• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.71-81
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• 2013

Trace metal concentration in sediment cores from the outer sea of Lake Shihwa were determined to study the vertical profiles of metal concentrations and to evaluate the levels of metal contamination. Sediment pollution assessment was carried out using enrichment factor (EF) and geo-accumulation index (Igeo). The mean concentration of metals were 58.8 mg/kg for Cr, 10.3 mg/kg for Co, 22.8 mg/kg for Ni, 18.1 mg/kg for Cu, 74.0 mg/kg for Zn, 6.75 mg/kg for As, 0.14 mg/kg for Cd, 27.4 mg/kg for Pb and 0.026 mg/kg for Hg, respectively. The mean EF values for Cu, Zn, As, Cd and Hg were greater than 1.5 in sediment cores, indicating that these metals in sediments are slightly enriched by anthropogenic activities. The geo-accumulation index (Igeo) suggested unpolluted status for metals of sediments collected from outer see of Lake Shihwa. Igeo values for Cu and Hg nearby LNG station (site C, D, E) ranged from 1 to 2, indicating moderately to unpolluted pollution status for those metals. Even if the higher concentrations of trace metals nearby LNG station were observed, there is significantly positive relationship between Al and trace metals. Thus, the sediment grain size plays an important roles in influencing the distribution of trace metals in sediment cores from the outer sea of Lake Shihwa. Based on the comparison with sediment quality guidelines such as threshold effect level and probable effect level in Korea, the concentration of metals in sediments from outer sea of Lake Shihwa are likely to result in no harmful effects on sediment-dwelling organisms.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2002

Manus Basin, located in the equatorial western Pacific, is a back arc basin formed by collision between the IndoAustralian and the Pacific Plates. The basin is host to numerous hydrothermal vent fields and ore deposits. The basement rocks of the Manus Basin consist primarily of dacite and basaltic andesite. Some of the minerals that form the hydrothermal chimneys that were dredged on the Manus basin include pyrite, chalcopyrite, marcasite, sphalerite and galena. The chimneys can be classified into chalcopyrite dominant Cu-rich type and sphalerite dominant Zn-rich type. The concentration of Zn shows good positive correlation with that of Sb, Cd and Ag. The content of Cu, on the other hand, positively correlates with that of Mo, Mn and Co. For samples that were taken from Zn-rich chimney, a strong positive correlation is found between Au and Zn contents. The chimney also shows enrichments of Cd, Mn and Sb. On the other hand, the samples from Cu-rich chimney exhibit strong correlation among Au, Zn and Pb, and are enriched in Mo and Co concentration. Average contents of Au in Cu-rich and Znrich chimneys were 15.9 ppm and 29.0 ppm, respectively. Because of high concentration of Au with Ag and Cu, the ore deposit have high economic potential. Homogenization temperatures and salinities of fluid inclusions in anhydrite and amorphous silica from Zn-rich chimney are estimated to be l74-220$^{\circ}$C and 2.7-3.6 equiv. wt. % NaCI, respectively. These value suggest that ore forming processes were occurred at around 200$^{\circ}$C and that the oxygen fugacity changed from 2: 10$^{-39.5}$bar to -s: 10$^{-40.8}$bar and the sulfur fugacity from -s: 10$^{-14.7}$bar to 10$^{-13.4}$bar during the process. It appears that the temperature at which the ores formed on Cu-rich chimney was higher than that on Zn-rich chimney.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.403-409
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• 2018

