• Journal of Life Science
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.1458-1465
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• 2016

We investigated the neuroprotective effect of an ethanol extract from Asparagus cochinchinensis (AC) against glutamate-induced toxicity in the HT22 hippocampal cell, which is an ideal in vitro model for oxidative stress. The neuroprotective effects of AC in HT22 cells were evaluated by analyzing cell viability, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), flow cytometry for cell death types, reactive oxygen species (ROS), mitochondria membrane potential (MMP), and Western blot assays. In the cell death analysis, AC treatment resulted in significantly attenuated glutamate-induced loss of cell viability with a decrease in LDH release. AC treatment also reduced glutamate-induced apoptotic cell death. In the ROS and MMP analysis, AC treatment inhibited the elevation of intracellular ROS induced by glutamate exposure and the disruption of MMP. In oxidative stress-related proteins analysis, AC treatment inhibited the expression of poly ADP ribose polymerase and heme oxygenase-1 by glutamate. These results indicate that AC exerts a significant neuroprotective effect against glutamate-induced hippocampal damage by decreasing ROS production and stabilizing MMP. Thus, AC potentially provides a new strategy for the treatment of oxidative stress-related diseases.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.149-155
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• 2009

The objective of this study was to analyze data from the planned national serological monitoring program for Aujeszky's disease (AD) using a simulation model to evaluate probable outcomes expected in the sample derived from the simulated herds at predefined within-herd prevalence and herd prevalence. Additionally, prevalence at animal- and herd-level estimated by the stochastic simulation model based on the distributions of the proportion of infected herds and test-positive animals was compared with those of data from a national serological survey in 2006, in which 106,762 fattening pigs from 5,325 herds were tested for AD using a commercial ELISA kit. A fixed value of 95% was used for test sensitivity, and the specificity was modeled with a minimum, most likely and maximum of 95, 97 and 99%, respectively. The within-herd prevalence and herd prevalence was modeled using Pert and Triang distributions, respectively with a minimum, most likely and maximum point values. In all calculations, population size of 1,000 was used due to lack of representative information. The mean number of infected herds and true test-positives was estimated to be 27 herds (median = 25; 95% percentile 44) and 214 pigs (median = 196; 95% percentile 423), respectively. When testing 20 pigs (mean of 2006 survey) in each herd, there was a 3.3% probability that the potential for false-positive reactions due to less than 100% specificity of the ELISA test would be detected. It was found that the model showed prevalence of 0.21% (99% percentile 0.50%) and 0.5% (99% percentile 0.99%) at animal- and herd-level, respectively. These rates were much similar to data from the 2006 survey (0.62% versus 0.83%). The overall mean herd-level sensitivity of the 2006 survey for fattening pigs was 99.9%, with only a 0.2% probability of failing to detect at least one infected herd.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.503-510
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• 2009

This study investigated the effects of tannic acid (TA) in the diets for weanling pigs prepared with/without supplemental Fe on performance, hematology, fecal microflora and diarrhea incidence. Limestone and calcium phosphate used in Experiment 1 and 2 were of semi-synthetic and feed-grade quality, respectively; while the trace-mineral premix used in both the experiments was prepared without any added Fe source. In Experiment 1, 108 weaned pigs (Landrace ${\times}$ Yorkshire ${\times}$ Duroc, initially 6.46 ${\pm}$ 1.04 kg BW) were allotted to 3 treatments including control (diet added with $FeSO_4$ and antibiotic), T1 (diet devoid of $FeSO_4$ and antibiotic) and T2 (T1 diet added with 125 mg/kg TA). Each treatment had 4 replicates with 9 pigs in each pen. Feeding of T1 diet had a negative effect on the performance and plasma Fe status of pigs, while addition of TA to T1 diet resulted in performance of pigs comparable to pigs fed the control diet, reduced diarrhea incidence but had a negative influence on the hematological and plasma Fe indices. Additionally, pigs fed T2 diet had fewer (p<0.05) total anaerobic bacteria, Clostridium spp. and coliforms than pigs fed T1 diet, and greater number of Bifidobacterium spp. and Lactobacillus spp. in feces when compared with pigs fed control and T1 diets. In Experiment 2, 144 weaned pigs (Landrace ${\times}$ Yorkshire ${\times}$ Duroc, initially 6.00 ${\pm}$ 1.07 kg BW) were allotted to 4 dietary treatments including control (diet added with $FeSO_4$ and antibiotic) and diets devoid of supplemental Fe added with antibiotic (An), TA and both (AnTA). Each treatment had 4 replicates with 9 pigs in each pen. Addition of An, TA or both to diets devoid of supplemental Fe did not have any effect on performance, blood hematology and plasma Fe but resulted in reduced (p<0.05) diarrhea incidence and lower (p<0.05) fecal coliform population than pigs fed the control diet. These results suggest that TA has a negative influence on blood hematology and plasma Fe status when diets are inadequate in Fe; however, TA reduced diarrhea incidence and might have antimicrobial activity.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.776-784
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• 2014

