• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
• /
• v.32 no.5
• /
• pp.411-417
• /
• 2017

This study was conducted to establish the analysis method for the contents of choline in infant formulas and follow-up formulas by ion chromatograph (IC). To optimize the method, we compared several conditions for extraction, purification and instrumental measurement using spiked samples and certified reference material (CRM; NIST SRM 1849a) as test materials. IC method for choline was established using Ion Pac CG column and 18 mM $H_2SO_4$ mobile phase. The parameters of validation were specificity, linearity, LOD, LOQ, recovery, accuracy, precision and repeatability. The specificity was confirmed by the retention time and the linearity, $R_2$ was over 0.999 in range of 0.5~10 mg/L. The detection limit and quantification limit were 0.14, 0.43 mg/L. The accuracy and precision of this method using CRM were 95%, 2.1% respectively. Optimized methods were applied in sample analysis to verify the reliability. All the tested products were acceptable contents of choline compared with component specification for nutrition labeling. The standard operating procedures were prepared for choline to provide experimental information and to strengthen the management of nutrient in infant formula and follow-up formula.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.31-42
• /
• 2002

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to evaluate the present status of hospice palliative care programs in Korea as a basic database for standardization of hospice palliative care. Method : The data was collected from July to October, 2001. The instrument used for this study was the questionnaires which was consisted of the general characteristics of organization, recipient of service, manpower, contents of service, financial conditions and facilities. Sixty-four hospice palliative care programs answered the questionnaires, confirmed by telephone. Results : They were 40 hospital-based hospice palliative care programs and 24 nonmedical hospice palliative care programs. 11 Hospital-based hospice palliative programs have isolated unit or hospital affiliated free standing hospice. 6 Non-hospital hospice palliative programs have a free standing hospice. Major subjects of hospice palliative program were terminal cancer patients but patients with non-terminal illness were also included. Only 24 of 64 hospice palliative programs had all of the essential professionals : physicians, nurses, social workers, and clergies. Home hospice palliative care programs have a referral system in hospital based (89.7%) and nonmedical programs (73.7%). 24hr hospice are were provided in 26 hospital-based (65.0%) and 9nonmedical programs (37.5%). There were rooms for family in half of hospital-based programs. 73.9% of hospice palliative care programs have financial problems. 62.0% of Hospice palliative care programs need financial support from government. Conclusion : 64 Hospice palliative care programs provided hospice palliative services but had many problems in manpower, quality of care and facility. For improving the quality of terminal patients' life and promoting the cost effectiveness of health care resources, it is necessary to consider the standardization and institutionalization of hospice palliative care.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.271-276
• /
• 2012

This study intented to standardize the method for total polysaccharide, which is a functional marker for aloe vera gel in Korea. We used four lyophilized raw materials and commercial aloe gel products, certified as Health Functional Food by Korea Food and Drug Administration, including powder, solution, jelly, tablet and capsule, to optimize the analytical condition of dialysis and phenol-sulfuric acid reaction in polysaccharide analysis. The optimal conditions for polysaccharide analysis included 1 L water for dialysis and change 3 times for 24hr against 25 mL prepared sample solution. Validation test showed lower than 5% of coefficient of variation(CV) in intra-, interday validation in lyophilized raw materials and 4 types of commercial products. In inter-person and inter-laboratory validation with 4 persons from 4 different laboratories, CV(%) were 5.50 and 6.64 respectively. The linearity of polysaccharide analysis was assessed using 5 serial concentration of lyophilized raw materials(0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5%(w/v)). The results showed $R^2{\geq}0.995$ of high linearity. In the commercial aloe vera gel products, the results of reproductivity showed lower than 7.08% and revealed that the standardized method from this study ensured high precision for polysaccharide analysis.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.154-163
• /
• 1989

