• Proceedings of the Ginseng society Conference
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• 1978.09a
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• pp.149-157
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• 1978

Ginseng is the English common name for the species in the genus Panax. This article gives a broad botanical review including the morphological characteristics, ecological amplitude, and the ethnobotanical aspect of the genus Panax. The species of Panax are adapted for life in rich loose soil of partially shaded forest floor with the deciduous trees such as linden, oak, maple, ash, alder, birch, beech, hickory, etc. forming the canopy. Like their associated trees, all ginsengs are deciduous. They require annual climatic changes, plenty of water in summer, and a period of dormancy in winter. The plant body of ginseng consists of an underground rhizome and an aerial shoot. The rhizome has a terminal bud, prominent leafscars and a fleshy root in some species. It is perennial. The aerial shoot is herbaceous and annual. It consists of a single slender stem with a whorl of digitately compound leaves and a terminal umbel bearing fleshy red fruits after flowering. The yearly cycle of death and renascence of the aerial shoot is a natural phenomenon in ginseng. The species of Panax occur in eastern North America and eastern Asia, including the eastern portion of the Himalayan region. Such a bicentric generic distributional pattern indicates a close floristic relationship of the eastern sides of two great continental masses in the northern hemisphere. It is well documented that genera with this type of disjunct distribution are of great antiquity. Many of them have fossil remains in Tertiary deposits. In this respect, the species of Panax may be regarded as living fossils. The distribution of the species, and the center of morphological diversification are explained with maps and other illustrations. Chemical constituents confirm the conclusion derived from morphological characters that eastern Asia is the center of species concentration of Panax. In eastern North America two species occur between longitude $70^{\circ}-97^{\circ}$ Wand latitude $34^{\circ}-47^{\circ}$ N. In eastern Asia the range of the genus extends from longitude $85^{\circ}$ E in Nepal to $140^{\circ}$ E in Japan, and from latitude $22^{\circ}$ N in the hills of Tonkin of North Vietnam to $48^{\circ}$ N in eastern Siberia. The species in eastern North America all have fleshy roots, and many of the species in eastern Asia have creeping stolons with enlarged nodes or stout horizontal rhizomes as storage organs in place of fleshy roots. People living in close harmony with nature in the homeland of various species of Panax have used the stout rhizomes or the fleshy roots of different wild forms of ginseng for medicine since time immemorial. Those who live in the center morphological diversity are specific both in the application of names for the identification of species in their communication and in the use of different roots as remedies to relieve pain, to cure diseases, or to correct physiological disorders. Now, natural resources of wild plants with medicinal virtue are extremely limited. In order to meet the market demand, three species have been intensively cultivated in limited areas. These species are American ginseng (P. quinquefolius) in northeastern United States, ginseng (P. ginseng) in northeastern Asia, particularly in Korea, and Sanchi (P. wangianus) in southwestern China, especially in Yunnan. At present hybridization and selection for better quality, higher yield, and more effective chemical contents have not received due attention in ginseng culture. Proper steps in this direction should be taken immediately, so that our generation may create a richer legacy to hand down to the future. Meanwhile, all wild plants of all species in all lands should be declared as endangered taxa, and they should be protected from further uprooting so that a. fuller gene pool may be conserved for the. genus Panax.

