• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.42 no.3
• /
• pp.389-396
• /
• 2013

Epidermal hydration is mainly maintained by natural moisturizing factors (NMFs). Of these various NMFs, free amino acids (AAs) are major constituents generated by filaggrin degradation. The reduction of these AAs has been reported in aging skin induced during menopause. In this study, we examined whether the dietary supplementation of royal jelly (RJ) during the pre- and post-menopausal period alters epidermal levels of filaggrins, free AAs, and peptidylarginine deiminase-3 (PAD-3) (an enzyme involved in filaggrin degradation processes). Sprague Dawley rats were divided into five groups: groups fed a control diet for 12 weeks, in which an ovariectomy (OVX) or sham operation (SHAM) were underwent at week 4; groups fed a diet with 1% RJ harvested in different area of Korea (RJ1 and RJ2); and a group fed a diet with isoflavone (IF), the typical functional food for menopause prevention, for 4 weeks before and 8 weeks after an ovariectomy operation. In the epidermis of group OVX, total filaggrins (including profilaggrin and filaggrin) were reduced; these levels in groups RJ1 and IF were similar or less than in group OVX. However, total AAs, which showed no apparent difference between groups SHAM and OVX, were highly increased in groups RJ1 and IF. Specifically, aspartate (Asp) and proline (Pro), the major AAs in functioning NMF, were highly increased in group RJ1. Although total filaggrins, profilaggrin, filaggrin and PAD3 increased, total AAs (including Asp and Pro) in group RJ2 were modest or less than in group RJ1. The PAD3 alteration was not apparent among the four other groups. Taken together, we demonstrate that the diet supplementation of RJ1 enhanced filaggrin degradation (but not through the increased protein expression of PAD3), and increased total AAs, Asp and Pro. RJ1 could be a dietary supplementation for preventing the skin aging induced during menopause.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.306-317
• /
• 2014

This study has been executed to understand the additional and removal processes of nutrients in the Saemangeum Salt-water Lake, and discussed with other monthly-collected environmental parameters such as water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, suspended solids, and Chl-a from 2008 to 2010. $NO_3$-N, TP, $PO_4$-P, and DISi showed the removal processes along with the salinity gradients at the surface water of the lake, whereas $NO_2$-N, $NH_4$-N, and Chl-a showed addition trend. In the bottom water all water quality parameters except $NO_3$-N appeared addition processes indicating evidence of continuous nutrients suppliance into the bottom layer. The mixing modelling approach revealed that the biogeochemical processes in the lake consume $NO_3$-N and consequently added $NH_4$-N and $PO_4$-P to the bottom water during the summer seasons. The $NH_4$-N and $PO_4$-P appeared strong increase at the bottom water of the river-side of the lake and strong concentration gradient difference of dissolved oxygen also appeared in the same time. DISi exhibited continuous seasonal supply from spring to summer. Internal addition of $NH_4$-N and $PO_4$-P in the river-side of the lake were much higher than the dike-side, while the increase of DISi showed similar level both the dike and river sides. The temporal distribution of benthic flux for DISi indicates that addition of nutrients in the bottom water was strongly affected by other sources, for example, submarine ground-water discharge (SGD) through bottom sediment.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
• /
• v.28 no.6
• /
• pp.964-972
• /
• 2010

Objective of this research was to determine the influence of physico.chemical properties of root substrates on growth of daughter plants that were developed through plastic bag cultivation of mother plants in 'Seolhyang' strawberry propagation. Six different formulations of root substrates for daughter plant cultivation were peatmoss + vermiculite (5:5, A), peatmoss + perlite (7:3, B), coir dust + perlite (7:3, C), coir dust + peatmoss + perlite (3.5:3.5:3.0, D), rice-hull + coir dust + perlite (2:7:1, E), and rice hull + coir dust (3:7, F). The 10 cm plastic pots filled with formulated substrates were located near the plastic bag where mother plants were growing. Then the runners and daughter plants originated from mother plants were fixed on each root substrate filled into 10 cm plastic pot and daughter plants were grown in the plastic pots. The container capacity and air space showed big differences among substrates tested. The substrates E and F had the less container capacity and the higher air space than other substrates tested. This indicates that the two substrates would have difficulties in water managements during the raising of daughter plants. The substrates of A, B, and D which contained peatmoss in formulation had higher nitrogen concentrations than those containing coir dust or rice hull. The substrates of E and F which contained rice hull had lower nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium concentrations than those that contained coir. The crown diameters of daughter plants grown in substrate A were around 13 mm which is thicker than those grown in other substrates. The fresh weights of daughter plants grown in A substrate were the heaviest followed by C, F, D, E, and B. The dry weight of daughter plants showed similar tendency to those of fresh weight. The daughter plants which had heavy fresh and dry weights and thick crown diameter are considered good seedlings. Based on this justification, the substrates of A, C and F are acceptable for daughter plant growth of 'Seolhyang' strawberry.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
• /
• v.30 no.3
• /
• pp.237-251
• /
• 2020

