• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.727-734
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• 2015

In this study, three GRAS (generally recognized as safety) strain was isolated from Doenjang and Cheonggukjang and identified as a protease-producing microorganism, following the appearance of a clear zone around its colony when cultured on a medium containing skim milk. Based on an analysis of the nucleotide sequence of 16S ribosomal RNA, the strains wereas identified as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens and wereas therefore named Bacillus amyloliquefaciens CDD5, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens CPD4, and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens CGD3. Here, we analyzed the protease and ${\alpha}$-glucosidase inhibitory activities of the three B. amyloliquefaciens strains. Among the isolated strains, B. amyloliquefaciens CGD3 exhibited the highest protease activity (9.21 U/mL, 24 hr). The protease activities of B. amyloliquefaciens CDD5 and B. amyloliquefaciens CPD4 reached 1.14 U/mL and 8.02 U/mL, respectively, at 48 hr. The proteases from the three B. amyloliquefaciens strains showed the highest activities within a pH range of 8.0-9.0 at $50^{\circ}C$, and casein was found to be the preferred substrate on evaluating enzyme activity in the substrate specificity assay. The B. amyloliquefaciens strains exhibited maximal growth when the nutrient broth medium had an initial pH within the range of 5.0-10.0, 6-9% sodium chloride (NaCl), and 5% glucose. B. amyloliquefaciens CDD5 exhibited a low ${\alpha}$-glucosidase inhibition rate (5.32%), whereas B. amyloliquefaciens CPD4 and B. amyloliquefaciens CGD3 exhibited relatively higher inhibition rates of 96.89% and 97.55%, respectively.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.125-139
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• 2010

Behavior of heavy metals and arsenic in the tailings of Songcheon Au-Ag mine was characterized via both mineralogical and geochemical methods. Mineral composition of the tailings was investigated by X-ray diffractometry, energy-dispersive spectroscopy, and electron probe micro-analyzer (EPMA) and total concentrations of heavy metals and arsenic and their chemical forms were analyzed by total digestion of aqua regia and sequential extraction method, respectively. The results of mineralogical study indicate that the tailings included mineral particles of resinous shape mainly consisting of galena, sphalerite, pyrite, quartz, and scorodite, and specifically socordite was identified in the form of matrix. EPMA quantitative analyses were performed to evaluate the weatherability of each mineral, and the results suggest that it decreased in the sequence of arsenopyrite > galena > sphalerite > pyrite. The weathering pattern of galena was observed to show distinctive zonal structure consisting of secondary minerals such as anglesite and beudantite. In addition, almost all of arsenopyrite has been altered to scorodite existing asmatrix and galena, sphalerite, and pyrite which have lower weatherability than arsenopyrite were identified within the matrix of scorodite. During the process of alteration of arsenopyrite into scorodite, it is likely that a portion of arsenic was lixiviated and caused a great deal of detrimental effects to surrounding environment. The results of EPMA quantitative analyses verify that the stability of scorodite was relatively high and this stable scorodite has restrained the weathering of other primary minerals within tailings as a result of its coating of mineral surfaces. For this reason, Songcheon tailings show the characteristics of the first weathering stage, although they have been exposed to the surface environment for a long time. Based on the overall results of mineralogical and geochemical studies undertaken in this research, if the tailings are kept to be exposed to the surface environment and the weathering process is continuous, not only hazardous heavy metals, such as lead and arsenic seem to be significantly leached out because their larger portions are being partitioned in weakly-bound (highly-mobile) fractions, but the potential of arsenic leaching is likely to be high as the stability of scorodite is gradually decreased. Consequently, it is speculated that the environmental hazard of Songcheon mine is significantly high.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.109-125
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• 2001