• Ultrasonography
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.59-65
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• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to establish the methodology regarding synthesis of ultrasound contrast agent imaging, and to evaluate the characteristics of the synthesized ultrasound contrast agents, including size or degradation interval and image quality. Materials and Methods: The ultrasound contrast agent, composed of liposome and SF6, was synthesized from the mixture solution of $21{\mu}mol$ DPPC (1, 2-Dihexadecanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, $C_{40}H_{80}NO_8P$), $9{\mu}mol$ cholesterol, $1.9{\mu}mol$ of DCP (Dihexadecylphosphate, $[CH_3(CH_2)_{15}O]_2P(O)OH$), and chloroform. After evaporation in a warm water bath and drying during a period of 12-24 hours, the contrast agent was synthesized by the sonication process by addition of buffer and SF6 gas. The size of the contrast agent was controlled by use of either extruder or sonication methods. After synthesis of contrast agents, analysis of the size distribution of the bubbles was performed using dynamic light scattering measurement methods. The degradation curve was also evaluated by changes in the number of contrast agents via light microscopy immediate, 12 hours, 24 hours, 36 hours, 48 hours, 60 hours, 72 hours, and 84 hours after synthesis. For evaluation of the role as an US contrast agent, the echogenicity of the synthesized microbubble was compared with commercially available microbubbles (SonoVue, Bracco, Milan, Italy) using a clinical ultrasound machine and phantom. Results: The contrast agents were synthesized successfully using an evaporation-drying-sonication method. The majority of bubbles showed a mean size of 154.2 nanometers, and they showed marked degradation 24 hours after synthesis. ANOVA test revealed a significant difference among SonoVue, synthesized contrast agent, and saline (p < 0.001). Although no significant difference was observed between SonoVue and the synthesized contrast agent, difference in echogenicity was observed between synthesized contrast agent and saline (p < 0.01). Conclusion: We could synthesize ultrasound contrast agents using an evaporation-drying-sonication method. On the basis of these results, many prospective types of research, such as anticancer drug delivery, gene delivery, including siRNA or microRNA, targeted molecular imaging, and targeted therapy can be performed.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.271-278
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• 2020

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli is one of the major causative infectious agents of diarrhea in newborn and post-weaning pigs and leads to a large economic loss worldwide. However, there is limited information on the distribution and characterization of virulence genes in E. coli isolated from diarrheic piglets, which also applies to the current status of pig farms in Korea. To investigate the prevalence and characterization of virulence genes in E. coli related to diarrhea in piglets, the rectal swab samples of diarrheic piglets (aged 2 d to 6 w) were collected from 163 farms between 2013 and 2016. Five to 10 individual swab samples from the same farm were pooled and cultured on MacConkey agar plates, and E. coli were identified using the API 32E system. Three sets of multiplex PCRs were used to detect 13 E. coli virulence genes. As a result, a total of 172 E. coli isolates encoding one or more of the virulence genes were identified. Among them, the prevalence of individual virulence gene was as follows, (1) fimbrial adhesins (43.0%): F4 (16.9%), F5 (4.1%), F6 (1.7%), F18 (21.5%), and F41 (3.5%); (2) toxins (90.1%): LT (19.2%), STa (20.9%), STb (25.6%), Stx2e (15.1%), EAST1 (48.3%); and (3) non-fimbrial adhesin (19.6%): EAE (14.0%), AIDA-1 (11.6%) and PAA (8.7%), respectively. Taken together, various pathotypes and virotypes of E. coli were identified in diarrheic piglets. These results suggest a broad array of virulence genes is associated with coliform diarrhea in piglets in Korea.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.55-62
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• 2009

