• Proceedings of the Korean Nutrition Society Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.71-71
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• 2001

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.877-877
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• 2002

• Proceedings of the Korean Nutrition Society Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.162.1-162.1
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• 2003

• Proceedings of the Korean Nutrition Society Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.163.1-163.1
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• 2003

• Proceedings of the Korean Nutrition Society Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.105-105
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• 2003

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.139-142
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• 1997

Cleaving host immunoglobulins is a well known mechanism of evading host immune reactions exploited by helminth parasites, Secreted cysteine proteases of helminth are a part of enzymes cleaving host IgG. Porogonimw westemani produces at least six different species of the cysteine protease in its developmental stages. This study was undertaken to evaluate comparatively the activities against human IgG by the different enzymes. When the metacercariae, which secrete 27 and 28 kDa cysteine proteases, were incubated in human IgG solution, IgG was degraded at its hinge region. Further incubation resulted complete hydrolysis. From 4-week and 7-week old juveniles and 16-week old adults of p. westemani, five different enzymes at 15, 17. 27 28 and 53 kDa have been purified, if the enzyme with the same molecular mass is regarded to be identical. In cleaving human IgG, each cysteine protease exhibited decreasing activities with age.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.1041-1046
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• 2010

Phytoextraction is a technique which uses plants to clean up metal-contaminated soils. Recently, various chelating agents were introduced into this technique to increase the bioavailability of metals in soils. Even though the technique is an economic and environment-friendly method, this cannot be applied in highly metal-contaminated areas because plants will not normally grow in such conditions. Therefore, this research focuses on identifying chelating agents which are biodegradable and applicable to highly metal-contaminated areas. Alunimum (Al) as a target metal and cysteine (Cys), histidine (His), citrate, malate, oxalate, succinate, and ethylenediamine (EDA) as biodegradable chelating agents were selected. Ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) was used as a comparative standard. Plants were grown on agar media containing various chelating agents with Al to analyze the effect on plant growth. His slightly diminished the inhibitory effect of Al on root growth of plants, whereas, Cys, citrate, malate, oxalate, and succinate did not show significant effects. Both EDTA and EDA strongly diminished the inhibitory effect of Al on root growth. The effect of EDA is correlated with decreased Al uptake into the plants. In conclusion, as a biodegradable chelating agent, EDA is a good candidate for highly Al-contaminated areas.

• Current Research on Agriculture and Life Sciences
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.155-158
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• 2014

Phytoextraction is a technique that uses plants to remediate metal-contaminated soils. However, this technique cannot be applied in highly metal-contaminated areas, as plants cannot normally grow under such conditions. Therefore, this study investigated the introduction of various biodegradable chelating agents to increase the bioavailability of metals in highly metal-contaminated areas. Mercury (Hg) was selected as the target metal, while cysteine (Cys), histidine (His), malate, succinate, oxalate, citrate, and ethylenediamine (EDA) were used as biodegradable chelating agents. Plants were grown on agar media containing various chelating agents and Hg to analyze the effect on plant root growth. Cys and EDA were both found to diminish the inhibitory effect of Hg on plant root growth, whereas His, citrate, and ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) did not show any significant effects, and malate, succinate, and oxalate even promoted the inhibitory effect of Hg on plant root growth. Thus, Cys and EDA would seem to be promising biodegradable chelating agents for highly Hg-contaminated areas.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.331-338
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• 2004

Folate nutrition in early pregnancy is crucial in order to prevent neural tube defects (NTDs) in the fetus and maternal folate deficiency in late pregnancy If the influencing factors on maternal folate status are identified we may be able to detect the women at most risk of folate deficiency. This study intends to determine folate intakes, assess the levels of serum folate, erythrocyte folate, and plasma homocysteine, and reveal theinfluencing factors on maternal folate status in early pregnancy. A total of 151 healthy women in their first trimester volunteered for this study. The average length of gestation period was 9.1$\pm$ 2.3 weeks and seventy subjects were primipara. They consumed 1599$\pm$589 ㎉/day of energy and 230.8$\pm$145.2 $\mu\textrm{g}$/day of folate. This represented 72.5％ and 46.2％ of the Korean RDA respectively for pregnant women in the first half of Pregnancy. Results show that they consume less folate and energy due to morning sickness. Morning sickness correlated negatively with the intakes of energy, folate, ana Kimchi also. Their levels of serum folate, erythrocyte folate, and plasma homocysteine were 5.5$\pm$1.9 ng/mL, 266.6$\pm$75.0 ng/mL, and 7.0$\pm$1.8 $\mu$mol/L, respectively. Results indicate that 7.8% were deficient and 60.3% were borderline deficient in serum folate, 4.3% were deficient in erythrocyte folate, however, all had normal levels of plasma homocysteine. Results indicate that the folate status was not poor Contributing factors influencing serum folate concentrations ($R^2$= 0.724, p = 0.0001) were self-reported health status (+), folate intake (+), age (-), length of gestation (-), and homocysteine levels (-). Factors influencing erythrocyte folate concentrations ($R^2$ = 0.570, p = 0.0029) were the infant birth height of the last pregnancy (+), energy intake (+), age (-), plasma homocysteine concentration (-), and education level (-). Factors influencing plasma homocysteine concentrations ($R^2$= 0.450, p = 0.0051) were income level (+), prepregnancy weight (+), serum folate concentration (-), and the infant birth weight of the last pregnancy (-). These results indicate that pregnant women are likely to have a folate deficiency if they are in poor health status, having a history of delivering small infant and low energy and/or folate intake, and/or are older. And folate status is likely to decline as pregnancy progresses.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.475-481
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• 2006

Purpose : As the prevalence of childhood obesity is increasing, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, insulin resistance and diabetes mellitus have become problems. High homocysteine levels and low vitamin $B_{12}$ supplementation are acknowledged to have a role in coronary artery disease, but there are few studies on homocysteine, insulin and vitamin $B_{12}$ levels in obese children. We aimed to study whether homocysteine, insulin, vitamin $B_{12}$, folic acid levels could have any difference and relation in obese children. Methods : The disease group consisted of 27 children from 8 to 11 years old, whose obesity index was over 130. The control group consisted of 30 healthy children of the same age group. Obesity index and body mass index were calculated by height and body weight of the children, and their systolic and diastolic blood pressures at resting state were checked. Total cholesterol, triglyceride, homocysteine, insulin, vitamin $B_{12}$, folic acid levels were studied after 10 hours of fasting. Intracellular fluid, extracellular fluid, protein, mineral, muscle mass, lean body fat, fat mass and fat percentages were checked by bioelectrical impedance. Results : Homocysteine levels were higher in obese children($8.1{\pm}2.1{\mu}mol/mL$ vs. $4.9{\pm}1.0{\mu}mol/mL$). Insulin levels were also higher in obese children($26.8{\pm}11.2{\mu}IU/mL$ vs. $12.5{\pm}5.24{\mu}IUl/mL$). Vitamin $B_{12}$ was lower in obese children($798.6{\pm}174.3pg/mL$ vs. $967.8{\pm}405.0pg/mL$). But there was not a difference in the folic acid levels between the two groups. In obese children, systolic blood pressure (r=0.535), triglyceride(r=0.517), total cholesterol(r=0.408), folic acid(r=0.408), vitamin $B_{12}$(r=0.338) and abdomoanl fat %(r=0.306) had a positive correlation. Conclusion : We found definite differences of insulin, homocysteine, and vitamin $B_{12}$ plasma levels in obese children, but we need more study to use those parameters as risk factors of metabolic syndrome in pediatric obese patients.