• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.215-222
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• 2019

Muscle dysfunction may arise from skeletal muscle atrophy caused by aging, injury, oxidative stress, and hereditary disease. Powdered heat-killed Enterococcus faecalis (EF-2001) has anti-allergy, anti-inflammatory, and anti-tumor effects. However, its antioxidant and anti-atrophy effects are poorly characterized. In this study, we examined the effects of EF-2001 on muscle atrophy. To determine the protective effect of EF-2001 on oxidative stress, C2C12 myoblasts were treated with $H_2O_2$ to induce oxidative stress. This induced cell damage, which was reduced by treatment with EF-2001. The mechanism of EF-2001's effect was examined in response to oxidative stress. Treatment with EF-2001 reversed the expression of HSP70 and SOD1 proteins. Also, mRNA levels of Atrogin-1/MAFbx and MuRF1 increased under oxidative stress conditions but decreased following EF-2001 treatment. To evaluate muscle volume, two and three dimensional models of the muscles were analyzed using micro-CT. As expected, muscle volume decreased after sciatic denervation and recovered after oral administration of EF-2001. Therefore, EF-2001 is a candidate for the treatment of muscular atrophy, and future discovery of the additional effects of EF-2001 may yield further applications as a functional food with useful activities in various fields.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.62 no.1
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• pp.25-30
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• 2019

This study investigated the quality changes in whole super sweet corn during thermal processing to extend its shelf-life. To minimize the reduction of unique texture of whole sweet corn after the sterilization, the alcohol sanitation applied and the cold point of a whole corn ear was determined using a computer simulation. The cold point was located between the corn kernel and the cob. The microorganisms on the surface of sweet corn were reduced by more than 1 log CFU/g after alcohol sanitation, then the whole corn was treated to satisfy the degree of sterilization ($F_{121.1}=4$). The quality of sterilized sweet corn was compared with the control that was treated with steaming. The quality changes of sterilized sweet corn during storage were monitored for 9 months at $25^{\circ}C$. The hardness was maintained within 30% of its initial value. The minimum of hardness was $464.50{\pm}103.35g$ and maximum of hardness was $514.50{\pm}81.83g$. The differences in the sugar content among the samples were found, but the sugar content of corn kernel remained within 30% of the control, ranging from $28.83{\pm}1.05$ to $34.36{\pm}0.42%$. The yellowness was higher than that of control by 5%. The maximum value of yellowness was $34.36{\pm}0.42$. The general bacteria and molds and yeasts in corn kernel stored at $25^{\circ}C$ were not detected after 9 months of storage at $25^{\circ}C$. Therefore, in this study, we have demonstrated that the thermal sterilized method extends the shelf-life of whole sweet corn with minimizing its quality changes over 6 months in room temperature.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.65-71
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• 2019

With regard to current Neck CT, Bismuth shielding boards are often being used to reduce exposure to superficial organs such as the thyroid. However, beam hardening often occurs near superficial organs with Bismuth shielding boards and variations in CT Number, Noise, and Uniformity values occur severely. This study looked into the usefulness of shielding boards made from aluminum and silicone that can be easily obtained and have good machinability by comparing them to the existing Bismuth shielding board. An Aluminum 7.3mm and a Silicone 21.5mm were made with shielding ratios similar to that of the Bismuth(0.06 mmPb). TLD (TLD-100) was placed on the thyroid area of the Phantom (RS-108T) and 5 doses were measured for each. To compare image quality, CT Number and Noise variations in axial images of the thyroid area in Neck CT images were compared. Also, variations in CT Number, Noise, and Uniformity were measured in the AAPM phantom images and compared. In the results, when thyroid doses for each shielding board were compared, the Bismuth shielding board showed a 14% reduction, the Silicone 21.5mm showed a 15% reduction, and the Aluminum 7.3mm showed a 13% reduction compared to the Non-Shield. Statistically, there were no significant differences in comparison with the Bismuth shielding board. In CT Number variations of thyroid area images, variations were largest for the Bismuth shielding board. With Uniformity evaluations of the AAPM phantom, the Bismuth shielding board was found unsuitable and the Aluminum 7.3mm and Silicone 21.5mm satisfied the acceptance criteria. Research results show that the Aluminum 7.3mm and Silicone 21.5mm have a similar shielding ratio to the high-priced Bismuth shielding board that is currently being used clinically and in comparison tests of CT Number attenuation coefficient variations, Noise, and Uniformity which are phantom image evaluation items, they proved to be better than Bismuth shielding boards. If various shielding boards are made using aluminum and silicone, sized appropriately for superficial organs, it would be useful in decreasing patient doses.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.104-117
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• 2019