Objective: The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of a lipid-coated zinc oxide (ZnO) supplement Shield Zn (SZ) at the sub-pharmacological concentration on intestinal morphology and gene expression in weanling pigs, with an aim to gain insights into the mechanism of actions for SZ. Methods: Forty 22-day-old weanling pigs were fed a nursery diet supplemented with 100 or 2,500 mg Zn/kg with uncoated ZnO (negative control [NC] or positive control [PC], respectively), 100, 200, or 400 mg Zn/kg with SZ for 14 days and their intestinal tissues were taken for histological and molecular biological examinations. The villus height (VH) and crypt depth (CD) of the intestinal mucosa were measured microscopically following preparation of the tissue specimen; expression of the genes associated with growth and immune function was determined using the real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Results: There was no difference in daily gain, gain:feed, and diarrhea score between the SZ group and either of NC and PC. The VH and VH:CD ratio were less for the SZ group vs NC in the jejunum and duodenum, respectively (p<0.05). The jejunal mucosal mRNA levels of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I) and interleukin (IL)-10 regressed and tended to regress (p = 0.053) on the SZ concentration with a positive coefficient, respectively, whereas the IL-6 mRNA level regressed on the SZ concentration with a negative coefficient. The mRNA levels of IGF-I, zonula occludens protein-1, tumor necrosis $factor-{\alpha}$, IL-6, and IL-10 did not differ between the SZ group and either of NC and PC; the occludin and transforming growth $factor-{\beta}1$ mRNA levels were lower for the SZ group than for PC. Conclusion: The present results are interpreted to suggest that dietary ZnO provided by SZ may play a role in intestinal mucosal growth and immune function by modulating the expression of IGF-I, IL-6, and IL-10 genes.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.72-81
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• 2018

Background: Polysaccharides are the most important functional constituent in Astragalus membranaceus. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effect of polysaccharides isolated from the aboveground parts of A. membranaceus (AMA) and polysaccharides isolated from the roots of A. membranaceus (AMR) immune function by modulated cytotoxic T cell and Th1- and Th2-related cytokines kinetics. Methods and Results: Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into exhaustive exercise case groups and non-exercise case, AMA and AMR samples were administered orally for 30 days (500 mg/kg/day and 10 mg/kg/day, respectively) and were compared to those rats in the groups fed commercial sports drink (SPD) and vehicle. Both exhaustive exercise groups and non-exercise groups had a lower ratio of $CD4^+$ and $CD8^+$ cells in the spleens of the rat fed AMA and AMR compared to those in the rats fed SPD and vehicle group. These results suggested that AMA and AMR promote an increase in the proportion of cytotoxic T cells. The IL-4-producing T lymphocytes decreased significantly in the AMR (10 mg/kg/day) group compared to SPD and vehicle, whereas the AMA group increased the IL-4 concentration more than the SPD and vehicle in exhaustive exercise group. However, the populations of IFN-${\gamma}$-producing T lymphocytes of AMR and AMA increased. AMA decreased the concentration of IFN-${\gamma}$ to inhibit the Th1 response and thereby increased the concentration of IL-4 to induce a Th2 response that was related to humoral immunity in the non-exercise group. Conclusions: These results showed that, in addition to Th1/Th2 regulation, AMR and AMA played an important immuno-modulatory role after exhaustive exercise-induced Th1/Th2 lymphocyte imbalance, which might be correlated with cytokine producing immunoregulatory cells.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.19 no.4 s.54
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• pp.9-18
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• 2004

In this study, the observation data for the yellow sandy dust phenomena from the year 1999 to 2003 at background sites in Korea were collected at Global Atmospheric Observatory at An-Myeon island and its temporal variation were analyzed. The chemical characteristics of the fine particles were also analyzed in order to evaluate sources of the yellow sandy dust particles. The results showed that the monthly average mass concentration of the fine particles was the highest in springtime and the lowest in summertime in general. The magnitude of its variation was also the highest in March in which the occurrence of yellow sandy dust was the most frequent and thus the number of samples was the largest, while the lowest in June through September. The yearly variation of ion components contributions to the total mass concentration of the fine particles was slowly decreasing, showing that $63\%$ in 1999, $59\%$ in 2000 and $56\%$ in 2003. The most prevalent ion components in the fine particles were found to be $NO_3$ and $SO_4^{2-}$, which are known to be source materials of acidic precipitation, and $NH_4^+$, a neutralizing material of the acid precipitation. Relative proportion of metal components in the fine particles was calculated as $14\%$ in average, and their concentrations are in an order of Fe > Al > Na > Ca > Zn > Pb > Cu > Mn > Ni > Cd > Cr > Co > U. The results indicated that main sources of the metals was soil-originated Fe, Al, Ca, and Mg, and the contribution of anthropogenic air Pollution-originated Zn, Pb, Cu, Mn were also high and keep slightly increasing. Statistical analysis showed that the chemical components could be divided into soil-originated group of Mg, Al, Ca, Fe, and Mn and air pollution-originated group of $NO_3$, Zn, Pb, and they are occupying more than $60\%$of all the components in the dusty sand. The results explain that An-Myeon island is more influenced by soil-originated source than ocean-originated one and also the influencing strength of anthropogenic poilution-originated source is less than $50\%$ of that of soil-originated sources. Compared to non-yellow sandy period, the yellow sandy dust period showed that the amounts of soil-originated $Mg^{2+}$ and $Ca^{2+}$ and ocean-originated $Na^+$ and $Cl^-$ were increased to more than double and the metals of Mg, Al, Ca, Fe were also highly increased, while micro metal components such as Pb, Cd, Zn, which have a tendency of concentrating in air, were either decreased or maintained at nearly constant level. In the period of yellow sandy dust, a strong positive correlation was observed between water soluble ions and between metals in terms of its concentration, respectively. Factor analysis showed that the first group being comprised of about $43\%$ of the total inorganic components was affected by soil and they are ions of $Na^+,\;Mg^{2+}\;and\;Ca^{2+}$ and metals of Na, Fe, Mn and Ni. The result also showed that the metals of Mg and Cr were classified as second group and they were also highly affected by soil sources.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.63 no.2
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• pp.161-168
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• 2020

