• Journal of the Korean Society of Tobacco Science
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.104-109
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• 2007

The amount of nitrate in the tobacco leaf has been shown to be correlated with the levels of alkaloids and nitrosamines. Also the nitrate content of the tobacco correlated closely with the smoke delivery of nitric oxide and tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs). These are related with the effect of the reconstituted tobacco leaf(Recon) using the tobacco stems. Adsorption process is gaining interest as one of the effective processes of advanced liquid treatment for liquid containing unnecessary materials. This study is focused on the evaluation of four anion exchangers, a cation exchanger and an activated carbon, as adsorbents for reduction of nitrate anion from Recon extract. In order to analyze the nitrate anion, the IC method used in this work was carried out with a Dionex ICS-2000 system. The effects of dosages of adsorbents and concentration of extract on the removal of nitrate anion were examined. Experimental results showed that for nitrate-anion exchanger, nitrate-cation exchanger and nitrate-activated carbon adsorption system, approximately 70 %, 10 %, and 4 % removal efficiencies were achieved at the Brix 10 and the 20 % addition. Although the activated carbon was little efficient for removal of nitrate ion, the removal of nicotine was very efficient at given conditions.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.275-283
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• 2019

This study was carried out to investigate the various roles and effects of Morinda citrifolia L.(noni) on the human body and to utilize the findings obtained for future disease related research on food and nutrition. Morinda citrifolia L. has been used in folk medicine by Polynesians for over 2,000 years and is reported to have a broad range of therapeutic effects. Noni is an alkaloid system such as proxeronine, scopoletin, octanoic acid, terpenoids, alkaloids, anthraquinones, nordamnacanthal, morindone, rubiadin, b-sitosterol, flavone glycosides, linoleic acid, acubin, L-asperuloside, caproic acid, caprylic acid, ursolic acid, rutin. Noni's side effects have been reported to affect anti-inflammatory, analgesics, LDL antioxidant, anti-tumor, antifungal, antibiotic, antiviral, antiparasitic and immunosuppressive effects. In particular, noni's efficacy is considered to be important for the prevention of diseases by inhibiting active oxygen, which is a direct cause of oxidative stress, through various metabolites through 'xeronine system'. Noni's functions and effects that have been examined in this study include anti-inflammation, pain relief, antioxidant, anticancer, hepatocyte protection among others. Therefore, noni's extracts are considered highly useful for diverse scientific and nutritional health functional foods.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.241-255
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• 2023

The robust development of frog farming offered high economic benefits but created a large waste residue of frog bones and skin that received little attention. Over the years, inedible by-products have often been processed into biomolecules of potential value and environmental benefits, such as collagen, gelatin, and bioactive peptides. An overview of bioactive compounds on frog skins from various countries indicated that brevinin was the most abundant biological peptide found in frog skin. Other remaining compounds also possessed their highlighted activities, including antibacterial, stimulating insulin release and gastric hormone release, anti-cancer, and neuroregulatory. Notably, various components have been analyzed in the structure and sequence to give meaningful insight into clustering components related to their biological activity. This review may create a source of raw materials for the developmental research of by-products from frog skin and concomitantly reduce environmental pollution.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.43.1-43.18
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• 2022

Atropa belladonna is a valuable medicinal plant and a commercial source of tropane alkaloids, which are frequently utilized in therapeutic practice. In this study, bioinformatic methodologies were used to examine the pattern of coding sequences and the factors that might influence codon usage bias in the chloroplast genome of Atropa belladonna and other nightshade genomes. The chloroplast engineering being a promising field in modern biotechnology, the characterization of chloroplast genome is very important. The results revealed that the chloroplast genomes of Nicotiana tabacum, Solanum lycopersicum, Capsicum frutescens, Datura stramonium, Lyciumbarbarum, Solanum melongena, and Solanum tuberosum exhibited comparable codon usage patterns. In these chloroplast genomes, we observed a weak codon usage bias. According to the correspondence analysis, the genesis of the codon use bias in these chloroplast genes might be explained by natural selection, directed mutational pressure, and other factors. GC12 and GC3S were shown to have no meaningful relationship. Further research revealed that natural selection primarily shaped the codon usage in A. belladonna and other nightshade genomes for translational efficiency. The sequencing properties of these chloroplast genomes were also investigated by investing the occurrences of palindromes and inverted repeats, which would be useful for future research on medicinal plants.

• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.17-27
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• 2006

Objectives : Ma-huang (Ephedra sinica) is frequently prescribed for obesity management in oriental medicine. The main component is ephedrine alkaloids which can have serious adverse side effects such as heart attack, stroke, sudden death. There are no scientific guidelines for Ma-huang usage in the safe treatment of obesity in oriental medicine. We reviewed published studies on its safety to make evidence based guidelines. Methods : We searched electronic databases up to May 2006. We limited evidence to controlled trials for efficacy or safety, case reports for safety, and studies for Ma-huang contents analysis. Results and Conclusions : In clinical trials for weight loss, Ma-huang and ephedrine promote modest short-term weight loss but have no serious adverse effects, have only a few adverse effects associated with increased risk of psychiatric, autonomic, gastrointestinal symptoms and heart palpitations. In case reports, there have been serious adverse effects including stroke, heart attack, and death using typical doses of ephedrine or no associated illness. There are factors related to serious adverse effects, such as overuse, lack of standardization, individual sensitivity, and interactions with other drugs. Studies relating to these factors should be analyzed for safe use of Ma-huang and ephedrine. After analyzing related studies, we suggest guidelines for Ma-huang usage. We propose that the dosage should be within 4.5-7.5g per day for up to 6 months for generally healthy individual. It's use is contraindicated in individuals with heart disease, thyroid disease, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, psychiatric disorders, glaucoma, urination disorders, enlarged prostate, persons using MAOIs, methyldopa and sympathomimetic agents.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Tobacco Science
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.136-144
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• 1997

Cigarette smoking is known to suppress both 1-methy14-phenyl-155,Ltetrahydropy-ridine (MPTP)-induced parkinsonism and idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the precise mechanism underlying its protective action against PD is not clearly elucidated yet. In order to find possible clue on the mechanism of protective action of smoking, we investigated the inhibitory effect of cigarette smoke components on rat brain mitochondria1 monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B), responsible enzyme for the activation of MPTP to its toxic metabolitesr and identified the components having an inhibitory potency on this enzyme from cigarette smoke. Total 31 eligible constituents including nicotine were selected from cigarette smoke condensates via solvents partitioning and silica gel chromatographic separation, and inhibitory potencies of 19 components on MAO-B were determined. Hydroquinone and methylcatechol, the phenolic components, showed the strongest inhibitory potencies on MAO-B activity in the components tested. 3,4-Dihydroxybenzylamino, myosmine and indole in basic fracton, eugenol in phenolic fraction, and farnesol in neutral fraction also inhibited the enzyme activity dose-dependently. Among tobacco alkaloids tested only myosmine was effective for the inhibition of this enzyme. These results suggest that the decrease in MAO-B activity by such components derived from cigarette smoke seems to be related to the suppression of MPTP-induced neurotoxicity and to the less incidence of Parkinson's disease in smokers than in nonsmokers.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.356-366
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• 2012

Background: Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) involving sensory and motor nerve damage or dysfunction is a common and serious clinical problem that affects many patients receiving cancer treatment. This condition may pose challenges for the clinician to diagnose and manage, particularly in patients with coexisting conditions or disorders that involve the peripheral nervous system. Many chemotherapeutic agents used today are associated with the development of serious and dose-limiting CIPN that can adversely affect the administration of planned therapy and can impair quality of life by interference with the patients' activities of daily living. The most important clinical objective in the evaluation of patients with CIPN is to determine their level of functional impairment involving activities of daily living. These findings are used to make medical decisions to continue, modify, delay, or stop treatment. The most commonly reported drugs to cause CIPN include taxanes, platinum agents, vinca alkaloids, thalidomide, and bortezomib. We aimed to determine PN incidence during cisplatin, carboplatin and oxaliplatin administration. Methods: We collected data from 125 patients who received at least one cycle of cisplatin, carboplatin or oxaliplatin. They completed a self-reported questionnaire and items related to their disease and peripheral neuropathy. The investigators filled in part of items about disease and treatment. Patient Neurotoxicity Qeustionnaire developed by Bionumerik company were applied for PN assessment. Results: The incidences of sensory neurotoxicities of cisplatin, carboplatin and oxaliplatin were respectively 23%, 56% and 50%. The incidences of motor neurotoxicities of cisplatin, carboplatin and oxaliplatin were respectively 18%, 42% and 19%. The incidences of severe neurotoxicities of cisplatin, carboplatin and oxaliplatin were respectively 13%, 28% and 14%. The incidences of PN were associated with cumulative dose but not age, gender and concurrent illness. 19.2% of the patients (24/125) were prescribed with gabapentin, nortriptyline or gabapentin plus nortriptyline to reduce these peripheral symptoms and 75% of the patients answered the drug were effective. Conclusion: Incidence of PN after cisplatin or oxaliplatin administration is cumulative dose-related. Physician-based assessments under-reported the incidence and severity of CIPN. To overcome this limitation, diagnostic tools specifically designed to assess peripheral neuropathy severity associated with chemotherapy must be developed.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.186-195
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• 2015

