• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.408-419
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• 2016

Background: In recent years, adjuvants have received increasing attention owing to the development of purified subunit and synthetic vaccines which are poor immunogens and require additional adjuvants to evoke an immune response. Therefore, immunologic adjuvants have been developed and tested. Plant polysaccharides have been recognized as effective biological response modifiers with low toxicity. Methods and Results: In this study, the polysaccharide from the aboveground part of Astragalus membranaceus Bunge containing immunomodulating arabino-3,6-galactan was evaluated for its hemolytic activity and adjuvant potential in the specific cellular and humoral immune responses to ovalbumin. The polysaccharide from the aboveground part of Astragalus membranaceus Bunge was co-immunized with the purified Vi capsular polysaccharide of Salmonella typhi vaccine in mice. The polysaccharide from the aboveground part of Astragalus membranaceus Bunge did not induce any hemolytic activity or side effects at doses up to $500{\mu}g/m{\ell}$. The concanavalin A-, lipopolysaccharide-, and ovalbumin-induced splenocyte proliferation and serum ovalbumin-specific IgG, IgG1 and IgG2b antibody titers in immunized mice were significantly enhanced by AMA. Pharmacological data revealed that the polysaccharide from the aboveground part of Astragalus membranaceus Bunge increased antigen-specific antibody levels in immunized mice. The polysaccharide from the aboveground part of Astragalus membranaceus Bunge-adjuvanted purified Vi capsular polysaccharide of Salmonella typhi vaccine improved the proliferation of splenocytes and macrophages as well as stimulated cytokine production. Conclusions: These results suggest that the polysaccharide from the aboveground part of Astragalus membranaceus Bunge-adjuvanted vaccines enhanced humoral and cellular immunity and that the polysaccharide from the aboveground part of Astragalus membranaceus Bunge is a safe and efficacious adjuvant candidate suitable for use in prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.350-357
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• 2017

Purpose: In-situ monitoring of water quality is fundamental to most environmental applications. The high cost and long delays of conventional laboratory methods used to determine water quality, including on-site sampling and chemical analysis, have limited their use in efficiently managing water sources while preventing environmental pollution. The objective of this study was to develop an on-site water monitoring system consisting mainly of an Arduino board and a sensor array of multiple ion selective electrodes (ISEs) to measure the concentration of $NO_3$ ions. Methods: The developed system includes a combination of three ISEs, double-junction reference electrode, solution container, sampling system consisting of three pumps and solenoid valves, signal processing circuit, and an Arduino board for data acquisition and system control. Prior to each sample measurement, a two-point normalization method was applied for a sensitivity adjustment followed by an offset adjustment to minimize the potential drift that could occur during continuous measurement and standardize the response of multiple electrodes. To investigate its utility in on-site nitrate monitoring, the prototype was tested in a facility where drinking water was collected from a water supply source. Results: Differences in the electric potentials of the $NO_3$ ISEs between 10 and $100mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ $NO_3$ concentration levels were nearly constant with negative sensitivities of 58 to 62 mV during the period of sample measurement, which is representative of a stable electrode response. The $NO_3$ concentrations determined by the ISEs were almost comparable to those obtained with standard instruments within 15% relative errors. Conclusions: The use of the developed on-site nitrate monitoring system based on automatic sampling and two-point normalization was feasible for detecting abrupt changes in nitrate concentration at various water supply sites, showing a maximum difference of $4.2mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ from an actual concentration of $14mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.441-450
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was optimization of the conditions for mixing different amounts of red radish (Raphanus sativus L.) sprout powder, butter, and sugar when baking domestic wheat cookies prepared using red radish sprout powder. Response surface methodology, with a central composite design comprising 5 levels and 3 variables, was used to identify the best possible combination of amounts of red radish sprout powder ($X_1$), butter ($X_2$), and sugar ($X_3$). The physical and mechanical properties of each of the 20 samples analyzed, including color L (p<0.001), color a (p<0.01), color b (p<0.001), spread ratio (p<0.001), and hardness (p<0.01), differed significantly. The results of sensory evaluations, including color (p<0.001), appearance (p<0.001), texture (p<0.001), flavor (p<0.01), taste (p<0.001), and overall quality (p<0.001) also differed significantly among the samples. The optimal compositional ratios were 5.15 g for the red radish sprout powder, 64.84 g for the butter, and 47.18 g for the sugar.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.14-19
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• 2007

