• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.31
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• pp.10.1-10.8
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• 2016

Objectives Aromatase inhibitors that block estrogen synthesis are a proven first-line hormonal therapy for postmenopausal breast cancer. Although it is known that standardized extract of Ginkgo biloba (EGb761) induces anti-carcinogenic effects like the aromatase inhibitors, the effects of EGb761 on steroidogenesis have not been studied yet. Therefore, the effects of EGb761 on steroidogenesis and aromatase activity was studied using a H295R cell model, which was a good in vitro model to predict effects on human adrenal steroidogenesis. Methods Cortisol, aldosterone, testosterone, and $17{\beta}$-estradiol were evaluated in the H295R cells by competitive enzyme-linked immunospecific assay after exposure to EGb761. Real-time polymerase chain reaction were performed to evaluate effects on critical genes in steroid hormone production, specifically cytochrome P450 (CYP11/ 17/19/21) and the hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases ($3{\beta}$-HSD2 and $17{\beta}$-HSD1/4). Finally, aromatase activities were measured with a tritiated water-release assay and by western blotting analysis. Results H295R cells exposed to EGb761 (10 and $100{\mu}g/mL$) showed a significant decrease in $17{\beta}$-estradiol and testosterone, but no change in aldosterone or cortisol. Genes (CYP19 and $17{\beta}$-HSD1) related to the estrogen steroidogenesis were significantly decreased by EGb761. EGb761 treatment of H295R cells resulted in a significant decrease of aromatase activity as measured by the direct and indirect assays. The coding sequence/Exon PII of CYP19 gene transcript and protein level of CYP19 were significantly decreased by EGb761. Conclusions These results suggest that EGb761 could regulate steroidogenesis-related genes such as CYP19 and $17{\beta}$-HSD1, and lead to a decrease in $17{\beta}$-estradiol and testosterone. The present study provides good information on potential therapeutic effects of EGb761 on estrogen dependent breast cancer.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.432-441
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• 1987

This study was undertaken to investigate effects of alcohol and fat content in a balanced diet on growth, hepatic function and some biochemical indices of blood in growing rats. Fourty eight male rats of Sprague-Dawley strain weighing about 160g were divided into 4 groups ; high fat diet group, alcohol-adminstered high fat diet group, low fat diet group and alcohol-administered low fat diet group. High and low fat diet supplied 30% and 12%, respectively, of total calorie intake from fat and alcohol-treated groups received water containing 10% ethanol. Diets contained adequate amounts of all nutrients required for rats, including lipotropic agents(choline and methionine) to minimize effects of factors other than alcohol on liver function. Growth rate was lowest in alcohol-administered low-fat diet group, despite that their energy intake was equivalent to the others. For a 3-week study period, 21.86% and 23.61% of total calorie intake were derived from alcohol in alcohol-adminitered high fat diet group and low fat diet group, respectively. There was no influenced on vitamin B$_1$ status by alcohol consumption. Concentration of triglyceride in plasma increased with alcohol comsumption, and the effect was greater after 6 weeks than after 3 weeks of alcohol consumption . Difference of dietary fat content did not affect the level of triglyceride . The levels of total cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol in plasma were not influenced by alcohol consumption. Serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase activity and hepatic mitochondrial respiration rate did not differ between groups. The results indicate that neither moderate alcohol drinking for 6 weeks nor fat content with a balanced diet caused any dramatic change of metabolism and liver function in rats. However they suggest that even moderate alcohol consumption can affect growth of animals dramatically and the effect may be lessened with relatively high fat content in diet.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.59-68
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• 2009

