• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.303-310
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• 2002

Ancient Korean physicians have used several oriental herbs to cure dementia and these effects were described in the Korean herbal books. Some cognitive-enhancing oriental herbs have been widely used as a herbal medicine against dementia. However, few of studies have proved their efficacy in treatment for dementia. In the present study, we investigated the effects of herbal compounds, which are mainly consisted of Uncaria sinensis, Corydalis yanhusuo and Acorus gramineus on learning and memory in Mortis water maze task and the central cholinergic system of the rats with neurotoxic medial septum lesion. In water maze test, the animals were trained to find a platform in a fixed position during 6 days and then received a 60-s probe trial in which the platform was removed from the pool on the 7th day. Ibotanic and 192 saporin lesion of the medial septum (MS) impaired the performance of maze test and degenerated choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) in the brain, which is a marker of the central cholinergic system. Daily administrations of herbal medicine (100mg/kg, p.o.) for 21 consecutive days produced significant reversals of the neurotoxic-induced deficit in learning and memory. These treatments also reduced the loss of cholinergic immunoreactive neurons in the brain induced by neurotoxin. These results demonstrated that herbal compounds ameliorated learning and memory deficits through effects on the central nervous system, partly through effect on the acetylcholine system. Our studies suggest an evidence of these herbs as treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.149-155
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• 2000

Background: Pulsed radiofrequency (RF) lesioning is a painless procedure and causes no neurodestruction and neuritis-like reaction are common following conventional RF lesioning. There is little data about the effect of pulsed RF especially with regard to its suitability for the treatment of acute pain. The possibility of a placebo effect cannot be ruled out because a double-blind study was not performed in previous studies. There is also no neuropathologic study about pulsed RF. Methods: The rats were anesthetized with sodium pentobarbital (40 mg/kg, i.p.; supplemented as necessary). The common sciatic nerve was exposed by blunt dissection through biceps femoris. Pulsed RF was administered to the common sciatic nerve using a 30 ms/s pulse with for 120 seconds. The temperature reached was no more than $42^{\circ}C$. Analgesia was determined using hot-plate assay shortly and, 3 days and 1 week before, and 2 weeks after operation. Lesions were examined with LM (light microscope) and EM (electron microscope) 2 weeks later. Results: There were no differences in response latencies between the control and experimental group. There were many vacuoles with hyaline bodies in the Schwann cell cytoplasm rather than axon in LM and larger electron dense bodies. No changes were found in the axon or unmyelinated fibers. Only small changes were found in the sheaths of myelinated fibers and Schwann cells. Conclusions: We therefore do think that any analgesic effect of pulsed RF is not a result of block of neural conduction. But rather than it can be attributed to others factors. It was also ineffective as a treatment for acute pain such as that caused by the hot-plate test.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.26 no.2 s.62
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• pp.140-151
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• 2005

Objectives: Cinnamomi Ramulus (CR), the young twig of Cinnamomum loureirri nees, has been used for treating symptoms related to pain, rheumatic arthritis and inflammation in Korean herb medicine. This study was carried out to investigate the anti-inflammatory effect of CR in vivo and in vitro. Methods: Extracts of CR were prepared and the chemical components of the extracts were examined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The extracts were administrated to the rat paw edema model induced by carrageenan to evaluate the anti-inflammatory effect of CR. The expressions of nitric oxide (NO), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 were also quantified in lipopolysaccharide(LPS)­induced RAW 264.7 macrophages to survey the effect of CR in vitro. The main components were cinnamaldehyde and coumarin. Results: We examined the anti-inflammatory activity of the $80\%$ ethanol extract of Cinnamomi Ramulus in vivo by using carrageenan-induced rat paw edema model. Maximum inhibition of $54.91\%$ was noted at the dose of l1000mg/kg after 2 hours of drug administration in carrageenan-induced rat paw edema and this showed a potent anti-inflammatory effect. Conclusions: The results showed that Cinnamomi Ramulus suppressed dose-dependently LPS-induced NO production in RAW 264.7 macrophages and also decreased iNOS protein expression. Cinnamomi Ramulus also showed a significant inhibitory effect in LPS-induced PGE2 production and COX-2 expression.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.191-204
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• 2005

