• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.193-202
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• 2010

In vitro activities of Codonopsis lanceolata (CL) 70% ethanol extract and its fractions (hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, butanol and water) were examined by total polyphenol content, reducing power, 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate) (ABTS), 2,2-diphenyl-$\beta$-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assays. The ethyl acetate fraction from CL ethanol extract (CLEA) showed the highest total polyphenol content (22.7 mg/g) among five fractions, and also exhibited an excellent reducing power (0.42~1.27 at $250\sim1,000\;{\mu}g/mL$). CLEA at $100\sim400\;{\mu}g/mL$ concentrations had 27.7~70.3% of ABTS radical scavenging activity and the highest DPPH radical scavenging activity (81.6% at $400\;{\mu}g/mL$). CLEA had dominantly higher $ORAC_{{ROO}{\cdot}}$activity compared to other fractions. CLEA and butanol fraction had significantly higher $ORAC_{{OH}{\cdot}}$ activities than 70% ethanol extract, hexane, chloroform and water fractions. The CLEA exhibited the highest antioxidant activity in CL 70% ethanol extract and its fractions. Thus, effect of CLEA treatment on antioxidant gene expression under the oxidative stress conditions by a high fat diet in animal model was studied by microarray and RT-PCR methods. The 31 antioxidant genes were expressed but the genes were not up-regulated at least a two-fold by CLEA treatment. We concluded that CLEA does not have an indirect antioxidant effect but a direct antioxidant effect by up-regulation of antioxidant genes in high fat diet-induced obese mice.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.463-472
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• 2002

Bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) plays a major role in stimulating the synthesis and release of the principal osteoclast-activating cytokines, namely, interleukin 1 and tumor necrosis factor-$\alpha$ from immune cells. Although rnonocytes/macrophages are the main producers of these cytokines, recent evidence has indicated that polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) have the ability to release IL-1 and TNF-$\alpha$. Calcium hydroxide has been shown to be an effective medicament in root canal infections, reducing the microbial titre within the canal. It has been proposed that the therapeutic effect of Ca(OH)$_2$ may also be the result of direct inactivation of LPS. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether treatment of Porphyromonas endodontalis LPS with calcium hydroxide alters its biological action as measured by human PMN secretion of IL-1 and TNF-$\alpha$, and it was compared with Escherichia coli LPS. P. endodontalis ATCC 35406 was cultured in anaerobic condition, and LPS was extracted using the hot-phenol water extraction method and purified. Purchased E. coli LPS was also purified. 100 $\mu\textrm{g}$/ml of each LPS in pyrogen free water were incubated with 25mg/ml Ca(OH)$_2$ at 37$^{\circ}C$ for 7 days. The supernatants were subjected to ultrafiltration, and the isolates were lyophilized and weighed. PMNs were obtained from peripheral blood by centrifugation layered over Lymphoprep. The cells were resuspended (4$\times$10$^6$ cells/ml) in RPMI 1640 followed by treatment with various concentrations of LPS (0, 0.1, 1, 10$\mu\textrm{g}$/ml) for 24 hours at 37$^{\circ}C$ in 5% $CO_2$ incubator. The supernatants of cells were collected and the levels of IL-1$\alpha$, IL=1$\beta$ and TNF-$\alpha$ were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The results were as follows ; 1. The levels of IL-1$\alpha$, IL-1$\beta$, TNF-$\alpha$ from PMN treated with each LPS were significantly higher than those released from unstimulated PMN of the control group (p<0.05). 2. The levels of all three cytokines released from PMN stimulated with each calcium hydroxide treated LPS were significantly lower than those released from PMN stimulated with each untreated LPS (p<0.05), while they were not significantly different from those released from unstimulated PMN of the control group (p>0.05) 3. The levels of secretion for all three cytokines were affected in a dose-dependent manner in PMN stimulated with each LPS (p<0.05), but not in PMN stimulated with each calcium hydroxide treated LPS (p>0.05). 4. The levels of all three cytokines released from PMN stimulated with p. endodontalis LPS were significantly lower than those released from PMN stimulated with E coli LPS (p<0.05).

