• Health Policy and Management
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.159-178
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• 2011

Korea ranks high among the OECD member countries with a high out-of-pocket share. In 2006, the government implemented in full scale the policy of extending the health insurance benefit coverage. Included in the policy are lowering the out-of-pocket share of patients of serious case and expanding the medical bill ceiling system to mention just a few. This study proposes to confirm effectiveness of the benefit extension policy by identifying changes in 'out-of-pocket expenditure as a share of the ability to pay' and 'incidence rate of catastrophic health care expenditure' of each individual household as manifested before and after the benefit extension policy was implemented. The 1st and 3rd year data from the Korea Welfare Panel Study (KoWePS), conducted by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA), were used for the analysis, where low-income households and ordinary households are sampled separately. While the absolute amount of 'out-of-pocket expenditure' occurred to the average household increased for the period 2005-2007, the 'out-of-pocket expenditure as a share of the ability to pay' decreased. At the same time, the share decreased in the case of low-income households and households with patients of chronic or serious case as contrasted with ordinary households. 'Incidence rates of catastrophic health care expenditure' of ordinary households for 2007 stood at 14.6%, 5.9% and 2.8% at the threshold of 10%, 20% and 30%, respectively. The rates decreased overall between 2005 and 2007, while those of low-income households with patients of serious case statistically significantly increased. An analysis of this study indicates that it is related with the medical bill ceiling system regardless of incomes introduced in 2007.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.189-195
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• 2002

Using Streptomyces sp. YU100 isolated from Korean soil, the fermentative production of phospholipase D was attempted along with its purification and characterization studies. When different carbon and nitrogen sources were supplemented in the culture medium, glucose and yeast extract were found to be the best. By varying the concentration of nutrients and calcium carbonate, the optimal culture medium was determined as 2.0% glucose, 1.5% yeast extract, 0.5% tryptone 0.3% calcium carbonate. During cultivation, the strain secreted most of the phospholipase D in the early stage of growth within 24 h. The phospholipase D produced in the culture broth exhibited hydrolytic activity as well as transphosphatidylation activity on lecithin (phosphatidylcholine). In particular, the culture broth showed 8.7 units/ml of hydrolytic activity when cultivated at $28^{\circ}C$ for 1.5 days. The phospholipase D was purified using 80% ammonium sulfate precipitation and DEAE-Sepharose CL-6B column chromatography, which produced a major band of 57 kDa on a 10% SDS-polyacrylamide gel with purity higher than 80%. The enzyme showed an optimal pH of 7 in hydrolytic reaction, and at pH 4 in a transphosphatidylation reaction. The enzyme activity increased until the reaction temperature was elevated to $60^{\circ}C$. The enzyme was relatively stable at high temperatures and neutral pH, but significantly unstable in the alkaline range. Among the detergents tested as emulsifiers of phospholipids, the highest enzyme activity was observed when 1.5% Triton X-100 was employed. However, no inhibitory effect by metal ions was detected. Under optimized reaction conditions, the purified enzyme not only completely decomposed PC to phosphatidic acid within 1 h, but also exhibited higher than 80% conversion rate of PC to PS by transphosphatidylation within 4 h.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.812-824
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• 2013

Reserpine, an anti-hypertensive drug, is able to positively modulate several phenotypes associated with $A{\beta}$ toxicity in a Caenorhabditis elegans model of Alzheimer's disease (AD). We investigated into the therapeutic effects of reserpine on mammalian neurodegenerative disorders, and found that significant alteration of the key factors influencing AD was detected in Tg2576 mice after reserpine treatment for 30 days. The aggressive behavior of Tg2576 mice was significantly improved upon reserpine treatment, whereas their social contact was consistently maintained. Furthermore, the levels of $A{\beta}$-42 peptide in the hippocampus of the brain and blood serum were lower in the reserpine-treated group than in the vehicle-treated group. Among g-secretase components, the expression levels of PS-2, Pen-2, and APH-1 were slightly lower in reserpine-treated Tg2576 mice, although a significant change in nicastrin (NCT) expression was not detected. Furthermore, the serum level of nerve growth factor (NGF) increased in reserpine-treated Tg2576 mice compared with vehicle-treated mice. Among down-stream effectors of the NGF receptor TrkA signaling pathway, reserpine treatment induced elevation of TrkA phosphorylation and reduction of ERK phosphorylation. In addition, in the NGF receptor $p75^{NTR}$ signaling pathway, the expression levels of $p75^{NTR}$ and Bcl-2 were enhanced in reserpine-treated Tg2576 mice compared with vehicle-treated mice, whereas the expression level of RhoA declined. Overall, these results suggest that reserpine can help relieve AD pathogenesis in Tg2576 mice through downregulation of $A{\beta}$-42 deposition, alteration of ${\gamma}$-secretase components, and regulation of NGF metabolism.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.83-90
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• 2004

