• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.59 no.3
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• pp.207-213
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• 2016

Little information about the biological activities of Citrus limon (lemon) leaves has been reported, whereas the fruit of Citrus limon (lemon) has been well-documented to contain various pro-health bio-functional compounds. In the present study, the antiproliferative activities of the lemon leaves were evaluated using several cancer cell lines. From the n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, n-butanol, and water fractions of methanolic extract of the leaves, the chloroform fraction of lemon leaves (CFLL) showed the most potent antiproliferative activity in the AGS human gastric cancer cells. The current study demonstrates that CFLL induces apoptosis in AGS cells, as evidenced by an increase in apoptotic bodies, cell population in the sub-G1 phase, Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, and cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), caspase-3 and caspase-9. Compositional analysis of the CFLL using gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) resulted in the identification of 27 compounds including trans, trans-farnesol (3.19 %), farnesol (3.26 %), vanillic acid (1.45 %), (-)-loliolide (5.24 %) and palmitic acid (6.96 %). Understanding the modes of action of these compounds individually and/or synergistically would provide useful information about their applications in cancer prevention and therapy.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.710-720
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• 2014

Movements of the upper and lower limb muscles during five common gardening tasks were analyzed by using electromyography (EMG). Twenty adults aged in their twenties (mean age, $24.8{\pm}2.4$ years) were recruited. On two separate occasions, subjects visited a garden plot to perform digging, raking, troweling, weeding, and hoeing; all tasks were performed three times with 20 s intervals for each trial. To measure muscle activation during the five gardening tasks, surface EMG was used. Bipolar surface EMG electrodes were attached to eight upper limb muscles (bilateral anterior deltoid, biceps brachialis, brachioradialis, and flexor carpi ulnaris) or eight lower limb muscles (bilateral vastus lateralis, vastus medialis, biceps femoris, and gastrocnemius) on both sides of the body, for a total of 16 muscles. During the five tasks, photographs were taken of movement phases using a digital video camera. The right flexor carpi ulnaris and brachioradialis showed higher activation than the other upper and lower limb muscles measured during the tasks. All 16 upper and lower limb muscles were actively used only during digging. According to movement analysis of each activity, digging was classified into four movement phases, whereas raking, troweling, weeding, and hoeing each were divided into three movement phases. In each activity, there were high-impact phases in terms of muscle activation; the flexor carpi ulnaris and brachioradialis were identified as major muscles in each impact phase. This analysis may be used to generate biomechanical profiles of gardening tasks for practitioners when designing efficient gardening interventions for physical health or rehabilitation.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.133-142
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• 2015

This study aimed to identify the exercise intensity associated with four common physical activities for adults (running, skipping rope, walking, and muscle strength exercises) and two horticultural activities (creating a vegetable bed and garden maintenance). For this experiment, 19 males (mean age: $25.8{\pm}2.3$ years) randomly participated in the activities at a glasshouse at Konkuk University. Each of the six activities lasted for 5 minutes; the subjects rested for 5 minutes during intervals between the activities. A portable metabolic analyzer was used to store the oxygen and energy consumption values obtained upon measurement of each activity. In addition, a wireless heart rate monitor was used to measure the subjects' heart rate. According to the results, the four types of physical activities and two horticultural activities carried out by the subjects are moderate- to high-intensity activities [i.e., $3.8{\pm}0.9$ to $9.9{\pm}2.1$ metabolic equivalents (METs)]. Running ($9.9{\pm}2.1$ METs) and skipping rope ($8.8{\pm}2.2$ METs) were categorized as high-intensity physical activities, whereas creating a vegetable bed ($5.0{\pm}1.2$ METs), walking ($4.9{\pm}0.8$ METs), muscle strength exercises ($4.5{\pm}1.3$ METs), and garden maintenance ($3.8{\pm}0.9$ METs) were classified as moderate-intensity physical activities. The exercise intensities of horticultural activities in this study were similar to those of walking and muscle strength exercises. Therefore, participating in these horticultural activities is expected to garner health benefits similar to those reaped from the physical activities described in the current study.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.29-38
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• 2021

Background and objective: The physical environment where children spend most of their time is closely associated with their emotional development. To improve the emotional health of children, the introduction of natural elements in the indoor space has been suggested, the benefits of which have been shown in preliminary studies. This study aims to examine the effects that a biowall - a wall installation - in a classroom has on the emotional health of children in kindergarten. Methods: A total of four biowalls were separately installed in four kindergarten classrooms at a school in Seoul, South Korea, and the 60 children in these classrooms participated in the study. We assessed the children's emotional intelligence (via an Emotional Intelligence Rating Scale), resilience (via the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment), and eco-friendly attitudes (via the Children's Attitudes Toward Scale) before the installation of the biowalls and then again 3 months later. Results: The children's emotional intelligence, resilience, and eco-friendly attitudes had been significantly improved after the installation of the biowalls (p = .01). The sub-categories of the children's emotional intelligence and resilience were also significantly improved (p < .001). Conclusion: This study demonstrates the potential of biowalls-as an indoor environmental factor-in promoting the healthy emotional development of children. By bringing natural elements into indoor classroom settings, biowalls appear to increase children's direct/indirect contact with nature. To extrapolate the results of the study to the general population, future studies should be conducted with broader age groups.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.586-595
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• 2012