Caffeine is one of the most well known stimulants which can potentially increase mental performance, release fatigue and decrease depression. Green beans from different soils and climates contain different levels of caffeine, and as well as extracted coffee with different roasting and extracting methods. An investigation looking at pH, acidity, extractable solid and caffeine contents was assessed according to roasting and extracting conditions of various coffee beans. Brazilian coffee beans did not show much variation in pH with respect to roasting and extracting temperature, however, acidity increased in low roasting and extracting temperatures. This was however most prominently observed in Ethiopian and Indonesian coffee beans. The large expansion of coffee bean cells renders them highly porous to the passage of water, consequently extracted solids were found to increase with increasing temperature. This was especially apparent in Columbian coffee which had the highest extracted solids. The amount of caffeine extracted from coffee beans also increased with the higher temperature extraction. The Indonesian and Vietnam robusta coffee varieties showed the highest caffeine content.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.12 no.11
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• pp.458-468
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to define U-Eco City services and to analyze the possibility and easiness of application in urban space. The most significant meaning of this study is that these results could be used as the design and planning guidelines for integrated U-Eco City. This study progress as follows; First, U-Eco City concept and their services were defined and the spatial units of U-Eco City were distinguished through literature review. Second, U-Eco City spaces are classified into four levels such as building, street, facility and district. Finally, the application of U-Eco city services was analyzed together by the statistical technique of cross-tabulation. 35.7% of U-city services was serviced in urban district and 38.8% of Eco City services was applied to Building. U-City and/or Eco city services were adapted differently according to the urban spatial hierarchy. Those services should be applied in terms of the characteristics of urban space in designing and planning U-Eco City.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.421-431
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• 2016

Recently, poly-γ-glutamic acid synthetase A (pgsA) has been applied to display exogenous proteins on the surface of Lactobacillus casei or Lactococcus lactis, which results in a surface-displayed component of bacteria. However, the ability of carrying genes encoded by plasmids and the expression efficiency of recombinant bacteria can be somewhat affected by the longer gene length of pgsA (1,143 bp); therefore, a truncated gene, pgsA, was generated based on the characteristics of pgsA by computational analysis. Using murine IL-10 as an exogenous gene, recombinant Lactobacillus plantarum was constructed and the capacity of the surface-displayed protein and functional differences between exogenous proteins expressed by these strains were evaluated. Surface expression of IL-10 on both recombinant bacteria with anchorins and the higher expression levels in L. plantarum-pgsA'-IL-10 were confirmed by western blot assay. Most importantly, up-regulation of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, IFN-γ, and the nuclear transcription factor NF-κB p65 in RAW264.7 cells after stimulation with Poly(I:C) or LPS was exacerbated after co-culture with L. plantarum-pgsA. By contrast, IL-10 expressed by these recombinant strains could reduce these factors, and the expression of these factors was associated with recombinant strains that expressed anchorin (especially in L. plantarum-pgsA'-IL-10) and was significantly lower compared with the anchorin-free strains. These findings indicated that exogenous proteins could be successfully displayed on the surface of L. plantarum by pgsA or pgsA', and the expression of recombinant bacteria with pgsA' was superior compared with bacteria with pgsA.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.578-588
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• 2017