This study examined structural analysis of supports in tunnel and displacement and underground stress of tunnel by measurement, in order to evaluate the performance of high-strength lattice girders developed as a substitute for H-profiles. According to the three-dimensional nonlinear structural analysis results of the tunnel support, the load and displacement relationship between the H-profiles and the high-strength lattice girders showed almost the same behavior, and the maximum load of the high-strength lattice girders were 1.0 to 1.2 times greater than the H-profiles. By the results of the three-dimensional tunnel cross-section analysis of the supports, the axial force was occurred largely in the lower left and right sides of the tunnel, and showed a similar trend to the field test values. In the results of the measurement of the roof settlement and rod extension, the final displacement of the steel arch rib (H-profile) and high-strength lattice girder section in tunnel was converged to a constant value without significant difference within the first management standard of 23.5 mm. According to the results of underground displacement measurement, the final change amount of the two support sections showed a slight displacement change, but converged to a constant value within the first management standard of 10 mm. By the results of measurement of shotcrete stress and steel arch rib stress, the final change amount of the two support sections showed a slight stress change, but converged to a constant value within the first management standard of 81.1 kg/㎠ and 54.2 tonf.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
• /
• v.36 no.1
• /
• pp.141-146
• /
• 2004

Fungal products indirectly mediate anti-tumor effects in vitro and in vivo. To investigate whether Lentinus edodes might possess direct anti-tumor substance, L. edodes was extracted and tested on human papillomavirus (HPV) 16 oncogenes-associated animal tumor cells (TC-1) and in an animal tumor model. Only water extract displayed direct anti-proliferative effects in TC-1 tumor cells in vitro. This inhibition was dose-dependent, and inhibitory concentration ($IC_{50}$) was $800\;{\mu}g/mL$. Fungal extracts also showed growth inhibition to human cervical cancer cells (CaSki and HeLa) similarly to TC-1 tumor cells. When fungal extracts were added at a high dose (1.5 mg/mL), cell growth was inhibited within 6 hr following extract treatment. Cell growth inhibition was blocked by heat treatment, but not by low pH, which is indicative of heat sensitivity of this anti-proliferative substance. Cell growth suppression was mediated by apoptosis, as determined by Annexin V and propidium iodide staining. When challenged with TC-1 cells, direct intratumoral injection of fungal extracts resulted in some positive effect on tumor growth inhibition, as compared to oral delivery. Results suggest that heat labile substance of L. edodes suppresses growth of HPV oncogenes-associated tumor cells through apoptosis.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
• /
• v.33 no.4
• /
• pp.219-227
• /
• 2006

