• Molecules and Cells
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.186-194
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• 2017

A brain-enriched secreting signal peptide, NELL2, has been suggested to play multiple roles in the development, survival, and activity of neurons in mammal. We investigated here a possible involvement of central NELL2 in regulating feeding behavior and metabolism. In situ hybridization and an immunohistochemical approach were used to determine expression of NELL2 as well as its colocalization with proopiomelanocortin (POMC) and neuropeptide Y (NPY) in the rat hypothalamus. To investigate the effect of NELL2 on feeding behavior, 2 nmole of antisense NELL2 oligodeoxynucleotide was administered into the lateral ventricle of adult male rat brains for 6 consecutive days, and changes in daily body weight, food, and water intake were monitored. Metabolic state-dependent NELL2 expression in the hypothalamus was tested in vivo using a fasting model. NELL2 was noticeably expressed in the hypothalamic nuclei controlling feeding behavior. Furthermore, all arcuatic POMC and NPY positive neurons produced NELL2. The NELL2 gene expression in the hypothalamus was up-regulated by fasting. However, NELL2 did not affect POMC and NPY gene expression in the hypothalamus. A blockade of NELL2 production in the hypothalamus led to a reduction in daily food intake, followed by a loss in body weight without a change in daily water intake in normal diet condition. NELL2 did not affect short-term hunger dependent appetite behavior. Our data suggests that hypothalamic NELL2 is associated with appetite behavior, and thus central NELL2 could be a new therapeutic target for obesity.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.296-304
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• 2021

Research on the development of marine renewable energy is actively in progress. Various studies are being conducted on the development of wave energy converters. In this study, a numerical analysis of wave-energy extraction performance was performed according to the body shape and scale of the sloped oscillating water column (OWC) wave energy converter (WEC), which can be connected with the breakwater. The sloped OWC WEC was modeled in the time domain using a two-dimensional fully nonlinear numerical wave tank. The nonlinear free surface condition in the chamber was derived to represent the pneumatic pressure owing to the wave column motion and viscous energy loss at the chamber entrance. The free surface elevations in the sloped chamber were calculated at various incident wave periods. For verification, the results were compared with the 1:20 scaled model test. The maximum wave energy extraction was estimated with a pneumatic damping coefficient. To calculate the energy extraction of the actual size WEC, OWC models approximately 20 times larger than the scale model were calculated, and the viscous damping coefficient according to each size was predicted and applied. It was verified that the energy, owing to the airflow in the chamber, increased as the incident wave period increased, and the maximum efficiency of energy extraction was approximately 40% of the incident wave energy. Under the given incident wave conditions, the maximum extractable wave power at a chamber length of 5 m and a skirt draft of 2 m was approximately 4.59 kW/m.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.39-45
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• 2013

Objectives : This study was conduct to compare of histological changes on four target organs which related with diabetes in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Methods : Diabetes was induced in male Sprague-Dawley rats by consecutive injection of streptozotocin (STZ) at different doses of 30, 40 and 50 mg/kg for 5 days. After 4 weeks, all rats were sacrificed, five different organs such as pancreas, liver, kidney, and lung were isolated and observed their histological changes by hematoxylin and eosin (H&E), Periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) and Masson's trichrome staining. The changes of body weight, blood glucose, and food and water intake were also measured. Results : The multiple administration of STZ was induced diabetes in rats with hyperglycemia, decrease of body weight, increase water and food intake, and histopathological changes of target organs, compared with those of normal rats in both dose-dependent and time-dependent manner. In histological analysis, pancreas was showed decrease of the islet numbers with beta-cell loss. Kidney showed morphological damage with glomerulus hypertrophy, and also lung was showed bronchial epithelial damage with inflammatory cells infiltration. In liver, the portal vein and hepatic artery could not observed, and showed inflammatory cell infiltration with liver fibrosis. Conclusions : These results suggest that the increase of the capacity of STZ, each of the more chronic disease, it can be seen that the damage was deep. Thus, evaluate the resulting drug appropriate depending on the purpose of the model is expected to be selected.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.259-268
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• 2009

This study was carried out to investigate the protective effect of Red Ginseng Saponins on 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) induced toxicities in guinea pigs ($200{\pm}10$ g). Normal control (NC) group guinea pigs ($200{\pm}10$ g) received vehicle and saline, while the TCDD-treated (TT) group was given water-extract (WE), saponin fraction (SF) and non-saponin fraction (NSF). Korean red ginseng fractions were administered from 1 week before TCDD-exposure for 4 weeks. Body weight loss and deteriorated clinical parameters related to sugar metabolism and liver function such as lipase and AST, respectively, these were significantly reduced by both saponin and non-saponin fractions. However, increase of lipase was attenuated by the saponin fraction in a dose-dependent manner. Only AST was affected by the saponin fraction. The results suggest that saponins are active substances in the Korean red ginseng water extract against TCDD induced toxicities in Guinea pigs.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.175-179
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• 2016