The purpose of this study was to provide the basic data for establishing school education environment protection measures, on the basis of comparing and analyzing the realities and students' recognition degree of the environment and hygiene around the middle and high schools located in the rural areas. These study data were investigated by the self-administered questionnaires, taking as subject the 805 students in the middle and high schools located rural areas. And the results were as follows: First, as the result of having investigated the distribution degree of harmful environment within the purification zone around schools, it was found out that students responded: within the purification zone around the middle school, there were cartoon rooms (46.2％), electronic game rooms (45.9％), and singing rooms (45.0％). within the purification zone around the high school, there were electronic game rooms (46.3％), singing rooms (42.3％), billiard halls (41.4％), PC rooms (40.1 ％), and Soju-room (35.2％). Secondly, as having analyzed student's recognition degree of the harmful environment around the school, it was found out that middle school students responded that sexual utensils-treating shops (3.74 points) were most harmful, and next corrupted bathhouses (3.52 points), and Soju-room (3.47 points), and high school students also responded relating to harmfulness in a similar sequence. Thirdly, in case of students' recognition degree of the harmful environment around the school according to general characteristics, 1) girl students had a higher ratio of recognition that the environment around the school was harmful than boy students (p〈0.001). 2) groups of students whose living standard was high had a higher ratio of recognition that the environment around the school was harmful than groups of students whose living standard was low (p〈0.05). 3) groups of students whose school was located near the park or the residential street had a higher degree of recognition that the environment around the school was harmful than groups of students whose school was located near the factory or the shopping area (p〈0.01). 4) groups of students whose school was located near the park or the residential street had a higher degree of recognition that the environment around the school was harmful than groups of students whose school was located near the amusement area or the shopping area (p〈0.05). Fourthly, 1) relating to the harmful shops where they experienced most highly the behavior of drinking and smoking, middle school students responded that they did so in the electronic game room (22.5％) and high school students did so in the singing room (31.4％), and high school students had a very high experience ratio of drinking and smoking, compared with middle school students (p〈0.001). 2) relating to the harmful shops where they could get in contact with lewd articles, both of middle school students (5.3％) and high school students (8.3％) responded that they could do so in the video room. 3) relating to the harmful shops where they experienced unsound opposite sex acquaintance, both of middle school students (5.8％) and high school students (16.6％) responded that they did so most highly in hotels, and high school students had a remarkably high experience ratio of unsound opposite sex acquaintance, compared with middle school students (p〈0.05). 4) relating to the harmful shops where they experienced violence, middle school students responded that they did so in the electronic game room (14.0％) and then in the singing room (3.7％), and high school students responded that they did so in the electronic game room (9.3％), the nightclub (4.6％), Soju-room (4.1 ％), and high school students had a remarkably high experience ratio of violence, compared with middle school students (p〈0.05). 5) relating to the harmful places where they experienced drugs both of middle school students (0.8％) and high school students (2.4％) responded that they did so in the hotels. Fifthly, when going to the harmful shops, students had the experience of being guided and regulated roughly 1 time - 2 times, and middle school students (16.4％) and high school students (16.7％) had almost similar experience ratios of being guided and regulated. Conclusively, there was a limit in controlling the environment and purification zone only by legal regulations and institutional controls, the self-control purification effort for the school and the surrounding environment was required greatly, in order to protect students from harmful environment. In addition, the constant study to establish the educational environment purification measures must be carried out.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.72-79
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• 2007

Purpose : Glycogen storage disease type III (GSD-III) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder of glycogen metabolism. The affected enzyme, amylo-1,6-glucosidase, 4-alpha-glucanotransferase (AGL, glycogen debranching enzyme), is responsible for the debranching of the glycogen molecule during catabolism. The disease shows clinical and biochemical heterogeneity, reflecting genotype-phenotype heterogeneity among different patients. In this study, we aim at analyzing mutations of the AGL gene in three unrelated Korean GSD-III patients, and characterizing their clinical and laboratory findings. Methods : We characterized the clinical features of three unrelated Korean GSD-III patients by biochemical, histological and imaging studies. The 35 exons and part of exon-intron boundaries of AGL were analyzed by direct sequencing using genomic DNA extracted from the peripheral leukocytes of patients. Results : Diverse clinical features were observed in these patients including hepatomegaly (all patients), seizures (patient 2), grow th failure (patients 1 and 2), hyperlipidemia (patients 1 and 3), raised transaminase and creatine kinase concentrations (all patients), and mild cardiomyopathy (patient 2). Liver transplantation w as performed in patient 2 due to progressive hepatic fibrosis. A dministration of uncooked corn starch maintained normoglycemia and improved biochemical and growth profiles. DNA sequence analysis revealed mutations in 5 out of 6 alleles. Patient 1 was a compound heterozygote of c.1282 G>A (p.R428K) and c.1306delA (p.S603PfsX6), patient 2 had c.1510_1511insT (p.Y 504L fsX 10), and patient 3 had c.3416 T >C (p.L 1139P) and c.1735+1 G>T (p.Y 538_R578delfsX 4) mutations. A part from the p.R428K mutation, the 4 other substitutions identified w ere nov el. Conclusion : GSD-III patients display variable phenotypic characteristics resembling those of GSD-Ia. Molecular defects in the AGL gene of Korean GSD-III patients are genetically heterogeneous.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.112-121
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• 2016

