• Proceedings of the Ginseng society Conference
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• 1978.09a
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• pp.149-157
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• 1978

Ginseng is the English common name for the species in the genus Panax. This article gives a broad botanical review including the morphological characteristics, ecological amplitude, and the ethnobotanical aspect of the genus Panax. The species of Panax are adapted for life in rich loose soil of partially shaded forest floor with the deciduous trees such as linden, oak, maple, ash, alder, birch, beech, hickory, etc. forming the canopy. Like their associated trees, all ginsengs are deciduous. They require annual climatic changes, plenty of water in summer, and a period of dormancy in winter. The plant body of ginseng consists of an underground rhizome and an aerial shoot. The rhizome has a terminal bud, prominent leafscars and a fleshy root in some species. It is perennial. The aerial shoot is herbaceous and annual. It consists of a single slender stem with a whorl of digitately compound leaves and a terminal umbel bearing fleshy red fruits after flowering. The yearly cycle of death and renascence of the aerial shoot is a natural phenomenon in ginseng. The species of Panax occur in eastern North America and eastern Asia, including the eastern portion of the Himalayan region. Such a bicentric generic distributional pattern indicates a close floristic relationship of the eastern sides of two great continental masses in the northern hemisphere. It is well documented that genera with this type of disjunct distribution are of great antiquity. Many of them have fossil remains in Tertiary deposits. In this respect, the species of Panax may be regarded as living fossils. The distribution of the species, and the center of morphological diversification are explained with maps and other illustrations. Chemical constituents confirm the conclusion derived from morphological characters that eastern Asia is the center of species concentration of Panax. In eastern North America two species occur between longitude $70^{\circ}-97^{\circ}$ Wand latitude $34^{\circ}-47^{\circ}$ N. In eastern Asia the range of the genus extends from longitude $85^{\circ}$ E in Nepal to $140^{\circ}$ E in Japan, and from latitude $22^{\circ}$ N in the hills of Tonkin of North Vietnam to $48^{\circ}$ N in eastern Siberia. The species in eastern North America all have fleshy roots, and many of the species in eastern Asia have creeping stolons with enlarged nodes or stout horizontal rhizomes as storage organs in place of fleshy roots. People living in close harmony with nature in the homeland of various species of Panax have used the stout rhizomes or the fleshy roots of different wild forms of ginseng for medicine since time immemorial. Those who live in the center morphological diversity are specific both in the application of names for the identification of species in their communication and in the use of different roots as remedies to relieve pain, to cure diseases, or to correct physiological disorders. Now, natural resources of wild plants with medicinal virtue are extremely limited. In order to meet the market demand, three species have been intensively cultivated in limited areas. These species are American ginseng (P. quinquefolius) in northeastern United States, ginseng (P. ginseng) in northeastern Asia, particularly in Korea, and Sanchi (P. wangianus) in southwestern China, especially in Yunnan. At present hybridization and selection for better quality, higher yield, and more effective chemical contents have not received due attention in ginseng culture. Proper steps in this direction should be taken immediately, so that our generation may create a richer legacy to hand down to the future. Meanwhile, all wild plants of all species in all lands should be declared as endangered taxa, and they should be protected from further uprooting so that a. fuller gene pool may be conserved for the. genus Panax.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.269-278
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• 2016

