• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.858-863
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• 2010

The blueberry farming requires the soil condition of well-drainage, pH of 4.5 to 5.2, and high in organic matters for stable growth and development. Most of soil type of cultivated land in Korea, however, belongs to alkaline soils with low organic matter content and poor drainage. Therefore, the blueberry farmers use peat moss heavily to improve the soil condition, but the guideline on the effective and economic ratio of peat moss is not established yet. This study was performed to determine the cost effective peat moss ratio for amending soils, and to investigate the feasibility of using sawdust and coco peat as soil amendments. Peat moss, coco peat and sawdust are mixed with soil at the ratio of 0, 12.5, 50 and 100% (v/v). Among 3 organic materials with various mixture ratios, the pH of soil was the lowest in 100% peat moss and sawdust mixtures (pH 3.67 and pH 3.73, respectively), followed by pH 5.30 at 50% peat moss. The soil organic matter content are directly proportional to the mixture ratios in all three organic materials and the same trend was observed in the variation of content of exchangeable potassium in the coco peat treatments. On the contrary, the content of available phosphate, exchangeable calcium and magnesium decreased with increasing the ratio of organic materials. The nitrogen content in the leaves decreased as increasing the ratio of peat moss and coco peat in soil, but not of sawdust. The content of phosphate decreased but potassium increased as the ratio of sawdust and coco peat increased. There was no clear difference in the contents of magnesium and calcium among 3 organic materials. The plant height, stem diameter and dry weight of blueberry plants were the highest in 50 % peat moss, followed by 12.5% peat moss and 12.5% coco peat. The plants in 100% peat moss showed very poor growth. It can be concluded that peatmoss, when applied and managed appropriately, will be a good material for improving soil condition as well as securing desirable growth for blueberry. Upon coupling economic aspect, the optimum mixing ratio of peatmoss for blueberry farming is approximately 25-50%.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.608-613
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• 2011

The aqueous Green tea comes to be used with the Oriental medicine plant, it has the numerous health benefits, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti- carcinogenic properties. Epidermal progenitor cells give rise to multiple skin lineages: hair follicle, sebaceous gland and the overlying interfollicular epidermis. Sebocytes are the cells of the sebaceous gland, which synthesize and accumulate lipid dropolets. In order to determine the effect of Green tea on lipid production, several experiments were performed in SZ95 cells (sebocytes). We found that Green tea increased lipid droplets compared with control in a dose-dependent manner. Human sebaceous glands produce sebum, a lipid mixture of squalene, wax esters, triglycerides, cholesterol esters, and free fatty acids that is secreted onto the skin. Therefore, to investigate the effects of Green tea on intracellular lipid levels, we treated SZ95 cells with Green tea, and then examined cholesterol and triglyceride levels. After treatment of the cells with Green tea, the cholesterol and triglyceride levels of SZ95 cells were increased significantly in a dose-dependent manner.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.131-139
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• 2019

Introduction: Mastalgia is the most common benign breast disorder during the fertility period of women. So far a wide range of natural or complementary medicines is used to cure mastalgia. Sanitary organizations need complete and suitable details to help women, for making the proper decision for alternative treatment based on the evidence. The aim of the present study is to introduce medicinal plant-based treatments about mastalgia and summarizes clinical trials about this disorder. Method: The articles were provided using mixture of keywords including cyclic pain, breast, treatment, therapeutics, therapy, clinical trial, herbal, drug, mastalgia and all the probable terms, in national and international databases SID, Iran Medex, Magiran, PubMed, Scopus, Medline, Science direct and Cochrane library, in both Persian and English languages. All cross-sectional and review articles about herbal treatment of mastalgia until 2018 November were studied. Results: Nineteen articles from all of the available articles (45 cases) and a sample size about of (1987 cases) were included in our study. The articles were clinical trials. The results revealed that mastalgia could be healed by Nigella sativa, Vitex agnus-castus, curcumin, Hypericum perforatum, Citrus sinensis, wheat germ, and Ginkgo biloba. Conclusion: Most of the evaluated medicinal plants possessing antioxidant compounds with anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties, exhibited healing effects in the treatment of mastalgia. Thus, medicinal plants can be considered in the treatment of mastalgia; however, further investigations are needed to obtain more details about their probable side effects.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.413-420
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the control efficacy of major environment-friendly control agents against powdery mildew, as affected by the application condition such as disease-developing stage and microclimate, as compared with the efficacy of pesticides in plug seedling of three Cucurbitaceae vegetables, including cucumber, melon, and oriental melon. Single or combined application of major six environment-friendly control agents was used in the experiment: two biofungicide (Ampelomyces quisqualis 94013 and Bacillus subtilis Y1336), two plant extracts (neem oil and extracts of Rheum undulatum), and two mineral materials (wettable sulfur powder and lime bordeaux mixture). These control agents were treated to the plug seedlings for preventing powdery mildew and curative applications for managing powdery mildew. In all treatments, the disease incidence declined as daily average temperatures increased to $30^{\circ}C$ for consecutive 6~8 days with maximum temperature over $40^{\circ}C$. In preventative application, the control efficacy against powdery mildew was the highest in the treatment of wettable sulfur powder, and lowest in the B. subtilis Y1336, with values of 20~40%. In cucumber seedlings, the preventive single application of neem oil or wettable sulfur powder was more effective than curative application of fungicides, while the control efficacy of these agents was similar to those of fungicides in melon seedlings. The single application of R. undulatum extracts was also effective in preventing the disease for both cucumber and melon seedlings, showing a higher control efficacy than those of biofungicides during seedling stage. The treatment of water spray was not effective and showed a higher disease incidence than the untreated control plot in the oriental melon and melon seedlings. The curative application with environment friendly control agents, after powdery mildew was first detected, could not successfully controlled the disease at the middle stage (5~10% of disease incidence) of disease development. The curative combined application of [R. undulatum extracts (1st application) + wettable sulfur powder (2nd) + neem oil (3rd)] showed the highest control efficacy among the other treatments, with control value over 80% at the early stage (less than 1% of disease incidence) of disease development.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.227-233
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• 2014

