• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.76-83
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• 2001

Background : Coal workers' pneumoconiosis is a fibrotic lung disease resulting from chronic inhalation of coal dust. The precise mechanism of lung fibrosis in coal workers' pneumoconiosis is uncertain. However, a relationship between the stimulation of fibroblast proliferation and collagen production by mediators released from in flammatory and resident lung cells is thought to be a major factor. The transforming growth factor-$\beta$(TGF-$\beta$), a multifunctional cytokine and growth factor, plays a key role in the scarring and fibrotic processes due to its ability to induce extracellular matrix proteins and modulate the growth and immune function of many cell types. To determine the involvement of TGF-$\beta$ in the development of lung fibrosis in coal workers' pneumoconiosis, the TGF-${\beta}_1$ level in plasma was measured in patients with coal workers' pneumoconiosis. Methods : Plasma was collected from 40 patients with coal workers' pneumoconiosis (20 with simple coal workers' pneumoconiosis and 20 with complicated coal workers' pneumoconiosis) and from 10 normal controls. The ELISA method was used to measure the plasma TGF-${\beta}_1$ concentration. Results : Compared to the control group ($0.63{\pm}01.8$ ng/mL), there was no significant difference in the plasma TGF-${\beta}_1$ level in patients with simple coal workers' pneumoconiosis ($0.64{\pm}0.17$ ng/mL) (p>0.05). However, in patients with complicated coal workers' pneumoconiosis the plasma TGF-${\beta}_1$ level ($0.79{\pm}0.18$ ng/mL) was significantly higher than in patients with simple coal workers' pneumoconiosis and the control group (p<0.05). Conclusion : The data suggests that TGF-${\beta}_1$ has some influence in the development of lung fibrosis in coal workers' pneumoconiosis.

• The Korean Journal of Malacology
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.157-165
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• 2006

The present study was conducted to confirm that a bivalve Ruditapes philippinarum can be used as a biomarker for the monitoring of the heavy metal pollution in the silt of the marine environment. The clams were collected from the silt of Cheonsu-bay, Buheung-ri, and Tan-island of the West Sea, Korea. To observe the normal structures of the target organs (hepatopancreas and gill), they were dissected out for the immunohistochemical study and the electron microscopy with TEM, SEM, and SEM-EDS. The immunohistochemical study showed that the interdiverticular connective tissues of the hepatopancreas, and the outer epithelium of the gill lamellae was strongly reacted to anti-metallothionein (MT), indicating the presence of MT, a metal-binding protein, involved in metal detoxifying process. According to the examinations under the TEM, the epithelial cells of the hepatopancreas of the clams collected from polluted area (Tan-island) showed certain changes such as swollen rER, swollen nuclear envelope and inclusion bodies in the nulcei. In the SEM-EDS analysis, tissue of the hepatopancreas showed relatively higher concentration of S, Zn, and Cd. These elements are supposed to be concerning with the MT-reaction in the hepatopancreas. Considering that the coastal bivalve R. philippinarum showed immediate subcellular responses to heavy metal pollution in the overall experiments conducted, this species might act as one of efficient biomarkers for the heavy metal contamination in the marine environment.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.12
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• pp.1658-1664
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• 2012

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) exhibits several beneficial biological activities including anticarcinogenesis and body-fat reduction. Now, we report that CLA ameliorated the oxidative stress in rat cardiomyoblast cells, H9c2, treated with hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$). Cells were cultured in DMEM/F-12 media at $37^{\circ}C$ with humidified atmosphere of 5% $CO_2$. The cells, cultured for 48 hrs, were seeded at a density $3.5{\times}10^3$ cell/well in a 24 well-plate and incubated for 24 hr. Using these cells, two experiments were performed: the cytotoxicity test of CLA (10, 20, 30, 40, and $50{\mu}Ms$), and the oxidative stress amelioration test of CLA (20 and $50{\mu}Ms$) against cells treated with $H_2O_2$ (10 and 50 ${\mu}Ms$) for 1 and 2 hrs. CLA enhanced the growth of H9c2 cells at any concentrations of CLA and at any incubation times (up to 6 days), indicating that CLA acts as a growth stimulant. No protective effect of CLA (20 and $50{\mu}Ms$) was seen in cells treated $50{\mu}M$ $H_2O_2$ for 1 and 2 hr, but these CLA concentrations ameliorated (p<0.05) the adverse effect of $10{\mu}M$ $H_2O_2$ in cells treated for 1 hr. These CLA concentrations significantly (p<0.05) reduced the proportion of apoptotic cells, relative to control cells. These results suggest that CLA protected H9c2 cells from the oxidative stress of $H_2O_2$ through the suppression of cell apoptosis and could be a useful compound for the prevention of cardiac diseases caused by oxidative stress.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.97-103
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• 1993