Purpose: This study examined dietary and health characteristics of the young-old and the old-old by food security status. Methods: The study used data from the $6^{th}$ (2013 ~ 2015) Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The study subjects consisted of 3,948 subjects, of whom 2,445 were the young-old (aged 65 to 74 years) and 1,503 were the old-old (aged 75 years and over). Food security status was evaluated using an 18-item questionnaire. Energy intake, nutrient densities, and prevalence of insufficient nutrient intake were assessed. Food intake was evaluated in terms of the number of food group servings. Dietary behaviors and health status were also assessed. Results: The prevalence of food insecurity among the young-old and the old-old was 10.0% and 11.6%, respectively. Among the young-old, the food insecure group had a significantly higher level of prevalence of insufficient intake for all the nutrients (protein, vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin C, calcium, phosphorous, and iron) assessed in this study compared with the food secure group. In case of the old-old, significant differences were found only for four nutrients (protein, riboflavin, niacin, and phosphorus) in the prevalence of insufficient nutrient intake between the food secure and the food insecure groups. Kinds of food groups with significantly different numbers of servings by food security status were dissimilar between the two age groups. In both the age groups, the food insecure group consumed a significantly lower number of servings in meat fish eggs legumes and fruits than the food secure group; grains and vegetables intake in the young-old and oils sweets intake in the old-old differed in the number of servings by food security status. Among the young-old, the prevalence of chewing difficulties in the food insecure group was significantly higher than that of the food secure group, while among the old-old, no significant differences were found by food security status. Conclusion: Dietary and health characteristics of the young-old and the old-old differed by food security status. Such differences were more apparent in the young-old than the old-old. Therefore, it is suggested that food and nutrition assistant programs should be designed with consideration of the differences.

• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.118-131
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• 2019

In order to provide 8K UHD contents of terrestrial broadcasting with a large capacity, the terrestrial broadcasting system has various problems such as limited bandwidth and so on. To solve these problems, UHD contents transmission technology has been actively studied, and an 8K UHD broadcasting system using terrestrial broadcasting network and communication network has been proposed. The proposed technique is to solve the limited bandwidth problem of terrestrial broadcasting network by segmenting 8K UHD contents and transmitting them to heterogeneous networks through hierarchical separation. Through the terrestrial broadcasting network, the base layer corresponding to FHD and the additional enhancement layer data for 4K UHD are transmitted, and the additional enhancement layer data corresponding to 8K UHD is transmitted through the communication network. When 8K UHD contents are provided in such a way, user can receive up to 4K UHD broadcasting by terrestrial channels, and also can receive up to 8K UHD additional communication networks. However, in order to transmit the 4K UHD contents within the allocated bit rate of the domestic terrestrial UHD broadcasting, the compression rate is increased, so a certain level of image deterioration occurs inevitably. Due to the nature of UHD contents, video quality should be considered as a top priority over other factors, so that video quality should be guaranteed even within a limited bit rate. This requires packet scheduling of content generators in the broadcasting system. Since the multiplexer sends out the packets received from the content generator in order, it is very important to make the transmission time and the transmission rate of the process from the content generator to the multiplexer constant and accurate. Therefore, we propose a variable transmission scheduler between the content generator and the multiplexer to guarantee the image quality of a certain level of UHD contents in this paper.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.8-17
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• 2019

