• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
• /
• v.65 no.2
• /
• pp.113-120
• /
• 2022

We examined the anti-inflammatory properties of Nostoc commune HCW0811 in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated RAW264.7 macrophage cells. The anti-inflammatory activity of HCW0811 on viability of treated cells was assessed by measuring the level of expression of NO, prostaglandin E₂ and pro-inflammatory cytokines, namely interleukin-1β, interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α in HCW0811 treated RAW 264.7 macrophages. HCW0811 was non-toxic to cells and inhibited the production of cytokines in a concentration-dependent manner. In addition its treatment suppressed the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines in a dose-dependent manner, and concomitantly decreased the protein expressions of inducible NO synthase and cyclooxygenase-2. Moreover, the levels of the phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinase family proteins such as extracellular signal-regulated kinase, c-Jun N-terminal kinase, p38, and nuclear factor kappa B were reduced by HCW0811. These findings suggest that the HCW0811 collected from Daejeon National Cemetery have anti-inflammatory effects, and demonstrated its efficacy in cell-based in vitro assays.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.177-183
• /
• 2022

This study investigated through eye tracking what gaze path the audience searches through portal sites (Naver, Daum, Zoom, and Nate). As a result of the layout analysis according to the gaze path of the search engine, the four main pages, which can be called to be the gateway to information search, appeared in the form of a Z-shaped layout. The news and search pages of each site use an F-shape, which means that when people's eyes move from top to right in an F-shape, they read while moving their eyes from left to right(LTR), which sequentially moves to the bottom. As a result of analyzing through the heat map, gaze plot, and cluster, which are the visual analysis indicators of eye tracking, the concentration of eyes on the photo and head copy was found the most in the heat map, and it can be said to be of high interest in the information. The flow of gaze flows downward from the top left to the right, and it can be seen that the cluster is most concentrated at the top of the portal site. The website designer should focus on improving the accessibility and readability of the information desired by the user in the layout design, and periodic interface changes are required by investigating and analyzing the tendencies and behavioral patterns of the main users.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
• /
• v.48 no.1
• /
• pp.25-34
• /
• 2020

Land use in watersheds has been shown to be a major driving factor in determining the status of the water quality of streams. In this light, scientists have been investigating the roles of riparian vegetation on the relationships between land use in watersheds and the associated stream water quality. Numerous studies reported that riparian vegetation could alleviate the adverse effects caused by land use in watersheds and on stream water quality through various hydrological, biochemical and ecological mechanisms. However, this concept has been criticized as the true effects of riparian vegetation must be assessed by comprehensive models that mimic real environmental settings. This study aimed to estimate a comprehensive structural equation model integrating topography, land use, and characteristics of riparian vegetation. We used water quality data from the Nakdong River system monitored under the National Aquatic Ecosystem Monitoring Program (NAEMP) of the Korean Ministry of Environment (MOE). Also, riparian vegetation data and land use data were extracted from the Land Use/Land Cover map (LULC) produced by the MOE. The number of structural equation models (SEMs) were estimated in Amos of IBM SPSS. Study results revealed that land use was determined by elevation, and developed areas within a watershed significantly increased the concentration of Total Nitrogen (TN) in streams and LDI in riparian vegetation. On the contrary, developed areas significantly reduced LPI and PLAND. At the same time, PLAND and LDI significantly reduced the concentration of TN in streams. Thus, it was clear that developed areas in watersheds had both a direct and an indirect impact on the concentration of TN in streams, and spatial pattern and the amount of vegetation of riparian vegetation could significantly alleviate the negative impacts of developed areas on TN concentration in streams. To enhance stream water quality, reducing developed areas in a watershed is critical for long-term watershed management plans, restoration patterns for riparian vegetation could be immediately implemented since riparian areas were less developed than most other watersheds.

