• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.462-475
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• 2022

Purpose: Allomyrina dichotoma larvae are one of the approved edible insects with nutritional value and various functional and medicinal properties. Previously we have demonstrated that the Allomyrina dichotoma larval extract (ADLE) ameliorates hepatic insulin resistance in high-fat diet (HFD)-induced diabetic mice through the activation of adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK). This study investigated the effects of ADLE on insulin resistance in the skeletal muscle and explored mechanisms for enhancing the glucose uptake in palmitate (PAL)-treated C2C12 myotubes. Methods: To induce insulin resistance, the differentiated C2C12 myotubes were treated with PAL (0.5 mM) for 24 hours, and then treated with a 0.5 mg/ml concentration of ADLE, and the resultant effects were measured. The expression levels of glucose transporter-4 (GLUT4), AMPK, and the mitochondrial metabolism-related proteins were analyzed by western blotting. The mRNA expression levels of lipogenesis- related genes were determined by quantitative reverse-transcriptase PCR. Results: The exposure of C2C12 myotubes to 0.5 mg/ml of ADLE increased cell viability significantly compared to PAL-treated cells. ADLE upregulated the protein expression of GLUT4 and enhanced glucose uptake in the PAL-treated cells. ADLE increased the phosphorylated AMPK in both the PAL-treated C2C12 myotubes and HFD-treated skeletal muscle. The reduced expression levels of peroxisome-proliferator-activated receptor gamma co-activator-1 alpha (PGC1α) and uncoupling protein 3 (UCP3) due to the PAL and HFD treatment were reversed by the ADLE treatment. The citrate synthase activity was also significantly increased with the PAL and ADLE co-treatment. Moreover, the mRNA and protein expressions of fatty acid synthesis-related factors were reduced in the PAL and HFD-treated muscle cells, and this effect was significantly attenuated by the ADLE treatment. Conclusion: ADLE activates AMPK, which in turn induces mitochondrial metabolism and reduces fatty acid synthesis in C2C12 myotubes. Therefore, ADLE could be useful for preventing or treating insulin resistance of skeletal muscles in diabetes.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.28 no.spc
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• pp.30-36
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• 2022

A sensor is needed to continuously and automatically measure the change in HNS concentration in industrial facilities that directly discharge to the sea after water treatment. The basic function of the sensor is to be able to detect ppb levels even at room temperature. Therefore, a method for increasing the sensitivity of the existing sensor is proposed. First, a method for increasing the conductivity of a film using a conductive carbon-based additive in a nanoparticle thin film and a method for increasing ion adsorption on the surface using a catalyst metal were studied.. To improve conductivity, carbon black was selected as an additive in the film using ITO nanoparticles, and the performance change of the sensor according to the content of the additive was observed. As a result, the change in resistance and response time due to the increase in conductivity at a CB content of 5 wt% could be observed, and notably, the lower limit of detection was lowered to about 250 ppb in an experiment with organic solvents. In addition, to increase the degree of ion adsorption in the liquid, an experiment was conducted using a sample in which a surface catalyst layer was formed by sputtering Au. Notably, the response of the sensor increased by more than 20% and the average lower limit of detection was lowered to 61 ppm. This result confirmed that the chemical resistance sensor using metal oxide nanoparticles could detect HNS of several tens of ppb even at room temperature.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.65 no.4
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• pp.287-298
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• 2022

This study investigated the changes in the physiochemical property, phytochemical content, nutritional content and antioxidant activity of Polygoni multiflori Radix by steam, aging, and fermentation. After processing Polygoni multiflori Radix (PMR), pH slightly decreased, while acidity increased (pH 5.70→4.78, acidity 0.23→0.29%). The reducing sugar content increased after aging and fermentation from 1.19 mg/g (PMR) to 1.40 (fermented PMR, FPMR), 1.30 (red PMR, RPMR), 1.53 (fermented red PMR, FRPMR), 1.99 (black PMR, BPMR), and 2.33 mg/g (fermented black PMR, FBPMR). Total phenolic content was highest in PMR (6.05 mg/g) and total flavonoids and maillard product were increased after aging and fermentation of PMR, and were the highest in BPMR (1.60 mg/g) and FBPMR (2.76 O.D.), respectively. The major phytochemical was 2,3,5,4'-tetrahydroxystilbene-2-0-α-glucoside, which were highest in PMR (64.9 mg/g) with 46.47 mg/g at FPMR, 33.94 mg/g at RPMR, 48.76 mg/g at FRPMR, 36.68 mg/g at BPMR and 34.35 mg/g at FBPMR. The main fatty acids and free amino acids were detected as palmitic acid (C16:0) and proline, respectively. Generally, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl and 2,2'-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt radical scavenging activities and FRAP reducing powers were shown high in PMR (39.06%, 98.32%, and 2.61 O.D. in extracts concentration 1.0 mg/mL), then were decreased after aging and fermentation.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.109-125
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• 2023

