• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.60 no.6
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• pp.663-672
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• 2006

Background: $PM_{10}$(Particulate matter with a diameter ($<10{\mu}m$), which is characterized by different environmental conditions, is a complex mixture of organic and inorganic compounds. The Asian dust event caused by meteorological phenomena can also produce unique particulate matter in affected areas. This study investigated the cytokine produced by A549 epithelial cells exposed to particles collected during both the Asian dust pfenomenon and ambient air particles in a non-dusty period. Method: Air samples were collected using a high volume air sampler(Sibata Model HV500F) with an air flow at $500{\ell}/min$ for at least 6 hours. The cytokine messenger RNA(mRNA) was measured using a reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR). The A549 cells were exposed to 10 to $500{\mu}g/m{\ell}$ of a suspension containing $PM_{10}$ for 24 hours. Each was compared with those in the non-exposed control cells. Result: The mRNA levels of interleukin(IL)-$1{\alpha}$, $IL-I{\beta}$, IL-8, and the granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor(GM-CSF) increased after veing exposed to $PM_{10}$ in the ambient air particles, compared with those in the non-exposed control cells. The increase in $IL-1{\alpha}$ and IL-8 were dose dependent at a $PM_{10}$ concentration between $100{\mu}g/m{\ell}$ and $500{\mu}g/m{\ell}$. The mRNA level of IL-8 in the A549 epithelial cells was higher during the in the Asian dust period($500{\mu}g/m{\ell}$) than during the non dust period. Conclusion: A549 cells exposed to the $PM_{10}$ collected during the Asian dust period produce more proinflammatory cytokine than during non-dusty period. This cytokine enhances the local inflammatory response in the airways and can also contribute to the systemic component of this inflammatory process.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.181-198
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• 1997

Going beyond the previous formulations of development theories, the present paper explores the effects other than political economy on quality of life in a rapidly developing country. The major analysis takes up the historical trend and nature of the developmental transformation that is partially a consequences of state structures and partially autonomous form it in South Korea. Also, it diagnoses developmental pathways for the future track by constructing a baseline model for state transition on the basis of power game between the state and civil society in the country. The results of the historical analysis show that civil society has been transformed in the course of confrontations and interactions between the state and nationalist social movement. The distinction between developmental(or bureaucratic authoritarian) and democratic state is presented to show that these are two qualitatively different aspects of state of state power, requiring separate analytical treatment. Furthermore, the state-centric approach which emphasizes the active role of the state at the sacrifice of societal fabric-constraining social conditions for quality of life - appears to be modified. On the contrary, the impact of civil society is transmitted both directly and indirectly via labor and ecological movement for quality of life, which is critical to the formation of the welfare state in the country. The prospect for sustainable development in Korea lies in providng and expanding quality of life in terms of the financial feasibility of the state through the public-private cooperation, and abstaining from drastic and radical commitment to welfare services as is the case with the European declines in welfare state, Further studies are needed to examine the interrelationships in different historical and cultural settings of developing counties to estimate a theory of quality of life and social justice.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.111-122
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• 1992

