• Journal of Life Science
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.550-554
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to screen the testosterone-like activities of eight oriental medicines with an in vitro testosterone compound detection (TCD) system. Distilled water and 80% ethanol, both at 80℃, were used to obtain extracts from Cervus nippon temminck (Nokgaksang), Cynanchum wilfordii (Baeksuo), Lespedeza cuneata (Yagwanmun), Panax ginseng (Hongsam), Smilax china (Toryeong), Taraxacum platycarpum (Mindlre), Tribulus terresteis (Namgase), and Trigonella foenum-graecum (Horopa), and extracts at concentrations of 5, 50, and 500 ㎍/ml were assessed using the TCD system. The testosterone-like activities of the 80% ethanol extracts were seen to increase with concentration and ranged from 0.9 to 5.0 times higher than those of the negative control; Horopa and Yagwanmun exhibited superior testosterone-like activities, followed by Mindlre and Hongsam at the same concentration. Toryeong and Namgase, on the other hand, showed low activity with Nokgaksang and Baeksuo exhibiting very low levels. Compared with the activities of the positive control (5α-DHT), the 80% ethanol extracts of Horopa and Yagwanmun at a concentration of 500 ㎍/ml showed higher testosterone-like activities than 10^-8 M 5α-DHT. The water extracts showed lower activity levels than the ethanol samples, and the change of activity with concentration was also lower. It was confirmed that the 80% ethanol extracts of Horopa, Yagwanmun, and Mindlre etc. enhance the transcription efficiency of testosterone-related genes and may therefore be useful in developing health food or medicinal treatments for the improvement of male menopausal symptoms.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.151-156
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• 2016

Medicinal plants resources are becoming important assets since their usages have been expanded to the development of functional foods for human health, natural cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries. However, names are different from each country and their phylogenetic origins are not clear. These lead consumers to be confused. In particular, when they are morphologically similar and distributed as dried roots, it is extremely difficult to differentiate their origins even by specialists. Recently, molecular markers have been extensively applied to identify the origin of many crops. In this review, we tried to overview the current research achievements for the development of suitable 'origin identification' regarding to the differentiation of Angelica species. Furthermore, more advanced techniques including amplification genome based marker analyses are also discussed for their practical applications in the authentication of particular medicinal plant in Angelica species.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.702-709
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• 2014

Luffa cylindrica Roem (sponge gourd) belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family and has been cultivated as an ornamental plant in Korea. Recently, its cultivation area has been increased with an increase in demand for it as an ingredient in cosmetics, herbal medicines, and health supplements. We analyzed inorganic components of sap collected from land race sponge gourds. We also measured antioxidant enzyme activities and antimicrobial activities of the plant, seed, and sap to examine functional properties of sponge gourd. The sap of the sponge gourd contained high levels of K, Ca, P, and Mg, with the most abundant mineral in the sap being K ($470mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$). The amounts of Ca and Mg were 2 and 1.7 times more than those found in cucumber (Cucumis sativus), respectively. Ascorbate peroxidase was more active than catalase and superoxide dismutase in various plant parts of sponge gourd. Antioxidant activities were much lower in stems than in other plant parts such as leaves, roots, flowers, fruits, seeds, and sap. In addition, sap showed a very low level of antimicrobial activity against two food-borne pathogens, Vibrio parahaemdyticus and Propionibacterium acne, and none against the other eight tested food-borne pathogens. Antimicrobial activities against Candida albicans and Malassezia furfur, which causes dermatitis, appeared to be higher in sap than in other parts of sponge gourd plants. Overall, the antimicrobial activity against Malassezia furfur appeared to be higher than against Candida albicans.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.375-384
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• 2011

The effects of mixed beans on quality characteristics of traditional soybean paste (Doenjang) were investigated. The proximate composition of the soybean paste (Doenjang) met traditional food standard requirements. The range in salinity was 12.30~13.20%, and the salinity decreased with an increase in the amount of mixed beans. A significant difference in pH values occurred in all samples(p<0.05). The Hunter's 'L ($45.06{\pm}0.41$)' and 'b ($13.89{\pm}0.73$)' values of the TDM2 samples were higher than those of other samples. The highest amounts of malic acid of the organic acids are shown. The order of the amino acid content was aspartic acid > leucine > lysine, and that of free amino acid contents were proline > glutamic acid > arginine. The order of mineral content in the soybean pastes was Na > K > Ca > Mg, but levels of Co, Cu, and Zn were not detected. The traditional soybean paste (Doenjang) had an effective DPPH radical scavenging activity and higher phenolic content compared to those of the control sample. Overall acceptability score of the TDM2 (soybean 1 : mixed beans 1) was higher than that of the others. More research is needed to enhance the quality and functionality of traditional soybean paste.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.147-159
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• 2015

White rice consumption, a staple food for the Korean influence the other food consumption and nutrition balance. The aim of this study was to investigate the association with rice consumption based dietary intake and muscle mass for the Korean elderly who are easily in mal-nutrition. A total of 1,433 subjects (658 male and 775 female) 60 years or older from the fifth Korea National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey 2010 participated in this study. One of the findings was that there was association white rice consumption and marital status (single/with/without spouse) as well as education for men. Other interesting finding was the member of highest white rice consumption group showed higher muscle mass in both sexes. The other finding was that the more white rice consumption group showed the less meat consumption as well as the less consumption of other grains, noodle & dumpling, and flours & bread in both sexes. We found the significant association between white rice consumption level and muscle mass and several metabolic syndrome related factors in the elderly. But the association with white rice consumption and glucose metabolism related factor had not shown consistently.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.12
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• pp.1697-1703
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• 2012

