• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.27-37
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• 2014

Objectives: On September 27, 2012, leakage of anhydrous hydrofluoric acid occurred in a chemical plant in the Gumi National Industrial Complex. Following the accident, local factory workers and residents complained of abnormal health conditions. In addition, visual discolorations were widely observed in crops and trees in surrounding areas. The main objectives of the present study were to identify the area that was affected by the spill using data obtained from plants, soil, and water samples after the accident. Methods: Fluoride concentrations were analyzed in pine tree needles, soil, nearby streams, ponds and reservoirs collected from an area within a radius of three kilometers from the plant where the leak occurred. Fluoride concentrations in the air at the time of leakage were then estimated from fluoride concentrations that were measured in the pine tree needles. A Kriged map was developed to describe the spatial distribution of hydrofluoric acid at the time of the leakage and was compared with the area designated as a Special Disaster Zone by the government. Results: The Special Disaster Zone did not include all the affected area that was estimated by the Kriged map. Analytical results of the environmental samples also supported this discrepancy. Conclusion: Using plants, atmospheric concentrations of fluoride at the time of the leakage could be estimated. For the area that was identified as affected, further public health risk assessment and environmental risk assessment should be considered. Also, in the absence of air monitoring at the time of leakage, studies employing plants may be conducted in order to better understand the spatial extent and severity of the contamination.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.93-99
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• 2016

The extraction efficiency depending on the extracting methods and the conditions of extraction was investigated. The common steam extraction was compared to the distillation extraction method. The effects of the samples size and the extraction time on the extract yield were also investigated by using UV-Vis spectrophotometer. One of the functional components of pine needle extract as the natural phenol base components were detected by the UV-VIS at around 235 nm wavelength range. The absorbance intensity at around 235 nm wavelength of the pine needle extract was used as the indicator of the extraction efficiency in this experiment. The distillation extraction showed the higher extract yield than the steam extraction. The grinding treatment of pine needles also resulted in the better extract performance, but the severe grinding showed a little decrease in the extract yield especially in case of the distillation extraction method. More than half of the extract was collected at the first stage of the extraction, that was the first 15 minutes in the total 60 minutes extraction.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.450-455
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• 1998

Pine has been known as a traditional medicinal plant and as showing a physically beneficial function to a human being. Therefore, this study was performed to investigate the physiological activities of main pine neddles. Ethanol extracts from pinus needles did net exhibit any mutagenicity. On the contrary, inhibitory effects of ethanol extract were observed on mutagenicity induced by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine(MNNG), 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide (4NQO), 3-amino-1,4-dimethyl-5H-pyrido-(4,3-b)indol (Trp-P-1) and benzo(a)pyrene $(B({\alpha})P)$ using Salmonella typhimurium reversion assay. On direct-acting mutagen (MNNG, 4NQO) and indirect-acting mutagen (Trp-P-1, $(B({\alpha})P)$, we observed higher inhibitory effect. Stepwise fractionation of the ethanol extract was done by using ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate, butanol and water to obtain effective fraction. Among them, water fractions $(100\;{\mu}g/plate)$ of Pinus thunbergii, Pinus rigida, Pinus densiflora and Pinus koraiensis showed high inhibition of 91.65%, 94.7%, 84.22% and 79.02%, respectively, on the mutagenicity of MNNG in Salmonella typhimurium TA100.

• Korean Journal of Oriental Medicine
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.115-121
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• 2010

Objectives : Quality control of the needle tips and prevention of pollutions are important factor for safe and effective acupuncture treatment. Ear acupuncture needle is made by 3 companies in Korea, and used to treat for obesity or smoking in clinic frequently, but the Korean industrial Standard is proposed most recently. In spite of the importance, there has been little study about that. Moreover, there was no study about ear acupuncture needle. Methods : We investigated the current condition of needle shape and pollution about the tips and body of the ear acupuncture needle under the stereoscopic microscope. Samples are selected 100 pieces from 300 pieces randomly in each company. Results : The substandard needles are classified into four groups and counted 1. Normal condition (55.3%), 2. Scratch on the surface (14.0%), 3. Malformation of tips (19.3%), 4. Pollution of body (4.3%), 5. Multiple Substandard (7.0%). In the case of including type 2 as a standard needle, normal rate of A company was 81% when B was 76%, and C was 51%. Conclusion : The substandard ear acupuncture needles can induce local side effects such as needling pain or itching. Furthermore, it can disturb the proper effect of acupuncture treatment. We hope that this study can help to improvequality of ear acupuncture and reduce substandard rate for safe and effective ear acupuncture treatment.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.469-475
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• 1993

