• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.437-442
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• 2012

Red yeast rice (RER) has been used in China for centuries for its medicinal properties and is an increasingly popular alternative lipid-lowering treatment. This study was carried out to estimate the antioxidant properties of RER extracts. The ethyl acetate extract exhibited the DPPH radical scavenging activity of 85% at 0.2 mg/mL and $IC_{50}$ 0.13 mg/mL. A significant proportion of hydroxyl radicals in a cuvette were scavenged: 44.2% at 2.5 ${\mu}g$/mL, 74.1% at 5.0 ${\mu}g$/mL, and >100% at 10 ${\mu}g$/mL. The $HepG_2$ cells pre-treated with RER ethyl acetate extract reduced the hydroxyl radicals significantly compared to the control cells. Oxidative DNA damage was measured using a Comet assay. The RER ethyl acetate extract did not induce any DNA damage per se, and appeared to enhance the resistance to DNA damage caused by an oxidant challenge with $H_2O_2$, whereas lovastatin increased the level of DNA damage in the cells in both the unstressed (no oxidant) and those stressed with $H_2O_2$. The relative gene expression of the antioxidant enzymes in $HepG_2$ cells were also affected by the RER ethyl acetate extract. The $HepG_2$ cells were pre-incubated with the RER ethyl acetate extract, and then stressed with $H_2O_2$ or left unstressed (no oxidant). In the unstressed cells, superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) were increased significantly 3.25-fold and 2.67-fold, respectively, whereas in the stressed cells, the catalase (CAT) level was increased by 4.64-fold and 7.0-fold at 5 ${\mu}g$/mL and 10 ${\mu}g$/mL, respectively, compared to those of the control. From these results, RER appears to be effective in suppressing oxidative stress.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.233-239
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• 2004

This research was conducted to determine the effect of soil pH change followed by leaching with ground water on crop growth, yield and nutrient uptake of strawberry. Treatments were leaching with ground water (A), hydrated lime application of dissolved portion in $500g{\cdot}L^{-1}$ solution followed by leaching (B), application of $Al_2SO_4$ solution with the concentration of $0.75g{\cdot}L^{-1}$ followed by leaching (C), pH elevation by (B) followed by pH lowering by (C), then leaching (D). Soil samples taken before experiment had 6.0 in soil pH. But the pH of all treatments taken after pH changes and leaching were in the range from 5.8 to 6.2 without statistical differences among treatments. Electrical conductivity of soils taken before experiment was $1.82dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$ and those of (A), (B), (C), and (D) were 1.65, 1.72, 1.71 and $1.83dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$, respectively. The plant height in treatment (C) was 20.4 cm at 80 days after transplanting which was the highest among treatments tested. The other growth characteristics did not show statistical differences among treatments. Tissue contents of Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu and B in treatment (C) were higher than those of other treatments at 80 days after transplanting. The treatment (C) had the highest number of special sizes and fruit weight per 50 plants such as 137 and 3.784 g, respectively. The treatment also had 3.123 kg in total fruit weight and 2,489 kg in marketable fruit weight per 10 are. The treatment (B) also had good results such as 2,820 kg in marketable fruit weight per 10 are.

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Sciences Society Conference
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.2-4
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• 1998

