• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.457-466
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• 2005

Industrial plasticizers such as phthalates can induce peroxisome proliferation. A growing concern among environmental and health groups has arisen because phthalates such as di-2-ethy1hexy1 phthalate (DEHP) and DBP may cause hormonal disorders, reproductive toxicity, hepatocellular tumors, genital disorders owing to a capacity to bind estrogen receptors, and a low-dose toxic action during certain periods of fetal development. Phthalate esters are used extensively as a plasticizer for plastic manufacture such as PVC bags and medical devices. This study investigated the effects of leached components from spring water container's cap and seal film. Phthalates, e.g. dimethy1 phthalate (DMP), diethy1 phthalate (DEP), di-n-buty1 phthalate (DBP), benzy1buty1 phthalate (BBP), di-(2-ethy1hexy1) phthalate (DEHP), and bisphenol A (BPA) were measured in the spring water. The bisphenol A was not detected or below the detection limit on the leaching from cap, sealing or spring water. DEHP were detected 90-116 ppb on the leaching from seal after 2 weeks, and 0.48-0.51 ppb from the spring water after I week. BBP were measured from seal within 1 week 25.4-66 ppb and below 0.12 ppb from spring water within 2 days. DMP were detected from seal within 2 weeks 51-68.5 ppb and 0.12 ppb after 2 weeks. DEP were measured from seal within 2 weeks 48.1-141 ppb and the concentrations were increased by the time from 0.10 to 0.31 ppb at spring water. DBP were detected from the seal within 2 weeks 92.3-5100 ppb and the concentration were decreased by the time from 0.24 to 0.10 ppb at spring water. These results indicate that some phthalate esters contaminated with spring water using the intact cap and seal film. It is concluded that the measured levels of phthalates leaching from these materials might in vivo only be slightly less than 1/10 of the LOAEL.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.106 no.2
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• pp.111-120
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• 2017

The best source of information on the conservation status of species at a global scale is the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Until now, 236 vascular plants from Korean peninsula have been evaluated using the IUCN red list categories and criteria. It indicated that five taxa were considered as critically endangered, 20 as endangered and nine as vulnerable species as a threatened status. On the other hand, the rest (189 taxa) were assessed as a least concern, which did not qualify for threatened species categories. Korea Ministry of Environment published a revised version of 57 species list by re-classifying endangered species with idiosyncratic qualitative criteria for two levels (I and II) followed by status reviews in 2011. However, two thirds species proposed by Ministry of Environment do not qualify as threatened. The major difficulties found in applying IUCN Red List criteria at the global scale was a lack of knowledge on the status of species at broader geographic scales and the perceived difficulty the causes. The lack of consistency between two lists constrains the prioritization of species-based conservation work at the national level. Due to a lack of centralized monitoring data for most species, this status is largely qualitatively and so it carries a high level of uncertainty. This is reflected in the high number of species with an unknown population trend. The current list of endangered species of flora and fauna by the Ministry of Environment should be recognized as the national list (local and population extinction), which is different from the IUCN Red list due to the different geographical contexts. Also, it is necessary to improve the quality of evaluation and conservation management system rather than presenting massive number of endangered species list.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.3437-3445
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• 2016