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.33 no.5_3
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• pp.855-866
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• 2017

Several research cases using remote sensing methods to analyze changes of storage and dynamics of groundwater aquifer were reviewed in this paper. The status of groundwater storage, in an area with regional scale, could be qualitatively inferred from geological feature, surface water altimetry and topography, distribution of vegetation, and difference between precipitation and evapotranspiration. These qualitative indicators could be measured by geological lineament analysis, airborne magnetic survey, DEM analysis, LAI and NDVI calculation, and surface energy balance modeling. It is certain that GRACE and InSAR have received remarkable attentions as direct utilization from satellite data for quantification of groundwater storage and dynamics. GRACE, composed of twin satellites having acceleration sensors, could detect global or regional microgravity changes and transform them into mass changes of water on surface and inside of the Earth. Numerous studies in terms of groundwater storage using GRACE sensor data were performed with several merits such that (1) there is no requirement of sensor data, (2) auxiliary data for quantification of groundwater can be entirely obtained from another satellite sensors, and (3) algorithms for processing measured data have continuously progressed from designated data management center. The limitations of GRACE for groundwater storage measurement could be defined as follows: (1) In an area with small scale, mass change quantification of groundwater might be inaccurate due to detection limit of the acceleration sensor, and (2) the results would be overestimated in case of combination between sensor and field survey data. InSAR can quantify the dynamic characteristics of aquifer by measuring vertical micro displacement, using linear proportional relation between groundwater head and vertical surface movement. However, InSAR data might now constrain their application to arid or semi-arid area whose land cover appear to be simple, and are hard to apply to the area with the anticipation of loss of coherence with surface. Development of GRACE and InSAR sensor data preprocessing algorithms optimized to topography, geology, and natural conditions of Korea should be prioritized to regionally quantify the mass change and dynamics of the groundwater resources of Korea.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.548-559
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• 1996

A series of performance measurements of positron emission tomography (PET) were performed following the recommendations of the Computer and Instrumentation Council of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association. We investigated the performance of the General Electric $Advance^{TM}$ PET. The measurements include the basic intrinsic tests of spatial resolution, scatter fraction, sensitivity, and count rate losses and randoms. They also include the tests of the accuracy of corrections: count rate linearity correction, uniformity correction, scatter correction and attenuation correction. GE $Advance^{TM}$ PET has bismuth germanate oxide crystals (4.0mm transaxial ${\times}$ 8.1mm axial ${\times}$ 30.0mm radial) in 18 rings, which form 35 imaging planes spaced by 4.25mm. The system has retractable tungsten septa 1mm thick and 12cm long. Transaxial resolution was 4.92mm FWHM in 2D and 5.14mm FWHM in 3D at the center. Average axial resolution in 2D decreased from 3.91mm FWHM at the center to 6.49mm FWHM at R=20cm. Average scatter fraction of direct and cross slices was 9.57%. Dead-time losses of 50% corresponded to a radioactivity concentration of $4.86{\mu}Ci/cc$ and a true count rate of 519 kcps in 2D. The accuracy of count rate linearity correction was 1.84% at the activity of $4.50{\mu}Ci/cc$. Non-uniformity was 2.06% in 2D and 2.93% in 3D. Remnant errors after scatter correction were 0.55% in 2D and 4.12% in 3D. The errors of attenuation correction were 6.21% (air), 0.20% (water), -6.32% (teflon) in 2D and 5.00% (air), 6.94% (water), 3.01% (teflon) in 3D. The results indicate the performance of GE $Advance^{TM}$ PET scanner to be well suited for clinical and research applications.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.303-310
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• 2007

