• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.55 no.3
• /
• pp.226-233
• /
• 2019

Ochratoxin A (OTA) that is one of mycotoxins produced mainly by Aspergillus spp. is a common contaminant of stored grains and poses health hazards to human and livestock. The aim of this study is to explore the ability of isolated bacteria Bacillus subtilis AF13 and Streptomyces shenzhenensis YR226 to inhibit growth and OTA production of 3 ochratoxigenic Aspergillus strains. The antifungal activity against mycelial growth and sporulation of Aspergillus strains was examined by coculture with AF13 and YR226 on potato dextrose agar plate. AF13 and YR226 reduced 77.58 and 78.48% of fungal colony radius, respectively, and both strains inhibited fungal sporulation up to 99% in 10 days of incubation. YR226 also reduced more than 91% of spore germination of 3 fungal strains. When Aspergillus strains were cocultured with AF13 or YR226 in yeast extract sucrose medium, mycelial growth and OTA production decreased in all three fungal strains. In particular, AF13 completely inhibited the mycelial growth of A. alutaceus and inhibited its OTA production by 99%, and YR226 also reduced mycelial growth and toxin production up to 99%, respectively. Antimicrobial substances produced by AF13 and YR226 included siderophore, chitinase, protease, ${\beta}$-1,3-glucanase and biosurfactant. These results suggest that AF13 and YR226 can be used in a biological method to prevent valuable crops against mycotoxigenic fungi, and therefore decrease economic damage in agriculture and feed industry.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
• /
• v.5 no.3
• /
• pp.359-367
• /
• 2019

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of ingestion of rabies and ginseng fruit extracts on alcohol hangover, liver damage protection, fatigue recovery, and physical strength improvement. A total of 64 volunteers aged over 20 were participated in this study and the randomized and repeated measures design method was used to divide a group of participants with a random assignment. All participants were divided into 4 groups (n=16) treated with hoveni dulcis thunb extract + ginseng berry extract (ARI 1000), hoveni dulcis thunb extract, ginseng berry extract, and placebo. As a result of respiratory alcohol concentration change, the group treated with ARI 1000 was significantly lower than the group treated with hoveni dulcis thunb extract, ginseng berry extract, and placebo in 1 hour of drinking, and significantly lower than the placebo group in 2 hours and 3 hours of drinking (p<0.05). After 2 and 3 hours of alcohol consumption, blood alcohol concentration of the group treated with rabies ARI 1000 was significantly lower than those of the other 3 groups (p <0.05). In conclusion, ingestion of ARI 1000 before drinking may significantly reduce the respiratory and blood alcohol concentrations, which may induce an effect on the hangover effect.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
• /
• v.51 no.3
• /
• pp.370-378
• /
• 2019

The hepatic ischemic model has recently been widely used for the epidemiological study of ischemic reperfusion injury. This study was carried out to investigate the protective effect of vanillin, which is known to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, against hepatic and renal injury using an ischemia-reperfusion rat model, and we also investigated the mechanism related to vanillins' protective effect. The test material was administered at a concentration of 100 mg/kg for 3 days, followed by ligation of the liver for 60 minutes to induce ischemia reperfusion. As control groups, there was a negative control, sham control and ischemia-reperfusion-only ischemia reperfusion control, and the controls groups were compared with the drug administration group. In the vanillin group, aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activities were significantly inhibited compared with the AST and ALT activities of the ischemia-reperfusion group, and histopathological examination showed significant reduction of both inflammation and necrosis. The malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels were significantly different from the ischemia-reperfusion group. In conclusion, vanillin showed a hepatocyte protective action by alleviating the cellular inflammation and cell necrosis caused by hepatic ischemia-reperfusion, and vanillin mitigated inflammatory changes in the kidney glomeruli and distal tubules. The protective effect is considered to be caused by vanillin's antioxidant function. Further studies such as on cell death and possibly vanillin's same effect on damaged tissue will be necessary for clinical applications such as organ transplantation.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Environmental Technology
• /
• v.19 no.6
• /
• pp.576-585
• /
• 2018