Background: Elevated testicular temperature disrupts spermatogenesis and causes infertility. In the present study, the protective effect of enzymatically biotransformed Panax ginseng Meyer by pectinase (GINST) against chronic intermittent heat stress-induced testicular damage in rats was investigated. Methods: Male Sprague-Dawley rats (4 wk old, 60-70 g) were divided into four groups: normal control (NC), heat-stress control (HC), heat-stress plus GINST-100 mg/kg (HG100), and heat-stress plus GINST-200 mg/kg (HG200) treatment groups. Each dose of GINST (100 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg) was mixed separately with a regular pellet diet and was administered orally for 24 wk. For inducing heat stress, rats in the NC group were maintained at $25^{\circ}C$, whereas rats in the HC, HG100, and HG200 groups were exposed to $32{\pm}1^{\circ}C$ for 2 h daily for 6 mo. At week 25, the testes and serum from each animal were analyzed for various parameters. Results: Significant (p < 0.01) changes in the sperm kinematic values and blood chemistry panels were observed in the HC group. Furthermore, spermatogenesis-related molecules, sex hormone receptors, and selected antioxidant enzyme expression levels were also altered in the HC group compared to those in the NC group. GINST (HS100 and HS200) administration significantly (p < 0.05) restored these changes when compared with the HC group. For most of the parameters tested, the HG200 group exhibited potent effects compared with those exhibited by the HG100 group. Conclusion: GINST may be categorized as an important medicinal herb and a potential therapeutic for the treatment of male subfertility or infertility caused by hyperthermia.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
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• v.42 no.2 s.302
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• pp.11-18
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• 2005

To detect vehicles in image, first the image is transformed with the steerable pyramid which has independent directions and levels. Feature vectors are the collection of filter responses at different scales of a steerable image pyramid. For the detection of vehicles in image, feature vectors in feature points of the vehicle image is used. First the feature points are selected with the grid points in vehicle image that are evenly spaced, and second, the feature points are comer points which m selected by human, and last the feature points are corner Points which are selected in grid points. Next the feature vectors of the model vehicle image we compared the patch of the test images, and if the distance of the model and the patch of the test images is lower than the predefined threshold, the input patch is decided to a vehicle. In experiment, the total 11,191 vehicle images are captured at day(10,576) and night(624) in the two local roads. And the $92.0\%$ at day and $87.3\%$ at night detection rate is achieved.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.362-366
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• 2008

This study was carried to investigate effects of gamma irradiation on the moisture, crude protein, crude lipid, 2-thiobarbituric acid (TBA) values, color stability, texture, and sensory properties of restructured pork jerky. Restructured pork jerky was irradiated at dose levels of 0, 3, 5, 7 and 10 kGy with a use Co-60 source. There were no significant differences in the moisture, crude protein, crude lipid contents, and TBA values. However, as doses of gamma irradiation increased, the redness (a-value) of restructure pork jerky increased whereas shear force of restructure pork jerky was decreased by gamma irradiation. Sensory evaluation showed that sensory scores were reduced by gamma irradiation. Therefore, gamma irradiation could be an effective means to improve color and texture of restructured pork jerky, but only with proper consideration for sensory quality.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.131-137
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• 2005

Acetaminophen(APAP) is one of the most extensively used analgesics and antipyreics worldwide. In order to investigate preventive effects of white and red ginseng extracts, male ICR mice pretreated with white or red ginseng extracts(50 or 250 mg/kg/day, for 5 days, orally) before treatment with acetaminophen(800mg/kg, i.p, single dose). In an attempt to elucidate the possible mechanism of hepatoprotective effect, superoxide dismutase(SOD), catalase(CAT), hydroperoxide, malondialdehyde(MDA) contents were studied. In pretreatment with red ginseng extract(250 mg/kg), the activities of SOD, CAT were generally highest and the hydrogen peroxide content was lowest. The levels of MDA were significantly lower in white and red ginseng extract groups than those in the APAP groups. By treatment with ginseng extract, high content of hydrogen peroxide and increased lipid peroxidatiion level caused by APAP could be lowered. Also, ginseng extracts were found to increase antioxidative enzyme activity. Finally, the results suggest that the antioxidant effects of (white and red) ginseng extracts prevent oxidative damage by direct antioxidant effects involving SOD, CAT and increasing the ability to synthesize endogenous antioxidants. It was concluded that ginseng can protect against APAP intoxication through its antioxidant properties.