• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.310-312
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• 2012

Cytochrome $b_5$ is involved in the reduction of methemoglobin back to hemoglobin, thereby maintaining normal function of the blood to carry oxygen around. Congenital abnormal condition of this enzyme causes a rare disease called methemoglobinemia. At least 4 different retropseudogenes are reported so far for cytochrome $b_5$. However, type III pseudogene has attracted most attention because it contains open reading frame in its structure. Although there is no evidence yet if this pseudogene is actually expressed in the cell or the blood the possibility of its expression needs to be elucidated. We have isolated type III pseudogene by polymerase chain reaction and cloned into pGEX-4T-1 expression vector followed by SDS-PAGE. Protein was expressed and the size of the expressed protein was 28 kDa as expected in its genetic code. This result also shows that the protein is not harmful for the viability of the microorganism. This study may contribute to the genetic diagnosis of cardiac diseases, possibly caused by cytochrome $b_5$.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.97-103
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• 1976

In order to clarify the histopathological changes resulting from nitrate poisoning, rabbits were experimentally poisoned by the oral administration of $KNO_3$ or $NaNO_2$ and examined clinically and histopathologically. In addition, the quantitative changes of glycogen level in hepatic cells were histochemically observed. The results obtained were summarized as follows: 1. Clinical symptoms observed from the acute cases which died within 2 hours after the administration were severe cyanosis of visible mucosa, frequent urination, and dyspnea. However, in chronic cases administrated daily with $KNO_3$ for 43, 50 and 74 days respectively, no marked symptoms were observed. 2. Macroscopic changes observed in acute cases were severe methemoglobinemia, cloudy swelling of hepatic cells, hemorrhage and hyperemia of gastric mucosa, and hyperemia of other organs. In chronic cases there were marked hyperemia, dark-red coloring and increasing of consistency in liver and kidney, and swelling of spleen. 3. Microscopic changes observed in acute cases were hemorrhage and hyperemia of various organs, cloudy swelling and centrilobular necrosis of hepatic cells and necrosis of convoluted tubular epithelium in kidney. In chronic cases there were round cell infiltration of the interlobular connective tissue and epithelial proliferation of interlobular bile ducts in the liver, and necrosis of the convoluted tubular epithelium and proliferation of interstitial connective tissue in kidney, thickening of alveolar septa of lungs, activated hemopoiesis of bone marrow, and myeloid metaplasia of sqlenic pulp. 4. Glycogen storage in liver cells was decreased in acute cases, on the contrary, increased in chronic cases.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.28-34
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• 2020

Nitrate released from chemical fertilizer, animal wastes, and synthetic detergents can cause methemoglobinemia to infants, thus the standard in drinking water is set to 10 mg/L as World Health Organization recommended. In this study, zero-valent iron-modified rice straw biochar was used to reduce and remove nitrate in the aqueous phase. The rice straw biochar was prepared by pyrolyzing the biomass at 700℃ for 3 hours, and the biochar was modified using 1 M Fe(III), and the Fe(III) on the biochar was reduced to zero-valent iron using sodium borohydride. The modified biochar removed nitrate effectively, which removed more than 91% of nitrate. For the synthetic groundwater, the nitrate removal was lowered to 82% due to the presence of other anions.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.105-121
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• 1995

Nitrate contamination problems from groundwater supplies have been documented throughout many countries in the world, including Korea. Nitrate salts can induce methemoglobinemia and possibly human gastric cancer. In farmed areas. intensive agricultural activities have caused a major increase in nitrate loading to groundwater. To determine whether decision makers must take farm-management actions to control the increase of groundwater nitrate concentration and to decide the timing of such actions, it is important to predict groundwater Nitrate levels that would result over time from various farm-management practices. However, the input values such as soil, fertilizer and crop data) used to examine the effects of various farm-management practices on groundwater nitrate level are usually uncertain due to a lack of available information. In this paper. the ease of a community with a nitrate water quality problem is illustrated to examine the effects of various farm-management practices and to show bow to perform, with uncertain information. a time-series analysis on groundwater nitrate levels that would result. from each farm-management practice.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.47-60
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• 1996

Nitrate contamination problems from groundwater supplies have been reported throughout many countries in the world, including Korea. Nitrate salts can induce methemoglobinemia and possibly human gastric cancer. To reduce human health risk from nitrate in groundwater supplies, several nitrate risk-management strategies can be developed based on the acceptable level of human health risk, the reasonableness of nitrate-control cost, and the technical feasibility of nitrate-control methods. However, due to a lack of available information, assessing risk, cost and technical feasibility contains elements of uncertainty. In the present paper, a nitrate risk-management methodology using fuzzy sets in combination with a multiobjective decision-making (MODM) technique is developed to assist decision makers in evaluating, with uncertain information, various nitrate risk-management strategies in order to decide a proper strategy.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 1991

