• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.174-180
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• 1981

As the amount of pesticides consumption increases in agriculture, the side effects of pesticides on soil microorganisms have become an essential part in safety evaluation of pesticide for continued soil fertility. In order to establish the method of safety assessment of pesticides in Korea, a series of tests were carried out. Among the paddy pesticides Fujione (Isoprothiolane, fungicide), Ortran (Acephate, insecticide), and Machete (Butachlor, herbicide) were chosen and the effects of above three pesticides on Korean paddy soil microorganisms were studied. The measurements of pesticide effects on the cycling of carbon ($CO_2$ production), nitrogen fixation ($C_2H_2$ reduction), nitrification, and dehydrogenase activity were carried out. These measurements were complemented by evaluation of pesticide effects on viable microbial numbers. Although Fujione reduced the fungi numbers and inhibited nitrogen cycling activities somewhat, no significant adverse effects were show by any of the tested pesticides in our study.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.147-152
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• 1996

To screen inhibitors on complement system from natural resources, micro-screening method was established by using hemolytic complement assay. Complement fixation reaction was carried out in the microplate system. For standard hemolysis (50% hemolysis) of the classical pathway (CP), hemolysin and complement serum were diluted to $1/75{\sim}1/100\;and\;1/80{\sim}1/120$, respectively, when sheep erythrocytes were $5.0{\times}10^8\;cells/ml$. In case of the alternative pathway (AP), complement serum was diluted to 1/5 and EGTA and $Mg^{2+}$ were added 4 mM, $4{\sim}8\;mM$, respectively, when rabbit erythrocytes were $4.0{\times}10^8\;cells/ml$. Dimethyl sulfoxide was used for the assay of non-aquous soluble compounds or extracts and its final concentration was not more than 1%. Three phenylpropanoids showed anticomplementary activities in proportion to the concentration for both pathways and rosmarinic acid exihibited the highest inhibitory activities: $5.4{\pm}3.6%(0.063\;mM){\sim}95.8{\pm}0.2%(0.5\;mM)\;and\;35.1{\pm}0.9%(0.063\;mM){\sim}95.6{\pm}1.1%(1\;mM)$ on the CP and the AP, respectively.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.166-172
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• 1979

A series of experiments was planned for practical application of rhizobia in grass lands in Korea. This is the report for the studies mainly on the isolation and characterization of alfalfa nodule bacteria, and on the assessment of their nodulation abilities and nitrogen fixation capacities. 1. Total number of 47 strains was isolated from nodules which were taken from alfalfa grown in Daekwanyong, Cheju and other places. 2. Morphological and cultural characteristics of the strains were studied, and attempts. were also made to investigate their antigenic properties and to demonstrate lysogenic strains. The results were; i) the isolates varied in their cultural characteristics on yeast mannitol broth and agar, and in degree of congo red absorption; ii) similarities in their antigenic prorerties were found between the strains: SU 47/M-11, M-13/M-15, and M-3/M-5; iii) no lysogeny was found in the strains. 3. Plant infection test by test tube method in light room were carried out to elucidate the ability of the strains to nodulate Luna alfalfa and of the capacity of such nodules to fix atmospheric nitrogen. The isolates were grouped info non-invasive, ineffective, or effective to the legumes. Those strains which produced effective nodules, supporting similar/higher level of growth as nitrate control were: M-8, 9, 14, 20, 21, 25 and 34.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.379-387
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• 2013

In order to improve practical utility of agro-microorganisms (AMs) which had been cultured and disseminated to promote plant growth and to control crop diseases, 51 isolates of AMs were collected from 18 agricultural extension centers in local government and screened for multi-functions such as antifungal activity, activities of phosphorus solubilization, IAA and siderophore production, nitrogen fixation, and hydrolytic enzyme activity. Finally we selected one isolate showing good antifungal activity and multi-functions related to plant growth and disease control. The selected isolate, Paenibacillus polymyxa CW, showed good inhibitory effect against plant pathogens, Pyricularia gresea, Colletotrichum acutatum, Fusarium oxysporum, Phomopsis sp., Aspergillus niger, Rhizoctonia solani and Phytophthora capsici. Suppressive effect of P. polymyxa CW against the used plant pathogens except for R. solani was much higher than that of P. polymyxa AC-1 storing in National Academy of Agricultural Science. We found P. polymyxa CW isolate showed good activity in siderophore and IAA formation, and nitrogen fixation. With P. polymyxa CW isolate, siderophore formation activity was similar to that of P. polymyxa AC-1, but IAA formation and nitrogen fixation activity was much higher than that of P. polymyxa AC-1. However neither P. polymyxa CW nor P. polymyxa AC-1 showed hydrolytic enzyme (chitinase, pectinase and cellulase) activity. The treatment of P. polymyxa CW with culture suspension of different cell density ($10^8$, $10^7$. $10^6$ cfu/ml) showed that the highest density reduced incidence of red pepper powdery mildew by 68.3% after 10 days of application. As application density of P. polymyxa CW was decreased, its control efficacy was proportionally decreased. In addition, when P. polymyxa CW was treated to control tomato powdery mildew at the same concentrations and their control effects were investigated after 7 days of inoculation, disease incidence was 0.03, 19.5, 45.7%, respectively, compared to 56.3% that of untreated check. Like red pepper powdery mildew, increase of application density of P. polymyxa CW resulted in increase of its control efficacy proportionally. P. polymyxa CW showed a density-dependent control efficacy against red pepper and tomato powdery mildews. Therefore we think that mode of action of the antagonist for suppressing two powdery mildew diseases might be antibiosis and density of more than $10^8cfu/ml$ was needed to control effectively the two diseases. On this basis, we think that P. polymyxa CW can be a promising control agent for suppressing powdery mildews of red pepper and tomato.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.131-140
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• 2015