Single-dose toxicity test of germanium-fortified lettuce was investigated in mice. Both sexes of C57BL/6 mice were orally administered once at a dose of 2,000 mg/kg. No death, clinical signs and pathological findings related to the treatment were observed. In addition, no significant changes in feed consumption and body weight gain were obtained during the treatment period, in spite of day-to-day fluctuation of water consumption. There were no considerable changes in hematology and serum biochemistry, except a significant decrease in GPT, GOT and LDH. Several alterations were observed in organ weight and blood biochemistry, including thymus, ovaries, heart, kidney and platelet in male or female mice. The ability of spleen cells proliferation was almost same level as shown in control group. However the population of B cells, helper T cells and cytotoxic T cells was not comparably changed in all groups. Taken together, it is suggested that single oral dose of germanium-fortified lettuce to C57BU6 mice did not cause apparent toxicological change at the dose of 2,000 mg/kg body weight.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.481-487
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• 2020

This study examined the behavior change of river levees during an earthquake by numerical analysis. Unlike conventional research using artificial earthquake waves, earthquake analysis was performed using real earthquake waves. The behavior of a river levee before and after an earthquake was compared and analyzed quantitatively. Studies show that the river levee has a safety factor of approximately 28.5% due to an earthquake. On the other hand, the minimum standard safety factor is satisfied. Vertical effective stress has decreased by 81.8% due to excess pore-water pressure generated by the earthquake. In addition, liquefaction occurs in most of the foundation soil. An examination of the stress-displacement behavior due to the earthquake revealed a large amount of settlement in the backfill layer. Most of the foundation soil yielded. Therefore, the target river levee is quite vulnerable to earthquakes. Through the results of this study, the necessity of refreshing the seismic design standards for river levees is required. This study can be used as basic data for estimating the approximate damage level and vulnerable areas.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.408-415
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• 2016

Small fishing ports and coastal structures installed in a relatively low sea water depth disturb the wave induced current and cause the collapse of equilibrium state of sediment transport. These structures creates diffracted waves and matter the concentration of waves to cause the beach erosion. In order to mitigate these eroding problems on the beach, many counter measurements were proposed such as detached breakwater, groin or headland; however, these methods interrupt the aesthetic view of sandy beach due to the exposed structures above the sea level and have difficulty of applying to those beaches with the good scenery. Furthermore, some of these methods create secondary environmental problems after the installations. To eliminate these problems, one of the countermeasures, artificial reefs have been selected and used worldwide to minimize the disturbance of the scenery and secondary effects on the environment. Meanwhile, it is important to set the design elements for installing the artificial reefs such as that of length, opening width, clearing distances from the shoreline and more. Nevertheless, there are no construction manuals or standards for designing the artificial reefs with these important design elements yet. In this study, different conditions of artificial reefs were used with various cases throughout hydraulic model test to precisely analyze the changes of waves and currents to propose the standards of design elements to install the artificial reefs.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.98-106
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• 2003

Nondestructive test (NDT) provides much information on concrete without damage of structural functions. Of NDT methods, elastic wave propagation methods, such as ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) method and impact-echo (IE) method, have been successfully used to estimate the strength, elastic modulus, and Poisson's ratio of concrete as well as to detect the internal microstructural change and defects. In this study, the concretes with water-binder ratio ranging from 0.27 to 0.50 and fly ash content of 20% were made and then their longitudinal wave velocities were measured by UPV and IE method, respectively. Test results showed that the UPV is greater than the longitudinal wave velocity measured by the If method, i.e., rod-wave velocity obtained from the same concrete cylinder. It was found that the difference between the two types of velocities decreased with increasing the ages of concrete and strength level. Moreover, for the empirical formula, the dynamic Poisson's ratio, static and dynamic moduli of elasticity, and velocity-strength relationship were determined. It was observed that the Poisson's ratio and the modulus of elasticity determined by the dynamic method are greater than those determined by the static test. Consequently, for the more accurate estimation of concrete properties using the elastic wave velocities, the characteristics of these velocities should be understood.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2018

