• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.18 no.5
• /
• pp.747-754
• /
• 2005

Nutritional regulation of gene expression associated with growth and feeding behavior in avian species can become an important technique to improve poultry production according to the supply of nutrients in the diet. Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) found in chickens has been characterized to be a 70 amino acid polypeptide and plays an important role in growth and metabolism. Although it is been well known that IGF-I is highly associated with embryonic development and post-hatching growth, changes in the distribution of IGF-I gene expression throughout early- to late-embryogenesis have not been studied so far. We revealed that the developmental pattern of IGF-I gene expression during embryogenesis differed among various tissues. No bands of IGF-I mRNA were detected in embryonic liver at 7 days of incubation, and thereafter the amount of hepatic IGF-I mRNA was increased from 14 to 20 days of incubation. In eyes, a peak in IGF-I mRNA levels occurred at mid-embryogenesis, but by contrast, IGF-I mRNA was barely detectable in the heart throughout all incubation periods. In the muscle, no significant difference in IGF-I gene expression was observed during different stages of embryogenesis. After hatching, hepatic IGF-I gene expression as well as plasma IGF-I concentration increases rapidly with age, reaches a peak before sexual maturity, and then declines. The IGF-I gene expression is very sensitive to changes in nutritional conditions. Food-restriction and fasting decreased hepatic IGF-I gene expression and refeeding restored IGF-I gene expression to the level of fed chickens. Dietary protein is also a very strong factor in changing hepatic IGF-I gene expression. Refeeding with dietary protein alone successfully restored hepatic IGF-I gene expression of fasted chickens to the level of fed controls. In most circumstances, IGF-I makes a complex with specific high-affinity IGF-binding proteins (IGFBPs). So far, four different IGFBPs have been identified in avian species and the major IGFBP in chicken plasma has been reported to be IGFBP-2. We studied the relationship between nutritional status and IGFBP-2 gene expression in various tissues of young chickens. In the liver of fed chickens, almost no IGFBP-2 mRNA was detected. However, fasting markedly increased hepatic IGFBP-2 gene expression, and the level was reduced after refeeding. In the gizzard of well-fed young chickens, IGFBP-2 gene expression was detected and fasting significantly elevated gizzard IGFBP-2 mRNA levels to about double that of fed controls. After refeeding, gizzard IGFBP-2 gene expression decreased similar to hepatic IGFBP-2 gene expression. In the brain, IGFBP-2 mRNA was observed in fed chickens and had significantly decreased by fasting. In the kidney, IGFBP-2 gene expression was observed but not influenced by fasting and refeeding. Recently, we have demonstrated in vivo that gizzard and hepatic IGFBP-2 gene expression in fasted chickens was rapidly reduced by intravenous administration of insulin, as indicated that in young chickens the reduction in gizzard and hepatic IGFBP-2 gene expression in vivo stimulated by malnutrition may be, in part, regulated by means of the increase in plasma insulin concentration via an insulin-response element. The influence of dietary protein source (isolated soybean protein vs. casein) and the supplementation of essential amino acids on gizzard IGFBP-2 gene expression was examined. In both soybean protein and casein diet groups, the deficiency of essential amino acids stimulated chickens to increase gizzard IGFBP-2 gene expression. Although amino acid supplementation of a soybean protein diet significantly decreased gizzard IGFBP-2 mRNA levels, a similar reduction was not observed in chickens fed a casein diet supplemented with amino acids. This overview of nutritional regulation of IGF-I and IGFBP-2 gene expression in young chickens would serve for the establishment of the supply of nutrients to diets to improve poultry production.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.97-113
• /
• 1998

The sympathoadrenal system plays an important role in homeostasis in widely varing external environments. Conflicting findings, however, have been reported on its response to hypoxia. We investigated the effect of hypoxia on the sympathoadrenal system in dogs under halothane anesthesia by measuring levels of circulating catecholamines in response to graded hypoxia. Ten healthy mongreal dogs were mechanically ventilated with different hypoxic gas mixtures. Graded hypoxia and reoxygenation were induced by progressively decreasing the oxygen fraction in the inhalation gas mixture from 21%(control) to 15%, 10% and 5% at every 5 minutes, and then reoxygenated with 60% oxygen. Mean arterial pressure, central venous pressure and mean pulmonary arterial pressure were measured directly using pressure transducers. Cardiac output was measured by the thermodilutional method. For analysis of blood gas, saturation and content, arterial and mixed venous blood were sampled via the femoral and pulmonary artery at the end of each hypoxic condition. The concentration of plasma catecholamines was determined by radioenzymatic assay. According to the exposure of graded hypoxia, not only did arterial and mixed venous oxygen tension decreased markedly at 10% and 5% oxygen, but also arterial and mixed venous oxygen saturation decreased significantly. An increased trend of the oxygen extraction ratio was seen during graded hypoxia. Cardiac output, mean arterial pressure and systemic vascular resistance were unchanged or increased slightly. Pulmonary arterial pressure(PAP) and pulmonary vascular resistance(PVR) were increased by 55%, 76% in 10% oxygen and by 82%, 95% in 5% oxygen, respectively(p<0.01). The concentrations of plasma norepinephrine, epinephrine and dopamine increased by 75%, 29%, 24% in 15% oxygen and by 382%, 350%, 49% in 5% oxygen. These data suggest that the sympathetic nervous system was activated to maintain homeostasis by modifying blood flow distribution to improve oxygen delivery to tissues by hypoxia, but hemodynamic changes might be blunted by high concentration of nitrous oxide except PAP and PVR. It would be suggested that hemodynamic changes might not be sensitive index during hypoxia induced by high concentration of nitrous oxide exposure.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
• /
• v.32 no.1
• /
• pp.148-156
• /
• 2015

