• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.550-558
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• 2021

Fructus Corni, the fruit of Cornus officinalis, has long been used for the prevention and treatment of various diseases. We recently suggested that it was effective against benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). In this study, we investigated the inhibitory effect of Corni Fructus (CF) water extract on BPH induced by testosterone propionate (TP) in noncastrated and castrated animal models. BPH was induced in Sprague Dawley rats by an intramuscular injection of TP in castrated or noncastrated rats. Finasteride (FINA) treatment was used as a positive control for inhibition of BPH. According to our results, CF administration inhibited excessive enlargement of development of the prostate in both the noncastrated and castrated groups compared to the control and FINA-treated groups. The inhibitory effect of CF on BPH was associated with inhibition of expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α, 5α-reductase type 2, steroid receptor coactivator-1, androgen receptor (AR), and prostate-specific antigen. Serum levels of the stress hormone cortisol increased during BPH induction by TP in both the noncastrated and castrated groups, but they were attenuated significantly by CF administration. However, insulin and IGF-1 levels were not increased in the BPH-induced groups and CF, and no effective results were found by CF administration. These results point to a beneficial effect of CF on BPH through inhibition of AR signaling pathway activity and imply that CF shows excellent potential as a therapeutic agent for the prevention and treatment of BPH.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.54-63
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• 2021

Vanadium and tungsten can be obtained by separating/recovering the leaching solution from a spent SCR DeNO_X catalyst using the soda roasting-water leaching process. Therefore, in this study, the adsorption/desorption mechanism of vanadium and tungsten in an ion-exchange column was investigated using Lewatit MonoPlus MP 600, a strong basic anion exchange resin. The operating conditions for the separation of vanadium and tungsten in the ion-exchange column was intended to present. By conducting a continuous adsorption experiment in a pH 8.5 solution, the adsorption capacity of vanadium and tungsten was found to be 44.75 and 64.92 mg/(g of resin), respectively, which showed that the adsorption capacity of tungsten was larger than that of vanadium because of the difference in ion charge. Vanadium has a higher affinity for MP 600 than tungsten. Consequently, as the vanadium-containing solution is eluted through the ion exchange resin onto which tungsten is adsorbed, the adsorbed tungsten is exchanged with vanadium and desorbed. A continuous experiment was performed with a solution of vanadium and tungsten prepared at the same concentration as the spent SCR DeNO_X catalyst leachate. The adsorption capacity of vanadium was found to be 48.72 mg/(g of resin) and 80% of the supplied vanadium was adsorbed; in contrast, almost no tungsten was adsorbed. Therefore, vanadium and tungsten were separated effectively. The ion exchange resin was treated with 2 M HCl at 15 mL/h, and 97.7% of the vanadium(99% purity) could be desorbed. After desorption, NH₄Cl was added to precipitate ammonium polyvanadate at 90℃ and recover 93% of the vanadium.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.467-475
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• 2021

The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of sodium fluoride(NaF) varnish and potassium iodide(KI) on remineralization efficacy of silver diamine fluoride(SDF) by measuring microhardness and evaluating surface morphology by scanning electron microscope(SEM). Artificial caries lesions were induced on extracted primary molars and vickers microhardness was measured. Specimens were randomly separated into 4 groups for treatment. The specimens in group I were treated with SDF, group II with NaF varnish after SDF, group III with KI after SDF and group IV with distilled water. After 8 days of pH cycling, vickers microhardness was measured and difference before and after treatment was calculated. For SEM, 2 samples were evaluated respectively after enamel polishing, lesion formation and after pH cycling. Group III showed highest increase in microhardness. Group I showed higher increase in microhardness than Group II but without statistical difference. Group IV showed lowest increase in microhardness value among 4 groups. On SEM image, group I, II and III showed smoother and less irregular surface compared to group IV. Amorphous crystal pellicles were observed in group III. In conclusion, SDF, SDF and NaF, SDF and KI groups showed smoother surface and increase in microhardness suggesting the possibility that remineralization effect might take place in oral conditions. In addition, in limited conditions of this study, applying NaF varnish after SDF did not increase the remineralization efficacy of SDF while KI significantly increased the remineralization efficacy of SDF. However, additional study considering various conditions that might affect demineralization and remineralization in clinical situations need to be conducted.