Milk is called an almost complete food in terms of nutrition, especially for the younger generations because it contains a number of nutrients required for growth and development. Lactose intolerance is defined as a malabsorption of lactose in the intestine with some typical symptoms of abdominal pains and bloating, and occurred at 75% of global populations, which hampers milk consumption worldwide. Lacks of milk consumption in the underdeveloped countries frequently lead to many nutrients deficiencies, so that diseases including osteoporosis, hypertension, and colon cancer are more prevalent in the recent days. Lactose in foods needs to be hydrolyzed prior to intestinal absorption. The hydrolytic enzyme responsible for splitting lactose into its monomeric forms, glucose and galactose, is called as lactase or $\beta$-galactosidase. The former is primarily used as blood sugar and energy source and the latter used in glycolipid synthesis of brain tissues in infants. Lactose is clinically diagnosed with the breath hydrogen production test as well as intestinal biopsy. Reportedly, symptoms of lactose intolerance are widely prevalent at 25% of Europeans, 50 to 80% of Hispanics, South Indians, Africans, and Jews, almost 100% of Asians and native Americans. For the adults, phenotype of lactase persistence, which is able to hydrolyse lactose, is more common in the northern Europeans, but in the other area lactase non-persistence or adult-type hypolactasia is dominant. Genetic analysis on human lactase gene continued that lactase persistence was closely related to the err site of 1390 single nucleotide polymorphism from the 5'-end. To alleviate severity of lactose intolerance symptoms, some eating patterns including drinking milk a single cup or less, consumption along with other foods, whole milk rather than skimmed milk, and drink with live yogurt cultures, are highly recommended for the lactose maldigesters. Also, delay of gastric emptying is effective to avoid the symptoms from lactose intolerance. Frequency of lactose intolerance with conventional diagnosis is thought overestimated mainly because the subjects are exposed to too much lactose of 50 g rather than a single serving amount. Thus simple and accurate diagnostic method for lactose intolerance need to be established. It is thought that fermented milk products and low- or free lactose milks help improve currently stagnant milk consumption due to lactose intolerance which contributes to major barrier in milk marketing especially in Asian countries.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.599-604
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to explore methods for efficient management of the quality and safety of simple processed agricultural products in Busan. We tested 258 samples of simple processed agricultural products for distribution of aerobic bacteria and coliforms, and identified food-borne pathogens. The average aerobic bacterial and coliforms counts were 7.1 and 4.1 log CFU/g in simple processed vegetables, 6.8 and 3.5 log CFU/g in dried vegetables, and 6.2 and 2.9 log CFU/g in simple processed fruits. Additionally Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella spp., Campylobacter jejuni/coli and Listeria monocytogenes were not detected in any samples. However, Bacillus cereus, Clostridium perfringens and E. coli were detected in 41 samples (16.3%), 2 samples (0.8%), and 4 samples (1.6%), respectively. This analysis revealed that none of C. perfringens and E. coli isolates harbored pathogenic toxic genes. However, all of B. cereus isolates carried at least 1 toxin gene.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.134-140
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• 2012

Asian dust storms originating in the arid desert of China and Mongolia usually occur from late winter through spring, and more than one million tons of dust per year is transported to the Korean Peninsula by the prevalent westerly winds. We supposed that these dust particles could include bioaerosols and act as carriers of microorganisms. In order to clarify the dynamics of microorganisms moving with these particles, the concentration and composition of microorganisms associated with settled particles were compared between samples collected during Asian dust events and those under non-dust periods. From February to April 2008, settled dust particles were collected at one location in Ulsan using rainfall meter of 200 mm diameter. During this period, there was one Asian dust event in Ulsan. The bacterial concentrations were higher in samples collected during Asian dust event than those under non-dust period, whereas fungal concentrations were rather similar regardless of the Asian dust event. We analyzed 16S rRNA gene sequences of 45 bacterial isolates obtained from the settled particle samples. These isolates belonged to either genus Bacillus or genus Streptococcus and were tentatively identified as B. amyloliquefaciens, B. aryabhattai, B. atrophaeus, B. licheniformis, B. megaterium, B. methylotrophicus, B. pumilus, B. sonorensis, B. subtlis, B. vallismortis, S. epidermidis, and S. succinus. In cases of fungal isolates, genera such as Mucor, Alternaria, Cladosporium, and Aspergillus were tentatively identified from samples collected at both Asian dust and non-Asian dust periods. It appears that endospore-forming bacteria such as Bacillus sp. rather than fungal spores are more likely to be associated with Asian dust particles.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.74-82
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• 1979