In this study the differences in the sample size and sample input changes as characteristics of bio-oil oak(Quercus variabilis), the oak 0.5~2.0 mm of the oak weighing 300~900g was processed into bio-oil via fast pyrolysis for 1.64 seconds. In this study, the physico-chemical properties of biooil using oak were investigated. Fast pyrolysis was adopted to increase the bio-oil yield from raw material. Although the differences in sample size and sample input changes in the yield of pyrolysis products were not significantly noticeable, increases in the yield of bio-oil accounted for approximately 60.3 to 62.1%, in the order of non-condensed gas, and biochar. When the primary bio-oil obtained by the condensation of the cooling tube and the seconary bio-oil obtained from the electric dust collector were measured separately, the yield of primary bio-oil was twice as higher than that of the secondary bio-oil. However, HHV (Higher Heating Value) of the secondary bio-oil was approximately twice as higher than that of the primary bio-oil by up to 5,602 kcal/kg. The water content of the primary bio-oil was more than 20% of the moisture content of the secondary bio-oil, which was 10% or less. In addition, the result of the elemental analysis regarding the secondary bio-oil, its primary carbon content was higher than that of the primary bio-oil, and since the oxygen content is low, the water content as well as elemental composition are believed to have an effect on the calorific value. The higher the storage temperature or the longer the storage period, the degree of the viscosity of the secondary bio-oil was higher than that of the primary bio-oil. This can be the attributed to the chemical bond between the polymeric bio-oil that forms during the storage period.

• Journal of Distribution Research
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.25-47
• /
• 2010

CS is one of the major concerns of managers in the world because it is well known to be a key medium construct for firms' superior outcome. One of the major agents for CS management is retailers. Firms try to manage not only employees but also retailers to promote CS behaviors. And so diverse incentives are used to promote their CS behaviors under diverse channel setting such as multi-channel. However in spite of the rising needs there has been scarce studies on the optimal incentive structure for a manufacturer to offer competing retailers at the multi-channel. In this paper, we try to find better way for a manufacturer to promote the competing retailers' CS behaviors. We investigated how to promote the retailers' CS behavior via game-theoretic modeling. Especially, we focus on the possible incentive, CS bonus type reward introduced in the studies of Hauser, Simester, and Wernerfelt(1994) and Chu and Desai(1995). We build up a multi stage complete information game and derive a subgame perfect equilibrium using backward induction. Stages of the game are as following. (Stage 1) Manufacturer sets wholesale price(w) and CS bonus($\eta$). (Stage 2) Both retailers in competition set CS effort level($e_i$) and retail price($p_i$) simultaneously. (Stage 3) Consumers make purchasing decisions based on the manufacturer's initial reputation and retailers' CS efforts.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
• /
• v.52 no.3
• /
• pp.346-350
• /
• 2009

Purpose : Since children under two years with suspected urinary tract infections (UTIs) cannot control urination, urine cultures in such children are usually performed via urine bags. This method is noninvasive but has a high contamination rate. We studied the contamination rate of bag urine culture in diagnosing UTI in infants under two years and the factors responsible for contamination. Methods : We examined patients under 2 years in whom urine culture through the urine bag method yielded over 105 colonies of a single pathogen. We defined UTI by referring to the guidelines of The Korean Society of Pediatric Nephrology, 2005. We examined the factors responsible for contamination according to sex, duration of urine collection, and whether diarrhea took place with contamination rate. Results : We examined 717 patients (412 males and 305 females). The contamination rate of one bag urine culture was 37.9%. Gender was not related to the contamination rate (P>0.05). Duration of urine collection showed an association with the contamination rate. The longer the duration of collecting urine, the higher was the contamination rate. Duration of urine collection was divided into three groups: first group, <2 hours; second group, 24 hours; and third group, ${\geq}4$ hours. Contamination rates were 30.0%, 42.2%, and 43.7% for the first, second, and third groups, respectively, with statistical significance (P=0.001). Diarrhea at admission had no impact on the contamination rate (P>0.05). Conclusion : The contamination rate of urine culture in the examined patients was 37.9%. Gender and diarrhea symptoms were not responsible for contamination. In infants with a suspected UTI, urine should be collected within 2 hours through the urine bag method. If urine collection takes >2 hours, the urine bag should be resterilized and reattached to the patient.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.31 no.6
• /
• pp.1134-1141
• /
• 2002

