• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.49 no.8
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• pp.889-894
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• 2006

Purpose : Asthma is characterized by the presence of airway hyperresponsiveness(AHR) and inflammation. The extensive eosinophil infiltration into the lung is the hallmark of asthma and contributes to the damage of respiratory epithelium during late phase airway responses. Eotaxin is the major eosinophil chemoattractant found in bronchoalveolar lavage(BAL) fluid of allergic inflammation. IL-13 has been known to induce the expression of exotaxin and eosinophilia. IL-13 also induces airway inflammation, mucus production and leads to marked fibrosis, airway remodeling and AHR. We investigated whether serum IL-13 levels can reflect the presence of airway hyperresponsiveness in children with asthma, and the relationship between serum IL-13 and eotaxin levels. Methods : Using sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, the serum IL-13 and eotaxin levels were measured in 13 atopic asthmatics, 5 atopic non-asthmatics and 12 control subjects. Metacholine challenge tests were performed in all subjects. Airway hyperresponsiveness to metacholine was expressed as provocative concentration of metacholine causing a 20% fall in FEV1[$PC_{20}mg/mL$]. $PC_{20}$ value of 25 mg/mL was used as a cut-off for defining a AHR. Results : Serum IL-13 levels showed positive correlation with eotaxin levels. Serum IL-13 and eotaxin levels showed no differences among atopic asthmatics, atopic non-asthmatics and control subjects. And there were no differences serum IL-13 and eotaxin levels in children with and without AHR and atopy. Serum IL-13 and eotaxin levels did not correlate with $logPC_{20}$ levels. Conclusion : IL-13 is closely related to the eotaxin release. But serum IL-13 and eotaxin per se can't predict the severity of airway hyperresponsiveness. IL-13 and eotaxin may have local effect on respiratory epithelium or there can be some factors to induce airway hyperresponsiveness other than serum IL-13 in asthmatic airways.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.105-113
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• 2006

Reactive oxygen species(ROS) generated in cellular metabolism have an effect on cell maturation and development. In human reproductive tract, oxidative injury by ROS may induce female infertility. Also, oxidative injury may be responsible for developmental retardation and arrest of mammalian preimplantation embryos. Activating transcription factor 4(ATF4) is a member of the cyclic-AMP response element-binding(CREB) familiy of basic region- leucine zipper(bZip). ATF4 is known to regulate stress response to protect cell from various stress factors and inducer of apoptisis. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether ATF4 is involved in the defensive mechanism in oxidative stress condition during the development of mouse preimplantation embryos. To verify the expression of ATF4 in oxidative stress condition, 2-cell stage embryos were cultured in HTF media containing 0.1mM, 0.5mM or 1mM hydrogen peroxide($H_2O_2$) for 1hr(2-cell), 8hr(4-cell), 17hr(8-cell), 24hr(morula), 48hr(early blastocyst) or 64hr(late blastocyst). The developmental rate decreased in the 0.1mM $H_2O_2$ treated group compared with control group. In embryos treated with 0.5mM and 1mM $H_2O_2$ showed 2-cell block. As a results of the semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis of SOD1, ATF4 and Bax gene expression, SOD1, ATF4 and Bax genes were increased in 0.1mM, 0.5mM, 1mM $H_2O_2$ treated groups compared with control group. In 2-cell embryos, expression of SOD1, ATF4 and Bax genes were notably increased in 0.1mM, 0.5mM, 1mM $H_2O_2$ treated groups compared with control group. Immunofluorescence analysis showed that ATF4 protein was localized at the cytoplasm of preimplantation embryos. The increase in ATF4 immunoreactivety was observed in the 0.1mM, 0.5mM, 1mM $H_2O_2$ treated groups compared with control group. It suggests that oxidative stress by $H_2O_2$ induces expression of ATF4 and may be involved in protection mechanism in preimplantation embryos from oxidative injury.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.68-87
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• 1993

