• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.68-73
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• 2016

Ammonia is very toxic, and causes neuronal damage via excitotoxicity, oxidative stress, and inflammation. Because the liver is the primary organ for ammonia metabolism, compromised liver function can result from inborn errors of metabolism. Measurement of blood ammonia has some limitations. Recently, several laboratories examined possible concurrent increases in plasma ammonia. However, the collection, handling, storage, and analysis of blood samples are all potential sources of error. For evaluation of rapidity and reliability of measurement of blood ammonia, the DRI-CHEM 100 (Fuji Film Co., Japan) and COBAS 8000 (Roche Diagnostic Ltd., Switzerland) analyzer were used for analysis of ammonia level values. The results of this study detected a high correlation between analyzer. Therefore, one-step measurement was suitable for ammonia analysis. After sampling of the ammonia in the time slot for measurement an increase to 46.5, 57.4, and 79.0 (${\mu}g/dL$) was observed at 30, 90, and 180 minutes. In addition, specific capacity of the ammonia, 7, 10, and 13 (${\mu}L$), was measured as 39, 46, and 43 (${\mu}g/dL$), respectively, and the FDC-100 analyzer was more effective in $10{\mu}L$ (p<0.001). In conclusion, the evaluated analysis may offer useful information for clinical application.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.23-29
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• 1989

Biochemical consequence of the accumulation in cells of superoxide $(O^{-}_{2})$ which was proposed to be probably a common chemical factor in the secondary process of the mechanism of chilling injury as well as in the visible light photodamage in cells of higher plants, has been investigated in the present work. Especially focused was the destructive effect of $O^{-}_{2}$ on the biochemical activity of mitochondria, as informations which support the suggestion that mitochondrial inner membrane is the major site of $O^{-}_{2}$ production have been collected. Mitochondria and submitochondrial particles (SMP) were prepared from soybean hypocotyls for this case study. When SMP were treated with the electrolytically produced $O^{-}_{2}$ they suffered not only inhibition of the membrane-bound enzymes as demonstrated by cytochrome c oxidase, but also lipid peroxidation of membrane as proved by malondialdehyde production. Malate dehydrogenase present in the protein extract from mitochondrial matrix was also inhibited by the $O^{-}_{2}$ treatment. These results exhibited the chaotic effect of the overproduction and accumulation of $O^{-}_{2}$ in cells under a certain abnormal circumstance such as environmental stress on the physiological function of mitochondrial; disruption of the cellular metabolic pathways and the structural integrity of membrane.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.339-348
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• 2014

The transcriptomes of four ginseng accessions such as Cheonryang (Korean ginseng cultivar), Yunpoong (Korean ginseng cultivar), G03080 (breeding line of Korean ginseng), and P. quinquefolius (American ginseng) was characterized. As a result of sequencing, total lengths of the reads in each sample were 156.42 Mb (Cheonryang cultivar), 161.95 Mb (Yunpoong cultivar), 165.07 Mb (G03080 breeding line), and 166.48 Mb (P. quinquefolius). Using a BLAST search against the Phytozome databases with an arbitrary expectation value of 1E-10, over 20,000 unigenes were functionally annotated and classified using DAVID software, and were found in response to external stress in the G03080 breeding line, as well as in the Cheonryang cultivar, which was associated with the ion binding term. Finally, unigenes related to transmembrane transporter activity were observed in Cheonryang and P. quinquefolius, which involves controlling osmotic pressure and turgor pressure within the cell. The expression patterns were analyzed to identify dehydrin family genes that were abundantly detected in the Cheonryang cultivar and the G03080 breeding line. In addition, the Yunpoong cultivar and P. quinquefolius accession had higher expression of heat shock proteins expressed in Ricinus communis. These results will be a valuable resource for understanding the structure and function of the ginseng transcriptomes.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.8 no.3 s.29
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• pp.105-114
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• 2006

