• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.22-29
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• 2015

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Recently, anthocyanins have been reported to have various biological activities. Furthermore, anthocyanin-rich purple corn extract (PCE) ameliorated insulin resistance and reduced diabetes-associated mesanginal fibrosis and inflammation, suggesting that it may have benefits for the prevention of diabetes and diabetes complications. In this study, we determined the anthocyanins and non-anthocyanin component of PCE by HPLC-ESI-MS and investigated its anti-diabetic activity and mechanisms using C57BL/KsJ db/db mice. MATERIALS/METHODS: The db/db mice were divided into four groups: diabetic control group (DC), 10 or 50 mg/kg PCE (PCE 10 or PCE 50), or 10 mg/kg pinitol (pinitol 10) and treated with drugs once per day for 8 weeks. During the experiment, body weight and blood glucose levels were measured every week. At the end of treatment, we measured several diabetic parameters. RESULTS: Compared to the DC group, Fasting blood glucose levels were 68% lower in PCE 50 group and 51% lower in the pinitol 10 group. Furthermore, the PCE 50 group showed 2-fold increased C-peptide and adiponectin levels and 20% decreased HbA1c levels, than in the DC group. In pancreatic islets morphology, the PCE- or pinitol-treated mice showed significant prevention of pancreatic ${\beta}$-cell damage and higher insulin content. Microarray analyses results indicating that gene and protein expressions associated with glycolysis and fatty acid metabolism in liver and fat tissues. In addition, purple corn extract increased the phosphorylation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and decreased phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK), glucose 6-phosphatase (G6pase) genes in liver, and also increased glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) expressions in skeletal muscle. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggested that PCE exerted anti-diabetic effects through protection of pancreatic ${\beta}$-cells, increase of insulin secretion and AMPK activation in the liver of C57BL/KsJ db/db mice.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.380-389
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• 2007

In Korea, undoubtedly, the cancer is one of the most common reasons of death, and hepatoma is the second highest fatal cancer regardless of the gender only next to the stomach cancer In the middle and prime-aged between 40 and 60 years, the incidence of hepatoma is the highest in the world, and the death rate due to hepatoma is the highest among OECD countries. In this paper, we propose a novel method for automatic identification of hepatoma from a contrast enhanced CT images, which is used in an expert system that helps medical specialists. First, consecutive $40{\sim}50$ contrail enhanced CT images are photographed by every 5mm from the upper part of the chest, and using position information on the rib, we classify the internal area including only internal organs and the external one that consists of the rib, subcutaneous fat layers, and the background from the CT images. Then, the region of the liver is extracted from the classified internal area by using information on the intensity, the distribution of brightness, and using the regions extracted from consecutive images, we restore information on the 5 mm space occurred between the consecutive two slides tty applying a shape-based interpolation method. Lastly, using the characteristics such as the brightness and the morphology, we are able to extract the regions of hepatoma. The expert system based on our method is sufficiently competitive when it is compared with the diagnoses by specialists in the diagnostic radiology.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.470-478
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• 2017

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Orostachys japonicus A. Berger (Crassulaceae) has been used in traditional herbal medicines in Korea and other Asian countries to treat various diseases, including liver disorders. In the present study, the anti-fibrotic effects of O. japonicus extract (OJE) in cellular and experimental hepatofibrotic rat models were investigated. MATERIALS/METHODS: An in vitro hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) system was used to estimate cell viability, cell cycle and apoptosis by MTT assay, flow cytometry, and Annexin V-FITC/PI staining techniques, respectively. In addition, thioacetamide (TAA)-induced liver fibrosis was established in Sprague Dawley rats. Briefly, animals were divided into five groups (n = 8): Control, TAA, OJE 10 (TAA with OJE 10 mg/kg), OJE 100 (TAA with OJE 100 mg/kg) and silymarin (TAA with Silymarin 50 mg/kg). Fibrosis was induced by treatment with TAA (200 mg/kg, i.p.) twice per week for 13 weeks, while OJE and silymarin were administered orally two times per week from week 7 to 13. The fibrotic related gene expression serum biomarkers glutathione and hydroxyproline were estimated by RT-PCR and spectrophotometry, respectively, using commercial kits. RESULTS: OJE (0.5 and 0.1 mg/ mL) and silymarin (0.05 mg/mL) treatment significantly (P < 0.01 and P < 0.001) induced apoptosis (16.95% and 27.48% for OJE and 25.87% for silymarin, respectively) in HSC-T6 cells when compared with the control group (9.09%). Further, rat primary HSCs showed changes in morphology in response to OJE 0.1 mg/mL treatment. In in vivo studies, OJE (10 and 100 mg/kg) treatment significantly ameliorated TAA-induced alterations in levels of serum biomarkers, fibrotic related gene expression, glutathione, and hydroxyproline (P < 0.05-P < 0.001) and rescued the histopathological changes. CONCLUSIONS: OJE can be developed as a potential agent for the treatment of hepatofibrosis.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.111-120
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• 1991