In searching for novel agents for skin anti-aging from natural resources, we found that the extract of the fruiting bodies of Ramaria formosa (R. formosa) had significant antioxidant and human neutrophil elastase (HNE) inhibitory activities. R. formosa extract exhibited a considerable DPPH radical scavenging activity with an antioxidant content of 117.0mg/mL (ascorbic acid equivalents) at the concentration of $500{\mu}g/mL$. The capacity of R. formosa extract to scavenge peroxy radicals measured by ORAC assay also showed dose-dependent antioxidant effect with $ORAC_{Roo}$ (trolox equivalents, $1{\mu}M$) values of 0.8, 5.2, and 7.8 at the concentrations of 1, 10, and $20{\mu}g/mL$. The cellular antioxidant capacity of R. formosa extract was investigated by assaying the cellular fluorescence intensity using dichlorodihydrofluorescein (DCF). The cellular oxidative stress induced by AAPH, $Cu^{2+}$ or $H_2O_2$ in HepG2 cells was significantly attenuated by more than 30% at $20{\mu}g/mL$ of R. formosa extract. HNE activity was reduced by treatment with R. formosa extract in a dose-dependent manner, and the $ED_{50}$ value for the ethanol extract of R. formosa was $42.9{\mu}g/mL$. R. formosa extract did not exhibited antimicrobial activity against four microorganisms including Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis), Escherichia coli (E. coli), Candida albicans (C. albicans), Aspergillus oryzae (A. oryzae). Furthermore, the extract did not affect the inflammatory cytokine production of interleukin-10 and interferon-${\gamma}$ in NK92 cells. From the above results, we found that R. formosa extract has considerable antioxidant and elastase inhibitory effects, and does not stimulate immune cells. These findings suggest that R. formosa extract may be used as a bioactive component in cosmetic composition.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.585-591
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• 2006

We measured the litterfall quantity and investigated the nutrient dynamics in decomposing litter for three years at the LTER sites installed in a deciduous broadleaf natural forest in Mt. Gyebangsan, South Korea. Litterfall production was significantly different among the sampling dates, whereas it was not significantly different among the years. The total annual mean litterfall production for three years was 6,593 kg $ha^{-1}$ $yr^{-1}$ and leaf litter accounted for 82.6% of the litterfall. The leaf litter quantity was highest in Quercus mongolia, followed by leaf of other species, Betula schmidtii, Kaplopanax pictus, Acer pseudo-sieboldianum, etc., which are dominant tree species in the site. The mass loss from the decomposition of leaf litter was fastest in Cortinus controversa (100%), followed by A. preudo-sieboldianum, K. pictus, and B. schmidtii. 100% of litter for C. controversa, 96.1% for A. pseudo-sieboldianum, 92.8% for K. pictus decomposed, while 66.2% of litter for Q. mongolia decayed for 1,003 days. The lower rate of the mass loss in the litter of Q. mongolia may be attributed to the difference in substrate quality, such as lower nutrient concentrations compared with those of other tree species. The concentrations of N, P, and Ca for five litter types increased over time, while the concentrations of K and Mg decreased over time. Compared with the nutrients in the litter of Q. mongolia, the nutrients (N, P, K, Ca, Mg) in the litter of other species, C. controversa, A. pseudo-sieboldianum, and K. pictus, were released more rapidly. The results showed that the mass loss and the nutrient dynamics in the litter are variable depending on the tree species even in the same site conditions.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.275-287
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• 2013

The Japanese anchovy Engraulis japonicus is a widespread species in the western North Pacific and major fishery resource. To understand the spatio-temporal variation of anchovy prey items in the coastal waters of southern Korea, the stomach contents of anchovy and the structure of the zooplankton community were analysed at three sites (Jindo, Yeosu and Tong-yeong) from July 2011 to February 2012. The main prey items in Yeosu and Jindo were cyprid stage of barnacle (>35%) and copepod Calanus sinicus (>22%) in July, respectively, while, predominant ones in Tongyeong were small copepods, Paracalanus parvus s.l. (41%) and Corycaeus affinis (22%). During this period, the dominant zooplankton were cladoceran Evadne tergestina (39%) in Yeosu, small copepod, P. parvus s.l. (28%) in Jindo and cladoceran E. tergestina (14%) in Tongyeong. The dominant prey items were barnacle larvae and copepods in summer, phytoplankton and Pseudodiaptomus marinus in autumn and P. parvus s.l. and cold water copepod, Centropages abdominalis in winter. Anchovy prefer the prey item C. sinicus (3%) over E. tergestina (39%), which was a dominant species in the catching site in summer. P. marinus (0.5%) and C. abdominalis (0.9%) were preferred over P. parvus s.l. (30%, 21%) in autumn and winter, respectively. Prey items varied with area and season in the coastal waters of southern Korea. These results suggest that the prey selectivity of anchovy showed high flexibility and adaptability in the study waters.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.464-471
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of superheated steam drying on physicochemical and microbial characteristics of Korean traditional actinidia (Actinidia arguta) leaves. Actinidia leaves were dried at steam temperature of $350^{\circ}C$ and oven temperature of $150^{\circ}C$ for 40-200 sec. Moisture content and water activity decreased with increasing the drying time, while color values including L, a, and b values and total color difference (${\Delta}E$) increased as drying time increased. The relationship between moisture content and water activity showed an exponential fit with high correlation vlaue ($R^2=0.9909$). Total phenolics and flavonoids content and antioxidant activity such as DPPH radical scavenging activity, ABTS radical scavenging activity, and FRAP assay of dried actinidia leaves increased with increasing the drying time up to 160 sec, but dramatically decreased at drying of 200 sec. The numbers of total areobic bacteria of leaves was not detected at drying time over 120 sec and coliform of all the samples was not detected. As a results, the superheated steam was an very effective drying method of increase to the nutritional and sanitary quality of dried Korean traditional actinidia leaves.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.472-482
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• 2017