Objective: To evaluate the impact of endometriosis on IVF-ET cycles and to compare IVF outcomes between stage I/II and stage III/IV endometriosis. Methods: We analyzed 697 patients (1,199 cycles) with endometriosis (stage I-II:638 cycles, stage III-IV: 561 cycles) and 325 pts (459 cycles) with tubal factor as controls between January 1994 and April 2004. Pts with endometriosis were diagnosed by laparoscopy and medical and surgical treatment were done in 353 cycles (55.3%) and 466 cycles (83.1%) of stage I-ll/stage III-IV endometriosis. Cycles with age>35 years or FSH>20 miU/mL or severe male factor infertility were excluded. Results: The number of retrieved oocytes ($9.97{\pm}7.2$ vs. $13.4{\pm}7.9$ (p<0.0001 )), total number of embryos ($6.5{\pm}4.8$ vs. $9.1{\pm}5.6$ (p<0.0001)), and good quality embryos ($2.43{\pm}1.6$ vs. $2.74{\pm}1.7$ (p=0.013)) significantly decreased in stage III-IV endometriosis than in control. But pregnancy rate of stage III-IV endometriosis was comparable with control (35.7% vs. 36.8%). Fertilization rate and number of total embryos were lower in stage I-II endometriosis than in control ($64.8{\pm}22.9$ vs. $70.8{\pm}20.8$ (p<0.0001), $7.6{\pm}5.0$ vs. $9.1{\pm}5.6$ (p<0.0001)). In patients with medical and surgical treatment of endometriosis, pregnancy rate and live birth rate was significantly lower in stage I-II than in stage III-IV endometriosis (29.2 vs. 36.2 (%), p=0.045, 23.9 vs. 31.5 (%), p=0.043). There was no difference in the mean age, but the duration of infertility was significantly longer ($56.5{\pm}26.3$ vs. $46.9{\pm}25.8$ (mon), p<0.0001) and fertilization rate was lower ($64.7{\pm}23.3$ vs. $70.5{\pm}22.7$ (%), p=0.001) in stage I-II than stage III-IV endometriosis. Conclusion: We suggest that IVF should be considered earlier in patients with minimal to mild endometriosis because of significantly decreased fertilization rates.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.43 no.4
• /
• pp.356-363
• /
• 2010

Background: Connexin 43-mediated gap junctional communication plays an important role in atherosclerosis. Numerous studies have demonstrated a correlation between mitral valve annular calcification and atherosclerotic disease. However, the relevance of connexin 43 to mitral valve disease remains unclear. We hypothesized that the mechanism contributing to mitral valve disease is associated with alterations in cell-to-cell communication mediated by changes in Connexin 43 expression. Material and Method: Twenty male New Zealand rabbits were divided into two groups: animals in group 1 (n=10) were fed a normal chow diet, whilst those in group 2 (n=10) received a diet containing 1% cholesterol for 12 weeks. After sacrificing the animals, the mitral valves were excised and analyzed with immunohistochemical staining and Real-time Reverse Transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (real time RT-PCR). Result: Myofibroblasts and macrophages were found concentrated within the endothelial layer on the ventricular side of the leaflet in the cholesterol diet group. Immunohistochemial staining showed elevated expression of connexin43 in the cholesterol diet group. Real-time RT-PCR revealed increased connexin43 mRNA levels in mitral valves from hypercholesterolemic animals. Conclusion: Our finding that connexin43 expression is increased in mitral valves of hypercholesterolemic rabbits suggests that alterations in cell-to-cell communication via connexin43 containing gap junctions play a role in the development of mitral valve disease in hypercholesterolemia.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.37 no.4
• /
• pp.212-219
• /
• 2004

To minimize the danger of soil erosion and settle habitats earlier, afforestation, which vegetates bare slopes, is selected as an environmental recovering technology. Large portions of these areas often are suffered by a bad germination and growth inhibition of sprayed seeds. Afforested materials collected in the normal and damaged sites were not any big difference in chemical characteristics and biological response to ryegrass. But background soil of the damaged site has very low pH (3.6) and high contents of iron and aluminum compared with them of the normal sites. Both germination and root growth of ryegrass were inhibited severely in the water extracts of damaged soils, but not in the water extracts of normal sites. Groundwater collected nearby the damaged sites was very strong acidic (pH 33) and exhibited a high value of electrical conductivity and high contents of iron and aluminum. In the ground water, germinated ryegrass was scarcely grown. In Al standard solution, the root growth of ryegrass was inhibited over 50% in 0.5 mM in pH 3.5-4.5 and in 1.4 mM in pH 5.5, which seems to be related to $Al^{3+}$ activity in solution. In the ferric Fe ($Fe^{3+}$) standard solution, ryegrass growth was inhibited over 50% in the concentration of 14-19 mM in root and 23-25 mM in shoot. This strong tolerance of ryegrass to $Fe^{3+}$ might be concerned with the very low activity of $Fe^{3+}$ at pH 3.5-5.5. In contrast, ryegrass responded very sensitively to ferrous Fe ion ($Fe^{2+}$), especially in root growth: $Fe^{2+}$ concentrations corresponding to 50% growth reduction were 0.3-0.4 mM at pH 3.5-5.5 in roots. This high growth inhibition should be related to the high ion activity of $Fe^{2+}$ irrespective of different pH conditions. In conclusion, low pH and high contents of $Fe^{2+}$ and aluminum seem to be caused by pyrite and be closely related to the growth inhibition of ryegrass seeded in afforested area.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.41 no.1
• /
• pp.15-32
• /
• 2008