Proliferation of Nocardia amarae cells in activated sludge has often been associated with the generation of nuisance foams. Despite intense research activities in recent years to examine the causes and control of Nocardia foaming in activated sludge, the foaming continued to persist throughout the activated sludge treatment plants in United States. In addition to causing various operational problems to treatment processes, the presence of Nocardia may have secondary effects on the fate of heavy metals that are not well known. For example, for treatment plants facing more stringent metal removal requirements, potential metal removal by Nocardia cells in foaming activated sludge would be a welcome secondary effect. In contrast, with new viosolid disposal regulations in place (Code o( Federal Regulation No. 503), higher concentration of metals in biosolids from foaming activated sludge could create management problems. The goal of this research was to investigate the metal sorption property of Nocardia amarae cells grown in batch reactors and in chemostat reactors. Specific surface area and metal sorption characteristics of N. amarae cells harvested at various growth stages were compared. Three metals examined in this study were copper, cadmium and nickel. Nocardia amarae strain (SRWTP isolate) used in this study was obtained from the University of California at Berkeley. The pure culture was grown in 4L batch reactor containing mineral salt medium with sodium acetate as the sole carbon source. In order to quantify the sorption of heavy metal ions to N amarae cell surfaces, cells from the batch reactor were harvested, washed, and suspended in 30mL centrifuge tubes. Metal sorption studies were conducted at pH 7.0 and ionlc strength of 10-2M. The sorption Isotherm showed that the cells harvested from the stationary and endogenous growth phase exhibited significantly higher metal sorption capacity than the cells from the exponential phase. The sequence of preferential uptake of metals by N. amarae cells was Cu>Cd>Ni. The specific surFace area of Nocardia cells was determined by a dye adsorption method. N.amarae cells growing at ewponential phase had significantly less specific surface area than that of stationary phase, indicating that the lower metal sorption capacity of Nocardia cells growing at exponential phase may be due to the lower specific surface area. The growth conditions of Nocardia cells in continuous culture affect their cell surface properties, thereby governing the adsorption capacity of heavy metal. The comparison of dye sorption isotherms for Nocardia cells growing at various growth rates revealed that the cell surface area increased with increasing sludge age, indicating that the cell surface area is highly dependent on the steady-state growth rate. The highest specific surface area of 199m21g was obtained from N.amarae cell harvested at 0.33 day-1 of growth rate. This result suggests that growth condition not only alters the structure of Nocardia cell wall but also affects the surface area, thus yielding more binding sites of metal removal. After reaching the steady-state condition at dilution rate, metal adsorption isotherms were used to determine the equilibrium distributions of metals between aqueous and Nocardia cell surfaces. The metal sorption capacity of Nocardia biomass harvested from 0.33 day-1 of growth rate was significantly higher than that of cells harvested from 0.5- and 1-day-1 operation, indicatng that N.amarae cells with a lower growth rate have higher sorpion capacity. This result was in close agreement with the trend observed from the batch study. To evaluate the effect of Nocardia cells on the metal binding capacity of activated sludge, specific surface area and metal sorption capacity of the mixture of Nocardia pure cultures and activated sludge biomass were determined by a series of batch experiments. The higher levels of Nocardia cells in the Nocardia-activated sludge samples resulted in the higher specific surface area, explaining the higher metal sorption sites by the mixed luquor samples containing greater amounts on Nocardia cells. The effect of Nocardia cells on the metal sorption capacity of activated sludge was evaluated by spiking an activated sludge sample with various amounts of pre culture Nocardia cells. The results of the Langmuir isotherm model fitted to the metal sorption by various mixtures of Nocardia and activated sludge indicated that the mixture containing higher Nocardia levels had higher metal adsorption capacity than the mixture containing lower Nocardia levels. At Nocardia levels above 100mg/g VSS, the metal sorption capacity of activate sludge increased proportionally with the amount of Noeardia cells present in the mixed liquor, indicating that the presence of Nocardia may increase the viosorption capacity of activated sludge.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.115-122
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• 2017

Objective of this research was to investigate the influence of lowered substrate pH on the reduction of bicarbonate injury in the vegetative growth of 'Ssanta' strawberry. The acid substrate was formulated by mixing sphagnum peat moss with pine bark (5:5, v/v) and the pH, EC, and CEC of the substrate were 4.07, $0.46dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$, and $91.3cmol^+{\cdot}kg^{-1}$, respectively. To adjust the pH of acid substrate, various amount of dolomitic lime [$CaMg(CO_3)_2$] were incorporated with the rate of 0 (untreated), 1, 2, 3, and $4g{\cdot}L^{-1}$. Then, mother plants were transplanted and grown with fertilizer solution containing $240mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ of the $HCO_3{^-}$ and equal concentrations of essential nutrients to Hoagland solution. In growth of 'Ssanta' strawberry, fresh weight of mother plants were the highest in the treatment of $2g{\cdot}L^{-1}$ dolomitic lime such as 102.1 g followed by 94.7 g in $1g{\cdot}L^{-1}$, 91.2 g in $3g{\cdot}L^{-1}$, 75.7 g in $0g{\cdot}L^{-1}$ and 72.3 g in $4g{\cdot}L^{-1}$ treatments. The dry weight showed a similar tendency to fresh weight. At 140 days after transplanting, 5.8, 9.8, 11.8, 8.8, and 5.0 daughter plants were derived from each of the mother plants in the treatments of 0, 1, 2, 3, and $4g{\cdot}L^{-1}$ dolomitic lime, respectively. The highest occurrence of daughter plants were observed in the treatments $2g{\cdot}L^{-1}$ dolomitic lime. The substrate pH and bicarbonate concentration of 'Ssanta' strawberry seedlings in the 1 and $2g{\cdot}L^{-1}$ dolomitic lime treatments were maintained at a proper range such as 5.6 to 6.2. The micro-nutrient contents of above ground tissue in mother plants were the highest in $2g{\cdot}L^{-1}$ and the lowest in $4g{\cdot}L^{-1}$ dolomitic lime treatment. The above results indicate that incorporation rate of dolomitic lime in acid substrate with the pH of around 4 is $2g{\cdot}L^{-1}$ to raise the 'Ssanta' strawberry in propagation.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.115-139
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• 1984

The Cu-Pb-Zn-Ag hydrothermal vein-type deposits which comprise the Sambong mine occur within calc-alkaline volcanics of the Cretaceous Gyeongsang Basin. The ore mineralization took place through three distinct stages of quartz (I and II stages) and calcite veins (III stage) which fill the pre-existing fault breccia zones. These stages were separated in time by tectonic fracturing and brecciation events. The reflection variations of one mineral depending on mineralization sequence are considered to be resulted from variation in its chemical composition due to different physico-chemical conditions in the hydrothermal system. The reflection power of sphalerite increases with the content of Fe substituted for Zn. Reflectances of the sphalerite grain are lower on (111) than on (100) surface. The spectral profiles depend on the internal reflection color. Sphalerite, showing green, yellow and reddish brown internal reflection, have the highest reflection power at $544m{\mu}$ (green), $593m{\mu}$ (yellow) and $615m{\mu}$ (red) wavelength, respectively. Chalcopyrite is recognized as biaxial negative from the reflectivity data of randomly oriented grains measured at the most sensitivity at $544m{\mu}$. The microindentation hardness against the Fe content (wt. %) for the sphalerite increases to 8.05% Fe and then decreases toward 9.5% Fe content. Vickers hardness of the sphalerite is considerably higher on surface of (100) than on (111). The relationship between Vickers hardness and crystal orientation of the galena was determined to be $VHN_{(111)}$ > $VHN_{(210)}$ > $VHN_{(100)}$. The softer sulfides have the wider variation of the diagonal length in the indentation. Diagonal length in the indentation is pyrite