In order to elucidate the metabolism of the systemic insecticide, phosphamidon(2-chloro-2-diethylcarbamoyl-1-methylvinyl dimethyl phosphate), treated to pine trees against pine leaf gall midges (Thecodiplosis japonensis Uchida et Inouye), $[vinyl,\;carbonyl-^{14}C]$phosphamidon was implanted into the trunks of 10-year-old Korean red pine (Pinus densiflora Sieb. et Zucc.) and Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergii Parl.), respectively. This chemical was degraded very quickly in pine trees after implanting, as confirmed by TLC/autoradiography of the extracts of pine needles. Phosphamidon metabolites in phosphate buffer extracts of pine needles include the major metabolite, ${\alpha}-chloroacetoacetic$ acid diethyl-amide, ${\alpha}-chloroacetoacetic$ acid ethylamide, 3-hydroxy-N,N-d iethylbutanamide, acetoacetamide, and trimethyl phosphate. The metabolism within pine trees is expected to be similar to this. Based on these findings, it is believed that the major pathway leading to the metabolites would be related to the P-O-vinyl hydrolysis of the chemical structure.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.233-240
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• 1996

This study was carried out to determine the effect of cumulus cell attachment and various factors on in vitro maturation of pig foflicular oocytes. Oocytes with various configuration of cumulus cell mass were collected ftom ovaries of mature gilts by asperating with syringe equipped with needles of different gauges, follicle size and with or without cumulus cells. They were cultured in TCM-199 mediun containing FGS(fetal calf serum) for 30~48 hours in incubator with air containing 5% $CO_2$ at 38.5$^{\circ}C$. Mter orcein staining at in vitro maturation condition, GV, GVBD, anaphase, telophase and M II were observed. Results are surumarized as follows: 1. Recovery rates were 55.8, 55.5 and 34.4% when the cumulus-compacted oocytes were collected with 18, 21, 26 gauge needles of syringes, respectively. 2. 79% of oocytes with compacted cumulus cells were at GV stage and most of the oocytes with partially denuded and denuded cumulus cells were from GVBD to M- II stages. 3. Percentage of mature oocytes among those which are follicular diameter of 1~2, 3~6 and over 6 mm was 42.6, 53.2 and 60.8%, respectively. 4. Percentage of mature oocytes among those which are compacted, partially denuded and denuded was 60.5, 46.2 and 35.4% respectively. 5. Percentage of mature oocytes in co-cultured with monolayers of cumulus cells was higher (57.1%) than that found with oocytes cultured alone (53.4%).

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.296-303
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• 2017

Background: To achieve a prolonged therapeutic effect in patients with lumbar facet joint syndrome, radiofrequency medial branch neurotomy (RF-MB) is commonly performed. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of paravertebral muscle twitching when performing RF-MB in patients with lumbar facet joint syndrome. Methods: We collected and analyzed data from 68 patients with confirmed facet joint syndrome. Sensory stimulation was performed at 50 Hz with a 0.5 V cut-off value. Patients were divided into 3 groups according to the twitching of the paravertebral muscle during 2 Hz motor stimulation: 'Complete', when twitching was observed at all needles; 'Partial', when twitching was present at 1 or 2 needles; and 'None', when no twitching was observed. The relationship between the long-term effects of RF-MB and paravertebral muscle twitching was analyzed. Results: The mean effect duration of RF-MB was 4.6, 5.8, and 7.0 months in the None, Partial, and Complete groups, respectively (P = 0.47). Although the mean effect duration of RF-MB did not increase significantly in proportion to the paravertebral muscle twitching, the Complete group had prolonged effect duration (> 6 months) than the None group in subgroup analysis. (P = 0.03). Conclusions: Paravertebral muscle twitching while performing lumbar RF-MB may be a reliable predictor of long-term efficacy when sensory provocation under 0.5 V is achieved. However, further investigation may be necessary for clarifying its clinical significance.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.16-22
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• 2010

