• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.40 no.11
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• pp.1507-1511
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• 2011

This study investigated the anti-inflammatory effect of Erigeron annuus L. flower (EAF) methanol extract. We examined the involvement of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) in the inhibitory activities of EAF methanol extract on nitric oxide (NO) production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW264.7 macrophages. Cell viability and NO assays were performed. In addition, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and HO-1 expressions were detected by Western blotting and blocking HO-1 activity on NO production. EAF methanol extract (25, 50, 100, 200 ${\mu}g$/mL) significantly inhibited LPS-stimulated NO production (p<0.05; 12.82, 9.61, 6.83, 2.52 ${\mu}m$) in a concentration-dependent manner. EAF methanol extract also reduced the expression of iNOS protein. The EAF methanol extract induced the expression of HO-1 in a dose-dependent manner. Blockage of HO-1 activity by zinc protoporphyrin suppressed EAF methanol extract-induced reductions in the production of NO. The present results suggest that EAF methanol extract has a potent anti-inflammatory effect in RAW264.7 macrophages through the induction of HO-1.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.175-181
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• 2015

In order to examine the effect of Smilax china L. (SC) extract on the cytotoxicity of methymercuric chloride (MMC), allergic contact dermatitis, The cytotoxicity of MMC was assessed after cultured NIH3T3 fibroblasts were treated with various concentrations of MMC for 72 hours. And also, the following results were obtained by measuring the antioxidative effect of SC extract on the cytotoxicity of MMC. In this study, MMC remarkably decreased the cell viability of NIH3T3 fibroblasts in a dose-dependent manner, and MMC was seen to be highly-toxic below 100 uM of $XTT_{50}$ value. In addition, the toxicity of MMC was involved in oxidative stress via a blockage of MMC-induced cytotoxicity by vit. E as antioxidant. In the protective effect of SC extract on MMC-induced cytotoxicity, SC extract defended the cytotoxicity of MMC by a significant increase of cell viability which was decreased by MMC-induced cytotoxicity. It also showed antioxidative effects such as electron donating ability (EDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD)-like activity (SLA) and the lipid peroxidation activity (LPA). From these results, the natural component as SC extract may be a putative resource as the antioxidative agent for the treatment of inflammatory skin disease associated with the oxidative stress.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.363-370
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• 2016

Cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of death in diabetic patients. Hyperglycemia is the primary characteristic of diabetes and is associated with many complications. The role of hyperglycemia in the dysfunction of human cardiac progenitor cells that can regenerate damaged cardiac tissue has been investigated, but the exact mechanism underlying this association is not clear. Thus, we examined whether hyperglycemia could regulate mitochondrial dynamics and lead to cardiac progenitor cell dysfunction, and whether blocking glucose uptake could rescue this dysfunction. High glucose in cardiac progenitor cells results in reduced cell viability and decreased expression of cell cycle-related molecules, including CDK2 and cyclin E. A tube formation assay revealed that hyperglycemia led to a significant decrease in the tube-forming ability of cardiac progenitor cells. Fluorescent labeling of cardiac progenitor cell mitochondria revealed that hyperglycemia alters mitochondrial dynamics and increases expression of fission-related proteins, including Fis1 and Drp1. Moreover, we showed that specific blockage of GLUT1 improved cell viability, tube formation, and regulation of mitochondrial dynamics in cardiac progenitor cells. To our knowledge, this study is the first to demonstrate that high glucose leads to cardiac progenitor cell dysfunction through an increase in mitochondrial fission, and that a GLUT1 blocker can rescue cardiac progenitor cell dysfunction and downregulation of mitochondrial fission. Combined therapy with cardiac progenitor cells and a GLUT1 blocker may provide a novel strategy for cardiac progenitor cell therapy in cardiovascular disease patients with diabetes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2002.04a
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• pp.85-92
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• 2002