To set up unicellular cyanobacterial strains with photo-biological $H_2$ production potential, live samples were repeatedly collected from 68 stations in the coastal zone of Korea for the four years since 2005. Among 77 cyanobacterial strains established six (KNU strains, CB-MAL002, 026, 031, 054, 055 and 058) were finally chosen as the excellent strains for $H_2$ production with $H_2$ accumulation over 0.15 mL $H_2\;mL^{-1}$ under general basic $H_2$ production conditions as well as positive $H_2$ production for more than 60 hr. To explore optimum procedures for higher $H_2$ production efficiency of the six cyanobacterial strains, the inter-strain differences in the growth rate under the gradients of water temperature and salinity were investigated. The maximum daily growth rates of the six strains ranged from 1.78 to 2.08, and all of them exhibited $N_2-fixation$ ability. Based on the similarity of the 16S rRNA sequences, all the test strains were quite close to Cyanothece sp. ATCC51142 (99%). The six strains, however, were grouped into separate clades from strain ATCC51142 in the molecular phylogeny diagram. Chlorophyll- a content was 3.4~7.8% of the total dried weight, and the phycoerythrin and phycocyanin contents were half of those in the Atlantic strain, Synechococcus sp. Miami BG03511. The growth of the six strains was significantly suppressed at temperatures above the optimal range, $30{\sim}35^{\circ}C$, to be nearly stopped at $40^{\circ}C$. The growth was not inhibited by high salinities of 30 psu salinity in all the strains while strain CB055 maintained its high growth rate at low salinities down to 15 psu. The euryhaline strains like CB055 might support massive biotechnological cultivation systems using natural basal seawater in temperate latitudes. base seawater. The biological and ecophysiological characteristics of the test strains may contribute to designing the optimal procedures for photo-biological $H_2$ production by unicellular cyanobacteria.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.90 no.4
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• pp.476-487
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• 2001

In this study, three tree species (Populus euramericana, Kalopanax pictus and Quercus serrata) exhibiting different levels of shade tolerance were employed to investigate photosynthetic responses to the lower light condition on forest floors. Chlorophyll contents, spectral properties and photosynthetic characteristics were examined by using the tree species grown under high light intensity (PPFD $920{\mu}mol\;m^{-2}s^{-1}$) or low light intensity (PPFD $80{\mu}mol\;m^{-2}s^{-1}$). Plants grown under the low light intensity tended to have reduced leaf area, chlorophyll content per unit leaf area, light absorption and respiration in the shade intolerant tree species of P. euramericana. However, the shade tolerant species K. pictus and Q. serrata showed increased leaf area, chlorophyll content and net apparent quantum yield. Therefore, light absorption and light utilization efficiency were improved under the low light intensity. Also shade tolerant species maintained activities of photosystems and $CO_2$ fixation systems with little changes in low light intensity condition.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.123-127
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• 2005

Compression Hip Screw (CHS) is one of the most widely-used prostheses for the treatment of intertrochanteric fractures because of its strong fixation capability. Fractures at the neck and screw holes are frequently noted as some of its clinical drawbacks, which warrant more in-depth biomechanical analysis on its design variables. The purpose of this study was to evaluate changes in the strength with respect to the changes in design such as the plate thickness and the number of screw holes. Both mechanical test and FEM analysis were used to systematically investigate the sensitivities of the above-mentioned design variables. For the first part of the mechanical test, CHS (n=20) were tested until failure. The CHS specimens were classified into four groups: Group Ⅰ was the control group with the neck thickness of 6-㎜ and 5 screw holes on the side plate, Group Ⅱ 6-㎜ thick and 8 holes, Group Ⅲ 7.5-㎜ thick and 5 holes, and Group Ⅳ 7.5-㎜ thick and 8 holes. Then, the fatigue test was done for each group by imparting 50% and 75% of the failure loads for one million cycles. For the FEM analysis, FE models were made for each group. Appropriate loading and boundary conditions were applied based on the failure test results. Stresses were assessed. Mechanical test results indicated that the failure strength increased dramatically by 80% with thicker plate. However, the strength remained unchanged or decreased slightly despite the increase in number of holes. These results indicated the higher sensitivity of plate thickness to the implant strength. No fatigue failures were observed which suggested the implant could withstand at least one million cycles of fatigue load regardless of the design changes. Our FEM results also supported the above results by showing a similar trend in stress as those of mechanical test. In summary, our biomechanical results were able to show that plate thickness could be a more important variable in design for reinforcing the strength of CHS than the number of screw holes.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.97-105
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• 2008

