• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.61-68
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• 2011

We have evaluated an usefulness and association between serum levels of gamma-glutamyltranspeptiase (GGT) and metabolic syndrome (MS) in 40-year-old men and women. The prevalence of MS in men (11.8%) was higher than that of women (4.0%). Serum levels of GGT were higher in men and women with MS than in them without MS. In the prevalence of higher serum GGT, men group with MS (35.8%) was greater than women group with MS (22.7%). In the relative risk of MS to an increased level of GGT, women group was higher than men group (about 3 times) (female, OR=7.48 vs male, OR=2.46). The present study reveals that routine check of serum GGT in health examination can be useful for the prevention and management of MS including cardiovascular and/or liver diseases.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.12-21
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• 2023

Protein glycation is vital to aging and disease. However, glycated proteins are low-abundant in plasma, rendering them difficult to identify using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Many studies have analyzed glycated peptides with high reproducibility. Here, glycated peptides in human serum were analyzed by LC-MS/MS using data-dependent acquisition (DDA) and parallel reaction monitoring (PRM). Boronic acid (BA) enrichment of in vitro glycated human serum peptides was performed. BA enrichment identified the most glycated peptides, and the glycated peptides of the more diversified proteins, excluding albumin, were analyzed. In PRM, glycated albumin PSMs were the most common, and this method exhibited the best reproducibility. The results of this study could help compare methods for identifying glycation-related biomarkers.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2024

In agricultural households cultivating vegetables and fruits, the use of various pesticides to protect crops from diseases and pests or to control weeds is widely practiced enhancing quality and productivity. However, pesticides can pose a threat to consumer health by remaining on the food surface or migrating into the food interior. Households commonly peel off skins, wash with water, or use chemical methods to remove foreign substances including residual pesticides on the food surface. In this study, we measured the washing rate by comparing the pesticide concentrations before and after washing in the leafy vegetable perilla leaves and the fruits strawberries and apples, which were intentionally exposed to pesticides. We compared washing rates using tap water, a baking soda solution, and a commercially available food-specific cleaning solution. The target pesticides for analysis were azoxystrobin, bifenthrin, boscalid, difenoconazole, flubendiamide, and indoxacarb, and the residual pesticide analysis was performed using GC-MS/MS or LC-MS/MS. The removal rates of pesticides were highest with the food-specific cleaner, followed by baking soda and tap water in order.

• Archives of design research
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• v.19 no.1 s.63
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• pp.15-26
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• 2006

As the interest and use of computer have been increased among elderly users according to the entry to the aging society, the issue of universal design for computer usability was brought forward. Especially, it is widely recognized that universal UI(User Interlace) design on MS windows is important. The objective of this study is to conceptualize Universal GUI design on MS windows which can be used more easily and intuitively by novice users such as elderly and housewives. Especially, the solution for Universal GUI design on MS windows was developed by reflecting elderly users' needs because elderly users is the group with more difficulties than other user groups in learning and using MS windows. First, elderly user's needs was collected by participant observation as a teaching assistant in computer dass for elderly people for 4 weeks. Secondly, the experimental test and in-depth interview was implemented to find difficulties factors and needs in addition to participant observation. Based on the findings, the new GUI design solution was suggested. The design solution consists of ideas in several categories such as setting default, simplification of function for easy conceptual model making, customization of function and working environment, and intuitive GUI in interaction process. The new MS windows GUI design can be accessed by novice mode when user login in window XP. This study has the significance in finding elderly users detailed needs through in-depth and long term participant observation. However, the usability of the suggested prototype needs to be verified to various user groups besides elderly users in the future.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.58 no.2
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• pp.175-181
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• 2015

