• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.102-106
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• 2001

Berberis aristata (family Berberidaceae), known as 'Daruharidra' in Ayurvedic system of medicine, is an important medicinal plant used extensively for treating a variety of ailments in various systems of indigenous medicine. Being an important medicinal plant it is being adulterated and in the absence of any pharmacognostic information it is very difficult to check the adulteration. The present study was therefore, carried out to provide the requisite pharmacognostic details. Morphological, anatomical and phytochemical aspects of B. aristata were carried out. Diagnostic features of B. aristata root were identified and characterized from the above investigations and presented in the present communication. Some of the diagnostic features of the root drug noted from the anatomical study are patches of pericyclic fibre, pitted sclerieds, berberine containing cells and heterocyclic medullary rays. HPTLC analysis showed three distinct bands of which berberine was identified as the major constituents. The $R_f$. value of other bands was also calculated.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.100-103
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• 2011

Phytochemical study on the ethanol extract of a Crinum species by bioassay-guided fractionation resulted in the isolation of an active principle, which was determined as parthenin (1) on the basis of physicochemical and spectroscopic analyses. This is the first report on the existence of a sesquiterpenoid from Crinum ensifolium. Compound 1 was found to show strong cytotoxic activity against some cancer cell lines and strongly inhibit NF-${\kappa}$B activity with the $IC_{50}$ value of 1.82 ${\mu}M$.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.236-239
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• 2005

Ethyl acetate extracts of traditional medicinal herbs were screened for their antifungal activity against Malassezia furfur through the liquid growth inhibition method with 96 well plate and the paper disk agar diffusion assay. Among the 91 kinds of herbal solvent extracts, borneolum (borneo-camphor, No. 56) was finally selected as the best antifungal effective medicinal herb. The MIC value of No. 56 against M. furfur was 0.3 mg/ml ($8.2{\times}10^6$ CFU/ml) and it was three times more efficient than midazole which is the known antifungal agent in clinical medicines.

• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.219-226
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• 2004

Cacti of the genus Opuntia, which are widely distributed throughout Latin America, South Africa, the Mediterranean, and Korea, have been used not only as ornamental plants but also for their medicinal value. For example, Opuntia spp. have traditionally been used as hypoglycemic plants for treating diabetes mellitus. In this article, we review published papers dealing with the biological and medicinal properties of Opuntia spp.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.29-34
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• 2007

The production of mevinolin, a potent hypocholesterolemic drug, and the bioconversion of isoflavones were investigated in soybeans fermented with Monascus pilosus KFRI-1140. The highest yields of 2.94 mg mevinolins and 1.13 mg isoflavone aglycones per g dry weight of soybean were obtained after 20 days of fermentation. Mevinolin was present in the fermentation substrate predominantly in the hydroxycarboxylate form (open lactone, 94.8$\sim$96.7%), which is currently being used as an hypocholesterolemic agent. The significant (p<0.01) bioconversion (96.6%) of the glucoside isoflavones (daidzin, glycitin, genistin) present in the soybean to the bioactive aglycones (daidzein, glycitein, genistein), with a 15.8-fold increase of aglycones was observed. The results suggest that Monascus-fermented soybean has potential as a novel medicinal food or multifunctional food supplement.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Interior Design Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.149-152
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• 2004

Currently, with the development of an advanced industrial form, attention to human life has risen gradually. On the basis of aboves, Oriental medical industry has been achieved revolutionarily, and moreover the new word 'Well-being' has been born due to the value of life and attention to health. All who live in the 21-century have worried about problem with health and well-being, and the substitute medical science centering around the Oriental medicine has come up as the major concern, not to speak of the Oriental the West. Domestically, Research and attention to the Oriental medicine has increased, and its importance has appeared. At the moment, locally self-governing groups have taken an active step to study the genetic resources centering around locally- breedy wild medicinal herbfor their economy growth. Accordingly, in the historic view, to discover our medicinal herb's essence and to supply professional, systemical infomation of herb genetic, the necessity of professional exhibition museum can come up. under the above circumstances, I propose the public information museum in local area.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.191-197
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• 1998

Garlic is an important condimental vegetable which has many minerals and numerous organic sulfur compounds. Owing to these components, garlic has many medicinal properties and physiological activities on human health. It can lower sect lipid levels and reduce the severity of cholesterol-induced atherosclerosis. And it appeals to protect against mutagenic and carcinogenic effects. Today's our eating habit is concentrated on the physiological function in floods rather than their taste or mutagenic. To improve garlic's value as a flood or a vegetable, further scientific researches about its volatile and nonvolatile sulfur compounds through the biochemical approach are needed. In addition to that, both areas that the development of garlic-processed goods and utilization of garlic as materials for medicine must be actively studied.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.107-112
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• 2006

