• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.185-193
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• 2021

Objectives: Inhalation toxicity testing of chemical substances to identify carcinogenicity requires a long time and considerable cost, so the selection of test candidates is a very important aspect. This study was performed to determine optimal procedures for selecting carcinogenic inhalation toxicity test substances as conducted by the Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute (OSHRI). Methods: At the beginning, a database was constructed containing complex information such as usage amount, hazard, carcinogenicity prediction, and testability in order to select chemicals requiring carcinogenicity testing. Selection of test substances was carried out with priority given to usage, carcinogenicity, and testability. Results: Chemicals used in large quantities in industrial fields and strongly suspected of carcinogenicity were winnowed down to 12 substances, and these substances were scheduled for future testing by OSHRI. Conclusions: For the stable and reliable operation of carcinogenicity tests as conducted by OSHRI, this study standardized the procedures for selecting carcinogenicity test substances and suggested the introduction of various carcinogenicity prediction techniques.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.101-108
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• 2016

Objectives: This study introduces the history and types of Korean pharmacopuncture and reports trends of research on Korean pharmacopuncture. Methods: Pharmacopuncture studies were searched from the first year of each search engine to 2014 by using seven domestic and foreign search databases. Selected studies were divided into the history of pharmacopuncture, kinds and features of pharmacopuncture, research types, and experimental and clinic studies and were then classified by year of publication, type of pharmacopuncture, disease, and topic. Results: Pharmacopuncture can be classified into four large groups: meridian field pharmacopuncture (MFP), eight-principles pharmacopuncture (EPP), animal-based pharmacopuncture (ABP) and mountain-ginseng pharmacopuncture, which is a single-compound pharmacopuncture (SCP). The largest numbers of studies were reported from 1997 to 2006, after which the numbers decreased until 2014. Of experimental studies, 51.9%, 18.7%. 14.3%, 9% and 3.4% were on SCP, ABP, MFP, formula pharmacopuncture (FP), and EPP, respectively. Of clinical studies, 54.7%, 15.3%. 14.9% 10.0% and 1.5% were on ABP, MFP, EPP, SCP, and FP (1.5%), respectively. Among clinical studies, case reports and case series accounted for 76.5%, followed by randomized controlled trials (RCTs, 16.4%) and non-RCT (13.9%). Musculoskeletal diseases, toxicity and safety tests, anti-cancer effects, and nervous system diseases were mainly treated in experimental studies while musculoskeletal diseases, nervous system diseases, toxicity and safety tests, and autonomic nerve function tests were addressed in clinical studies. Bee venom (BV) was the most frequently-used pharmacopuncture in mechanism studies. Pharmacopuncture was mainly used to treat musculoskeletal diseases. Conclusion: Pharmacopuncture and studies of it have made great progress in Korea. Studies on BV pharmacopuncture and musculoskeletal diseases accounted for most of the studies reported during the review period. Research on the types of pharmacopuncture and diseases has to be expanded. Especially, studies on the use of MFP and EPP for treating patients with various diseases are needed.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.156-163
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• 2008

Luminescent bacterial toxicity test was first introduced in the early 1980s, registered as international standard method in 1998 and now widely used as a common toxicity test method. This toxicity test uses luminescent bacterium, Vibrio fischeri, originated from marine environment as a test organism. The degree of toxicity can be evaluated from the comparison of luminescent emission intensity between control and treatment groups to toxicants and materials from various environmental matrix for 30 min. This test can be carried out by using commercial products and its results are sensitive and precise. This research is on the feasibility of adopting luminescent bacterial test as a domestic standard test protocol. Using commercial products, a series of experiments were conducted to identify the precision and accuracy of injection volume and light emission, and to evaluate concentration-response relationship between chemical concentrations and light emissions. Also, the feasibility of the application to environmental media and quality assurance/quality control were checked. The results of serial toxicity tests revealed that the preliminary luminescent bacterial toxicity test was robust and suitable as a standard method.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.1562-1565
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• 2008

HCMCO5 is a herbal extract which comprises of eight different herbs. We studied whether this prescription has an acute toxicity in rats. SPF Sprague-Dawley male and female rats were administered orally with HMC05 extract of 2,000 mg/kg for 14days. We examined mortality, clinical signs, body weights and gross findings during the tests. The result showed no dead animals. We also could not find a significant body weight changes during the experimental period. In addition, no differences were found between control and HMC05 treated groups in clinical signs and other findings. These results indicate that HMC05 extract did not show any toxic effects, and oral ADL value was over 2,000 mg/kg in SD rats.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.97-106
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• 1989

