• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.567-575
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• 2019

Statistics show that while the number of fires has decreased over the last decade, losses of human life and economic property due to fire have increased. Moreover, the number of large-scale fires that have occurred in recent years has resulted in heightened public anxiety. This study aims to identify a specific period of the year most vulnerable to fire, and fire trends, such as damage of fire to humans, to the economy, and different building types. For this purpose, we analyzed human and economic damages using statistics related to fire from 2007 to 2017 and provided a monthly distribution of fire damages both to humans and to the economy by building type. We also identified the relationship between the human damage and the economy damage, and compared the economic losses per casualty by building type. The human damage in residential buildings occupied the highest portion, whereas the economic damage of industrial buildings represented more than a half of all economic damage due to fire. The economic damage per casualty was shown highest for industrial buildings and has also increased rapidly in recent years.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.213-222
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• 2002

The alkaline comet assay has been used with increasing popularity to investigate the level of DNA damage in biomonitoring studies within the last decade in Western countries. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of the alkaline comet assay as a biomarker of oxidative DNA damage for monitoring in the Korean population, and also to evaluate the effect of nutritional status and lifestyle factors on H2O2 induced oxidative DNA damage measured by the alkaline comet assay in human lymphocytes. The study population consisted of 61 healthy Korean male volunteers, aged 20-28. Epidemiological background data including dietary habits, smoking habits and anthropometrical measurements were collected through personal interviews. After blood collection, the comet assay in peripheral lymphocytes and plasma lipids analysis was carried out and the results analyzed. Tail moment (TM) and tail length (TL) of the comet assay were use\ulcorner to measure DNA damage in the lymphocytes of the subjects. Statistically significant (p < 0.05) positive correlations were observed between DNA damage (TM or TL) and smoking habits expressed as cigarettes smoked per day and pack years (r = 0.311 and 0.382 for TM, r = 0.294 and 0.350 for TL, respectively). There were also significant positive correlations between DNA damage parameter and waist-hip ratio. Higher plasma triglyceride levels were associated with increased damage to DNA. There were no correlations between the consumption frequencies of vegetables and DNA damage to the subjects. However, consumption frequencies of fruit and fruit juice intake were inversely associated with the TM and TL. The results indicate that die comet assay is a simple, rapid and sensitive method for detecting lymphocyte DNA damage induced by cigarette smoking. Consumption of fruit or fruit juices could potentiall modify the damaged DNA in the human peripheral lymphocytes of young Korean men.

• Journal of Korean Society of Disaster and Security
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.17-25
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• 2014

Due to the recent climate change impact, natural disasters occur due to sea surface rising, typhoon attacks, flash floods, local heavy rainfalls, landslides, and coastal area erosion, continuing to cause human and property damage. These impacts, coupled with urbanization and industrialization activities, are turning the previously safe areas into disaster-vulnerable areas, increasing human and economic damage. This paper aimed to prepare measures designed to minimize human damage in natural disaster vulnerable parts of South Korea in summer. Toward that end, how vulnerable areas were managed and what the damage was like were studied. Also, cases of human damage and statistics there of were reviewed and analyzed, relevant problems were derived, and thus structural and non-structural measures designed to minimize human damage were presented.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.340-349
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• 2023

Mad2B (Mad2L2), the human homolog of the yeast Rev7 protein, is a regulatory subunit of DNA polymerase ζ that shares sequence similarity with the mitotic checkpoint protein Mad2A. Previous studies on Mad2B have concluded that it is a mitotic checkpoint protein that functions by inhibiting the anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C). Here, we demonstrate that Mad2B is activated in response to cisplatin-induced DNA damage. Mad2B co-localizes at nuclear foci with DNA damage markers, such as proliferating cell nuclear antigen and gamma histone H2AX (γ-H2AX), following cisplatin-induced DNA damage. However, unlike Mad2A, the binding of Mad2B to Cdc20 does not inhibit the activity of APC/C in vitro. In contrast to Mad2A, Mad2B does not localize to kinetochores or binds to Cdc20 in spindle assembly checkpoint-activated cells. Loss of the Mad2B protein leads to damaged nuclei following cisplatin-induced DNA damage. Mad2B/Rev7 depletion causes the accumulation of damaged nuclei, thereby accelerating apoptosis in human cancer cells in response to cisplatin-induced DNA damage. Therefore, our results suggest that Mad2B may be a critical modulator of DNA damage response.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.53 no.12
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• pp.1119-1130
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• 2020

Flood disasters have been recently increasing worldwide due to climate change and extreme weather events. Since flood damage recovery has been conducted as a common coping strategy to flood disasters in the Republic of Korea, it is necessary to predict the regional flood damage costs by rainfall characteristics for a preventative measure to flood damage. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to present the regression functions for human and economic flood damage assessments for the 7 metropolises in the Republic of Korea. A comprehensive regression analysis was performed through the total 48 simple regression models on the two types of flood damage records for human and economic costs over the past two decades from 1998 to 2017 using the four kinds of nonlinear equations with each of the six rainfall variables. The damage assessment functions for each metropolis were finally selected by the evaluation of the regression results with the coefficient of determination and the statistical significance test, and then used for the human and economic flood damage assessments for 100-year rainfall in the 7 metropolises. The results of this study are expected to provide the basic information on flood damage cost assessments for flood damage mitigation measures.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.520-526
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• 2017

