• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.290-295
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• 1994

Micelle, liposome and polyethylene glycol(PEG) were employed to reduce the cell mem- brane toxicity of Amphotericin B(Amp. B). Cholesterol-sulfate which can form a mixed micelle with Amp. B molecules was found very effective for the reduction of Amp. B toxicity. 0.01% of cholesterol-sulfate could reduce the toxicity of 5X 10$^{-6}$ M Amp. B by 90%. The required concent- ration of cholesterol-sulfate for the toxicity reduction was proportionally increased with increasing Amp. B concentration. PEG was also effective on the reduction of Amp. B toxicity. 2% PEG was required for the reduction of toxicity by 50%, regardless of Amp. B concentration. The liposome system showed an effective reduction of Amp. B toxicity on RBC, maintaining the antibiotic effect on Candida albicans as free drugs. This seems to be due to the fact that liposome bilayer plays a role of buffer system between ergosterol of fungi cell membrane and cholesterol of red blood cell membrane, which leads the redistribution of Amp. B between them, as the result, the reduction of drug toxicity on cell membrane.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.11
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• pp.318-327
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• 2017

Background: A typical sewage treatment plant is designed for organic and nutrient removal from municipal sewage water and not targeted to eliminate micropollutants such as pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and nano-sized metals which become a big concern for sustainable human and ecological system and are mainly discharged from sewage treatment plant. Therefore, despite contaminant removal by wastewater treatment processes, there are still remaining environmental risks by untreated pollutants in STP (sewage treatment plant) effluents. This study performed aquatic toxicity tests of raw wastewater and treated effluents in two sewage treatment plants to evaluate toxicity reduction by wastewater treatment process and analyze concentration of contaminants to reveal potential toxic factors in STP effluents. Methods: Water samples were collected from each treatment steps of two STPs, and acute and chronic toxicity tests were conducted following USEPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency) and OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) guidelines. Endpoints were immobility for mortality and reproduction effect for estrogenicity. Results: Acute $EC_{50}s$ (median effective concentration) of influents for Seungki (SK) and Jungnang (JN) STPs are $54.13{\pm}32.64%$ and $30.38{\pm}24.96%$, respectively, and reduced to $96.49{\pm}7.84%$ and 100%. Acute toxicity reduction was clearly correlated with SS (suspended solids) concentration because of filter feeding characteristics of test organisms. Chronic toxicity tests revealed that lethal effect was reduced and low concentration of influents showed higher number of neonates. However, toxicity reduction was not related to nutrient removal. Fecundity effect positively increased in treated wastewater compared to that in raw wastewater, and no significant differences were observed compared to the control group in JN final effluent implying potential effects of estrogenic compounds in the STP effluents. Conclusions: Conventional wastewater treatment process reduced some organics and nutritional compounds from wastewater, and it results in toxicity reduction in lethal effect and positive reproductive effect but not showing correlation. Unknown estrogenic compounds could be a reason causing the increase of brood size. This study suggests that pharmaceutical residues and nanoparticles in STP effluents are one of the major micropollutants and underline as one of estrogenic effect factors.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.639-646
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• 2005

In this research, we tried to develop the application method to water management and treatment using toxicity test method. When we measure the toxicity of environmental samples, we have to decide whether we take some countermeasures to reduce the toxicity or not. The first issue is how to set these action levels in each bioassays. A new idea was attempted to authorize indirect approach of each bioassays through the response characteristics against mixture of chemicals in water quality standard. The significant response in the cell-growth-inhibition bioassay was detected for standards-mixture(STDs). For acute toxicity assay, STDs-based implicit correlation between risks to humans and bioassay data showed a rational approach to set action levels in practical management. A simple model was proposed to describe and predict the changes in the total toxicity based on the concentrations of toxic-controlling chemicals during the ozonation of landfill leachates. On the basis of this simple model, toxicity reduction was predicted for pre-aggregation treatment before ozonation and ozone concentration during the ozonation. The method proposed in this study would be useful in optimizing water treatment processes and their running conditions in terms of the toxicity reduction efficacy.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.119-124
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• 2004

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2004

The purpose of this paper is to review the occurrence, analytical methods and reduction methods of aflatoxins in foods. Aflatoxins are produced by the secondary metabolism of various fungal species and have the highest toxicity among mycotoxins. Due to their toxicity including carcinogenic activity, aflatoxins affect not only the health of humans ana animals but also the economics of agriculture and food. As a food-importing country, because aflatoxins could contaminate raw commodities and foodstuffs, there should be inspection on the exposure and the regulation of risk assessment as a food safety measure. In addition, studies on rapid analytical methods and reduction of toxicity by various processes for aflatoxins should be carried out in conjunction with those of the risk assessment of aflatoxins.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.11 no.1_2
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• pp.31-39
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• 1996

