• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.477-482
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• 2008

A variety of bacterial strains were isolated from waste disposal sites of Uttaranchal, India, and some from artificially developed soil beds containing maleic anhydride, glucose, and small pieces of polyethylene. Primary screening of isolates was done based on their ability to utilize high- and low-density polyethylenes (HDPE/LDPE) as a primary carbon source. Thereafter, a consortium was developed using potential strains. Furthermore, a biodegradation assay was carried out in 500-ml flasks containing minimal broth (250ml) and HDPE/LDPE at 5mg/ml concentration. After incubation for two weeks, degraded samples were recovered through filtration and subsequent evaporation. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and simultaneous thermogravimetric-differential thermogravimetry-differential thermal analysis (TG-DTG-DTA) were used to analyze these samples. Results showed that consortium-treated HDPE (considered to be more inert relative to LDPE) was degraded to a greater extent (22.41% weight loss) in comparison with LDPE (21.70% weight loss), whereas, in the case of untreated samples, weight loss was more for LDPE than HDPE (4.5% and 2.5%, respectively) at $400^{\circ}C$. Therefore, this study suggests that polyethylene could be degraded by utilizing microbial consortia in an eco-friendly manner.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.17-31
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• 2010

Objectives : Ganoderma Lucidum has been used in traditional oriental medicine to treat various conditions including chronic fatigue and cough. This experimental study was designed to investigate the effects of yeast-fermented Ganoderma Lucidum extract on the fatigue of rats elicited by forced swimming. Materials and methods : The rat subjects were divided into 4 groups: normal group, control group administered with 0.9% normal saline, experimental I(Exp I) group administered with yeast-fermented Ganoderma lucidum extract and experimental II(Exp II) group administered with Ganoderma lucidum extract for 4 weeks. All the serum samples collected by heart puncture were used to measure biochemical factors such as glucose, lactate, lactate dehydrogenase(LDH), creatine kinase(CK), inorganic phosphorus, ammonia, total cholesterol(TC), triglycerides(TG), high-density lipoprotein(HDL), low-density lipoprotein(LDL), aspartate transaminase(AST), alanine transaminase(ALT). Results : 1. Weight change and swimming time were not significantly different in the experimental groups as compared with control group. 2. Lactate was significantly decreased in the experimental groups as compared with control group. Inorganic phosphorus was also significantly decreased in the Exp I group as compared with control group(p<0.05). 3. Serum lipid concentration was not significantly different in the experimental groups as compared with control group. 4. AST and ALT were significantly decrease in the experimental groups as compared with control group. Conclusions : Yeast-fermented Ganoderma lucidum in forced swimming rats would appear to reduce fatigue-related factors, AST, ALT of serum and promote anti-fatigue effect.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2010

Objectives: This study was performed to investigate if organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) were associated with metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance among non-diabetes. Methods: Among subjects who participated in a community-based health survey, 50 non-diabetic subjects with metabolic syndrome and 50 normal controls were selected. Insulin resistance was measured by the homeostasis model assessment (HOMA-IR). Eight OCPs were selected. Results: After adjusting for confounders except for body mass index (BMI), beta-hexachlorocyclohexane ($\beta$-HCH) and heptachlor epoxide were positively associated with metabolic syndrome. Odds ratios across tertiles of $\beta$-HCH and heptachlor epoxide were 1.0, 3.2 and 4.4, and 1.0, 4.0 and 6.0, respectively (p for trend = 0.01 and <0.01). After additional adjustment for body mass index (BMI), heptachlor epoxide still showed an increasing trend with adjusted odds ratios of 1.0, 4.1, and 4.6 (p for trend = 0.10). When the five components of metabolic syndrome (with the definition of high fasting glucose ($\geq$ 100 mg/dL) were separately analyzed, all components were positively, but not significantly, associated with heptachlor epoxide. As the serum concentration of heptachlor epoxide increased, HOMA-IR increased significantly in subjects with metabolic syndrome even after adjusting for BMI (p value <0.05 and <0.01). Conclusions: Despite the small sample size, this study suggests that the background exposure to some OCPs may be associated with metabolic syndrome.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.47-53
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• 2003

