• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.48-54
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• 2007

Bacillus polyfermenticus SCD (B. polyfermenticus SCD) has been appropriately used for the therapy of long-term intestinal disorders, because live strains in the form of active endospores can successfully reach the target intestine in humans. B. polyfermenticus SCD produces the most antibiotic-related materials. In the present study, B. polyfermenticus SCD was fermented with soybeans (BPFS) and its probiotic properties were investigated. B. polyfermenticus SCD and BPFS showed a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity against pathogenic Gram-positive (Streptococcus parauberis, Streptococcus iniae, Lactococcus garviae) and Gram-negative (Flexibacter tractuosus, Vibrio harveyi, Vibrio vulnificus, Vibrio ordalii) bacteria and moulds (Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus oryzae). Sebastes schlegeli were used to examine survival rate and cleanup action by BPFS. Bacterial infection resulted in a mortality of up to 99% in the commercial fodder fed groups. BPFS both enhanced the growth rate of fry by improving their appetite and had cleaned by decreased eutrophication. Therefore, it seems appropriate that BPFS should be developed as an antibiotic replacement, favorable fodder additive, and antifungal material in fish farming systems.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.909-914
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• 2012

Background: Gefitinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), is used both as a single drug and concurrently with whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) the standard treatment for brain metastases (BM), and is reported to be effective in a few small studies of patients with BM from non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, no study has compared the two treatment modalities. This retrospective analysis was conducted to compare the efficacy of gefitinib alone with gefitinib plus concomitant WBRT in treatment of BM from NSCLC. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 90 patients with BM from NSCLC who received gefitinib alone (250mg/day, gefitinib group) or with concomitant WBRT (40Gy/20f/4w, gefitinib-WBRT group) between September 2005 and September 2009 at Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center. Forty-five patients were in each group. Results: The objective response rate of BM was significantly higher in gefitinib-WBRT group (64.4%) compared with gefitinib group (26.7%, P<0.001). The disease control rate of BM was 71.1% in gefitinib-WBRT group and 42.2% in gefitinib group (P=0.006). The median time to progression of BM was 10.6 months in gefitinib-WBRT group and 6.57 months in gefitinib group (P<0.001). The median overall survival(OS) of gefitinib-WBRT and gefitinib alone group was 23.40 months and 14.83 months, respectively (HR, 0.432, P=0.002). Conclusion: Gefitinib plus concomitant WBRT had higher response rate of BM and significant improvement in OS compared with gefitinib alone in treatment of BM from NSCLC.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.308-313
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• 1999

Direct seeding is a cultivation method of Korean ginseng which can cut down production cost and increase productivity. This study was conducted to obtain detailed information about this method and to aid the development of it in Korea. Major pre-crops before ginseng cultivation were rice, corn and rye, and organic matters, such as rice straw, rye straw and poultry feces were used for basal fertilization. In direct seeding of the ginseng field, seeding density was 196 to 210 seeds per $3.3m^2$ and germination ratio was 67%. Survival ratio of 4-year-old ginsengs which were products of direct seeding was 51%, and more than 100 plants per $3.3m^2$ survived. The most critical diseases in the directly seeded ginseng field were grey mold, damping off, and stem diseases including stem spot disease. Plant growth of the ginseng cultivated by the direct seeding method was not different from the ginseng cultivated by transplanting method. But the root of the ginseng cultivated by the direct seeding method took the shape of a shorter main root compared to the ginseng cultivated by the transplanting method. Root yield per $3.3m^2$ of the direct seeding ginseng field was larger compared to the field of the transplanting cultivation.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.221-230
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• 2005

Temperature is an important ambient factor affecting the physiology and metabolism of aquatic invertebrates. In this study, we studied about the survival, reproduction and growth effects of 4 different temperatures(16, 20, 24, $28^{\circ}C$) in four Korean cladoceran, Daphnia sp., Daphnia obtusa, Moina macrocopa, Simocephalus vetulus and Daphnia magna as an international standard species. All 5 water flea tested showed that molting time, fecundity and intrinsic rate of natural increase(r) in high temperature condition were higher than those in lower temperature. On the other hand, lower survivals and longer time to start of offspring were showed in high temperature. Our results suggest that the optimal temperatures of Daphnia sp.,, Moina macrocopa and Simocephalus vetulus seem to be about $20^{\circ}C$ except for Daphnia obtusa which as showed good survivals and reproductions in $16^{\circ}C$.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 1999

