• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.10
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• pp.1371-1382
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• 2016

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short non-coding RNAs that post-transcriptionally regulate expression of mRNAs in many biological pathways. Liver plays an important role in the feed efficiency of animals and high and low efficient cattle demonstrated different gene expression profiles by microarray. Here we report comprehensive miRNAs profiles by next-gen deep sequencing in Angus cattle divergently selected for residual feed intake (RFI) and identify miRNAs related to feed efficiency in beef cattle. Two microRNA libraries were constructed from pooled RNA extracted from livers of low and high RFI cattle, and sequenced by Illumina genome analyser. In total, 23,628,103 high quality short sequence reads were obtained and more than half of these reads were matched to the bovine genome (UMD 3.1). We identified 305 known bovine miRNAs. Bta-miR-143, bta-miR-30, bta-miR-122, bta-miR-378, and bta-let-7 were the top five most abundant miRNAs families expressed in liver, representing more than 63% of expressed miRNAs. We also identified 52 homologous miRNAs and 10 novel putative bovine-specific miRNAs, based on precursor sequence and the secondary structure and utilizing the miRBase (v. 21). We compared the miRNAs profile between high and low RFI animals and ranked the most differentially expressed bovine known miRNAs. Bovine miR-143 was the most abundant miRNA in the bovine liver and comprised 20% of total expressed mapped miRNAs. The most highly expressed miRNA in liver of mice and humans, miR-122, was the third most abundant in our cattle liver samples. We also identified 10 putative novel bovine-specific miRNA candidates. Differentially expressed miRNAs between high and low RFI cattle were identified with 18 miRNAs being up-regulated and 7 other miRNAs down-regulated in low RFI cattle. Our study has identified comprehensive miRNAs expressed in bovine liver. Some of the expressed miRNAs are novel in cattle. The differentially expressed miRNAs between high and low RFI give some insights into liver miRNAs regulating physiological pathways underlying variation in this measure of feed efficiency in bovines.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.31 no.10
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• pp.893-900
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• 2009

To estimate the contribution of epiphytic algae attached on reed to organic matter production in constructed wetland, primary productivity by epiphytic algae was investigated in two sub-wetlands (Banweol and Donhwa wetlands) of the Sihwa Constructed Wetland (CW) with different chemistry of inflows. Chlorophyll a concentration of epiphytic algae was higher in the Banweol wetland (range:37~3,581 mgChl.a/$m^2$surface stem, average:655 mgChl.a/$m^2$surface stem) than the Donhwa wetland (range:87~2,093 mgChl.a/$m^2$surface stem, average:527 mgChl.a/$m^2$surface stem). In contrast, assimilation number (AN) representing photosynthetic activity was higher in the Donhwa wetland with low TN/TP ratio than the Banweol wetland. A negative correlation (r=0.46) was observed between TN/TP ratios of inflows and AN in two wetlands, implying that high photosynthetic activity of epiphytic algae may be related with low TN/TP ratio. The areal primary productivity ranged from 307 to 2,473 mgC/$m^2$/day in the Banweol wetland and from 756 to 2,096 mgC/$m^2$/day in the Donghwa wetland, showing high productivity in summer. Average primary production was lower in the Banweol wetland (1,166 mgC/$m^2$/day) than the Donghwa wetland (1,467 mgC/$m^2$/day), although the standing crop (as chlorophyll a concentration) was high in the Banweol wetland. This result may be due to the low photosynthetic activity of epiphytic algae in the Banweol wetland with high TN/TP ratio. The annual primary production (300 tonC/year) of epiphytic algae contributed 33% of the total production in the Sihwa CW. An excessive organic matter production in constructed wetland can negatively affect the efficiency of water treatment. Therefore, the role of epiphytic algae should be considered in management of constructed wetland for water treatment.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.424-429
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• 2012

The intention of this research was to investigate the solubilization of primary sewage sludge using lactic acid bacteria cultured in a glucose and yeast extract medium. Glucose as the carbon source and yeast extract as the source of nitrogen were chosen as an economic medium with the potential for the mass production of lactic acid bacteria. The optimal concentrations of the medium were 3% (w/v) glucose and 2% (w/v) yeast extract. In this study, in order to improve field applications for the solubilization of sludge at sewage treatment plants, a powdered form of lactic acid bacteria was produced. The optimal inoculum of the powder for the maximum efficiency of solubilization was 1% (w/v). In that condition, the SCOD value increased from 8600 (mg/L) at the beginning of experiment to 10290 (mg/L) at 96 h, with the highest solubilization rate (20.6% DDCOD) and 11.2% (SCOD). Also, the TVFAs of the lactic acid bacteria inoculation group were produced more than that of the control group. In particular, acetic acid was produced 5 times more in the experimental group than in the control group. In this research, the potential of lactic acid bacteria in the pretreatment of primary sewage sludge as a solubilizer, and as an energy source producer for microbial fuel cells was revealed.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.675-682
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• 2009

