• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
• /
• v.66
• /
• pp.204-212
• /
• 2023

Whitening is inhibitory activity of the melanin synthesis of melanocytes. Recently, whitening materials have been developed on natural materials because of its side effects on skin. Figs (Ficus Carica L.) is a fruit belonging to the Moraceae family and whitening activity was reported in focusing on the fig's stem and leaf components, but whitening activity of the figs fruit was not known. Thus, in this study, we tried to observe its anti-melanogenesis as well as antioxidant and anti-inflammation. The radical scavenging activity of figs fruits extract (FFE) was observed as the level of 34.52±1.98%/60.71±1.26% compared to the control in the its maximum concentration in the DPPH/ABTS assay. Cytotoxicity of FFE was observed at 10% concentration by CCK8 assay, so the maximum concentration was set at 5% and applied to all experiments. FFE concentration dependently decreased NO production associated with inducible nitric oxide synthase, cyclooxygenase-2, interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α gene expression, these strongly suggesting anti-inflammatory activity. In melanin contents assay, FFE significantly down-regulated melanin production in α-MSH-stimulated B16F10 cell as well as tyrosinase inhibition in vitro. In addition, FFE decreased the Microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) mRNA expression about 94.34% compared to the α-MSH treatment group in RT-PCR. Finally, FFE significantly reduced the MITF, cAMP response element-binding protein and tyrosinase protein expression in the α-MSH stimulated B16F10 cell. Through these results, we found that FFE can not only directly inhibit tyrosinase enzyme activity but also suppress melanogenesis through regulation of MITF gene expression in α-MSH signal transduction.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.27-44
• /
• 2024

Objectives: This study aimed to provide foundational data for preventing adolescents smoking by analyzing the relationship between adolescents' lifestyles and smoking experiences and identifying influencing factors. Methods: Secondary data analysis was conducted using the 17th (2021) Youth Health Behavior Survey data, encompassing 54,848 students from 796 schools. Variables included general characteristics, smoking status, lifestyle habits, physical activity, sleep patterns, and stress perception. Frequency analysis was used to examine general characteristics, while further analysis employed frequency analysis and the Pearson Chi-square test to compare lifestyle differences based on smoking presence. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was employed to determine factors influencing smoking experience, with IBM SPSS Statistics 28 used for all analyses at a significance level of p<.05. Results: Analysis revealed with general characteristics that the group with smoking experience exhibited a higher proportion of male students (67.4%) compared to the non-smoking group (50.1%) (p<.001). Analysis revealed that the smoking group was more likely to skip breakfast (27.7%), not consume fruit (17.8%), and consume fast food more than three times daily (0.9%). Furthermore, a higher percentage of smokers engaged in 60 minutes or more of breathless physical activity (8.4%) seven times a week, reported insufficient fatigue recovery through sleep (21.6%), and experienced very severe normal stress (17.2%) (p<.001). Analysis of the relationship between lifestyle and smoking indicated increased likelihood of smoking with zero breakfast consumption (OR=1.759, p<.001) and increased fruit consumption (OR=1.921, p<.001), while zero fast food consumption decreased smoking likelihood (OR=0.206, p<.001). Adequate sleep-related fatigue recovery reduced smoking likelihood (OR=0.458, p<.001), whereas increased stress elevated it (OR=1.260, p<.05). Conclusion: Adolescents' lifestyle habits significantly correlated with their smoking experiences, highlighting the necessity of considering lifestyle factors in smoking prevention strategies. This study provides crucial insights for promoting healthy lifestyle changes to prevent smoking among youth.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
• /
• v.58 no.2
• /
• pp.177-198
• /
• 2024

Article 22(1) of the Library Act, which was completely revised in December 2006, stipulated that regional representative libraries are statutory organizations, and Article 25(1) of the Library Act, which was revised again in late 2021, renamed them as metropolitan representative libraries and expanded their duties. The reason why cities and provinces are required to specify or establish and operate metropolitan representative libraries is that in addition to their role as public libraries for public information use, cultural activities, and lifelong learning as stipulated in Article 23 of the Act, they are also responsible for the legal works of metropolitan representative libraries as stipulated in Article 26, and lead the development of libraries and knowledge culture by serving as policy libraries, comprehensive knowledge information centers, support and cooperation centers, research centers, and joint preservation libraries for all public libraries in the city or province. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze and diagnose whether the metropolitan representative library has been faithfully fulfilling its legal works for the past 15 years(2009-2023), and whether it is properly providing the results of its statutory planning and implementation on its website to meet the digital and mobile era. Therefore, this study investigated and analyzed the performance of the metropolitan representative library for the last two years based on the current statutory tasks and evaluated the extent to which it provides them through its website, and suggested complementary measures to strengthen its web services. As a result, it was analyzed that the web services for legal works that the metropolitan representative library should perform are quite insufficient and inadequate, so it suggested complementary measures such as building a website for legal works on the homepage, enhancing accessibility and visibility through providing an independent website, providing various policy information and web services (portal search, inter-library loan, one-to-one consultation, joint DB construction, data transfer and preservation, etc.), and ensuring digital accessibility of knowledge information for the vulnerable.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.147-159
• /
• 2024