This study was conducted to select target fish species as baseline research for accumulation analysis of major hazardous chemicals entering the aquatic ecosystem in Korea and to analyze the impact on fish community. The test bed was selected from a sewage treatment plant, which could directly confirm the impact of the inflow of harmful chemicals, and the Geum River estuary where harmful chemicals introduced into the water system were concentrated. A multivariable metric model was developed to select target candidate fish species for hazardous chemical analysis. Details consisted of seven metrics: (1) commercially useful metric, (2) top-carnivorous species metric, (3) pollution fish indicator metric, (4) tolerance fish metric, (5) common abundant metric, (6) sampling availability (collectability) metric, and (7) widely distributed fish metric. Based on seven metric models for candidate fish species, eight species were selected as target candidates. The co-occurring dominant fish with target candidates was tolerant (50%), indicating that the highest abundance of tolerant species could be used as a water pollution indicator. A multi-metric fish-based model analysis for aquatic ecosystem health evaluation showed that the ecosystem health was diagnosed as "bad conditions". Physicochemical water quality variables also influenced fish feeding and tolerance guild in the testbed. Eight water quality parameters appeared high at the T1 site, indicating a large impact of discharging water from the sewage treatment plant. T2 site showed massive algal bloom, with chlorophyll concentration about 15 times higher compared to the reference site.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.203-212
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• 2023

This study was conducted to investigate the possibility of peanut shell, a by-product of peanut, as a functional cosmetic ingredient. Peanut shell extract showed high antioxidant activity with IC₅₀ values of 75.00, 46.33, and 472.83 ㎍/mL for DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging and SOD-like activity, respectively. Furthermore, peanut shell extract was efficiently decreased the MMP-1 and MMP-3 protein level in the UVB treated-HaCaT cell and maintained procollagen protein level similar to normal control. Similar to anti-wrinkle related protein expression assay, the IC₅₀ value of elastase and collagnease inhibition in peanut shell extract was lower as 0.30 and 0.09 mg/mL, respectively, than that of the positive control. Additionally, eriodictyol and luteolin, which are isolated from peanut shell extract, showed 53.8 and 98.0% elastase inhibition rate, respectively, and 60.1 and 72.5% collagenase inhibition rate, respectively, at a concentration of 0.1 mg/mL. Thus, luteolin was assumed to be the effective ingredient for wrinkle inhibition in peanut shell extract. As a result of stability evaluation of lotion and cream formulations containing peanut shell extract, it was confirmed to be a stable formulation with no significant changes. Therefore, it is considered that peanut shell extract can be applied as a cosmetic ingredient for wrinkle inhibition.

• Clean Technology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 2023

Due to water shortages caused by water pollution and climate change, total organic carbon (TOC) standards have been implemented for wastewater discharged from public sewage treatment facilities. Furthermore, there is a growing interest and body of research pertaining to the reuse of sewage treatment water as a secure alternative water resource. The membrane bio-reactor (MBR) method is commonly used for advanced wastewater treatment because it can remove organic and inorganic ions and it does not require or emit any chemicals. However, the MBR process uses a separation membrane (MF), which requires frequent film cleaning due to fouling caused by a high concentration of mixed liquor suspended solid (MLSS). In this study, process improvement and microbubble cleaning efficiency were evaluated to improve the differential pressure, water flow, and MF fouling, which are the biggest disadvantages of operating the MF. The existing MBR method was improved by installing a precipitation tank between the air tank and the MBR tank in which raw water was introduced. Microbubbles were injected into a separation membrane tank into which the supernatant water from the precipitation tank was introduced. The microbubble generator was operated with a 15 day on, 15 day off cycle for 5 months to collect discharged water samples (4L) and measure TOC. As the supernatant water from the precipitation tank flowed into the separation membrane tank, about 95% of the supernatant water MLSS was removed so the MF fouling from biological contamination was prevented. Due to the application of microbubbles to supernatant water from the precipitation tank, the differential pressure of the separation membrane tank decreased by 1.6 to 2.3 times and the water flow increased by 1.4 times. Applying microbubbles increased the TOC removal rate by more than 58%. This study showed that separately operating the air tank and the separation membrane tank can reduce fouling, and suggested that applying additional microbubbles could improve the differential pressure, water flow, and fouling to provide a more efficient advanced treatment method.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.267-274
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• 2022

Excess nitrogen (N) flowing from livestock manure to water systems poses a serious threat to the natural environment. Thus, livestock wastewater management has recently drawn attention to this related field. This study first attempted to obtain the optimal conditions for the further volatilization of NH₃ gas generated from pig wastewater by adjusting the amount of injected magnesia (MgO). At 0.8 wt.% of MgO (by pig wastewater weight), the volatility rate of NH₃ increased to 75.5% after a day of aeration compared to untreated samples (pig wastewater itself). This phenomenon was attributed to increases in the pH of pig wastewater as MgO dissolved in it, increasing the volatilization efficiency of NH₃. The initial pH of pig wastewater was 8.4, and the pH was 9.2 when MgO was added up to 0.8 wt.%. Second, the residual ammonia nitrogen (NH₄⁺-N) in pig wastewater was removed by precipitation in the form of struvite (NH₄MgPO₄·6H₂O) by adjusting the pH after adding MgO and H₃PO₄. Struvite produced in the pig wastewater was identified by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. White precipitates began to form at pH 6, and the higher the pH, the lower the concentration of NH₄⁺-N in pig wastewater. Of the total 86.1% of NH₄⁺-N removed, 62.4% was achieved at pH 6, which was the highest removal rate. Furthermore, how struvite changes with pH was investigated. Under conditions of pH 11 or higher, the synthesized struvite was completely decomposed. The yield of struvite in the precipitate was determined to be between 68% and 84% through a variety of analyses.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.471-480
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• 2023