Background: There is an increasing concern in the role of microRNA (miRNA) in the pathogenesis of bone metastasis (BM) secondary to prostate cancer (CaP). In this exploratory study, we hypothesized that the expression of vinculin (VCL) and chemokine X3C ligand 1 (CX3CL1) might be down-regulated in clinical samples, most likely due to the post-transcriptional modification by microRNAs. Targeted genes would be up-regulated upon transfection of the bone metastatic prostate cancer cell line, PC3, with specific microRNA inhibitors. Materials and Methods: MicroRNA software predicted that miR-21 targets VCL while miR-29a targets CX3CL1. Twenty benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and 16 high grade CaP formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) specimens were analysed. From the bone scan results, high grade CaP samples were further classified into CaP with no BM and CaP with BM. Transient transfection with respective microRNA inhibitors was done in both RWPE-1 (normal) and PC3 cell lines. QPCR was performed in all FFPE samples and transfected cell lines to measure VCL and CX3CL1 levels. Results: QPCR confirmed that VCL messenger RNA (mRNA) was significantly down-regulated while CX3CL1 was up-regulated in all FFPE specimens. Transient transfection with microRNA inhibitors in PC3 cells followed by qPCR of the targeted genes showed that VCL mRNA was significantly upregulated while CX3CL1 mRNA was significantly down-regulated compared to the RWPE-1 case. Conclusions: The down-regulation of VCL in FFPE specimens is most likely regulated by miR-21 based on the in vitro evidence but the exact mechanism of how miR-21 can regulate VCL is unclear. Up-regulated in CaP, CX3CL1 was found not regulated by miR-29a. More microRNA screening is required to understand the regulation of this chemokine in CaP with bone metastasis. Understanding miRNA-mRNA interactions may provide additional knowledge for individualized study of cancers.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.988-1003
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• 2013

This research was conducted to investigate the perception of pre-service early childhood teachers regarding the importance of the rights of young children and necessity of the education of the rights. The survey covered 525 students attending six three-year-course colleges in Seoul, Gyeonggi-do, Chungcheong-do, Chonra-do, Gyeongsang-do, and Jeju-do, Korea. They were in their freshmen, sophomore, and junior year majoring in early childhood education. Firstly, the research found that pre-service early childhood teachers' awareness towards the importance children's rights was relatively high. The higher grade they were, the better perception for the importance of the rights of young children they had. Additionally, the teachers who were registered for courses related to the rights of young children understood the importance of children's rights especially well. Secondly, pre-service early childhood teachers highly recognized the necessity of education for the rights of young children. Compared to the freshmen and sophomores, the juniors had higher awareness levels about the necessity of early childhood education rights. On the other hand, being in a related course or not made no difference in their perception for the necessity of early childhood education rights. Lastly, pre-service childhood teachers had greater concern for the necessity of education rights rather than the importance of the rights of young children.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.16-24
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• 1976

To determine patterns of preference for and consumption of milk and milk products in Seoul city, a study was conducted of 724 girls and 587 boys ranging in age from elementary school to collage level, from July to August, 1974. Findings are summarized as follows: In general, milk and milk products were liked by both children and adults. A contrasting low tendency to purchase such products was due to socioeconomics, habitual, and educational factors, as well as a lack of adequate nutritional information, especially with regard to milk. Knowledge of the value of milk as a source of calcium was lacking, especially among boys. The majority of homemakers understood that milk was nutritious, but not specifically as the best source of calcium for their families. Milk, especially in beverage form, was commonly regarded as food for the infant and small child. Grandparents would not drink it. Such a beliefe is similar to that found in under-developed or developing nations. The need for nutrition education must be emphasized. Milk and milk products are expensive foods, particularly for the low income family; but even in higher income levels, consumption was limited. Milk was consumed mostly by the younger family members, less by the older. Among the children, preference, knowledge, and concern with the nutritional value of milk increased with age of subjects. It is presumed that awareness improved with increasing length of school education. Greater frequency of milk intolerance was found with decreasing age of respondents: about 10 percent had some form of milk intolerance. This percentage will be found to be much higher in villages where milk is less familiar. This study indicated that respondents liked ice cream best of all the milk products. For beverage, they preferred cider and cola in summer, coffee and milk in winter. Smaller families consumed more milk than larger families. Household consumption of condensed milk was very low, mostly as coffeemate. Among households interviewed, as many had regular as irregular delivery of dairy milk. Average consumption ranged 0.5 to 1.5 Hop. Engel indices of these families ranged 20 to 60. Use of milk at home was very simple. Not many methods of preparation were found. The milk was used mostly as beverage. In order to improve the nutritional level of Korean children and adults who especially need additional calcium, milk and milk products are recommended as the best source of calcium. Nutrition education of children and their parents should receive greater emphasis.

