• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.115-131
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• 1993

Six nutrient cycles involving terrestrial plants are identified and characterized. Plants affect biotic and abiotic cycles through their effects on soil properties. They determine their internal nutritional status and nutrient concentrations in their environment via internal and external cycles. Contributions of organic matter to mycorrhizal, trophic, and detrital mediated external cycles and alterations of nutrient concentrations by plants can promote positive feedbacks leading to increased availability and retention of soil nutrients in open systems. Recognizing alternative cycles through plants leads to a definition of nutrient use efficiency for ecosystems: the ratio of system production to nutrient content of organic matter. A simple graph model to predict changes of nutrient use efficiency during primary succession is then presented.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2006

Adaptation to any undesirable change in the environment dictates the survivability of many microorganisms, with such changes generating a quick and suitable response, which guides the physiology of bacteria. During nutritional deprivation, bacteria show a stringent response, as characterized by the accumulation of (p)ppGpp, resulting in the repression of stable RNA species, such as rRNA and tRNA, with a concomitant change in colony morphology. However, genes involved in amino acid biosynthesis become over-expressed to help bacteria survive under such conditions. The survivability of pathogenic bacteria inside a host cell also depends upon the stringent response demonstrated. Therefore, an understanding of the physiology of stringent conditions becomes very interesting in regulation of the growth and persistence of such invading pathogens.

• Mycobiology
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.215-220
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• 2014

Mushrooms are a recognized component of the human diet, with versatile medicinal properties. Some mushrooms are popular worldwide for their nutritional and therapeutic properties. However, some species are dangerous because they cause toxicity. There are many reports explaining the medicinal and/or toxic effects of these fungal species. Cases of serious human poisoning generally caused by the improper identification of toxic mushroom species are reported every year. Different substances responsible for the fatal signs and symptoms of mushroom toxicity have been identified from various poisonous mushrooms. Toxicity studies of mushroom species have demonstrated that mushroom poisoning can cause adverse effects such as liver failure, bradycardia, chest pain, seizures, gastroenteritis, intestinal fibrosis, renal failure, erythromelalgia, and rhabdomyolysis. Correct categorization and better understanding are essential for the safe and healthy consumption of mushrooms as functional foods as well as for their medicinal use.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.53-62
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• 2012

In the past, poultry nutrition has focussed on increasing the production efficiency to meet the progress achieved in the genetic potential of broilers and layers. Future directions in poultry nutrition will be driven by not only by the need to maximise biological and economic performance of birds, but also by societal issues (environment, antibiotic growth promoters, welfare, traceability and use of genetically modified ingredients). Key advances in poultry nutrition are discussed and future directions, which can be expected, are highlighted. Given the tightening supply and ever-increasing cost of raw materials, there will be more pressure to extract every unit of energy and nutrients from feed ingredients. In this context, a number of feed additives are expected to play an increasingly significant role. Feed enzymes and crystalline amino acids, in particular, will have a profound effect on future sustainability of the poultry industry. Future nutritional research need to focus on identifying the barriers to effective digestion and utilisation of nutrients and, to achieve this objective, nutritionists must combine their expertise with those of specialising in other biological sciences, including immunology, microbiology, histology and molecular biology.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.513-520
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• 1990

A nutrition survey of 274 children, 6 to 12 years old, in the Nan Hyang elementary school, which offers no school lunch program and is situated in Shinllim 7-dong of Seoul, as the location of one of the socioeconomically vulnerable groups, was undertaken in July of 1989, to investigate nutritional status. anthropometric data of subjects surveyed slightly lower results than the Korean standards and further lower results than those of Yun Jung elementary school children of Youido, Seoul. 16.3% of subjects were proven to be anemic according to the hematocrit criterion established by the WHO. Mean urinary urea nitrogen/creatinine ration was 9.5$\pm$4.1. Family environment were positively correlated with anthropometric data and results of biochemical tests.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.142-151
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• 2009

