• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.158-169
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• 2019

Ergot alkaloids are mycotoxin produced by fungi of the Claviceps genus, mainly by Claviceps purpurea in EU. Recently obtained informations indicates necessity for control the ergot in imported grains. Recent occurrence data of ergot alkaloids from EU countries indicate the necessities of management and control these toxins from the imported grains like rye, wheat, oat etc. The aim of this study is to optimize the liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for determination of ergot alkaloids (ergometrine, ergosine, ergotamine, ergocornine, ergocryptine, ergocristine and their epimers (-inines) from grain and grain-based food. The test method was optimized by extracting the sample with acetonitrile containing 2 mM ammonium carbonate, purification with Mycosep cartridge, and instrumental analysis by LC-MS/MS using Syncronis C18 column. The standard calibration curves showed linearity with correlation coefficents; $R^2$ >0.99. Mean recoveries ranged from 72.0 to 111.3% at three different fortified levels (20, 50, and $100{\mu}g/kg$). The correlation coefficient expressed as precision was within the range of 1.9-12.9%. The limit or quantifications (LOQ) ranged from 0.012 to $0.058{\mu}g/kg$. The developed analytical method met the criteria of AOAC Int. and CAC validation parameters like accuracy and sensitivity. As a result, it was confirmed that the test method developed in this study is suitable for the simultaneous analysis of six species of ergot alkaloid from grains and grain products.

• Korean journal of health promotion
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.159-168
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• 2018

Background: Strategically improving health-related quality of life (HRQOL) should be discussed among overweight middle-aged women who are vulnerable to low HRQOL. We examined firstly if overweight middle-aged women would have significantly lower levels of HRQOL and health-promoting behaviors than normal-weight middle-aged women, and to examine secondly if health-promoting behaviors would be significantly associated with generic and obesity-specific HRQOLs within the overweight middle-aged women. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional, comparative study. Participants were 119 women aged 30-49 years who were recruited from a community in Seoul, South Korea; 63 women for the overweight group who were recruited from a baseline sample of the Community-Based Heart and Weight Management Trial, while 56 for the normal-weight group who were recruited separetely. Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP II), World Health Organization Quality of Life-brief version (WHOQOL-BREF) of a generic HRQOL measure, and Impact of Weight on Quality of Life-Lite (IWQOL-Lite) of an obesity-specific HRQOL measure were used. Results: Compared to the normal-weight group, the overweight group showed significantly lower scores of total WHOQOL-BREF as well as some HPLP II subscales including stress management (P=0.029). Among the HPLP II subscales, stress management was significantly and positively associated with total WHOQOL-BREF (${\beta}=1.58$, P=0.003) and self-esteem IWQOL-Lite (${\beta}=11.58$, P=0.034) among the overweight group. Conclusions: Among middle-aged overweight women, low levels of health-promoting behavior for stress management were shown, which should be strategically increased for improving their generic and obesity-specific HRQOLs.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.30-40
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• 2021

This study developed quantitative models to estimate the rainfall interception by seven native landscape tree species based on throughfall measurements. The tree species considered in this study were Abies holophylla, Acer palmatum, Ginkgo biloba, Pinus densiflora, Pinus koraiensis, Prunus yedoensis, and Zelkova serrata, which are frequently planted in the Korea. Among these species, 35.8% of the annual precipitation was intercepted by P. koraiensis, 34.1% by A. holophylla, 31.0% by Z. serrata, 27.6% by P. densiflora, 26.9% by G. biloba, 18.6% by A. palmatum, and 18.4% by P. yedoensis. All the quantitative models showed high fitness with r² values of 0.90-0.99. The annual rainfall interception from a tree with DBH of 20 cm were greatest with Z. serrata (5.1 m³/yr), followed by P. koraiensis (4.1 m³/yr), A. holophylla (3.1 m³/yr), G. biloba (2.8 m³/yr), P. densiflora (2.1 m³/yr), P. yedoensis (1.9 m³/yr), and A. palmatum (1.8 m³/yr) in order. Thus, evergreen tree species or those with a relatively high crown density were more effective in intercepting rainfall. In particular, the annual rainfall interception by Z. serrata was the greatest because its crown area, volume, and density were higher than those of the other species. This study pioneers in quantifying annual rainfall interception for landscape tree species in Korea. The study results can be useful for evaluating rainfall interception by landscape trees in urban greenspace design for governments and corporations.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.248-256
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• 2021