Leachate from municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill, effluent from leachate treatment plant, and ground water sample from a monitoring well near landfill site were tested for an acute toxicity. Microtox toxicity test was used for testing the acute toxicity of leachate and other samples. EC$_{50}$ values which a concentration of pollutant for reducing 50% light output from luminescent bacteria, Photobacterium phosphoreum were determined to assess the toxicity of pollutants as well as the relative toxicity. In addition, characteristics of leachate were studied and compared to those of phenol and pentachlorophenol (PCP) which are typical aquatic toxic pollutants. For leachate, EC$_{50}$ for 30 min incubation was 10.8%, while for phenol and PCP, 46 ppm and 1.2 ppm, respectively. the relative toxicity of treated leachate by in situ aeration with activated sludge was reduced to more than 75% of toxicity of the untreated leachate. Microtox toxicity test was failed to figure out EC$_{50}$ values for groundwater from a monitoring well since the relative toxicity of the unconcentrated sample was too low to estimate EC$_{50}$. Addition of activated carbon to leachate was reduced the relative toxicity. The reduction Pattern of the relative toxicity of leachate by mechanical aeration was similar to that of PCP, but different from that of phenol. These findings suggest that the toxicity of leachate may come from PCP-like toxic compounds rather than phenol-like one. In conclusion, the process of aeration with activated sludge might be very important to reduce the environmental toxicity of leachate. And Microtox test could be a reasonable bioassay for screening and monitoring the environmental toxicity of leachate from municipal solid waste landfill as well as for determining the reduction efficiency of the leachate toxicity by various treatment processes in leachate treatment plant.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.35 no.2 s.137
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• pp.122-127
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• 2004

This study was conducted to investigate the safety and efficacy of an oriental herbal composition, Kamihonghwatang(KH-19), for the reduction of the side effects of chemotherapeutic drug. KH-19 prevented the reduction of white blood cells including lymphocytes, monocytes and eosinophiles in C57BL/6 mice injected with fluorouracil, a commonly used anticancer drug. KH-19 also prevented the reduction of cell densities in bone marrow and spleen of fluorouracil-injected mice. To evaluate the safety of KH-19, single-dose toxicity test was conducted using SD rats. No dead animal was found and the minimum lethal dose of KH-19 was more than 5000 mg/kg.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.913-918
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• 2006

Both raw wastewater and effluent from a rubber products manufacturing factory were found to be toxic to Daphnia magna though the effluent satisfied current water quality standards. Thus, in order to reduce toxicity, advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) such as gamma-ray (${\gamma}-ray$) treatment and ozonation ($O_3$) were applied. A combined ${\gamma}-rays/O_3$ treatment at 20 kGy after coagulation significantly reduced toxicity of raw wastewater, changing 48-h toxic unit (TU) value from 201.21 to 23.92. However, toxicity of treated water was higher than that of effluent (TU = 12.15). This shows limitation of gamma-ray treatment to remove toxicity of raw wastewater. In case of effluent, the combined ${\gamma}-rays/O_3$ treatment at 20 kGy efficiently decomposed toxic compounds down to non toxic level. This work strongly supports the necessity of toxicity reduction evaluation as well as toxicity-based effluent management.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.212-222
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• 2015

Experiments were conducted on the immobilization of eight heavy metals (HMs) (Zn, Cu, Mn, Fe, Ni, Pb, Cd, and Cr) during 20-day rotary drum composting of water hyacinth. The Tessier sequential extraction procedure was used to investigate the fractionation of HMs. The eco-toxicity risk of HMs was assessed by risk assessment code (RAC). In the results, the bioavailability factor (BAF) for different HMs presented in the following order: Mn > Zn = Fe > Cu > Cr > Cd = Pb > Ni. The total concentration of Pb was higher than that of Zn, Cu, Mn, Cd and Cr; however, its BAF was the lowest among these HMs. These results confirmed that the eco-toxicity of HMs depends on bioavailable fractions rather than on the total concentration. The greatest reduction in bioavailability and eco-toxicity risk of HMs occurred in lime 1% and 2% as compared to control and lime 3%. The eco-toxicity risk of Fe, Ni, Pb, Cd and Cr was reduced from low risk to zero risk by rotary drum composting. These studies demonstrated the high efficiency of the rotary drum for degrading compost materials and for reducing the bioavailability and eco-toxicity risk of HMs during the composting process.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society of Environmental Toocicology Conference
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• 2001.05a
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• pp.122-122
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• 2001

The reaction kinetics of hexavalent chromium with ferrous ions were studied to determine the influence of reduction on the toxicity of chromium to aquatic organisms. The changes in chemical forms of the chromate in the presence of ferrous ions were examined in a bioassay system using Dphnia magna as a test organism. (omitted)