Anthranilate synthase (AS) is a key enzyme in the biosynthesis of tryptophan (Trp), which is the precursor of bioactive metabolites like indole-3-acetic acid and other indole alkaloids. Alpha anthranilate synthase 2 (OsASA2) plays a critical role in the feedback inhibition of tryptophan biosynthesis. In this study, two vectors with single (F124V) and double (S126F/L530D) point mutations of the OsASA2 gene for feedback-insensitive ${\alpha}$ subunit of rice anthranilate synthase were constructed and transformed into wildtype Dongjinbyeo by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Transgenic single and double mutant lines were selected as a single copy using TaqMan PCR utilized nos gene probe. To select intergenic lines, the flanking sequence of RB or LB was digested with a BfaI enzyme. Four intergenic lines were selected using a flanking sequence tagged (FST) analysis. Expression in rice (Oryza sativa L.) of the transgenes resulted in the accumulation of tryptophan (Trp), indole-3-acetonitrile (IAN), and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) in leaves and tryptophan content as a free amino acid in seeds also increased up to 30 times relative to the wildtype. Two homozygous event lines, S-TG1 and D-TG1, were selected for characterization of agronomic traits and metabolite profiling of seeds. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs), related to ion transfer and nutrient supply, were upregulated and DEGs related to co-enzymes that work as functional genes were down regulated. These results suggest that two homozygous event lines may prove effective for the breeding of crops with an increased level of free tryptophan content.

• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.117-130
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• 2008

Korean traditional medicine has been used for the treatment of the various diseases based on both oriental medicinal theory and clinical trials. Thus, the prescriptions of Korean traditional medicine would be useful for the development of new therapeutics. This research focuses on the fundamental study in Korean traditional prescriptions for the development of new hepatoprotective agents. We found two prescriptions. Injinho-Tang and Osumogwa-Tang, showed the significant DPPH free radical scavenging and hepatoprotective effect, respectively. It is well-known that free radical scavenging effect is related to the prevention of various pathological events including liver injury. This paper deals with hepatoprotective effects on tacrine-induced cytotoxicity in Hep G2 cells, free radicals scavenging on both DPPH and superoxide of above two prescriptions. Hot water extract of Injinho-Tang did not show the significant hepatoprotective effect on tacrine-induced cytotoxicity in Hep G2 cells, however, it shows the significant scavenging effects for both DPPH and superoxide radicals. On the other hand, all of the hot water extracts of constituent herbal drugs in Injinho-Tang exhibited the promising protective effect on tacrine-induced cytotoxicity in Hep G2 cells. Of these, water extract of Rhei Rhizoma showed the most prominent effect on tacrine-induced cytotoxicity in Hep G2 cells. Bioassay-guided fractionation of Rhei Rhizoma extract has furnished four compounds, and their chemical structures have been identified by comparison of their spectral data with those of literature as chrysophanol (1), emodin (2), 3,5-dihydroxy-4'- methoxystilbene (3), and rhapontigenin (4), respectively. Among the isolated compounds, compounds 2-4 revealed the significant hepatoprotective effect in vitro when their $EC_{50}$ values compare with that of silybin, as a positive control. It also exhibited that emodin possessed the most hepatoprotective effect among these active compounds. In case of Osumogwa-Tang, its hot water extract showed the moderate protective effect on tacrine-induced cytotoxicity in Hep G2 cells. Hot water extract of Chaenomelis Fructus, one of the constituent herbal drug of this prescription, exhibited the significant hepatoprotective effect with $EC_{50}$ value of $7.8{\pm}0.1\;{\mu}g/ml$, however, it showed strong cytotoxicity in Hep G2 cells above the concentration of $25\;{\mu}g/ml$. It was revealed that both hot water extract of Evodiae Fructus and its butanol soluble fraction showed the moderate hepatoprotective effect but concentration-dependent activity in Hep G2 assay system. Two quinolone alkaloids, evocarpine and dihydroevocarpine, also tested for their hepatoprotective effects on tacrine-induced cytotoxicity in Hep G2 cells, however, these two compounds derived from the Evodiae Fructus as the major constituents did not show in vitro hepatoprotective effect. From these results, it would be necessary to further isolation of its hepatoprotective compounds from the butanol soluble fraction of the hot water extract of Evodiae Fructus.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.39 no.11
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• pp.1705-1709
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• 2010

Peppers (Capsicum annuum L.) are a rich source of phytochemicals including polyphenolics, flavonoids, capsaicinoids and ascorbic acid. Capsaicinoids are a group of 12 or more related alkaloids responsible for the pungent sensation in the fruits of the genus Capsicum. Ascorbic acid is another functional and nutritional constituent of peppers. In this study, the contents of two major capsaicinoids (capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin) and ascorbic acid in 131 pepper breeding lines were quantified by HPLC. In 131 pepper breeding lines, capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin contents were in the range of 0.0 to 219.6 and 0.0 to 110.8 mg/100 g, respectively. The breeding lines with higher capsaicin content contained higher dihydrocapsaicin content as well. Ascorbic acid contents were 264.9 to 1695.5 mg/100 g for the 131 pepper breeding lines. The analytical method validation parameters including accuracy, repeatability, and reproducibility were calculated to ensure the method's validity. This study provides basic information to plant breeders and biotechnologists who are planning to breed genotypes with high content of phytochemicals.