The aim of this study was to evaluate the anti-diabetic effects of the water extract of Lespedeza cuneata (LCW) using rat insulinoma (RIN) m5F cells and streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. The effect of LCW on the protection of pancreatic beta cells was assessed using MTT assay, and nitric oxide production was assessed using Griess reagent. STZ-induced diabetic rats were treated with 100 and 400 mg/kg body weight of LCW for 5 weeks. In results, LCW significantly protected cytokine-induced toxicity and NO production, and increased insulin secretion in RINm5F cells. LCW significantly decreased serum blood glucose, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and advanced glycation end products (AGEs) levels, and renal fibronectin expression in STZ-induced diabetic rats. Also, LCW effectively improved BW loss in STZ-induced diabetic rats. Thus, our results suggest that LCW has a beneficial effect on cytokine-induced pancreatic beta cell damage and biomarkers of diabetic complication in hyperglycemic rats.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.181-188
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• 2007

The objective of this research was to investigate the optimal land cover classification algorithm for the monitoring of North Korea with MODIS multi-temporal data based on monthly phenological characteristics. Three frequently used land cover classification algorithms, ISODATA1), SMA2), and SOM3) were employed for this study; the land cover categories were forest, grass, agricultural, wetland, barren, built-up, and water body. The outcomes of the study can be summarized as follows. First, the overall classification accuracy of ISODATA, SMA, and SOM was 69.03%, 64.28%, and 73.57%, respectively. Second, ISODATA and SMA resulted in a higher classification accuracy of forest and agricultural categories, but SOM performed better for the built-up area, bare soil, grassland, and water. A possible explanation for this difference would be related to the difference of sensitivity against the vegetation activity. This would be related to the capability of SOM to express all of their values without any loss of data by maintaining the topology between pixels of primitive data after classification, while ISODATA and SMA retain limited amount of data after normalization process. Third, we can conclude that SOM is the best algorithm for monitoring the land cover change of North Korea.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.46-52
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• 2019

This study was conducted to investigate the cholesterol and Triglyceride (TG) lowering and anti-obesity effects of water extract of vegetable formula (onion 25%, carrot 20%, Cabbage 20%, Sweet Pumpkins 20%, Chinese plum 5%, turmeric 5%, morus leaves 5%, SLS) in mice fed high fat-diet. ICR mice were divided into 3 groups; a normal diet group (ND), a high-fat diet group (HFD), a high-fat diet and SLS with 300 mg/kg treated group (HFD+SLS). Body fat gain was increased by high-fat diet and HFD+SLS group showed a definite weight loss. The total cholesterol level in the HFD+SLS group was 328.4 mg/dl which was 27.4% lower than that in the HFD group and the cholesterol-lowering effect of SLS was confirmed. The HFD + SLS group showed 118.1 mg/dl and the triglyceride level in the serum was decreased by 88.7% compared to the HFD group and SLS significantly decreased blood triglyceride levels. RT-PCR showed that the expression of PPAR-${\gamma}$ and the target gene SCD-1 was inhibited in a dose-dependent manner in the SLS-treated group. These results suggest that the SLS water extract may have a cholesterol and triglyceride-lowering effect and inhibit the expression of PPAR-${\gamma}$ and SCD-1 to have an anti-obesity effect.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.295-305
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• 1996

This study was done to evaluate the effectiveness of dietary calcium level(a diet which met 100% or twice the calcium level in AIN-76 diet) on preventing bone loss in ovariectomized rats. Forty female Sprauge-Dawley rats(body weight 200$\pm$5g) were divided into two groups. One group were ovariectomized(Ovx) while the others received sham operation(Sham). Thereafter, each rat group was further divided into normal calcium diet(NCD, 0.52%) and high calcium diet(HCD, 1.04%) sub-groups. All rats were fed on experimental diet and deionized water ad libitum for 8 weeks. Urinary pyridinoline & creatinine and serum estradiol, luteinizing hormone, calcium, phosphate, total protein, albumin, alkaline phosphatase and osteocalcin were determined. There were no significant differences in serum calcium. total protein and albumin in the two groups(Ovx vs Sham) of rats. Ovariectomized rats had significantly lower estradiol than sham operated rats. There was a highly significant correlation between total bone mineral density(TBMD) and overall level of esteradiol(r=0.59, p<0.05). Total bone mineral density did not correlate significantly with ALP or osteocalcin, although a negative trend was evident. However, the rats fed high calcium diet had a lower crosslinks value and osteocalcine than the rats fed normal calcium diet. An increased rate of bone turnover is usually associated with a decrease in bone mass bexause bone formation at each remodeling site is never as great as resorption. Ovariectomized rats fed high calcium diet had a lower crosslink value and osteocalcin; it means high cacium diet decreased bone turnover rate. The findings from the present study demonstrated that bone loss due to ovarian hormonal deficiency can be partially prevented by a high calcium diet. Futhermore, these findings support the strategy of the use of a high calcium diet in the prevention of estrogen depletion bone loss (postmenopausal osteoporosis).