Sludge minimization from wastewater treatment plant is becoming more important to save disposal costs and to contribute to sustainable development. For the reduction of sludge production, solubilization and dewaterability of sludge are important factors in sludge processing. Ultrasonic treatment has been used to enhance sludge solubility and dewaterability with anaerobic digestion sludge, primary sludge, and activated sludge. At the ultrasonic power of 0.2 kW/L for 1 hour, anaerobic sludge and activated sludge showed higher solubilization efficiency than the primary sludge in terms of COD, proteins, and suspended solids. Ultrasonic treatment decreased sludge dewaterability and sludge settling characteristics up to 720 kJ/L of ultrasonic energy. In conclusion, ultrasonic treatment was effective for sludge solubilization but it deteriorate dewaterability (specific resistance) and settling characteristics (SVI) of sludge at the experimental conditions.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.220-231
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• 2023

Although omega-3 fatty acids including docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) contain various health-promoting effects, their poor aqueous solubility and stability make them difficult to be induced in dairy foods. The aims of this research were to manufacture casein derivative-based delivery system using acid-induced gelation method with glucono-σ-lactone and to investigate the effects of production variables, such as pH and charged amount of linoleic acid, on the physicochemical properties of delivery systems and oxidative stability of DHA during storage in model milk. Covalent modification with linoleic acid resulted in the production of casein derivatives with varying degrees of modification. As pH was reduced from 5.0 to 4.8 and the charged amount of linoleic acid was increased from 0% to 30%, an increase in particle size of casein derivative-based delivery systems was observed. The encapsulation efficiency of DHA was increased with decreased pH and increased charged amount of linoleic acid. The use of delivery system for DHA resulted in a decrease in the development of primary and secondary oxidation products. An increase in the degree of modification of casein derivatives with linoleic acid resulted in a decrease in the formation of primary and secondary oxidation products than of free DHA indicating that delivery systems could enhance the oxidative stability of DHA during storage in model milk. In conclusions, casein derivatives can be an effective delivery system for DHA and charged amount of linoleic acid played a key role determining the physicochemical characteristics of delivery system and oxidative stability of DHA.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 1999.11a
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• pp.102-144
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• 1999

The major problems of food crop cultivation in Korea are low yield of most crops except rice. inefficient cultivation techniques for aged farmers. and low international competibility. Therefore, development of cultivation techniques of food crops should aim the yield. quality improvement, labor reduction and production cost. The primary issue for increasing the yield of soybean, barely and wheat is to reduce the yield gap between the farmer's yield and recommended ones of experiment station. More advanced cultivation techniques needs to be developed. and/or the conventional breeding methods to be reconsidered. The newly developed labor-saving mechanized technique needs to reduce labor hours , and the cost of agricultural implements and machineries. In other words the labor-saving mechanized technique should be developed based on the improvement of total farming system as well as systemic fundamental innovation of cultural methods. The efficiency of solar energy use in food production of Korea in 1997 is as low as $0.52{\%}$ so there is much room to increase yield. It is recommendable that the concept of food Production should be changed to energy Producing efficiency Per unit area basis from volume and weight of food materials. Moreover, introduction of resonable cropping system is needed to increase yield of main crops, farmer's income, solar energy use efficiency, and decrease of land service expenditure. Current cropping system emphasized on economic crops. especially in vegetables , is not desirable for resonable use of arable land. stability of agricultural management and staple food crop self-sufficiency ratio. It is desirable to increase food crops . that are energy of carbohydrate and protein rich and land dependent crops. in cropping system. And the agronomist should develop the cultural methods to replace food crops for food self-sufficiency and stable farming management instead of economic crops in current cropping system. Low-input and environmentally-sound crop cultivation techniques, especially nitrogen-reducing culture technique which is directly related to food crop quality, also needs to be developed urgently. The extended cultivation of corn in upland and barely and wheat in lowland as a feed stuffs is recommended to prevent further decrease of food self-sufficiency ratio, which is mainly caused by the high reliance on imported feed grain. It is also considered that the calculation and presentation methods of standard agricultural income needs to be improved. The current calculation method uses unit land area of 10a regardless of crop kinds , characteristics of agricultural management and cultivation scale. So, it is apt to lead misunderstanding of farm income value. Therefore. it should show an income of average farmers for certain number of years. Research and developing system for food producing is not desirable because they are conducted currently individual crop and mono-culture basis. But actual agricultural income is usually earned by cropping system including upland and lowland. For example. the barley and wheat is usually cultivated in double cropping system. The cooperation among research institutes such as university agribusiness. government and farmers is indispensible. The public information and education on importance and consumption habit of food crops is necessary in Korean society to increase food self-sufficiency through nationwide cooperation.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.11
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• pp.1787-1799
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• 2022