Development of genetically-modified (GM) crops enables the introduction of new traits to the plant to confer characteristics such as disease resistance, herbicide resistance and human health-promoting bioactivity. Successful commercialization of newly developed GM crops requires stable inheritance of integrated T-DNA and newly introduced traits through the multiple generations. This study was carried out to confirm the stable inheritance of the integrated T-DNA in $T_1$ and $T_2$ transgenic Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa ssp. pekinensis) that was genetically modified to increase concentrations of phenylethylisothiocyanate (PEITC), which is a potential anti-carcinogenic phytochemical. For this purpose, the IGA 1-3 ($T_1$ generation) and IGA 1-3-5 ($T_2$ generation) lines were selected by PCR and a IGA 1-3 transgenic plant ($T_1$ generation) was analyzed to confirm the T-DNA insertion site in the Chinese cabbage genome by VA-TAIL PCR. The results of this study showed that the introduced T-DNA in IGA 1 line was stably inherited to the next generations without any variations in terms of the structure of the transgenes, and this line also showed the expected transgene function that resulted in increased concentration of PEITC through the multiple generations. Finally, we confirmed the increased QR activity in IGA 1 $T_1$ and $T_2$ transgenic lines, which indicates an enhanced potential anti-carcinogenic bioactivity and its stable inheritance in IGA1 $T_1$ and $T_2$ transgenic lines.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.44-48
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• 2019

Objectives: Insomnia is one of the most prevalent sleep disorders. Recent studies suggest that cognitive and physical arousal play an important role in the generation of primary insomnia. Studies have also shown that information processing disorders due to cortical hyperactivity might interfere with normal sleep onset and sleep continuity. Therefore, focusing on central nervous system arousal and normalizing the information process have become current topics of interest. It has been well known that neurofeedback can reduce the brain hyperarousal by modulating patients' brain waves during a sequence of behavior therapy. The purpose of this study was to investigate effects of neurofeedback therapy on electroencephalography (EEG) characteristics in patients with primary insomnia. Methods: Thirteen subjects who met the criteria for an insomnia diagnosis and 14 control subjects who were matched on sex and age were included. Neurofeedback and sham treatments were performed in a random order for 30 minutes, respectively. EEG spectral power analyses were performed to quantify effects of the neurofeedback therapy on brain wave forms. Results: In patients with primary insomnia, relative spectral theta and sigma power during a therapeutic neurofeedback session were significantly lower than during a sham session ($13.9{\pm}2.6$ vs. $12.2{\pm}3.8$ and $3.6{\pm}0.9$ vs. $3.2{\pm}1.0$ in %, respectively; p < 0.05). There were no statistically significant changes in other EEG spectral bands. Conclusion: For the first time in Korea, EEG spectral power in the theta band was found to increase when a neurofeedback session was applied to patients with insomnia. This outcome might provide some insight into new interventions for improving sleep onset. However, the treatment response of insomniacs was not precisely evaluated due to limitations of the current pilot study, which requires follow-up studies with larger samples in the future.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.159-168
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• 2019

The western Gyeonggi Massif, where records evidence of Phanerozoic subduction/collision tectonics, is an important area to understand the crustal evolutionary history of the Korean Peninsula. This study presents geometric and kinematic characteristics of the geological structures of the Taean Formation in the Gomseom area, southwestern Gyeonggi Massif. We interpreted the geometric relationships between structural elements, and conducted stereographic and down-plunge projections for structural domains. As a result, at least three different deformational events ($D_1$, $D_2$ and $D_3$) are recognized in the study area. In the first deformational event ($D_1$), regional foliations being well defined by the preferred orientation of muscovite and biotite were formed. In the second deformational event ($D_2$), NNE-trending low-angle contractional faults and related crenulation lineations/cleavages were formed. The crenulation lineations shallowly plunge toward SSW~SSE or NNW~NNE. In the third deformational event ($D_3$), SE-plunging folds and NE-trending high-angle faults were formed as 'fault-related fold' and 'fold-accommodation fault', indicating that the $D_3$ folds and faults are genetically linked to each other. This contribution provides important insights into the structural evolution of the Taean Formation along western Gyeonggi Massif, where had evolved as subduction/collisional orogenic belts in the East Asia.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.375-381
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• 2018

