• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.50-61
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• 2020

Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) is an important legume species that produces seeds that are rich in phenolic compounds and dietary nutrients. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the agricultural characters, phenolic and nutritional contents, and antioxidant capacities of seeds from 82 pigeon pea germplasms cultivated in the Republic of Korea. The accessions exhibited compact (24.39%), semi-spreading (74.39%), or spreading (1.22%) growth habits and determinate (89.02%), indeterminate (8.54%), or semi-determinate (2.44%) flowering patterns. Days to 75% maturity ranged from 30 to 72 d, and yield per plant ranged from 6.00 to 148.60 g. Meanwhile, total phenolic, crude protein, crude fiber, and dietary fiber contents ranged from 16.42 ± 0.62 to 29.67 ± 0.43 mg gallic acid equivalent per g of dried extract, from 16.76 ± 6.74% to 22.61 ± 0.05%, from 4.70 ± 0.24 to 8.63 ± 0.02%, and from 12.98 ± 0.71 to 33.19 ± 1.50%, respectively. In addition, DPPH radical-scavenging capacity ranged from 1.61 ± 0.10 to 16.04 ± 2.30 mg ascorbic acid equivalent per g of dried extract, and Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity ranged from 3.03 ± 0.86 to 42.24 ± 0.72 mg Trolox equivalent per g of dried extract. Phenolic content was correlated with both DPPH radical-scavenging capacity (r = 0.63) and Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (r = 0.29). Nine accessions (IT170290, IT170291, IT170270, IT170276, IT170379, IT170386, IT170388, IT170418, and IT170340) exhibited early maturity, compact and erect growth habits, and above average antioxidant activities and phenolic and protein contents. In addition, accessions IT170290 and IT170291 were especially promising pigeon pea germplasms to grow, owing to various favorable characteristics (e.g., high yield and dietary fiber content). Hence, these accessions could be useful cultivars to the Republic of Korea if considered in future agricultural systems.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.239-252
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• 2016

Two-dimensional materials offer unique characteristics for membrane applications to water technology. With its atomic thickness, availability and stackability, graphene in particular is attracting attention in the research and industrial communities. Here, we present a brief overview of the recent research activities in this rising topic with bringing two membrane architecture into focus. Pristine graphene in single- and polycrystallinity poses a unique diffusion barrier property for most of chemical species at broad ambient conditions. If well designed and controlled, physical and chemical perforation can turn this barrier layer to a thinnest feasible membrane that permits ultimate permeation at given pore sizes. For subcontinuum pores, both molecular dynamics simulations and experiments predict potential salt rejection to envisage a seawater desalination application. Another novel membrane architecture is a stack of individual layers of 2D materials. When graphene-based platelets are chemically modified and stacked, the interplanar spacing forms a narrow transport pathway capable of separation of solvated ions from pure water. Bearing unbeknownst permeance and selectivity, both membrane architecture - ultrathin porous graphene and stacked platelets - offer a promising prospect for new extraordinary membranes for water technology applications.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.419-426
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• 2015

The aims of this study were to isolate spore-forming Bacillus strains that exhibit high digestibility and anti-pathogenic bacteria toward feed for calves. Total 136 spore-forming strains were isolated from finished feeds and their ingredients. Among them, 93 strains were identified as Bacillus species when analyzed by 16S rRNA sequencing. For industrial use, three strains named as Bacillus licheniformis SHS14, B. subtilis LCB7, B. amyloliquefaciens LCB10 were selected after evaluating the industrial standards that are related with heat and acid resistance, enzyme activities, and anti-pathogenic activities against Samonella dublin ATCC15480 and E. coli K99. After each culture, 3 selected strains were mixed together at 1:1:1 (v/v/v) ratio and then prepared as the mixed starter culture for feeding. The changes in microbial community were analyzed via 16S rRNA metagenomics. The initial community ratio among three strains was maintained even after manufacturing into final products. Also, in vitro, enzymatic and anti-pathogenic activities were almost same as those when cultured in single culture, and results of anti-pathogenic activities conducted with calves showed 90% activities against lincomycin, which would be indicative of a promising feed starter.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.21-27
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• 2016

Vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) using the electrolytes containing various vanadium ions in sulfuric acid as supporting solution are one of the energy storage devices in alternatively charging and discharging operation modes. The positive electrolyte contains $V^{5+}/V^{4+}$ and the negative electrolyte $V^{2+}/V^{3+}$ depending on the operation mode. To prevent the mixing of two solutions, proton exchange membranes are mainly used in VRFBs. Nafion 117 could be the most promising candidate due to the strong oxidative property of $V^{5+}$ ion, but causes high crossover of electroactive species to result in a decrease in coulombic efficiency. In this study, the composite membranes using Nafion ionomer and porous polyethylene substrate were prepared to keep good chemical stability and to decrease the cost of membranes, and were compared to the properties and performance of the commercially available electrolyte membrane, Nafion 117. As a result, the water uptake and ionic conductivity of the composite membranes increased as the thickness of the composite membranes increased, but those of Nafion 117 slightly decreased. The permeability of vanadium ions for the composite membranes significantly decreased compared to that for Nafion 117. In a single cell test for the composite membranes, the voltage efficiency decreased and the coulombic efficiency increased, finally resulting in the similar energy efficiency. In conclusion, the less cost of the composite membranes by decreasing 6.4 wt.% of the amount of perfluorinated sulfonic acid polymer due to the introduction of porous substrate and lower vanadium ion permeability to decrease self-discharge were achieved than Nafion 117.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.9
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• pp.1280-1286
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• 2016

This study was aimed to evaluate the in vitro effects of medicinal herb extracts (MHEs) on ruminal fermentation characteristics and the inhibition of protozoa to reduce methane production in the rumen. A fistulated Hanwoo was used as a donor of rumen fluid. The MHEs (T1, Veratrum patulum; T2, Iris ensata var. spontanea; T3, Arisaema ringens; T4, Carduus crispus; T5, Pueraria thunbergiana) were added to the in vitro fermentation bottles containing the rumen fluid and medium. Total volatile fatty acid (tVFA), total gas production, gas profiles, and the ruminal microbe communities were measured. The tVFA concentration was increased or decreased as compared to the control, and there was a significant (p<0.05) difference after 24 h incubation. pH and ruminal disappearance of dry matter did not show significant difference. As the in vitro ruminal fermentation progressed, total gas production in added MHEs was increased, while the methane production was decreased compared to the control. In particular, Arisaema ringens extract led to decrease methane production by more than 43%. In addition, the result of real-time polymerase chain reaction indicted that the protozoa population in all added MHEs decreased more than that of the control. In conclusion, the results of this study indicated that MHEs could have properties that decrease ruminal methanogenesis by inhibiting protozoa species and might be promising feed additives for ruminants.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.125-131
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• 2015

Currently, taxol is mainly extracted from the bark of yews; however, this method can not meet its increasing demand on the market because yews grow very slowly and are a rare and endangered species belonging to first-level conservation plants. Recently, increasing efforts have been made to develop alternative means of taxol production; microbe fermentation would be a very promising method to increase the production scale of taxol. To determine the activities of the taxol extracted from endophytic fungus N. sylviforme HDFS4-26 in inhibiting the growth and causing the apoptosis of cancer cells, on comparison with the taxol extracted from the bark of yew, we used cellular morphology, cell counting kit (CCK-8) assay, staining (HO33258/PI and Giemsa), DNA agarose gel electrophoresis and flow cytometry (FCM) analyses to determine the apoptosis status of breast cancer MCF-7 cells, cervical cancer HeLa cells and ovarian cancer HO8910 cells. Our results showed that the fungal taxol inhibited the growth of MCF-7, HeLa and HO8910 cells in a dose-and time-dependent manner. IC50 values of fungal taxol for HeLa, MCF-7 and HO8910 cells were $0.1-1.0{\mu}g/ml$, $0.001-0.01{\mu}g/ml$ and $0.01-0.1{\mu}g/ml$, respectively. The fungal taxol induced these tumor cells to undergo apoptosis with typical apoptotic characteristics, including morphological changes for chromatin condensation, chromatin crescent formation, nucleus fragmentation, apoptotic body formation and G2/M cell cycle arrest. The fungal taxol at the $0.01-1.0{\mu}g/ml$ had significant effects of inducing apoptosis between 24-48 h, which was the same as that of taxol extracted from yews. This study offers important information and a new resource for the production of an important anticancer drug by endofungus fermentation.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.1557-1562
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• 2005

A mechanism of hair cell damage caused by noise and ototoxic agents is mediated through generation of free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS). It is known that most of animals have defense systems to protect against ROS, and the cochlea of inner ear in animals also has ROS defense systems including several antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPX), glutathione reductase (GR), and glutathione (GSH), which efficiently detoxifying ROS generated under normal condition. Steamed roots of Rehmannia glutinosa have been traditionally used in Oriental medicine for the treatment of auditory disease such as tinnitus, vertigo, and hearing loss as well as inflammatory diseases, hectic fever, night sweat, and headache. In the present study, we showed that the ethanol extract from steamed roots of R. giutinosa (ESRG) increased the antioxidant enzymes such as SOD, CAT, GPX, and GR activities and GSH level in HEI-OC1 auditory cells. This extract itself did not show any significant cytotoxicity up to $50{\mu}g/ml$. Our results further support the view that ESRG is promising sources of potential antioxidants. Future studies will be aimed at investigating the effects of ESRG on the regulation of cellular mechanisms and isolating and identifying the substances responsible for the regulation of antioxidant enzyme system from the plant extracts.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.646-652
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• 2016

