• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.41 no.1
• /
• pp.95-102
• /
• 2012

To examine the new practical utilization of mucilages in Opuntia humifusa, the Korean pear cactus, the polysaccharides were isolated from O. humifusa, and immuno-stimulating activities were assayed. The main polysaccharide, CNC-E, was prepared by a commercial enzyme treatment, water extraction, and ethanol precipitation. The molecular mass of CNC-E was estimated to be about 700 kDa, and it consisted mainly of arabinose, galactose and xylose in addition to two minor sugars such as rhamnose and fucose. On the other hand, CNC-E showed considerably high splenocyte proliferation activity in a dose-dependent manner. Peritoneal macrophages stimulated with CNC-E produced cytokines such as IL-6, IL-12, IL-10, and TNF-${\alpha}$. The intravenous administration of CNC-E significantly augmented the cytotoxicity of natural killer (NK) cells against Yac-1 tumor cells. Especially, NK cells obtained from the mice treated with $100{\mu}g$ of CNC-E showed threefold higher cytolytic activity than those of untreated mice. CNC-E also showed potent anti-complementary activity in a dose-dependent fashion. Identification of C3 activation products by the crossed immunoelectrophoresis using anti-human C3 and the anti-complementary activity of CNC-E in a $Ca^{2+}$-free condition suggested complement activations by CNC-E that occur via both alternative and classical pathways. These results indicate that Korean pear cactus contains selected polysaccharides that provide immuno-stimulating activities beneficial to human health.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.69-78
• /
• 2003

In this study, the energy conversion equipment from the radiation energy to mechanical energy by using n­pentane as the operating fluid was constructed and the performance to pump the water was tested for the utilization of solar powered water pump. The equipment was designed optimally, after the theoretical analyses of the water pumping head and water quantity per cycle were done. The pentane vapour temperature in the condenser and the temperature of the outlet water from the condenser became lowered and the heat transfer rate became higher with decreasing the water inlet level to the condenser. The temperature difference between the condenser and the water tank was significant. Therefore, the distance between the water tank and condenser was recommended to be shorten and the diameter of their connecting pipe was recommended to be narrow in order to reduce the resistance of the fluid passage and improve the heat transfer rate. The amount of water pumped was 1.6­2.4 liters. Mass flow rate of the cooling water became lowered when the cooling water pipe was prolonged from the condenser to improve the heat transfer rate.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
• /
• v.28 no.5
• /
• pp.827-833
• /
• 1996

Along with the increased necessity for an efficient utilization of Korean wild edible plants growing in fields and mountains, attempts were made to investigate the patterns of flavor changes accompanied hy various conditions of dispersion medium. The effect of various pH values and concentration of sucrose or NaCl of dispersion medium on volatile flavor patterns was investigated to evaluate the applicability of flavor components extracted from Capsella bursa-pastoris for food industry. Essential oils from this wild plant were isolated by simultaneous steam distillation-extraction (SDE) method using diethyl ether as solvent. Concentrated samples were analyzed s chromatography (GC) and combined gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Most volatile flavor components of Capsella bursa-pastoris showed good recovery when steam distilled at pH 7 by SDE method. Increasing concentration of sucrose and 15% by NaCl, resulted in greater numbers of identified flavor components from Capsella bursa-pastoris.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
• /
• v.33 no.4
• /
• pp.404-416
• /
• 2020

Studies on the preservation and propagation of tropical and subtropical plants are required, but the studies are insufficient in Korea. Since 2013, the Tropical Plant Resources Research Center has been collaborating on field research and publication to preserve plant diversity in Myanmar protected areas and Sagging areas in cooperation with Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Conservation and the Myanmar Forest Research Institute. This study is to provide information on cooperative projects. As a result of the joint research between the Korea National Arboretum and Myanmar, in December 2018, the Korea National Arboretum Tropical Plant Resources Research Center is on display for conservation and education purposes with the 65 Myanmar useful materials and specimens of 326 kinds of plants and specimens that Myanmar Forest Research Institute donated. This donation is the first case of Myanmar's export of plant organisms to a foreign country, and as for the Korea National Arboretum, it is the second official case of introducing a mass plant from foreign governments. The study will also accelerate preservation biodiversity and propagation methods of tropical and subtropical plants as well as research on biodiversity conservation and industrial use.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.93-100
• /
• 2002