The purpose of this study is to improve the system for biological nitrogen oxidizing process in sewage and wastewater. A bacterium having high abilities to oxidize of nitrogen was one of the possessed on Lab. The strain was identified to Bacillus sp. A8-8, based on the physiological and biochemical properties. And the strain has ability degradation crude oil. In comparison with oxidizing rates with changing initial pH and temperature, the strain Bacillus sp. A8-8 was nitrogen oxidizing ability and growth rate on the various of pH, temperature. oxidizing rates of the strain in sewage and wastewater were about 48% and 62%, respectively. The nitrogen oxidizing rate was increased in proportion to the initial concentration of glucose. The microorganism, Bacillus sp. A8-8, immobilized in ceramic carrier were evaluated for the oxidation of ammonia in culture media.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.290-294
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• 2002

The present work describes the improvement of an erythritol-producing strain to lower the formation of glycerol, which is a characteristic by-product of the strain and could cause difficulties in the recovery and purification of the final product. The yeast-like fungi Moniliella suaveolens var. nigra, isolated previously in the same laboratory from beehives, was mutated by exposing it to a 4 g/L NTG solution. From a total of 2000 mutated strains, Em6j30-14 was selected as the one having the most desirable properties. Cultivating the strain for seven days in 300 mL flasks containing 30 mL of a 400 g/L glucose medium resulted in an erythritol yield of 43%. The glycerol yield was 5%, which is a value 50% lower as compared with the wild type. However, attempts to reproduce the above results in a 5L-fermenter failed, resulting in a similar erythritol concentration but a much higher formation of glycerol. Possible reasons for such a different behaviour could be oxygen limitation or the aggregation of cells, but the exact mechanism could not yet be identified. Foam formation, which is another major problem in large-scale fermentation, tended to be much lower for the mutant strain.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.132-139
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• 1996

The growth of recombinant E. coil and by-product production were investigated. D-cycloserine was added to increase the secretion of ${\alpha}$-amylase from recombinant E.coil. Even though cell growth was increased for optimal d-cycloserine concentration $0.1g/\ell$, extracellular ${\alpha}$-amylase activity remained almost the same as the case without d-cycloserine. It is important to achieve the high cell density for commercial production of methaboliles including ${\alpha}$-amylase. To achieve this goal, culture conditions should be selected carefully and optimized considering cell growth and by-products production. In cultivating retombinant E. coli, lactic acid and acetic acid turned out to be important by-product which affected cell yield and growth rate.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.35-42
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• 2008

To develop physiological functionality of Omija extracted with water was evaluated on antioxidative activity. Omija, high acid material with pH 3.6, contain $57.5{\pm}1.03%$ of moisture, and $18.8{\pm}0.12%$ of crude fat. This material have $12.6{\pm}0.04%$ of carbohydrate and $11.1{\pm}0.07%$ of crude protein as well, but ash and crude protein contents were found less than 10%. 10 mineral contents were also found, too; K and Ca showed the highest level, then Al, Mg, Na and Mn were followed. In composition amino acid contents, glutamic acid took the largest portion, $131.7{\pm}1.3$ mg/100 g, aspartic acid $51.5{\pm}0.6%$, and other composition amino acid under 50%. In case of free sugar contents, 7 types were found. Most of them were glucose and fructose. Total phenolic compounds showed the highest level, $2,862.6{\pm}31.7$ mg/100 g. $197.8{\pm}14.6$ mg/100 g of flavonoid and $225.6{\pm}18.2$ mg/100 g were included. In terms of electron donating ability, radical scavenging ability activated as the amount of Omija extract increased. In particular, Omija extract in 1,000 ${\mu}g/m{\ell}$ demonstrated almost similar electron donating ability, $72.4{\pm}0.21%$, to BHT. It was also found that antioxidant activities of electron donating ability, SOD-like ability, hydroxyl radical scavenging ability and nitrite scavenging ability were highly promoted as Omija extract concentration increased. The nitrite scavenging ability was significant when the extract belonged to strong acid region and doping concentrations increased.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.450-456
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• 1999

