that 50% of the survey respondents have changed their crops or will do; and 73 % of them have changed cultivar or have a plan to do. Only a few farmers directly pointed to a reason for their efforts to change the crops or to renew the cultivars as the anti-climate change strategy, however, most farmers answered the reason was to increase profitability by meeting their consumers' tastes. Presently, it is not the anti-climate change strategy but increase of profitability by meeting the consumers' needs the reason why most of the survey respondents have changed their crops or renewed the cultivars, while a few of them switched their crops to a subtropical fruit trees due to climate change. On the crop switching, they had some difficulties such as a labor shortage, availability of land, operating costs and instable income. On the cultivar renewal, also, they encountered the lack of cultivating techniques for new cultivars and the dim future for the new market. In long-term perspective, Jeju's farmers need new information and educational programs about the effect of climate change on agriculture of Jeju, and cultivation techniques for new crops and new cultivars.

• Journal of Mushroom
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.31-36
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• 2024

Plastics are widely used in industries in human society and because of their structural stability, degradation is a serious global issue. To estimate the degradation of plastic, 31 edible mushrooms were cultured with the selected plastic films (polyethylene [PE], polystyrene [PS], and poly(ethylene terephthalate) [PET]) for 3 months at 25 ℃. Measuring the weight of the films showed that four species of mushrooms, namely Porostereum spadiceum, Ganoderma lucidum, Coprinellus micaceus, and Pleurotus ostreatus, exhibited the highest degrees of plastic degradation. In addition, the mushrooms and fungi that exhibited the most significant plastic degradation were cross-cultured to promote this degradation. As a result, cross-cultivation of G. lucidum and Aspergillus niger showed a weight loss of 2.49% for the PET film. For the PS film, Aspergillus nidulans showed a weight loss of 4.06%. Cross-cultivation of A. nidulans and C. micaceus, which showed a weight loss of 2.95%, was noted as an alternative for PS biodegradation, but is harmful to humans. These bio-degradation effects of edible mushroom will contribute to the development of alternatives for eco-friendly plastic degradation.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.1287-1298
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• 2024

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that is currently difficult to treat effectively. Both Bacillus natto (BN) and ginseng-soluble dietary fiber (GSDF) are anti-inflammatory and helps sustain the intestinal barrier. In this study, the protective effects and mechanism of the combination of B. natto JLCC513 and ginseng-soluble dietary fiber (BG) in DSS-induced UC mice were investigated. Intervention with BG worked better than taking BN or GSDF separately, as evidenced by improved disease activity index, colon length, and colon injury and significantly reduced the levels of oxidative and inflammatory factors (LPS, ILs, and TNF-α) in UC mice. Further mechanistic study revealed that BG protected the intestinal barrier integrity by maintaining the tight junction proteins (Occludin and Claudin1) and inhibited the LPS/TLR4/NF-κB pathway in UC mice. In addition, BG increased the abundance of beneficial bacteria such as Bacteroides and Turicibacter and reduced the abundance of harmful bacteria such as Allobaculum in the gut microbiota of UC mice. BG also significantly upregulated genes related to linoleic acid metabolism in the gut microbiota. These BG-induced changes in the gut microbiota of mice with UC were significantly correlated with changes in pathological indices. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that BG exerts protective effect against UC by regulating the LPS/TLR4/NF-κB pathway and the structure and metabolic function of gut microbiota. Thus, BG can be potentially used in intestinal health foods to treat UC.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.8-17
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• 2000