When the United Nation classified as Korea is the one of the water deficit country. The consensus was made that the water is the one of the precious national resources. Government increases their R/D budget trying to get more clean water bodies. For instances, 'Sustainable Water Resources Development' project is the one of major title in '21 Century Frontier Research project and there are several small research projects are undergoing by the Ministry of Agriculture and KARICO. However, when the environmental preservation issue has been get more emphasis, construction of the Surface Dam met the blockage from the environmentalists due to the problem of the their water buried area. Since the most fitting site for surface dam had been used in the past, some engineer move their focus on modification of the existing Dam's height to enlarge its capacity or dredging the bottom of the reservoir recently However dredging evoke water quality problem in return by accumulated materials at the bottom. Last year the Dong Gang Dam plan has been canceled by environmental problem in water buried area of the reservoir. With the point of this view, ground water gets more focus for the one of the useful alternative for clean water bodies. Underground dam technique which had widely applied once in the early nineteen eighties by the KARICO and attenuated due to engineering insufficiency. The technique is newly studied with the advanced engineering technique. Still groundwater usage rate in Korea is much lower comparing with the advanced countries and has many rooms to develop. Wells, under ground dam and radial collector wells are typical facilities up to now. There is little application in Korea for the Recharge Dam, which had been widely used in the advanced countries. The Recharge Dam is technique to conjunct surface water and groundwater body together, This technique had developed to increase groundwater recharge at the beginning This research is the result of the study on the possibility of the development of the new technology, Groundwater Reservoir' which was modified from Recharge Dam. Groundwater Reservoir is like a deep artificial lakes trenched in hard rock aquifer to get groundwater. The advantage of the Groundwater Reservoir is followings 1) It can be developed at the plains area, not in the deep valley 2) Huge water body can be developed without dam 3) Small buried area comparing surface water dam makes the least environmental effect. 4) Trenching cost can be substitute by the income of the selling rock debris 5) Outfit of the reservoir can be modified to match with the site prospect 6) Rock debris can be used as constructing materials 7) It can be used as groundwater recharge system when the heavy rains comes 8) The reservoir looks like scenery lake with huge clean water bodies.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.65-71
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• 2004

The most significant effect of excess water in wetlands is the isolation of the soil from the atmosphere and the prevention of O2 from diffusing into soil. The blockage of atmospheric O2 induces biological and chemical processes that change soil from oxidized into reduced state. When dry soil develop into hydric soil, redox potential is dropping. The redox potential is a indicator of hydric soil and affect chemical function of wetlands. To reveal characteristics of wetland soil, redox potential was measured in Jinkwannaedong ecological conservation area from May in 2003 to March in 2004. Redox potentials in May ranged from 5 mV at 25 cm depth to 200 mV at 10 cm depth. It decreased to about -200 m V at all depths and continued until October. In winter, redox potential was slowly increased; it was the highest at 5 cm depth and lowest at 20 cm depth. Annual variations of redox potential in 20 cm depth showed the same pattern at 5 sites; low in growing season and high in non-growing season. This results indicates that soils of study sites are in hydric state and methanogenesis is occurring in Jinkwannaedong ecological conservation area.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.319-329
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• 2009

Sediment release openings or pipes are installed in the flood control dam constructed to reduce flood damages, which are to allow water and sediments pass through the dam and to prevent flow blockage and sedimentation in the upstream area of the dam. The Hantan River Flood Control Dam (HRFCD) has been projected for flood damage reduction and sediment release openings and ecological passages are considered for the dam design. In this study, sediment deposition due to the construction of HRFCD was analyzed using the HEC-6 model and compared with the state before the dam construction with respect to the conditions of the annual mean daily discharge and annual discharge hydrograph. According to the numerical results, although downstream water levels were changed by the dam structure, the effects of bed changes were not propagated from the dam over 2 km upstream. Also, 2D numerical models of RMA2 and SED2D were used to predict bed changes in the upstream area with and without sediment release openings. Consequently, it is presented that sediment release openings decreased maximum deposition height in the upstream channel of the dam.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.17-21
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• 2010

Objectives : The aim of this study was to evaluate the differential mechnism of vasodilation of alcohol steamed Rhei Tangutici Radix et Rhizoma. (ART) and Rhei Tangutici Radix et Rhizoma. (RT) in rat thoracic aorta. Methods : Rat aortic ring preparations were mounted in organ baths with oxygenated (95% $O_2$-5% $CO_2$) Krebs-Ringer bicarbonate solutions at $37{\pm}0.5^{\circ}C$ and subjected to contractions or relaxations. Results : ART exerted vasorelaxation on phenylephrine(PE)-induced contraction in a dose dependent manner. Vasorelaxation effects of ART and RT were endothelium-independent. In the $Ca^{2+}$-free high KCl (60 mM) baths, the contraction of aortic rings induced by accumulative addition of $Ca^{2+}$ (0.3-10.0 mM) was significantly reduced by pre-treatment with both ART and RT for 10 min. The magnitude of vasodilatation was biggerin ART. Moreover, verapamil ($0.001{\mu}M$) and diltiazem ($10{\mu}M$), voltage operative $Ca^{2+}$channel blockers, attenuated the relaxation effect of ART but not that of RT. In the absence of extracellular $Ca^{2+}$, pre-incubation of the aortic rings with RT ($1.0mg/m{\ell}$) significantly reduced the contraction caused by PE but not that of ART. $K^+$ channel inhibitors such as glibenclamide (Gli, $10^{-5}M$), tetraethylammonium (TEA, 1 mM) and 4-aminopyridine (4-AP, 0.2 mM) significantly reduced the ART's vasorelaxation efficacy, but not that of RT. However, the relaxation effects of ART and RT were not inhibited by pre-treatment with indomethacin ($10^{-5}M$), and atropine ($10^{-6}M$). Conclusions : These results suggest that the endothelium-independent relaxation is due to inhibition of $Ca^{2+}$ influx via the suppression of $Ca^{2+}$ release from intracelluar store in RT but via both voltage operative $Ca^{2+}$channel blockage and $K^+$ channel activation in ART.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.38 no.12 s.161
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• pp.1039-1049
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• 2005