Objective: Choline deficiency, one main trigger for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), is closely related to lipid metabolism disorder. Previous study in a choline-deficient model has largely focused on gene expression rather than gene structure, especially sparse are studies regarding to alternative splicing (AS). In modern life science research, primary hepatocytes culture technology facilitates such studies, which can accurately imitate liver activity in vitro and show unique superiority. Whereas limitations to traditional hepatocytes culture technology exist in terms of efficiency and operability. This study pursued an optimization culture method for duck primary hepatocytes to explore AS in choline-deficient model. Methods: We performed an optimization culture method for duck primary hepatocytes with multi-step digestion procedure from Pekin duck embryos. Subsequently a NAFLD model was constructed with choline-free medium. RNA-seq and further analysis by rMATS were performed to identify AS events alterations in choline-deficency duck primary hepatocytes. Results: The results showed E13 (embryonic day 13) to E15 is suitable to obtain hepatocytes, and the viability reached over 95% by trypan blue exclusion assay. Primary hepatocyte retained their biological function as well identified by Periodic Acid-Schiff staining method and Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity assay, respectively. Meanwhile, genes of alb and afp and specific protein of albumin were detected to verify cultured hepatocytes. Immunofluorescence was used to evaluate purity of hepatocytes, presenting up to 90%. On this base, choline-deficient model was constructed and displayed significantly increase of intracellular triglyceride and cholesterol as reported previously. Intriguingly, our data suggested that AS events in choline-deficient model were implicated in pivotal biological processes as an aberrant transcriptional regulator, of which 16 genes were involved in lipid metabolism and highly enriched in glycerophospholipid metabolism. Conclusion: An effective and rapid protocol for obtaining duck primary hepatocytes was established, by which our findings manifested choline deficiency could induce the accumulation of lipid and result in aberrant AS events in hepatocytes, providing a novel insight into various AS in the metabolism role of choline.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.36 no.9
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• pp.966-973
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• 2003

The purpose of this study was to investigate the utilization level of forecasting methods in contract foodservice management companies. Questionnaires were distributed and collected from 30 foodservice management companies contracted with universities and 49 university foodservices in Seoul and Kyungki area. Statistical data analysis was performed using SPSS/WIN 10.0 based on the production records of Yonsei University foodservices and the weather reports from a meteorological observatory. The results of this study were as follows: 1) The objectives of the fore-casting systems were identified as saving costs through eliminating the leftover, meeting the customer demands, and improving efficiency in food preparation.2) All of the university foodservices were already performing the forecasting methods but in foodservice management companies as a whole,89.7 percents were applying the method and only 55.2 percents had the separate forecasting department. 3) A large number of foodservice staffs in the head office (65.5％) answered that they often utilized intuitive estimates based on the past experiences and records for forecasting while 65.3% managing staffs in the university foodservices answered the same.4) Both in the head office and university foodservices, actual number of meals served were recorded. In the head office, mostly estimated numbers and actual numbers of meals were recorded while estimated, prepared, and actual numbers of meals served were recorded for most of the cases in university foodservices. 5) The primary factors considered for forecasting were the actual production records for the last month, the customer preference for the selected menu items, and the specific day of the week.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.112-117
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• 2002

A comparative investigation of an experimental and a simulation of chemical kinetics for NOx removal from silent(dielectric-barrier) discharges is presented. Several types of dielectric-barrier discharges were implemented depending upon the configuration of electrodes. The simulation was based on an approximate mathematical model for plasma cleaning of waste gas. The influence of non-uniform distributions of species due to the production of primary active particles in the streamer channel was taken into account. A comparison of observed experimental to the calculated removal efficiency of NOx showed acceptable agreement.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.11
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• pp.1515-1528
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• 2017

The gastrointestinal (GI) tract, including the rumen and the other intestinal segments of cattle, harbors a diverse, complex, and dynamic microbiome that drives feed digestion and fermentation in cattle, determining feed efficiency and output of pollutants. This microbiome also plays an important role in affecting host health. Research has been conducted for more than a century to understand the microbiome and its relationship to feed efficiency and host health. The traditional cultivation-based research elucidated some of the major metabolism, but studies using molecular biology techniques conducted from late 1980's to the late early 2000's greatly expanded our view of the diversity of the rumen and intestinal microbiome of cattle. Recently, metagenomics has been the primary technology to characterize the GI microbiome and its relationship with host nutrition and health. This review addresses the main methods/techniques in current use, the knowledge gained, and some of the challenges that remain. Most of the primers used in quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction quantification and diversity analysis using metagenomics of ruminal bacteria, archaea, fungi, and protozoa were also compiled.