In order to investigate the cellular peroxidative damage due to heated oil intake and the preventive effect of vitamin E on it rats were fed heated corn oil with acid value of 4.02 at the level of 10 Cal% and three different levels of vitamin E that were 0, 40 and 200 mg/kg diet. Control group was fed fresh corn oil and 40mg/kg diet of vitamin E. After ech feeding period of 0, 3 and 6 weeks, liver superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPX) activities and microsomal content of vitamin E and lipid peroxide (LPO) were measured as well as cellular morphology was examined. SOD activities and LPO contents were higher, while GPX activities and vitamin e contents were lower in heated oil groups than control group. Electromicroscopic observation revealed the loss of inner mitochondrial membrane and cristae and irregular arrangement of nuclear membrane and chromatin in heated oil groups. As dietary vitamin e level was increased, SOD activity and LPO content were decreased, but GPX activity and vitamin E content in the liver increased and cellular peroxidative damage reduced progressively. This phenomena was more remarkable in 6 weeks of feeding than 3 weeks.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.291-299
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• 1987

The cattle liver flukes were collected at daughter house and classified with gross morphology. The hepatica type was only 14 flukes (4.7%) and the gigantica type was 284 flukes (95.3%) among total 298 flukes collected. In order to determinate the intermediate host of the flukes, artificial infection with the miracidia to snail hosts, Radix auricularia and Austropelea ollula, were successfully carried out, but the development in the later was terminated at the sporocyst stage. Intermediate host of the cattle flukes used to hibernate in deep part of the stubbles of rice pady. The number of A. ollula that has been collected from a rice stubble was ranged 0 to 19. Their mean number was 7 snails per the stubble. In artificial infection with miracidia, the reasonable number of them were 1 to 9 and the snail size was 2 to 5mm in length. The productivility of metacercaria in the intermediate host was observed. The metacercarial production per snail was ranged 5.5 to 48.0 per one miracidium.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.85-95
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• 1994

This study was performed to find out the detoxication effects of natural products Thuja orientalis, leaf of acorn, aloe ferox mill, pine cone, pine root, lonicerae flos on nickel toxicity. The experimental rats were divided into 3 groups such as nickel alone treatment group, natural products treatment groups before and after nickel treatments. Each group was administered with difference dose of nickel such as 6.6 mg/kg/day, 13.2 mg/kg/day, 19.8 mg/kg/day respectively, for 14 days. Natural products were administered by 400 mg per kilogram body weight rat per day. The weight change of rats, nickel concentration in organs, survival rate of rats, morphology of organs were observed in the experimental groups. The results obtained by the experiment were as follows: 1. The rats in the group treated with natural products had no effect on the weight gain. 2. The mean survival rate of rats in the nickel alone treatment group was 72.5% (6.6 mg/kg/day), 68.9% (13.2 mg/kg/day), 60.2% (19.8 mg/kg/day) respectively. 3. As for the amount of nickel accumulation in organs, it was the lowest amount treated with pine cone, pine root in that order. 4. When kidney and liver tissues were observed with as optical microscope, obvious change were visible in those tissues treated groups with Lonicerae and Aloe.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.29 no.9
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• pp.800-807
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• 2006

This study examined the possibility of using a tissue cultured root of wild Panax ginseng (tcwPG) as a fertility agent. The effect of tcwPG on spermatogenesis was studied using male rats. The tcwPG crude powder was administered orally to 7-week-old rats over a 6-week period. The number of sperm in the testes and epididymides was significantly higher than the control. A histological examination did not reveal any morphological changes in the testes from the tcwPG powder treated rats. Moreover, there were no significant differences in the weights of the heart, spleen, liver, kidney, brain, testes and epididymides. Oligospermia was also induced by administering 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodaibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) to the rats in order to estimate the feasibility of using tcwPG as treatment for infertility caused by spermatogenic disorders. After exposing the rats to TCDD, the tcwPG saponin fraction treated rats showed some improvement in the body weight, sperm number and testis morphology. It was estimated that tcwPG had feasibility as a therapeutic agent on spermatogenic disorder.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.295-298
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• 2019