Lack of streamflow observations makes model calibration difficult and limits model performance improvement. Satellite-based remote sensing products offer a new alternative as they can be actively utilized to obtain hydrological data. Recently, several studies have shown that artificial intelligence-based solutions are more appropriate than traditional conceptual and physical models. In this study, a data-driven approach combining various recurrent neural networks and decision tree-based algorithms is proposed, and the utilization of satellite remote sensing information for AI training is investigated. The satellite imagery used in this study is from MODIS and SMAP. The proposed approach is validated using publicly available data from 25 watersheds. Inspired by the traditional regionalization approach, a strategy is adopted to learn one data-driven model by integrating data from all basins, and the potential of the proposed approach is evaluated by using a leave-one-out cross-validation regionalization setting to predict streamflow from different basins with one model. The GRU + Light GBM model was found to be a suitable model combination for target basins and showed good streamflow prediction performance in ungauged basins (The average model efficiency coefficient for predicting daily streamflow in 25 ungauged basins is 0.7187) except for the period when streamflow is very small. The influence of satellite remote sensing information was found to be up to 10%, with the additional application of satellite information having a greater impact on streamflow prediction during low or dry seasons than during wet or normal seasons.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.49-58
• /
• 2024

This study aimed to compare the acoustic measurements of speech samples recorded from individuals with normal voices using various devices: the Computerized Speech Lab (CSL), a unidirectional wired pin-microphone (WIRED) suitable for smartphones, the built-in omnidirectional microphone (SMART) of smartphones, and Bluetooth-connected wireless earphones, specifically the Galaxy Buds2 Pro (WIRELESS). This study included 40 normal adults (12 males and 28 females) who had not visited an otolaryngologist for respiratory diseases within the past three months. Participants performed sustained vowel /a/ phonation for four seconds and reading tasks with sentences ("Walk") and paragraphs ("Autumn") in a sound-treated booth. Recordings were simultaneously conducted using the four different devices and synchronized based on the CSL-recorded samples for analysis using the MDVP, ADSV, and VOXplot programs. Compared with CSL, the Cepstral Spectral Index of Dysphonia (CSID_V, CSID_S) and Acoustic Voice Quality Index (AVQI) values were lower in the WIRED and higher in the SMART. The opposite trend was observed for the L/H spectral ratios (SR_V and SR_S), and the WIRELESS demonstrated task-specific discrepancies. Furthermore, both the fundamental frequency (F0) and the cepstral peak prominence of the vowel samples (CPP_V) had intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) values above 0.9, indicating high reliability. These variables, F0 and CPP_V were considered highly reliable for voice recordings across different microphone types. However, caution should be exercised when analyzing and interpreting variables such as the SR, CSID, and AVQI, which may be influenced by the type of microphone used.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
• /
• v.39 no.3
• /
• pp.281-287
• /
• 2024

This study investigated the total sugar and low-calorie sweetener content in 72 alcoholic beverages. The samples included 10 takjus, 6 yakjus, 5 cheongjus, 5 beers, 12 fruit wines, 5 sojus, 5 general distilled alcoholic beverages, 9 liqueurs, and 15 other alcoholic beverages. Sugar and allulose content were analyzed using HPLC-RI, and the content of five sweeteners was analyzed using HPLC-UV and LC-MSMS. The average sugar content in the alcoholic beverages was 4.13±5.16 g/100 g. When categorized by type, the sugar content ranged from 0.00 to 8.92 g/100 g, 0.00 to 30.55 g/100 g, and 0.14 to 17.02 g/100 g in fermented (takju, yakju, cheongju, beer, and fruit wine), distilled (soju, general distilled alcoholic beverages, and liqueur), and other alcoholic beverages, respectively. Sugar content was the highest in liqueur, with the average content being 12.41±9.66 g/100 g. Among low-calorie sweeteners, acesulfame potassium, sodium saccharin, aspartame, and sucralose were detected in concentrations ranging from 28.6-121.5, 42.3, 34.1-141.5, and 23.3-88.1 mg/kg, respectively. Cyclamate and allulose were not detected in any of the alcoholic beverages. Sweeteners were detected in 24 out of the 72 alcoholic beverages, and their content complied with the standards stipulated for food additives.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
• /
• v.39 no.3
• /
• pp.288-298
• /
• 2024

