• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.14-21
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• 2006

The aim of this study was to investigate in vivo toxicity and effects of two phthalate esters (PEs), di-n-butylphthalate (DBP) and di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), on the immune system of the bagrid catfish, Pseudobagrus fulvidraco. Groups of experimental fish were subjected to daily intraperitoneal injections of 300 or 1000 mg $kg^{-1}$ of DBP or DEHP for 3 days, and the cellularity and functional activity of phagocytes were measured in the spleen and pronephros (head kidney). The number of spleen leukocyte cells increased significantly (p<0.05) in response to low and high doses of DEHP and DBP, respectively; however, the cellularity of the pronephros was more susceptible to higher dose of DEHP than DBP. Nonspecific immunity, as determined by the phagocytic index (PI) and phagocytic capacity (PC), was significantly depressed by DEHP at 1000 $1000mg\;kg^{-1}\;day^{-1}$ in the pronephros at 3 days after injection. Furthermore, significantly (p<0.05) increased levels of serum glutamic oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT) and glutamic pyruvate transaminase (GPT) indicated marked hepatic dysfunction in immunosuppressed fish. Treated fish showed a significant reduction in total serum protein but no significant alteration in lysozyme activity. These results demonstrate the sensitivity of the fish immune response for predicting PE-induced immunotoxicity.

• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.28-36
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• 2004

The purpose of this study was to investigate the pharmacological effects of low-esterified pectin on carbon tetrachloride $(CCL_4)-induced$ hepatotoxicity in rats. The study included two experiments. In the first experiment the animals were given daily $CCL_4$ through gavage for 7 days and then 10, 50, or 250 mg/kg b.w. of pectin for 21 days. At the end of experiment rats were killed within 24 hours. The increased bilirubin level, enhanced alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase activity in plasma induced by $CCL_4$ were partly normalized by pectin administration in a dose-dependent manner. The pectin treatment also resulted in significant recovery of $CCL_4-induced$ decrease of the liver glycogen content. In addition, pectin significantly improved $CCL_4-induced$ alterations of pro-oxidant and antioxidant biochemical parameters in liver and plasma compared to those of rats administered $CCL_4$. In the second experiment the animals were given daily 10, 50 or 250 mg/ kg b.w. of pectin for 21 days before a 7-day administration of $CCL_4$. Rats were killed 24 hours after the end of experiment. Pretreatment with pectin before $CCL_4$ administration resulted in significantly inhibited increase of the blood enzymatic activities of alanine and aspartate aminotransferases and bilirubin level in a dose-dependent manner. Also, preliminary administration of pectin prevented elevation of malondialdehyde and conjugated diene levels in liver and plasma as well as a reduction of glutathione content in liver of rats given $CCL_4$. These results suggest that low-esterified pectin exert healing and preventive effects on $CCL_4-induced$ hepatotoxicity in rats.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.911-919
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• 2004

The purpose of this research was evaluated economical effect to apply alternative external carbon source. Conventional activated sludge process in municipal wastewater treatment plant was adapted and introduced to Biological nutrient removal processes to meet the newly enforced effluent quality standard for nutrient removal in Korea. Low $COD/NH_4^+-N$ ratio and higher nutrient concentration of influent characteristics force to inject external carbon source for denitrifying recycled nitrate. In the most case, methanol was used as external carbon source. But Methanol is expensive and very dangerous in handling. So we could find cheaper and safer external carbon source substituted methanol in last study. This alternative external carbon source is named RCS(recoverd carbon source) and a by-product of fine chemical product at chemical plant. When RCS was applied real municipal wastewater treatment plant, average $55\~65\%$ of T-N removal efficiency, 8.8mg/l of effluent T-N concentration, 11.3mg/l of effleunt COD concentration were obtained without effluent COD increase as against used methanol. To apply RCS in municipal wastewater treatment plant obtain approximately $\74.5%$ expenditure cost reduction in comparison with methanol dosage cost.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.573-581
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• 2007