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.70-83
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• 1999

The birth of a premature infant is distressing for its parents. The parents of a premature infant experience stress according to the infant's physical appearance and behavior, the environment of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) , and the alteration in the parental role. Especially, a mother of a premature infant feels distressed even after the discharge of the infant : therefore, she has difficulties in maternal role performance. The main purpose of this study is to identify the effects of the planned infant care information program in order to lower the stress level for mothers of premature infants caused by the birth and hospitalization in NICU of premature infants, to reduce the maternal role strain, and to promote the maternal role performance after the infants' discharge. This study employed two methods of research at the same time : quasi -experimental non-equivalent pre and post test to compare : non-equivalent post test to compare. The total number of subjects was 19 who were assigned to the research program : 12 mothers of premature infants at the NICU at the Ch university hospital and 7 at the NICU at the Y general hospital located in Chounju city. The data were collected for 79 days from August 18 to November 5, 1998. The questionnaire method was applied for the data collection, and the measures used in this study were Parental Stressor Scale : NICU(Miles, 1993), the Maternal Role Strain Measures ( Hobbs, 1968 ; Steffensmeier, 1982) , and Self Confidence Scale (Pharis, 1978). Research procedure is as follows : after preliminary examination, the experimental subjects, the mothers of premature infants at the Nl CU at Ch university hospital were provided with slide films and information developed by the researcher based on existing documents and data. It took two 60-minute sessions a week for two weeks, and the mothers' stress level was measured using the same instrument twice one week and two week after the infants' hospitalization. The stress level of the contrast subjects, the mothers at Y general hospital was measured during the same period. The experimental subjects were provided with booklets on matters that require attention after the infants' discharge and on developmental project, and they were educated to play the maternal role in person for 2-3 hours a week : breast-feeding, burping a baby, and changing diapers. One week after the infants' discharge, the maternal role strain and the maternal role performance were examined in two groups of the subjects. The analysis of collected data was done using descriptive statistics including real numbers, percentages, averages, and standard deviations. Mann-Whitney test ; x² test ; Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance ; ANCOVA Spearman's rho correlation coefficients. The results on this study were as follows. (1) The examination of the same quality showed that there were no differences in the general and obstetrical characters between the two groups. However, in terms of the characters of premature infants. just right after their birth, the infants at the contrast group weighed more than those at the experimental group(U=16.5, p=.02), and the former was in mother's womb longer than the latter(U=15.5, p=.02). (2) The stress level of the mothers provided with the plannned nursing intervention program became lower as time passed compared to the others'(F=16.61, p=.00) Even when the influence of weight at birth and the length of gestation was removed among the premature infants' characters, the mothers' stress levels made a statistical difference 2 weeks after the infants' hospitalization depending on treatment (F=8.00, p=.01) (3) The maternal role strain of the mothers provided with the planned nursing intervention program was lower than the others'(U=2.0, p=.00). Even when the influence of weight at birth and the length of gestation was removed among the premature infants' characters, the maternal role strain levels made a statistical difference 2 weeks after the infants' hospitalization, depending on treatment(F=14.72, p=.00). (4) The maternal role performance level of the mothers provided with the planned nursing program was higher than the others'(U=.0, p=.00). Even when the influence of weight at birth and the length of gestation was removed among the premature infants' characters, the mothers' stress levels made a statistical difference 2 weeks after the infants' hospitalization, depending on treatment(F=8.00, p=.01). (5) The correlation between a mother's stress level 2 weeks after her infant's hospitalization, the maternal role strain and the maternal role performance were compared : the stress and the maternal role strain were statistically irrelevant to each other(r=.33, p=.12) : the stress was found to be in inverse proportion to the maternal role performance(r=-.53, p=.02). The maternal role strain was in inverse proportion to the maternal role performance as well(r=-.50, p=.00). In conclusion, for the mothers provided with the planned nursing intervention program, their stress level was getting lower as time passed during the infants' hospitalization, their maternal role strain reduced when they took care of their infants after their discharge, and their maternal role performance level was high compared to the other mothers. Besides, the lower the stress level of mothers of premature infants was during the infants' hospitalization, the higher the maternal role performance after their discharge was. The lower maternal role strain was, the higher the maternal role performance was as well. These results of the study suggested that the nursing intervention program for the mothers of premature infants developed by the researcher would be effectively applied to nursing practice, and it would be a foundation for the development of this kind of program.