This study was designed to evaluate the anti-inflammatory effects of Rumohra adiantiformis extracts fermented with Bovista plumbea mycelium (B-RAE) in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. The total polyphenol and total flavonoid content of B-RAE were 379.26±7.77 mg/g and 50.85±3.08 mg/g, respectively. The results of measuring the antioxidant activity of B-RAE showed that it scavenges 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2, 2'-azino-bis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS), and superoxide anion radical in a dose-dependent manner. B-RAE inhibited nitric oxide (NO) production in a dose-dependent manner without affecting cell viability. The gene expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-lβ (IL-1β), and IL-6 was measured using real time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR). We found that, compared to the LPS-treated group, B-RAE significantly reduced the mRNA levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokines in a concentration-dependent manner. The expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), the phosphorylation of transcription factors such as nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), and the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway proteins were assessed using Western blot analysis. We found that B-RAE significantly suppressed the expression of iNOS and COX-2, but their expression was increased by LPS treatment. In addition, the phosphorylation of NF-κB and IκB, which was increased by LPS treatment, was reduced with B-RAE treatment. The effect of B-RAE on the phosphorylation of the MAPK signaling pathway proteins was measured, and the phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and the p38 MAPK proteins decreased in a dose-dependent manner, while the phosphorylation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) increased. These anti-inflammatory effects of B-RAE may thus have been achieved through the high antioxidant activity, the inhibition of NO production through the suppression of iNOS and COX-2 expression, the inhibition of the NF-κB pathway, and the suppression of pro-inflammatory cytokine expression.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.504-513
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• 2009

In this study, the safety of commercial herbal medicines was evaluated by determining concentration of hazardous heavy metals. 3,152 samples (244 types) purchased by individual packing unit from market in Seoul, were analyzed using ICP-MS and mercury analyzer. As a result, the content (mg $kg^{-1}$) of Pb was higher in the above-ground part (0.92) than underground part (0.43). But in case of As and Cd contents, there is slightly higher in the underground-parts (0.26, 0.13) than the above-ground parts (0.18, 0.08). There were many herbal medicines exceeding regulatory limits of Cd comparing with other metals. The levels of Hg seemed to be different between above-ground part(0.009) and underground part (0.008) but there was no sample exceeding tolerance limits. In the comparison of imported samples with domestic herbal medicines, it was shown that Pb, As, and Hg were measured highly in the imported ones, Cd was not significantly different (t-test, p<0.05). The significant correlation was observed between Pb and As (r=0.386, p<0.01) but there was no difference in other parts. The heavy metal contamination of herbal medicines measured in total amount of respective heavy metals (mg $kg^{-1}$) was high in Flos (6.241) and Caulis (2.238), and decreased in the order of Cortex (1.634), Herba (1.154), Perithecium (0.861), Rhizoma (0.828), Radix (0.825), Fructus (0.475), and was low in Semen (0.422) (ANOVA-test, p<0.05).

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.346-358
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• 2023

Due to the acceleration of climate change or global warming, it is important to predict rice productivity in the future and investigate physiological changes in rice plants. The research aimed to explore how rice adapts to climate change by examining the response of nitrogen absorption and nitrogen use efficiency in rice under elevated levels of carbon dioxide and temperature, utilizing the SPAR system for analysis. The temperature increased by +4.7 ℃ in comparison to the period from 2001 to 2010, while the carbon dioxide concentration was held steady at 800 ppm, aligning with South Korea's late 21st-century RCP8.5 scenario. Nitrogen was applied as fertilizer at rates of 0, 9, and 18 kg 10a^-1, respectively. Under conditions of climate change, there was an 81% increase in the number of panicles compared to the present situation. However, grain weight decreased by 38% as a result of reduction in the grain filling rate. BNUE, indicative of the nitrogen use efficiency in plant biomass, exhibited a high value under climate change conditions. However, both NUEg and ANUE, associated with grain production, experienced a notable and significant decrease. In comparison to the current conditions, nitrogen uptake in leaves and stems increased by 100% and 151%, respectively. However, there was a 25% decrease in nitrogen uptake in the panicle. Likewise, the nitrogen content and NDFF (Nitrogen Derived from Fertilizer) in the sink organs, namely leaves and roots, were elevated in comparison to current levels. Therefore, it is imperative to ensure resources by mitigating the decrease in ripening rates under climate change conditions. Moreover, there seems to be a requirement for follow-up research to enhance the flow of photosynthetic products under climate change conditions.