The hydrochemical and isotopic (stable isotopes and noble gas isotopes) analyses for hot spring waters, cold groundwaters and surface water samples from the Seokmodo hot spring area of the Ganghwa province were carried out to characterize the hydrogeochemical characteristics of thermal waters and to interpret the source of thermal water and noble gases and the geochemical evolution of hot spring waters in the Seokmodo geothermal system. The hot spring waters and groundwaters show a weakly acidic condition with the pH values ranging from 6.42 to 6.77 and 6.01 to 7.71 respectively. The outflow temperature of the Seokmodo hot spring waters ranges from $43.3^{\circ}C\;to\;68.6^{\circ}C$. Relatively high values of the electrical conductivities which fall between 60,200 and $84,300{\mu}S/cm$ indicate that the hot spring waters were mixed with seawater in the subsurface geothermal system. The chemical compositions of the Seokmodo hot spring waters are characterized by Na-Ca-Cl water type. On the other hand, cold groundwaters and surface waters can be grouped into three types such as the Na(Ca)-$HCO_3$, Na(Ca)-$SO_4$ and Ca-$HCO_3$ types. The ${\delta}^{18}O\;and\;{\delta}D$ values of hot spring waters vary from -4.41 to -4.47%o and -32.0 to -33.5%o, respectively. Cold groundwaters range from -7.07 to -8.55%o in ${\delta}^{18}O$ and from -50.24 to -59.6%o in ${\delta}D$. The oxygen and hydrogen isotopic data indicate that the hot spring waters were originated from the local meteoric water source. The enrichments of heavy isotopes ($^{18}O\;and\;^2H$) in the Seokmodo hot spring waters imply that the thermal water was derived from the diffusion Bone between fresh and salt waters. The ${\delta}^{34}S$ values ranging from 23.1 to 23.5%o of dissolved sulfate are very close to the value of sea water sulfate of ${\delta}^{34}$S=20.2%o in this area, indicating the origin of sulfate in hot springs from sea water. The $^3H/^4He$ ratio of hot spring waters varies from $1.243{\times}10^{-6}\;to\;1.299{\times}10^{-6}cm^3STP/g$, which suggests that He gas in hot spring waters was partly originated from a mantle source. Argon isotopic ratio $(^{40}Ar/^{36}Ar=298{\times}10^{-6}cm^3STP/g)$ in hot spring waters corresponds to the atmospheric value.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.25-29
• /
• 2010

To evaluate the usefulness of newly designed percutaneous bone biopsy needle for pumpkin's specimen collection. We manufactured three types of biopsy needle with different internal processing which were made of 10 mm-diameter acrylic material. We made the conventional type (Ct) similar to the clinical type then compared the test group. The type a (Ta) made 1 cm-length internal processing from the distal, type b (Tb) made taper, and type c (Tc) made internal processing like spiral configuration. We performed 20 times biopsy to get an 10 mm length specimen from pumpkin's surface and evaluated the success rate of the biopsy, length of the specimen, and determine internal processing type of the most suitable biopsy needle (ANOVA test). Success rates of Ct, Ta, Tb, and Tc were 55%, 80%, 90%, and 100%, respectively. The lengths of the specimen of Ct, Ta, Tb, and Tc were $5.6{\pm}1.1\;mm$, $5.9{\pm}0.87\;mm$, $3.9{\pm}0.77\;mm$, and $9.4{\pm}0.54\;mm$, respectively. All groups were statistically significant (p < 0.05) except the group between Ct and Ta (p = 0.28). Newly designed bone biopsy needle seems to be useful for obtaining enough specimen. Tc may be more effective than other types.