• Current Research on Agriculture and Life Sciences
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.68-75
• /
• 2012

This study was conducted to monitor the yields of useful substances extracted from Inonotus obliquus. Optimization of ultrasonic-assisted extraction process was carried out by using response surface methodology under different extraction conditions. A central composite design was applied to investigate the effects of independent variables such as extraction time ($X_1$), ethanol concentration ($X_2$) and extraction temperature ($X_3$) on dependent variables such as soluble solid yield ($Y_1$), total phenol contents ($Y_2$), total flavonoid contents ($Y_3$) and browning color($Y_4$). Soluble solid yield was affected by ethanol concentration and extraction temperature. The maximum soluble solid yield was 18.02% at 20.47 min ($X_1$), 42.85% ($X_2$) and $69.57^{\circ}C$ ($X_3$) in saddle point. Total phenol contents were highly affected by ethanol concentration and extraction temperature. The maximum total phenol contents were 71.57mg GAE/g at 21.60min ($X_1$), 45.19% ($X_2$), $69.68^{\circ}C$ ($X_3$). The electron donating ability was affected by extraction temperature and extraction time. Total flavonoid contents were affected by only extraction temperature. The maximum total flavonoid contents were 35.98 mg RE/g at 22.53min ($X_1$), 46.37% ($X_2$), $69.56^{\circ}C$ ($X_3$) in saddle point. The browning color was highly affected by extraction time, ethanol concentration and extraction temperature. The maximum browning color was at 22.00 min ($X_1$), 46.89% ($X_2$), $69.71^{\circ}C$ ($X_3$) in saddle point. As a result, the optimum extraction conditions were predicted; extraction time of 21.50 min, ethanol concentration of 44.87% and extraction temperature of $69.635^{\circ}C$.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.17-21
• /
• 2005

The effect of melatonin on in vitro embryo development and the expression of antioxidant enzyme gene in preimplantation porcine embryos was determined by modified semi-quantitative single cell RT-PCR. Porcine embryos derived from in vitro maturation /in vitro fertilization were cultured in 5% $CO_2$ and 20% $O_2$ at $37^{\circ}C$ in NCSU23 medium. Melatonin was added to medium at concentration of 1nM, 5 nM, and 10 nM. When treated with 1nM (39.0%) of melatonin, the developmental rate of embryos beyond the morula stage were higher than that of control group (31.0%) (p<0.05). Number of inner cell mass and tropectoderm cell in control (23.0${\pm}$0.5 and 17.3${\pm}$0.8), 1 nM (23.6${\pm}$0.6 and 19.0${\pm}$0.5), and 5 nM (23.3${\pm}$1.1 and 16.3${\pm}$0.8) treated with melatonin were higher than in 10 nM (20.0${\pm}$0.5 and 13.3${\pm}$0.8) treated with melatonin (p<0.05). To develop an mRNA phenotypic map for the expression of catalase, bax and caspase-3, single cell RT-PCR analysis were carried out in porcine IVM/IVF embryo. Catalase was detected in 0, 1 and 5 nM supplemented with melatonin, but bax and caspase-3 were detected in 10 nM treated with melatonin.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.154-159
• /
• 2002

There are several types of salts that can be classified into raw salt(Chunil salt), purified salts(NaCl reagent grade) and processed salts(Bamboo salt, Purple bamboo salt using in this study) in Korea. Salts has been utilized for the food as well as for the drug in the Oriental Medicine. Purple bamboo salt(PB-salt) was made by heating up to 1300℃ nine times after putting the raw salts in the bamboo. Since salt is generally known to cause the blood pressure to elevate, this study was conducted to investigate the effect of PB-salt on an adverse reaction of the blood pressure elevation. The experiment was performed with the 2 protocols ; 1. Effect of NaCl and PB-salt administration i.v. with the different the concentration(250, 500, 750, 1000mg/kg) on a mean artery blood pressure(MAP) change. 2. Effect of 500mg/kg NaCl and PB-salt administration p.o. for 6 days on the systolic blood pressure change. The results were as follows; The results were as follows; In a short minute change of blood pressure by direct method, PB-salt adminstration did not induced the hypertension unlike NaCl adminstration. In a date change of blood pressure by indirect method, systolic blood pressure was increased about 12-18% in the NaCl administration group, whereas within 6% in the PB-salt administration group from 2 days to 5 days. These results suggest that PB-salt might have some unidentified ingredient to be changed in the course of processing, making it superior to other salts.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.2170-2178
• /
• 2014