Processed meals, such as a ground meat and hamburger patty, are required to ensure that no pathogens remain in the final products. However, there was no rapid method available to verify that the recommended end-point cooking temperature(EPT) was reached. Thus, the objective of this study was to rapidly determine EPT of ground pork hams using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis(SOS-PAGE), based on the disappearance of sarcoplasmic proteins after cooking. Fresh pork hams were added two levels of salt(0, 2%) and fat(15, 25%) combinations, and stored in refrigerator overnight, and cooked to internal cooking temperatures of $64^{\circ}C$ to $74^{\circ}C$ with $2^{\circ}C$ increments. Cooked pork hams were measured cooking loss(CL, %), protein solubility(PS) and SOS-PAGE. CL(%) was reduced with the addition of 2% salt, as compared to the control, regardless of fat contents. It was also increased with increasing eooking temperature. Protein solubility was affected by the cooking temperature, resulting in reduced PS up to $64^{\circ}C$(P < 0.05), but remained constant higher than $68^{\circ}C$. In SOS-PAGE analysis, protein bands with the molecular weights of 36 and 66 kDa were affected by the addition of salt and fat combinations. regardless of treatments. These protein fractions were decreased gradually with increased cooking temperatures up to $68^{\circ}C$ ${\sim}$ $70^{\circ}C$ and might be good indicators for the determination of EPT in ground pork hams.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 1997

Unreduced (2n) gametes are meiotic products (pollen or egg) having a sporophytic (somatic) chromosome number, resulting from abnormalities during either microsporogenesis or megasporogenesis. They occur naturally at a low frequency in many plant species. Unreduced (2n) gametes in plants can be identified for four possible ways as follow i) pollen size and/or shape differences between haploid (n) and diploid (2n) pollen, ii) ploidy analysis (chromosome number) of progeny or meiotic analysis (presence of dyads andlor triads at the microspore stage), iii) progeny performance and fertility and iv) dosage of isozyme and DNA markers. Unreduced (2n) gametes can be an effective breeding tool in synthesizing new cultivars, providing a unique method to maximizing heterozygosity, i.e., transferring a large proportion of the non-additive genetic effects (intra- and inter- locus interactions) h m parent to offspring and can also be used to overcome infertility of interploidy crosses. Sexual polyploidization through 2n gametes has been a major route to the formation of naturally occurring polyploids. The three mechanisms of 2n pollen formation in potato have been discovered as follow: i) parallel spindles (ps) or tripolar spindles (ts), ii) premature cytokinesis (pc-I, pc-2) and iii) synaptic mutants (sy-2, sy-3, sy-4). Genetic analysis indicated that the mechanisms of 2n gamete formation were controlled by single recessive gene in potato, alfalfa, red clover, etc., and by two recessive genes in wheat. The use of 2n gametes which can efficiently transfer germplasm fiom wild relatives to cultivated species, especially fiom diploid to tetraploid could make a contribution to the improvement of germplasm base in breeding programs.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.148-162
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• 2017

As a step towards discovering novel pathogenesis-related proteins, we performed a genome scale computational identification and characterization of secreted and transmembrane (TM) proteins, which are mainly responsible for bacteria-host interactions and interactions with other bacteria, in the genomes of six representative Burkholderia species. The species comprised plant pathogens (B. glumae BGR1, B. gladioli BSR3), human pathogens (B. pseudomallei K96243, B. cepacia LO6), and plant-growth promoting endophytes (Burkholderia sp. KJ006, B. phytofirmans PsJN). The proportions of putative classically secreted proteins (CSPs) and TM proteins among the species were relatively high, up to approximately 20%. Lower proportions of putative type 3 non-classically secreted proteins (T3NCSPs) (~10%) and unclassified non-classically secreted proteins (NCSPs) (~5%) were observed. The numbers of TM proteins among the three clusters (plant pathogens, human pathogens, and endophytes) were different, while the distribution of these proteins according to the number of TM domains was conserved in which TM proteins possessing 1, 2, 4, or 12 TM domains were the dominant groups in all species. In addition, we observed conservation in the protein size distribution of the secreted protein groups among the species. There were species-specific differences in the functional characteristics of these proteins in the various groups of CSPs, T3NCSPs, and unclassified NCSPs. Furthermore, we assigned the complete sets of the conserved and unique NCSP candidates of the collected Burkholderia species using sequence similarity searching. This study could provide new insights into the relationship among plant-pathogenic, humanpathogenic, and endophytic bacteria.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.138-143
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• 2016