Tuna cooking juice concentrate (TCJC) is by-produced during the canning processing of skipjack tuna Katsuwonus pelamis and it is well known that TCJC contains various nutritional components. Therefore, the immuno-stimulating activity of TCJC was investigated using macrophage RAW 264.7 cell line and the spleen cell isolated from BALB/c mice. The TCJC increased the production of IL-6, TNF-${\alpha}$, and IL-$1{\beta}$ in a dose-dependent manner compared to the control in RAW 264.7 cells without any toxicity. In particular, the production of TNF-${\alpha}$ was increased over 300-fold. The production of both Th1 cytokine (such as IFN-${\gamma}$, TNF-${\alpha}$, IL-2, and IL-12) and Th2 cytokine (IL-4, IL-6, IL-10) was also increased by TCJC treatment in splenocytes. Moreover, the TCJC increased the splenocyte proliferation in a concentration-dependent manner compared to control. These results indicate that TCJC may enhance immune function by promoting various cytokine production.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.77.2-77.2
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• 2011

We present our follow-up observation of the recently discovered supernova in M101. Being only 6.4 Mpc away from the Earth, the object is a Type-Ia supernova discovered this close in decades. We followed up this event with various observing facilities including on-campus telescopes at Seoul National University, the McDonald observatoy's 2.1m telescope, and UKIRT 4-m telescope. The light curves and the preliminary analysis of the multi-wavelength data will be presented, which cover the wavelengths from optical to NIR.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.37.3-38
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• 2016

Recent studies suggest that faint active galactic nuclei may be responsible for the reionization of the universe. Confirmation of this scenario requires spectroscopic identification of faint quasars ($M_{1450}$ > -24 mag) at z > 6, but only a very small number of such quasars have been spectroscopically identified so far. Here, we report the discovery of a faint quasar IMS J220417.92+011144.8 at z ~ 6 in a $12.5deg^2$ region of the SA22 field of the Infrared Medium-deep Survey (IMS). The spectrum of the quasar shows a sharp break at ${\sim}8443{\AA}$, with emission lines redshifted to $z=5.944{\pm}0.002$ and rest-frame ultraviolet continuum magnitude $M_{1450}=-23.59{\pm}0.10$ AB mag. The discovery of IMS J220417.92+011144.8 is consistent with the expected number of quasars at z ~6 estimated from quasar luminosity functions based on previous observations of spectroscopically identified low-luminosity quasars. This suggest that the number of $M_{1450}$ ~ -23 mag quasars at z ~ 6 may not be high enough to fully account for the reionization of the universe. In addition, our study demonstrates that faint quasars in the early universe can be identified effectively with a moderately wide and deep near-infrared survey such as the IMS.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.148-154
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• 2015