• Korean Parent-Child Health Journal
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.35-55
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• 2001

Recently attention has been focused on the effects of early intervention, or its lack, on both normal and preterm infants. Particularly numerous studies suggest that premature infants are not necessarily understimulated but instead are subjected to inappropriate stimulation. Developmental support and sensory stimulation have become clinical opportunities in which nursing practice can impact on the neurobehavioral outcome of premature infants. Developmental care has been widely accepted and implemented in neonatal intensive care units across the country. Increasingly, attention and concern in caring for low-birth-weight infants and premature infants has led clinicians in the field to explore the effects of a complex of interventions designed to create and maintain a developmentally supportive environment; to provide age-appropriate sensory input; and to protect the infant from inappropriate, excessive and stressful stimulation. The components of developmental care include modifications of the macro-environment to reduce NICU light and sound levels, care clustering, nonnutritive sucking, and containment strategies, such as flexed positioning or swaddling. Sensory stimulation of the premature infants is presented to standardize the modification of a developmental intervention based on physiologic and behavioral cues. The most appropriate type of stimuli are those that are sensitive to infant cues. Evaluation of infant physiological and behavioral responds to specific intervention stimuli may help to identify more appropriate interventions based on infants' cues. A critical question confronting the clinician is that of determining when the evidence supporting a change in practice is sufficient to justify making that change. There are acknowledged limitations in the current studies. Many of the studies examined had small sample sizes; used nonprobability sampling; and used a phase lag design, which introduces the possibility of threats to internal validity and limits the generalizability of the results. Although many issues regarding the effects of developmental interventions remain unresolved, the available research base documents significant benefits of developmental care for LBW infants in consistent outcomes, without significant adverse effects. Particularly, although the individual studies vary somewhat in the definition of specific outcomes measured, instrumentation used, time and method of data collection, and preparaion of the care providers, in all studies, infants receiving the full protocol of individualized developmentally supportive care had improvements in some aspect of four areas of infant functioning: level of respiratory or oxygen support, the establishment of oral feeding; length of hospital stay, and infant behavioral regulation. In summary, based on the available literature, individualized developmental intervention should be incorporated into standard practice in neonatal intensive care. And this implementation needs to be coupled with ongoing research to evaluate the impact of an individualized developmental care programs on the short- and long-tenn health outcomes of LBW infants.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.233-240
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• 2016

Purpose: Diabetic complications are a major concern to manage progression of diabetes. Production of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) due to high blood glucose is one of the mechanisms leading to diabetic complications. Multiple pharmacologic AGE inhibitory agents are currently under development, but clinical applications are still limited due to safety issues. Thus, it is necessary to identify a safe anti-glycation agent. It is known that burdock roots have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer activities. The objective of the present study was to investigate the inhibitory role of burdock roots on the formation of high glucose-induced glycation of bovine serum albumin (BSA). Methods: In this study, glycation of BSA by glucose, galactose, or fructose at $37^{\circ}C$ for 3 weeks was assessed based on levels of ${\alpha}$-dicarbonyl compounds (early-stage glycation products), fructosamine (intermediate products of glycation), and fluorescent AGEs (late-stage glycation products). In order to compare the inhibitory actions of burdock root extract in AGE formation, aminoguanidine (AG), a pharmacological AGE inhibitor, was used as a positive control. Results: BSA glycation by glucose, fructose, and galatose was dose- and time-dependently produced. Burdock root extract at a concentration of 4 mg/mL almost completely inhibited glucose-induced BSA glycation. The results demonstrate that burdock root extract inhibited AGE formation with an $IC_{50}$ value of 1.534 mg/mL, and inhibitory activity was found to be more effective than the standard anti-glycation agent aminoguanidine. This study identified a novel function of burdock root as a potential anti-glycation agent. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that burdock root could be beneficial for preventing diabetic complications.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.989-998
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• 2014