Numerous observations revealed strong evidence of increased middle ultraviolet radiation or UV-B (280 ~ 320 nm) at the earth's surface resulting from stratospheric ozone depletion. UV is the waveband of electromagnetic radiation which is strongly absorbed by nucleic acids and proteins, thus causing damage to living systems. It has been recorded in the East Sea, Korea that solar UV-B impinging on the ocean surface penetrates seawater to significant depths. Recent researches showed that exposure to UV-B for as short as 2h at the ambient level (2.0 Wm$^{-2}$) decreased macroalgal growth and photosynthesis and destroyed photosynthetic pigments. These may suggest that UV-B could be an important environmental factor to determine algal survival and distribution. Some adaptive mechanisms to protect macroalgae from UV-damage have been found, which include photoreactivation and formation of UV-absorbing pigments. Post-illumination of visible light mitigated UV-induced damage in laminarian young sporophytes with blue the most effective waveband. The existence of UV-B absorbing pigments has been recognized in the green alga, Ulva pertusa and the red alga, Pachymeniopsis sp., which is likely to exert protective function for photosynthetic pigments inside the thalli from UV-damage. Further studies are however needed to confirm that these mechanisms are of general occurrence in seaweeds. Macroalgae together with phytoplankton are the primary producers to incorporate about 100 Gt of carbons per year, and provide half of the total biomass on the earth. UV-driven reduction in macroalgal biomass, if any, would therefore cause deleterious effects on marine ecosystem. The ultimate impacts of increasing UV-B flux due to ozone destruction are still unknown, but the impression from UV studies made so far seems to highlight the importance of setting up long-term monitoring system for us to be able to predict and detect the onset of large -scale deterioration in aquatic ecosystem.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.487-493
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• 2018

Cluster of differentiation 44 (CD44), a cell surface receptor for hyaluronic acid (HA), is involved in aggressive cancer phenotypes. Herein, we investigated the role of the CD44 standard isoform (CD44s) in hypoxia-inducible $factor-1{\alpha}$ ($HIF-1{\alpha}$) regulation using MCF7 overexpressing CD44s (pCD44s-MCF7). When pCD44s-MCF7 was incubated under hypoxia, levels of $HIF-1{\alpha}$, vascular endothelial growth factor, and the $HIF-1{\alpha}$ response element-derived luciferase activity were significantly increased compared to those in the control MCF7. Incubation of pCD44s-MCF7 cells with HA further increased $HIF-1{\alpha}$ accumulation, and the silencing of CD44s attenuated $HIF-1{\alpha}$ elevation, which verifies the role of CD44s in $HIF-1{\alpha}$ regulation. In addition, the levels of phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) was higher in hypoxic pCD44s-MCF7 cells, and $HIF-1{\alpha}$ accumulation was diminished by the pharmacological inhibitors of ERK. CD44s-mediated $HIF-1{\alpha}$ augmentation resulted in two functional outcomes. First, pCD44s-MCF7 cells showed facilitated cell motility under hypoxia via the upregulation of proteins associated with epithelial-mesenchymal transition, such as SNAIL1 and ZEB1. Second, pCD44s-MCF7 cells exhibited higher levels of glycolytic proteins, such as glucose transporter-1, and produced higher levels of lactate under hypoxa. As a consequence of the enhanced glycolytic adaptation to hypoxia, pCD44s-MCF7 cells exhibited a higher rate of cell survival under hypoxia than that of the control MCF7, and glucose deprivation abolished these differential responses of the two cell lines. Taken together, these results suggest that CD44s activates hypoxia-inducible $HIF-1{\alpha}$ signaling via ERK pathway, and the $CD44s-ERK-HIF-1{\alpha}$ pathway is involved in facilitated cancer cell viability and motility under hypoxic conditions.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.410-415
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• 1999