The mixture (MX) of acetic acid (AA) and lactic acid (LA) was examined for its effectiveness in the control of the pine wood nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus contaminated in cymbidium culture medium. Nematode mortality in vitro was nearly 100% in AA and MX at the concentrations of 5.0-1.0% (pH 2.6 - 4.2) and in LA only at 5.0% (pH 3.5), but lowered at concentrations of 0.5-0.1% (pH 5.1-6.9) more significantly in LA than AA and MX. MX of most concentrations caused higher nematode mortality than the average response to AA and LA. All treatments of MX (0.5% and 0.25%), fosthiazate (standard and double concentrations) and culture dilution of Paenibacillus polymyxa GBR-1 ($10^7$colony-forming units/ml) reduced significantly the nematode populations in the cymbidium culture medium, compared to non-treatment control, with no significant difference among the treatments. No phytotoxicity occurred in all treatments. pH of the medium with the time after treatment and growths of 2-year-old cymbidium were not significantly different among treatments. Considering the safety and price of the organic acids, use of MX in the processes for culturing cymbidium may be a practically reliable and eco-friendly way in the control of the quarantine nematode in cymbidium.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.247-258
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• 2019

Background: Astragali radix (A) and Lithospermi radix (L) have long been used as traditional medicines due to their known anti-inflammatory effects. This study aimed at evaluating, their optimal mixing ratio and their functional compounds by investigating the inhibitory effects of mixed extracts of A and L and their active compounds on matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). Methods and Results: A and L extracts were obtained by extraction at $80^{\circ}C$ using 50% and 70% fermented alcohol, respectively, and then mixed at a ratio of 5 : 5, 6 : 4, 7 : 3 and 8 : 2 (w/w). The activities of MMP-1, MMP-3, and MMP-13 were evaluated in interleukin-1beta ($IL-1{\beta}$)-induced SW1353 cells. The extract mixtures showed synergistic inhibitory effects on MMP-3 and MMP-13, higher than the effects of the individual A and L extracts. The 7 : 3 mixture (ALM16) showed the most effective MMPs inhibitory activity, while among the active ingredients, calycosin-7-O-${\beta}$-D-glucoside and lithospermic acid exhibited excellent MMPs inhibitory activity. Additionally, an HPLC method was established for simultaneous quantification of the effective components of the extract mixtures, and validated by measuring the linearity, precision and accuracy of the limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ). Conclusions: ALM16 showed the most effective MMPs inhibitory activity. Calycosin-O-${\beta}$-D-glucoside, calycosin and lithospermic acid were identified as useful candidates, as they were the major functional compounds in the MMP inhibitory activity. Summarily, ALM16 might be a highly effective in osteoarthritis management, owing to its because it exhibits a protective effect on cartilage via excellent inhibition of MMPs.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.658-662
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• 2013