This experiment was conducted to determine the effects of spring seeding dates on the growth, yield and quality of early and late maturing spring oat (Auena sativa L.) cultivars on the forage experimental field, College of Agriculture, Seoul National University, Suwon from March to June, 1991. The experiment was arranged as a split plot with three replications. Oat cultivars, Cayuse and Speed oat, were the main plots, and seeding dates consisted of March 15, 22, 29, April 5 and 12 were the subplots. 1. A 7-day delay in seeding represents approximately 3~8 days being early in heading. The heading date of the early maturing cultivar, Speed oat, was 14 days earlier than that of the late maturing cultivar, Cayuse. 2. The concentrations of Crude protein (CP), Acid detergent fiber (ADF), Neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and zn uitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) of the late maturing cultivar, Cayuse, harvested May 29 were 19.6, 30.0, 44.9, and 82.7 %, respectively, but those of the early maturing cultivar, Speed oat, were 14.8. 33.3. 52.3, and 71.2 %, respectively. Chemical analyses of oat forage indicated that the contents of crude protein and lVDMD were increased from March 15 to April 12 seeding, while crude fiber was decreased. 3. Theaverage dry matter, IVDDM and CP yields of oats harvested May 29 were 2,960, 2,435 and 572 kg per ha, respectively with the late maturing cultivar. Cayuse. while the early maturing cultivar, Speed oat, recorded 3,255, 2.298 and 475 kg per ha, respectively. No significant dry matter yield differences were found among the different seeding dates of March 15, 22 and 29 for the two oat cultivars. but a significant yield decrease was found from April 5 seeding. No interactions in dry matter yield were observed between oat cultivars and seeding dates. 4. Maximum Leaf area index (LAI) and Leaf area index duration (LAID) were observed with earlier seeding and the LA1 of Cayuse cultivar was twice or three times as much as that of Speed oat cult~var as the growth progresses. 5. As the seeding date was earlier. the Crop growth rate (CGR) of the late maturing cultivar, Cayuse. was increased continuously. but that of the early maturing cultivar, Speed oat, was declined after May 29. This trend was also found on the Net assimilation rate (NAR) of Speed oat cultivar. The present experiment indicates that spring oats can be successfully produced as forages by seeding in March with early maturing cultivars.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.1406-1413
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• 2007

This study was performed to investigate the effect of ethanol extract of Pimpinella brachycarpa(PBE) on chronically ethanol-induced hepatotoxicity in rat liver. Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 90-130 g were divided into 5 groups; normal group(NOR), ethanol(35%, 10 ml/kg) treated group(CON), PBE 200 mg/kg treated group(P1), PBE 200 mg/kg and ethanol treated group(P2), and PBE 400 mg/kg and ethanol treated group(P3). PBE was also fractionated by the following solvent: n-hexane, chloroform, ethylacetate and n-butanol. The antioxidative capacity of the n-hexane fraction was the highest among fractions and was similar to that of butylated hydroxytoluene(BHT). The body weight gain and feed intake of the rats were decreased by ethanol administration, but were gradually increased to the similar levels of the NOR group by administering PBE. The AST activity in serum elevated by ethanol was significantly decreased by administering the high dosage of PBE, but exerted no significant change on serum ALT activity. It was also observed that the hepatic activities of xanthine oxide(XO), catalase and glutathione peroxidase(GSH-Px) increased by ethanol were markedly decreased in the combined ethanol and PBE administered groups(P2 and P3), but not in the activity of superoxide dismutase(SOD) as compared with the CON group. The glutathione(GSH) contents were decreased by ethanol adminstration, however, increased after administering PBE. These results suggest that ethanol extract of Pimpinella brachycarpa has a possible positive effect on the liver function in hepatotoxicity-induced rats by ethanol administration.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.1134-1142
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• 2010

This study was carried out to investigate the effects of powders of autoclaved soy flour and doenjang fermented using Bacillus subtilis DJI on lipid profiles and antioxidative activities of rats fed a high cholesterol diet. Sprague-Dawley male rats weighing 200~210 g were divided into four groups: normal diet group (N), high cholesterol diet group (HC), autoclaved soy flour and high cholesterol diet group (SHC), and doenjang and high cholesterol diet group (DHC). The serum ALT, AST and ALP activities of the SHC and DHC groups were lower than those of the HC group, but exerted no significant change on serum LDH activity. Serum triglyceride, total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol levels were markedly decreased by autoclaved soy flour and doenjang administration, while the serum HDL-cholesterol level was higher in groups given autoclaved soy flour and doenjang administration. The GSH-Px and catalase activities in liver elevated by a high cholesterol diet were significantly decreased by autoclaved soy flour and doenjang administration (p<0.05). Liver GSH levels of the SHC and DHC groups were significantly decreased compared to the HC group (p<0.05). Liver TBARS level was significantly decreased in the DHC group fed with doenjang powder compared with those of the HC group (p<0.05). These results suggest that soy flour and doenjang may reduce levels of serum cholesterol and prevent oxidative stress by stimulating antioxidative systems in rats fed a high cholesterol diet.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.519-524
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• 2008