The incidence of small for gestational age (SGA) births is frequent, accounting for 2.3% to 8% of all live births. Several childhood and adult diseases are related to early postnatal growth and birth size, and 10% of children born SGA may have a short stature throughout postnatal life. Additionally, they may have abnormal growth hormone (GH)-insulin like growth factor axis, HPA axis, and gonadal function. Permanent changes are detrimental in an environment of nutritional abundance, and predispose SGA children to an array of diseases in adolescence and adulthood. Such changes may also cause premature pubarche, adrenarche, and precocious puberty. The varying results from clinical studies necessitate more prospective case control studies. Reproductive tract abnormalities and reproductive dysfunction are related to SGA births. GH treatment is required for SGA infants who do not experience catch-up growth.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.247-255
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• 2016

Ten trace elements (Mg, Ca, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Mo, and Cd) were determined in seven traditionally used wild medicinal plants of the Nagas in the North-East India viz Cynoglossum furcatum Wallich, Elsholtzia blanda Bentham, Lycopodium cernuum Linnaeus, Potentilla fulgens Wallich ex Hooker, Swertia macrosperma C.B. Clarke, Thalictrum foliolosum DC and Valeriana jatamansi Jones. Plant samples were dried, weighed, digested and analyzed for their mineral distribution level ranging from trace to major elements by graphite furnace-atomic absorption spectroscopy. All the medicinal herbs studied were found to contain the ten elements analyzed. The elemental concentration is given in mg/kg. Mg and Ca are present in high concentrations in both the roots and leaves of the plant samples. Among trace transition metals Fe had the highest concentration, followed by Mn, Cr, Cu, V, Zn, and Mo. Analysis showed that the toxic Cd element was at a lower concentration and is within the permissible limit of FAO/WHO, California standards and United States Pharmacopeia Limit for Nutritional Supplements.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.107-112
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• 2012

Early growth, the rate of yolk sac absorption, and nucleus size in liver parenchymal cells were correlated with the nutritional status of first feeding larval haddock, Melanogrammus aeglefinus. Larvae that successfully began exogenous feeding maintained high growth rates, delayed yolk sac resorption, and had larger hepatocyte nuclear sizes than starved larvae. At 10 days post hatch (DPH) the cumulative mortality in the starved larval haddock group was 100%. The area of the hepatocyte nuclei in starved larvae gradually decreased, reaching its lowest value by 9 DPH. Our results support the current practice of providing the first food supply at 3 DPH. Hepatocyte nuclear size can be used to assess larval haddock nutrition status, and may be a good criterion for assessing the success of transition from endogenous to exogenous feeding.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.39 no.4 s.118
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• pp.445-449
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• 2006

Phenolic compounds are manufacturing by-products commonly found in industrial wastewater. The toxicity of high level phenolic compounds in wastewater threatens not only the aquatic organisms, but also many components of the adjacent ecosystem. One of the major light harvesting pigments in cyanobacteria is phycocyanin which can be rapidly and specifically degraded by external stimuli such as nutritional depletion or environmental stress. We employed the cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 as an indicator organism in estimating the pollution level by phenolic compounds. The phycocyanin content of the cyanobacterium decreased without significantly altering the total chlorophyll as the phenol concentration in a medium increased. We examined the phenol contamination level using the correlation of the phycocyanin content and the phenol concentration. Our results indicated that no significant pollution by phenolic compounds was found in several waterbodies in the vicinity of Daegu, South Korea.

• Mycobiology
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.179-183
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• 2015

Zinc is an essential micronutrient required for many enzymes that play essential roles in a cell. It was estimated that approximately 3% of the total cellular proteins are required for zinc for their functions. Zinc has long been considered as one of the key players in host-pathogen interactions. The host sequesters intracellular zinc by utilizing multiple cellular zinc importers and exporters as a means of nutritional immunity. To overcome extreme zinc limitation within the host environment, pathogenic microbes have successfully evolved a number of mechanisms to secure sufficient concentrations of zinc for their survival and pathogenesis. In this review, we briefly discuss the zinc uptake systems and their regulation in the model fungus Saccharomyces cerevisiae and in major human pathogenic fungi such as Aspergillus fumigatus, Candida albicans, and Cryptococcus gattii.