Cocoon production, which is a representative of traditional sericulture shifted into silkworm powder production in the spring of 1995. This, infect, signifies the change from the dress-centered textile business to the bio-industry and the functional resource industry. One of the most outstanding shifting is utilization of silkworm larvae for anti-diabetic agent. In Asian countries including Korea, silkworm powder derived from the domestic silkworm (Bombyx mori L.) has long been favored for anti-diabetic agent, but its efficacy was not tested until last decade by modern scientific methods. In this article, we reviewed the major researches on the silkworm powder as a blood glucose-lowering substance. After the beginning test of the efficacy of silkworm powder by a cooperative research between Department of Sericulture and Entomlogy, NIAST, RDA and Kyung Hee University, substantial data have been accumulated so far, In a serial experiment to select best condition, the fifth instar larvae prepared by freeze dry method turned out to have the best blood glucose-lowering effect. In the pharmacological experiment to understand the mechanism of silkworm powder in small intestine, the silkworm powder turned out to inhibit the activity of ${\alpha}$-glucosidase, by competitively binding to $\alpha$-type disaccharides. The animal experiment showed that the extract of silkworm powder prevents a rapid increase of blood glucose level after meal and prevents hunger and law blood glucose level during empty stomach. In the experiment to isolate the major component of silkworm powder, which exerts blood glucose-lowering effect, 1-deoxynojirimy-cin (DNJ) was eventually mass-purified, and it turned out that DNJ isolated from silkworm powder was excellent in its blood glucose-lowering effect. In the experiment to understand the personal difference of the efficacy of the silkworm powder, clinical candidates were divided on the basis of the criterion of traditional Chinese medicine: Tae-Yang, Tae-Um, So-yang, and So-Um. The result showed that silkworm powder has a tendency to reduce blood glucose level at fasting and at 2 hours after meal, and this trend was somewhat obvious in the Tae-Um body type. In summary, we reviewed scientific papers on the efficacy of silkworm powder and its purified DNJ as a blood glucose-lowering agent. These suggest that silkworm powder truly possesses blood glucose-lowering effect as documented in the traditional Chinese medicine, although further researches will be required to develop them as "medical" resource instead of functional food.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
• /
• v.43 no.6
• /
• pp.768-776
• /
• 2015

This study was performed to understand combustion properties four major Indonesian wood species such as Albizia, Gmelina, Mangium and Mindi were investigated by cone-calorimeter for better utilization of theses wood species. Heat release rate (HRR), total heat release (TSR), specific mass loss rate (SMLR), effective heat of combustion (EHC), time to ignition (TTI), flame time (FT), specific extinction area (SEA), smoke production rate (SPR) and CO compound production rate were measured. HRR, THR and FT were proportional to the density of woods. Albizia showed the highest HRR, while Mindi had the lowest HRR. For SPR, Albizia showed the highest value due to its higher SEA. On the other hand, Mindi had the lowest SPR due to a lower SEA value. The highest smoke emission was for Albizia at the beginning of combustion. After 300 seconds, smoke emission of Gmleina and Mangium was increased greatly. Mangium and Mindi showed the highest total carbon dioxide emission. Expecially, Gmelina released the highest carbon monoxide during the combustion period and presented three times higher $CO/CO_2$ ratio than those of other species due to incomplete combustion.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.231-237
• /
• 2017

Background: Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) are conditions with significant morbidity and mortality. Proximal DVT has a significant association with PE and possible fatal outcomes. Traditionally, PE is subdivided into symptomatic PE and asymptomatic PE, which have different treatments, preventions and prognoses. The growing utilization of computed tomography pulmonary angiography has led to increased detection of PE in DVT patients. This study examined the clinical characteristics and compared symptomatic PE and asymptomatic PE following proximal DVT. Methods: The medical records of 258 DVT inpatients from July, 2012 to June, 2015 were reviewed retrospectively. After excluding the patients who did not performed PE evaluation and were not diagnosed with PE, 95 patients diagnosed with PE following proximal DVT were enrolled in this study. They were divided into the symptomatic PE group and asymptomatic PE group. Results: The body weight, body mass index, thrombus size, thrombus length and location were similar in the two groups. The symptomatic PE following proximal DVT group showed an older age, higher incidence of emergency department access (85.0% vs. 38.7%, p<0.001) and preceding infection (25.0% vs. 1.3%, p<0.001) as well as a higher incidence of immobilization (45.0% vs 13.3%, p=0.016). In the multivariate logistic regression study, preceding infection and emergency department access showed significant association with symptomatic PE. Conclusion: In proximal DVT inpatients, symptomatic PE was associated with emergency department access and preceding infection. The possibility of a symptomatic PE event should be considered in proximal DVT patients, especially those who were admitted through the emergency department and had preceding infection.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
• /
• v.40 no.3
• /
• pp.221-228
• /
• 2007