Flavonoids are known to be effective scavengers of free radicals. In particular, proanthocyanidins are flavonoids that possess cardiovascular protection, antioxidative activities, and immunomodulatory activities. Here, we evaluated proanthocyanidin contents in the total polyphenolic compounds of pine needle extracts prepared by hot water, ethanol, hexane, hot water-hexane (HWH), and hot water-ethanol (HWE). Analysis of each extract indicated that the ethanol extract contained the highest proanthocyanidin concentration. The HWH and hexane extracts also contained relatively high concentrations of proanthocyanidin. On the other hand, proanthocyanidin content analyses out of the total polyphenolic compounds indicated that the HWH extract contained the highest content. These results suggest that HWH extraction is a suitable method to obtain an extract with a high level of pure proanthocyanidins and a relatively high yield. The HWH extract possessed superior activity in diverse antioxidative analyses such as 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), ferrous ion chelating (FIC), and ferric-ion reducing power (FRAP) assays. In addition, upon assessing the effects of the pine needle extracts on macrophages (Raw 264.7 cell), the HWH extract exhibited the highest activity. In this study, we discerned an efficient extraction method to achieve relatively pure proanthocyanidins from pine needles and evaluated the biological functions of the resulting extract, which could potentially be used for its efficacious components in functional food products.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.8
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• pp.1379-1385
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• 2017

The content of taxol in the bark of yews is very low, and this is not affordable from the environmental point of view. Thus, it is a necessity to look for alternative sources of taxol production to solve its supply. Currently, a large portion of the taxol in the market comes from chemical semi-synthesis, but the semi-synthetic precursors such as baccatin III and 10-deacetyl-baccatin III are extracted from needles and twigs of yew trees. Taxol-producing fungi as a renewable resource is a very promising way to increase the scale of taxol production. Our group has obtained a taxol-producing endophytic fungus, Aspergillus niger subsp. taxi HD86-9, to examine if A. niger can produce the taxanes. Six compounds from the fermentation broth of strain HD86-9 were isolated and identified by $^1H$ NMR, $^{13}C$ NMR, and ESI-MS. The results showed that the six compounds included four taxane diterpenoids (taxol, cephalomannine, baccatin III, and 10-deacetyl-baccatin III) and two non-taxane compounds (${\beta}-sitosterol$ and flavonoid isovitexin). The study verified that the taxanes can be produced by the A. niger, which is very important to taxol production via chemical semi-synthesis. Additionally, the finding is potentially very significant to solve the taxol semi-synthetic precursors extracted from needles and twigs of yew trees, and the precursor production can be easily increased through the culture condition optimization, genetic breeding, and metabolic engineering of the A. niger.

• Nutritional Sciences
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.76-82
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• 2004

Pine needles are known as a traditional medicine and their ingestion has been shown to be beneficial to human beings. Following induction of the neoplastic process in rats by azoxymethane (AOM), we determined the effects of pine needle supplementation on colon carcinogenesis and on antioxidant systems in the blood and liver. Five week old male Fisher 344 rats were injected with AOM (15 mg/kg) once a week for two weeks. After the second injection, 18 rats were randomly assigned into two groups and were fed a casein-based high-fat diet (120 g fat and 1 g cholesterol/kg diet) with or without pine needle powder (10%w/w). After 6 weeks, rats receiving pine needle powder showed a 40% lower incidence of the number of colonic preneoplastic lesions (aberrant crypts) and a 52% lower incidence of aberrant crypt foci (p<0.01). A significantly elevated level of erythrocyte catalase activity was observed in the pine needle supplemented group (17.4$\pm$1.1 vs. 24.5$\pm$1.5, p<0.01). Pine needle supplementation also increased liver glutathione peroxidase activity (7.5$\pm$0.6 vs. 14.6$\pm$0.6, p<0.01). Other antioxidant parameters such as erythrocyte glutathione peroxidase, liver catalase activity, and plasma total antioxidant potential (TRAP), showed no statistical differences between the two groups. Our data demonstrate that pine needle supplementation improves the antioxidant system and suppresses the formation of colonic preneoplastic lesions in AOM-treated rats. This result provides additional insights into the chemo-preventative properties of pine needles.