Sweetpotato shoot tops (leaves, tips and petioles) are known to be very useful parts as vegetables because of their high nutritive values and great biomass yield. In this study, the phenolic compound contents, antibacterial activity, mutagenic activity, and antimutagenic activity were investigated in sweetpotato tips that were 10-15cm of shoot top including stems, petioles and tender leaves after sprout of storage roots. The study was done by extracting sweetpotato tips with 80% ethanol and the ethanol fraction was re-extracted with hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, butanol and water. In ethyl acetate and butanol fractions, total phenolic compounds contained 95. 6mg/g extract and 69.3 mg/g extract, respectively, The antibacterial activity was measured using the paper disk method with concentrations of 1, 2, 5 and 10 mg/disk of butanol and ethyl acetate fractions against L. monocytogenes and S. Typhimurium strains. Higher doses of solvent extracts showed the higher antibacterial activities. In addition, 5, 10 and 20 mg/mL of the extracts were tested to determine the antibacterial activity in liquid culture. The sweetpotato leaf extract by ethyl acetate showed 1 log reduction compared to control after 24 hrs on Listeria monocytogenes, but 20 mg/ml of butanol extract completely inhibited the growth of the pathogen after 12 hrs. The extracts from ethyl acetate or butanol on Salmonella Typhimurium did less than 1 log reduction during cultivation compared to control. The numbers of S. Typhimirium TA98 and TA100 revertant colonies were 29-33 and 159-188 CFU/plate, respectively, indicating that solvent extracts were no mutagenic activity. The antimutagenic test was performed by adding direct mutagen 2-NF and MMS, and butanol and ethyl acetate showed antimutagenic effect. Thus, this study showed that sweetpotato tips had high phenolic contents and both antimicrobiol and antimutagenic properties. Sweetpotato tips would be good nutritive source because of their high nutrient content without any toxicity in consuming.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.188-197
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• 2008

This research was a preliminary case study to determine the levels of total mercury in the tissues of sentinel species (Zacco platypus) and ecological health in relation to habitat characteristics and chemical conditions. We collected fishes in Gap Stream during June$\sim$October 2007 and analyzed the total mercury from five types of tissues such as liver, kidney, gill, vertebrae and muscle of Zaceo platypus using Direct Mercury Analyzer (DMA-80, US EPA Method 7473). Mean concentrations of total [Hg], based on all tissues, was 67.2 and $20.7\;{\mu}g\;kg^{-1}$, in the upstream and downstream site, respectively, indicating 3 times greater level in the upstream. In other words, the levels were higher in the pristine upstream than the downstream influenced by the wastewater disposal plant. Chemical water quality, based on BOD, COD and nutrients (TN, TP) showed that severe degradation occurred in the downstreams than the upstreams. Index of Biological Integrity (IBI) using fish multi-metric model averaged 32, indicating a "good$\sim$fair" condition and varied from 42 (excellent$\sim$good) at S2 to 22 (fair$\sim$poor) at S5 depending on the sites sampled. Qualitative Habitat Evaluation Index (QHEI) in the all sites averaged 142, which was judged as "good" habitat health, but showed a high variation (181 in Site 2 vs. 67 in Site 5). Overall data suggest that health conditions, based on IBI and QHEI, was better in the upstream sites but the mercury bioaccumulation levels in the fish tissues were opposite. We believe that measurements of various parameters are required for a diagnosis of integrative ecosystem health.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.571-577
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• 2010

Korean traditional medicinal herbs have been reported to possess antioxidant and anti-hyperglycemic activities. We tested the antioxidant and anti-hyperglycemic activities of 6 kinds of medicinal herbs: Angelica gigas N., Poria cocos, Mori radicis Cortex, Mori folium, Aralia elata Cortex, and Panax ginseng, prepared as hot water, ethanol, and sonication extracts. The antioxidant activities of the extracts were examined by performing total polyphenol, total flavonoid, and ${\alpha}$,${\alpha}$-diphenyl-${\beta}$-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assays. For M. folium, the ethanol extract showed the strongest effects in DPPH radical scavenging activity among the three extraction methods. In addition, sonication extracts of M. radicis Cortex and M. folium showed the highest inhibitory activities for ${\alpha}$-glucosidase among the different extracts. The ethanol extracts of M. folium had the highest inhibition effects against ${\alpha}$-amylase. A direct correlation between antioxidant and anti-hyperglycemic inhibition activity was found in the ethanol and sonication extracts. From the results, it is considered that these six medicinal herbal extracts have antioxidative, anti-hyperglycemic, and correlation effects based on different extraction methods.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.333-338
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• 2004