Carnosine was recently reported to protect against the DNA damage induced by oxidative stress. In this study, we investigated the protective effect of eel Anguilla japonica carnosine extracts prepared using different methods (heat treatment extracts, HTEs; ion exchange chromatography, IEC; ultrafiltration permeation, UFP) on leukocyte DNA damage using the comet assay. Human leukocytes were incubated with extracts of eel carnosine at concentrations (of 10, 50, $100{\mu}g/mL$), and then subjected to an oxidative stimulus [$200{\mu}M$ hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$)]. Pretreatment of the cells for 30 min with carnosine significantly reduced the genotoxicity of $H_2O_2$ measured as DNA strand breaks. The protective effects of the three types of extract (HTE, IEC, and UFP) increased with concentration. At the highest concentration (100 g/mL). there were no statistical differences in oxidative damage between each extract treatment and PBS-treated negative controls. When leukocytes were incubated with carnosine for 30 min after exposure to $H_2O_2$. the protective ability of each extract changed. Therefore, eel carnosine inhibits the $H_2O_2$ induced damage to cellular DNA in human leukocytes, supporting the protective effect of this compound against oxidative damage.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.440-447
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• 2004

In this study the in vitro protective effects of several antioxidant vitamins (vitamin C, $\alpha$-tocopherol, $\beta$-carotene), fruits and vegetables (strawberry, tangerine, orange and 100％ orange juice, carrot juice), on the levels of isolated human lymphocyte DNA damage was measured using Comet assay. Comet assay has been used widely to assess the level of the DNA damage in the individual cells. Lymphocytes were pre-treated for 30 minutes with antioxidant vitamins (10, 50, 100, 500 $\mu$M) or fruits$.$vegetables (10, 100, 500, 1000 $\mu$g/ml), an4 then oxidatively challenged with 100 $\mu$M $H_2O$$_2$ for 5 min at 4$^{\circ}C$. The protective effect of antioxidant vitamins against DNA damage at a concentration of 50 $\mu$M were 50％ in vitamin C, 32％ in $\alpha$-tocopherol, whereas, fJ-carotene showed a 55％ protection at a dose as low as 10 $\mu$M. The inhibitory effects of DNA damage by strawberry, tangerine, orange, orange juices, carrot juices were 50 - 60％ with wide ranges of doses. The results of the present study indicate that most the antioxidant vitamins and fruits$.$vegetables juices produced a significant reduction in oxidative DNA damage.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.165-173
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• 2015

Most skin damage caused by ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation is owing to the generation of reactive oxygen species. Phytochemicals can act as antioxidants against UVB-induced oxidative stress. This study investigated the protective effects of the flavone galangin against UVB-induced oxidative damage in human keratinocytes. Galangin efficiently scavenged free radicals and reduced UVB-induced damage to cellular macromolecules, such as DNA, lipids, and proteins. Furthermore, galangin rescued cells undergoing apoptosis induced by UVB radiation via recovering mitochondrial polarization and down-regulating apoptotic proteins. These results showed that galangin protects human keratinocytes against UVB radiation-induced cellular damage and apoptosis via its antioxidant effects.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.243-249
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• 2009

Melamine, which is used to produce melamine resin for various industrial applications, has a high nitrogen content by mass. For this reason, it has been illegally added to foods to increase their apparent protein content. In the present investigation, melamine-induced oxidative damage of human lymphocyte DNA was evaluated by Comet assay. The in vitro oxidative DNA damage caused by melamine increased in a dose-dependent manner. This DNA damage was significantly inhibited by treatment with ascorbate. Moreover, the traditional Korean medicinal herb, named Acanthopanax, red ginseng and green tea markedly reduced the DNA damage. Various edible plant extracts also inhibited melamine-induced oxidative DNA damage in vitro. Melamine enhanced intracellular ROS generation, and this effect was suppressed by treatment with various antioxidants.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.343-348
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• 2008

In this study, antioxidant activity of methanol extract of Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch (GUE) against $H_2O_2$-induced DNA damage in human leucocytcs and cell death in PC12 cells was determined. The effect of GUE on $H_2O_2$-induced DNA damage in human leucocytcs was evaluated by the comet assay, where GUE ($1-50\;{\mu}g/mL$) was a dose dependent inhibitor of DNA damage induced by $H_2O_2$. The protective effect of GUE against $H_2O_2$-induced damage on PC12 cells was investigated by MTT reduction assay and lactate dehydrogenase release assay. A marked reduction in cell survival induced by $H_2O_2$ was significantly prevented by $1-50\;{\mu}g/mL$ of GUE. The enzyme activity of caspase-3 was elevated in $H_2O_2$-treated PC12 cells, while preincubation with GUE for 30 min inhibited $H_2O_2$-induced caspase-3 activation in a dose-dependent manner. In conclusion, GUE ameliorates $H_2O_2$-induced DNA damage in human leucocytes and has neuroprotective effect by preventing cell death in PC12 cell, suggesting that GU may be a potential candidate for novel therapeutic agents for neuronal diseases associated with oxidative stress.