A popular alternative to extend the life of aged pavement is asphalt overlay. However, it has a very serious and inherent shortcoming in deterring a reflection crack. Although joint-rehabilitation and stress-relief techniques have been applied to deter such reflection cracks in aged pavement, the techniques had a limited success only in slowing down the progress of a reflection crack. Rubblization technique rubblizes the concrete pavement slab in situ and uses the rubblized slab as the base material. Then, pavement overlay is applied to finish off the rehabilitation of aged pavement. This rubblization technique has the advantage of solving the problem of reflection cracking completely. When rubblization technique is applied, the upper layer of aged concrete pavement is rubblized between 40mm-70mm in depth. However, the lower layer is typically rubblized more than 100mm in depth. Nevertheless, it is difficult to turn the entire concrete pavement of more than 30cm in depth into rubblized aggregate of appropriate size. Thus, a simulation experiment was carried out to find the appropriate rubblized depth, which avoids the reflection cracking and still maintains the function of subbase, by varying the depth of rubblized depth in loom increments of 0cm, 10cm, and 20cm. The result indicated the optimum rubblized depth was 10cm (Lee, 2006). Additionally, a small rubblizinge equipment was developed in order to derive the rubblization technique appropriate for thick concrete pavement. This equipment was tested out on an experimental pavement, which was constructed with the same standard and specification for the road in actual use, by varying its rubblizing head shape and energy as well as the effective area of rubblization. This experiment led to a prototype equipment for rubblization of thick concrete pavement. The prototype was put into use on a highway, undergoing a test construction and monitoring afterwards. This entire process was necessary for the validation of the proposed rubblization technique.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.285-290
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• 2016

The purpose of our study was to retrospectively evaluate the cause of a decreased calcium score of follow-up studies on coronary artery calcium scores (CACs) computed tomography (CT). The subjects were healthy 100 people(85 males $60.6{\pm}6.9$ years, 15 females $67.2{\pm}7.3$ years). The subjects decreased CACs were divided into 4 subgroups depending on Agatston classification, minimal (1-10), mild (11-100), moderate (101-400), severe (400<). As a result of decreased CACs were scan location disagreement 51%, motion artifact 26%, equipment changes 14%, operator mistakes 5%, input miss 2%, image loss 1%, arrhythmia 1%. In the mild group, the most common decreased CACs were 49 people. In the minimal group, the most significant variation reduction has occurred to 6 people. Scan location disagreement was considered a partial volume effects due to the scan starting position. It showed less than 100 CACs a high variation (19.7%) in more than 100 CACs, a lower variation (2.2%), these could be seen that the variation range is different that can be tolerated according to the calcification score. Motion artifact factor was found in 26%, which is so closely related to the preceding tests that affect the higher heart rate like this pulmonary function test, exercise stress test.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.12-24
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• 2010

Plant metabolomics is a research field for identifying all of the metabolites found in a certain plant cell, tissue, organ, or whole plant in a given time and conditions and for studying changes in metabolic profiling as time goes or conditions change. Metabolomics is one of the most recently developed omics for holistic approach to biology and is a kind of systems biology. Metabolomics or metabolite fingerprinting techniques usually involves collecting spectra of crude solvent extracts without purification and separation of pure compounds or not in standardized conditions. Therefore, that requires a high degree of reproducibility, which can be achieved by using a standardized method for sample preparation and data acquisition and analysis. In plant biology, metabolomics is applied for various research fields including rapid discrimination between plant species, cultivar and GM plants, metabolic evaluation of commercial food stocks and medicinal herbs, understanding various physiological, stress responses, and determination of gene functions. Recently, plant metabolomics is applied for characterization of gene function often in combination with transcriptomics by analyzing tagged mutants of the model plants of Arabidopsis and rice. The use of plant metabolomics combined by transcriptomics in functional genomics will be the challenge for the coming year. This review paper attempted to introduce current status and prospects of plant metabolomics research.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.271-285
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• 2014

Aluminum flows into the river from the abandoned mine leachate, industrial wastewater, and sewage and is responsible for acute toxicity in aquatic organisms. Recently, the number of reports have indicated the increased toxicity in a variety of aquatic organisms' due to the aluminum toxicity. In this study, we reviewed the toxicity of aluminum on aquatic invertebrates, fishes and amphibians and suggested the guideline for management of aluminum residues in aquatic environment and strategies for aluminum toxicity evaluation. In aquatic animals aluminum complexes evoke gill dysfunction primarily, the cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, oxidative stress, disruption of endocrine function, reproductive success, metabolism and homeostasis. Notably, at environmentally relevant concentration, aluminum complex can alter the hormone levels in fish in acidic condition. Further, since the solubility of aluminum is higher in the acidic and basic conditions, thus it is likely that the toxic effects of aluminum may not only occur in acidic water near the abandoned mines but also in lakes and rivers, where pH is raised by algal bloom.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.171-187
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• 1998

