• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.1210-1220
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• 2021

Objective: Unlike mammals, goose fatty liver shows a strong tolerance to fatty acids without obvious injury. Stearyl-coenzyme A desaturase 1 (SCD1) serves crucial role in desaturation of saturated fatty acids (SAFs), but its role in the SAFs tolerance of goose hepatocytes has not been reported. This study was conducted to explore the role of SCD1 in regulating palmitic acid (PA) tolerance of goose primary hepatocytes. Methods: 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide was examined to reflect the effect of PA on hepatocytes viability, and quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to detect the mRNA levels of several genes related to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, inflammation, and apoptosis, and the role of SCD1 in PA tolerance of goose hepatocytes was explored using RNA interfere. Results: Our results indicated that goose hepatocytes exhibited a higher tolerant capacity to PA than human hepatic cell line (LO2 cells). In goose primary hepatocytes, the mRNA levels of fatty acid desaturation-related genes (SCD1 and fatty acid desaturase 2) and fatty acid elongate enzyme-related gene (elongase of very long chain fatty acids 6) were significantly upregulated with 0.6 mM PA treatment. However, in LO2 cells, expression of ER stress-related genes (x box-binding protein, binding immunoglobulin protein, and activating transcription factor 6), inflammatory response-related genes (interleukin-6 [IL-6], interleukin-1β [IL-1β], and interferon-γ) and apoptosis-related genes (bcl-2-associated X protein, b-cell lymphoma 2, Caspase-3, and Caspase-9) was significantly enhanced with 0.6 mM PA treatment. Additionally, small interfering RNA (siRNA) mediated downregulation of SCD1 significantly reduced the PA tolerance of goose primary hepatocytes under the treatment of 0.6 mM PA; meanwhile, the mRNA levels of inflammatory-related genes (IL-6 and IL-1β) and several key genes involved in the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (AKT), forkhead box O1 (FoxO1), mammalian target of rapamycin and AMPK pathways (AKT1, AKT2, FoxO1, and sirtuin 1), as well as the protein expression of cytochrome C and the apoptosis rate were upregulated. Conclusion: In conclusion, our data suggested that SCD1 was involved in enhancing the PA tolerance of goose primary hepatocytes by regulating inflammation- and apoptosis-related genes expression.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.304-312
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• 2021

The present study aimed to develop new physiologically active ingredients from Angelica gigas. The polysaccharides purified from A. gigas, AGE-2c-I, showed potent anti-complementary activity in a dose-dependent manner. C₃ activation products were identified through crossed immuno-electrophoresis using anti-human C₃ antibodies and the anti-complementary activity of AGE-2c-I under Ca⁺⁺-free conditions suggests that AGE-2c-I may induce complementary activation via both alternative and classical pathways. In addition, AGE-2c-I augmented the production of various cytokines, such as interleukin (IL)-6, IL-10, IL-12, and tumor necrosis factor-α, by peritoneal macrophages. Furthermore, intravenous (i.v.) administration of AGE-2c-I dose-dependently enhanced natural killer cell cytotoxicity against YAC-1 lymphoma. In experimental lung metastasis, prophylactic i.v. administration of AGE-2c-I inhibited lung metastasis by 58% at 100 ㎍/mouse. From the above results, we suggest that AGE-2c-I purified from A. gigas has potent immune system-stimulating activities, and is a potentially promising food ingredient beneficial to human health.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.75-86
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• 2022