Systematic management during the whole life cycle from construction to operation and maintenance is very important for the seven underground pipelines (waterworks, sewerage, electricity, telecommunications, gas, heating, oil including waterworks and sewerage). Especially, it is the construction process that affects the whole life cycle of underground buried pipeline. In order to construct a new city or to maintain different underground pipes, it is always necessary to dig the ground and carry out construction and related work. There is a possibility that secondary and tertiary breaks frequently occur in the pipeline construction process after the piping constructed first in this process. To solve this problem, a system is needed which can monitor damage in real time. However, the supply of electric power for continuous operation of the system is limited according to the environment of underground buried pipelines, so it is necessary to develop a stable electric power supply system using natural energy rather than existing electric power. In this study, we developed a system that can operate the pipeline monitoring system for long time (24 hours and 15 days) using natural energy using wind and solar light.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
• /
• v.53 no.3
• /
• pp.208-216
• /
• 2021

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This study aimed to investigate the status of renal function in patients with COVID-19. The study surveyed a total of 649 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 at a hospital located in southern Gyeonggi Province, South Korea over a one month period in January 2021. The parameters analyzed were blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine, sodium, potassium, chloride, and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). The BUN and creatinine of the COVID-19 patients were found to be higher than the normal reference range, specially in males, and in the elderly (60s and 80s or older). The serum electrolyte levels of the patients were observed to be within the reference intervals. Of the subjects, males over 80 years of age had a Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) of 60 mL/min/1.73 m² or less. Recent research suggests that some severe cases of COVID-19 are showing signs of kidney damage, even in those with no prior underlying kidney disease. Thus, assessment of kidney function using multiple indicators could help diagnose abnormal renal function in patients with COVID-19.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
• /
• v.54 no.5
• /
• pp.489-500
• /
• 2021

Purpose: This study aimed at investigating the nutritional status, nutritional support, and nutritional indicators of critically ill patients on extracorporeal membrane oxygen (ECMO) in intensive care units (ICU). Methods: This descriptive study obtained data from the medical records of 37 patients who were treated using ECMO at a university hospital in Korea. The patients were admitted to the Korea University Anam Hospital ICU with acute or serious damage to vital organs from January 1, 2014 to June 30, 2016. Results: Although 32 patients (86.5%) were at a high risk of malnutrition, 26 patients (70.3%) were considered normal in terms of nutritional status by the nutritionist at the beginning of their ICU stay. However, after two weeks, nine patients had passed away and only one patient maintained normal status. Parenteral nutrition was started first but took 4.25 ± 6.95 days till initiation. Only eight patients (21.6%) were able to meet their requirement for both calories and protein. The group provided with adequate calorie and protein showed significantly longer use of the ECMO and respirator and longer ICU and total hospital stay than their counterparts. Normal levels of serum albumin and protein of the group at low-risk for malnutrition on the day of initiation of ECMO, which were significantly higher than the high-risk group, declined by the last day of ECMO leading to a lack of significant differences between the two groups. Conclusion: Considering that the nutritional indicators of patients deteriorated as the days on ECMO increased, more aggressive nutritional management to ensure adequate nutritional support should be emphasized from the beginning and throughout the ICU stay.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.321-327
• /
• 2021