Building and furnishing materials and consumer product are important sources of volatile organic compounds(VOCs) and other aldehydes in the indoor environment. Some available evidence indicates that VOCs can cause adverse health effects to the building occupants and contribute to some of the symptoms of what we call, 'Sick House Syndrome' in Korea. The aims of this study were to evaluate the efficiency of emission system and to investigate comparison of the emission characteristics of different building materials such as wall-papers, paints, and adhesives. The emission of VOCs from building materials were determined in the small chambers defining the temperature, relative humidity, and ventilation rate in this study. VOCs were sampled for 20 minutes using Tenax-TA tubes and analysed by GC-MS with thermal desorption. The stability of conditions for temperature and relative humidity in this small chamber system showed that the fluctuation of temperature was between 25.4$\pm$0.3$^{\circ}C$ and that of relative humidity was 50.2$\pm$0.6$\%$ under the airflow rate of 167 mL/min. The emission tests from building materials resulted in TVOC emission rates of 0.011 $\~$ 3.108 mg/m$^{2}$h after 7 days. The general wall-papers emitted toluene abundantly and the natural wall-papers mainly emitted n-butanol and a minor amount of alkanes compound such as n -tetradecane. The remainder consisted of toluene, m,p -xylene, and styrene. The paints mainly emitted toluene and the adhesives mainly emitted chloroform as well as toluene. As a result, this study is expected to suggest meaningful data for future studies in exposure control through selecting healthy building materials and for the establishment of guidelines for various building materials in Korea.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.231-237
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• 2004

Oxycarotenoids are oxygenated carotenoids that perform critical roles in plants. $\beta$-Carotene hydroxylase adds hydroxyl groups to the $\beta$-rings of carotenes and has been cloned from several bacteria and plants including Arabidopsis. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of $\beta$-carotene hydroxylase gene (Chyb) on the oxycarotenoids biosynthesis in the transgenic Arabidopsis. Construct of pGCHYB containing Chyb was established onto Gateway vector system (pENTR3C gateway vector and pH2GW7 destination vector). Arabidopsis thaliana (cv. Columbia) was transformed with Agrobacterium tumerfacience GV3101 harboring pGCHYB construct driven by 35S promoter and hygromycin resistant gene. Seven hundred bases paired PCR products, indicating the presence of Chyb gene, were found in the transformants by PCR analysis using Chyb primers. Hygromycin resistance assay showed that transgenes were stably inherited to next generation. The overexpression of the Chyb gene resulted in the decrease carotenoid content. Especially, astaxanthin unusual oxycarotenoid in wild type Arabidopsis was detected in the transgenic plants. This means that decreased carotenoids might be converted into astaxanthin metabolism with the aid of silent gene in the host.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.346-357
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• 2013

In this study, it was conducted to produce wood pellets using domestic forest thinning residues and examine their quality according to Korean pellet quality standard. Raw materials were composed of larch and mixed broad leaves species. Based on the small-end diameter (6 cm), they were classified into four different types of raw materials such as LM (larch with middle diameter), LS (larch with small diameter), MM (mixed broadleaf with middle diameter), and MS (mixed broadleaf with small diameter). After crushing and drying process, wood pellets were produced by a ring-die type pelletizer using each raw material. Wood pellets made from four different types of raw materials were tested for their quality such as calorific value, moisture content, ash content, inorganic matters and so on. As results of quality analysis, the calorific values of all wood pellets were higher than 198 kcal/kg, and satisfied with the first grade of Korea wood pellet standard. The ash content was slightly increased after pelletizing. Mechanical durability of wood pellets was highly dependent on the types of raw materials. The quality differences among wood pellets were turned out due to different physical and chemical characteristics of raw materials even though the same pelletizing condition was applied.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.228-234
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• 2015

Using either the apical or axillary bud of the endangered species Abeliophyllum distichum Nakai, we tested the effect of bud position and culture method on shoot proliferation and rooting. In shoot proliferation, the axillary bud explant was more effective than the apical bud and the effect was fostered by BA treatment, whereas no differences were observed in shoot elongation by the explant position. Spontaneous rooting was observed in the MS basal medium and resulted in conspicuous differences in the explant position : more than 80% in apical bud explant and 28% in axillary bud explant was achieved, respectively. The positional effects were also observed in BA pre-treatments: generally vertical culture method appeared to be better in shoot proliferation, growth, and rooting than that of the horizontal culture method regardless of the BA pre-treatment duration. The highest shoot multiplication was achieved through the vertical culture method with axillary bud explant, whereas the best shoot elongation and rooting was obtained using the vertical culture method with the apical bud explant. Apical bud explant was superior to axillary bud explant in ex vitro micro-cuttings and revealed a significant difference in shoot growth and root development. The above results suggest that explant position and culture method influence the efficiency of micropropagation for a rare and endangered plant Abeliophyllum distichum.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.63-68
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• 2008

