• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Toxicology Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.131-131
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• 2002

PCBs are wide spread persistent environmental pollutants that exert a broad spectrum of toxic effects. PCBs includes 209 possible congeners differing in extent and position of chlorination of their aromatic rings. In order to understand the toxic mechanism of PCBs, we have tested the effect of PCB on the EROD activity in vivo.(omitted)

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Toxicology Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.177-177
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• 2001

Polychlorinated biphenyls(PCBs) are members of the halogenated aromatic group of environmental pollutants. Because of their unique physical and chemical properties, notably their stability and widespread use, PCBs are sidely distributed and transported throughout the global environment. In fact, residues of PCBs have been identified in air, water, aquatic and marine sediments, and human tissue samples.(omitted)

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.284-293
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• 2000

For the artificial removal of air pollutants such as pesticides, environmental toxicants, and pathogenic microorganisms in the greenhouse or the living environment, the accelerated photodegradation and the biocidal effects of some photosensitizers (PS)/photocatalysts (PC) were tested under the sunlight and/or artificial light. The selected photosensitizers/photocatalysts included the semiconductors (PC-1 and PC-2), the oxidizers (PC-3, PC-4, PC-5 and PC-6), the aromatic ketone (PS-7) and the aromatic amine (PS-8). In the case of dichlorvos, all the photocatalysts selected showed more accelerated photodegradation than the control without photocatalysts under both the sunlight and artificial light. Whereas, only the photocatalyst PC-1 accelerated the degradation of methyl tert-butyl ether about 17 times more than the control under both the sunlight and artificial light. Procymidone was much more degraded by the photosensitizer PS-8 and the two photocatalysts (PC-1, PC-6) than by PS-7. In the preliminary experiments to diminish the population of the microorganisms in the air, the photocatalyst PC-1 added to the suspensions of Pseudomonas putida, Phytophthora capsici, and Salmonella typhimurium obviously inhibited the microbial growth under the artificial light. The photocatalyst PC-1 showed a bactericidal activity against Salmonella typhimurium spread on the nutrient broth agar medium. These results suggest that the photosensitizers/photocatalysis under the light can remove some air pollutants and hence they can be used to reduce the exposure of the workers in the horticultural facilities and/or the public in the environment to the harmful pollutants.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.532-541
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• 2016

The National Environmental Specimen Bank (NESB) has been collecting broad leave samples to monitor environmental pollution from five different designated sampling areas. In order to ensure the reproducibility and comparability of the results, all the procedures from selecting trees and pooling leaves to make the representative sample are defined in the standard operation procedures(the SOP). The representative samples were subjected to the chemical analyses for some heavy minerals and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons(PAHs). The uncertainty levels involved in each step of the SOP, that is, the sampling and the chemical analysis, were derived using the Robust ANOVA, which enables the relative comparison among the different levels of pollutants concentrations with confidence. Furthermore, the effect of the varying degrees of precipitation on the pollutants concentration of the leaves was also examined. Overall, the biological difference estimated from the duplicate samples was found to exceed the variation across the site, implying even aerial deposition over site. Samples from Gwanak Mt. showed highest heavy metal concentrations than the other sites. Washing off effect of the pollutants adhering in the form of particles on the leaf surface was found to be affected by the cumulative precipitation.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.96-103
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• 2012

Ambient particulate matter (PM) and particle-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentrations were measured continuously for 70 days at a Korean elementary school located near a highway. The $PM_{10}$, $PM_{2.5}$, and $PM_1$ values were measured with a light-scattering, multi-channel, aerosol spectrometer (Grimm, Model 1.107). The number concentrations of the particles were measured using a scanning mobility particle sizer and counter (SMPS+C) which counted particles from 11.1 to 1083.3 nm classified in 44 channels. Particle-bound PAHs were measured with a direct reading, photoelectric aerosol sensor. The daily $NO_2$, $SO_2$, and CO concentrations were obtained from a national air-monitoring station located near the school. The average concentrations of $PM_{10}$, $PM_{2.5}$, and $PM_1$ were 75.3, 59.3, and $52.1{\mu}g/m^3$, respectively. The average number concentration of the ultrafine particles (UFPs) was $46,307/cm^3$, and the averaged particle-bound PAHs concentration was $17.9ng/cm^3$ during the study period. The ambient UFP variation was strongly associated with traffic intensity, particularly peak concentrations during the traffic rush hours. Particles <100 nm corresponded to traffic-related pollutants, including PAHs. Additional longterm monitoring of ambient UFPs and high-resolution traffic measurements should be carried out in future studies. In addition, transient variations in the ambient particle concentration should be taken into consideration in epidemiology studies in order to examine the short-term health effects of urban UFPs.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.141-151
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• 2004

We exposed juvenile puffer fish, Takifugu obscurus(30 days after hatching) to various aqueous pollutants including 4 kinds of inorganic metals (Ag, Cd, Cu and Hg), 2 organotin compound.; (tributyltin ［TBT］ and triphenyltin［TPhT］) and 5 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compounds (chrysene, fluoranthene, naphthalene, phenanthrene and pyrene) to estimate median lethal concentrations (LC50s) of each pollutant after the 96-hour acute exposure. Among the inorganic metals, Hg (52 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L; 96-h LC50) was most toxic to test animals and followed by Ag (164 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L), Cu (440 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L) and Cd (1180 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L). Aqueous TBT was more toxic between the two organotins; the 96-h LC50 for TBT (5.1 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L) was 3 times lower than that of TPhT (17.3 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L). The acute toxicity of PAH compounds was highest for chrysene (1.5 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L; 96-h LC50) and decreased in the order of pyrene (65 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L) > fluoranthene (158 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L) > phenanthrene (432 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L) > naphthalene (8690 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L). The toxicity of PAH compounds wat closely related to their physico-chemical characteristics such as $K_{ow}$ and water solubility, and well explained by simple QSAR relationship. The sensitivity of puffer fish to various inorganic and organic pollutants was generally comparable to various fish species widely used as standard test species in previous studies and further evaluation should be conducted to develop adequate testing procedure for T. obscurus when used in various toxicity tests.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.502-509
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• 1997