Histopathological changes and methemoglobinemia of the eels (Anguilla japonica) reared at six culture farms in the vicinity of Y$\check{o}$su city were investigated under the conditions of $22.0{\sim}29^{\circ}C$, 4.33~7.33ppm of D.O., pH 6.1~8.2 and 0.03~10.1ppm of nitrite from December, 1989 to June, 1990. All of the eels showed no any abnormal state in action, color and blood, but the eels reared in pH 6.0 had planty of mucus and stickiness on their body surface. Methemoglobin levels were 1.03~9.86% of total erythrocyes in Dec. and 5.05~25.69% in June, and poikilocyte levels were 5.8~30.17% in Dec. and 8.67~74.45% in June. These results indicate the fact that the water management of the culture farms was worse in summer than in winter, even though not good in winter. Hypertrophy was found in the gill, hepatic and kidney tissue of the eels in all the culture farms. In March and June, Fish of all culture farms appeared the detachment of gill lamella epithelium cells, pyknosis and sinusoids of nucleus in the hepatic tissue and hemosiderosis in the kidney tissue. The trend of increase in methemoglobin levels appeared in the fish of culture farms with high nitrite concentration, which didn't appear equally in all the culture farms. However, in the culture farms of pH 6.0, methemoglobin and poikilocyte levels were increased independently of concentration of nitrite, and degeneration in the tissue of the gill, liver and kidney was also appeared.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.617-622
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• 2017

In this study, we sought to develop an effective cloning system by which human cytochrome $b_5$ (cyt $b_5$) is introduced and expressed in zebrafish. First, the 414 bp human cyt $b_5$ gene was amplified from RNA extracts of HeLa cells using RT-PCR, and the amplicon was subsequently sequenced to confirm that it was intact. Next, cyt $b_5$ was cloned into the pEGFP-N3 vector, which also encodes a fluorescent gene. One-cell stage zebrafish embryos were microinjected with the recombinant vector containing the cyt $b_5$ gene. Fluorescence microscopy confirmed high expression of the fluorescent gene in the injected fry compared to the non-fluorescent control fry. Finally, we extracted RNA from the injected fry and performed RT-PCR to determine whether the human cyt $b_5$ gene is expressed in the transgenic zebrafish. Sequencing analysis further confirmed that the cloned human cyt $b_5$ gene was intact. The transgenic zebrafish model produced in this study will be a useful tool to study therapeutic approaches to cure various diseases related to the deficiency of functional human cyt $b_5$ as well as tools for cloning useful genes in fish.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.285-294
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• 2011

The abatement of methane emission from ruminants is an important global issue due to its contribution to greenhouse gas with carbon dioxide. Methane is generated in the rumen by methanogens (archaea) that utilize metabolic hydrogen ($H_2$) to reduce carbon dioxide, and is a significant electron sink in the rumen ecosystem. Therefore, the competition for hydrogen used for methanogenesis with alternative reductions of rumen microbes should be an effective option to reduce rumen methanogenesis. Some methanogens parasitically survive on the surface of ciliate protozoa, so that defaunation or decrease in protozoa number might contribute to abate methanogenesis. The most important issue for mitigation of rumen methanogenesis with manipulators is to secure safety for animals and their products and the environment. In this respect, prophylactic effects of probiotics, prebiotics and miscellaneous compounds to mitigate rumen methanogenesis have been developed instead of antibiotics, ionophores such as monensin, and lasalocid in Japan. Nitrate suppresses rumen methanogenesis by its reducing reaction in the rumen. However, excess intake of nitrate causes intoxication due to nitrite accumulation, which induces methemoglobinemia. The nitrite accumulation is attributed to a relatively higher rate of nitrate reduction to nitrite than nitrite to ammonia via nitroxyl and hydroxylamine. The in vitro and in vivo trials have been conducted to clarify the prophylactic effects of L-cysteine, some strains of lactic acid bacteria and yeast and/or ${\beta}$1-4 galactooligosaccharide on nitrate-nitrite intoxication and methanogenesis. The administration of nitrate with ${\beta}$1-4 galacto-oligosaccharide, Candida kefyr, and Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis were suggested to possibly control rumen methanogenesis and prevent nitrite formation in the rumen. For prebiotics, nisin which is a bacteriocin produced by Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis has been demonstrated to abate rumen methanogenesis in the same manner as monensin. A protein resistant anti-microbe (PRA) has been isolated from Lactobacillus plantarum as a manipulator to mitigate rumen methanogenesis. Recently, hydrogen peroxide was identified as a part of the manipulating effect of PRA on rumen methanogenesis. The suppressing effects of secondary metabolites from plants such as saponin and tannin on rumen methanogenesis have been examined. Especially, yucca schidigera extract, sarsaponin (steroidal glycosides), can suppress rumen methanogenesis thereby improving protein utilization efficiency. The cashew nutshell liquid (CNSL), or cashew shell oil, which is a natural resin found in the honeycomb structure of the cashew nutshell has been found to mitigate rumen methanogenesis. In an attempt to seek manipulators in the section on methane belching from ruminants, the arrangement of an inventory of mitigation technologies available for the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI) in the Kyoto mechanism has been advancing to target ruminant livestock in Asian and Pacific regions.