To improve functionality and palatability of Korean Campbell Early wine. Campbell Early and aronia were fermented by either individually or at 5:5 (v/v) mixed culture of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Fermivin and Pichia anomala JK04. Blending was carried out using those two wines with different mixing ratio. Antioxidant activity analysis and sensory evaluation of blending wines were conducted. The Campbell Early wine and aronia wine blended with 9:1 (v/v) ratio showed excellent antioxidant activity and sensory scores. Total anthocyanin compound, DPPH radical scavenging activity and total phenolic compound of blending wines were higher than those of Campbell Early wine (control). Hue and intensity values increased in the order of A, B, C and D, E, F depending on P. anomala JK04 use. Anonia wine contributed the increase in a and b values of blending wine. Although blending wines fermented by P. anomala JK04 increased small amounts of aldehyde and acid compound, ester compound, the most important factor for wine aroma was also increased sharply. Adding aronia wine fermented by single culture of P. anomala JK04 (A, D) got higher color, taste, sourness and overall preference scores than other wines in the sensory evaluation. All of blending wines showed higher flavor scores than control did. This research shows a possibility of blending and utilizing non-Saccharomyces yeast for Korean wine industry.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.121-148
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• 2018

This paper examines the role of accounting conservatism on investment expenditure for non-financial Korean listed firms around the 2007-2008 global financial crisis using a differences-in-differences design. Specifically, this paper examines the association between an ex ante classification of firms by their level of accounting conservatism prior to the credit crisis and the ex post magnitude of the decline in investment. Consistent with prior literature, this study found that firms experienced a decline in their investment when hit by the financial crisis (Campello et al. 2010). And also this study found that firms with more conservative financial reporting experienced a smaller decline in investment activity following the financial crisis than did firms with less conservative financial reporting. Together, the results suggest that negative shocks to the supply of external finance hampers firm-level investment and that conservative financial reporting can lessen the sensitivity of firms' investment to such negative shocks. Next, this study shows that the magnitude of our findings is greater for firms more likely to suffer from underinvestment (as opposed to overinvestment). Firms that are financially constrained or have greater demand for external finance are more likely to experience underinvestment. Consistent with the predictions, this study finds stronger benefits of conservatism for firms that face relatively greater costs in raising external capital (i.e., financially constrained firms) or that have a relatively greater need to do so (i.e., firms that lack internal financial resources). This study also finds that the role for conservatism is greater in firms with a higher level of information asymmetry, consistent with the notion that conservatism mitigates financing frictions arising from information problems.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.354-361
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• 2019