A total of 120 samples corresponding to 12 categories of dried processed fishery products distributed in Gyeonggi-do were examined for radioactivity contamination (¹³¹I, ¹³⁴Cs, ¹³⁷Cs) and heavy metals (lead, cadmium, arsenic, and mercury). One natural radioactive material, ⁴⁰K, was detected in all products, while the artificial radioactive materials ¹³¹I, ¹³⁴Cs and ¹³⁷Cs were not detected at above MDA (minimum detectable activity) values. The detection ranges of heavy metals converted by biological basis were found as follows: Pb (N.D.-0.332 mg/kg), Cd (N.D.-2.941 mg/kg), As (0.371-15.007 mg/kg), Hg (0.0005-0.0621 mg/kg). Heavy metals were detected within standard levels when there was an acceptable standard, but the arsenic content was high in most products, although none of the products had a permitted level of arsenic. In the case of dried processed fishery products, there are products that are consumed by restoring moisture to its original state, but there are also many products that are consumed directly in the dry state, so it will be necessary to set permitted levels for heavy metals considering this situation in the future. In addition, Japan has decided to release contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean, so there is high public concern about radioactivity contamination of food, including fishery products. Therefore, continuous monitoring of various food items will be necessary to ease consumers' anxiety.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.658-666
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to select a suitable planting substrate for multilayered plantings in an apartment landscape space. The experiment was conducted between May to October 2019, at the National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science. Planting substrate was prepared in six repetitions of eight treatment zones using mulching material, horticultural soil, bottom ash, and subgrade soil. Rosa hybrid 'Barkarole' and Hydrangea macrophylla 'Nikko Blue' were selected as the experimental plants. We investigated the monthly variation and effect of the substrate type on the growth (plant height, number of branches, leaf length, leaf width, and plant area of the substrates) of the plants. In R. hybrid 'Barkarole' grown in 20 cm of horticultural soil and 10 cm of bottom ash, the plants were taller(102.2±5.8 cm), had more branches (5.5±0.6 each), longer leaves (10.9±1.0 cm), and greater leaf width (6.2±0.5 cm) and plant area (4077.1±416.6 cm²)(p<0.05). H. macrophylla 'Nikko Blue' showed the best growth from 3cm of mulching, 20cm of horticultural topsoil, and 10cm of bottom ash, which resulted in taller plants (43.6±2.1 cm), more branches (4.9±0.8 each), longer leaves (7.2±0.5 cm), and greater leaf width(4.3±0.3 cm) and plant area (344.5±43.2 cm²). Through this study, it was possible to propose an optimal planting substrate for shrubs for multi-layered landscaping.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.652-658
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• 2022

This study was conducted to induce somatic embryogenic callus (SEC) derived from petals in rose. The petal explants of 3 cultivars ('Ice Wing', 'Orange Eye' and 'Pink Beauty') with different flower colors were placed on three types media (MS, SH and WPM) supplemented with 11 mg/L 2,4-D, respectively, and then cultured in the dark for 47 days. Calluses were formed at explants of all three cultivars. Also, 'Ice Wing', which were cultured in the SH as the basal medium, showed the highest callus formation rate. However, somatic embryos were generated from only petal-derived callus of 'Ice Wing', which were induced on the WPM as the basal medium, transferred it to SH basal medium supplemented with 3 mg/L 2,4-D, and 300 mg/L L-proline, and cultured for 5 weeks. The SEC has been proliferated every four weeks at the subculture interval. In addition, as a results of making a comparison of expression of RhSERK3 and RhSERK4, which is used as signal for generation of somatic embryo from callus in rose, between the SEC and petal-derived callus from 'Ice Wing' by RT-qPCR, the former showed 10 times higher RhSERK3 expression and 700 times higher RhSERK4 expression than the latter.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.275-285
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• 2021