Adhesion of leukocytes to the activated vascular endothelium and their subsequent recruitment/migration into the artery wall are key features in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and inflammatory diseases. These features have been mediated by cell adhesion molecules including vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) and in tracellular cell adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1). This study examined whether flavonoids inhibit the pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-$\alpha$-induced monocyte adhesion via a modulation of the protein expression of VCAM-1 and ICAM-1 of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). TNF-$\alpha$ markedly increased the adhesion of THP-1 monocytes to endothelial cells and induced the expression of VCAM-1, ICAM-1 and E-selectin proteins in HUVECs. Micromolar concentrations of the flavones luteolin and apigenin and the flavonol quercetin near completely blocked the monocyte adhesion to the activated endothelial cells and the induction of these adhesion molecules. However, equimicromolar catechins of (-)epigallocatechin gallate and (+)catechin, the flavonol myr- icetin and the flavanones of naringin and hesperidin had no effect on TNF-$\alpha$-activated monocyte adhesion. (-)Epigallocatechin gallate, (+) catechin, and naringin did not attenuate the TNF-$\alpha$ induction of these adhesion molecules. Furthermore, culture with luteolin and apigenin strongly blocked the expression of TNF-$\alpha$-induced VCAM-1 mRNA and modestly attenuated ICAM-1 mRNA. Quercetin modestly decreased the TNF-$\alpha$-activated VCAM-1 and ICAM-1 mRNAs. These results demonstrate that flavonoids classified as flavones and flavonols may inhibit monocyte adhesion to the TNF-$\alpha$-activated endothelium, most likely due to a blockade of expression of functional adhesion molecules down-regulated at the transcriptional level, indicating a definite linkage between the chemical structure of flavonoids and the expression of cell adhesion molecules. Furthermore, the antiathero-genic feature of flavonoids appears to be independent of their antioxidant activity.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.31 no.6
• /
• pp.1065-1070
• /
• 2002

The purpose of this study was investigated the effects of YK-209 mulberry leaves on antioxidative defense system of liver in diabetic rats induced with streptozotocin (STZ). Male Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 100$\pm$10 g were randomly assigned to one normal and four STZ-induced diabetic groups; YK-209 mulberry leaves free diet (DM group),0.1% YK-209 mulberry leaves diet (DM-0.1Y group),0.2% YK-209 mulberry leaves diet (DM-0.2Y group) and 0.4% YK-209 mulberry leaves diet (DM-0.4Y group). Diabetes was induced by intravenous Injection of 55 mg/kg body weight of STZ in sodium citrate buffer (pH 4.3) via tail vein after 4 weeks feeding of experimental diets. Rats were sacrificed at the 9th day of diabetic states. Liver weight in all four diabetic groups were higher than normal group, but YK-209 mulberry supplementation groups were lower than DM group. Hepatic superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity was significantly decreased in all diabetic groups, compared with normal group. Hepatic glutathione peroxidase (GSHpx) activity was 7.3% decreased in DM group, compared with normal group, but those of DM-0.1Y and DM-0.2Y groups were maintained the normal level. The hepatic thiobarbituric acid reactive substances was markedly increased by 144% in DM group, compared with normal group, but those of DM-0. 1Y, DM-0.2Y groups were maintained the normal level. The contents of lipofuscin in liver were increased by 100% in DM group compared with normal group, but those of DM-0. 1Y, DM-0.2Y and DM-0.4Y groups were decreased to 42% 43% and 44%, respectively, compared with DM group. The hepatic superoxide radical (0$^2$-) contents in DM group were increased to 81%, compared with normal group, but those of DM-0.1Y and DM-0.4Y groups were similar to those of normal group. The present result indicate that YK-209 mulberry leaves regarded to suppress lipid peroxidation as an free radical scavenger system by the inhibition of oxidative stress.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.31 no.6
• /
• pp.1071-1077
• /
• 2002