This studies were designed to improve the productivity of L-lysine by protoplast fusion and immobilized system of fusants using strains of Brevibacterium flavum ATCC 21528, Brevibacterium lactofermentum ATCC 21086 and Corynebacterium glutamicum 820. Mutants were isolated with concentration method of $300{\mu}g/ml$ penicillin-G after treatment of $250{\mu}g/ml$ N-methyl-N-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine. B. flavum $37-2(Hos^-,\;Kan^r,\;AEC^r)$, B. lactofermentum $6-2(Ile^-,\;Val^-,\;Str^r,\;AEC^r)$ and C. glutamicum 57-5$(Met^-,\;Thr^-,\;Rif^r,\;AEC^r)$ were isolated from mutants. Protoplasts were induced by being incubated with $500{\mu}g/ml$ lysozyme of lysis solution for 6 hr and the ratio of protoplast formation and regeneration were ranging from 97-99% and 33-37%, respectively. Fusion frequencies of fusants of BBFL 21, BCFG 37 and BCLG 59 were shown in the range from $1.25{\times}10^{-6}\;to\;5.83{\times}10^{-7}$ under the optimum conditions. The fusant BBFL 21 showed the highest productivity of $411.1\;ng/ml{\cdot}hr$ L-lysine in the lysine productivity broth at $30^{\circ}C$ for 72hr. In the immobilization systems, fusant BBFL 21 was employed in various polymer matrices such as sodium alginate, polyacrylamide, agar and ${\alpha}-carrageena$. The immobilization of sodium alginate showed the highest productivity of $413\;ng/ml{\cdot}hr$ L-lysine in the batch system. Continuous fermentation of immobilization system by using tube fermentor was produced the highest productivity $416.7\;ng/ml{\cdot}hr $ L-lysine under optimum condition.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.25 no.6
• /
• pp.680-685
• /
• 2015

Previously, cellulase and xylanase producing microorganism, Bacillus subtilis NC1, was isolated from soil. Based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence and API 50 CHL test the strain was identified as Bacillus subtilis, and named as B. subtilis NC1. We cloned and sequenced the genes for cellulase and xylanase. Plus, the deduced amino acid sequences from the genes of cellulase and xylanase were determined and were also identified as glycosyl hydrolases family (GH) 5 and 30, respectively. In this study to optimize the medium parameters for cellulase production by B. subtilis NC1 the RSM (response surface methodology) based on CCD (central composite design) model was performed. Three factors, tryptone, yeast extract, and NaCl, for N or C source were investigated. The cellulase activity was measured with a carboxylmethyl cellulose (CMC) plate and the 3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid (DNS) methods. The coefficient of determination (R²) for the model was 0.960, and the probability value (p=0.0001) of the regression model was highly significant. Based on the RSM, the optimum conditions for cellulase production by B. subtilis NC1 were predicted to be tryptone of 2.5%, yeast extract of 0.5%, and NaCl of 1.0%. Through the model verification, cellulase activity of Bacillus subtilis NC1 increased from 0.5 to 0.62 U/ml (24%) compared to the original medium.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
• /
• v.33 no.2
• /
• pp.111-118
• /
• 2015

Probiotic, prebiotic, and synbiotic substances as well as microorganisms were added to infant formula in an attempt to influence the intestinal microflora with an aim to stimulate the growth of lactic acid bacteria, especially bifidobacteria and lactobacilli. Over the last 10 years, new synbiotic infant formulas containing probiotics and prebiotics have been proposed in order to simulate the effect of breast-feeding on the intestinal microflora. Owing to their synergistic effect, the new synbiotics are expected to be more helpful than using probiotics and prebiotics individually. Maintenance of the viability of the probiotics during food processing and the passage through the gastrointestinal tract should be the most important consideration, since a sufficient number of bacteria ($10^8cfu/g$) should reach the intended location to have a positive effect on the host. Storage conditions and the processing technology used for the manufacture of products such as infant formula adversely affect the viability of the probiotics. When an appropriate and cost-effective microencapsulation methodology using the generally recognized as safe (GRAS) status and substances with high biological value are developed, the quality of infant formulas would improve. The effect of probiotics may be called a double-effect, where one is an immunomodulatory effect, induced by live probiotics that advantageously alter the gastrointestinal microflora, and the other comprises anti-inflammatory responses elicited by dead cells. At present, a new terminology is required to define the dead microorganisms or crude microbial fractions that positively affect health. The term "paraprobiotics" (or ghost probiotics) has been proposed to define dead microbial cells (not damaged or broken) or crude cell extracts (i.e., cell extracts with complex chemical composition) that are beneficial to humans and animals when a sufficient amount is orally or topically administered. The fecal microflora of bottle-fed infants is altered when the milk-based infant formula is supplemented with probiotics or prebiotics. Thus, by increasing the proportion of beneficial bacteria such as bifidobacteria and lactobacilli, prebiotics modify the fecal microbial composition and accordingly regulate the activity of the immune system. Therefore, considerable attention has been focused on the improvement of infant formula quality such that its beneficial effects are comparable to those of human milk, using prebiotics such as inulin and oligosaccharides and potential specific probiotics such as bifidobacteria, which selectively stimulate the proliferation of beneficial bacteria in the microflora and the indigenous intestinal metabolic activity of the microflora.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.28-36
• /
• 2012