Purpose: The study analyzed the prevalence of peri-implantitis and factors which may have affected the disease. Materials and methods: This study based on medical records and radiographs of 422 patients (853 implant cases) who visited Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital Dental Center from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2016. Generalized estimation equations (GEE) was utilized to determine the statistical relationship between peri-implantitis and each element, and the cumulative prevalence of peri-implantitis during the observation period was obtained by using the Kaplan Meier Method. Results: The prevalence rate of peri-implantitis at the patient level resulted in 7.3% (31 patients out of a total of 422 patients), and at the implant level 5.5% (47 implants out of a total of 853 implants). Sex, GBR, guided bone regeneration (GBR) and functional loading periods had statistical significance with the occurrence of peri-implantitis. Upon analysis of the cumulative prevalence of peri-implantitis in terms of implant follow-up period, the first case of peri-implantitis occurred at 9 months after the placement of an implant, and the prevalence of peri-implantitis showed a non-linear rise over time without a hint of a critical point. Conclusion: The prevalence of peri-implantitis at the patient level and the implant were 7.3% and 5.5%, respectively. Male, implant installed with GBR and longer Functional Loading Periods were related with the risk of peri-implantitis.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.545-554
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• 2019

The phytochemical compounds of Pueraria, a medicinally important leguminous plant, include various isoflavones that have weak estrogenic activity and a potential role in preventing chronic disease, cancer, osteoporosis, and postmenopausal syndrome. However, the major isoflavones are derivatives of puerarin and occur mainly as unabsorbable and biologically inactive glycosides. The bioavailability of the glucosides can be increased by hydrolysis of the sugar moiety using ${\beta}$-glucosidase. In this study, we investigated the antioxidant effects of a Pueraria extract after fermentation by Lactobacillus rhamnosus BHN-LAB 76. The L. rhamnosus BHN-LAB 76 strain was inoculated into Pueraria powder and fermented at $37^{\circ}C$ for 72 hr. The total polyphenol content of the Pueraria extract increased by about 134% and the total flavonoid content increased around 110% after fermentation with L. rhamnosus BHN-LAB 76 when compared to a non-fermented Pueraria extract. Superoxide dismutase-like activities, DPPH radical scavenging, and ABTS radical scavenging increased by approximately 213%, 190%, and 107%, respectively, in the fermented Pueraria extract compared to the non-fermented Pueraria extract. Fermentation of Pueraria extracts with L. rhamnosus BHN-LAB 76 is therefore possible and can effectively increase the antioxidant effects. These results can be applied to the development of improved foods and cosmetic materials.

• Journal of Mushroom
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.52-63
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• 2019

Agrocybe spp. belongs to the Agaricales order, Bolbitiaceae family, and Agrocybe genus. In Korea, so far, it has been cultivated through bottle cultivation; therefore, this study was conducted for the development of a new cultivar using the bag cultivation method for quantitative improvement. Thirty-three gene resources of Agrocybe spp. were collected and their quantity and characteristics of bag cultivation were examined. Next, 5 kinds of crossing parents were selected based on the cultivation period and shape of the fruit body. Seven strains were selected through 3 cross combinations. The 7 selected strains and the comparative cultivar 'Cham' were cultivated in a bag. As a result, the cultivation period was 49 days for 'JBAC15-1' and 50 days for 'JBAC15-6' which are 4 days and 3 days less than the cultivation period of the comparative cultivar 'Cham'(53 days), respectively. Cultivation periods of other strains except for 'JBAC15-1' and 'JBAC15-1' were longer than that of the comparative cultivar'Cham'. The best ratio of primordia formation among the selected strains was found to be that of 'JBAC15-1' with 96.1% followed by 'JBAC15-6' with 94.5%. These rates were 3.1% and 1.5% higher than the ratio of primordia formation of the comparative cultivar 'Cham', which is found to be 93.0%. The quantity was maximum in the 'JBAC15-1' cultivar with 176.8 g per bag followed by 'JBAC15-6' with 168.7 g per bag. The quantities were 10% and 5% more than the comparative cultivar 'Cham' with 160.7 g per bag. Based on these results, 'JBAC15-1' and 'JBAC15-6', which had shorter cultivation periods and more quantities than the comparative cultivar 'Cham' were finally selected. For the selected strains of 'JBAC15-1' and 'JBAC15-6', mycelial growth was observed to be optimal on PDA medium and the optimum temperature was $27.5^{\circ}C$. The optimum pH was pH 5 for 'JBAC15-1' and pH 6 for 'JBAC15-6'. The color of the pileus of the fruit body was dark brown in 'JBAC15-1' and 'Cham' and light brown in 'JBAC15-6'. The pileus was hemispherical in shape in both 'JBAC15-1' and 'Cham'. However, the colors of the stem were different - light brown in 'JBAC15-1', white in 'JBAC15-6', and ivory in the comparative cultivar 'Cham'.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.318-331
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• 2019