The red pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is one of the most important vegetables in traditional Korean food, containing vitamins A, C, and E, polyphenol, and flavonoids. In addition, red peppers have high anti-oxidant ability and are known to be effective in preventing obesity, diabetes, hypertension, digestive disorders, stress, and aging. In this study, we investigated the effects against obesity and diabetes of both fermented and non-fermented red pepper. C57BL/6N mice with induced obesity from an eight-week 45% high fat diet (HFD) were then fed either an HFD or diets containing 2.5% non-fermented red pepper marc (NRM), 1.25% fermented red pepper marc (FRM), or 2.5% FRM for a further eight weeks. An oral glucose tolerance test was performed seven weeks after dietary intake, and body weight, liver, epididymal fat weight, serum insulin level, and HOMA-IR were measured and a lipid content test performed at eight weeks. The results show that the 2.5% FRM diet reduced body and tissue weight, lipid content, serum insulin levels, and HOMA-IR compared to the 2.5% NRM and HFD diets. These results suggest that fermented red pepper is effective against obesity and diabetes. We will use this information as the basic data for the development of health food materials using red pepper.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.99-110
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• 2022

We investigated physicochemical properties and isotopic compositions of organic matter (δ¹³C_TOC and δ ¹⁵N_TN) in the old fish farming (OFF) site after the cessation of aquaculture farming. Based on this approach, our objective is to determine the organic matter origin and their relative contributions preserved at sediments of fish farming. Temporal and spatial distribution of particulate and sinking organic matter(OFF sites: 2.0 to 3.3 mg L^-1 for particulate matter concentration, 18.8 to 246.6 g m^-2 day^-1 for sinking organic matter rate, control sites: 2.0 to 3.5 mg L^-1 for particulate matter concentration, 25.5 to 129.4 g m^-2 day^-1 for sinking organic matter rate) between both sites showed significant difference along seasonal precipitations. In contrast to variations of δ¹³C_TOC and δ¹⁵N_TN values at water columns, these isotopic compositions (OFF sites: -21.5‰ to -20.4‰ for δ¹³ C_TOC, 6.0‰ to 7.6‰ for δ¹⁵N_TN, control sites: -21.6‰ to -21.0‰ for δ¹³C_TOC, 6.6‰ to 8.0‰ for δ¹⁵N_TN) investigated at sediments have distinctive isotopic patterns(p<0.05) for seawater-derived nitrogen sources, indicating the increased input of aquaculture-derived sources (e.g., fish fecal). With respect to past fish farming activities, representative sources(e.g., fish fecal and algae) between both sites showed significant difference (p<0.05), confirming predominant contribution (55.9±4.6%) of fish fecal within OFF sites. Thus, our results may determine specific controlling factor for sustainable use of fish farming sites by estimating the discriminative contributions of organic matter between both sites.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.313-321
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• 2023

Platycodon grandiflorus (P. grandiflorus) flower is a perennial plant belonging to the family Campanulaceae and has many excellent pharmacological effects, so it has been used as a medicinal ingredient since ancient times. In addition, anthocyanin is a purple or blue natural pigment contained in plant flowers and fruits, and is known as a powerful antioxidant. The purpose of this study was to confirm the dermatological functionality of P. grandiflorus flower extract and the value of the bluish anthocyanin contained in flowers as a cosmetic material as a natural pigment. Firstly, 50% ethanol and 80% ethanol were added to the P. grandiflorus flower and extracted under reflux for 4 h at 25, 60, and 80 ℃, and the pH of each treatment group was similar. Based on the anthocyanin content and chromaticity (E^*ab), 50% ethanol 60 ℃ extraction conditions showing the color development most similar to the natural color of the P. grandifloras flower were selected, and a sample was prepared by concentrating and lyophilizing. The analysis results showed that the total phenol, total flavonoid, and total anthocyanin contents were in the ranges of 23 ㎍/mL, 16 ㎍/mL, and 0.17 ㎍/mL, respectively. The P. grandiflorus flower extract suppressed the production of nitric oxide (NO) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced RAW264.7 cells. Furthermore, the P. grandiflorus flower extract showed wound healing effects through the promotion of skin cell migration in TNF-α stimulated human keratinocytes. The stability of anthocyanin and extract color was studied during a storage period of 50 days at various temperatures (4 ℃, 25 ℃, and 45 ℃). Color values (L, a, and b) of the P. grandiflorus flower extract changed over 50 days, whereas the bluish-purple color of the extract was stabilized using 5% maltodextrin. These results suggest that P. grandiflorus flower extract may be useful as a natural cosmetic pigment.