• Journal of Korean Society of Disaster and Security
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.69-80
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• 2021

This study tried to suggest improvement measures by discovering problems or matters requiring improvement among the annual regional safety evaluation systems. Briefly introducing the structure and contents of the study, which is the introduction, describes the regional safety evaluation method newly applied by the Ministry of Public Administration and Security in 2020. Utilization plans were also introduced according to the local safety level that was finally evaluated by the local government. In this paper, various views of previous researchers related to regional safety are summarized and described. In addition, problems were drawn in the composition of the index of local safety, the method of calculating the index, and the application of the current index. Next, the problems of specific regional safety evaluation indicators were analyzed and solutions were presented. First, "Number of semi-basement households" is replaced with "Number of households receiving basic livelihood" of 「Social Vulnerability Index」 in the field of disaster risk factors is replaced with "the number of households receiving basic livelihood". In addition, the "Vinyl House Area" is evaluated by replacing "the number of households living in a Vinyl House, the number of container households, and the number of households in Jjok-bang villages" with data. Second, in the management and evaluation of habitual drought disaster areas, local governments with a water supply rate of 95% or higher in Counties, Cities, and Districts are treated as "missing". This is because drought disasters rarely occur in the metropolitan area and local governments that have undergone urbanization. Third, the activities of safety sheriffs, safety monitor volunteers, and disaster safety silver monitoring groups along with the local autonomous prevention foundation are added to the evaluation of the evaluation index of 「Regional Autonomous Prevention Foundation Activation」 in the field of response to disaster prevention measures. However, since the name of the local autonomous disaster prevention organization may be different for each local government, if it is an autonomous disaster prevention organization organized and active for disaster prevention, it would be appropriate to evaluate the results by summing up all of its activities. Fourth, among the Scorecard evaluation items, which is a safe city evaluation tool used by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction(UNDRR), the item "preservation of natural buffers to strengthen the protection functions provided by natural ecosystems" is borrowed, which is closely related to natural disasters. The Scorecard evaluation is an assessment index that focuses on improving the disaster resilience of local governments while carrying out the campaign "Creating cities resilient to climate crises and disasters" emphasized by UNDRR. Finally, the names of "regional safety level" and "local safety index" are similar, so the term of local safety level is changed to "natural disaster safety level" or "natural calamity safety level". This is because only the general public can distinguish the local safety level from the local safety index.

• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.447-455
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• 2022

Fully dehydrated Tl₁₂-LTA (|Tl₁₂|[Si₁₂Al₁₂O₄₈]-LTA,Tl₁₂-A) was treated with 6.0×10³ Pa of ZrI₄ (g) at 623 K for 72 hr under anhydrous conditions. The crystal structure of product, |Zr_0.25I_1.5Tl₁₂|[Si₁₂Al₁₂O₄₈]-LTA, was determined by single-crystal crystallography using synchrotron X-radiation in the cubic space group Pm3m (a = 12.337(2) Å). It was refined using all data to the final error index (for the 712 unique reflections for which F_o> 4σ(F_o) R₁/wR₂= 0.055/0.189. In this structure, octahedral ZrI₆^2- ions center about 25% of the large cavities (Zr-I = 2.91(4) Å). Each coordinates to eight Tl⁺ ions and they are further bridged by Tl⁺ ions in the planes of 8-rings to form a cubic three-dimensional ZrI₆Tl₁₁⁹⁺ cationic cluster. About 1.5 Tl⁺ ions per unit cell moved to deeper side of sodalite cavity after reaction with ZrI₄(g). The remaining Tl⁺ ions occupy well-established cation positions near 6- and 8-rings.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.32 no.11
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• pp.865-871
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• 2022