A high molecular-weight water-soluble fraction(PO) obtained by the ethanol precipitation of 0.1 N NaOH extracts of the mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus showed 82% anti-complementary activity for complement consumption hemolysis. The PO consisted of 42% carbohydrate (w/w), 50% protein (w/w), and 3% uronic acid (w/w). Fifty-eight percent of the anti-complementary activity decreased by periodate oxidation and 22% by protease digestion, suggesting that the sugar and protein moieties are essential for this activity. Two polysaccharide fractions, PO-IIIa-1 and PO-IIIa-2, with anti-complementary activity were isolated from the PO using DEAE-Sepharose FF followed by Sephadex G-75 and Sepharose CL-6B gel permeation chromatographies. The PO-IIIa-2 was found by HPLC to be nearly homogeneous, with the molecular mass of 531 kDa, and showed 96% $ITCH_{50}$ (inhibition against the total complement hemolysis of deionized water as the control) at a concentration of 1 mg/ml. This fraction contained galactose, mannose, fucose, and glucose with molar ratios of 1.75:1:0.65 and 0.59, respectively. The majority of galactose and mannose units in the PO-IIIa-2 were composed of TGalp1 ->, ->6Galp1->, ->2,6Galp1->, and ->Manp1->. The PO-IIIa-1 (molecular mass of 2000 kDa), exhibiting higher activity than the PO-IIIa-2, was further purified into two fractions, unbound proteoglycan (PO-IIIa-1A) and bound glucomannan (PO-IIIa-lB), by affinity chromatography using ConA-Sepharose CL-4B. The anti-complementary activity of each affinity purified fraction decreased as compared to that of the native PO-IIIa-1 fraction, indicating that the formation of complex between both polysaccharide fractions was necessary for full anti-complementary activity.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.167-177
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• 2016

This work investigated the decomposition of aqueous anatoxin-a originated from cyanobacteria using an underwater dielectric barrier discharge plasma system based on a porous ceramic tube and an alternating current (AC) high voltage. Plasmatic gas generated inside the porous ceramic tube was uniformly dispersed in the form of numerous bubbles into the aqueous solution through the micro-pores of the ceramic tube, which allowed an effective contact between the plasmatic gas and the aqueous anatoxin-a solution. Effect of applied voltage, treatment time and the coexistence of nutrients such as $NO_3{^-}$, $H_2PO_4{^-}$ and glucose on the decomposition of anatoxin-a was examined. Chemical analyses of the plasma-treated anatoxin-a solution using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and ion chromatography (IC) were performed to elucidate the mineralization mechanisms. Increasing the voltage improved the anatoxin-a decomposition efficiency due to the increased discharge power, but the energy required to remove a given amount of anatoxin-a was similar, regardless of the voltage. At an applied voltage of 17.2 kV (oxygen flow rate: $1.0L\;min^{-1}$), anatoxin-a at an initial concentration of $1mg\;L^{-1}$ (volume: 0.5 L) was successfully treated within 3 min. The chemical analyses using LC-MS and IC suggested that the intermediates with molecular weights of 123~161 produced by the attack of plasma-induced reactive species on anatoxin-a molecule were further oxidized to stable compounds such as acetic acid, formic acid and oxalic acid.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.8
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• pp.1240-1247
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• 2006

The present study investigated the influence of the aeration rate and agitation intensity on the production of the mycelial biomass and antioxidative exopolysaccharide (EPS) in Ganoderma resinaceum. In submerged cultures with varying agitation speeds and aeration rates in a stirred-tank reactor, the maximum mycelial biomass and maximum EPS concentration were achieved at 50 rpm and 300 rpm, respectively. Under varying aeration rates, the highest amount of mycelial biomass (18.1 g/l) was accumulated at the lowest aeration rate (0.5 vvm) and the maximum EPS production (3.0 g/l) obtained at 1.0 vvm. A compositional analysis revealed that the five different EPSs were protein-bound heteropolysaccharides, consisting of 87.17-89.22% carbohydrates and 10.78-12.83% proteins. The culture conditions had a striking affect on the carbohydrate composition of the EPS, resulting in different antioxidative activities. All the EPSs showed strong scavenging activities against superoxide and 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals, whereas no clear trend in antioxidative activity was observed against hydroxyl radicals and lipid peroxides. Although the precise reason for this difference is still unclear, the high glucose moiety of EPS is probably linked to its broad spectrum of antioxidative activity.