Biomass is regarded as one of the promising energy sources to deal with the depletion of fossil fuels and the global warming issue. Biocrude-oil can be produced through the fast pyrolysis of biomass feedstocks such as wood, crops, agricultural and forestry residues. It has significantly higher viscosity than that of conventional petroleum fuel and contains solid residues, which can lower the spray and atomization characteristics when applied to the burner. In addition, biocrude-oil consists of hundreds of chemical species derived from cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, and evaporation characteristics of the biocrude-oil droplet are distinct from the conventional fuels. In the present study, a numerical study was performed to investigate the evaporation characteristics of biocrude-oil droplet using a simplified composition of the model biocrude-oil which consists of acetic acid, levoglucosan, phenol, and water. The evaporation characteristics of droplets were compared at various surrounding air temperatures, initial droplet diameters, and ethanol mixing ratios. The evaporation time becomes shorter with increasing air temperature, and it is much sensitive to the air temperature particularly in low temperature ranges. It was also found that the biocrude-oil droplet evaporates faster in cases of the smaller initial droplet diameter and larger ethanol mixing ratio.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.7
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• pp.713-720
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• 2014

In this study, the antioxidative and anti-inflammatory activities of Ardisia arborescens ethanol extract (AAEE) were evaluated using in vitro assays and a cell culture model system. AAEE exhibited potent scavenging activity against 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH), similar to ascorbic acid, which was used as a positive control. Moreover, AAEE effectively suppressed lipopolysaccharide (LPS)- and hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$)-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) in RAW 264.7 cells. Furthermore, AAEE induced the expression of antioxidative enzymes, heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1), and thioredoxin reductase 1 (TrxR1), in addition to their upstream transcription factor, nuclear factor-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), in a dose-dependent manner. The upstream signaling pathways of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) might regulate the modulation of HO-1, TrxR1, and Nrf2 expression. On the other hand, AAEE inhibited LPS-induced nitric oxide (NO) formation, without cytotoxicity. Suppression of NO formation was the result of AEEE-induced down-regulation of inducible NO synthase (iNOS). The suppression of NO and iNOS by AAEE might be modulated by their upstream transcription factor, nuclear factor (NF)-${\kappa}B$, and activator protein (AP)-1 pathways. Taken together, these results provide important new insights into the antioxidative and anti-inflammatory activities of A. arborescens. AAAEE might represent a promising material in the field of nutraceuticals.

• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.216-230
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• 2005

Although the field of study in immune enhancing compounds is relatively new, natural products from plants represent a rich and promising source of novel molecules with immunomodulating properties, Microglial cells, the main immune effector cells of the brain, usually display a ramified morphology and low expression levels of immunologically relevant antigens such as MHC class I and class II. Since any compound which participates in activation of phagocytic cells contributes to the production of potentially toxic factors, the search for convenient in vitro test-systems and study of mechanisms of action of these agents are of great interest. Human blood polymorphonuclear (PMN) cells and primary microglial cells isolated from Sprague-Dawley rats were used as cellular screening tests for study of phagocytosis-stimulating action of immunomodulating agents. Numbers of phagocytic activity were evaluated by the phagocyte ingestion of yeast cells and NO-synthase activity, nitrite production, and nitroblue tetrazolium test were determined after phagocyte stimulation. It was possible to demonstrate that indexes of phagocytic activity can be used as quantitative indicators for measurement immunomodulating activity. As a positive control, Zymosan A-induced phagocytosis in both PMN cells and primary microglial cells was used. $IFN-{\gamma}$ (0.1 -1 U/ml) stimulated phagocytosis in PMN cells 1.2 times after 2 - 3 h incubation, although at higher concentrations (10 - 100 U/ml) it strongly inhibited phagocytosis. In a similar way, at higher concentrations, $IFN-{\gamma}$ (100 - 500 U/ml) suppressed phagocytosis in zymosan-A stimulated microglial cells. When Polypodium leucotomus, cambricum and vulgare extracts were tested alone, increased levels of phagocytosis were observed in PMN. In addition, microglial cells showed both increased phagocytosis and MHC class-II antigen expressions. Surprisingly, when PMN and microglia were treated with a combination of Polypodium and $IFN-{\gamma}$, phagocytosis was not inhibited. We did not find changes in NO-synthase activity and nitrite production in both microglia and PMN cells activated by different immunomodulating agents. These results indicate that primary microglial cell cultures as well as human PMN cells can provide reproducible quantitative results in screening phagocytic activity of different immunoactive compounds. Furthermore, both inhibitory or activation mechanisms might be studied using these in vitro experimental approaches.