Monacolin-K is a strong anti-hypercholesterolemic agent produced by Monascus sp. via polyketide pathway. High-yielding mutants of monacolin-K were developed through rational screening strategies adopted based on understanding of monacolin-K biosynthetic pathway. Through the experiments for investigating various amino acids as putative precursors for the monacolin-K biosynthesis, it was found that production level of monacolin-K was remarkably increased when optimum amount of cysteine was supplemented into the production medium. We suggested that these phenomena might be related to the special roles of SAM (S-adenosyl methionine), a putative methyl group donor in the biosynthetic pathway of monacolin-K, demonstrating close interrelationship between SAM-synthesizing primary metabolism and monacolin-K synthesizing secondary metabolism. Namely, increase in the intracellular amount of SAM derived from the putative precursor, cysteine which was extracellularly supplemented into the production medium might contribute to the significant enhancement in the monacolin-K biosynthetic capability of the highly mutated producers. On the basis of these assumptions derived from the above fermentation results, we decided to construct efficient expression vectors harboring SAM synthetase gene (metK) cloned from A. nidulans, with the hope that increased intracellular level of SAM could lead to further enhancement in the monacolin-K production through overcoming a rate-limiting step associated with monacolin-K biosynthesis. Hence, in order to overcome the plausible rate-limiting step associated with monacolin-K biosynthesis by increasing intracellular level of SAM, we transformed the producer mutants with an efficient expression vector harboring gpdA promoter of the producer microorganism, and metK gene. Notably, from the resulting various transformants, we were able to screen a very high-yielding transformant which showed approximately 3.3 fold higher monacolin-K productivity than the parallel nontransformed mutants in shake flask cultures performed under the identical fermentation conditions.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.37-43
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• 2006

Gap junction is an ion channel forming between adjacent cells. It also acts as a membrane channel like sodium or potassium channels in a single cell. The amino acid residues up to the $10^{th}$ position in the amino (N)-terminus of gap junction hemichannel affect gating polarity as well as current-voltage (I-V) relation. While wild-type Cx32 channel shows negative gating polarity and inwardly rectifying I-V relation, T8D channel in which threonine residue at $8^{th}$ position is replaced with negatively charged aspartate residue shows reverse gating polarity and linear I-V relation. It is still unclear whether these changes are resulted from the charge effect or the conformational change of the N-terminus. To clarify this issue, we made a mutant channel harboring cysteine residue at the $8^{th}$ position (T8C) and characterized its biophysical properties using substituted-cysteine accessibility method (SCAM). T8C channel shows negative gating polarity and inwardly rectifying I-V relation as wild-type channel does. This result indicates that the substitution of cysteine residue dose not perturb the original conformation of wild-type channel. To elucidate the charge effect two types of methaenthiosulfonate (MTS) reagents (negatively charged $MTSES^-$ and positively charged $MTSET^+$) were used. When $MTSES^-$ was applied, T8C channel behaved as T8D channel, showing positive gating polarity and linear I-V relation. This result indicates that the addition of a negative charge changes the biophysical properties of T8C channel. However, positively charged $MTSET^+$ maintained the main features of T8C channel as expected. It is likely that the addition of a charge by small MTS reagents does not distort the conformation of the N-terminus. Therefore, the opposite effects of $MTSES^-$ and $MTSETT^+$ on T8C channel suggest that the addition of a charge itself rather than the conformational change of the N-terminus changes gating polarity and I-V relation. Furthermore, the accessibility of MTS reagents to amino acid residues at the $8^{th}$ position supports the idea that the N-terminus of gap junction channel forms or lies in the aqueous pore.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.60 no.6
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• pp.638-644
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• 2006

Backgrounds: This study investigated whether or not a polymorphism in the gene encoding the surfactant protein A(SP-A) has any bearing on the individual susceptibility to the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD) in a genetically homogenous Korean population. Methods: The genotypes of 19 COPD patients and 20 healthy neonates as controls were tested using a polymerase chain reaction followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis for the SP-A gene. Results: The specific frequencies of the 6A2 and 6A18 alleles of SP-A1 and the 1A2 allele of SP-A2 were much higher in the COPD group than control group (p<0.05). However, the frequencies of the 6A3 and 6A4 alleles of SP-A1 and the 1A0 allele of SP-A2 in the COPD group were significantly lower than the control group. In the COPD group, the frequencies of the +50 locus genotypes GG of SP-A1 and the +9 locus genotypes CC of SP-A2 were 85.0% and 60.6%, respectively, and 19.7% and 24.8% in the control group, respectively. The frequencies of the polymorphic genotypes or alleles showed a statistically significant difference between the COPD group and the control group (P<0.05). Conclusion: A genetic polymorphism in SP-A is associated with the development of COPD in the Korean population.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.36-47
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• 2017

