• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.369-378
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• 2018

This study was conducted to evaluate effects of dietary microbial probiotics on the growth and disease resistance of olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus) in a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS), and the effects of the probiotic bioaugmentation on the microbial community structure and water quality. For the analysis, 80 juvenile fish (average weight, $25.7{\pm}7.6g$; average length, $15.2{\pm}1.7cm$) were fed a basal diet containing a commercial microbial product CES-AQ1 (CES; $1{\times}10^9\;CFU/kg$ diet) in an RAS for 8 weeks. Weight gain, the specific growth rate, feed efficiency, and protein efficiency ratio of the fish fed the CES diet in the RAS were 1.5~2.5 times higher than those of fish fed the basal diet alone, or the basal diet containing oxytetracycline (OTC), yeast plus bacterium, or Bacillus subtilis in a still water system. There was no significant difference in the pathogen challenge test between fish fed the OTC diet and fish fed the CES diet in the RAS, suggesting the CES-AQ1 probiotic used in the RAS as a potential replacement for antibiotics. The RAS biofilter maintained the highest microbial diversity and appeared to harbor microbial communities with ammonium oxidation, denitrification, and fish pathogen suppression functions. Ammonia, which is hazardous to fish, was significantly decreased to < 0.5 mg/L in 19 days, indicating the effectiveness of probiotic supplementation to maintain good water quality in RAS. These results suggest that the intestinal microbial communities of fish are stabilized by a probiotic-containing diet (CES) and that bioaugmentation with probiotics may be an eco-friendly and economical supplement for aquaculture of olive flounder, promoting both good water quality and fish health in an RAS.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.330-337
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• 2021

This study was conducted to investigate the potential of Stewartia koreana as oral healthcare materials. The antibacterial activity of ethanol extracts from leaves and branches of S. koreana against oral bacteria was confirmed. The leaf and branch extracts (1 mg/disc) showed antibacterial activity against P. gingivalis only among several tested oral bacteria. The leaf extracts showed higher antibacterial activity, with values similar to those of chlorhexidine, which was used as a positive control. The MIC of the leaf extract against P. gingivalis was 0.4 mg/ml and showed bacteriostatic action. The inhibitory effects of the extract on biofilm formation and on gene expression related to biofilm formation by P. gingivalis were determined by biofilm biomass staining, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and qRT-PCR analysis. The biofilm production rate and cell growth of P. gingivalis in the cultures treated with 0.2-2.0 mg/ml of S. koreana leaf extracts were significantly decreased in a concentration-dependent manner. The inhibitory effect on the formation of P. gingivalis biofilms at concentrations of 1 mg/ml was confirmed by SEM. The qRT-PCR analysis showed concentration-dependent suppression of the fimA and fimB gene expression associated with fimbriae formation in the cultures treated with 0.2-2.0 mg/ml S. koreana leaf extract. These results support the conclusion that S. koreana leaf extracts can be used as oral healthcare materials derived from natural materials, as demonstrated by the antibacterial action and inhibition of biofilm formation of P. gingivalis.

• The Journal of Korean Philosophical History
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• no.43
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• pp.9-32
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• 2014