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of the application of vermicomposts on the growth parameters and ginsenoside content of ginseng roots. Food waste vermicompost (FW), cow manure vermicompost (CM), and paper sludge vermicompost (PS) were applied at 10 and $40t\;ha^{-1}$, respectively. One-year-old seedlings were transplanted and 4-year-old roots were harvested. Soil nitrate and phosphate concentrations were increased in the plots applied with FW and CM at $40t\;ha^{-1}$. Soil pH and exchangeable Ca concentrations were higher at FW $40t\;ha^{-1}$ than at CM $40t\;ha^{-1}$. Root yield increased when treated with FW $40t\;ha^{-1}$ in comparison to the yield for the control. The incidences of root rot disease and ginsenoside content were not significantly affected by the treatments. The results suggested that application of vermicompost might not show a relationship between root biomass and ginsenoside content. It further showed that proper use of vermicompost can promote root yield without a reduction in root quality or an increase in the incidence of root rot disease in reclaimed fields.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.39-42
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• 2015

After preparing carbon-doped FePt films by dc magnetron sputtering, we observed ultrafast demagnetization and its recovery by means of a time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect technique. We confirm that the degree of $L1_0$ ordering is decreased and coercivity is changed, as the carbon concentration increases. All samples are demagnetized within ~5 ps after the femtosecond laser pulse heated the sample. Interestingly, ultrafast relaxation time, which indicates fast magnetization recovery, increases as the carbon concentration increases due to the low spin-orbit coupling of carbon.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.162-168
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• 2016

This study attempted to help determine Korean fishery policies by proposing improvement plans after examining the current regulations, fishing vessels, fishing gear and fishing methods of the middle sized trawl fishery in the East Sea for targeting only squid. In general, the size, engine horse power, and net length of the middle sized trawlers are between 50 and 60 GT, 1,200 and 1,600 PS, and approximately 165 m with four seamed trawl nets, respectively. While a jigging vessel attracted squids using lights, the trawler approached a jigging vessel. The trawler let the jigging vessel know its decision for fishing, and then jigging vessel rolled up jigs. The net of the trawler was casted at 45 degrees between the bow and the stern of the jigging vessel. Once the trawler towed close to the stern of the jigging vessel upon its passing of the jigging vessel, the bow of the trawler turned 45 degrees left again. Then, squid aggregations were entered into the net. When the cod end was passed a light vessel, the trawler hoisted the net up to the otter board. Then the trawler turned 180 degrees. It repeated three to five times of fishing operations as the previous method. We recommend that the regulations allow nineteen side trawlers to catch like stern trawler, as well as the cooperative trawler and jigging vessel operations.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2013.10a
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• pp.63-64
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• 2013

In this paper, a design method for a dual dipole antenna for an operation in the frequency band of 470-806 MHz for indoor digital TV (DTV) is studied. The proposed antenna is composed of two planar dipoles connected by parallel strip line, and the antenna is fed by a microstrip line. By employing different lengths of dipoles, a broadband characteristics is obtained, and the antenna is size-reduced by bending both ends of the longer dipole. The effects of each parameters on the antenna performance are examined by simulation, and the parameters are optimized for the DTV use. A prototype antenna with optimized parameters for the indoor DTV use is fabricated on an FR4 substrate and tested experimentally. The experimental results show that the frequency band for a VSWR < 2 ranges 458-864 MHz (61.4%, bandwidth 406 MHz, 1.89:1), and it corresponds fairly well with the simulated band 448-868 MHz (63.8%, bandwidth 420 MHz, 1.94:1).