Obesity is a risk factor for numerous metabolic diseases. Recently, naturally occurring compounds that may improve obesity have received increasing attention. Xanthigen is a mixture of fucoxanthin and punicic acid derived from brown seaweed and pomegranate seed, respectively, which have been traditionally used for lipid-lowering effects in humans. In this study, we investigated whether Xanthigen attenuates high-fat diet-induced obesity in C57BL/6N mice. The mice were fed on a normal diet (ND), high-fat diet (HFD), HFD plus 1% Xanthigen or HFD plus 1% green tea extract (GTE) for 11 weeks. Food efficiency ratio (FER) and body weight were significantly reduced in mice fed HFD plus Xanthigen compared to HFD-fed mice. Consistent with the results in body weight change, Xanthigen also significantly decreased the weights of epididymal adipose tissue, retroperitoneal adipose tissue, and liver in HFD plus 1% Xanthigen-fed mice. The serum level of low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol was significantly decreased in HFD plus Xanthigen-fed mice compared to HFD-fed mice. These results suggest that Xanthigen may be useful in the development of a functional health food for anti-obesity.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.194-202
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• 2021

The leaves of Selaginella tamariscina were used for the treatment of many diseases in traditional medicine. In the study, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and wound healing activities of the hot-water extract(STW) and 80%ethanol extract(STE) obtained from S. tamariscina were evaluated. As a result, the polyphenol content of STW and STE were 38.108±0.766 mg/g and 17.927±1.064 mg/g, respectively. The DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activities with the IC50 values of the STW were over 2 times lower than that of the STE. In the MTT assay, RAW264.7 cell viability of two extracts was decreased by about 6% at 1 mg/mL, whereas for HaCaT cell viability increased by 18% at 50 ㎍/mL. In addition, STW and STE suppressed the production of nitric oxide(NO), Tumor-necrosis(TNF)-��. COX-2 and PGE2 in lipopolysaccharide(LPS) induced RAW264.7 cells. Furthermore, the STE showed wound healing effect through the promotion of skin cell migration in TNF-�� stimulated human keratinocytes. These results indicated that the STW and STE have the potential to be used as a new cosmetic active ingredients in skin care.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.411-419
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• 2021

In this study, we investigated in vitro immune-enhancing and anti-obesity activity of Abelmoschus manihot roots (AMR) in mouse macrophage RAW264.7 cells and mouse adipocytes 3T3-L1 cells. AMR increased the production of immunostimulatory factors such as nitric oxide (NO), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in RAW264.7 cells. The inhibition of toll like receptor (TLR) 2 and 4 blocked AMR-mediated production of immunostimulatory factors in RAW264.7 cells. In addition, the inhibition of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) signaling pathway reduced AMR-mediated production of immunostimulatory factors. From these results, AMR is considered to have immune-enhancing activity through TLR2/4-mediated activation of MAPKs signaling pathway. In addition, AMR inhibited lipid accumulation and reduced the protein level such as CCAAT enhancer-binding protein alpha (CEBPα), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ), perilipin-1, adiponectin and fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP4) associated with lipid accumulation in 3T3-L1 cells, indicating that AMR may have anti-obesity activity. Based on these results, AMR is expected to be used as a potential functional agent for immune enhancement and anti-obesity.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.641-651
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• 2022

The biodiversity research of barley, a functional food, is proceeding to conserve germplasms and develop new cultivar of barley to improve its functional effects. In this study, with 25,104 barley germplasms in the National Agrobiodiversity Center, South Korea, the biodiversity index of species was much lower (1.17) than the origins (24.73) because of the presence of a biased species, Hordeum vulgare subsp. vulgare, but the species and origin of germplasms were significantly different with regard to genetic traits. In the clustering analysis based on genetic traits, we found that 97% barley germplasms could mostly be distributed between 1~7 clusters out of a total of 15 clusters; 'normal and uzu type', 'lodging', and 'loose smut' were commonly represented in the 1~7 clusters and some clusters showed specific differences in five genetic traits including 'growth habit'. In correlation of each genetic trait, the infection of 'barley yellow mosaic virus' was highly correlated to 'number of grains per spike'. '1000 grain weight' was weakly correlated with seven genetic traits including 'number of grains per spike'. Our analysis for barley's biodiversity can provide a useful guide to the species' phenotypes that need to be collected to conserve biodiversity and to breed new barley varieties.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.87-111
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate practical problem-based Home Economics lesson plans applying to the multiple intelligence teaching learning strategy, focused on the unit 'Nutrition & Meals' of middle school Home Economics subject matter. To achieve this purpose, the lesson plans were developed and evaluated from the 72 middle school students in Chongju after implementing the instruction. The data from the questionnaire were analyzed by SPSS/WIN 12.0 and content analysis. The results were as follows: First, the objectives of practical problem-based 'Nutrition & Meals' Instruction using multiple intelligence teaching strategy were to understand the importance of nutrition and health in an adolescent period and to develop good eating habits. The Practical Problem was 'What should I do for good eating habits?' and the learning contents were healthy life, the kinds and functions of nutriments, food pyramid and a food guide. The learning activities were progressed by various types of teaching and learning methods including 8 types of multiple intelligence teaching strategy. The lesson plans were developed according to the process of practical problem solving model. 6 periods of lesson plans and worksheets were developed. Second, the practical problem-based instruction using multiple intelligence teaching-learning strategy were evaluated to increase students' positive learning attitudes, motivation, and good eating habits.