Compositions of essential oils extracted from mint herb such as Mentha piperita, Mentha spicata, and Mentha ${\times}$ piperita var. citrate produced in Jeju were analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and headspace-GC-MS (HS-GC-MS). By the GC-MS analysis, 13 compounds were tentatively identified in Mentha piperita, Mentha spicata, and Mentha ${\times}$ piperita var. citrate, respectively. Peperitenone oxide, carvone, and linalool were detected as major compounds in Mentha piperita, in Mentha spicata, in Mentha ${\times}$ piperita var. citrate, respectively, based on the ratio of peak intensity in the total ion chromatogram. The greater number of compounds, including volatile alcohols and acetates were identified by HS-GC-MsS than by GC-MS in these all three essential oils. Similar patterns of composition were detected in both Mentha spicata and Mentha ${\times}$ piperita var. citrate by either one of GC-MS methods. However, in case of Mentha piperita, $\small{L}$-(-)-menthol, which was identified as the major compound by HS-GC-MS was detected in dramatically reduced quantity by GC-MS. Interestingly, we found that both linalyl acetate and linalool were identified as the dominant compounds in the essential oil of Mentha ${\times}$ piperita var. citrate.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.284-297
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• 2012

Objectives : This study was performed to investigate characteristic indice of heart rate variability (HRV) according to presence of metabolic syndrome (MS), pattern identification. Methods : We analyzed 167 subjects who participated in a stroke check-up. We classified the subjects into two groups as MS (n=48) and non-MS (n=119) based on NCEP ATP III. First, we investigated pattern identification of all subjects based on Korean Standard Pattern Identifications for Stroke-III. Second, we surveyed significance of HRV indices between MS and non-MS groups. Third, we investigated significance of HRV indices between classified DP of MS and classified DP of non-MS. Fourth, we investigated significance of HRV indices between classified DP of MS and non-MS. Fifth, we investigated significance between components of MS and HRV indices. Results : 1. SDNN, RMS-SD, HF, Ln(HF), and HF (NORM) were significantly lower in the MS than non-MS group. LN (TP), LF/HF were significantly higher in the MS than non-MS. 2. Ln (HF), Ln (TP), and LF/HF were statistically significant in the classified DP of MS group. 3. RMS-SD, and Ln (HF) were significantly lower in the abdominal obesity group than in the non-abdominal obesity group. SDNN, RMS-SD, TP, Ln (TP), VLF, Ln (VLF), and Ln (LF) were significantly lower in the hypertension group than in the non-hypertension group. RMS-SD was significantly lower in the diabetes group than in the non-diabetes group. Mean HRT,LF/HF were significantly higher in the hypertriglyceridemia than non-hypertriglyceridemia group, but Ln (HF), RMS-SD, and HF (NORM) were significantly lower in the hypertriglyceridemia than non-hypertriglyceridemia group. Conclusions : We found a few significant relationships between classified DP of MS and HRV indices. The resluts demonstrate that MS has potentially negative effects on the cardiovascular system, and these effects could be detected by HRV.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.903-910
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• 2016

In this study, the expression level of estrogen receptor in an ovariectomized rat model was effectively enhanced by MS-10, Cirsium japonicum and Thymus vulgaris extract complex, in a reversible manner. MS-10 plays a positive role in enhancing estrogen activity at low concentrations, leading to improved women's health. In order to determine whether or not MS-10 improves menopausal symptoms clinically, a randomized, double-blinded, and placebo-controlled clinical study was carried out on 62 middle-aged women treated with 500 mg of MS-10 or placebo daily for 12 weeks. Clinical menopausal symptoms were evaluated by Kupperman's index (KI) detecting various menopausal symptoms, including hot flushes, parenthesis, insomnia, nervousness, melancholia, dizziness, fatigue, rheumatic pain, palpitations, formication, and headaches. Total KI score decreased significantly by about 18% upon ingestion of MS-10. Colpoxerosis, a main symptom of menopause, was significantly reduced by about 21% upon ingestion of MS-10 in contrast to placebo. In addition, reduction of insulin-like growth factor-1 with age was improved by over 10% upon ingestion of MS-10, whereas there were no significant difference with placebo. No side effects appeared after treatment with MS-10. Thus, MS-10 can be suggested as a plausible natural substance for improving women's health.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.417-433
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• 2011