Estrogen can influence on the expression of behaviors not associated directly with reproduction, including learning and memory. Recently estrogen has received considerable attention for its effects on neuroprotection and neural circuits in brain areas associated with cognition. Although estrogen replacement therapy may be helpful to postmenopausal women, it also results in a number of harmful side effects. Ginseng also has steroidal qualities and contains several ginsenoside components which have similar backbone structure to estrogen. The objectives of this experiment were 1) to examine the effects of estrogen and 2) to investigate the effects of ginsenosides as estrogenic agent on learning and memory using the Morris water maze, a traditional experimental task for spatial memory. In the experiments designed here, ovariectomized mice were implanted subcutaneously with Sila, itic capsules containing 17${\beta}$-estradiol (100∼250 $\mu\textrm{g}$/$m\ell$), panaxadiol (PD) and panaxatriol (PT) saponins (15∼100 $\mu\textrm{g}$/$m\ell$) diluted with sesame oil. In the first set of experiment, the effects of estradiol on learning and memory during the Morris water maze was examined. When estradiol was delivered via Silastic capsules following training improved spatial memory performance in ovariectomized female mice. In the second set of experiment, three different PD and PT saponin concentrations were delivered via Silastic implants to ovariectomized female mice and their effects were compared with estrogenic effects. Results of three separate experiments demonstrated that estradiol, PD and PT administrated by Silastic implants for 2 weeks prior to water maze training significantly improved spatial memory performance compared to ovariectomized (OVX) mice, as indicated by lower escape latency over trial. The positive effect of estradiol suggests that estrogen can affect performance on learning and memory. In addition, the positive effect of PD and PT saponins suggest that ginsenosides have an estrogen-like effects in mediating learning and memory related behavior action.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.989-1002
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• 1996

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a pulsed Nd:YAG laser irradiation on human gingival tissues. The patients, who were planned to be treated by clinical crown lengthening procedure and gingivectomy, were selected. All the patients received oral hygiene instruction, scaling and root planing at preoperation. The crest of gingival tissue on upper and lower anterior teeth was irradiated by a pulsed Nd:YAG laser(El. EN. EN060, Italy) with a fiber optic of 300 m in contact mode for 20 seconds. Gingival tissues were divided into 4 groups according to the laser power of 1.0W(10Hz, 100mJ), 2.0W(20Hz, 100mJ), 3.0W(30Hz, 100mJ) and 4.0W(40Hz, 100mJ). Immediately after the laser irradiation, the specimens were excised, fixed 10% neutral formalin, sectioned $4-6{\mu}m$ thick, stained by Hematoxylin-Eosin and Periodic Acid Schiff stain and observed under light microscope. The removed tissue depth and the coagulated layer depth due to a laser irradiation by a laser irradiation were measured on the microphotographs. The difference of measurements according to the different laser power was statistical1y analyzed by Kruskal Wallis Test with SAS program. The results were as follows : 1. In histologic findings of irradiated gingival tissues; a. In the irradiated gingival specimen with 1.0W laser power, some vesicles were observed in limited superficial layer of gingival epithelium. b. In the irradiated gingival specimen with 2.0W and 3.0W laser power, the epithelium was almost removed except for the traces of viable basal cell remnants at ret peg, and coagulation necrosis related with the thermal effect of laser was noted. c. In the irradiated gingival specimen with 4.0W laser power, complete removal of epithelium, partial removal of underlying connective tissue, and the coagulation necrosis of subjacent gingival tissue were shown. 2. The removed tissue depth was deeper in the irradiated specimens with higher power. There was a statistical significance in the difference of removed tissue depth between 1.0W group ($44.54{\pm}6.99um$) and 3.0W group ($99.75{\pm}6.64{\mu}m$), and between 1.0W group($44.54{\pm}6.99{\mu}m$) and 4.0W group($111.36{\pm}4.50{\mu}m$), and between 2.0W group($98.01{\pm}4.53{\mu}m$) and 4.0W group($111.36{\pm}4.50{\mu}m$)(P<0.05). 3. The coagulated layer depth was deeper in the irradiated specimens with higher power. There was a statistical significance in the difference of coagulated layer depth between 1.0W group($31.82{\pm}8.99{\mu}m$) and 3.0W group($55.99{\pm}20.94{\mu}m$), and between 1.0W group($31.82{\pm}8.99{\mu}m$) and 4.0W group($83.68{\pm}10.34{\mu}m$)(P<0.05). From this study, the results demonstrated that the effects of a pulsed Nd:YAG laser irradiation on gingival tissues seemed to depend on the laser power and that the irradiation with high power could be harmful to adjacent healthy tissue.