Data acquisition system and computer program developed in this study could be well used in engine vibration analysis. The system and program developed were also operated to be able to control measuring interval, number of channels, number of data. The flywheel was specially studied to provide the proper weight with rubber damper for the engine design at low level of vibration. This study was conducted to obtain basic data which affect the engine vibration. The experiment of this study was performed on original weight flywheel, weight-reduced flywheel, weight-reduced and rubber-coated flywheel, weight-reduced and damper-attached flywheel. Avarage of peak value, maximum vibration, power spectrum density based on FFT analysis are major factors of this experiment. Results were obtained as follows : 1. When rubber was inserted in the flywheel rim of which weight was reduced from 32.2kgf to 24.4kgf, maximum vibration of the engine was decreased 48.3% at X axis, 35.5% at Y axis and 34.6% at Z axis in comparison with the flywheel of original weight. 2. When the flywheel of rubber damper was compared with the original flywheel, the average of absolute vibration for rubber damped flywheel was decreased at X, Y, Z axis and especially its decreasing rate was so high at X-axis comparing with the other flywheel, which implied that rubber damper was very useful to reducing the vibration of the engine at X axis. 3. Hysteresis losses of X, Y, Z axis were greatly decreased in the flywheel with rubber damper on rim. 4. Damped oscillation effect on X and Y axis vibration above average peak vibration by the flywheel of rubber damper on rim was larger than those by the other flywheels. 5. Power spectrums of vibration at real and imaginery part were bi-mode type. The vibration frequency of rubber dampered flywheel which weight is decreased was slightly increased as compared with original flywheel.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.57-65
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• 1997

As jet lag of modern travel continues to spread, there has been an exponential growth in popular explanations of jet lag and recommendations for curing it. Some of this attention are misdirected, and many of those suggested solutions are misinformed. The author reviewed the basic science of jet lag and its practical outcome. The jet lag symptoms stemed from several factors, including high-altitude flying, lag effect, and sleep loss before departure and on the aircraft, especially during night flight. Jet lag has three major components; including external de synchronization, internal desynchronization, and sleep loss. Although external de synchronization is the major culprit, it is not at all uncommon for travelers to experience difficulty falling asleep or remaining asleep because of gastrointestinal distress, uncooperative bladders, or nagging headaches. Such unwanted intrusions most likely to reflect the general influence of internal desynchronization. From the free-running subjects, the data has revealed that sleep tendency, sleepiness, the spontaneous duration of sleep, and REM sleep propensity, each varied markedly with the endogenous circadian phase of the temperature cycle, despite the facts that the average period of the sleep-wake cycle is different from that of the temperature cycle under these conditions. However, whereas the first ocurrence of slow wave sleep is usually associated with a fall in temperature, the amount of SWS is determined primarily by the length of prior wakefulness and not by circadian phase. Another factor to be considered for flight in either direction is the amount of prior sleep loss or time awake. An increase in sleep loss or time awake would be expected to reduce initial sleep latency and enhance the amount of SWS. By combining what we now know about the circadian characteristics of sleep and homeostatic process, many of the diverse findings about sleep after transmeridian flight can be explained. The severity of jet lag is directly related to two major variables that determine the reaction of the circadian system to any transmeridian flight, eg., the direction of flight, and the number of time zones crossed. Remaining factor is individual differences in resynchmization. After a long flight, the circadian timing system and homeostatic process can combine with each other to produce a considerable reduction in well-being. The author suggested that by being exposed to local zeit-gebers and by being awake sufficient to get sleep until the night, sleep improves rapidly with resynchronization following time zone change.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.31 no.1 s.49
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• pp.43-49
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• 2005