The study tested QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe) sample preparation and HPLC-MS/ MS analysis for measurement of pesticide residues in fruit and vegetable. 240 kinds of pesticides spiked at three levels of 90, 45, 9 ng/g in lettuce and apple. For QuEChERS sample preparation, graphitized carbon black (GCB) was used for only lettuce in dispersive-SPE as absorbent. Matrix-matched standard calibration was used for quantitative analysis of HPLC-MS/MS. 218 pesticides (91%) in apple and 207 pesticides (86%) in lettuce showed recoveries in the range of 70~120% with $RSD{\leq}20%$. The lowest calibrated level (LCL) were 4.5 ng/g for 192 pesticides, 9 ng/g for 42 pesticides, 45 ng/g for 3 pesticides and 3 pesticides were not detected at all concentration levels. The results showed that the QuEChERS sample preparation and HPLC-MS/MS analysis can be applied to multi-residue analysis of pesticides in vegetables and fruits.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.737-750
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• 2015

This study was carried out to construct a DNA profile database for 102 watermelon cultivars through the comparison of polymorphism level and genetic relatedness using genomic microsatellite (gMS) and expressed sequence tag (EST)-microsatellite (eMS) markers. Sixteen gMS and 10 eMS primers showed hyper-variability and were able to represent the genetic variation within 102 watermelon cultivars. With gMS markers, an average of 3.63 alleles per marker were detected with a polymorphism information content (PIC) value of 0.479, whereas with eMS markers, the average number of alleles per marker was 2.50 and the PIC value was 0.425, indicating that eMS detects a lower polymorphism level compared to gMS. Cluster analysis and Jaccard's genetic distance coefficients using the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic average (UPGMA) based on the gMS, eMS, and combined data sets showed that 102 commercial watermelon cultivars could be categorized into 6 to 8 major groups corresponding to phenotypic traits. Moreover, this method was sufficient to identify 78 out of 102 cultivars. Correlation analysis with Mantel tests for those clusters using 3 data sets showed high correlation ($r{\geq}0.80$). Therefore, the microsatellite markers used in this study may serve as a useful tool for germplasm evaluation, genetic purity assessment, and fingerprinting of watermelon cultivars.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.458-463
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• 2009

To establish and validate a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method for the rapid and accurate quantitation of diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP) toxins, we compared the results from different mobile phases and columns used for their analysis and collision energies for MS/MS experiments. Clear peaks of okadaic acid (OA) and dinophysistoxin-1 (DTX1) were obtained by using a mobile phase comprising aqueous acetonitrile containing 2 mM ammonium formate and 50 mM formic acid. The collision energies were optimized to facilitate the most sensitive detection for each toxin, namely, OA, DTX1, pectenotoxin-2 (PTX2), or yessotoxin (YTX). Further, the maximum ion response was obtained at a collision energy of 48 V for OA and DTX1. We compared the analytical performance of $C_8$ and $C_{18}$ columns. A wide range of toxins namely, OA, DTX1, PTX2, and YTX, except DTX3, were detected by both the columns. Although DTX3 was only detected by the $C_8$ column, we found that the $C_{18}$ column was also suitable for the quantitation of OA and DTX1 the toxins responsible for inducing diarrhea. The limit of detection of OA and DTX1 by the established LC-MS/MS conditions was 1 ng/g, and the limit of quantitation of the toxins under the same conditions was 3 ng/g. The process efficiencies were 91-118% for oysters (Crassostrea gigas) and 96-117% for mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) further, we observed no significant effect of matrix during the ionization process in LC-MS/MS. The comparison between mouse bioassay (MBA) and LC-MS/MS yielded varying results because low concentrations of OA and DTX1 were detected by LC-MS/MS in some shellfish samples, which provided positive results on MBA for DSP. The analysis time required by MBA for DSP analysis can be reduced by LC-MS/MS.