Relationships between crown diameter divided into the small$(0.3{\sim}0.5cm)$, the medium$(0.5{\sim}0.7cm)$ and the large seedling$(0.7{\sim}0.9cm)$ by the size of crown diameter of Angelica gigas and topdressed nitrogen level of 0, 50, 70 and 100% were conducted to study on growth and yield of two year-planted A. gigas in Suwon. The larger of the crown diameter, the better of the dry weight of leaf and root of A. gigas. Growth of the plane was rapidly increased on June and August, but slowly increased on July and that of root was increased until October while decreasing the aerial stem growth from September. Lower top dressed nitrogen level in the larger seeding was greatly increased the bolting rate compared to the medium or small seedlings. Yields of dried root weight per 10a were 441kg for the large, 373kg for the medium, and 378kg for the small seedling, and weight of the higher nitrogen per 10a were more increased than that of the lower dressed nitrogen treatment.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.70 no.4
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• pp.293-300
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• 2011

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a substantially under-diagnosed disorder, and the diagnosis is usually delayed until the disease is advanced. However, the benefit of early diagnosis is not yet clear, and there are no guidelines in Korea for doing early diagnosis. This review highlights several issues regarding early diagnosis of COPD. On the basis of several lines of evidence, early diagnosis seems quite necessary and beneficial to patients. Early diagnosis can be approached by several methods, but it should be confirmed by quality-controlled spirometry. Compared with its potential benefit, the adverse effects of spirometry or pharmacotherapy appear relatively small. Although it is difficult to evaluate the benefit of early diagnosis by well-designed trials, several lines of evidence suggest that we should try to diagnose and manage patients with COPD at early stages of the disease.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.53-58
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• 2010

Purpose: To find the most effective method for extraction of cell-free DNA (cf-DNA) from maternal plasma, we compared a blood DNA extraction system (blood kit) and a viral DNA extraction system (viral kit) for non-invasive first-trimester fetal gender determination. Materials and Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted with maternal plasma collected from 44 women in the first-trimester of pregnancy. The cf-DNA was extracted from maternal plasma using a blood kit and a viral kit. Quantitative fluorescent-polymerase chain reaction (QF-PCR) was used to detect the SRY gene and AMEL gene. The diagnostic accuracy of the QF-PCR results was determined based on comparison with the final delivery records. Results: A total of 44 women were tested, but the final delivery record was only obtained in 36 cases which included 16 male-bearing and 20 female-bearing pregnancies. For the blood kit and viral kit, the diagnostic accuracies for fetal gender determination were 63.9% (23/36) and 97.2% (35/36), respectively. Conclusion: In non-invasive first-trimester fetal gender determination by QF-PCR, using a viral kit for extraction of cf-DNA may result in a higher diagnostic accuracy.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.721-726
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• 2010

The objective of this study was to evaluate several varieties of aseptic-packaged cooked rice including Juanbyeo. Quality evaluations, such as by amylose, setback, toyo values and amylograms, were significantly higher in the Juanbyeo as compared to other samples. In addition, the Juanbyeo aseptic-packeged cooked rice showed significantly higher palatability characteristics and had a greater water absorption ratio than the other samples. For cold cooked rice, the relationship between palatability and texture was significantly high (p<0.01). Ilpumbyeo showed high scores for taste as a hot cooked rice, but as a cold cooked rice taste scores were lower than other samples. In the case of Juanbyeo cold cooked rice flavor was improved. When the Juanbyeo aseptic-packaged cooked rice was reheated in a microwave oven, it had better palatability than other varieties. Thus, the results of this study suggested that Juanbyeo can be effectively utilized as aseptic-packaged cooked rice.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.64 no.4
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• pp.414-421
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• 2019