Nitrogen budgets in Korea in 2005 were estimated using a mass balance approach. Major nitrogen fluxes were divided into three sections: cities, agricultural area, and forest. Nitrogen inputs were chemical and biological fixation, dry and wet deposition, imported food and feed, while crop uptake, volatilization, denitrification, leaching, runoff, and forest consumption were nitrogen outputs. Non-point source(NPS) pollution budgets were also estimated by mass balance approach. Annual total nitrogen inputs budgets were 1,442,254 ton$\cdot$yr$^{-1}$, and outputs were 814,415 ton$\cdot$yr$^{-1}$. Approximately 19.4% of nitrogen input leaked to river and seawater as NPS pollution. It contains nitrogen input 21 percent more than the previous research in 2002. Especially the change of government plans affect nitrogen budget. As a result, in the output field, the whole nitrogen amount due to landfill reduce from 20 percent to less than 1 percent.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.18
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• pp.8259-8263
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• 2016

Background: Nano-therapy has the potential to revolutionize cancer therapy. Chrysin, a natural flavonoid, was recently recognized as having important biological roles in chemical defenses and nitrogen fixation, with anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects but the poor water solubility of flavonoids limitstheir bioavailability and biomedical applications. Objective: Chrysin loaded PLGA-PEG-PLGA was assessed for improvement of solubility, drug tolerance and adverse effects and accumulation in a gastric cancer cell line (AGS). Materials and Methods: Chrysin loaded PLGA-PEG copolymers were prepared using the double emulsion method (W/O/W). The morphology and size distributions of the prepared PLGA-PEG nanospheres were investigated by 1H NMR, FT-IR and SEM. The in vitro cytotoxicity of pure and nano-chrysin was tested by MTT assay and miR-34a was measured by real-time PCR. Results: 1H NMR, FT-IR and SEM confirmed the PLGA-PEG structure and chrysin loaded on nanoparticles. The MTT results for different concentrations of chrysin at different times for the treatment of AGS cell line showed IC50 values of 68.2, 56.2 and $42.3{\mu}M$ and 58.2, 44.2, $36.8{\mu}M$ after 24, 48, and 72 hours of treatment, respectively for chrysin itslef and chrysin-loaded nanoparticles. The results of real time PCR showed that expression of miR-34a was upregulated to a greater extent via nano chrysin rather than free chrysin. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates chrysin loaded PLGA-PEG promises a natural and efficient system for anticancer drug delivery to fight gastric cancer.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.124-124
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• 2017

Cadmium (Cd) is of particular concern because of its widespread occurrence and high toxicity and may cause serious morpho-physiological and molecular abnormalities in in plants. The present study was performed to explore Cd-induced morpho-physiological alterations and their potentiality associated mechanisms in Sorghum bicolor leaves at the protein level. Ten-day-old sorghum seedlings were exposed to different concentrations (0, 100, and $150{\mu}M$) of $CdCl_2$, and different morpho-physiological responses were recorded. The effects of Cd exposure on protein expression patterns in S. bicolor were investigated using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) in samples derived from the leaves of both control and Cd-treated seedlings. The observed morphological changes revealed that the plants treated with Cd displayed dramatically altered shoot lengths, fresh weights, and relative water content. In addition, the concentration of Cd was markedly increased by treatment with Cd, and the amount of Cd taken up by the shoots was significantly and directly correlated with the applied level of Cd. Using the 2-DE method, a total of 33 differentially expressed protein spots were analyzed using MALDI-TOF/TOF MS. Of these, treatment with Cd resulted in significant increases in 15 proteins and decreases in 18 proteins. Significant changes were absorbed in the levels of proteins known to be involved in carbohydrate metabolism, transcriptional regulation, translation and stress responses. Proteomic results revealed that Cd stress had an inhibitory effect on carbon fixation, ATP production and the regulation of protein synthesis. In addition, the up-regulation of glutathione S-transferase and cytochrome P450 may play a significant role in Cd-related toxicity and stress responses. Our study provides insights into the integrated molecular mechanisms involved in response to Cd and the effects of Cd on the growth and physiological characteristics of sorghum seedlings. The upregulation of these stress-related genes may be candidates for further research and use in genetic manipulation of sorghum tolerance to Cd stress.