Pinus densiflora S. et Z. which has the widest distribution and highest stock at present in Korea and has used as materials for fuel, house construction, furniture and many other purposes for several hundred years, is considered as one of major species of economic importance, although there are a few epidemic insect injuries and silvicultural difficulties in regeneration. However, since disorderly cutting has been conducted for long time, the valuable local stands have disappeared. Therefore immediate attempts should be taken on the gene conservation and genetic studies including heritabilities and genetic gains of desirable characters. One hundred and twently five plus trees have so far been selected from the nationwide area and kept for the purpose of seed orchard establishment and other theoretical studies. In this study, the wind pollinated seeds of grafted stocks of 13 plus trees in clone bank located in Suweon and the seeds of 4 Japanese plus trees were collected and their progenies were used for heritability study. As indicated in figure 1, thirteen plus trees are from the middle part of Korea and two experimental plantations were laid out in ]972 (1-1 stock) by the randomized block design with five replications, consisting of 10 trees line plots of each family in each replication. Tree height, root collar diameter and branch diameter at 1cm apart from the main stem were measured. The results are summarized as follows 1. The rank of height growth of each plus tree progenies by age was greatly changed under age 3 and it was affected more in poor site than good site. 2. The heritabilities of height growth were estimated to be 7.2% at age 3, negative sign at age 4, 9.4% at age 5, 13.0% at age 6, 8.1% at age 7 and abrupt increase of 63.8% at age 8. The heritabilities were generally increased with increase of age. 3. The heritabilities of root collar diameter and branch diameter (average of the three biggest branches) was 3.2% and 11.8% at age 8 respectively. 4. The genetic gain was largest at age 8 and it was 46.6% when a selection intensity, 1/500 was taken. It, therefore, seems to be reasonable that selection should not be made under age 7.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.18
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• pp.7849-7855
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• 2014

Purpose: To investigate the effect of deacetylase inhibitory trichostatin A (TSA) on anti HepG2 liver carcinoma cells and explore the underlying mechanisms. Materials and Methods: HepG2 cells exposed to different concentrations of TSA for 24, 48, or 72h were examined for cell growth inhibition using CCK8, changes in cell cycle distribution with flow cytometry, cell apoptosis with annexin V-FTIC/PI double staining, and cell morphology changes under an inverted microscope. Expression of ${\beta}$-catenin, HDAC1, HDAC3, H3K9, CyclinD1 and Bax proteins was tested by Western blotting. Gene expression for ${\beta}$-catenin, HDAC1and HDAC3 was tested by q-PCR. ${\beta}$-catenin and H3K9 proteins were also tested by immunofluorescence. Activity of Renilla luciferase (pTCF/LEF-luc) was assessed using the Luciferase Reporter Assay system reagent. The activity of total HDACs was detected with a HDACs colorimetric kit. Results: Exposure to TSA caused significant dose-and time-dependent inhibition of HepG2 cell proliferation (p<0.05) and resulted in increased cell percentages in G0/G1 and G2/M phases and decrease in the S phase. The apoptotic index in the control group was $6.22{\pm}0.25%$, which increased to $7.17{\pm}0.20%$ and $18.1{\pm}0.42%$ in the treatment group. Exposure to 250 and 500nmol/L TSA also caused cell morphology changes with numerous floating cells. Expression of ${\beta}$-catenin, H3K9and Bax proteins was significantly increased, expression levels of CyclinD1, HDAC1, HDAC3 were decreased. Expression of ${\beta}$-catenin at the genetic level was significantly increased, with no significant difference in HDAC1and HDAC3 genes. In the cytoplasm, expression of ${\beta}$-catenin fluorescence protein was not obvious changed and in the nucleus, small amounts of green fluorescence were observed. H3K9 fluorescence protein were increased. Expression levels of the transcription factor TCF werealso increased in HepG2 cells following induction by TSA, whikle the activity of total HDACs was decreased. Conclusions: TSA inhibits HDAC activity, promotes histone acetylation, and activates Wnt/${\beta}$-catenin signaling to inhibit proliferation of HepG2 cell, arrest cell cycling and induce apoptosis.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.10-10
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• 2017