Rubus coreanus and Astragalus membranaceus Bunge have been used as a traditional medicine with various pharmacological properties for a long time in Asia. We investigated the proliferative and differentiative effects on osteoblastic cells, MG-63 in various mixture ratios of immature fructus extracts of R. coreanus and root extracts of A. membranaceus. With preliminary in vivo ovariectomized mice, we confirmed the effects of the supplementation of various mixture on alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity in serum. The ratio of 7:3 is considered as the most effective ratio for the proliferation of osteoblastic cells as they increased by 56.8% similar to estradiol. ALP activity in osteoblast increased by the combination of R. coreanus and A. membranaceus and peaked in the ratio of 72:28 and 68:32 respectively. These results indicate that the optimal combination of R. coreanus and A. membranaceus in 7:3 has the most beneficial effects on the activation of osteoblast cells, and give further possibilities that it can be used clinically in the treatment of osteoporosis.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.55-63
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• 2011

This study was conducted to develop an artificial diet for the mugwort looper, Ascotis selenaria (Lepidoptera: Geometridae), which is an insect pest to leaves of citrus (Citrus unshiu). Corn and soybean powder were selected as main nutrient sources for larvae of A. selenaria after several diets consisted of wheat germ, corn, kidney bean and/or soybean were tested for larval development and survival. A higher amount of the main nutrients in the diet increased the larval survivorship. Addition of yeast and cholesterol in diet increased the larval survivorship. Finally the composition of diet was decided as followings; corn 100 g, soybean 100 g agar 25 g, Brewers' yeast 30 g, cholesterol 0.5 g, Vanderzant vitamin mixture 2 g, Wesson's salt mixture 2 g, sorbic acid 2 g, ascorbic acid 2 g, and methyl-4-hydroxybenzoate 2.5 g, and distilled water 1 liter. Development periods of larvae and pupae, survival rate and fecundity of A. selenaria reared on the diet were not significantly different with those on the host plant, citrus leaves. Larvae of early instars were reared in a group, while larvae of later instars (5-6th) were reared individually. Adult mating was conducted in a plastic cage and an oilpaper covered with a gauze was provided as an oviposition site.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.15-22
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• 1998

'Banafsha' is an important herbal drug of indigenous systems of medicine. Flowers of Viola odornta L. (Violaceae) are considered to constitute the genuine drug 'Banafsha'. However, due to limited distribution of this plant, another species of Viola, i.e. V. pilosa having almost similar medicinal properties, is mostly used under this vernacular instead. Ethnobotanically also different species of Viola i.e. V. odorata, V. pilosa and V. betonicifolia are used for various ailments at different places in our country. In the present study two species of Viola, namely V. pilosa and V. betonictfolia along with the commercial samples of 'Banafsha' were studied and authenticated. It was observed that the market samples procured from Dehradun, Mumbai, Lucknow, Palampur, Ramnagar and Ranikhet showed close resemblance with Viola pilosa in having similar morphological characters like uniseriate hairs on the ovary, geniculate and clavate style, truncate stigma and almost similar TLC profiles. On the other hand the Almora sample was identified as Viola betonicifolia by the presence of large purple flowers, clavate style and convex stigma forming hump like structure. However, the market sample procured from Pathankot was found to be a mixture of two species of Viola namely, V pilosa and V. odorata having dominance of the former species.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.150-158
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• 2017

Pear scab caused by Venturia nashicola has been reported as an important disease of pear resulting in lowering the quality of pear fruits. In this study, it was conducted to investigate the relationship between resistance of V. nashicola and mutation of ${\beta}$-tubulin gene and the fungicide resistance in field isolate group in benzimidazole fungicides. Responce of V. nashicola to carbendazim could be classified into 3 groups as sensitive that does not grow at all on PDA amended with $0.16{\mu}g/ml$ of carbendazim, low resistance that could not grow in $4.0{\mu}g/ml$ medium, and high resistance that can grow even at $100{\mu}g/ml$. Thirty isolates of V. nashicola collected from 3 regions as Wonju, Naju, and Okcheon were highly resistant to carbendazim. Analysis of the nucleotide sequence of ${\beta}$-tubulin gene of V. nashicola showed that there was no difference in the nucleotide sequence between the sensitive and the low-resistant isolate, but GAG at codon 198 (glutamic acid) was replaced with GCG (alanine) in the high-resistant isolate. Among 10 isolates obtained from the Okcheon, 5 isolates showed the substitution of glycine for glutamic acid, which were resistant to carbendazim, but more sensitive to the mixture of carbendazim and diethofencarb than others. Through these results, all isolates of V. nashicola isolated in pear orchard were found to be resistant to benzimidazoles. Also, mutants E198A and E198G at ${\beta}$-tubulin were found to be important mechanisms of V. nashicola resistance against benzimidazole fungicides.