We determined the effects of dietary manipulations on messenger RNA of peroxisome proliferators activated receptor isoforms (i.e., PPAR ${\alpha},\;{\beta}/{\delta},\;{\gamma}$) in red vastus lateralis muscle of rats. Total 16 male Sprague-Dawley rats were used, and animals were divided into one of two dietary conditions: either chow diet group (CHOW; n=8) in which animals were 134 with standard rodent chow (61.8% carbohydrate, 15.7% fat, 22.5% protein) or high fat diet group (FAT n=8) in which animals were fed 24.3% carbohydrate, 52.8% fat, 22.9% protein. At the end of the 8 weeks of experimental period, red vastus lateralis muscle was dissected out from all animals, and PPAR ${\alpha},\;{\beta}/{\delta},\;{\gamma}$ mRNA expression was determined. There was no significant difference in body mass (BM) between CHOW and FAT. As expected, blood glucose and free fatty acid (FFA) concentration was higher in FAT than CHOW (p<0.05), and lactate concentration was significantly lower in FAT compared to CHOW (p<0.05). Insulin concentration tended to higher in FAT than CHOW ($67.2{\pm}21.9\;vs.\;27.0{\pm}5.2$ pmol/L), but it did not reach to the statistical significance. Gene expression of PPAR ${\alpha}$ was not significantly different between CHOW and FAT. It was not also significantly different in PPAR ${\beta}/{\delta}$. Interestingly, expression of mRNA in PPAR ${\gamma}$ however, was markedly depressed in FAT compared to CHOW (approximately 3 fold higher in CHOW; p<0.05). Results obtained from present study implies that PPAR ${\gamma}$ (as compensatory function of PPAR ${\alpha}$ is expressed) possibly exerts another major tuning roles in fatty acid transport, utilization, as well as biosynthesis in skeletal muscle cells. The situations and conditions that can be postulated for this implication need to be further examined.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.9
• /
• pp.5455-5459
• /
• 2013

Background: The risk of malignancy index (RMI) for the evaluation of adnexal masses is a sensitive tool in certain populations. The best cut off value for RMI 1, 2 and 3 is 200. The cut off value of RMI-4 to differentiate benign from malignant lesions is 450. Our aim was to evaluate the efficiency of four different malignancy indexes (RMI1-4) in a homogeneous population. Materials and Methods: We evaluated a total of 153 non-pregnant women with adnexal masses who did not have a history of malignancy and who were above 18 years of age. Results: A cut-off value of 250 for RMI-1 provided 95.9% inter-observer agreement, yielding 95.9% specificity, 93.5% negative predictive value, 75.0% sensitivity and 82.8% positive predictive value. A cut-off value of 250 for RMI-1 showed high performance in preoperative diagnosis of invasive malignant lesions than cut-off value of 200 in our population. A cut-off value of 350 for RMI-2 provided 94.5% inter-observed agreement, yielding 94.2% specificity, 93.4% negative predictive value, 75.0% sensitivity and 77.4% positive predictive value. RMI-2 showed the higher performance when the cut-off value was set at 350 in our population. A cut-off value of 250 provided 95.2% inter-observer agreement, yielding 95.0% specificity, 93.2% negative predictive value, 75.0% sensitivity, and 88.0% positive predictive value. RMI-3 showed the highest performance to diagnose malignant adnexal masses when the cut-off value was set at 250. In our study, RMI-4 showed similar statistical performance when the cut-off value was set at 400 [(Kappa: 0.684/p=0.000), yielding 93.8% inter-observer agreement, 93.4% specificity, 93.4% negative predictive value, 75.0% sensitivity, and 75.0% negative predictive value]. Conclusions: We showed successful utilization of RMIs in preoperative differentiation of benign from malignant masses. Many studies conducted in Asian and Pacific countries have reported different cut-off values as was the case in our study. We think that it is difficult to determine universally accepted cut-off values for RMIs for common use around the globe.

• Explosives and Blasting
• /
• v.35 no.3
• /
• pp.31-54
• /
• 2017

In the countries operating nuclear reactors, the development of high-level radioactive waste(HLW) disposal technique is considered as an urgent and important issue for sustainable utilization of nuclear energy. In Korea, in which a low and intermediate radioactive waste repository is already operating, the construction of an underground research laboratory for in situ validation studies became a matter of interest with increasing concerns on the management of HLW. In order to construct and to operate an underground HLW repository safely in deep underground, the stability of rock mass should be guaranteed. As an important factor on rock stability, excavation damaged zone (EDZ) has been studied in many underground research laboratories in foreign countries. For accurate evaluation of the characteristics and effects of EDZ under disposal condition, it is required to use reliable investigation method based on the analysis of previous studies in similar conditions. In this study, status of foreign underground research laboratories in other countries, approaches for investigation the characteristics, size, and effect of EDZ, and major findings from the researches were surveyed and reported. This will help the accomplishment of domestic researches for developing HLW management techniques in underground research laboratory.