This study aimed to investigate the amino acid content, fatty acid composition, total flavonoid and phenol contents, and antioxidant activities of Prunus yedoensis Matsum. bark extracts using various extraction solvents. Through amino acid analysis, 13 amino acids were detected in extracts obtained using hot water, 30% ethanol, and 70% ethanol. The major amino acids were identified as aspartic acid, arginine, and proline, and the total amino acid content was 0.17%, 0.16%, and 0.09%, respectively. Fatty acid analysis showed a saturated fatty acid (SFA) ratio of 62.7-66.7% in extracts obtained using hot water, 30% ethanol, and 70% ethanol, with the primary fatty acid identified as palmitic acid. The total flavonoid and polyphenol contents were 727.70-769.87 mg quercetin equivalent (QE)/ g and 309.24-348.09 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/g, respectively, in extracts obtained using hot water, 30% ethanol, and 70% ethanol extracts. Measurements of antioxidant activity confirmed that extracts obtained using hot water, 30% ethanol, and 70% ethanol extracts increased the antioxidant effect in 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity, 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radical scavenging activity, and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) in a concentration-dependent manner. A high correlation was observed between the total flavonoid content, total polyphenol content, and antioxidant activities of the extracts. This study provides data and novel insights for the development of functional food materials using P. yedoensis Matsum. bark extracts.

• Food Science and Preservation
• /
• v.31 no.3
• /
• pp.474-485
• /
• 2024

The purposes of this study were to isolate the potential Lacticaseibacillus spp. from the feces of infants before weaning, to investigate the safety of antibiotics resistance and beta-haemolysis, and to evaluate the anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory effects between the selected strains and Oenanthe javanica (Oj) fermented by them. As a result of analyzing the intestinal microbial community among the stools of four infants, the genus Bifidobacterium was the most dominant, but Lacticaseibacillus (L.) rhamnosus was the most frequently isolated because of the easy culture. Nine test strains, including Lactobacillus rhamnosus LGG (ATCC 53103) as the positive control, were sensitive against 8 kinds of antibiotics without vancomycin in comparison with the cut-off values at the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), and there was no hemolysis. In the antibacterial activity experiment, the Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus L22-FR28 (L28, KACC 92513P) strain and Oj+L28 ferment showed significantly (p<0.05) higher activities than LGG against Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus. Additionally, these decreased the activity of the NF-kB/AP-1 transcription factor and inhibited the nitric oxide and cytokines (TNF-α and IL-6) produced in macrophage RAW cells stimulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Consequently, the L. rhamnosus L28 strain and Oenanthe javanica+L. rhamnosus L28 (Oj+L28) ferment selected with the high anti-inflammatory effect will improve health functionality after more research, such as the verification of animal level and identification of mechanism on an anti-inflammatory.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
• /
• v.45 no.3
• /
• pp.335-341
• /
• 2024

Objectives: Patients with cancer eventually fail to respond to therapy when malignant cells develop effective ways to evade immunosurveillance. Conventional cancer treatments, such as radiation therapy and chemotherapy, aim to cure the disease or prolong the patient's life. However, the toxicity and side effects of conventional treatments limit their efficacy. Herbal medicine is a typical complementary and integrative form of medicine for cancer treatment in Asia. This protocol evaluates the effectiveness of herbal medicines in improving the immune function of patients with cancer. Methods: The following electronic databases will be searched: MEDLINE via PubMed, EMBASE via Elsevier, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Korean databases including Regional Information Sharing Systems (RISS), National Digital Science Library (NDSL), and Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System (OASIS). Additionally, prospective randomized controlled trials that evaluate the effectiveness of herbal medicines on immune function in patients with cancer will be included in this review. All outcomes related to the immune function of patients with cancer (e.g., CD3, CD4, CD8, CD4/CD8 ratio, CD19 (B cells), dendritic cells (CD11), CD56 (NK cells), and macrophages) will be included in this review. Results: This review is expected to provide data on the effectiveness of herbal medicines on improving immune functions in patients with cancers. Conclusion: This systematic review will help patients and clinicians establish new management options for cancer treatment.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.41 no.4
• /
• pp.505-518
• /
• 2023

The key to invasive pest management lies in preemptive action. However, most current research using species distribution models is conducted after an invasion has occurred. This study modeled the potential distribution of the globally notorious sweet potato pest, the sweet potato weevil(Cylas formicarius), that has not yet invaded Korea using MaxEnt. Using global occurrence data, bioclimatic variables, and topsoil characteristics, MaxEnt showed high explanatory power as both the training and test areas under the curve exceeded 0.9. Among the environmental variables used in this study, minimum temperature in the coldest month (BIO06), precipitation in the driest month (BIO14), mean diurnal range (BIO02), and bulk density (BDOD) were identified as key variables. The predicted global distribution showed high values in most countries where the species is currently present, with a significant potential invasion risk in most South American countries where C. formicarius is not yet present. In Korea, Jeju Island and the southwestern coasts of Jeollanam-do showed very high probabilities. The impact of climate change under shared socioeconomic pathway (SSP) scenarios indicated an expansion along coasts as climate change progresses. By applying the 10th percentile minimum training presence rule, the potential area of occurrence was estimated at 1,439 km² under current climate conditions and could expand up to 9,485 km² under the SSP585 scenario. However, the model predicted that an inland invasion would not be serious. The results of this study suggest a need to focus on the risk of invasion in islands and coastal areas.