Fasciolopsiasis is rarely known as the parasitic disease in Nepal. Herein, we report a case of fasciolopsiasis in a 22-year-old man who was admitted in the hospital with abdominal pain, distension and loss of appetite for a month. He had previously diagnosed with acute viral hepatitis but, his abdominal pain was not resolving despite improvement in his liver function and general condition. During endoscopy an adult digenean worm was seen in the first part of the duodenum. After isolation, the worm was identified morphologically as Fasciolopsis buski. Microscogic examination of the patient's stool revealed eggs with a morphology consistent with F. buski. Eggs were yellow-brown, ellipsoidal, unembmbryonated, operculated, filled with yolk cells, with thin shell and ranging $118-130{\mu}m$ in length and $60-69{\mu}m$ in width. The abdominal pain of the patient was resolved after treatment with praziquantel. By the present study, it was confirmed for the first time that fasciolopsiasis is indigenously transmitted in Nepal. Accordingly, the epidemiological studies in humans and reservoir host animals should be performed intensively in near future.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.981-991
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• 2020

Objective: To evaluate calcium stearoyl-2 lactylate (CSL) performance as an exogenous emulsifier together with lipase for broiler diets. Methods: In total, 252 one-day-old Ross 308 broiler chickens were allocated in a completely randomized design to give 6 replications per treatment with 7 birds in each cage. There were six dietary treatments representing a 2×3 factorial arrangement consisted of two energy levels (standard energy [positive control, PC] and -100 kcal/kg of the requirement level [negative control, NC]) and three dietary treatments (without additives [CON], CON+CSL [CSL], and CON+CSL+lipase [CSL-Lipase]). Corn and soybean meal-based experimental diets containing vegetable oil were formulated. Growth performance, blood parameters, visceral organ weights, ileal morphology, nutrient digestibility, and cytokine gene expression were measured. Results: Birds fed a diet including CSL increased (p<0.05) lipase level in blood compared to birds fed a diet including CSL-Lipase on day 21. Similarly, higher (p<0.05) liver weight was observed in birds fed a diet including either CSL or CSL-Lipase on day 21. Birds fed NC diet with CSL improved (p<0.05) nutrient digestibility compared to the NC diet on day 21. However, birds fed a diet supplemented with CSL or CSL-Lipase did not affect (p>0.05) the weight gain, feed efficiency, ileal morphology, and cytokine concentrations during the experiment period, regardless of dietary energy levels. Conclusion: Our results indicated that CSL has a role in improving nutrient digestibility in young birds when supplemented to a corn-soybean meal based broiler diet.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.19-27
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• 2016

The RLG (relative length of gut) is 1.52 (n=12) in the sablefish, Anoplopoma fimbria. The digestive tract has five or six pyloric caeca in the posterior region of stomach. Morphology of mucosal fold is unbranched type in the esophagus and stomach, but branched type in the intestine. The histological structure of digestive tract can be divided into mucosal layer, submucosal layer, muscular layer and serous membrane in the cross section. In the esophagus, mucosal epithelial layer is a simple, and consists of ciliated columnar epithelia and mucous cells. In the stomach, gastric gland of mucosal epithelial layer is a tubular, and is composed of chief cell, parietal cell and mucin secreting cell, which is columnar and contained secretory granules of red and blue colors in the AB-PAS (pH 2.5) reaction. In the intestine, mucosal epithelial layer is a simple, and consists of ciliated columnar epithelia and goblet cells. The submucosal layer is composed mainly of collagen fibers, and well developed in the esophagus. And the muscular layer of digestive tract is divided into longitudinal and circular muscle layer, and well developed in the stomach. The liver is composed of numerous lobular structure and bile canaliculi. Stainability of hepatocyte cytoplasm was eosinophilic, and nucleus and nucleolus showed basophilic in the H-E stain. The pancreatic tissue was scattered in the fatty tissue near the digestive tract, and acinar gland consisting of numerous exocrine cells. And cytoplasmic stainability of exocrine cell was basophilic, and contained numerous zymogen granules of eosinophilic in the H-E stain.