The consumption of oats (Avena sativa L.) with high nutritional utility is accelerating due to the increased consumers' demand for functional foods. In Korea, naked oats are used as food, while covered oats are used for animal feed. However, it is difficult to distinguish naked oats from covered oats when the husk is removed from the grains by a special process. The present study was carried out to investigate experimental methods that would be beneficial in the segregation of different types of oats after husk removal. Grain quality-related biochemical compounds were analyzed in a bid to differentiate the oat dehulling characteristics. In addition, 61 SSR markers were examined for genetic relationship and variety identification of oats using five naked and seven covered oat varieties. Results showed that, the contents of protein, lipid, and ${\beta}-glucan$ were not significantly different among the oat varieties and this could not be used as an index for distinguishing oats husk character. However, in the fatty acid composition ratio,, naked oats had a higher ratio of stearic acid (C18:0) and oleic acid (C18:1) than covered oats, and covered oats had a higher ratio of linoleic acid (C18:2) and linoleic acid (C18:3) than naked oats. The assessment of SSR marker genotype revealed that 33 polymorphic bands among 12 oat varieties and 1 variety could be distinguished through the combination of polymorphic markers thus indicating the usability of these markers for variety identification in oats.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.115-128
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• 2019

Lactic acid bacteria obtained from traditional Kimchi were selected on the basis of their caseinolytic activity and lactose usability and examined for availability as a starter in probiotic activity. Thirty-two strains were selected as lactic acid producing bacteria in BCP agar, and two strains (KC23 and KF26) with more than 90% resistance for both acid and bile salts were selected. The two strains were identified as L. plantarum (KC23) and L. paracasei (KF26) by API 50 CHL system and 16S rRNA sequence analysis. L. plantarum (KC23) was finally selected based on its biochemical characteristics for lactose and raffinose usability. Free tyrosine content increased rapidly in 10% skimmed milk medium, from $24.1{\mu}g/mL$ after 8 h to $43.9{\mu}g/mL$ after 16 h. Additionally, the caseinolytic clear zone of 12 mm of L. plantarum (KC23) was greater than the 9 mm zone of commercial L. acidophilus CSLA. The bacterium exhibited mesophilic growth and yielded $8.9{\times}10^8CFU/mL$ when incubated at $37^{\circ}C$ for 12 h at pH 4.25. Moreover, L. plantarum KC23 exhibited antibacterial activity as it formed a clear zone of 8-13 mm for the 5 pathogens. Adherent activity was 2.23 fold higher than that of LGG. The acidity of 10% skimmed milk fermented for 12 h was 0.74%.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.39
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• pp.59-93
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• 2006

Wolseong in Gyeongju is a historic fortress site of Silla constructed under the reign of Pasanisageum that played politically and militarily important roles. The moat surrounding Wolseong had a function of protecting the fortress in wartimes but became a part of gardening in the unified Silla era. Lots of relics have been excavated from Wolseong moat since 1985. Among them a great number and kinds of convex roofing tiles are regarded as invaluable sources to show different aspects of Silla, from its earlier time through to the unified and on. Roofing tiles were widely used for national buildings such as royal palaces, temples and fortresses and even for other popular architecture and have been dug out a lot more than any other relics. Research on them, however, has been done poorly. Vigorous study is in progress with increasing number of roofing tiles coming from many recent excavations, though it has been limited to the studies on general genealogy of patterns and manufacture processes. Thus this essay seeks to find which are dongbeomwas, roofing tiles of a same mold, out of convex tiles with the pattern of a unilobed lotus flower dug out of Wolseong moat. It also attempts to identify dongbeomwas by examining detail characteristics of roofing tiles which have been confusingly termed as yusawa, similar roofing tiles, or donghyeongwa, roofing tiles of the same shape. The significance of identifying dongbeomwas could be emphasized by various facts resulting from researches on dongbeomwas; the ways to identify them correctly, their time sequence and their excavated sites. In conclusion, dongbeomwas were identified out of many kinds of convex tiles. If they were excavated from the same site, they share some common features. The sites where they were dug out also tell what changes were made with passage of time and what relations they had with neighboring Anapji. Since roofing tile molds haven't been found yet, the only way to identify dongbeomwas is to examine details of roofing tiles. Dongbeomwas excavated in Wolseong moat help to discuss the time of each district of it. Meanwhile it should be noted that the term 'dongbeomwa' be used only after exact examining.