Recently, according as people who have sensitive skin increase, we've been giving more importance to the safety of cosmetics. Especially, preservative is known to be one of the main stimuli which cause side-effects of cosmetics. However, there have been few reports describing cell cytotoxicity, skin penetration, oil-aqueous phase partition, anti-microbial activity of preservatives and their correlation with skin irritation. The study is aimed to develop low irritable preservative system with phenoxyethanol, one of the most commonly used preservatives in cosmetics, considering various factors mentioned above. According to our results of cell cytotoxicity against human normal fibroblasts by means of MTT assay, phenoxyethanol showed the lowest cytotoxicity when compared to other preservatives tested (cytotoxicity: pro-pylparaben > butylparaben > ethylparaben > methylparaben > triclosan > phenoxyethanol), but human patch test for assessing shin primary irritation revealed that phenoxyethanol has higher skin irritation than methylparaben and triclosan. We performed in vitro skin penetration test using horizontal Franz diffusion cells with skin membrane prepared from hairless mouse (5 ${\~}$ 8 weeks, male) to evaluate the rate of skin penetration of preservatives. From the results, we found that the higher irritable property of phenoxyethanol in human skin correlates with its predominant permeability (skin penetration: phenoxyethanol > methylparaben > ethylparaben > propylparaben > butylfaraben > triclosan). Therefore, we made an effort to reduce skin permeability of phenoxyethanol and found that not only the rate of skin penetration of phenoxyethanol but also its skin irritation is dramatically reduced in formulas containing oils with low polarity. In the experiments to investigate the effect of oil polarity on the oil-aqueous phase partition of phenoxyethanol, more than $70\%$ of phenoxyethanol was partitioned in aqueous phase in formulas containing oils with low polarity, while about $70 {\~} 90\%$ of phenoxyethanol was partitioned in oil phase in formulas containing oils with high polarity. Also, in aqueous phase phenoxyethanol showed greater anti-microbial activity. Conclusively, it appears that we can develop less toxic preservative system with reduced use dosage of phenox-yethanol and its skin penetration by changing oil composition in formulas.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.515-529
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• 2020

Constructed wetlands undergo biological and physical changes such as an increase in the proportion of arid plants due to the natural succession process after formation. It can adversely affect not only the purification function but also the habitat of species. As such, this study aims to identify environmental factors affecting biodiversity and propose management plans based on the monitoring results of physical environmental changes and the emergence of species in seven constructed wetlands selected based on the water depth and surrounding conditions among the lands purchased by the Nakdong River basin. We examined the environmental conditions and emergence of the Odonata, which is a wetland-dependent species, to predict the trend of changes in biodiversity and abundance. The results showed that the open water area decreased as the emergent plants spread to the deep water in 2015 compared to 2012 when they were initially restored to a depth of 0.2 to 1 m. While a total of 54 dragonfly species were observed, the habitat diversity, such as vegetation, water surface, and grassland, remained similar to the initial formation of the wetlands despite the expansion of the emergent plants. On the other hand, the number of Agrionidae species, which prefer areas with fewer aquatic plants, decreased between 2012 and 2015 due to the diminished water surface. The p-values of the differences in the number of species and population between wetlands by year were 2.568e-09 and 1.162e-08, respectively, indicating the statistically significant differences. The decrease in open water surface was found to have the greatest effect on the biodiversity and habitat density of dragonflies. The time-series survey of constructed wetlands confirmed that the spread of Phragmites communis, P. japonica, Typha orientalis, etc., caused a decrease in species diversity. It suggests that environmental management to maintain the open water surface area is necessary.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.447-454
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• 2022

In this study, we confirmed the effect of HK shiitake mushroom mycelium (HKSMM) on immune enhancement in Balb/c mice. Experimental animals were divided into five groups: negative control (NC), positive control (PC; 1,000 mg/100 g; AHCC), T1 (500 mg/100 g; HKSMM), T2 (1,000 mg/100 g; HKSMM), and T3 (2,000 mg/100 g; HKSMM), and dissection was performed at four and six weeks. COX-2 and iNOS concentrations were significantly lower in the six-week experimental group than in the control group, and the NO results were also similar. Results of the confirmation of the factors related to the NF-κB (p-p65 and p-IκBα) and MAPK (pERK, pJNK, and p38) signaling pathways revealed that the HKSMM-fed experimental group significantly decreased compared with the control group. A comparative analysis of the number and size of white pulp in the spleen tissue showed that those of the experimental group were significantly higher than those of the control group in a concentration-dependent manner. These results suggest that HKSMM has both immune-enhancing and anti-inflammatory effects in Balb/c mice, indicating that it can be used as a health functional food ingredient.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.179-196
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• 2015

Because of our aging population, there is increasing concern about the impact of dementia and age-related cognitive decline. Intense research efforts on effective dietary interventions for the prevention or amelioration of dementia and age-related cognitive decline have indicated that dairy products affect physiological health and potentially healthy brain function during aging. Milk is a rich source of proteins and peptides with nutritional and immunotropic activities. The preparation of biologically active proteins and peptides generally requires enzymatic degradation, chemical modification, or the addition of specific co-factors. Milk-derived preparations are widely available in the food industry in the form of hygiene products and infant formulas. However, milk-derived products could also be applied as preventive or therapeutic measures for a wide-range of pathological conditions not only in neonates and infants but also in adults, including the elderly. Because they have no adverse side effects, milk-derived proteins and peptides could be used as a supplementary treatment for dementia and age-related cognitive decline.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.126-138
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• 2012

