• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.44-52
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• 2023

Objectives: Dental caries is one of the most prevalent human diseases worldwide. The disease initiates with bacterial adherence to the tooth surface followed by the formation of dental plaques. Mutans streptococci and Candida albicans are principal oral microorganisms involved in the initiation and development of dental caries. Phytochemicals have been shown to possess promising antimicrobial properties against a wide range of microorganisms and can be used for the prevention and treatment of dental caries. Herein, we reviewed literature on plants that are traditionally used for their antimicrobial properties or possess promising anticariogenic activity. We selected aerial parts of Scrophularia striata (S. striata) and galls of Quercus infectoria (Q. infectoria) and investigated their antimicrobial activity against cariogenic microorganisms. Methods: Water soluble fractions were obtained from hydroalcoholic extracts of S. striata and Q. infectoria and their antimicrobial activity against Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans), Streptococcus sobrinus (S. sobrinus), and Candida albicans (C. albicans) was evaluated separately and in combination. The extracts were then used for preparing an herbal mouthwash whose stability and tannic acid content were evaluated over 60 days. Results: Q. infectoria gall extract possesses efficient antimicrobial activity that was synergistically enhanced in the presence of S. striata extract. Mouthwash prepared using these extracts showed desirable organoleptic characteristics, antimicrobial activity, and stability. Conclusion: Extracts of S. striata and Q. infectoria galls can be used together for preparing dental products with effective anticariogenic properties. Our study highlights the importance of extensive pharmacological investigations when using herbal products alone or in combination with other chemical substances.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.461-469
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• 1996

The purpose of this study was to assess the attitudes of secondary school students in Korea toward science-technology related issues. A questionnaire was designed in which students were confronted with personal, global, and philosophical levels of arguments, which were composed of three against and three in favor of each eight issues, i.e., use of antibiotics, family planning, transplant of organs, genetic engineering, use of microorganisms. exploitation of the sea, land reclamation from the sea, and nature reserves. Student was requested to rate each argument independently and to vote for or against each issue. It was shown that most of students voted in favor of using technologies except land reclamation from the sea, and that students having more learning experiences on each topic vote more favorably. It is thought that our science education might be effective in increasing awareness and appreciation of benifits of technology, but it is not as effective in developing ambivalence attitudes.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.582-592
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• 2012

Microorganisms present in the rhizosphere soil plays a vital role in improving the plant growth and soil fertility. Many kinds of fertilizers including chemical and organic has been approached to improve the productivity. Though some of them showed significant improvement in yield, they failed to maintain the soil properties. Rather they negatively affected soil eventually, the land became unsuitable for agricultural. To overcome these problems, microorganisms have been used as effective alternative. For past few decades, plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) have been used as effective inoculants to enhance the plant growth and productivity. PGPR improves the plant growth and helps the plant to withstand biotic and abiotic stresses. AM fungi are known to colonize roots of plants and they increase the plant nutrient uptake. Spore associated bacteria (SAB) are attached to spore wall or hyphae and known to increase the AMF germination and root colonization but their mechanism of interaction is poorly known. Better understanding the interactions among AMF, SAB and PGPR are necessary to enhance the quality of inoculants as a biofertilizers. In this paper, current knowledge about the interactions between fungi and bacteria are reviewed and discussed about AMF spore associated bacteria.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.206-211
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• 1999

Volatile antimicrobial compounds, isothiocyanates (ITCs), were compared their antimicrobial activity against 9 strains, Listeria monocytogenes, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Escherichia coli, Erwinia carotovora, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Candida albicans, Aspergillus oryzae and Penicillium roqueforti. And synergistic antimicrobial effect of ITCs was examined with acetic acid. Allyl isothiocyanate (AIT), benzyl isothiocyanate (BIT), and ethyl isothiocyanate (EIT) were more effective than other ITCs. MIC (minimum inhibitory concentration) of these compounds was $100{\sim}200\;{\mu}g/dish$ against microorganisms tested and their inhibitory actions were more effective in order of fungi>yeast>Gram-negative bacteria>Gram-positive bacteria. MIC of acetic acid was $50{\sim}500\;{\mu}g/dish$ as lower concentration than ITCs. Using a mixture of volatile antimicrobial compounds and acetic acid, the synergistic effect was increased in $2{\sim}10$ times than ITCs used solely.