In this research, sematic comparative study on formative idea and landscape elements composition was made between Soswaewon which was a remote villa garden in Joseon Dynasty and Canglang Pavilion which was built at a time when Neo-confucianism had been created in Song dynasty. From which the summary was resulted as below: Firstly, Soswaewon was fully devoted to Neo-confucianism among Korean remote villa gardens, Canglang-Pavilion was deeply affiliated with Neo-confucianism the deep-rooted thought. Adding a comment, as a richly historied Chinese private garden it was the best preserved even now and the farmost point from now and approximately 500 years advanced than Soswaewon, moreover Sosunheum the builder belonged to gentry society in Song dynasty. Secondly, Both Soswaewon and Canglang-Pavilion were remarkable thank to nature friendly concept which was deeply rooted in the eremitic thought(隱逸思想). Most of all, it might be interpreted the location of Soswaewon lay down in a mountain, as to be swallow hidden(小隱) but that of Canglang-Pavilion lay down in a city, as to be middle hidden(中隱). Thirdly, approaching with comparative study to gardens' factors implicated in symbolization when naming both Soswaewon and Canglang-Pavilion, neo-confucianism in Song dynasty in which diverse thoughts ranging Confucianism and Buddhism and Taoism had formed ensemble and developed was deeply built in Soswaewon, as to be in consistency to nature and to be a basis for comprehending diverse symbolization factors found in Canglang-Pavilion. Fourthly, given that forms or factors of gardens was tangibly came up with thoughts' variation we surely underwent to comparative study. Through which we could know Soswaewon was made by maximizing use of nature but minimizing addition of artificial things. In other words, it was trial of expressing semantic feature of the site in a way blending natural circumstance and liberal one. One of the representatives, Daebongdae in Soswaewon was a site where the owner's idea came up with. Scenary was recreated and nature was represented in interspace of Canglang-Pavilion with the high wall around the border, for which it renounced the world. To the end, it was understood there was the location characteristic of Canglang-Pavilion which let us look down from mountain and take some time for introspection. It might be said that the cultural root was in common between Korea and China, however it was found there were lots of differences in forms and features of gardens. We were able to interpret that social and cultural background were led to gardens' formation in which individual characteristic of two nations were blended, from which difference was resulted.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.73-81
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• 2014

Salsola collina, also known as Russian thistle, is widely distributed in and around waste facilities, roadsides, and drought and semi-drought areas, and is used as a traditional folk remedy in Chinese medicine for the treatment of hypertension. In this study, we have evaluated the anti-oxidative and anti-cancer activities of the ethanol extract of S. collina Pall. (EESC), and the molecular mechanisms of its anti-cancer effects on human colon carcinoma HT29 cells. EESC exhibited anti-oxidative activity through DPPH radical scavenging capacity and showed cytotoxic activity in a dose-dependent manner in HT29 cells. After EESC treatment, HT29 cells altered their morphology, becoming smaller and irregular in shape. EESC also induced cell accumulation in the G2/M phase in a dose-dependent manner, accompanied by a decrease of cell population in the G1 phase. The G2/M arrest by EESC was associated with the increased expression of cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor p21 and Wee1 kinase, which phosphorylates, or inactivates, Cdc2. EESC treatment induced the phosphorylation of Cdc2 and Cdc25C, and inhibited cyclin A and Cdc25C protein expression. In addition, S arrest was induced by the highest concentration of EESC treatment, associated with a decrease of cyclin A and Cdk2 expression. These findings suggest that EESC may possess remarkable anti-oxidative activity and exert an anti-cancer effect in HT29 cells by cell cycle regulation.