Yakju was sterilized with high-voltage pulses of short time of a continuous pulsed electric field (PEF) system. The initial microbial counts of Yakju were $2.2{\times}10^{5}$ CFU/mL for total aerobes. The pH, acidity and electric conductivity of Yakju were 3.82, 0.37% and 1.24 mS/cm, respectively. Yakju was treated with exponential-wave formed electric pulses of 100 Hz for $0{\sim}4000{\mu}s$ under the field strength of $20{\sim}35\;kV/cm$. The lethal effect of electric fields on microorganisms was resulted from the breakdown of the cell membrane induced by the transmembrane electric potential. The critical values of the external field for the sterilization were 16.0 kV/cm for total aerobes. Logarithmic survival rates decreased linearly at low electric field strength, but curvilinearly at high electric field strength with treatment time. The sterilization of Yakju was more largely affected by the electric field strength than by the treatment time. Any changes in pH, acidity, and the growth of microorganisms were not found in the PEF treated Yakju during the storage at both $4^{\circ}C\;and\;30^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.201-217
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• 2016

We accessed the climate change effects on the distributions of warm-evergreen broad-leaved trees (shorten to warm-evergreens below) in the Korean Peninsula (KP). For this, we first selected nine warm-evergreens with the northern distribution limits at mid-coastal areas of KP and climate variables, coldest month mean temperature and coldest quarter precipitation, known to be important for warm-evergreens growth and survival. Next, species distribution models (SDMs) were constructed with generalized additive model (GAM) algorithm for each warm-evergreen. SDMs projected the potential geographical distributions of warm evergreens under current and future climate conditions in associations with land uses. The nine species were categorized into three groups (mid-coastal, southwest-coastal, and southeast-inland) based on their current spatial patterns. The effects of climate change and land uses on the distributions depend on the current spatial patterns. As considering land uses, the potential current habitats of all warm-evergreens decrease over 60%, showing the highest reduction rate for the Kyungsang-inland group. SDMs forecasted the expansion of potential habitats for all warm-evergreens under climate changes projected for 2050 and 2070. However, the expansion patterns were different among three groups. The spatial patterns of projected coldest quarter precipitation in 2050 and 2070 could account for such differences.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.143-150
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• 2010

This study showed the increase of antitumor activities of water soluble E. sinica extract by nano-encapsulation process with lecithin. Five groups of lecithin only group (LO), lecithin nano-encapsulated E. sinica group (LE), E. sinica only group (EO), one negative control group (NCO) and positive control group (PCO) were set for several anticancer experiment and fed into Sarcoma-180 injected mice. The cytotoxicity of LE on the human normal kidney cell (HEK293) showed 14.8% lower than 19.2% of EO and 18.4% of LO. Growth of human liver carcinoma cell and human stomach carcinoma cell as representative of digestive system in vitro was inhibited up to about 85.1% and 87.3%, in adding 1.0 mg/$m{\ell}$ of LE, which values 15% higher than that from conventional EO. The survival rates of each mice group were 40%, 63%, 48%, 33% and 100%, respectively after 40 days of injecting Sarcoma-180. The increment of their body weights of the extract feeding groups was suppressed down to 10~15%, compared to the negative control. The nano-particles also reduced the hypertrophy of the internal organs such as spleen and liver down to 15~20%, compared to those as the other groups. Among them, LE effectively reduced the size of tumor form to 20%. From these results, in vitro and in vivo antitumor activities of E. sinica could be enhanced by using nano-encapsulation process with lecithin because of better permeation into the cancer cells by confocal observations.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.1-11
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• 2019

Financing plays an important role in the survival and growth of startups. This study investigates key factors that improve startup financing performance. To this end, we analyze the relationship between the proportion of intellectual property and the financing performance. In addition, this study also examine the impact of the founder's education level on the financing of startups, and the moderating effect of the founder's education level on the relationship between intellectual property proportion and financing. Based on the survey data of 331 startups, this study found that the proportion of intellectual property and the financing performance have an inverted U-shaped nonlinear relationship. While the founder's education level has a positive impact on the financing performance, it negatively moderate the relationship between the intellectual property proportion and the financing performance. Through these findings, this study suggests that it is necessary to maintain an adequate proportion of intellectual property in order to maximize startup financing performance. The higher education level of founder enhances the startup financing. Since the founder's education level weaken the effect of intellectual proporty's effect on startup financing, however, startups need to control the proportion of intellectual property to improving financing according to the founder's education level. Based on signal theory, this study proposes a new strategy of intellectual property to enhance startup financing performance.