Onion (Allium cepa) is one of the flavonoids-rich materials in human diet and onion peel, which is the onion by-products, contains over 20 times more quercetin than the flesh. In this study, to examine the anti-inflammatory effects of onion peel hot water extract (OPHWE), the cell viability, nitric oxide (NO), pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as interluekin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ (TNF-${\alpha}$), and IL-$1{\beta}$, were measured using the murine macrophage cell line RAW 264.7 cells. The Balb/c mice were used for an in vivo acute toxicity test and ICR mice were used for measurement of inhibition effects of croton oil-induced mouse ear edema. As a result, NO levels decreased in a dose-dependent manner. The production of IL-6, TNF-${\alpha}$, and IL-$1{\beta}$ was suppressed by 38%, 41%, and 34% respectively, compared with that of the LPS only group, without any cytotoxicity. The edema formation in the ICR mouse ear was also reduced compared to that in control. Moreover, there were no mortalities occurred in mice administered 5,000 mg/kg body weight of OPHWE. These results suggest that OPHWE has considerable anti-inflammatory activities and can be regarded as a potent candidate material to treat inflammatory diseases.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.79.2-79.2
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• 2012

SN 2011fe (also known as PTF 11kly) is a Type-1a supernova that appeared in M101, 2011 August. Being only 6.4 Mpc away, this supernova has been intensively observed by various facilities in the world. We monitored this supernova in UBVRI, grizY, and ZYJHK-bands using SNUO, LOAO, SOAO, CQUEAN/McDonald, UKIRT telescopes, and small telescopes in Korea and Mongolia. The monitoring observation is still ongoing, and the light curve has been accumulated over a year. We present the results of the long-term monitoring observation, together with a light-curve fitting result. We will also discuss our findings in terms of the usefulness of Type-Ia supernovae as a distance indicator.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.177-184
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to investigate caretakers' demands and request in electric wheelchairs. The survey included the usability questionnaire (safety, operability, satisfactions) which were selected by opinions of caretakers and specialist of rehabilitation for electric wheelchairs. The survey also included questionnaires consisting of such questions as to demographic information, care experience, care time, and care burden, and demand for folding electric wheelchairs. Participants were fifty caretakers of electric wheelchair users. Caretakers' average age was 54.54years, and the average duration of their care experience was 80.98 months with average care time 9.80 hours per day. In safety and operability, most of participants were mostly satisfied. However, in satisfaction of weight and clean of electric wheelchairs was dissatisfied. They reported that the biggest problem of electric wheelchairs were too heav and difficult to control and that the greatest difficulty in helping electric wheelchair users was helping them with transfer to and from the wheelchair. They also need their prefer to develop folding electric wheelchairs. In this study, caretakers emphasized necessity of development light, easy to storage and clean electric wheelchairs. In conclusion, it is required to develop folding electric wheelchairs to reflect caretaker's opinions.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.253-263
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• 2016

Chrysanthemum production would benefit from crop growth simulations, which would support decision-making in crop management. Chrysanthemum is a typical short day plant of which floral initiation and development is sensitive to photoperiod. We developed a model to predict phenological development and leaf appearance of chrysanthemum (cv. Baekseon) using daylength (including civil twilight period), air temperature, and management options like light interruption and ethylene treatment as predictor variables. Chrysanthemum development stage (DVS) was divided into juvenile (DVS=1.0), juvenile to budding (DVS=1.33), and budding to flowering (DVS=2.0) phases for which different strategies and variables were used to predict the development toward the end of each phenophase. The juvenile phase was assumed to be completed at a certain leaf number which was estimated as 15.5 and increased by ethylene application to the mother plant before cutting and the transplanted plant after cutting. After juvenile phase, development rate (DVR) before budding and flowering were calculated from temperature and day length response functions, and budding and flowering were completed when the integrated DVR reached 1.33 and 2.0, respectively. In addition the model assumed that leaf appearance terminates just before budding. This model predicted budding date, flowering date, and leaf appearance with acceptable accuracy and precision not only for the calibration data set but also for the validation data set which are independent of the calibration data set.