Glaux maritima var. obtusifolia is distributed in very limited areas in South Korea and thus designated and protected as an endangered species. This study aimed to identify the diversity of vegetation in the Dangsa coast wetlands, the southern limit of G. maritima var. obtusifolia and to assess determinants of the vegetation and the importance of habitats. The phytosociological method of the $Z{\ddot{u}}rich-Montpellier$ School was used for vegetation classification and mathematical and statistical analyses were also conducted to analyze environmental factors and their relationship with the vegetation. The results of this study showed that there were 4 vegetation units in the Dangsa coast wetlands: Glaux maritima var. obtusifolia-Triglochin maritimum community (included three subcommunities), Puccinellia nipponica s.l. community, Beckmannia syzigachne-Isachne globosa community and Typha laxmannii-Phragmites communis community. It was also found that major determinants of the vegetation include moisture environment, soil depth, water level disturbance, vegetation height, community structure, etc. Glaux maritima was identified to grow most dominantly in the typicum subassociation of Glaux. maritima var. obtusifolia-Triglochin maritimum community, and the species compositions and dominant situations were observed to be similar to those in the southern limit in Japan, adjacent to South Korea. The assessment results indicated that the Dangsa coastal wetlands have a significant meaning from phytogeographical and syngeographical aspects, and contribute as a shelter for diverse species. It is required to establish conservation strategies to accurately determine the value of the wetlands of the Dangsa coast from various perspectives, and to protect and manage them.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.30-38
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• 2011

Effects of depolymerization treatments of a carbohydrase mixture (CM), ultrasound, and irradiation on the physical properties of defatted mustard meal-based edible films (DMM films) were investigated. DMM hydrocolloids were added to CM (0.42% (w/w solution)), treated by ultrasound (500-700 W, 10-30 min) or ${\gamma}$-ray (40-100 kGy) to prepare film-forming solutions. Films were formed by drying. The CM treatment at 0.42% (w/w), pH 5.5, and 40-$50^{\circ}C$ with a 0.5 hr incubation time resulted in the highest colloidal stability in the film-forming solution. The depolymerization treatments did not dramatically change the water vapor permeability of the films. The solubility of the film decreased up to 53.1% by the CM treatment. The ultrasound treatment (700 W-30 min) decreased tensile strength and elongation. The ultrasound treatment (600 W-20 min) resulted in more compact and uniform structures of the films. Flavor profiles were differentiated by the power level and the time of the ultrasound treatment.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.170-174
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• 2004

Whole muskmelon was blanched at 50$^{\circ}C$ water for inhibition decline of fresh-cut melon quality from direct heat treatment. The muskmelon, after storage at 5$^{\circ}C$ for 24 hours, was processed to melon cylinders with 2 cm diameter. The changes of color, texture and the quality characteristics such as gas composition. soluble solid content, pH during storage at 5$^{\circ}C$ were measured. Degree of oxygen contents decreased and that of carbon dioxide in melon cylinder increased during storage. Especially, changes of gas composition inside packages appeared high level cor in blanched melon cylinders than non-treatment melons. Blanching with whole fruits at 50$^{\circ}C$ had effects on hardness in melon cylinder. Blanched melon, without regard on branching time, appeared higher hardness value than that of non-blanched melon at 6 days storage. There were slight difference between treatment on melon cylinder color. Degrees of change in soluble solid contents and pH on melon cylinder blanched at 50$^{\circ}C$ for 20minuets were lower than that of other treatments. In consequence, blanching with whole fruit at 50$^{\circ}C$ for 20minuets, before minimal processing, was effective in preserving of texture and quality of melon cylinder during storage.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.31 no.8
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• pp.689-695
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• 2007

The under developing estuarial port Bupsung is bounded by a river and the sea, and has several well developed tidal lands, where the littoral drift is strong due to the tide and the river discharge. The study area is located at the inner part of a concave bay and has a large tidal range due to the water discharge through the Watan-chun and Junnam-dike. In beginning stage of the ocean physical impact study, the tidal modeling is very important and difficult especially in this area. Moreover, we need a model experiment after the verification of the formulated model based on ocean survey. In this study, we constructed a numerical model to the Bupsung port coastal boundaries, which varies with the past and future development and made simulation with it. The result after development shows that there is a decrease of velocity on flood current and a increase on Ebb current and the minor variation of the tide level, compared with before development.