Objective: The objective of this experiment was to investigate the effect of dietary glucose oxidase (GOD), catalase (CAT), or both supplementation on reproductive performance, oxidative stress, and apoptosis in sows. Methods: A total of 104 multiparous sows were randomly assigned to four groups (n = 26) with each group given a basal diet, basal diet plus GOD at 60 U/kg, basal diet plus CAT at 75 U/kg, and basal diet plus GOD at 60 U/kg and CAT at 75 U/kg. Sows were fed the experimental diets throughout gestation and lactation. Results: Dietary GOD supplementation increased average daily feed intake of sows and litter weight at weaning (p<0.05). Dietary CAT supplementation reduced the duration of parturition, stillbirth, and piglet mortality and increased growth performance of weaned piglets (p<0.05). Dietary GOD and CAT supplementation enhanced antioxidant enzyme activities and lessened oxidative stress product levels in plasma of sows and elevated antioxidant capacity of 14-day milk and plasma in weaned piglets (p<0.05). Dietary GOD supplementation increased fecal Lactobacillus counts and reduced Escherichia coli counts of sows (p<0.05). Compared with the basal diet, the GOD diet reduced fecal Escherichia coli counts of sows, but the addition of CAT did not reduce Escherichia coli counts in the GOD diet. Dietary GOD and CAT supplementation reduced the apoptosis rate of the liver, endometrium, and ovarian granulosa cells in sows (p<0.05). In the liver, uterus, and ovary of sows, the mRNA expression of caspase-3 and caspase-9 was downregulated by dietary GOD and CAT supplementation (p<0.05). Conclusion: Dietary GOD and CAT supplementation could improve the antioxidant capacity of sows and weaned piglets, and alleviate hepatic, ovarian and uterine apoptosis by weakening apoptosis-related gene expression. Glucose oxidase regulated fecal microflora of sows, but supplementation of CAT to GOD could weaken the inhibitory effect of GOD on fecal Escherichia coli.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.211-217
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• 2022

Sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) is a disinfectant widely used in hospitals and food industries because of its antimicrobial activity against not only bacteria but also fungi and virus. The antibacterial activity of NaClO lies in the maintenance of a stable hypochlorous acid (HClO) concentration, which is regulated by pH of the solution. HClO can easily penetrate bacterial cell membrane due to its chemical neutrality and the antibacterial activity of NaClO is thought to depend on the concentration of HClO in solution rather than hypochlorite ions (ClO^-). In this study, we investigated the antibacterial activity of NaClO according to pH adjustment by means of time kill test and assays of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) concentration changes before and after NaClO treatment. We also investigated that the degree of cell wall destruction through field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) exposed to 5 ppm NaClO at pH 5 exhibited 99.9% mortality. ROS production at pH 5 was 48% higher than that produced at pH 7. In addition, the ATP concentration in E. coli and S. aureus exposed to pH 5 decreased by 94% and 91%, respectively. As a result of FE-SEM, it was confirmed that the cell wall was destroyed in the bacteria by exposing to pH 5 NaClO. Taken together, our results indicate that the antibacterial activity of 5 ppm NaClO can be improved simply by adjusting the pH.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.8
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• pp.1235-1249
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• 2022

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the protection of glutamate (GLU) against the impairment in intestinal barrier function induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stress in weaned pigs. Methods: Twenty-four weaned pigs were divided into four treatments containing: i) non-challenged control, ii) LPS-challenged control, iii) LPS+1.0% GLU, and iv) LPS+2.0% GLU. On day 28, pigs were treated with LPS or saline. Blood samples were collected at 0, 2, and 4 h post-injection. After blood samples collection at 4 h, all pigs were slaughtered, and spleen, mesenteric lymph nodes, liver and intestinal samples were obtained. Results: Dietary GLU supplementation inhibited the LPS-induced oxidative stress in pigs, as demonstrated by reduced malondialdehyde level and increased glutathione level in jejunum. Diets supplemented with GLU enhanced villus height, villus height/crypt depth and claudin-1 expression, attenuated intestinal histology and ultrastructure impairment induced by LPS. Moreover, GLU supplementation reversed intestinal intraepithelial lymphocyte number decrease and mast cell number increase induced by LPS stress. GLU reduced serum cortisol concentration at 4 h after LPS stress and downregulated the mRNA expression of intestinal corticotropin-releasing factor signal (corticotrophin-releasing factor [CRF], CRF receptor 1 [CRFR1], glucocorticoid receptor, tryptase, nerve growth factor, tyrosine kinase receptor A), and prevented mast cell activation. GLU upregulated the mRNA expression of intestinal transforming growth factor β. Conclusion: These findings indicate that GLU attenuates LPS-induced intestinal mucosal barrier injury, which is associated with modulating CRF signaling pathway.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.126-132
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• 2022

