• KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.447-452
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• 2016

It is imperative to develop an effective pathway to depolymerize lignin into liquid fuel that can be used as a bioheavy oil. Lignin can be converted into liquid products either by a solvent-free thermal cracking in the absence air, or thermo-chemical degradation in the presence of suitable solvents and chemicals. Here we show that the solvent-assisted liquefaction has produced promising results in the presence of metal-based catalysts. The supercritical ethanol is an efficient liquefaction solvent, which not only provides better solubility to lignin, but also scavenges the intermediate species. The concentrated sulfuric acid hydrolysis lignin (CSAHL) was completely liquefied in the presence of solid catalysts (Ni, Pd and Ru) with no char formation. The effective deoxy-liquefaction nature associated with scEtOH with aid hydrodeoxygenation catalysts, resulted in significant reduction in oxygen-to-carbon (O/C) molar ratio up to 61%. The decrease in oxygen content and increase in carbon and hydrogen contents increased the calorific value bio-oil, with higher heating value (HHV) of $34.6MJ{\cdot}Kg^{-1}$. The overall process is energetically efficient with 129.8% energy recovery (ER) and 70.8% energy efficiency (EE). The GC-TOF/MS analysis of bio-oil shows that the bio-oil mainly consists of monomeric species such as phenols, esters, furans, alcohols, and traces of aliphatic hydrocarbons. The bio-oil produced has better flow properties, low molecular weight, and high aromaticity.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.1990-1994
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• 2006

Fusarium proliferatum KGL0401 was previously isolated from Physalis alkekengi var. francheti plant roots and exhibited a high GA productivity. A gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of extracts of the culture fluid of F proliferatum KGL0401 also revealed the presence of $GA_1$, $GA_3$, $GA_4$, $GA_7$, $GA_{20}$, and $GA_{24}$. Therefore, the present study conducted a proteome analysis of waito-c rice treated with the culture fluid of the isolated F proliferatum KGL0401 to identify the protein expression triggered by the GA-containing culture fluid. The results revealed the overexpression of 180 protein spots in the sample treated with the culture fluid. Among them, 75 induced proteins were selected and analyzed by MALDI-TOF (matrix-assisted laser desorption-iorrization time-of-flight) mass spectrometry, followed by database searching, and 51 proteins were identified.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.1150-1156
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• 2017

Understanding phosphorus metabolism in photosynthetic organisms is important as it is closely associated with enhanced crop productivity and pollution management for natural ecosystems (e.g., algal blooming). Accordingly, we exploited highly time-resolved metabolic responses to different levels of phosphate deprivation in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a photosynthetic model organism. We conducted non-targeted primary metabolite profiling using gas-chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometric analysis. Primarily, we systematically identified main contributors to degree-wise responses corresponding to the levels of phosphate deprivation. Additionally, we systematically characterized the metabolite sets specific to different phosphate conditions and their interactions with culture time. Among them were various types of fatty acids that were most dynamically modulated by the phosphate availability and culture time in addition to phosphorylated compounds.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.161-164
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• 2018

Over the past decade, mass spectrometry-based metabolomics, especially two dimensional gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCxGC/TOF-MS), has become a key analytical tool for metabolomics data because of its sensitivity and ability to analyze complex biological or biochemical sample. However, the need to reduce variations within/between experiments has been reported and methodological developments to overcome such problem has long been a critical issue. Along with methodological developments, developing reasonable performance measure has also been studied. Following four numerical measures have been typically used for comparison: sensitivity, specificity, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, and positive predictive value (PPV). However, more recently, such measures are replaced with F1 score in many fields including metabolomics area without any carefulness of its validity. Thus, we want to investigate the validity of F1 score on two examples, with the goal of raising the awareness in choosing appropriate performance comparison measure. We noticed that F1 score itself, as a performance measure, was not good enough. Accordingly, we suggest that F1 score be supplemented with other performance measure such as specificity to improve its validity.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.37-48
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• 2022