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.927-936
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• 2022

The effects of seasonal differences and crating densities on the preslaughter losses, breast meat quality, and physiological indices of broilers were determined. A total of 600 broilers aged 35 days were divided into 10 treatment groups based on five crating densities (10.3, 11.5, 12.8, 14.1, 15.4 birds·m^-2) with two seasons (i.e., summer and winter) to give six replicates and were placed at various locations in the truck. The birds were transported in crates having dimensions of 1.0 m × 0.78 m × 0.26 m. The transportation distance was 20 km for 40 minutes (average 30 - 50 km·h^-1) during the early morning. The results revealed that broilers transported at densities of 14.1 and 15.4 birds·m^-2 recorded lower (p < 0.05) pH, water-holding capacity (WHC), and muscle redness compared to those at densities of 11.5 birds·m^-2. Furthermore, higher (p < 0.05) cooking loss was found in birds stocked at more than 14.1 birds·m^-2 compared to the other treatments. However, no effect (p > 0.05) with different crating densities on body weight loss, carcass traits, glucose, lactate, or muscle yellowness was observed. Crating density of 14.1 birds·m^-2 showed lower (p < 0.05) cortisol contents compared with birds at 10.3 and 15.4 birds·m^-2. Winter transportation had higher (p < 0.05) relative breast meat weight, cooking loss, muscle redness, and cortisol contents whereas summer transportation had higher (p < 0.05) glucose and lactate contents in the blood plasma of broilers. In conclusion, the stocking of 12.8 birds·m^-2 is recommended to minimize stress responses and undesirable changes that could negatively affect muscle quality.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.79-88
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• 1986

Drought occurs most frequently and severely around transplanting season of the rice plants in Korea. Shortage of water due to drought for the paddy fields often delays transplanting, and less often the rice plants are subjected to water stress after delayed transplanting. The present study aimed at quantification of the rice crop loss due to delayed transplanting, different inten3ity of water stress, and the combined effect of delay in transplanting followed by water stress for better use of limited water for irrigation under drought. The rice variety Chucheong, a japonica, and Nampung, an indica x japonica, were grown, transplanted to 1/200 a plastic pots, and subjected to different timing of transplanting and degree of water stress under a rainfall autosersing, sliding clear plastic roof facility with completely randomized arrangement of 5 replications. The results obtained are summarized as follows: 1.Twelve days or 22 days delay in transplanting without water stress reduced rice yield by 25% and 43% in the japonica variety, and by 15% and 60% in the indica x japonica variety. 2.The 10 days or 20 days water stress developed without irrigation after drainage in the rice plants transplanted at proper time lowered the water potential at the paddy soil 10cm deep to -4 bar, and -12 bar and caused rice yield reduction by 14%, and 45% in the japonica variety and by 8%, and 50% in the indica X japonica variety. 3.The 12 days delay in transplanting and 10 days or 20 days water stress reduced rice yield by 39% and 59% in the japonica variety, and by 38% and 52% in the indica x japonica variety. The 22 days delay in transplanting plus 10 days water stress caused yield reduction by 76%, i.e. meaningless yield, in both varieties. 4.The intermittent irrigation just to wet the soil body for 10 days after 10 days water stress without irrigation increased rece yield by 12 to 16% compared to the rice plants water stessed without irrigation continuously for 20 days in both varieties respectively. 5.The above results suggest strongly 1) to transplant the rice plants at proper .time even with some water stress rather than delay for sufficient water from later rainfall, and 2) to distribute insufficient irrigation water to broader area of transplanted rice with limited irrigation for better use of limited irrigation water. A greater sensitivity of japonica variety to a moderate water stress than the indica X japonica variety during initial rooting and tillering stage was noticed. To cope with frequent drought in rice culture, firstly the lasting time of transplanting without yield reduction should be clarified by region and variety, and secondly a scheme of rational distribution of limited water should be developed by region with better knowledge on the varietal distribution of limited water should be developed by region with better knowledge on the varietal responses to varying intensity of water stress.