The purpose of this study was investigated the effects of YK-209 mulberry leaves on disaccharidase activites of small intestine and blood glucose-lowering in diabetic rats induced with streptozotocin (STZ). Male Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 100$\pm$10 g were randomly assigned to one normal and four STZ-induced diabetic groups; YK-209 0% mulberry leaves diet (DM group),0.1% YK-209 mulberry loaves diet (DM-0.1Y group),0.2% YK-209mulberry leaves diet (DM -0.2Y group), and 0.4% YK-209 mulberry leaves diet (DM -0.4Y group). Diabetes was induced by intravenous injection of 55 mg/kg body weight of STZ in sodium citrate buffer (pH 4.3) via tail vein after 3 weeks feeding of experimental diets. Rats were sacrificed at the 9th day of diabetic states. The functional ingredients in the mulberry leaves, the 1-deoxynojirimycin (DNJ) contents of YK-209 mulberry leaves was higher than those of the Cheongil mulberry leaves. ${\gamma}$ -Aminobutyric acid (GABA) and rutin contents of YK-209 mulberry leaves were 1.3 and 1.4 times higher than those of the Cheongil mulberry leaves, respectively, and vitamin C contents of YK-209 mulberry leaves were also higher than those of the Cheongil mulberry leaves. Intestine index was increased in all diabetic groups, compared with normal group but not significantly different among all diadetic groups. Level of blood glucose was decreased in diadetic rats by supplementation YK-209 mulberry leaves. The disaccharidase activities in proximal part of intestine such as maltase, sucrase, and lactase in YK-209 mulberry leaves supplementation groups were significantly lower than those of DM group, In conclusion, this research indicated that the functional ingredients of YK 209 mulberry leaves were higher than those of the Cheongil leaveses, and YK-209 mulberry leaves has the hypoglycemic effect in STZ-induced diabetic rats.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.265-270
• /
• 2014

Hearing-impaired people have difficulty in hearing, so it is also hard for them to learn letters that represent sound and text that conveys complex and abstract concepts. Therefore it has been natural choice for the hearing-impaired people to use sign language for communication, which employes facial expression, and hands and body motion. However, the major communication methods in daily life are text and speech, which are big obstacles for the hearing-impaired people to access information, to learn and make intellectual activities, and to get jobs. As delivering information via internet become common the hearing-impaired people are experiencing more difficulty in accessing information since internet represents information mostly in text forms. This intensifies unbalance of information accessibility. This paper reports web-based text-to-sign language translating system that helps web designer to use sign language in web page design. Since the system is web-based, if web designers are equipped with common computing environment for internet browsing, they can use the system. The web-based text-to-sign language system takes the format of bulletin board as user interface. When web designers write paragraphs and post them through the bulletin board to the translating server, the server translates the incoming text to sign language, animates with 3D avatar and records the animation in a MP4 file. The file addresses are fetched by the bulletin board and it enables web designers embed the translated sign language file into their web pages by using HTML5 or Javascript. Also we analyzed text used by web pages of public services, then figured out new words to the translating system, and added to improve translation. This addition is expected to encourage wide and easy acceptance of web pages for hearing-impaired people to public services.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.43 no.2
• /
• pp.207-215
• /
• 2014

To investigate the biological benefits of Korean traditional vegetables, anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory effects of ethanol extracts from blanched and dried sprouts of evening primrose (Oenothera laciniata, OL) and gooseberry (Actinidia arguta, AA) were measured. Total polyphenol and flavonoid contents of OL were higher than those of AA; OL contained 60.4 mg tannic acid/g dry weight and 31.9 mg rutin/g dry weight, while AA contained 33.0 mg tannic acid/g dry weight and 20.3 mg rutin/g dry weight. The $IC_{50}$ value for DPPH radical scavenging activity was $58.2{\mu}g/mL$ for OL ethanol extract and $122.1{\mu}g/mL$ for AA ethanol extract. The reducing power upon $500{\mu}g/mL$ of ethanol extract treatment was as strong as $52.1{\mu}g$ ascorbate eq./mL for OL and $45.3{\mu}g$ ascorbate eq./mL for AA. Regarding anti-inflammatory effects, inhibition rate against 5-lipoxygenase (LOX) and cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 activities were 29.5% and 79.5% for OL, as well as 11.5% and 39.1% for AA, respectively at a concentration of $250{\mu}g/mL$. Lipopolysaccaride ($1{\mu}g/mL$)-treated RAW 264.7 macrophage cells subjected to OL ethanol extract at various concentrations ($0{\sim}25{\mu}g/mL$) showed significantly reduced synthesis of nitrite oxide (NO), prostaglandin (PG) E2, and IL-6 in a dose-dependent manner without cytotoxicity, although TNF-${\alpha}$ synthesis was not affected. In conclusion, both OL and AA sprouts showed strong antioxidative activity, whereas OL showed very strong anti-inflammatory activity via effective reduction of NO, PGE2, and IL-6 synthesis in LPS-activated macrophage cells.