This experiment was performed to study the acute toxic effects of mereuric chloride(HgCl$_{2}$) in goldfish (Carassius aurams). In the study, Lc$_{50}$ values were determined for each 24, 48, 72 ,and 96-hr and mercury bioassay during the tests were performed. in five parts gill, kidney, liver, muscle and egg. The results isummarized were as follows 1. In the range of acute lethal toxicity for goldfish was 0.15-1.50 mg/l and the Lc$_{50}$ values decreased with exposure time. 2. The Lc$_{50}$ values of HgCl$_{2}$ for goldfish at 24, 48, 72 and 96 hour were 0.64, 0.53, 0.46, and 0.39 mg/l, respectively. 3. In the 400 $\mu$g/l treatment group, the average levels of mercury residues in the gill, kidey, liver, muscle and egg during 96 hour were 107.02 $\mu$g/g, 8.65 $\mu$g/g, 6.87 $\mu$g/g, 0.61 $\mu$g/g, and 0.82 $\mu$g/g, respectively. 4. The mercuny residues of gill was up to 12-175 times greater than mercury contents found in the other tissues.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.30-35
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• 2008

The recent fire incident in an elementary school of Chonan city causes the media focus on the fire safety of residential container buildings. In this study, real fire tests were conducted in this kind of buildings. Combustion products including $O_2$, $CO_2$, CO, $NO_x,$, $SO_x$, HCI, HCN were measured, in order to investigate the hazard-reduction effects of employing gas mask protected with filter during the fire emergency of residential container buildings. According to the test results, whether or not employing the filter showed a sheer difference in the toxicity of the fire-induced gases, and then the importance of wearing a gas mask was evidently demonstrated.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.135-144
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• 1999

Environmental toxicities of priority water pollutants were evaluated by two selected bioassays, Lettuce seed germination/elongation test and Microtox acute toxicity test. Toxic chemicals (heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and phenolic compounds) inhibited the germination rate and root elongation of Lettuce seed, as well as the bioluminescence of Microtox bacteria. When test biota were exposed to target chemicals, the sensitivity of Lettuce bioassay was relatively lower than that of Microtox bioassay. However, Lettuce bioassay may be a good candidate for prescreening the environmental toxicities of priority water pollutants, since the testing method with Lettuce seed was relatively easier and more economic than with Microtox bacteria. Toxicity tests were conducted to compare the validity and sensitivity of both bioassays for sediment from a small stream passed through urban area as well as leachate from a municipal solid waste landfill. From experimental results, we found that Lettuce test and Microtox test are compensated each other as a battery of bioassay for evaluating the environmental toxicities of field samples obtained from a small stream contaminated by pollutants.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Toxicology Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.117-117
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• 2002

Paclitaxel isolated from the pacific yew tree, Taxus brevifolia, is microtuble-stabilizing agent that has a promising anticancer activity against a wide variety of tumors such as ovarian, breast and lung cancers. Because of its poor water solubility, paclitaxel is currently formulated in a mixture of polyoxyethyleneglycerol triricinoleate 35 (Cremophor EL) and dehydrated ethanol USP (1:1 v/v).(omitted)

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.86-91
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• 1984

A ginseng preparation (GP) consisting of ginseng ex., lycium fructus ex., four kinds of vitamines and caffein was evaluated for acute toxicity and general pharmacology. Average lethal doses $(LD_{50})$ of GP in male mice were 2,988mg/kg (i.p.) and more than 3g/kg (p.o.). In dosage of 300 and 900mg/kg (p.o.) showed no analgesic activity in both tests of the writhing method induced by acetic acid and of tail pressure method and no effect on the pentetrazole-induced convulsion. However, it appeared to have a hypothermic action only in dose of 900mg/kg. The duration of hypnosis induced by hexobarbital sodium in mice was shortened by GP, being probably due to caffein. GP Produced no marked contraction of isolated ileum and uterus in high concentrations of up to $1{\pm}10^{-3}g/ml$. These results suggested that GP did not show any considerable central nervous depressant activity and exhibited very weak actue toxicity in mice.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.302-310
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• 2020

Botulinum toxins are neurotoxic modular proteins composed of a heavy chain and a light chain connected by a disulfide bond and are produced by Clostridium botulinum. Although lethally toxic, botulinum toxin in low doses is clinically effective in numerous medical conditions, including muscle spasticity, strabismus, hyperactive urinary bladder, excessive sweating, and migraine. Globally, several companies are now producing products containing botulinum toxin for medical and cosmetic purposes, including the reduction of facial wrinkles. To test the efficacy and toxicity of botulinum toxin, animal tests have been solely and widely used, resulting in the inevitable sacrifice of hundreds of animals. Hence, alternative methods are urgently required to replace animals in botulinum toxin testing. Here, the various alternative methods developed to test the toxicity and efficacy of botulinum toxins have been briefly reviewed and future perspectives have been detailed.