It is known that different plant species have ability to deposit different amounts of particulate matter (PM) on their leaves and plants can absorb heavy metals in PM through their leaves. Heavy metals in PM can have toxic effect on human body and plants. Therefore, PM on different roadside trees at Chungbuk national University including box tree (Buxus koreana), yew (Taxus cuspidate), royal azalea (Rhododendron yedoense), and retusa fringetree (Chionanthus retusa) was quantified based on particle size (PM_>10 and PM_2.5-10). The metal concentration in PM accumulated on leaves was analyzed using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy. In this study, the mass of PM_>10 deposited on the surface of the tree leaves ranged from 6.11 to 32.7 ㎍/㎠, while the mass of PM_2.5-10 ranged from 0 to 14.8 ㎍/㎠. The royal azaleas with grooves and hair on the leaf surface retained PM particles for longer time, while the yews and box trees with wax on leaf surfaces accumulated more PM. The PM contained elements in crustal material such as Al, Ca, Mg, and Fe and heavy metals including Cu, Pb and Zn. The concentration of elements in crustal material was higher in the coarser size, while heavy metal concentration was relatively higher in the finer size fraction. The Mn, Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn concentrations of leaves and PM_2.5-10 were significantly correlated indicating that PM was taken up through tree leaves.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.51-56
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• 2006

Polymer light emitting diodes (PLEDs) with ITO/EDOT:PSS/PVK/PFO-poss/LiF/Al structures were prepared by the spin coating method on ITO(indium tin oxide)/glass substrates. PFO-poss[Poly(9,9-dioctylfluorenyl-2,7-diyl) end capped with poss] was used as light emitting polymer. PVK[poly(N-vinyl carbazole)] and PEDOT:PSS [poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfolnate)] polymers were used as the hole injection and transport materials. The effect of PFO-poss concentration and the heating temperatures on the electrical and optical properties of the devices were investigated. At the same concentration of PFO-poss solution, the current density and luminance of PLED device tend to increase as the annealing temperature increase from $100^{\circ}C$ to $200^{\circ}C$. The maximum luminance was found to be about 958 cd/m2 at 13V for the PLED device with 1.0 wt% PFO-poss at the annealing temperature of $200^{\circ}C$. In addition, the PLED device showed bluish white emission through the strong greenish peak with 523 nm in wavelength. As the concentration of PFO-poss increase from 0.5 wt% to 1.0 wt% and temperature of PLEDs increase from $100^{\circ}C$ to $200^{\circ}C$, the emission color tend to be shifted from blue with (x, y) = (0.17,0.14) to bluish white with (x, y) : (0.29,0.41) in CIE color coordinate.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.51 no.10
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• pp.917-927
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• 2018