Pod shattering during the maturing stage causes a serious yield loss in soybean. It is the main limiting factor of soybean cultivation and mechanization. It is important to develop varieties suitable for mechanical harvesting and to develop energy-efficient agricultural machinery to save labor and costs. 'Daewonkong,' developed by the National Institute of Crop Science (NICS) in 1997, is an elite cultivar that occupies more than 80% of the soybean cultivation area in Korea because of its strong tolerance to pod shattering. The objectives of this study were to investigate the variation in pod shattering degree in a RIL population developed from a 'Daewonkong' parent and to select promising lines with pod shattering tolerance. 'Daewonkong' demonstrated a high level of tolerance to pod shattering compared to the 'Tawonkong' and 'Saeolkong' varieties, with no shattered pods after 72 hours of drying. Screening of pod shattering showed a clear distinction between the tolerant and susceptible varieties. Also, the distribution of shattering pod ratio in the two populations showed a similar pattern for three years. The promising lines with pod shattering tolerance included 27 lines in the 'Daewonkong'×'Tawonkong' population and 21 lines in the 'Daewonkong'×'Saeolkong' population. The promising lines are expected to be widely used as breeding parents for creating soybean cultivars with pod shattering tolerance.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2012

This study's aim was to isolate microorganisms producing agarase with a high activity, with possible applications in improving the performance of the pretreatment processes for bioethanol production. Marine algaes were collected from the south coast of Korea, from which three kinds of microorganisms were isolated. After a 4-day culture of these strains at $25^{\circ}C$, crude enzymes were obtained from culture supernatant or cell-free extract by ammonium sulfate precipitation and membrane dialysis. Agarase activity was observed in these crude enzymes. Notably higher specific activity was observed in the crude enzyme obtained from the culture supernatant rather than that from the cell-free extract. This indicates that a secreted enzyme has a much greater activity than a cellular enzyme. Crude enzymes from the GNUM08122 strain were inferred to have ${\alpha}$-agarase activity because release of p-nitrophenol was observed, possibly due to the cleavage of p-nitrophenyl-${\alpha}$-D-galactopyranoside. The 16S rRNA sequence of GNUM08122 showed a close relationship to Pseudoalteromonas issachenkonii KMM 3549 (99.8%) and Pseudoalteromonas tetraodonis IMA 14160 (99.7%), which led us to assign it to the genus Pseudoalteromonas. Biochemical and physiological study revealed that this strain can grow well at $40^{\circ}C$ under a wide range of pH (pH 4~8) in high-salt conditions (10% NaCl).

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.33 no.11
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• pp.783-789
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• 2011

Recently, auto-thermal thermophilic aerobic digestion (ATAD) has a great attention for destruction of wasted sludge biomass in wastewater treatment plant. Reduction of sludge concentration has been successfully achieved with pilot scale ATAD and ceramic filtration process in field condition. However, high concentration of COD, total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) was observed in filtrate, which should be treated before recirculation of filtrate to biological wastewater treatment plant. This study was focused on removal of nitrogen and phosphorus contained in the filtrate of ATAD, using struvite crystallization method. The effect of operational and environmental parameters (such as, N, P and Mg ion concentration and molar ratio, pH, reaction time, agitation strength, seed dosage, and reaction temperature) on the treatment of TN and TP with struvite crystallization were evaluated. Magnesium (as $MgCl_26H_2O$) and phosphorus (as $K_2HPO_4$) ions were, if necessary, added to increase nitrogen removal efficiency by the crystal formation. Average concentration of $NH_4^+-N$ and $PO_4^{3-}-P$ of the filtrate were 1716.5 mg/L and 325.5 mg/L, respectively. Relationship between removal efficiencies of nitrogen and phosphorus and molar ratios of $Mg^{2+}$ and $PO_4^{3-}-P$ to $NH_4^+-N$ was examined. Crystal formation and nitrogen removal efficiencies were significantly increased as increasing molar ratios of magnesium and phosphorus to nitrogen. As molar ratio of $Mg^{2+}:PO_4^{3-}-P:NH_4^+-N$ were maintained to 2 : 1 : 1 and 2 : 2 : 1, removal efficiencies of nitrogen and phosphorus were 71.6% and 99.9%, and 93.8% and 98.6%, respectively. However, the effect of reaction time, mixing intensity, seed dose and temperature on the struvite crystallization reaction was not significant, comparing to those of molar ratios. Settled sludge volume after struvite crystallization was observed to be reduced with increase of seed dose and to be increased at high temperature.