Forests are one of the basic assets nearest our daily lives that provide the foundation of life necessities, culture and even survival. These assets pervade local residents' lives as culture and the necessities of life, and they will be handed down to posterity. Therefore, this study was conducted to carry out a field survey on old trees, plant communities and forests in the southern coastal areas in Korea, where not many surveys were not conducted on the forest cultural assets, further examining a possibility that some of the trees should be designated as law-protected. As for the survey of plants, this study investigated 80 different spots of old trees, plant communities and forests, located in 11 cities and counties in Gyengnam Province and Jeonnam Province adjacent to the southern coast of Korea. To measure the health and actual maintenance conditions of old trees and plant communities objectively, the standard of judgment was established through the brain storming of experts. As a result of the field survey, out of all the old trees and plant communities that are not law-protected, this study selected old trees and plant communities that are in good health and likely to pass the standard of designating law-protected trees according to the Established Rule 574 of the Korea Forest Service Regulation. As for the plant community and old trees likely to be law-protected, this study judged that the torreya forest in Naneum Li, Namhae and old trees in 13 spots, in cluding so-called 'Couple Pine Tree' in Pyeongsa Li, Hadong, have a high possibility of being designated as a law-protected plant community and old trees. As for the species of old trees, there were 3 zelkova serrata trees, 3 celtis sinensis persoon trees, 2 pinus densiflora trees, 1 castanopsis cuspidata tree, 1 salix chaenomeloides tree and 1 machilus thunbergii tree found in the survey areas. Overall, this study judged that those old trees and plant communities require a national systematic maintenance by being designated as law-protected ones, and their values should be handed down to posterity as our forest cultural assets.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.129-155
• /
• 2008

The rate of antibiotics prescription for an acute airway infection significantly varies depending upon the diagnosis type, specialty, and the location of the hospital along with many other related factors. The objective of this study is to empirically investigate the possible relationship between the antibiotics prescription rates for an acute airway infection and the degree of competition in the hospital market regions of mainly the providers of primary medical care services such as clinics, internal medicines, pediatrics and otorhinolaryngology department. Using the data from Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) regarding the hospitals' antibiotics prescription rates for the acute airway infection and controlling for selected variables of demand and supply sectors, this study tries to figure out that the degree of competition in the hospital market, regardless of what type of competition indexes we employed, has a statistically significant effect on the variations of antibiotics prescription rate of the clinics in local areas. This result implies that as an economic consideration itself, the change in the degree of competition in the hospital market can play a crucial role influencing the treatment behaviors of the medical doctors. More specifically, this study reveals that as the degree of competition increases the antibiotics prescription rate goes up. This result means that if the market becomes more competitive in a specific region so that it might cause a reduction in doctor's income, doctors with rational decision-making process, recognize that the benefit created from inducing patients' seemingly unnecessary demand for medical care (income effect) would be higher than the costs associated with sustaining their targeted income (substitution effect). It is because that the doctors are more likely to prescribe antibiotics which create relatively higher margins than other medical care services in order to sustain their targeted income when the hospital market competition becomes tighter. Even though this study empirically confirms that antibiotics prescription can be affected by the economic incentives, it still raises following issues as limitations of the study: first issue is about the representativeness of the hospital regions segregated for this study, which might be weak in explaining whether these regions are mutually exclusive in reality. Patients actually consider the quality of services, transportation cost, time costs, and any other related factors choosing the doctors or hospitals, and in that sense, this study rules out 'border-crossing' in using the medical care services. Second issue arises in capturing the data of antibiotics prescription rate. Since we use the average rate for each medical institution, we cannot figure out the average rate for each patient so that we are not able to control for the variation of patients' medical conditions. It is because of the unavailability of data regarding each patient's medical condition from HIRA. Thirdly, since this study mainly analyzes the medical institutions providing primary care such as clinics, internal medicines, pediatrics, and otorhinolaryngology department, it is skeptical of whether those institutions can represent the hospital market in respective regions and truly reflect the degree of competition. It needs to extend the study areas and disease types as well as any micro data for future studies.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.26 no.6
• /
• pp.689-697
• /
• 2016