Ultrasonic method is widely used for the evaluation of weathering index and of degree of deterioration because it is easily applicable $in$ $situ$. The basic idea of the method is that the ultrasonic velocity decreases as a rock is being weathered. Thus, the difference of ultrasonic velocities between fresh rock and weathered rock indicates the degree of weathering. In this method, the ultrasonic velocity of fresh rock is assumed to be 5,000 m/s. However, this assumption can cause significant errors in estimating weathering index, especially in case that those rocks of the same type have a wide range of ultrasonic velocities such as in Korea. Therefore, we obtained twenty rock specimens and sixty core samples commonly used for stone cultural heritages in Korea, and measured ultrasonic velocities. From the results, we found that the ultrasonic velocities of the same rock type, granite samples range from 3,118 to 5,380 m/s, and that the estimated weathering index can be highly biased if we use the fixed value of 5,000 m/s. We created a database (DB) by combining the measurement data and reported it. We also measured ultrasonic velocities by direct and indirect methods to quantify the calibration coefficient for each sampling site. We found that the calibration coefficients vary widely from site to site (1.31-1.76). Other factors, such as operator bias and temperature did not show any significant effect on errors in ultrasonic velocity measurements. Lastly, we applied our ultrasonic velocity DB and calibration coefficients to a stone cultural heritage, Bonghwang-ri Buddha statue. Our estimation of the weathering index was 0.3, 0.1 smaller than that by conventional method. The degree of deterioration was also different, "moderately weathered", while conventional method gave "highly weathered". Since other independent studies reported that the degree of deterioration of the Buddha statue was "moderately weathered", our estimation seems to be more accurate. Thus our method can help accurately evaluate the weathering index and the conservation planning for a stone cultural heritage.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.167-181
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• 1991

In order to study the effects of dietary yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) products on the performance of broiler chickens, tow feeding trial using Arbor Acres strain were conducted. In experiment 1, 200 hatched male broiler chickens were divided into groups of 10 birds each and four groups were given each of the five dietary treatments : control, 0.25% yeast culture supplemented (YC-0.25%), 2.5% yeast culture supplemented(YC-2.5%), 0.05% live yeast supplemented(LY-0.05%) and 0.1% live yeast supplemented(LY-0.1%) . In experiment 2, 240 hatched broiler chickens(120 birds in each sex) were assigned to 2$\times$3(sex$\times$feed) factorial design Dietary treatments were control, 0.1% live yeast supplementation in finisher diet(LY-Finisher) , and 0.1% live yeast supplementation in whole period (LY-Whole). Results of experiment 1 showed that weight gain, feed intake and mortality were not significantly different among treatments. However, weight .gain of YC-0.25% and LY-0.1% tended to be greater than other treatments after 3wks of age Feed efficiency of LY-0.05% was poorer than those of control, YC-0.25% and LY-0.1% . Although nutrients availabilities were not significantly different among treatments, availiabilities of Ca and P were greater in yeast products supplemented groups than in control group. The number of Lactobacillus spp., Streptococcus spp . and yeast in small intestine tended to be greater in supplemented groups while that of Coliforms bacteria tended to be greafter in control group. In experiment 2, there were significant effects of factors (feed and sex) and interaction on growth rate. LY-Whole groups showed best weight gain in male while LY-Finisher groups did best in female broiler chickens. Feed intake and mortality were significantly higher in male broiler chickens. Feed$\times$sex interaction had a significant effect on feed efficiency. LY-Whole groups showed best feed efficiency in male while LY-Finisher did best in female broiler chickens. Availabilities of dry matter, Ca and P were higher in male than in female broiler chickens. Availabilities of Ca and P were higher in live yeast supplemented groups than in control groups. Live yeast supplemented groups tended to have greater number of Lactobacillus spp . and yeast in the small intestine and Stre))tococcu spp. in the small intestine and cecum, and lesser number of Coliforms bacteria in the small intestine The pH of small intestinal contents tended to be higher in live yeast supplemented groups.