Accurate analysis of petroleum hydrocarbons in soil is an important prerequisite for proper source tracking of contamination. Identification of petroleum compounds is commonly carried out by peak pattern matching in gas chromatography. However, this method has several technical limitations, especially when the soils underwent biological, physical and chemical transformation. For instance, it is very difficult to distinguish jet fuel (JP-8) from kerosene because JP-8 is derivatized from secondary reaction between chemical agents (e.g. anti-oxidants, antifreezer and so on) and kerosene. In this study, an alternative method to separately analyze JP-8 and kerosene in the petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated soil was proposed. Qualitative analyses were performed for representative phenolic antioxidants [2,6-di-tert-butyl phenol (2,6-DTBP), 2,4-di-tert- butylphenol(2,4-DTBP), 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methyl phenol (2,6-DTBMP)] using a two dimensional gas chromatograph mass spectrometer (2D GC×GC-TOF-MS). This qualitative analysis of antioxidants in soil would be a useful complementary tool for the peak pattern matching method to identify JP-8 contamination in soil.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.320-328
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• 2014

Biodiesel has very similar physical properties (density, kinematic viscosity) and has even higher cetane number compare with conventional diesel. There are no necessity to change or modify the infra-structure & engine system. It is known that fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) is oxygen-contained components increasing the combustibility, biodegradability and reduced the exhaust harmful gas. These things made the biodiesel more popular as an alternative diesel fuel. But biodiesel's sources are controversial issues about $CO_2$ reduction effect at this time because those mainly come from edible plants such as soy, palm, rapeseed already spent lot of $CO_2$ to cultivate. Whereas micro-algae is focused because they are inedible and has rapid growth rates & high carbon-dioxide adsorption rate per area. In this study, we analyze the each FAME components using $GC{\times}GC$-TOFMS in stead of GC-FID and verify the previous total FAME contents method's applicability through the micro algal biodiesel derived from Dunaliella tertiolecta.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.227-233
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• 2011

Crysochroa fulgidissima (Bidan-beole, Spanish fly) is traditionally used as a crude drug and insecticide in the East Asia and Korea, respectively. This study investigated the effect of ethanol extract of C. fulgidissima on the NO production activity. The C. fulgidissima extract was a potent inducer of NO production in CPAE cells and a stimulator of endothelial nitric oxide synthase in a dose-dependent manner. This study also evaluated the anti-inflammatory activity of this extract by determining the level of ICAM-1, VCAM-1, and prostaglandin $E_2$ from HUVEC cells. Although C. fulgidissima extract was a potent inducer of NO production in the CPAE cells, it showed weak inhibitory effects on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) production in HUVEC cells. HPLC and GC-MS analysis of the ethanol extract of C. fulgidissima revealed the presence of cantharidin.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.7
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• pp.2951-2957
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• 2014

Background: Gastric carcinogenesis is a complicated process that involves environmental and genetic factors like interleukin-4 (IL-4) and IL-8. Single nucleotide polymorphisms in their genes are associated with changed levels of gene expression. Here, we investigated the association between IL4-590 C>T and IL8-251T>A and gastric cancer (GC) risk in Sichuan of Southwestern China. Materials and Methods: We surveyed the research subjects using a self-designed questionnaire with questions on demographic factors and putative risk factors. Approximately 2-5ml of whole blood was collected after field survey to analyze IL4-590 C>T and IL8-251T>A genotypes using MALDI-TOF MS. Results: Our study recruited 308 pairs of GC patients and controls, including 224 (72.7%) men and 84 (27.3%) women in each group. There were 99 cardia and 176 noncardia GC patients in the case group. The case and control groups had an average age of $57.7{\pm}10.6$ ($mean{\pm}SD$) and $57.6{\pm}11.1$ years. GC patients reported a significantly greater proportion of family history of cancer (29.9% vs 10.7%, p<0.01) and drinking (54.6% vs 43.2%, p<0.01) than did controls. Variant genotypes of IL-4-590 C>T and IL-8-251 T>A were not associated with overall GC risk (adjusted OR, 0.89; 95%CI, 0.61-1.28 for CT or CC vs TT; adjusted OR, 1.14; 95%CI, 0.86-1.79 for TA or AA vs TT). Stratification analysis of two SNPs for risk by subsites only found that variant IL-8-251 TA or AA genotype was associated with increased noncardia GC risk (adjusted OR, 2.58; 95%CI, 1.19-5.57). We did not observe interactions between the IL-8-251 T>A genotype and smoking (adjusted OR, 0.38; 95%CI, 0.08-1.79) or drinking (adjusted OR, 0.36; 95%CI, 0.08-1.65) for risk of noncardia GC. Conclusions: Our data indicate no association between the two SNPs of IL-4-590 and IL-8-251 with overall GC risk, while the IL-8-251 TA or AA genotype conferred risk of cardia GC. Our findings contribute to the evidence body for risk of SNPs associated with the development of gastric cancer in this region.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.8
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• pp.1260-1269
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• 2018