In this study, comparative analysis is performed on the long-term persisted warm eddies that were generated in 2003 (WE03) and in 2014 (WE14) over the East Sea using the HYCOM reanalysis data. The overshooting of the East Korea Warm Current (EKWC) was appeared during the formation period of those warm eddies. The warm eddies were produced in the shallow Korea Plateau region through the interaction of the EKWC and the sub-polar front. In the interior of the both warm eddies, a homogeneous water mass of about $13^{\circ}C$ and 34.1 psu were generated over the upper 150 m depth by the winter mixing. In 2004, the next year of the generation of the WE03, the amount of the inflow through the western channel of the Korea Strait was larger, while the inflow was lesser than its climatology during 2015 corresponding to the development period of the WE14. The above results suggest that the heat and salt are supplied in the warm eddies through the Tsushima Warm Current (TWC), however the amount of the inflow through the Korea Strait has negligible impact on the long-term persistency of the warm eddies. Both of the warm eddies were maintained more than 18 months near Ulleung island, while they have no common feature on the pathways. In the vicinity of the Ulleung basin, large and small eddies are continuously created due to the meandering of the EKWC. The long-term persisted warm eddies in the Ulleung Island seem to be the results of the interaction between the pre-existed eddies located south of the sub-polar front and fresh eddies induced by the meanderings of the EKWC. The conclusion is also in line with the fact that the long-term persisted warm eddies were not always created when the overshooting of the EKWC was appeared.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.145-150
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• 2019

In this study, we used extracts obtained from five different solvents (water, ethanol, hexane, ethyl acetate, butanol) of Achyranthes japonica (AJ) and also AJ fermented with Lactobacillus plantarum (LP) to confirm effects on the anti-inflammatory activity in RAW264.7 cells. Experiments of measuring nitric oxide (NO) and cytokine production were performed in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW264.7 cells, and the expression of both cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) was observed by a western blot method. The cytotoxicity of RAW264.7 was confirmed by the cell counting kit (CCK) assay at a concentration of $100{\mu}g/mL$, which has no toxicity. As a result of the inhibition of NO production, the inhibition rate of AJ-LP extracted with ethanol samples was about 74% higher than that of using the control group. Interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ (TNF-${\alpha}$), and Interleukin-$1{\beta}$ (IL-$1{\beta}$), which are inflammatory cytokines, also showed an excellent efficacy with inhibition rates of about 57, 70, and 74%, respectively. Comparing to the results of COX-2 and iNOS expression in the AJ group, the inhibition rate of 20-hydroxyecdysone was the highest than others. On the other hand, the COX-2 expression level of AJ-LP group decreased about 16% compared to that of the control group, and the iNOS expression level was also decreased about 7%. These results suggest that the extract of AJ fermented from L. plantarum can be used as an anti-inflammatory natural material.