Recently volcanic eruptions and activities occurring in many parts of world have become a common global concern to many countries. The severity of these Volcanic disasters, such as of Mt. Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland and Mt. Merapi in Indonesia, have caused damages and causalities reaching astronomical levels. The infrastructure is categorized into 18sections that appropriately reflecting the survey data collected from various government agents, current inhabitant and engineers to accumulate a database on the priorities and preferences of restoring and reconstructing many kinds of infrastructure and facilities. The survey data was collect by using the "Likert 5 Scale Method" which emphasized the importance and priority of reconstruction and restoration for the specific facilities and infrastructures. The data was corrugated, organized and used in plotting and planning a strategic recovery agenda. The survey results were analyzed and verified to ensure the validity and reliability of the data by using chi-square test. This paper presents that recovery period and recovery cost to the total damage of infrastructure and facilities were used to make a recovery network with implemented construction management method. The research is expected that a more efficient and prompt recovery protocol and recovery plan can be executed and can be use as a reference and database.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.55-61
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• 2016

BACKGROUND: This study was carried out to survey the levels of heavy metals in perennial root vegetables and to assess dietary exposure and risk to the Korean population health.METHODS AND RESULTS: Perennial root vegetables (n=214) including Panax ginseng C.A mayer, Woodcultivated ginseng, Codonopsis lanceolata, and Platycodon granditloum were collected from markets or harvested from farmhouse in Korea. Lead(Pb), cadmium(Cd) and arsenic (As) analysis were performed with microwave device and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer. Limit of detection for heavy metals were 0.010~0.050 μg/kg, while limit of quantitation were 0.035~0.175 μg/kg. The recovery results were in the range of 76~102%. The average contents of heavy metals in perennial root vegetables were in the range of Pb 0.013(Panax ginseng C.A Mayer)~0.070 (Wood-cultivated ginseng) mg/kg, Cd 0.009(Panax ginseng C.A Mayer)~0.034(Codonopsis lanceolata) mg/kg, and As 0.002(Panax ginseng C.A Mayer)~0.004(Plafycodon grandiflorum) mg/kg, respectively. For risk assessment, daily intakes of heave metals were estimated and risk indices were calculated in comparison with reference dose. The dietary exposures of heavy metals through usual intake were Pb 0.070 μg/day, Cd 0.041 μg/day and As 0.008 μg/day, taking 0.03%, 0.08% and 0.0003% as risk indices, respectively.CONCLUSION: The risk level for Korean population exposed to heavy metals through intake of perennial root vegetables was far low, indicating of little possibility of concern.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.241-246
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• 2016

BACKGROUND: Recently, the widespread distribution of pesticides in the hive has been of concern about pesticide exposure on honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) health. Larval toxicity was adapted to assess the synergistic and antagonistic interaction of cumulative mortality to the honeybee larvae of the four most common pesticides detected in pollen. METHODS AND RESULTS: Acetamiprid($3.0{\mu}l/L$), chlorothalonil ($803.0{\mu}l/L$), coumaphos ($128.0{\mu}l/L$), and tau-fluvalinate ($123.0{\mu}l/L$) were tested in combination; binary, ternary and four component mixture. Larvae were exposed to four pesticides mixed in diet at the average levels detected in pollen. As a result, synthetic toxicity was observed in the binary mixture of acetamiprid with coumaphos. The binary and ternary component mixtures of tested pesticides have mostly demonstrated additive effect in larval bees. The significant antagonistic effects were found in four parings of mixtures including chlorothalonil added to acetamiprid/tau-fluvalinate or acetamiprid/coumaphos/tau-fluvalinate, and tau-fluvalinate added to acetamiprid/chlorothalonil or acetamiprid/coumaphos/chlorothalonil. CONCLUSION: Interactions between combinations of four pesticides showed mostly additive or antagonistic effects in larval bees. Therefore, predicting the larval mortality of pesticides mixtures on the basis of the results of single pesticide may actually overestimate the risk. We suggest that pesticide mixture in pollen be evaluated by adding their toxicity together for complete data on interactions.