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Health Society Conference
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.381-385
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• 2005

Characterization of particle behavior is becoming more important in performance evaluation of water treatment system as well as in operation of the system because conventional parameter, turbidity has lack of explaining ability on small sized microorganisms such like Cryptosporidium etc. Accordingly, particle counter has been introduced in evaluation and operation of the treatment system. However researches on the relationship between turbidity, particle count and/or different sand/anthracite sizes have not been concurrent. Therefore in this study, the relationship was investigated to improve performance evaluation of sand filter so as to help choosing sand/anthracite effective size as a design parameter of water treatment facility. According to the results, too small or too large effective size media filter reached to turbidity limit(0.1 NTU)earlier. However, because shallow sand layer may cause early breakthrough, the depth of sand layer should be provided enough in order to compromise water quality and productivity.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2011

The antimicrobial effects of silver (Ag) ion or salts are well known. Recently, silver nanoparticle is attracting an interest in a wide variety of fields since it has been known to be safe and effective as an antimicrobial agent against a broad spectrum of microorganisms. Although silver nanoparticle has been applied to various kinds of products owing to its potent antimicrobial activity, the effects of silver nanoparticle on microorganisms and antimicrobial mechanism have not been revealed clearly. In this paper, we summarized the characteristics, antimicrobial activities and mechanisms, cytotoxicity and applicability of silver nanoparticle.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.855-858
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• 2001

Antimicrobial activities, extraction yields and chemical compositions of the extracts from the powder of vacuum dried Houttuynia cordata root on various solvents were investigated. Antimicrobial activity was investigated by disc diffusion method against several microorganisms, nine species of Gram positive and thirteen Gram negative bacteria. Ethanol, ethylacetate and butanol extracts exhibited potent antimicrobial activities against B. megaterium C. xerosis, S. aureus, S. epidermidis and E.coli. Chloroform and aqueous extracts from H. cordata showed weak antimicrobial activity against the tested bacteria. Ethylacetate and butanol extracts exhibited strong antimicrobial activity against the tested microorganisms. The extraction yields were 15.7%, 3.7%, 0.13%, 0.5% and 5.9% in ethanol, chloroform, ethylacetate, butanol and aqueous fractions, respectively. To further elucidate the effective components, solvent extracts was analyzed by GC/MSD.

• BMB Reports
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• v.42 no.12
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• pp.776-787
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• 2009

T helper (Th) 17 cells have recently been described as a third subset of T helper cells, and have provided new insights into the mechanisms that are important in the development of autoimmune diseases and the immune responses that are essential for effective antimicrobial host defense. Both protective and harmful effects of Th17 responses during infection have been described. In general, Th17 responses are critical for mucosal and epithelial host defense against extracellular bacteria and fungi. However, recent studies have reported that Th17 responses can also contribute to viral persistence and chronic inflammation associated with parasitic infection. It has become evident that the type of microorganisms and the setting in which they trigger the Th17 response determines the outcome of the delicate balancethat exists between Th17 induced protection and immunopathogenesis.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.723-729
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• 2012

Filter plate microbial trap (FPMT) was invented as an in situ cultivation device for the isolation of bacteria from natural environments. FPMT consists of a medium and membrane filters (0.45 ${\mu}m$ pore size) and microorganisms and compounds can be moved freely moved into the medium. This device was applied to two soil samples of Greenland. The microbial diversity of both soil samples by FPMT was higher than that by the conventional Petri dish-based method. Moreover, novel bacterial species were isolated by FPMT. The new FPMT is effective for in situ cultivation of natural samples and could be applicable to the isolation of uncultivable microorganism.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.525-531
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• 2004

A strain antagonistic to Fusarium solani, CHO104, was selected from approximately 100 microorganisms isolated from soil. Strain CHO104 was identified as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens and found to be Gram-positive based on the Biolog system and 16S rRNA methods. A culture broth of B. amyloliquefaciens CHO104 also exhibited antimicrobial activity against various microorganisms. As such, the EtOAc extract of the culture broth was isolated by various column chromatographic procedures and HPLC. The antimicrobial and antifungal substance was then characterized as macrolactin A $(C_{24}H_{34}O_5)$ using high-resolution EI-MS and NMR analyses, and found to be very effective in inhibiting the growth of Staphylococcus aureus, E. coli, and Botrytis cinerea, even when using a concentration of one-twentieth of the benzoic acid as the control compound.