Until now, the studies researching the Taoism theories of Joseon Dynasty have mainly dealt around the latter half of Joseon Dynasty. The reason for that was because the 5 cribs of a book Lao Tzu and the 2 crib of a book Changzi were produced after the Imjin-Year Korean-Japanese War(壬辰倭亂,Imjin Waeran). Therefore this thesis extracted the mentions about Taoism from about 200-year history records from Jeong Do-Jeon's Theory, which was the theoretical foundation for early days of Joseon's foundation and the history book King Taejong's Annals(太宗實錄) contained in The Annals of Joseon Dynasty(朝鮮王朝實 錄) and analyzed the extracted historic data as the first work contemplating how the Taoism theories were developed during the first half of Joseon Dynasty. From the analysis, this study drew out the findings as follows. Jeong Do-Jeon and Gwon Geun sharply criticized the Taoism for that it pursued for the techniques of longevity for oneself without moral. They tried to establish the identity of neo-Confucianism on the foundation criticizing the Taoism and the Buddhism. Since then, the Taoism was transformed through the 3 stages in The Annals of Joseon Dynasty. The first stage was the stage transformed 'Lao Tzu' as the witchcraft master of long-live, the technique of the taoist hermit and the super god in Taoism, and regarded the Taoism as heresy and excluded the Taoism. Second stage was the stage trying to see the book Lao Tzu as the core of Taoism theory separately from the 'Hermit Witchcraft' and the 'Taoist gods' the target of fortune-pursue religion beyond from the primary discussion of exclusion. Third stage was revealed as the respects on the art of politics and the art of living described in the book Lao Tzu. That is, the Taoism theories in the first half of Joseon Dynasty was developed with various spectrums from the early days of Joseon's foundation to 15~16 centuries beyond Joseon's strong suppression against the Taoism and the Buddhism in early days. That is the point that the Taoism in the first half of Joseon Dynasty can't be simply interpreted in the neo-Confucianism. During the firs half of Joseon Dynasty, the warm attitude toward the Taoism was created differently from the attitude against suppressing it as a cult, which had been created in the early days of Josen's foundation, and there appeared the changes accepting the art of living and the art of politics theoretically integrating with the Confucianism theories. That is, the book 'Lao Tus' became accepted as the Confucian country's arts of living and politics from a cult book pursuing for immoral log and immortal life. Such acception is revealed as the appearance actively interpreting the books about Laoism in the latter half o Joseon Dynasty.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.64 no.2
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• pp.185-192
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• 2021

Psoriasis is a chronic intractable skin disease caused by various inflammatory cytokines such as IL-6, CXCL8, TNF-α, and IFN-γ, as well as IL-17A secreted from Th17 cells and is characterized by hyperkeratosis and chronic inflammation of the epidermis. Brazilin, an active ingredient of Caesalpinia sappan L., is known to exert antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity, and function in skin barrier improvement. In particular, it was shown as a potential material for treating psoriasis in a tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α-stimulated HaCaT keratinocyte model. However, the direct regulation of the C-C motif chemokine ligand (CCL) 20, a psoriasis-inducing factor, by brazilin has not been reported. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the suppression of CCL20 and the regulatory mechanism by brazilin using a psoriasis-like model. First, brazilin downregulated CCL20 and CXCL8 in IL-17A-stimulated HaCaT cells in a concentration-dependent manner by inhibiting signal transducer and transcription (STAT)3 phosphorylation. In addition, brazilin significantly inhibited the expression of psoriasis-related genes CXCL8, CCL20, IL-1, IL-6, and TNF-α in TNF-α/IL-17A/IFN-γ-stimulated HaCaT cells. Moreover, brazilin also had a positive effect on improving the skin barrier in TNF-α/IL-17A/IFN-γ-stimulated HaCaT cells. The above results indicated that brazilin ultimately downregulated CCL20 expression by inhibiting STAT3 phosphorylation, and also suppressed the expression of psoriasis-induced cytokines. If the efficacy of brazilin in improving psoriasis is verified through animal models and clinical trials in the future, it may represent a potentially therapeutic substance for psoriasis patients.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.23-30
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• 2021

Hemistepta lyrata Bunge (HL) has been used as a folk remedy to treat cancer, inflammation, bleeding, hemorrhoids and fever, and leaves and young shoots have been used as famine food. Nevertheless, the biological activities and underlying mechanisms of the anti-inflammatory effects remain unclear. In this study, it was undertaken to explore the functions of the aerial part of HL as a suppressor of inflammation by using RAW 264.7 cells. As immune response parameters, the productions of as nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), cytokines such tumor necrotic factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL)-6 were evaluated. Although the release of TNF-α remained unchanged in HL-treated RAW 264.7 cells, the productions of NO, PGE2 and IL-6 were significantly increased at concentrations with no cytotoxicity. Furthermore, HL significantly attenuated the mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) pathway including decreasing the phosphorylation of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK1/2) and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases. Collectively, this study provides evidence that HL inhibits the production of major pro-inflammatory molecules in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells via suppression of ERK and P38 MAPK signaling pathways. These findings suggest that the beneficial therapeutic effects of HL may be attributed partly to its ability to modulate immune functions in macrophages.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.8-17
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• 2004