Wrist PA-grip view is used to diagnose triangular fibrocartilage complex (TFCC) tear because it can easily diagnose damage to the surrounding wrist ligaments. However, despite advances in radiology equipment, distortion of images due to geometric elements still has many limitations. In this paper, we propose a method that can minimize the distortions of images by analyzing the distortions occurring in the wrist PA-grip view. A source of image distance (SID) were set at 130 cm and 150 cm for comparison with 110 cm. Depending on the SID, the phantom of wrist was moved at 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 cm in the X-axis and Y-axis directions, respectively. For quantitative evaluation, the difference of distance between the radius and ulna was measured in picture archiving and communication system (PACS) system. As a qualitative evaluation, survey was conducted among 20 radiologic technologists who examined the Wrist PA-grip view. The Kruskal Wallis test was performed to compare the distortion according to the phantom movement in the X-axis and Y-axis directions based on the SID, and the Tukey test was performed as a post-test. In the quantitative evaluation results, the measured values obtained in the X-axis was not significantly different in all groups (p>0.05). The measured values obtained in the Y-axis was significantly different in the most groups (p<0.05). Therefore, to reduce distortion while maintaining image quality, we recommend what examine the SID at 150 cm than 110 cm.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.119-126
• /
• 2021

The modern pentathlon is an exercise in which people and people compete, as well as exercise without equipment, exercise using equipment, and exercise with animals, and it is an exercise that includes static and dynamic exercise. The ethical issues of modern pentathlon athletes are also related to the poor environment and economic reasons, and the athlete's ethical awareness, attitude, and spirit have a great influence on the athlete's mental environment. In this study, the direction of improvement of ethical problems, which are different as important issues in modern sports, was examined, and qualitative research methods were applied to explore the sports spirit and ethics of the modern pentathlon. Correct sports should not deviate from the intended purpose of the exercise or cause or force the athlete to suffer physical or mental pain. In sports, compensatoryism can be a direct cause of improved performance or record-breaking, but sometimes it can also cause distorted athletes. Air doping has ethical issues that can cause controversy over the health or fairness of athletes, mental and physical damage to athletes, and harm. Responsibilities and ethical issues of athletes who take prohibited substances or leaders or supervisors who neglect or encourage them should be treated as very important matters. In the sports field, the reward system that is subordinate to the athlete's or leader's performance is related to the athlete's or leader's livelihood. For a fair and just game progression, it is necessary to break away from the development of athletes who are only focused on performance. The problem of Unethical issues must be overcome by emphasizing the restoration of ethics that are reasonably recognized in ideology and logic.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.21 no.12
• /
• pp.354-361
• /
• 2020

The purpose of this study was to investigate the safety and anti-inflammatory effects of borage oil on dogs. Twelve dogs were fed on a commercial diet of 1% or 2% borage oil alone for twelve weeks. To assess safety, the changes in body weight, blood cells, and immune-related cytokines were analyzed. The results showed that there was no significant difference in body weight, complete blood count (CBC), and immunomodulatory cytokines between the dogs fed with diets without or with borage oil. Also, there was no change in transepidermal water loss (TEWL). However, the amount of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) was reduced significantly in the dogs fed on a borage oil diet. In summary, the addition of borage oil to pet food did not result in any significant health issues. Moreover, borage oil could contribute to a reduction in cell damage in aged dogs although it did not decrease TEWL. Therefore, borage oil could be safe for use in pet foods.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.469-497
• /
• 2020

More than one-third of the world's population still has no access to clean cooking facilities despite global interest and efforts to expand the accessibility of clean cooking fuels. They use traditional biomass, i.e., crops, animal dung and firewood, as their cooking fuel, and the health and economic damage from it is severe. As many studies have been conducted to understand the choice and transition of cooking fuel in developing countries, characteristics of household head have been addressed as one of the main fuel determinants. However, decision-making in households is not only made by household head and can vary depending on the relative characteristics of household members. Thus, this study analyses the determinants of cooking fuel choice through the samples of Cambodian couples(household head and his/her spouse) considering both characteristics of husbands and wives. As a result, it is confirmed that the effects of characteristics, such as employment, education levels, and frequency of media use, between husbands and wives on cooking fuel choice were different. This study is expected to contribute to the development of more sophisticated policies to increase clean fuel in Cambodia, given that it takes into account the characteristics of spouses who have not previously been dealt with in analyzing the determinants of cooking fuel choice and that it is difficult to find research on Cambodia.