• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.27 no.11
• /
• pp.1315-1323
• /
• 2017

Turmeric is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant (Curcuma longa (CL)) of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae. A yellow-pigmented fraction isolated from the rhizomes of CL contains curcuminoids belonging to the dicinnamoyl methane group. Curcumin is an important active ingredient responsible for the biological activity of CL. However, CL is not usually used as a food source due to its bitter taste. The present study was designed to determine the effect of the CL fermented by Rhizopus oryzae (FCL) on pro-inflammatory factors such as nuclear factor ${\kappa}B$ ($NF-{\kappa}B$), tumor necrosis factor alpha ($TNF-{\alpha}$), interleukin-6 (IL-6), nitric oxide (NO), prostaglandin $E_2$ ($PGE_2$), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW 264.7 cell line. The cell viability was determined by MTT assay. To evaluate the anti-inflammatory effect of FCL 80% EtOH extracts, IL-6 and $TNF-{\alpha}$ were measured by ELISA kit. Also, the amount of $NO/PGE_2/NF-{\kappa}B$ was measured using the $NO/PGE_2/NF-{\kappa}B$ detection kit and the iNOS/COX-2 expression was measured by Western blotting. The results showed that the FCL reduced NO, $PGE_2$, iNOS, COX-2, $NF-{\kappa}B$, IL-6 and $TNF-{\alpha}$ production without cytotoxicity. These results suggest that FCL extracts may be a developed the functional food related to anti-inflammation due to the significant effects on inflammatory factors.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.46 no.6
• /
• pp.836-845
• /
• 1999

Background : Obesity is present in the majority of adult patients with obstructive sleep apnea(OSA) and is considered to be a major risk factor for its development. A reduction in body weight has been associated with substantial improvement in the severity of apnea. However, a variety of treatment strategies for obesity have yielded limited sucess. This study was done to determine resting energy expenditure(REE) in patients with obstructive sleep apnea and the correlation between the severity of sleep apnea and REE, and to investigate whether leptin influences REE and correlated with the severity of sleep apnea in 39 patients with OSA and 45 controls matched for obesity. Method : Overnight polysomnography was performed on all subjects using standard techniques. Measurements of REE were made using a Sensormedic Vmax 229 and a canopy system. Serum leptin concentration was measured by human leptin RIA kit of LINCO Research INC. Results : REE was greater in patients with OSA compared with controls, but there was no difference between the two groups on REE%. And also there was no significant correlation between anthropometric data, polysomnographic data and REE%. Serum leptin was linearly related to body mass index(BMI), apnea index, apnea hypopnea index and lowest arterial oxygen saturation($SaO_2$) but not related to REE%. Conclusion : This study suggests the followings. Firstly patients patients with sleep apnea have a pattern of obesity characterized by energy homeostasis at an elevated body weight set-point. In order to achieve a lower body weight in these patients, it may be necessary to increase energy expenditure by increasing physical activity. Secondly leptin level was not correlated with REE, suggesting that leptin may predominantly regulate body fat by altering eating behavior rather than calorigenesis. Lastly leptin level was significantly correlated with the severity of sleep apnea. These elevated level of leptin in patients of sleep apnea may be related to the obesity, however it needs further studies to determine the relationship between the severity of sleep apnea and serum leptin.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
• /
• v.34 no.4
• /
• pp.303-311
• /
• 2000

Purpose: Thallium behaves similarly to potassium in vivo. Potassium channel opener (K-opener) opens ATP-sensitive $K^+$-channel located at cell membrane, resulting in potassium efflux from cytosol. We have previously reported that K-opener can alter biokinetics of Tl-201 in cultured cells and in vivo. Malignant tumor cells have high Na-K ATPase activity due to increased metabolic activities and dedifferentiation, and differential delineation of malignant tumor can be possible with Tl-201 imaging. K-opener may affect tumoral uptake of Tl-201 in vivo. To investigate the effects of pinacidil (one of the potent K-openers) on the localization of the tumor with Tl-201 chloride, we evaluated the changes in biodistribution of Tl-201 with pinacidil treatment in tumor-bearing mice. Materials and Methods: Baltic mice received subcutaneous implantation of murine breast cancer cells in the thigh and were used for biodistribution study 3 weeks later. $100{\mu}g$ of pinacidil dissolved in $200{\mu}l$ DMSO/PBS solution was injected intravenously via tail vein at 10 min after 185 KBq ($5{\mu}Ci$) Tl-201 injection. Percentage organ uptake and whole body retention ratio of Tl-201 were measured at various periods after injection, and values were compared between control and pinacidil-treated mice. Results: Pinacidil treatment resulted in mild decrease in blood levels of Tl-201, but renal uptakes were markedly decreased at 30-min, 1- and 2-hour, compared to control group. Hepatic, intestinal and muscular uptake were not different. Absolute percentage uptake and tumor to blood ratios of Tl-201 were lower in pinacidil treated mice than in the control group at all time points measured. Whole body retention ratio of Tl-201 was lower in pinacidil treated mice ($58{\pm}4%$ ), than in the control group ($67{\pm}3%$) at 24 hours after with injection of $100{\mu}g$ pinacidil. Conclusion: K-opener did not enhance, but rather decreased absolute tumoral uptake and tumor-to-blood ratios of Tl-201. Decreased whole body retention ratio and renal uptake were observed with pinacidil treatment in tumor-bearing mice.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
• /
• v.36 no.2
• /
• pp.172-180
• /
• 2023