Alkaline fuel cells using liquid fuels such as hydrazine and ammonia are gaining great attention as a clean and renewable energy solution possibly owing to advantages such as excellent energy density, simple structure, compact size in fuel container, and ease of storage and transportation. However, common shortcomings including cathode flooding, fuel crossover, side yield reactions, and fuel security and toxicity are still challenging issues. Real time monitoring of fuel concentrations integrated into a fuel cell device can help improving fuel cell performance via predicting any loss of fuels used at a cathode for efficient energy production. There have been extensive research efforts made on developing real-time sensing platforms for hydrazine and ammonia. Among these, recent advancements in electrochemical sensors offering high sensitivity and selectivity, easy fabrication, and fast monitoring capability for analysis of hydrazine and ammonia concentrations will be introduced. In particular, research trend on the integration of metallic and metal oxide nanoparticles and also their hybrids with carbon-based nanomaterials into electrochemical sensing platforms for improvement in sensitivity and selectivity will be highlighted.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.842-848
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• 2022

Parametric studies of heat transfer and fluid flow are very important research of interest because the design and operation of fluid flow and heat transfer systems are guided by these parametric studies. The safety of the system operation and system optimization can be determined by decreasing or increasing particular fluid flow and heat transfer parameter while keeping other parameters constant. The parameters that can be varied in order to determine safe and optimized system include system pressure, mass flow rate, heat flux and coolant inlet temperature among other parameters. The fluid flow and heat transfer systems can also be enhanced by the presence of or without the presence of particular effects including gravity effect among others. The advanced Generation IV reactors to be deployed for large electricity production, have proven to be more thermally efficient (approximately 45% thermal efficiency) than the current light water reactors with a thermal efficiency of approximately 33 ℃. SCWR is one of the Generation IV reactors intended for electricity generation. High Performance Light Water Reactor (HPLWR) is a SCWR type which is under consideration in this study. One-eighth of a proposed fuel assembly design for HPLWR consisting of 7 fuel/rod bundles with 9 coolant sub-channels was the geometry considered in this study to examine the effects of system pressure and mass flow rate on wall and fluid temperatures. Gravity effect on wall and fluid temperatures were also examined on this one-eighth fuel assembly geometry. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code, STAR-CCM+, was used to obtain the results of the numerical simulations. Based on the parametric analysis carried out, sub-channel 4 performed better in terms of heat transfer because temperatures predicted in sub-channel 9 (corner subchannel) were higher than the ones obtained in sub-channel 4 (central sub-channel). The influence of system mass flow rate, pressure and gravity seem similar in both sub-channels 4 and 9 with temperature distributions higher in sub-channel 9 than in sub-channel 4. In most of the cases considered, temperature distributions (for both fluid and wall) obtained at 25 MPa are higher than those obtained at 23 MPa, temperature distributions obtained at 601.2 kg/h are higher than those obtained at 561.2 kg/h, and temperature distributions obtained without gravity effect are higher than those obtained with gravity effect. The results show that effects of system pressure, mass flowrate and gravity on fluid flow and heat transfer are significant and therefore parametric studies need to be performed to determine safe and optimum operating conditions of fluid flow and heat transfer systems.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.35-44
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• 2004

The water soluble fractions(WSF) from Japanese larch wood were isolated, purified by anion exchange resin and Sephadex gel filtration and identified its chemical structure by means of periodate oxidation and methylation reactions. Its major components are arabinose and galactose (1 : 3.4). Based on the results of periodate oxidation, methylation and gas chromatographic analysis of purified WSF, main chain is composed of β-1,3-glycosidic linkage among D-galactopyranoses, and two different side chains; β-1,6-glycosidic linkage among 2-3 units of D-galactopyranoses and β-1,6-glycosidic linkage between 1-2 units of D-galactopyranose and L-arabinopyranose. Addition of WSF to culture media of oak mushroom (Lentinula edodes) accelerated the mycelial growth. In the case of PDA cultures, 2 percent addition of WSF in Sanlim No. 6 strain and 4 percent of WSF in Mok-H strain mostly enhanced the mycelial growth of the mushroom. In the case of sawdust cultures, 4 percent addition of WSF in two strains showed the best mycelial growth. High percentages addition of WSF inhibited mycelial growth of the mushroom. Mushroom production was increased with addition of WSF. By the addition of WSF, ergosterol contents in the media were quite high at the colonized stage and rapidly increased at the fruiting stage. Therefore the ergosterol content could be utilized as an indicator to evaluate the culture maturity for the mushroom fruiting.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.498-505
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• 2023