Antifungal, antibacterial, and antioxidative activities of ethanol extracts from 65 families 263 species were investigated to select tree species for the utilization of natural fungicide or preservative resources. The antifungal activities of extracts from wood, leaf and bark were measured as hyphal growth inhibition rate using four plant pathogenic and five wood rotting fungi. High inhibitory effect on the fungi growth was found in five species of Pinaceae (Pinus koraiensis, P. rigida, P. densiflora, P. banksiana. Cedrus deodara), three species of Cupressaceae (Juniperus rigida, J. chinensis, Chamaecyparis obtusa) and three species of Leguminosae (Albizzia julibrisssin, Sophora japonica, Maackia amurensis), respectively. Antibacterial activities of ethanol extracts were determined by means of disc-agar plate diffusion method using three gram-positive and five gram-negative bacteria. The ethanol extracts, which showed prominent effect on the suppression of bacteria growth, were six species of Betulaceae (Carpinus tschonoskii, C. coreana, C. laxiflora, Alnus hirsuta, A. firma, Betula schmidtii), five species of Fagaceae (Castanopsis cuspidata var. sieboldii, Quercus serrata, Q. mongolica, Q aliena, C crenata), four species of Euphorbiaceae (Aleurites fordii, Sapium sebiferum, S japonicum Mallotus japonicus) and three species of Elaeagnaceae (Elaeagnus umbellata, Elaeagnus glanbra, Elaeagnus macrophylla). According to these results, the extracts from Zelkova serrata, Pinus densiflora, Maackia amurensis, Chamaecyparis obtusa and Juniperus chinensis could be available for natural fungicide or food preservatives, because ethanol extracts from these species indicated excellent antifungal and antibacterial activities. In order to test antioxidative activities of ethanol extracts, free radical scavenging method was adopted with 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrohydrazyl (DPPH). Free radical scavenging activity was proved very high in the extracts of eight species of Rosaceae (Eriobotrya japonica, Prunus takesimensis, P yedoensis, P padus, P armeniaca var. ansu, Chaenomeles sinensis, Stephanandra incisa, Rosa multiflora) and five species of Ericaceae (Rhododenron mucronulatum, R. scblippenbacbii, R. yedoense var. poukhanense, Vaccinium bracteatum, V oldbami), resvectively. It turned out from this study that only six species among 48 species of Rosaceae showed less than 80% free radical scavenging activity. As a consequences, it could be deduced that the components effective on antioxidative activity commonly exist in Rosaceae plant family.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.129-137
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• 2023

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) play an essential role in a variety of cellular physiological phenomena. The present study assessed the signaling axis that mediates the lysophosphatidic acid (LPA)-induced migration of SKOV-3 cells. Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) stimulated SKOV-3 cell migration in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Similarly, LPA stimulated SKOV-3 cell migration and the phosphorylation of Akt in a time- and dose-dependent manner. The pharmacological inhibition of LPA receptors (LPA₁/LPA₃) significantly suppressed LPA-induced SKOV-3 cell migration. However, IGF-1-induced SKOV-3 cell migration was not affected by the inhibition of LPA1 and LPA3. Pharmacological inhibition of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) or Rho-associated kinase (ROCK) significantly suppressed LPA-induced migration, whereas the inhibition of MAPK kinase (MEK) had no effect. Inhibition of PI3K or ROCK completely suppressed LPA-induced ROS generation, and suppression of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase (NOX) or chelation of ROS by N-acetylcysteine (NAC) blocked LPA-induced SKOV-3 cell migration. LPA-induced ROS generation was suppressed by silencing Rictor or Akt1 but not Raptor or Akt2. Silencing Rictor or Akt1 significantly suppressed LPA-induced SKOV-3 cell migration, whereas silencing Raptor or Akt2 had no effect. Finally, the overexpression of the constitutively active form Akt1 (CA-Akt1) significantly enhanced the LPA-induced migration of SKOV-3 cells. Given these results, we suggest that LPA stimulates SKOV-3 cell migration by ROS generation, which is mediated by the mTORC2/Akt1/NOX signaling axis.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.149-157
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• 2023

Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) is a multifunctional cytokine that affects not only the survival and growth of cancer cells but also the activity of immune cells. Although it has been generally accepted that cancer cell-derived TGF-β could promote the survival and growth of early cancer cells and have immunosuppressive roles, it has been known that TGF-β has differential effects according to the type or stage of cancer cells. Therefore, it is hard to clearly define its role in cancer progression and immune responses. This study investigated the effects of TGF-β signaling on the expression of five NKG2D ligands and the NK cell-mediated anticancer immune response in the primary colon cancer cell line KM12C and its two metastatic cell lines, KM12SM and KM12L4A. At the surface protein level, exogenous TGF-β decreased the expression of MICA, MICB, ULBP1, and ULBP2, and galunisertib increased the expression of MICA, MIAB, ULBP1, ULBP2, and ULBP3 in KM12C. However, KM12SM and KM12L4A showed no significant changes in the expression of NKG2DLs after treatment with TGF-β or galunisertib. TGF-β signaling inhibition via galunisertib improved the NK cell-mediated anticancer immune response against KM12C but did not show a significant response to KM12SM and KM12L4A. Therefore, the suppression of TGF-β signaling could improve the NK cell-mediated anticancer immune response against KM12C. However, an increase in NKG2DLs expression and an enhanced NK cell-mediated cancer immune response is hard to expect due to the alteration of TGF-β signaling in KM12SM and KM12L4A.

• Journal of International Area Studies (JIAS)
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.61-82
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• 2011

Public resistance is an essential factor of the democratization process. Due to this, public resistance has been recognized as an important element in discussing the democratization of China. Recently in China, and a new era of resistance especially the agrarian resistance has been being expanded. This paper identifies trends and characteristics of that. With searching changes in the relationship between the nation and the societies in China, we will check whether democratization can be built from the whole bottom of the nation's ideology or not. It is a paradox of china's economic growth that the peasant uprising increased is a factor to the growth. The farmers' smoldering discontent exploded with rage because rural communities have been forced to sacrifice during the growth. The authoritarian party-state system in China has been faced with the limits in calming the peasant revolt down with the traditional suppression and restriction. Even though the party-state system in China has accepted farmers' dissatisfaction somewhat, and it has tried to improve its image of a benevolent government and pursued buying stability strategy, the gap between urban and rural areas has been expanded in the sustainable economic development and modernization process, therefore the authorities could not soothe the farmers' sense of alienation. Accordingly, the peasant revolt has not flickered out easily, and has been getting uncontrolled across China. Resistance characteristics of Chinese farmers have also changed. In the past, they had been sporadic and indirect ways, whereas in recent years, they have changed into organized and active ways. Of course, it is generally evaluated that the party-state system has sustained a strong social control so far. Buying stability strategy has prevented farmers' complaints from spreading to a threat to its regime, because civil societies in rural areas have still weak foundations from being formed. The party-state system, because of tensions and conflicts, will control the growing powers of civil societies in rural areas with institutionalization of interaction between the nation and the societies, and they will induce street protests to legalized struggle for a while. However, the relationship between the state and the societies has already started new rearrangement, in terms of that the conflicts between the state and rural communities have continued, and the changes of resistance ways.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.47-56
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• 2023

This study describes the successful synthesize strategy for the silica nanoparticles utilizing various water sources, including tap, industrial, and stream waters without using deionized water. Also, as-synthesized silica nanoparticles are employed as dispersive materials for the electro-responsive smart fluid application. Specifically, homogeneous silica nanoparticles with sizes of 500-700nm are successfully prepared in large scale at once (ca. 12.0 g) with the described experimental method and showing similar structural and chemical characteristics with silica nanoparticles synthesized using the deionized water. The size of silica nanoparticles are varied according to the ion conductivity differences of tap, industrial, stream water, and deionized water. The size of silica nanoparticles decresed with the increased ion conductivity, indicating the ion suppression of growth of silica nanoparticles. Moreover, as-synthesized silica nanoparticles from various water sources of electro-responsive characteristic are investigated by the smart fluid application. The smart fluids containing silica nanoparticles synthesized by tap, industrial, and stream water exhibited higher shear stress compared to the deionized water, owing to the more rigid fibril-like structures formed by the smaller silica nanoparticles. Conclusively, uniform silica nanoparticles from various water sources without any purification are able to successfully prepared without usage of deionized water and resulting silica nanoparticles manifested higher electro-responsive performance.