In the current study, four groups; control, 500, 1000, and 2000 mg/L, were treated to investigate the effects of physiological and growth characteristics on Machilus thunbergii under various fertilization levels. As a result of the physiological response to the fertilization treatment, the fertilized group demonstrated relatively higher levels of A, ITE, WUEi, V_camx, PI_abs, and SFI_abs in comparison to the control. The best photosynthetic mechanism was most clearly seen at 1000 mg/L, which involved gas exchange through active stomatal opening and closing. For a productive photosynthetic mechanism. As seen in the growth response of M. thunbergii to fertilization treatment, the fertilized group has significantly higher height, DRC, leaf dry weight, stem dry weight, total dry weight, LWR, and SWR than the control group. A healthy seedling quality index was particularly evident at 1000 mg/L, and other growth indicators were also at a decent level. 500 mg /L also demonstrated growth characteristics that were comparable to those at 1000 mg/L. As a result, M. thunbergii featured the best physiological and growth characteristics in response to the fertilization treatment at 1000 mg/L, and 500 mg/L also showed a similar trend, which is considered to be a good option from an economical perspective.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.257-267
• /
• 1993

Optimum pasture management during the summer season is an important factor to maintain good regrowth and persistence of pasture. The field experiment was carried out to investigate the effects of cutting management on growth and reserve carbohydrates in stubble. and on dry matter yield of orchardgrass dominated pasture during the mid-summer season. Three different cutting times(July 15, 25 and August 5) as a main plot and three cutting heights(3, 6 and 10cm) as a sub plot were disigned with three replications. The experiment was done at pasture of Changsung Agricultural High School in 1988. The results obtained were summarized as follows: 1. Temperature of soil surface and underground in the cutting of July 15 and July 25 was not showed significantly different, because of low intensity of radiation with a run of wet weather, and that of August 5 cutting tends to be lowed in high cutting height during the mid-summer season. 2. Amount of soil moisture against cutting height showed that high cutting had a low content. 3. Growth rate against regrowth of plant height, lear length and leaf area showed to be fast in high cutting. 4. Rapid recovery period of carbohydrate content after cutting and large amount of carbohydrate accumulation were showed in the cutting of July 15 and 25 compared with August 5 cutting in the reserve carbohydrate content against cutting of time and height during the mid-summer season. 5. Dry matter yield of the 4th and 5th cutting showed to be remarkable in July 15 cutting compared to those of July 25 and August 5. From the above results, it is suggested that the 10cm cutting height during the mid-summer season is the most effective for good regrowth, reserve carbohydrates and dry matter yield of orchardgrass.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.108-116
• /
• 2006

Purpose : High-resolution spiral-scan imaging is performed at 3 Tesla MRI system. Since the gradient waveforms for the spiral-scan imaging have lower slopes than those for the Echo Planar Imaging (EPI), they can be implemented with the gradient systems having lower slew rates. The spiral-scan imaging also involves less eddy currents due to the smooth gradient waveforms. The spiral-scan imaging method does not suffer from high specific absorption rate (SAR), which is one of the main obstacles in high field imaging for rf echo-based fast imaging methods such as fast spin echo techniques. Thus, the spiral-scan imaging has a great potential for the high-speed imaging in high magnetic fields. In this paper, we presented various high-resolution images obtained by the spiral-scan methods at 3T MRI system for various applications. Materials and Methods : High-resolution spiral-scan imaging technique is implemented at 3T whole body MRI system. An efficient and fast higher-order shimming technique is developed to reduce the inhomogeneity, and the single-shot and interleaved spiral-scan imaging methods are developed. Spin-echo and gradient-echo based spiral-scan imaging methods are implemented, and image contrast and signal-tonoise ratio are controlled by the echo time, repetition time, and the rf flip angles. Results : Spiral-scan images having various resolutions are obtained at 3T MRI system. Since the absolute magnitude of the inhomogeneity is increasing in higher magnetic fields, higher order shimming to reduce the inhomogeneity becomes more important. A fast shimming technique in which axial, sagittal, and coronal sectional inhomogeneity maps are obtained in one scan is developed, and the shimming method based on the analysis of spherical harmonics of the inhomogeneity map is applied. For phantom and invivo head imaging, image matrix size of about $100{\times}100$ is obtained by a single-shot spiral-scan imaging, and a matrix size of $256{\times}256$ is obtained by the interleaved spiral-scan imaging with the number of interleaves of from 6 to 12. Conclusion : High field imaging becomes increasingly important due to the improved signal-to-noise ratio, larger spectral separation, and the higher BOLD-based contrast. The increasing SAR is, however, a limiting factor in high field imaging. Since the spiral-scan imaging has a very low SAR, and lower hardware requirements for the implementation of the technique compared to EPI, it is suitable for a rapid imaging in high fields. In this paper, the spiral-scan imaging with various resolutions from $100{\times}100$ to $256{\times}256$ by controlling the number of interleaves are developed for the high-speed imaging in high magnetic fields.