Seven heavy metal concentrations (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn) were continuously analyzed for twenty rainfall events in 2017~2018 in an urban basin. The overall and dynamic correlations between runoff characteristics and heavy metal concentrations were examined. The peak metal concentration generally appeared in the initial runoff but found to be delayed when the rainfall intensity was low. The rainfall duration had no relationship with either heavy metal concentrations or their total mass. Dynamics of heavy metal mass (load), with the exception of Cu and Zn, showed strong correlation with the 30 minute rainfall intensity (0.60~0.88) and runoff volume (0.74~0.89). While event mean concentration (EMC) showed positive correlation (0.54~0.73) with antecedent dry days (ADD), no significant relationship was found between runoff volume and pollutant concentration. This implies that the pollutants built up on the surface during dry days are washed off even with low rainfall energy. The dynamics of heavy metal and TSS concentrations showed good correlation (0.68~0.87). This result shows that the metals are transported along with solid particles as adsorbate in surface runoff. Regular street sweeping will reduce significant amount of heavy metal loads in urban surface runoff.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.240-249
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• 2022

Purpose: Glabridin (GD) is a bio-available isoflavane isolated from the root extract of licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra L.). It exhibits a variety of pharmacological activities such as anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant activities. However, extracellular vesicles (EVs) secretion and the anti-cancer mechanism of action remains largely unknown. The present study investigates the anticancer effects of GD by determining the inhibition of EVs secretion in the human breast cancer cell line, MDA-MB-231. Methods: Cell viability, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, migration, invasion rate, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) concentration were assessed in MDA-MB-231 cells treated with increasing concentrations of GD (0.1, 1, 5, 10, 20 µM). Subsequently, EV secretion and exosomal DEL-1 protein expression were evaluated to determine the anticancer effects of GD. Results: The results showed that GD significantly inhibited the cell proliferation of MDA-MB-231 cells in a dose- or time-dependent manner. Also, ROS production and apoptosis marker protein cleaved caspase-3 were significantly increased in GD-treated MDA-MB-231, compared to control. Furthermore, GD exposure resulted in significantly decreased not only migration and invasion rates but also the VEGF concentration, thereby contributing to a reduction in angiogenesis. Interestingly, the concentration and number of EVs as well as EV marker proteins, such as CD63 and TSG101, were decreased in GD-treated MDA-MB-231 cells. Markedly, extracellular matrix protein DEL-1 as angiogenesis factor was decreased in EVs from GD-treated MDA-MB-231 cells. Conclusion: This study identifies that the anti-cancer molecular mechanism of GD is exerted via inhibition of angiogenesis and EVs secretion, indicating the potential of GD as a chemotherapeutic agent for breast cancer.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.65-71
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• 1994

This study was conducted to investigate the influence of treatment of fly ash on heavy metal contents in the arable soils. Rice was cultivated on the two types of paddy field(clay loam and sandy loam soil) with 0, 4, 8, 12t/10a of anthracite fly ash and bituminous coal fly ash, respectively. And soybean was cultivated on the same types of upland field with those of 0, 3, 6, 9t/10a, respectively. At the harvest time, the heavy metal contents in surface and subsoil were investigated. The results were summarized as follows : 1. Anthracite fly ash. 1) In the paddy field of clay loam, the contents of Cu and Zn in the surface soil and Cd and Ni in the subsoil were increased with the increase of the amount of fly ash applied, but the others didn't show that tendency. 2) In the paddy field of sandy loam, only the content of Fe was increased in the surface and subsoils. 3) In the case of upland soil, the concentration of Ni and Cr in the surface soil and Cd in the subsoil were increased in the clay loam soil, and those of Cr in the surface soil and Pb in the subsoil were increased in the sandy loam soil. 2. Bituminous coal fly ash 1) In the paddy field of clay loam, the contents of Cu and Zn in the subsoil were increased with increase of the amount of fly ash applied, but in the case of sandy loam, those of Pb and Ni in the surface soil were increased. 2) In the upland soil of clay loam, the concentration of Ni in the surface soil and Pb in the subsoil were increased. 3) In case of upland soil of sandy loam, the contents of Cr and Fe were increased in the surface and subsoil, respectively, but those of Cu and Mn were increased in the both of the surface and subsoil.