This study was conducted to determine the effects of horticultural therapy (HT) program using hydroponics on work adjustment skills of students with mental retardation. Based on the critical role transitional model and special education curriculum for agriculture, especially hydroponics, HT program (total 22 sessions) using hydroponics procedure for Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. 'Asia Heuk Romaine') was developed. Fourteen (10 males, 4 females) graded $1^{st}$ to $2^{nd}$ with intellectual disabilities were recruited from a special education class in a high school located in Inchon, Korea and then a special farm for hydroponics in Inchon, Korea was offered for the HT program. The students with intellectual disabilities participated in the HT program for 4-month (from September to December of 2011, twice a week, approximately 60 minutes per session). Before and after the HT program, the McCarron assessment neuromuscular development, emotional behavioral checklist, interpersonal negotiation strategies, and KEPAD picture vocational interest test were performed by the teachers and horticultural therapists. As the results, the students significantly improved motor performance (p = 0.002), emotional behavioral strategies (p = 0.00), and interpersonal negotiation strategies (p = 0.05). However, no significant difference between before and after the HT program for vocational interest was observed. In conclusion, the HT program using hydroponics, consists of simple and easy tasks so that it would be applicable for the students with intellectual disabilities positively affected to work adjustment skills by improving the motor performance, emotional behavioral strategies, and interpersonal negotiation strategies. Additionally, HT programs using hydroponics with various kinds of vegetables are required to develop and to apply in practical settings for improving work adjustment skills.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.123-128
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• 2014

This study investigated the exercise intensity and energy expenditure involved in two gardening activities (planting transplants and sowing seeds in a garden plot) and four common physical activities (running, skipping rope, walking, and throwing a ball) in children. Eighteen children aged 11 to 13 years (mean age, $12.3{\pm}0.7$ years) participated in this study. The children made two visits to a high tunnel in Cheongju, Chungbuk, South Korea and performed randomly selected activities. Each activity was performed for 10 min, with a 5-min rest period between activities. The children wore a Cosmed $K4b^2$ (Cosmed $K4b^2$; Cosmed, Rome, Italy), which is a portable calorimetric monitoring system, to measure indicators of metabolic cost such as oxygen uptake and energy expenditure. The children's heart rates during the activities were measured by radiotelemetry (Polar T 31; FitMed, Kempele, Finland). We found that the two gardening and four physical activities performed by the 11-13 years old children in this study were moderate-to high-intensity physical activities [i.e.,$5.4{\pm}0.7$ to $9.1{\pm}1.4$ metabolic equivalents (METs)]. Running ($9.1{\pm}1.4$ METs) and skipping rope ($8.8{\pm}1.1$ METs) were high-intensity physical activities, whereas walking ($6.1{\pm}0.9$ METs), planting transplants ($5.8{\pm}1.1$ METs), throwing a ball ($5.6{\pm}1.1$ METs), and sowing seeds ($5.4{\pm}0.7$ METs) were moderate intensity physical activities. Running and skipping rope were significantly more intense than the other activities (P < 0.0001). The gardening tasks such as planting transplants and sowing seeds in a garden plot showed similar exercise intensities and energy costs as walking and throwing a ball. This study indicates that gardening can be used as a physical activity intervention to provide health benefits similar to more common physical activities such as walking and running.

• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.115-127
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• 2009

Samsoeum (SSE) is used in traditional oriental medicine for various medicinal purposes. However, the exact mechanism that accounts for the anti-allergy and anti-inflammatory effects of the SSE is still not fully understood. The aim of the present study is to elucidate whether and how SSE modulates the allergic reactions in vivo, and inflammatory reaction in vitro. In this study, we showed that SSE significantly decreased compound 48/80-induced systemic anaphylaxis, ear-swelling response, histamine release from preparation of rat peritoneal mast cells and anti-dinitropheny IgE-induced passive cutaneous reaction. Also, SSE inhibited the expression of inflammatory cytokine and cyclooxygenase-2 in PMA plus A23187-stimulated human mast cells (HMC-1). In addition, we showed that anti-inflammatory mechanism of SSE is through suppression of nuclear factor-${\kappa}B$ activation and $I{\kappa}B-{\alpha}$ phosphorylation/degradation in HMC-1. These results provided new insight into the pharmacological actions of SSE as a potential molecule for therapy of inflammatory allergic diseases.