• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.7 no.1 s.12
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• pp.5-14
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• 2004

Acupuncture has fairly good weight-reducing effect in treating simple obesity due to the neuroendocrine regulation. In this study, the antiobesity effects of herbal acupuncture(HA) with Sang-hwang(phellinus linteus) at Fuai(SP16) were investigated in the rat fed on high-fat(HF) diet. Sang-hwang mushroom has been proven to have anti-carcinogenic effects and Sang-hwang extracts are highly effective in treatment and preventive treatment of AIDS, diabetes and high blood-pressure. To determine whether the Sang-hwang herbal acupuncture may have the anti-obesity effect, male Sprague-Dawley(4-wk-old) rats were fed a HF diet for 5 wk, which produced significant weight gain compared to rats were fed a normal diet, and then herbal acupuncture were treated for 3 wk in HF diet group. The body weight, food consumption, food effeciency ratio(FER), body fat mass, plasma nitric oxide(NO) were investigated in rats fed on normal diet, HF diet, and HF diet with HA(HF-diet-HA) groups. NO has been proposed to be involved in the regulation of food intake. In addition, the expression of appetite peptides such as orexigenic peptide neuropeptide Y(NPY) and the anorectic peptide cholecystokinin(CCK) were observed in the hypothalamus. HF-HA group reduced body weight gain, FER, body fat contents and NO concentration compared to HF diet group. The expression of NPY was reduced in arcuate nucleus(ARC), and CCK was increased in the paraventricular nucleus(PVN) after treatment of HA. In conclusion, Sang-hwang HA reduced adipocity, plasma NO and hypothalamic NPY, but increased CCK expression in the HF dietinduced obesity rat, therefore HA may have anti-obesity action through regulating body weight and appetite peptide of the central nervous system.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.60-70
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• 2011

The sediment removal index derived from the chemical contaminants, $CI_{HC}$, is currently in use to identify and define the spatial extent of the contaminated sediments in the sea. In order to analyze the sensitivity of the ecological and human risk associated with contaminated sediment, we evaluated five hypothetical contaminated sediments, whose $CI_{HC}$ values are identical but consisted of different contaminant contents, using $TrophicTrace^{(R)}$ model dedicated to evaluate sediment risk, against the resident greenling (Hexagrammos otakii) and humans by calculating No-Observed-Adverse-Effect-Level based Toxicity Quotient (NOAEL TQ) and Lowest-Observed-Adverse-Effect-Level based Toxicity Quotient (LOAEL TQ), and cancer risks and hazard indices (HI), respectively, based on the site conceptual model and exposure assumptions of fish ingestion to human receptor populations. NOAEL and LOAEL TQ values varied as much as a factor of 2 among 5 hypothetical sediments. Chemical element specific contribution to the carcinogenic risk and HI varied also greatly in these sediments. The reason for this significant dissimilarity in ecological and human risk stems from the different risk of each contaminant to the resident fish and human receptor. When the conceptual food web model is constructed for the target biological species for a given site, the ecological and human risk analysis considering trophic transfer of contaminants will add a ecosystem based tool for the management of contaminated sediments.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.186-191
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• 2015

BACKGROUND: Carotenoids which are a major source of vitamin A are contributed to have great potential role in anti-carcinogenic effects and eyesight. Carotenoids which can not synthesize in human body are required for food supply. The objectives of this study are to investigate compositions and contents of pumpkin (Cucurbita spp.) germplasms based on their pulp color. METHODS AND RESULTS: Carotenoids were extracted with 0.2% ascorbic acid in ethanol and saponified with 80% potassium hydroxide. Insoluble compounds were extracted into hexane. A total of nine carotenoids (three xanthophylls and six carotenes) were identified from pumpkin germplasms using HPLC equipped with photodiode array detector (450 nm). Especially, lutein and ${\beta}$-carotenes were major compound in germplasms. Among isomers of ${\beta}$-carotene, all-trans-${\beta}$-carotene (16-27% of total carotenoids) was predominant compositions. The mean of total carotenoid contents was showed as brown (286.1 mg/100 g dw) > dark green (217.0) > orange (153.4) > primrose (85.8) > dark yellow (80.3). On the basis of carotenoid information, PLS-DA score plots showed different patterns by cluster in pumpkin germplasms. It was considered that these differences of phenotype were relative closely to genotype. CONCLUSION: This study indicated that dark color of pumpkin pulp was presented in high-level of biological pigments. It may contribute to develop potentially beneficial functional food ingredients.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.453-465
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• 2000