COVID-19 is threatening the safety of ships and seafarers by delaying seafarer rotation. Shipping companies and governments have a blindspot in case of the onboard environment of seafarers. An effective, alternative plan should be devised to eliminate the possibility of human accidents in an emergency that threatens the safety of seafarers. According to the survey of former and current seafarers, the most important factor in boarding life was safety, and the most necessary thing during emergencies was to secure smooth seafarer rotation rather than improve wages and welfare. By analyzing the major routes of national shipping companies by continent, ports with a large number of calls and a high Air Connectivity Index were selected as the base port. In addition, the route was designed for effective, domestic seafarer rotation during international shipping. Other countries must be consulted to establish a travel route linking ships, ports, and airports for the safe return of sailors to their home countries during an emergency. In addition, it is necessary to work together for the seafarers who are in trouble of seafarer rotation through cooperation with the International Maritime Organization(IMO). Starting with this, the government should have a monitoring system for the return and non-return routes as well as the number of seafarers on board. If such a system is established, it will be able to determine the response direction of our country's policy in case of an emergency. Along with the shipping company's ef orts to improve the treatment of seafarers, national and social attention will be needed to review domestic laws and improve awareness about seafarers.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.295-304
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to detect the sorghum panicle using YOLOv5 based on RGB images acquired by a unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system. The high-resolution images acquired using the RGB camera mounted in the UAV on September 2, 2022 were split into 512×512 size for YOLOv5 analysis. Sorghum panicles were labeled as bounding boxes in the split image. 2,000images of 512×512 size were divided at a ratio of 6:2:2 and used to train, validate, and test the YOLOv5 model, respectively. When learning with YOLOv5s, which has the fewest parameters among YOLOv5 models, sorghum panicles were detected with mAP@50=0.845. In YOLOv5m with more parameters, sorghum panicles could be detected with mAP@50=0.844. Although the performance of the two models is similar, YOLOv5s ( 4 hours 35 minutes) has a faster training time than YOLOv5m (5 hours 15 minutes). Therefore, in terms of time cost, developing the YOLOv5s model was considered more efficient for detecting sorghum panicles. As an important step in predicting sorghum yield, a technique for detecting sorghum panicles using high-resolution RGB images and the YOLOv5 model was presented.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.84-90
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• 2023

Purpose: Infants aged ≤90 days with fever are susceptible to severe infections. This study aimed to analyze the clinical features of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in this particular age group. Methods: Infants aged ≤90 days who were diagnosed with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and hospitalized between March 1, 2020, and May 1, 2022 were included. Medical records of patients were retrospectively reviewed. Results: A total of 105 infants with COVID-19 were included; 27 (25.7%) neonates aged <28 days, and 48 (45.7%) and 30 (28.6%) infants aged 28-59 days and 60-90 days, respectively. Five (4.7%) patients remained asymptomatic and 68 (62.8%) were febrile, with a median fever duration of 2 days. The most common symptoms were respiratory including cough (66.6%), nasal stuffiness (51.4%), and rhinorrhea (40.9%). Blood cultures were performed in 10 infants but no organisms were detected. Cultures of bag-collected urine specimens from 8 infants were grown, resulting in positive growth for 2 without pyuria. Nine (8.6%) infants were treated with empirical antibiotics for a median duration of 2.3 days (range, 1-7 days). All 105 infants showed improvement without any complications, and there were no fatal cases. Conclusions: In this study, most infants aged ≤90 days with COVID-19 presented with mild symptoms and none of those evaluated had documented bacterial co-infection. The favorable prognosis among young infants with SARS-CoV-2 may aid clinicians in tailoring their approach to evaluation and management during outbreaks.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.68 no.2
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• pp.47-58
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• 2023

The quality and yield of crops produced using field cultivation are expected to decrease due to the recent global climate change caused by extreme weather. The plant reproductive stage associated with crop yields is a highly vulnerable period to global warming caused by high temperatures. This study analyzed the adzuki bean's yield properties, antioxidant contents, and pollen viability of adzuki bean (Vigna angularis L.) under high-temperature stress and growth periods in a temperature gradient greenhouse that forms 0 to 4℃ above the outside temperatures. As the main variety of red beans cultivated in Korean farms, the "Arari" red bean was grown in the rain shield greenhouse and the temperature gradient greenhouse from 2021 to 2022 in Milyang, Korea. Compared to 2022, it showed a 0 - 1.0℃ lower temperature during the whole growth period in 2021. However, its average temperatures were 0 - 3.7℃ higher in the vegetative stage and 0.4 - 2.4℃ higher in the anthesis stage in 2021. The lowest yield (6.8 ± 0.7 g) was at the highest temperature (T4: low, 23.6℃; average, 28.5℃; high, 35.8℃) during the anthesis stage in 2021. The temperatures of the mature stage were 1.7 - 3.9℃, which were higher in 2022 than in 2021, although the low temperatures of 2022 were lower than in 2021. The yields of the mature stage in 2022 increased more than in 2021 because of the high temperature of the mature stage. The growth and yield were good at 40.5℃ in the vegetative stage. However, growth was poor when the average temperature was 27.0℃ or higher, and yields decreased during the flowering period. Total polyphenol and flavonoid contents were increased, and the pollen viability was 40.75% in the whole growth period at high temperature (T4: low, 22.9℃; average, 28.8℃; high, 36.9℃). These results showed that the antioxidant levels increased when the antioxidant component was affected at higher temperatures than at normal. In contrast, the pollen viability-related yield decreased as the temperature increased. Our results are the basic data for field growers and the breeding of thermos-tolerance in adzuki beans to prepare for the changeable future climate.