Antioxidant activities of water extracts of 20 medicinal plants (1 mg/mL) on peroxidation of linolic acid were evaluated by thiocyanate method, among which 11 showed strong antioxidant activity (> 70%). Higher hydroxy radical scavenging activity (> 60%) were shown in Corner officinalis, Acanthopanax sessiliflorus, and Epimedium koreanum than the other plants. Epimedium koreanum than the other plants extract showed highest superoxide radical scavenging activity (42%). Total polyphenol contents ranged from $2.6\;(Polygonatum\;odoratum){\sim}81.2(Epimedium\;koreanum)\;mg/g$. Direct correlation between the antioxidant activity and polyphenol content (r=0.8) was established through simple regression analysis. $IC_{50}$ for selected four plant extracts, showing highest polyphenol contents and antioxidant activities, were significantly higher than positive control. Total antioxidant activity of vitamin c was significantly lower than those of Acanthopanax sessiliflorus, Epimedium koreanum, and Erythrina variegata. Superoxide radical scavenging activity of Acanthopanax sessiliflorus was similar to BHA. Results suggest water extracts of some medicinal plants could be potential candidates for natural antioxidants.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.6-14
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• 1980

One of the physiological disease, sudden wiliting of Yushin variety suggested that low sunlight, excessive nitrogen application, and highly reduced soil condions either singly or combined, might be possible causes of the disorder. Some visual symptom of sudden wilting are discoloration of leaves, development of nodal roots above the soil surface, total root rot, and lodging. Those observations led to the hypothesis that suffocation of root tissues was a direct cause of the wilting. The oxygen transport characteristics of Yushin, IR262 and Tongil were examined by two methods. First, Soil-cultured plants of the three varieties were subjected to paraffin treatment to decrease the oxygen supply from the air to root tissues through the soil-water system, liquid paraffin was applied to the water surface in the pots at panicle formation stage. In this experiment, sudden wilting was observed of Yushin and IR262 at about a week after the treatment, but Tongil remained green and healthy. Wilting-resistant variety Tongil had higher oxygen release, whereas the susceptible Yushin and IR262 had lower oxygen release. Second, the number and size of the air spaces in each internode were investigated in the 5th internode from the top, all three varieties have a similar number of air spaces, although the air spaces of Thongil were larger. In the 4th internode, Tongil had plenty air spaces, Yushin and one of the Yushin's parents IR262 had scanty or none. The observations indicated that the ability of Yushin and IR262 for oxygen transport is very limited compared with that of Tongil. The limited oxygen supply due to poor development of air space in internode of rice plants may cause suffocation of root tissues, weaken metabolic activity of the tissues, and induce root rot, subsequently inducing sudden wilting and lodging under unfavorable weather, soil and cultural conditions.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.253-258
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• 2006

An empirical model of nitrous oxide emission from agricultural soil has been applied. It is based on the relationship between $N_2O$ and three soil parameters, soil mineral N(ammonium plus nitrate) content in the topsoil(0-15cm), soil water-field pore space, and soil temperature, determined in a study on clay loam and sandy loam at the pepper field in 2004. For comparisons between estimated and observed values of $N_2O$ emissions in the pepper field, it was investigated that $N_2O$ amount in the clay loam and sandy loam were overestimated as 12.2% and less estimated as 30%, respectively. However, $N_2O$ emissions were overestimated as 27.1% in the clay loam and 14.7% in the sandy loam from $N_2O$ gas samples collected once a week at the same time analyzing soil parameters. This modelling approach, based as it is well established and widely used soil measurements, has the potential to provide flux estimates from a much wider range of agricultural sites than would be possible by direct measurement of $N_2O$ emissions.