Production of good Koji primarily depends upon the selection of substrate materials and fermentative microflora, which together influence the characteristic flavor and aroma. Herein, we performed comparative metabolomic analyses of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and primary metabolites for Koji samples fermented individually with Bacillus amyloliquefaciens and Aspergillus oryzae. The VOCs and primary metabolites were analyzed using headspace solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) followed by gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOF-MS). In particular, alcohols, ketones, and furans were mainly detected in Bacillus-fermented Koji (Bacillus Koji, BK), potentially due to the increased levels of lipid oxidation. A cheesy and rancid flavor was characteristic of Bacillus Koji, which is attributable to high content of typical 'off-flavor' compounds. Furthermore, the umami taste engendered by 2-methoxyphenol, (E,E)-2,4-decadienal, and glutamic acid was primarily detected in Bacillus Koji. Alternatively, malty flavor compounds (2-methylpropanal, 2-methylbutanal, 3-methylbutanal) and sweet flavor compounds (monosaccharides and maltol) were relatively abundant in Aspergillus-fermented Koji (Aspergillus Koji, AK). Hence, we argue that the VOC profile of Koji is largely determined by the rational choice of inocula, which modifies the primary metabolomes in Koji substrates, potentially shaping its volatolome as well as the aroma characteristics.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.275-286
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• 2018

Purpose: Our previous study demonstrated that persimmon (Diospyros kaki Thumb.) at different stages of ripening provided different protective effects against high-fat/cholesterol diet (HFD)-induced dyslipidemia in rats. In this study, we compared the metabolites profile and gene expressions related to triglyceride (TG)/cholesterol metabolism in vitro and in vivo after treating with persimmon water extracts (PWE) or tannin-enriched persimmon concentrate (TEP). Methods: Primary and secondary metabolites in test materials were determined by GC-TOF/MS, UHPLC-LTQ-ESI-IT-MS/MS, and UPLC-Q-TOF-MS. The expression of genes related to TG and cholesterol metabolism were determined by RT-PCR both in HepG2 cells stimulated by oleic acid/palmitic acid and in liver tissues obtained from Wistar rats fed with HFD and PWE at 0, 150, 300, and 600 mg/d (experiment I) or TEP at 0, 7, 14, and 28 mg/d (experiment II) by oral gavage for 9 weeks. Results: PLS-DA analysis and heatmap analysis demonstrated significantly differential profiling of metabolites of PWE and TEP according to processing of persimmon powder. In vitro, TEP showed similar hypolipidemic effects as PWE, but significantly enhanced hypocholesterolemic effects compared to PWE in sterol regulatory element-binding protein 2 (SREBP2), HMG-CoA reductase (HMGCR), proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9), cholesterol $7{\alpha}-hydroxylase$ (CYP7A1), and low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) gene expression. Consistently, TEP and PWE showed similar hypolipidemic capacity in vivo, but significantly enhanced hypocholesterolemic capacity in terms of SREBP2, HMGCR, and bile salt export pump (BSEP) gene expression. Conclusion: These results suggest that column extraction after hot water extraction may be a good strategy to enhance tannins and long-chain fatty acid amides, which might cause stimulation of hypocholesterolemic actions through downregulation of cholesterol biosynthesis gene expression and upregulation of LDL receptor gene expression.