In this paper, electroencephalographic (EEG) signal of one among subjects measured biosignal with visual evoked stimuli inducing the concentration was analyzed to detect the changes in the attention status during attention task fulfillment from January to February, 2011. The independent component analysis (ICA) was applied to EEG signals to isolate the attention related innate source signal within the brain and Electroculogram (EOG) artifact from measured EEG signals at the scalp. The consecutive accumulation of short time Fourier transformed (STFT) attention source signal with excluded EOG artifact can enhance the regular depiction of EPOCH graph and spectral color map representing time-varying pattern. The extracted attention indices associated with somatosensory rhythm (SMR: 12-15 Hz), and theta wave (4-7 Hz) increase marginally over time. Throughout experimental observation, the ICA with STFT can be used for the assessment of participants' status of attention.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
• /
• v.25 no.5
• /
• pp.863-869
• /
• 2011

The aim of the present study is to investigate whether an ethanol extract of Acorus gramineus Soland (EAG) augments penile erection in vitro and in vivo experiment. Preconstructed with phenylephrine (PE) in isolated endothelium-intact rabbit corpus cavernosum, EAG relaxed penile smooth muscle in a dose-dependent manner, which was inhibited by pretreatment with NG-nitro-L-argininemethylester (L-NAME), a nitricoxide synthase inhibitor, and 1H-[1,2,4]-oxadiazole-[4,3-${\alpha}$]-quinoxalin-1-one (ODQ), a soluble guanylylcyclase (sGC) inhibitor, respectively. EAG-induced relaxation was significantly attenuated by pretreatment with tetraethylammonium (TEA), a nonselective $K^+$ channel blocker. EAG increased cGMP levels of the rabbit corpus cavernosum in a concentration-dependent manner without changes in cAMP levels. In addition, EAG caused increase of peak intracavernous pressure (ICP), ICP/MAP ratio and area under the carve (AUC) in SD rats. Taken together, these results suggest that EAG augments penile erection via NO-cGMP system and $K^+$ channels in corpus cavernosum.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.31-43
• /
• 2017

Together with radiotherapy, chemotherapy using cytotoxic agents is one of the most common therapies in cancer. Metabolic changes in cancer cells are drawing much attention recently, but the metabolic alterations by anticancer agents have not been much studied. Here, we investigated the effects of commonly used cytotoxic agents on lung normal cell MRC5 and lung cancer cell A549. We employed cis-plastin, doxorubicin, and 5-Fluorouracil and compared their effects on the viability and metabolism of the normal and cancer cell lines. We first established the concentration of the cytotoxic reagents that give differences in the viabilities of normal and cancer cell lines. In those conditions, the viability of A549 decreased significantly, whereas that of MRC5 remained unchanged. To study the metabolic alterations implicated in the viability differences, we obtained the metabolic profiles using $^1H$-NMR spectrometry. The $^1H$-NMR data showed that the metabolic changes of A549 cells are more remarkable than that of MRC5 cells and the effect of 5-FU on the A549 cells is the most distinct compared to other treatments. Heat map analysis showed that metabolic alterations under treatment of cytotoxic agents are totally different between normal and cancer cells. Multivariate analysis and weighted correlation network analysis (WGCNA) revealed a distinctive metabolite signature and hub metabolites. Two different analysis tools revealed that the changes of cell metabolism in response to cytotoxic agents were highly correlated with the Warburg effect and Reductive lipogenesis, two pathways having important effects on the cell survival. Taken together, our study addressed the correlation between the viability and metabolic profiles of MRC5 and A549 cells upon the treatment of cytotoxic anticancer agents.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.13 no.11
• /
• pp.1529-1535
• /
• 2000

The aim of the present study was to determine whether brain corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) and a new peptide, urocortin (UCN) have a direct action in brain mechanisms controlling feed, water and salt intake in sheep. We gave a continuous intracerebroventricular (ICV) infusion of the peptide at a small dose of $5{\mu}g/0.2ml/hr$ for 98.5 hrs from day 1 to day 5 in sheep not exposed to stress. Feed and water intake during ICV infusion of CRF or UCN decreased significantly compared to those during artificial cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) infusion. NaCl intake during infusion of CRF or UCN was the same as that during CSF infusion. Mean carotid arterial blood pressure (MAP) and heart rate during ICV infusion of CRF or UCN were not significantly different from that during CSF infusion. On the other hand, the plasma glucose concentration during ICV infusion of CRF or UCN tended to be higher than that during CSF infusion. These observations indicate that decreased feed intake induced by CRF and UCN infusion is not mediated by the activation of both the pituitary-adrenal axis and the sympathetic nervous system. The results suggested that brain CRF and UCN act directly in brain mechanisms controlling ingestive behavior to decrease feed and water intake, but do not alter salt intake in sheep.