Rice consumption has been continuously decreasing as the eating habits of Koreans have become westernized and diversified. The per capita annual rice consumption in Korea has dropped sharply from 136.4 kg in 1970 to 61.9 kg in 2016. The Korean government, therefore, has been trying to promote rice consumption by invigorating the processed food industry using rice flour. To facilitate the market for processed rice foods, it is essential to develop proper milling technology in terms of flour particle size and damaged starch content to produce high quality rice flour at competitive cost. Dry milling and wet milling are the two major processes used to produce rice flour. Although the dry milling process is relatively simple with a lower production cost, damaged starch content increases because of the high grain hardness of rice. In wet milling, the quality of rice flour is improved by reducing flour particle size as well as damaged starch content through soaking procedures. However, the production costs are high because of the additional expenses associated with the disposal of waste water, sterilization and drying of the wet flour. Recently developed technologies such as jet milling and cryogenic milling also require expensive investment and production. Therefore, developing new rice cultivars with dry milling adaptability as well as good processing properties is an important goal of rice breeding in Korea. 'Suweon 542' is a floury endosperm mutant line derived from sodium azide treatment on a high-yield, early maturing, and non-glutinous japonica rice cultivar, 'Namil'. Compared with the wild type, after dry milling process, the grain hardness of 'Suweon 542' was significantly lower because of its round and loosely packed starch granules. Also, the flour of 'Suweon 542' had significantly smaller particles and less damaged starch than 'Namil' and other rice cultivars and its particle size distribution was similar to a commercial wheat cultivar. Recently, through collaborations with nine universities and food companies, a total of 21 kinds of processed prototypes, using the dry milling flour of 'Suweon 542', were evaluated. In the production of major rice processing products, there was no significant quality difference between the flours prepared by wet milling and dry milling. Although the amount of water added to the dough was slightly increased, it was confirmed that the recipe applying the wet flour could be used without significant change. To efficiently transfer the floury endosperm characteristics of 'Suweon 542' to other commercial rice cultivars, it is essential to develop DNA marker tightly linked to the target gene. Association analysis using 70 genome-wide SSR markers and 94 F2 plants derived from 'Suweon 542'/'Milyang 23' showed that markers on chromosome 5 explained a large portion of the variation in floury grains percentage (FGP). Further analysis with an increased number of SSR markers revealed that the floury endosperm of 'Suweon 542' was directed by a major recessive locus, flo7(t), located in the 19.33-19.86 Mbp region of chromosome 5, with RM18639 explaining 92.2% of FGP variation in the F2 population. Through further physical mapping, a co-segregate and co-dominant DNA marker with the locus, flo7(t) was successfully developed, by which, thereby, breeding efficiency of rice cultivars having proper dry milling adaptability with high yield potential or useful functional materials would be improved. 'Suweon 542' maintained the early maturity of the wild type, Namil, which can be used in rice-wheat double cropping systems in Korea not only for improved arable land but also for sharing flour production facilities. In addition to the high susceptibility against major rice diseases, nevertheless, another possible drawback of 'Suweon 542' is the high rate of viviparous under prolonged rainfall during the harvesting season. To overcome susceptibility and vivipary of 'Suweon 542', the progeny lines, derived from the crosses 'Suweon 542' and 'Jopyeong', an early maturing rice cultivar with multiple resistance against rice blast, bacterial blight, and rice strip virus, and 'Heugjinju', a anthocyanin pigment containing black rice cultivar, were intensively evaluated. As the outputs, three dry milling suitable rice elite lines, 'Jeonju614', 'Jeonju615', and 'Jeonju616' were developed.

• Journal of the Korean Arthroscopy Society
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.148-152
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• 2006

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the distribution of the diameter of four strand autologous hamstring tendon and to identify the factors related to the diameter. Materials and Methods: Between December 2004 and July 2006, 66 patients underwent anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction using autologous hamstring tendon. Sixty one patients were male and the other 5 patients were female. Both semitendinosus and gracilis tendon were harvested in every case. Harvested two tendons were folded once together to create a four strand double loop graft and were passed through cylindrical sizer to measure their diameter. Parameters such as sex, age, height and weight were analyzed for their correlation with the diameter of the graft. Results: The diameter of the graft ranged from 6 mm to 10 mm. The graft with the diameter of 8 mm was most common and the average diameter of all the grafts was $7.85{\pm}0.92mm$. Seven patients (10.6%) had a graft with the diameter of 6 mm, which is considered too thin to be ideal one. No statistically significant correlation was found between age of the patient and the diameter of the graft. However, the diameter of the graft was significantly correlated with sex, height and weight of the patient. Female patients had a significant tendency to have thinner hamstring tendons. Both small height and light weight of the patients were correlated with thinner hamstring tendons significantly. Conclusion: Sex, height and weight of the patients were the factors that had a statistically significant correlation with the diameter of the graft. Being aware of the risk factors related with harvesting exceedingly thin hamstring tendon prior to anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, one can utilize wide range of options in selecting an optimal graft.