Garlic occupies a special position among the many foods of vegetable origin because it is the sole food for Koreans during the their lives. And vitamin A has been ingested by forms of food or additives. Cadmium has been described as one of the most dangerous trace elements in the food and environment of man and livestocks. Since the de novo synthesis of stress proteins can be detected early after exposure to some agents, analysis of cadmium-induced changes in gene expression , ie. alterations in patterns of protein synthesis, may be useful to develop as biomarkers of exposure and damage for food hygiene. He acute and chronic combine effects of cadmium (Cd, CdCl2 20mg/kg), garlic oil(Dds: diallyl disulfide 50mg/kg, 3 times a week) and vitamin A(Ra: retinol acetate 50,000 IU/kg, 3 times a week) on Wistar male rats were evaluated concerning cadmium contents, tissues enzyme activity, HSP expression histopathological and electron microscopical examinations. The results of the study are as follows ; 1. Less cadmium was absorbed through the digestive tracts, but the ratio of contents in tissue were not changed by the simultaneous adminstration of diallyl disufide or retinol acetate. 2. ALT(alanine aminotransferase) , AST(aspartate aminotransferase), glucose, BUN (blood urea nitrogen), creatinine, the key indices of the clinical changes in hepatic and renal function were significantly hanged by the cadmium treatment after 1 week in liver, after 4 weeks in kidney. 3. Histopathological changes in cadmium treated rats were appeared at 8 weeks age treatment in kidneys. Homogenous eosinophilic material was accumulated in cortical and collecting tubular lumens at 16 weeks. Degenerated or necrotized tubular cells were observed in cortex and medulla. Degenerated seminiferous tubules and homogeneous eosinophilic material was seen in interstitial tissue of rat treated with cadmium for 16 weeks. Calcium deposits were seen in degenerated seminiferous tubules and the tubules showed severe calcification of rat treated with cadmium for 16 weeks. Electron microscope changes in kidney were observed in rats treated with CdCl2 20 mg/kg. Proximal convoluted tubule cells showed selling of cytoplasm and narrow lumen. Capillary endothelial cells showed cytoplasmic vacuoles and swelling. Degenerated epithelial cells were accumulated in tubular lumen of kidney. 4. Enhanced synthesis of 70 KDa relateve molecular mass proteins were detected in 2 hours after cadmium, exposure, with maximum activity occurring at 8~48 hours. Induction of HSP 70 was evident at proximal tubules and glomeruli in kidney. Testicular cells produced enough HSP to be detected normally. From the above results, it could be concluded that HSP70 induction by the cadmium treatment was a rapid reaction to indicated the exposure of xenobiotics, and retinol acetate reduced the cadmium induced nephrotoxicity.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.94-101
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• 2008

The aim of this study was to assess the responses of mixed function oxygenase (MFO) and antioxidative systems of feral Javelin goby, Acanthogobius hasta, caught in two sites of different pollution level in Shihwa lake, which has been a highly polluted lake by organic pollutants from nearby industrial complexes and sites. Enzymes analyzed in phase I of MFO system are cytochrome P450 (CYP), NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase (P450R), NADH-cytochrome b5 reductase (b5R), and ethoxyresorufin deethylase (EROD). Phase II enzyme of glutathione S-transferase (GST) in MFO system was also investigated. Moreover, oxidative-enzyme system including catalase (CAT), glutathione reductase (GR) and total-glutathione peroxidase (GPX) activities and glutathione concentration in both of oxidized (GSSG) and reduced form (GSH) were determined. P450R, b5R, and GST activities of fish are relatively high in the polluted area, whereas hepatic EROD activity levels of fish in polluted area were lower than those of unpolluted area. CYP concentrations are not different between areas. These results indicated that feral Acanthogobius hasta were adaptive to highly polluted environment and exposed to oxidative stress in Shihwa lake.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.10
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• pp.1097-1103
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• 2017

For the artificial induction of the sexual maturation of Anguilla japonica, salmon pituitary extract (SPE) is continuously injected into females, and the eggs obtained from artificial sexual maturation are artificially fertilized with sperms and hatched. However, repeated injection of SPE in the abdominal cavity causes tremendous stress in females, which may prevent their complete sexual maturation and reduce the immune system function, ultimately resulting in death. In addition, the poor quality of the ovulated eggs can reduce the hatching and survival rate of larvae. In the present study, sexual maturation of females was induced by inserting an osmotic (OS) pump containing hormone analogs known to effectively induce sexual maturation into the abdominal cavity of female eels, and the effect of the OS pump on the induced sexual maturation was investigated. Our study results showed that the gonadosomatic index (GSI) was significantly higher in the fish subjected to SPE injection than those subjected to human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), gonadotropin-releasing hormone analog (GnRHa), and methyl testosterone (MT) injections, either separately or in combination. In addition, a histological analysis showed that the oocytes in the SPE OS pump groups were more mature (entered the nuclear shift stage) than those in the other groups. These results suggest that an osmotic pump containing hormone analogs can be used to induce sexual maturation in female A. japonica artificially.