Objective: This study was conducted to determine the optimal dose of novel iron amino acid complexes (Fe-Lys-Glu) by measuring laying performance, egg quality, egg iron (Fe) concentrations, and blood biochemical parameters in laying hens. Methods: A total of 1,260 18-week-old healthy Beijing White laying hens were randomly divided into 7 groups with 12 replicates of 15 birds each. After a 2-wk acclimation to the basal diet, hens were fed diets supplemented with 0 (negative control, the analyzed innate iron content was 75.06 mg/kg), 15, 30, 45, 60, and 75 mg Fe/kg as Fe-Lys-Glu or 45 mg Fe/kg from FeSO₄ (positive control) for 24 wk. Results: Results showed that compared with the negative and positive control groups, dietary supplementation with 30 to 75 mg Fe/kg from Fe-Lys-Glu significantly (linear and quadratic, p<0.05) increased the laying rate (LR) and average daily egg weight (ADEW); hens administered 45 to 75 mg Fe/kg as Fe-Lys-Glu showed a remarkable (linear, p<0.05) decrease in feed conversion ratio. There were no significant differences among all groups in egg quality. The iron concentrations in egg yolk and serum were elevated by increasing Fe-Lys-Glu levels, and the highest iron content was found in 75 mg Fe/kg group. In addition, hens fed 45 mg Fe/kg from Fe-Lys-Glu had (linear and quadratic, p<0.05) higher yolk Fe contents than that with the same dosage of FeSO₄ supplementation. The red blood cell (RBC) count and hemoglobin content (linear and quadratic, p<0.05) increased obviously in the groups fed with 30 to 75 mg Fe/kg as Fe-Lys-Glu in comparison with the control group. Fe-Lys-Glu supplementation also (linear and quadratic, p<0.05) enhanced the activity of copper/zinc-superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn-SOD) in serum, as a result, the serum malonaldehyde content (linear and quadratic, p<0.05) decreased in hens received 60 to 75 mg Fe/kg as Fe-Lys-Glu. Conclusion: Supplementation Fe-Lys-Glu in laying hens could substitute for FeSO₄ and the optimal additive levels of Fe-Lys-Glu are 45 mg Fe/kg in layers diets based on the quadratic regression analysis of LR, ADEW, RBC, and Cu/Zn-SOD.

• Journal of International Area Studies (JIAS)
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.27-52
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• 2011

The regions of Central Asia have each acquired an elevated strategic importance in the new security paradigm of post-September 1lth. Comprised of five states, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, Central Asia's newly enhanced strategic importance stems from several other factors, ranging from trans-national threats posed by Islamic extremism, drug production and trafficking, to the geopolitical threats inherent in the region's location as a crossroads between Russia, Southwest Asia and China. Although the U.S. military presence in the region began before September 11th, the region became an important platform for the projection of U.S. military power against the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan. The analysis goes on to warn that 'with US troops already in place to varying extents in Central Asian states, it becomes particularly important to understand the faultlines, geography, and other challenges this part of the world presents'. The Kyrgyz military remains an embryonic force with a weak chain of command, the ground force built to Cold War standards, and an almost total lack of air capabilities. Training, discipline and desertion - at over 10 per cent, the highest among the Central Asian republics - continue to present major problems for the creation of combat-effective armed forces. Kyrgyzstan has a declared policy of national defence and independence without the use of non-conventional weapons. Kyrgyzstan participates in the regional security structures, such as the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) and the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) but, in security matters at least, it is dependent upon Russian support. The armed forces are poorly trained and ill-equipped to fulfil an effective counter-insurgency or counter-terrorist role. The task of rebuilding is much bigger, and so are the stakes - the integrity and sovereignty of the Kyrgyz state. Only democratization, the fight against corruption, reforms in the military and educational sectors and strategic initiatives promoting internal economic integration and national cohesion hold the key to Kyrgyzstan's lasting future