• Journal of Mushroom
• /
• v.10 no.3
• /
• pp.115-119
• /
• 2012

'Gonji-5ho', a new variety of oyster mushroom, for the bag culture, was bred by mating two monokaryons isolated from 'Chiak-3ho'and 'Suhan-1ho'. In the characteristics of fruit body, pilei were thick and gray and stipes were thick, and long, and soft. It was better in elasticity and cohesivness of tissue compared to Suhan-1ho. Compared to other varieties, it was suitable to grow at higher temperature. The range of optimum temperature for the mycelial growth was around 26~29 and that for the pinheading and growth of fruit body was around $18{\sim}20^{\circ}C$. But when it was cultuered in lower than $15^{\circ}C$, growth was not uniform, culture period was longer, and stipes were uneven. In the bag culture, it was required around 18 days in incubation period and 3 days in primordia formation. The fruit body growth was vital and uniform. The yield was 221.4g/1kg bag.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.20 no.12
• /
• pp.1844-1850
• /
• 2010

Body fat reducing and physical-activity enhancing effects, along with artherosclerosis improving effects, of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) were elucidated on obese male middle school students with more than 30% body fat. Twenty-four volunteers were randomly divided into control (placebo, n=12) and CLA treatment (n=12) groups. Subjects were daily fed 6 g CLA (6 capsules, twice a day) or a placebo for 12 weeks. At the end of the experiment, body composition, blood lipid composition and exercise capacities of subjects were measured. CLA significantly reduced body fat content and body mass index (BMI) along with body weight, while the placebo did not have any such effects. Similarly, CLA significantly reduced low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol, total cholesterol, and triglyceride, but elevated high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol content in blood. Meanwhile, in terms of exercise capacity, there were significant enhancements of trunk flexion, closed-eyes foot balance, standing long jump, shuttle run, and sit-up activities in the CLA treatment group. These results indicate that CLA consumption reduced body fats, improved atherosclerosis factors in blood and improved physical activity of young male obese middle school students, and suggest that CLA could be a useful material for the heath care of obese young men.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.49 no.3
• /
• pp.262-269
• /
• 2013

The object of this study was to improve the quality of Cheonggukjang with new starter, Bacillus subtilis BC-P1. Twenty strains were isolated from the commercial cheonggukjang and 1 Bacillus strain (BC-P1) with protease activity was selected. The 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed that the BC-P1 was closely related to B. subtilis with 99% homology. The quality characteristics of chunggukjang fermented with B. subtilis BC-P1, Bacillus nato (PC) and commercial chunggukjang (NC) were investigated. The characteristics of fermentation were determined by protease, lipase, xylanase, chitinase, and fibrinolytic activities, reducing sugar, nutrient composition and amino acid contents of cheonggukjang sample. Cheonggukjang fermented with B. subtilis BC-P1 showed the strongest fibrinolytic, xylanase, and chitinase activities. Reducung sugar contents of Cheonggukjang samples were $30.16{\pm}2.11$ mg/g (NC), $28.56{\pm}1.52$ mg/g (PC), $32.39{\pm}1.87$ mg/g (BC-P1). And their total amino acid contents were 338.99 mg% (NC), 445.19 mg% (PC), 741.35 mg% (BC-P1). These results suggested that B. subtilis BC-P1 was suitable to be used as a starter to enhance the quality and effects of cheonggukjang.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.41 no.1
• /
• pp.123-128
• /
• 2012

This study was conducted to investigate the quality characteristics of tofu (soybean curd) prepared with added alfalfa extracts (Medicago sativa L.). The moisture content, yield, and pH of tofu decreased according to the increase of an added quantity of alfalfa extract, whereas the crude protein and turbidity increased. The tofu made with additional alfalfa extracts gave a similar amount of crude ash with that of the control. The Hunter's L (lightness) color value decreased as the content of alfalfa extract increased, but the a (redness) and b (yellowness) values increased with increasing alfalfa extract concentration. Textural properties for hardness were higher but cohesiveness, springiness, gumminess, and brittleness were lower in alfalfa extracts with added tofu compared to those of control. Isoflavones such as daidzein and genistein content were significantly increased with increasing concentration of alfalfa extracts. A sensory evaluation indicated that the group with a 0.5% alfalfa extract showed the best color, flavor, taste, and overall acceptability results. In conclusion, adding alfalfa extracts could improve the physicochemical and sensory characteristics of tofu.