• Journal of Life Science
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• v.26 no.10
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• pp.1130-1136
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to investigate the anti-proliferative and apoptotic effects of acid extract of Gracilaria verrucosa (AEG) on RC-58T/h/SA#4 primary human prostate cancer cells. AEG significantly decreased the cell viability of prostate cancer cells in a dose-dependent manner. AEG also showed relatively low cytotoxicity on normal cell (RWPE-1). The morphology of prostate cancer cells treated with AEG was distorted to shrunken cell masses. In addition, it was revealed that AEG induced cell death as evidenced by increased formation of apoptotic body and nuclear condensation. Furthermore, AEG clearly modulated the down regulation of Bcl-2 (anti-apoptotic)/Bax (pro-apoptotic) family and activated caspase-3 as an effector caspase in a dose-dependent manner. AEG inhibited cell proliferation induced by environmental hormones as a bisphenol A in a dose-dependent manner. These results indicate that AEG act as anti-proliferative effects as a potential therapeutic agent on primary human prostate cancer cells.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.79-83
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• 2015

The fire accident is a representative type of disaster that can largely impact on business. Therefore, precautionary measures and rapid initial response is very important when a disaster occurs. The storage of porous combustibles is inevitable in coal yard, plywood processing industry, and others that are currently operating. Initial fire fighting of fire and identifying the ignition point in such a porous combustible storage space are so difficult that if the initial response is failed, being led to deep-seated fire, surface fire is likely to result in secondary damage. In addition, deep-seated fire can cause personal injuries and property damage due to a large amount of toxic gases and reignition. Therefore damage reduction measures is required around the storage space to handle a porous flammable. Improving the penetration performance of the concentration of the surfactant is carried out as underlying study, which is about an deep-seated fire extinguishing efficiency augmentation when using wetting agents. The porous materials used in the experiments is radiata pine wood flour, which occupies more than 75% of the domestic wood market. Fire fighting water is selected as Butyl Di Glycol (BDG), which is being used for infiltration extinguishing agent, and the experiment was carried out by producing a standard solution. The experiment was carried out on the basis of the Deep-Seated Fire Test of NFPA 18. The amount of watering, porous material to the internal amount of penetration, and runoff measurement out of the porous material was conducted. According to experimental results, as the surface tension is reduced, the surfactant concentration macroscopic penetration rate decreases, but infiltration to a porous material is shown to have growth characteristics.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.751-757
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• 2015

The objective of this study was to investigate the protective effects of mulberry (Morus alba) sugar extracts (MSE) against $H_2O_2$-induced oxidative stress in HepG2 cells. The MSEs was mixed with matured mulberry and sugar at the same ratio (1:1, w/w) and stored at $18{\pm}3^{\circ}C$ for 40 days. In 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging test, MSE stored for 40 days showed high activity with a ratio above 66%. Therefore, we selected 40 days as the optimum storage period. After cell viability analysis using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, we determined that the optimum concentration of MSE was 0.5%. Our results showed that MSE increased the cell viability and antioxidant enzyme activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase in $H_2O_2$-treated HepG2 cells. Moreover, the treatment with MSE inhibited malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in $H_2O_2$-treated HepG2 cells. We also observed a reduction in apoptotic bodies in the Hoechst staining. These data show that MSE treatment significantly suppressed caspase-3 activity in HepG2 cells expored to $H_2O_2$-induced oxidative stress, thereby indicationg the protective effects of MSE in $H_2O_2$-induced oxidative stress.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.91-101
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• 2000

The emission sources of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are wastewater treatment plants. sanitary landfills, automobile industries, and so on. The VOCs are harmful to human beings because of their toxicity and carcinogenicity, and cause the serious air pollution problem producing ozone ($O_3$) as a result of photochemical reaction. To investigate the emission of VOCs from wastewater treatment plant, aeration basins at the City of Los Angeles' Hyperion Treatment Plant were selected and measured flux was compared with calculated flux. For compounds commonly associated with wastewater (DCM, TCM, PCE, UM, DCB, UND) and not expected in vehicle exhaust or ambient air coming off the ocean, concentrations immediately downwind of the aeration basins were a factor of ten or higher than those measured in the upwind air. The airborne flux of less degradable or non-biodegradable compounds, e.g., DCE, DCM, TCA, DCA, TCM, PCE, DCB, through an imaginary plane at the downwind side of the aeration basins was in agreement with the estimated flux from measured liquid phase concentrations. Henry's constant. aeration rate, and an assumption of bubble saturation. For several compounds (PCE, DCE, TCA), the ratio (measured flux/calculated flux) is almost unity.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.81-87
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• 2007

The removal of Microcystis aeruginosa and Chlorella zofingiensis by ceramic powder was investigated on the basis of both the particle size (under 0.05, 0.1, 1 mm) and the dosage (0.1, 1, $10\;g\;L^{-1}$) of the ceramic powder. The removal efficiencies of M. aeruginosa and C. zofingiensis were highest with a particle size of 0.05 mm and a dosage of $1\;g\;L^{-1}$ of the ceramic powder in laboratory experiment. $chlorophyll-{\alpha}$ concentrations decreased in both field and enclosure samples with a particle size of 0.05 mm and a dosage of $1\;g\;L^{-1}$ of ceramic powder, resulting in the removal efficiencies of 67 and 69%, respectively. Consequently, it was concluded that the ceramic powder could be used to control algal bloom by removing $chlorophyll-{\alpha}$ in eutrophic waters.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.265-274
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• 2016

Toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems are ubiquitous genetic modules that are evolutionally conserved in bacteria and archaea. TA systems composed of an intracellular toxin and its antidote (antitoxin) are currently classified into five types. Commonly, activation of toxins under stress conditions inhibits diverse cellular processes and consequently induces cell death or reversible growth inhibition. These effects of toxins play various physiological roles in such as regulation of gene expression, growth control (stress response), programmed cell arrest, persister cells, programmed cell death, phage protection, stabilization of mobile genetic elements or postsegregational killing of plasmid-free cells. Accordingly, bacterial TA systems are commonly considered as stress-responsive genetic modules. However, molecule screening for activation of toxin in TA system is available as development of antimicrobial agents. In addition, cytotoxic effect induced by toxin is used as effective cloning method with antitoxic effect of antitoxin; consequently cells containing cloning vector inserted a target gene can survive and false-positive transformants are removed. Also, TA system is applicable to efficient single protein production in biotechnology industry because toxins that are site-specific ribonuclease inhibit protein synthesis except for target protein. Furthermore, some TA systems that induce apoptosis in eukaryotic cells such as cancer cells or virus-infected cells would have a wide range of applications in eukaryotes, and it will lead to new ways of treating human disease. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge on bacterial TA systems and their applications.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.660-668
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• 2017

In this study, we conducted an assessment of the risks posed by the noxious chemicals often handled at the analysis centers of organizations involved in Work Environment Measurement (WEM) using the Chemical Hazard Risk Management (CHARM) system. For this purpose, six organizations involved in WEM located in Seoul and Gyeonggi, which conducted the risk assessment, were selected and, as a result, 29 materials were selected as chemical substances presenting a risk of exposure. In terms of their physical properties, there were 16 liquid and 10 solid materials, and for the special management materials (CMR), the findings were as follows: 'Carcinogenic' 1A - 11 and 1B - 1 (2 - 8); 'Mutagenic' 1A - 4 and 1B - 3 (2 - 8); and 'Repro-toxic' 1A - 0 and 1B - 1 (2 - 6). In the risk estimation, 30.4%, 66.1% and 3.6% of the materials presented 'low', 'average' and 'high' risks, respectively. In addition, two of these six institutions had materials presenting a 'high' risk. This study is significant in that the risk assessment was conducted using CHARM, a chemical substance assessment tool. It is expected that the results will be utilized as the basic data for safety assessment, the establishment of a plan for emergency measures and drawing up a safety management manual, and the institutional and legal management of accidents and risks in the analysis centers of organizations involved in WEM and the management of chemicals by drawing attention to the risks involved.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.447-451
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• 2019

6-gingerol can be converted to 6-shogaol, one of the predominant active compounds found in ginger, via processing such as drying and extraction. Subcritical water extraction is the environmentally friendly method of extraction of bioactive compounds using only purified water as a solvent. This study investigated subcritical water extraction ($190^{\circ}C$, 15 min) of 6-gingerol, and 6-shogaol from dried ginger (Zingiber officinale) including drying conditions such as temperature (room temperature, 60, $80^{\circ}C$, and freeze drying) and time duration for drying (1-4 h). The amount of 6-gingerol was found to be reduced, and that of 6-shogaol was found to be increased depending upon the water content of dried ginger. Upon oven-drying ginger at $60^{\circ}C$ for 2 h, the maximum yields of 6-gingerol ($0.18{\pm}0.02mg/g$ fresh weight), and 6-shogaol ($0.47{\pm}0.02mg/g$ fresh weight) were obtained upon subcritical water extraction.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.1-8
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• 2023

Research, such as developing alternative energy in the transportation field, including aviation, is being actively conducted to solve the issue of current climate change. Interest in ammonia fuel as a carbon free energy (CFE) source is increasing due to the ease of liquefaction and transportation and similarity in energy density to that of methanol. However, explosiveness and toxicity of ammonia make it difficult to handle. Therefore, in this study, stable ammonia production was attempted using relatively easy-to-handle urea water solution (UWS). High temperature steam was used to promote the hydrolysis of ammonia. In order to determine the causes for ammonia production below the theoretical equivalent ratio, it was suggested that there were not enough collisions to promote the hydrolysis based on the kinetic theory of gases. The hydrolysis of unreacted isocyanic acid (HNCO) was tested according to the change in water supply. As a result, an increased amount of ammonia produced was confirmed. The increased amount of ammonia produced in a certain section was dependent on the steam temperature and the flow rate of water supplied.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.10
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• pp.776-782
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• 2023

Silymarin, which is derived from dried Silybum marianum (milk thistle) seeds and fruits, possesses various beneficial properties, such as hepatoprotective, antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer activity. This research aimed to explore the antioxidative activity of silymarin against oxidative stress and understand its molecular mechanism in RAW 264.7 cells. The study employed cell viability and reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation assays and western blot analysis. The results demonstrated that silymarin effectively reduced intracellular ROS levels induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in a dose-dependent manner without causing any cytotoxic effects. Moreover, silymarin treatment significantly upregulated the expression of heme oxygenase (HO)-1, a phase II enzyme known for its potent antioxidative activity. Additionally, silymarin treatment significantly induced the expression of nuclear factor-erythroid 2 p45-related factor (Nrf) 2, a transcription factor responsible for regulating antioxidative enzymes, which was consistent with the upregulated HO-1 expression. To investigate the involvement of key signaling pathways in maintaining cellular redox homeostasis against oxidative stress, the phosphorylation status of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) was estimated by western blot analysis. The results showed that silymarin potently induced HO-1 expression, which was mediated by the phosphorylation of p38 MAPK. To further validate the antioxidative potential of silymarin-induced HO-1 expression, tert-butyl hydroperoxide (t-BHP)-induced oxidative damage was employed and attenuated by silymarin treatment, as identified by a selective inhibitor for each signaling molecule. In conclusion, silymarin robustly enhanced antioxidative activity by inducing HO-1 via the Nrf2/p38 MAPK signaling pathway in RAW 264.7 cells.