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were produced by thermoreaction (incompletely combustion) of organic compounds such as fuel, gasoline, diesel etc, and were known the strong carcinogenic compounds. In our country, a study for health risk assessment of PAHs in air were needed according to rapidly increasing of motor vehicle and progressing to industrial country. In this study, concentrations of PAHs in 263 air samples of fourteen sites-Seoul, Pusan, etc-according to four times sampling for one year are measured by GC/MSD for basic research for health risk assessment. As the result, 14 PAHs are detected in all samples and annual average concentration of total PAHs was $28.72ng/m^3$ and highest average concentration of total PARs was $47.76ng/m^3$ in winter season. The concentrations of total PAHs are proportioned to amount of extracted organic material (EOM). The average concentration of total PAHs in EOM was 0.28%.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.580-584
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• 2008

$O^6-methylguanine-DNA$ methyltransferase (MGMT) is a DNA repair protein that protects cells against the carcinogenic effects of alkylating agents. The loss of MGMT expression was commonly known due to hypermethylation of CpG islands in its promoter region. We evaluated the expression of MGMT by immunohistochemistry in order to examine the relationship between loss of MGMT expression and clinicopathological characteristics in 74 Korean patients with non-small cell lung cancers. Loss of MGMT was detected in 25 (33.8%) of 74 cases. The loss of MGMT expression was frequently seen in the adenocarcinoma than in the squamous cell carcinoma (p=0.021). However, there was no significant differences between loss of MGMT expression and other clinicopathological characteristics, including age, gender, smoking status, tumor size, tumor T stage, and lymph node metastasis (p>0.05). In conclusion, loss of MGMT expression was related with the histologic type of lung cancer. Further methylation study of MGMT promoter is needed to evaluate the relationships with immunohistochemical expression of MGMT and to clarify the role of MGMT in lung cancer.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.79-86
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• 2002

Aflatoxin is a secondary fungal metabolite and is a public health hazard because it is a human carcinogenic and has many deleterious effects in men and animals. Rice is one of the better substrates far the fungus which can produce aflatoxins. This study was performed to investigate aflatoxin reduction during the cooking and processing of rice. Aflatoxin was produced by Aspergillus parasiticus ATCC 15517 on well-milled rice (Japonica type) at the level of 13.2 ppb. Cooked rice, rice cakes (baek-sol-gi, plain steamed rice bread), fermented rice (sikhye, sweet rice beverage), and popped rice were prepared from the aflatoxin-contaminated rice. Aflatoxin content in the samples was determined by high performance liquid chromatography. The total aflatoxin level was decreased to 46.9% in the cooked rice, 85.6% in the rice cakes, 11.4% in the fermented rice, and 7.6% in the popped rice, respectively (p.0.05). This reduction brought the level of aflatoxins down to below the Standard and Specification of korea (10 ppb), except for the rice cakes. These results indicate that washing, steaming, fermentation, and popping of rice was helpful in reducing the aflatoxin level in the rice and the most helpful factors were high temperature & high pressure. More research is needed to understand why the preparation of rice cakes did not reduce the level of aflatoxin as much as the other cooking methods.

• Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.33-39
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• 2017

Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are key post-translational mechanisms which can regulate gene expression in gastric carcinogenesis. To identify miRNAs responsible for gastric carcinogenesis, we compared expression levels of miRNAs between gastric cancer tissue and non-cancerous gastric mucosa according to Helicobacter pylori status. Methods: Total RNA was extracted from the cancerous regions of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues of H. pylori-positive (n = 8) or H. pylori-negative (n = 8) patients with an intestinal type of gastric cancer. RNA expression was analyzed using a 3,523 miRNA profiling microarray based on the Sanger miRBase. Validation analysis was performed using TaqMan miRNA assays for biopsy samples from 107 patients consisted of control and gastric cancer with or without H. pylori. And then, expression levels of miRNAs were compared according to subgroups. Results: A total of 156 miRNAs in the aberrant miRNA profiles across the miRNA microarray showed differential expression (at least a 2-fold change, P < 0.05) in cancer tissue, compared to noncancerous mucosa in both of H. pylori-negative and -positive samples. After 10 promising miRNAs were selected, validations by TaqMan miRNA assays confirmed that two miRNAs (hsa-miR-135b-5p and hsa-miR-196a-5p) were significantly increased and one miRNA (hsa-miR-145-5p) decreased in cancer tissue compared to non-cancerous gastric mucosa at H. pylori-negative group. For H. pylori-positive group, three miRNAs (hsa-miR-18a-5p, hsa-miR-135b-5p, and hsa-miR-196a-5p) were increased in cancer tissue. hsa-miR-135b-5p and hsa-miR-196a-5p were increased in gastric cancer in both of H. pylori-negative and -positive. Conclusions: miRNA expression of the gastric cancer implies that different but partially common gastric cancer carcinogenic mechanisms might exist according to H. pylori status.

• Food Engineering Progress
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.211-215
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• 2009

Concentrations of benzo[$\alpha$]pyrene in edible oils from Korean market were evaluated by high performance liquid chromatography. Benzo[$\alpha$]pyrene known of the carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons(PAHs), has been found at variable concentrations in several foods. This is associated with several factors during the process including contaminated raw materials, exposure of environment, and procedure of process or cooking. The levels of benzo[$\alpha$]pyrene were ranged from 0.5 to 1.4 $\mu$g/kg in virgin olive oil. Benzo[$\alpha$]pyrene contents in refined and virgin olive oil, sesame oil, soybean oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, and processed oil were 0.6-1.0 $\mu$g/kg, 0.9-1.3 $\mu$g/kg, 0.6-3.3 $\mu$g/kg, 0.5-1.1 $\mu$g/kg, 1.2-1.7 $\mu$g/kg, 1.0-2.1 $\mu$g/kg, and 1.0-1.4 $\mu$g/kg, respectively.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.31 no.4 s.54
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• pp.311-321
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• 2005

Tea (Camellia sinenis) is a popular beverage consumed worldwide. Since green tea, mainly consumed in Asia, has various biological activities, green tea components became one of the most favorite candidates as a functional materials for cosmetics and functional foods. The biological activities of green tea for skin cue have been ranged from protection of epidermal cells to the stimulation of extracellular matrix (ECM) biosynthesis. Green tea polyphenols (GTPs), which are active ingredients of green tea, possess anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic and immune potentiation properties as well as antioxidant. They also modulate intracellular signal transduction pathways. GTPs decrease ultraviolet (UV)-induced oxidative stress, thus suppress mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway and apoptosis in keratinocytes. In addition, GTPs prevent the Induction of inflammatory mediators, such as cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), interleukin-8 (IL-8), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) by tumor necrosis factor alpha $(TNF{\alpha})$ or chemical treatment in keratinocytes. GTPs treatment protects from chemical-or UV-induced skin tumor incidence in animal experiment. Besides, GTPs stimulate keratinocyte differentiation and proliferation of normal and aged epidermal cells, resectively, and suppress matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) release. According to the progress of formulation study, green tea components will be guaranteed materials for the more effective skin cue products.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.466-471
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• 2019

1,4-dioxane and dichloromethane are classified as carcinogenic groups in the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). They are frequently released at high concentrations in an industrial wastewater effluent. The acute toxicity (24 h) of Daphnia magna for 7.53 mg/L of 1,4-dioxane in the industrial effluent was evaluated as 1.1 TU (toxic unit) and showed TU close to the effluent quality standard. Mixed substances of 1,4-dioxane and dichloromethane in the industrial effluent showed relatively high TU as compared to that of a single substance. Half maximal effective concentration (24 h $EC_{50}$) values of 1,4-dioxane and dichloromethane for the synthetic wastewater prepared in laboratory were 1,744 (0.06 TU) and 170 mg/L (0.6 TU), respectively and the toxicity was low. Nevertheless the toxicological evaluation of the mixture showed that TU values increased to 0.02, 0.04 and 0.10, respectively as 1, 5 and 10 ppm of dichloromethane was added to 100 ppm of 1,4-dioxane. And the synergistic effect was observed between two substances. But the TU value of synthetic wastewater was below 5%, lower than that of industrial effluent at the similar concentration.