The present study deals with removal of $CO_2$ using various mesoporous materials impregnated with MEA (monoethanolamine). The mesoporous materials such as MCM-41, MCM-48 and SBA-15 were synthesised and then impregnated with 30, 50 and 70 wt% of MEA, respectively. XRD, FT-IR and SEM were used to evaluate the characterization of those. From the adsorption/desorption experiments for various materials, the adsorption capacity of these materials were found in the order of MCM-41> MCM-48> SBA-15. MCM-41 impregnated with 50 wt% of MEA showed the maximum adsorption capacity of $57.1mg-CO_2/gr-sorbent$ at $40^{\circ}C$. It is nearly 8 times higher than MCM-41 without impregnation of MEA. In the multiple cycle test of 20 times, MCM-41 impregnated with 50 wt% of MEA showed a constant adsorption capacity.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.11-19
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• 2007

This study was designed to evaluate Saturday nutrition classes for obese elementary students in Chungnam Province. Obesity index, nutrient intake, nutrition knowledge, nutrition attitude, and self-satisfaction of 36 obese elementary students were compared before and after attending nutrition classes every other Saturday for 3 months. The average age, height, weight, body fat, % body fat, and obesity index were 11.9 years, 145.5 cm, 53.3 kg, 24.5 kg, 45.7%, and 32.4%, respectively. Most of the subjects(94.5%) viewed themselves as fat. Sixty-three percent of children were discontent with their body-image. All answered that they have experience with weight control. The major methods of weight control were exercise and reduction of snacks. The mean serum cholesterol, blood glucose, GOT/GPT, and hemoglobin were 177.4 mg/dL, 90.4 mg/dL, 25.8/25.5 IU/L, 14.5 g/dL, respectively. After attending nutrition classes, the daily intakes of energy, plant protein, plant fat, carbohydrate, crude fiber, and cholesterol increased significantly. The scores for nutrition knowledge, nutrition attitude, and self-satisfaction also increased after nutrition classes, but there were no significant differences. Percent body fat decreased significantly after nutrition classes. In conclusion, nutrition education for elementary students is effective for the prevention and control of obesity. Further research is needed to develop a systematic program of nutrition education for obese children.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.279-284
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• 2018

Membrane biofouling is a critical operational problem that hinders the rapid commercialization of MBRs. Quorum quenching (QQ) has been investigated widely to control membrane biofouling and is accepted as a promising anti-fouling strategy. Various QQ strategies based on bacterial and enzymatic agents have been identified and applied successfully. Whereas, this study aimed to compare indigenously isolated QQ strain i.e., Enterobacter cloaca with well reported Rhodococcus sp. BH4. Both bacterial species were immobilized in polymeric beads and introduced to two different MBRs keeping the overall beads to volume ratio as 1%. Efficiencies of these strains were monitored in terms of prolonging the membrane filtration cycle of MBR, release of extra-cellular polymeric substances, membrane resistivity measurements and mineralization of signal molecules and permeate quality. Indigenous strain (Enterobacter cloaca) was added to $QQ-MBR_E$ while Rhodococcus sp. BH4 was introduced to $QQ-MBR_R$. QQ bacterial embedded beads showed enhanced filtration cycles up to 1.4 and 2.3 times for $QQ-MBR_E$ and $QQ-MBR_R$ respectively as compared to control MBR (C-MBR). Soluble EPS concentration of 52 mg/L was observed in C-MBR while significantly lower EPS concentration of 20 and 10 mg/L was witnessed in $QQ-MBR_E$ and $QQ-MBR_R$, respectively. Therefore, substantial reduction in biofouling showed the effectiveness of indigenous strain.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.86-92
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• 2012

The glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common malignant brain tumor in adults. Despite combination treatments of radiation and chemotherapy, the survival periods are very short. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the potential of ginsenoside $F_2$ (F2) to treat GBM. In in vitro experiments with glioblastoma cells U373MG, F2 showed the cytotoxic effect with $IC_{50}$ of 50 ${\mu}g/mL$ through apoptosis, confirmed by DNA condensation and fragmentation. The cell population of cell cycle sub-G1 as indicative of apoptosis was also increased. In xenograft model in SD rats, F2 at dosage of 35 mg/kg weight was intravenously injected every two days. This reduced the tumor growth in magnetic resonance imaging images. The immunohistochemistry revealed that the anticancer activity might be mediated through inhibition of proliferation judged by Ki67 and apoptosis induced by activation of caspase-3 and -8. And the lowered expression of CD31 showed the reduction in blood vessel densities. The expression of matrix metalloproteinase-9 for invasion of cancer was also inhibited. The cell populations with cancer stem cell markers of CD133 and nestin were reduced. The results of this study suggested that F2 could be a new potential chemotherapeutic drug for GBM treatment by inhibiting the growth and invasion of cancer.

• Clean Technology
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.211-217
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• 2008

We investigated the reduction of pollutants such as TOC (total organic carbon) and decolorization of Reactive Black 5 (RB5) by photocatalytic oxidation. The optimal values of major parameters for the reaction were obtained including the concentration of RB5, the amount of $TiO_2$ dosage and pH of solution. The values were 100 mg/L, 2 g/L and 4.9, respectively. As the concentration of oxygen increased, removal rate of pollutants increased. After $TiO_2$ was regenerated and used again by micro filtration (MF) ceramic membrane, the removal efficiency of color and removal rate of pollutants did not decrease significantly.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.70-77
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• 2010

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze effects of cardiovascular disease prevention in small scale enterprise using community-based approach. Method: The target work site included 4,050 small scale enterprises which were under 50 in non-manufacturing workplace and total 20,986 employees were enrolled. Data collection was conducted from March to December, 2008 by 46 occupational health nurses who were registered in Korean Association of Occupational Health Nurses. Results: The rate of smoking was decreased from 39.9% to 34.6%, and normal BMI group was increased from 61.6% to 64.0%. Evaluation of post-intervention blood pressure(BP) outcomes revealed that significant reductions in systolic BP and diastolic BP(3.25mmHg and 1.89mmHg, respectively) were achieved. In addition, the amount of reduction in total cholesterol level was $180.89{\pm}28.22mg/dL$ at pre-ntervention and $177.71{\pm}24.73mg/dL$ at post-intervention. Conclusion: Cardiovascular prevention program by community-based approach was an effective strategy for quitting smoking and improving BMI, BP, and cholesterol control.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.630-635
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• 2009

This study was performed to analyze various antioxidants, to evaluate the antioxidative activities, and to measure the protective effect for gap junction intercellular communication (GJIC) to assess the functional potency of the cherry tomato. The ascorbic acid, lycopene, and ${\beta}-carotene$ were measured at $503.4{\pm}9.6$, $39.7{\pm}1.5$, and $7.4{\pm}0.3$ mg/100 g d.w., and ${\alpha}-$, ${\beta}+{\gamma}-$, ${\delta}-tocopherol$ contents were measured at $8.3{\pm}0.1$, $1.7{\pm}0.0$, and $0.1{\pm}0.0$ mg/100 g d.w., respectively. Cherry tomato extract using hexane/acetone/EtOH (2:1:1, CTE) exhibited a ABTS radical scavenging activity with an $IC_{50}$ value of $48.83{\pm}0.30\;{\mu}g/mL$. The cherry tomato protected against the inhibition of GJIC induced by $H_2O_2$ in WB-F344 rat liver epithelial cells, and the reduction in phosphorylated Cx43 was most clearly correlated with the concentration of CTE. These results demonstrated that the cherry tomato harbors a wealth of potent antioxidants and might be protect human body against the inhibition of the GJIC by toxic components.