Tenebrio molitor larvae is well known as edible insect. Then, although it has been widely studied that Tenebrio molitor larvae has various bioactive functions such as antioxidant, anti-wrinkle, and anticancer. Nevertheless, antioxidant effects of Tenebrio molitor larvae water extract (TMH) has not been well described in Adult Retina Pigment Epithelial cell line (ARPE-19). In this study, we demonstrated that antioxidant effects of TMH against H₂O₂-induced oxidative stress in ARPE-19. Thus, we selected for our studies and performed a series of dose-response assay to determine the working concentration that lead to a consistent and high degree of cytotoxicity, which we defined as the level of H₂O₂ that killed 40% of the ARPE-19 cells. ARPE-19 cells were pre-treated with various concentrations of TMH (0.1 up to 2 mg/ml) before exposure to 300 µM H₂O₂. As we expected, TMH effectively prevented ARPE-19 cells from 300 µM H₂O₂-induced cell death in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, TMH inhibited the phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) such as extracellular signal regulated kinase (ERK), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and p38. Overall, the inhibitory effects of TMH on H₂O₂-induced apoptosis and oxidative stress were associated with the protection cleaved caspase-3, Bax, Bcl-2, and HO-1. The TMH suppressed H₂O₂-induced cell membrane leakage and oxidative stress in ARPE-19 cells. Thus, these results suggest that the TMH plays an important role in antioxidant effect in ARPE-19.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.511-519
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• 2022

In order to develop an air-stripping based remediation process to remove the TOC (Total Organic Carbon) in groundwater around the underground LPG storage cavern, the laboratory scale experiments at various conditions (change of air injection volume and temperature, the application of ultrasonic treatment, etc.) for two types of groundwater (initial TOC concentration of 608 mg/L and 153 mg/L, respectively). From results of experiment, as the air injection rate for stripping into groundwater increased from 2 L/min to 11 L/min and as the air-stripping time increased from 1 hour to 24 hour, the TOC removal efficiency of air-stripping increased. However, the TOC concentration of treated groundwater was higher than the discharge tolerance limit (100 mg/L) even after 24 hour stripping at the maximum air injection rate of 11 L/min. The main compounds of the TOC in groundwater were identified as methanol and propane and the long stripping time (more than 24 hour) was needed to separate the methanol from groundwater because of the affinity between water and methanol. At 20℃ and 4 L/min of air injection, the TOC removal efficiency increased to 59.1% after 24 hour air-stripping. When the temperature of groundwater increased to 30℃ and 40℃, the TOC removal efficiency increased up to 80.0% and 82.8%, suggesting that more than 24 hour air-stripping at 40℃ is needed to lower the TOC concentration to below 100 mg/L and the additional TOC removal process as well as the air-stripping is necessary. When the temperature increased to 60℃ and the ultrasonic treatment was conjugated with the air-stripping, the TOC removal efficiency increased to 87.8% within 5 hour stripping and the final TOC concentration (72.4 mg/L) was satisfied with the TOC discharge tolerance limit. The TOC removal efficiency for groundwater having low TOC concentration (153 mg/L) also showed similar removal efficiency of 89.7% (the final TOC concentration: 18.9 mg/L). Results in this study supported that the air-stripping conjugated with the ultrasonic treatment could remove successfully the TOC in groundwater around the underground LPG strorage cavern.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.337-346
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• 2022