Kefir is an acidic-alcoholic fermented milk product originating from the Caucasian mountains. Kefir has long been known for its probiotic health benefits, including its immunomodulatory effects. The objectives of this study were to investigate the properties of a fermented whey product and to examine the effects of kefir grains on the in vitro immune-modulation of human mast cell-1 (HMC-1). The results showed that the whey fermented by kefir grains contained the maximum lactic acid bacteria and yeast for 16 hr by 1.83×10⁸ and 6.5×10⁵ CFU/ml, respectively, and lactose and whey proteins were partially hydrolyzed. The experimental whey fermented by kefir grains exhibited an in vitro anti-inflammatory effect on the HMC-1 line for 8, 16, and 24 hr, and this effect induced the expression of interleukin (IL)-4 as a pro-inflammatory cytokine, but not for 48 hr by RT-PCR in HMC-1 cells. In addition, the same phenomenon was observed for the expression of IL-8 as a pro-inflammatory cytokine by the kefir-fermented whey during the same periods of 8-48 hr under the same conditions. These cytokines resulted in the production of IL-4 at 20-25 ng in HMC-1 cells for 8, 16, and 24 hr, whereas 5 ng was produced for 48 hr by the fermented whey. In contrast, IL-8 was produced at 15-20 ng in HMC-1 cells during 4, 8, 16, and 24 hr, while 7 ng was produced at 48 hr. It was concluded that the whey fermented by kefir grains possesses a potential anti-inflammatory function, which could be used for an industrial application as an ingredient of functional foods and pharmaceutical products.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.1-10
• /
• 1976

This study was conducted in order to observe some descriptive epidemiological findings and causes of life-long labour force loss in the rural population of Korea, and to consider, on the basis of these observations, some principles of the necessary control measures. The total number of subjects in the study was 27,172, all family members of 4,174 households. The study population was located in the 81 counties, out of a total of 138 counties, where the college students conducted service activities during the summer of 1974. In each village area where these service activities were conducted, one household per student interviewer was randomly selected. Student interviewers were instructed on the contents of the questionnaire prior to the survey. The main contents of the questionnaire form included address, name, sex and age of each family members, and present life-long labour force loss, if any, of each family member. In cases of current labour force loss, the age of onset and causes were recorded. Of the total households surveyed, 8.9% had family members (1-4 in number) with life-long labour force loss. Of the total persons surveyed, the crude prevalence rate for life-long labour force loss was 15.1 per 1,000; and the age-standardized prevalence rates for male and female were 16.3 per 1,000 and 13.4 per 1,000, respectively. The rates, in both sexes, were gradually increased as the ages were increased. The prevalence rates per 1,000, in order, for life-long labour force loss by the causes were 10.2 for senility, 2.4 for impairment of extremities, 1.2 for chronic diseases of internal organs, 0.5 for other conditions of muosculoskeletal system, 0.4 for blindness in both eyes, 0.2 for impairment of spine, 0.2 for psychoses, and 0.1 for epilepsy. Among them the causes of impairment of extremities were stroke, poliomyelitis, accidents, arthritis and injury due to war operation, in that order of higher relative frequency. The frequency ratios by age of onset were also observed by the causes and sex.