Aromatic pollutants(benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes) were photodegraded by using a UV oxidation and the rates of degradation were investigated under various reaction conditions. Each of the solution containing 50 ppm benzene, 150 ppm ethylbenzene and 250 ppm xylenes was found UV-photodegraded over 90% in 1 hour of reaction time, wheras the only was 43 % degradation was obtained with 350 ppm toluene solution. A single component solution was more degradable than a mixed component solution and benzene was almost photodegraded at a pH 4.0, 6.4 and 10.0 after reaction time is 1 hr, ehtylbenzene was photodegraded about 92%(pH 4.0), 90%(pH 6.4) and 91%(pH 10.0), xylenes was photodegraded about 95%(pH 4.0), 90%(pH 6.4) and 92%(pH 10.0), but toluene was photodegraded about 80%(pH 4.0), 43%(pH 6.4) and 70%(pH 10.0), respectively. Kinetics studies show that the rate of decay in TOC(total organic carbon) were pseudo first-order rate except ethylbenzene, and then we could evaluate mineralization rate constants(k) of aromatics.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.90-101
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• 2008

The chemical compositions of $PM_{2.5}$ and $PM_{10}$ and associated high-molecular-weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were investigated during winter and summer at a roadside and an urban background site in Saitama, Japan. The average concentrations of $PM_{2.5}$ exceeded the United States Environmental Protection Agency standards during both periods. Carbonaceous components were abundant in both the observed and calculated (by means of a mass closure model) chemical composition of $PM_{2.5}$. Traffic-related pollutants (elemental carbon and high-molecular-weight PAHs) were strongly associated with $PM_{2.5}$ rather than with larger particles. The mass concentrations of $PM_{2.5}$, as well as those of EC and PAHs associated with the particles, at the two sites were strongly correlated. Comparison of our data with source profile ratios indicates that diesel-powered vehicles were probably the main source of the measured PAHs. The PAHs concentrations were affected by meteorological conditions during our study. Our results highlight the need for the establishment of standards for $PM_{2.5}$ in Japan.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.209-215
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• 2005

Recently, a large number of clinical experiments have shown that exposure of organic pollutants lead to various cancers through the abnormal cell growth. Environmental pollutants, such as 2, 3, 7, 8-Tetrachloro dibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), are carcinogen and are known to cause the cognitive disability and motor dysfunction in the developing of brain. The effects of these pollutants on neurodevelopmental disorder is well established, but the underlying mechanism(s) and similarity of gene expression profiles in human brain tumors with organic pollutants still remain unclear. In this study, we first examined the gene expression profiles in glioblastomas compared with meningioma that are kinds of primary human brain tumor by using human cDNA microarray. The results of cDNA microarray analysis revealed that 26 genes were upregulated (Z-ratio>2.0) and 14 genes were downregulated (Z-ratio<-2.0) in glioblastoma compared with meningioma. From the altered gene patterns, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling related genes, such as MAP2K3, MAP3K11 and jun activated domain binding protein, and transcription factors, such as UTF2 and TF12, were upregulated in glioblastoma. Also, we tried to investigate the relation between important genes up- and down-regulated in giloblastoma and various organic pollutants. Therefore, the identification of changes in the patterns of gene expression may provide a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in human primary brain tumors and of the relation between gene expression profiles and organic pollutants in brain tissue.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.747-757
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• 2014

Since the air contamination by air pollutants from indoor construction materials and daily supplies has been increased in recent decades, the public interest of using environmentally friendly products and improving indoor air quality also attracted much attention. As known as effects of phytoncide, it has been used in construction materials and daily supplies with various method. In this study, hinoki cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa) was used because of its high contents of phytoncide. The leaves of hinoki cypress (C. obtusa), which generated by pruning, were extracted by steam distillation, and then used as humidification water source. Volatile organic compound (VOC) from C. obtusa were characterized by GC-MS (Gas chromatograph-Mass spectrophotometry) in order to evaluate effects and risks of using C. obtusa extracts. Total 86 types and 116 types of VOC were detected from distilled water (DI water) and C. obtusa extracts, respectively. Aromatic compounds (DI water: 13 types, 53%; C. obtusa extracts: 13 types, 38%) and terpenoids (DI water: 16 types, 23%; C. obtusa extracts: 23 types, 33%) were detected more diverse types and higher amount than other compound categories. No additional aromatic compounds were found from C. obtusa extracts, so C. obtusa extracts did not affect on aromatic compounds emission. However, in terpenoids, total amount of emission from C. obtusa extracts increased to 33% from 23% (DI water) and 7 more types of compounds were found from C. obtusa extracts. Especially, from C. obtusa extracts, terpinen-4-ol was emitted 71 times higher than DI water. During the humidification with C. obtusa extracts, emitted terpenoid compounds were well known for higher anti-bacterial, anti-insect, and anti-septic functions, but also these had anti-hypertensive and anti-cancer activities. Therefore, terpenoids from C. obtusa extracts can help to improve public health by using humidifier.