The objective of this study is to produce optimal radar-derived rainfall for hydrologic utilization. The ground clutter and beam blockage effects from Mt. Kwanak station (E.L 608m) are removed from radar reflectivities by POD analysis. The reflectivities are used to produce radar rainfall data in the form of rain rates (mm/h) by the application of the Marshall-Palmer reflectivity versus rainfall relationship. However, these radar-derived rainfall are underestimated in temporal and spatial scale compared with observed one, so it is necessary to hire a correction scheme based on the gauge-to-radar (G/R) statistical adjustment technique. The selected watershed for studying the real-time correction of radar-rainfall estimation is the Soyang dam site, which is located approximately 100km east of Kwanak radar station. The results indicate that adjusted radar rainfall with the gauge measurement have reasonal G/R ratio ranged on 0.95-1.32 and less uncertainty with that mean standard deviation of G/R ratio are decreased by $9-28\%$. Mean areal precipitation from adjusted radar rainfall are well agreed to the observed one on the Soyang River watershed. It is concluded that the real-time bias adjustment scheme is useful to estimate accurate basin-based radar rainfall for hydrologic application.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.91-97
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• 2010

FOXL2 is a winged-helix/forkhead (FH) domain transcription factor, and mutations in FOXL2 gene are responsible for blepharophimosis-ptosis-epicanthus inversus syndrome (BPES). BPES is an autosomal dominant genetic disease. BPES type I patients exhibit both premature ovarian failure (POF) and eyelid malformation, while only the eyelid defect is observed in BPES type II. FOXL2-null ovaries showed a blockage of granulosa cell differentiation, suggesting that FOXL2 plays an essential role for proper ovarian folliculogenesis. Previously, we screened for FOXL2-interacting proteins and identified steroidogenic factor-1 (SF-1) which is known to be required for gonad development and transactivates steroidogenic enzymes including CYP19. In the present study, we demonstrated that FOXL2 transactivates CYP19 and stimulated the transcriptional activation of CYP19 induced by SF-1. In contrast, FOXL2 mutants found in BPES type I and II exhibited compromised abilities to enhance CYP19 induction mediated by SF-1. Thus, this study provides a functional difference between wild-type FOXL2 and its mutants which may aid to understand pathophysiology of BPES elicited by FOXL2 mutations.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.459-466
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• 2011

Sleep diseases such as snoring and sleep apnea are physically, mentally harmful and results serious health problems. Snoring, known as breathing noise, is caused by coupled oscillation of the airway when the air passes through the trachea, and sleep apnea is caused by upper airway blockage. In order to solve these problems, many attempts have been made to detect the snoring during sleep and alleviate it. In this study, a new sensing system and analysis algorithm were developed in order to detect snoring sounds correctly under various sleep environments. Two polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) vibration sensors were used inside the pillow. The first PVDF sensor detects vibration transmitted through skull caused by snoring. And the second PVDF sensor detects both snoring sounds and ambient noises. The signals of two sensors were acquired through the designed analog circuits, and analyzed for snoring detection. Ten volunteers were participated for the experiment under five different conditions. Data from two PVDF sensors were processed by the established analysis algorithm, and snoring sounds were compared to noises. The results indicated that the energy of snoring is 70% bigger than that of ambient noise, which proves effectiveness of sensing system and analysis algorithm. Further study would be continued for more wide clinical studies with various environment noises. Based on this study, development of anti-snore pillow and sleep monitoring system for comfort sleep could be developed.