Single-node stem pieces ca. 1 cm in length containing a axillary bud were obtained from in vitro plants of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.). The influences by a position of the node and the existence of a leaf at the node were observed in the single-node culture on the 8% sucrose MS medium. The effect of CCC was also investigated for the microtuberization. The apical part node was excellent in the tuberization not to mention shoot length, fresh weight, diameter, the number of node on the in vitro culture of a single-node than the lower part. The differences in the diameter of a tuber formed in the part of the axillary bud on all treatments including the cultivation of the apical part node were not recognized. However, the fresh weight of the tuber showed high value in the tuber formed at the axillary bud of shoot apex part. At 20 days after cultivation, tuberization was promoted in the new stolen that developed from the bud of node with a leaf under SD condition of 8 hours at $20^{\circ}C$. The tuberization from axillary bud of the single-node without leaf was inhibited at high temperature of $28^{\circ}C$ regardless of daylength. Whereas, tuberization at $20^{\circ}C$ and $28^{\circ}C$ was similar without the difference under SD condition but the tuber formation ratio were low. CCC 500 mg/L promoted tuberization and the effect was also showed even under LD condition at $28^{\circ}C$. The inhibiton of tuberization under LD and high temperature condition could be solved by treatment with CCC.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.127-127
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• 2017

Aluminum is the most abundant metallic element in the Earth's crust and considered as the most limiting factor for plant productivity in acidic soils. The inhibition of root growth is recognized as the primary effect of Al toxicity. Seeds of wheat cv. Keumkang (Korean cultivar) were germinated on petridish for 5 days and then transferred hydroponic apparatus which was treated with $0{\mu}M$ $AlCl_3$ (control), $100{\mu}M$ $AlCl_3$ and $150{\mu}M$ $AlCl_3$ for 5 days. The length of roots, shoots and fresh weight of wheat seedlings were decreased under aluminum stress. The concentrations of $K^+$, $Mg^{2+}$ and $Ac^{2+}$ were decreased whereas $Al^{3+}$ and $P_2O_5{^-}$ concentration was increased under aluminum stress. Using confocal microscopy, the fluorescence intensity of aluminum was increased with morin staining. In this study, a proteome analysis was performed to identify proteins, which is responsible to aluminum stress in wheat roots. In 10-day-old seedlings, proteins were extracted from roots and separated by 2-DE, stained by CBB. Using image analysis, a total of 47 differentially expressed protein spots were selected, whereas 19 protein spots were significantly up-regulated such as s-adenosylmethionine, oxalate oxidase, malate dehydrogenase, cysteine synthase, ascorbate peroxidase and 28 protein spots were significantly down-regulated such as heat shock protein 70, o-methytransferase 4, enolase, amylogenin by aluminum stress following protein spots analyzed by LTQ-FTICR mass spectrometry. The results provide the global picture of Al toxicity-induced alterations of protein profiles in wheat roots, and identify the Al toxicity-responsive proteins related to various biological processes that may provide some novel clues about plant Al tolerance.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.469-478
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• 1997

This study was conducted to develop an automatic nutrient-solution mixing system for small-scale sewers. The nutrient-solution mixing system consisted of a low-cost and precise metering device and data acquisition ＆ control system with a personal computer. and, the metering device was composed of three parts those were supply pumps, metering cylinders and venturi tube. The system controlled electric conductivity(EC) and pH of nutrient-solution based on the time-based feedback control method with the information about temperature, EC, and pH of the nutrient-solution. The performance of the nutrient-solution mixing system was evaluated through the control of EC and pH while compared with those of commercial system. Also an experimental cultivation of tomato was conducted to verify and to improve the developed system. Results of this study were as follows. 1. The correlation coefficient of meteing device between the flow rate and operating time was 0.9999, and the linear reuession equation computed was y=21.759x, where y is the discharge($g$) and x is the operating time(s). 2. Calculated errors for the developed metering device and two commercial pump were $\pm$0.3% $\pm$2.45% and $\pm$1.38 % FS error respectively. 3. An automatic nutrient-solution mixing system based on a low-cost and precise metering device was developed. 4. The full scale errors of the developed system in controlling EC and pH at 23$\pm$1$^{\circ}C$ were $\pm$0.05mS/cm and $\pm$0.2, respectively 5. When using the commercial system, the controlled values of EC and pH of the 500 $\ell$ of water were 1.29 mS/cm and 6.1 pH for the setting points of 1.4 mS/cm and 6.0 pH respectively at 23$pm1^{\circ}C$. 6. The developed nutrient-solution control system showed $\pm$0.05 ms/cm of deviation from the setting EC value over the experimental cultivation period. 7. The deviation from the average values of Ca and Mg mass content in the several nutrient-solution were 0.5% and 1.8% respectively.