Two Atractylodes species, A. japonica Koidz. ex Kitam. (AJ) and A. macrocephala Koidz (AM) were used in this study. AJ population had higher amounts of Sesquiterpenoids and stronger tolerance to root rot but less vigor of root growth than AM population. Two populations (AJ and AM) were crossed to make interspecific hybrid population. A total of 98 lines propagated clonally were selected from a cross of AJ and AM, and evaluated for contents of sesquiterpenoids, atractylon (ATLN) and atractylenolide III (AT3) using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and growth characters such as plant height, stem number and root weight. HPLC profiles of the hybrids were compared with those of parent plants, and it demonstrated the production of introgression hybrid by crossing between AJ and AM. Of 98 clonal lines,10 lines were selected by 10% level based on the growth vigor and tolerance to root rot, and AJM2102-51 line showed the heaviest root weight (117.1 g/plant) among them. A total of 98 hybrid lines contained on average $0.16\;{\pm}\;0.10\;mg/g$ of $AT3,\;2.00\;{\pm}\;1.37\;mg/g$ of ATLN, and $2.16\;{\pm}\;1.40\;mg/g$ of total sesquiterpenoids, showing high coefficients of variation (above 65%). Ten lines having high contents of sesquiterpenoids were selected, and AJM2101-15 had the highest amount (9.83 mg/g) of ATLN, and showed 40.8 g/plant of root weight similar to mean value (39.9 g/plant) of hybrid lines. The result showed that the introgression of both characters of vigorous growth from AM and high sesquiterpenoids content from AJ could be possible to make new hybrid lines by crossing between AJ and AM.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.384-392
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• 2007

The primary objective of this study was to determine the effects of a water-distilled extract with 15 kinds of Korean medicinal herb on antioxidant activity, antimicrobial activity against Helicobacter pylori, and lipid metabolism. The water-distilled extract (WE) and fermenting water-distilled extract (FE) of medicinal herbs were utilized in order to make functional beverages. The EDA (electron donating activity), SOD-like ability, and RAE (relative antioxidant efficacy) of WE averaged 24.47, 50.35, and 1.57%, respectively, but the EDA, SOD-like ability, and RAE of FE was retardeded by 12.01, 35.72, and 1.55%, respectively. The antimicrobial activity against Helicobacter pylori of WE averaged 12.84 mm as a diametric clear zone, and was significantly (p<0.05) higher than those measured in the WE and control. Serum triglyceride contents, total serum cholesterol contents, and serum LDL-cholesterol contents of the WE group were significantly (p<0.05) lower than those of the control group. The liver total-cholesterol contents and liver triglycerides of WE group were significantly (p<0.05) lower than those of the control group. The plasma TBARS value of the WE group was significantly (p<0.05) lower than that of the control group. The sensory evaluation, taste, and smell of FE were more desirable than those of WE, but the color of WE was more desirable. According to the above results, the water distilled extracts (WE) of 15 kinds of medicinal herb are supposed to be effective with regard to antioxidant activity and lipid metabolism, but the antimicrobial activity against Helicobacter pylori was increased as the result of fermentation.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.63-67
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• 2009

Objectives : Quality control for imported medicinal herbs is duty for regulation, however to the best of our knowledge there has been no report regarding quality control of imported ones. Therefore, this study investigated the data of imported ones for monitoring quality issue. Methods : These data are categorized according to item, the amount of import, country, inspection item, suitability, and incongruity reason based on the 248 results performed by KIOM. Results : China is the number one country for import with the value of 73%. Inspected medicinal herbs were 139 species, among them Poria is ranked as top for requested number and the amount of import. The amount of import is similar between high ranking 20 species and low ranking 119 ones, showing high ranking ones are major. The incongruity ratio was 7.7% from the total number of inspected items, the reason for incongruity was excess of tolerable amount of Cd residue. Conclusions : From the data, it is effective way to focus on high ranking herbs for evaluating imported herbs for quality control. The study of mechanism on Cd accumulation and its decrease is essential for environmental matter. And identification and storage for mixed used and easily decomposable herbs are remained for further study. Our study might be small step for showing guideline for proper quality control.