The purpose of this study was to investigate the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of hot water (AMPW) and 70% ethanol (AMPE) extracts of apple mango (Mangifera indica L.) peel. The antioxidant activities were measured using a total polyphenol, electron-donating, 2,2'-azinobis [3-ethylbenzothiazoline6-sulfonic acid] (ABTS) radical scavenging assay. The total polyphenol content of AMPW and AMPE was 66.08 ± 0.62 mg TAE/100 g and 100.13 ± 0.23 mg TAE/100 g, respectively. As a result of measuring the electrondonating ability, at a concentration of 1,000 ㎍/ml, AMPW and AMPE showed an effectiveness of 86% and 94%, respectively. The ABTS assay showed 80% and 98% respective radical scavenging activity for AMPW and AMPE, at a concentration of 1,000 ㎍/ml. The cell viability on macrophage cells was performed using a 3-[4,5-dimethyl-thiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazoliumbromide (MTT) assay, and the results showed more than 90% cell viability at a 100 ㎍/ml concentration. Anti-inflammatory activity was verified by confirming nitric oxide (NO) production inhibitory activity, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) protein and mRNA expression inhibitory activity from lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated RAW 264.7 cells. The NO production inhibitory effects were measured using the Griess assay, which confirmed 45% and 40% inhibition after treatment with AMPW and AMPE, respectively. Moreover, the protein and mRNA expression of inflammatory-related factors iNOS and COX-2, decreased in a concentrationdependent manner. In conclusion, this study showed antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of Mangifera indica L. peel and revealed its promising potential for application as an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent.

• Laboratory Medicine Online
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.10-14
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• 2012

Background: Measurement of HbA_1c levels is widely used to diagnose diabetes mellitus and to evaluate and monitor plasma-glucose concentrations over 6-8 weeks. In this study, we evaluated the diagnostic performance of the newly developed latex immunoturbidimetric method by using Autolab HbA_1c. Methods: We analyzed and compared the diagnostic performance of Autolab HbA_1c with that of Toshiba 200FR between April 2009 and July 2009. According to guidelines (EP5-A2, EP6-P, EP9-A2) of the clinical and laboratory standards institute (CLSI), we compared linearity, precision and correlation of Autolab HbA_1c with those of G7 (Tosoh Corp., Kyoto, Japan) by using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. Results: Data obtained using Autolab HbA_1c showed good linearity in mixtures of samples with low (3.1%) and high (15.1%) levels of HbA_1c (r²=0.9997). In the analysis of within-run precision of the samples with HbA_1c levels of 5.1% and 12.1%, the SDs were 0.04 and 0.06 and covariances of these samples were 0.8% and 0.5%, respectively. In the Deming regression model, the regression equation was as follows: Autolab HbA_1c=1.0859×Tosoh HPLC-0.6957. Conclusions: In this study, Autolab HbA_1c method showed better performance characteristics than Tosoh G7 did. In reference review, there was no interference of variant hemoglobin. The data acquisition time of Autolab HbA_1c was lower than that of Tosoh G7. The advantages of Autolab HbA_1c are that it can be used as an autoanlyzer in routine chemical analysis, it does not require pre-analytical treatment, and the samples are automatically treated with distilled water for hemolysis.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.61 no.3
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• pp.179-188
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• 2023

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of surface treatments on the shear bond strength of two types of zirconia (3-TZP and 5Y-PSZ) with resin cement. Materials and methods. Two different types of zirconia specimens with a fully sintered size of 14.0×14.0×2.0 mm³ were prepared, polished with 400, 600, and 800 grit silicon carbide paper, and buried in epoxy resin. They were classified into four groups each control, sandblasting, primer, and sandblasting & primer. Cylindrical resin adhered to the surface-treated zirconia with resin cement. It was stored in distilled water (37℃) for 24 hours, and a shear bond strength test was performed. The normality of the experimental group was confirmed with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov & Shapiro-Wilk test. The interaction and statistical difference were analyzed using a two-way ANOVA. A post-hoc analysis was performed using Dunnett T3. Results. As a result of two-way ANOVA, there was no significant difference in shear bonding strength between zirconia types (P > .05), but there was a significant correlation in the sandblasting, primer, and alumina sandblasting & primer group (P < .05). Dunnett T3 post-test showed that, regardless of the type of zirconia, shear bonding strength was sandblasting & primer > Primer > sandblasting > control group (P < .05). Conclusion. There was no difference in shear bond strength between the types of zirconia. The highest shear bond strength was shown when the mechanical and chemical treatments of the zirconia surface was performed simultaneously.