• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.233-239
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• 2014

We evaluated the benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) with Yacon pill, the preparation composed of Smallanthus sonchifolius, Torilis japonica and Acorus gramineus. A total of 45 rats were divided into five groups. One group was used as a control and the other groups received subcutaneous injections of testosterone for 4 weeks to induce BPH. Yacon pill extract (200 or 400 mg/kg) was administered daily for 4 weeks to two groups by oral gavage concurrently with testosterone. The rats euthanized, the prostate and body weights were recorded, and tissues were subjected to hormone assay. In addition, we investigated proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) expression in the prostate using immunoblotting. Rats with BPH showed significantly increased prostate weights, increased dihydrotestosterone (DHT) levels in the serum and increased PCNA expression in the prostate; however, Yacon pill extracts treated rats showed significant reduction of prostate weights, DHT levels and PCNA expression compared with the BPH group. Conclusively, Yacon pill showed the possibility as ameliorable agents of BPH symptoms.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.281-285
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• 2013

Ethanol extract of Gastrodia elata fermented with Lactobacillus brevis was highly effective on the duration of pentobarbital hypnosis in mice. Pretreatment of mice with ethanol extract of the fermented Gastrodia elata (200 mg/kg, p.o.) prolonged markedly the duration of pentobarbital sleeping time and reduced the sleep latency. The mechanism of the extract of the fermented Gastrodia elata was investigated to inhibit the binding of $^3H$-Flumazenil, a selective benzodiazepine receptor antagonist, to benzodiazepine receptor of mice cortices. $IC_{50}$ value from displacement of $^3H$-Flumazenil binding was 62 ${\mu}g/mL$ at the treatment of the fermented Gastrodia elata. Therefore, these finding, such as increase of sleeping time and reduction of sleep latency, was examined by elevated concentration of GABA and parishin C, which were increased by Lactobacillus brevis.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.235-244
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• 2006

A PCF(Pore Controllable Fiber Filter) process was applied as a pretreatment of water treatment for reduction of turbidity. The experimental results obtained from the PCF showed that the removal efficiency of turbidity without coagulation was around over 70 percent. However, the removal efficiency of turbidity by the coagulation-PCF process was high as much as over 95%. Thus, the coagulation pretreatment was required for the better operation of the PCF. The SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) images of fiber before and after filtration showed that the filtration mechanism of PCF filter is both controlling attachment mechanism and Sieving mechanism through fiber pore. For the coagulation-PCF process, optimum dosage of coagulant was needed for the economical operation, and for this, determining the optimum dosage by using a filter column test. Also only 16mg/L of alum was used to obtain high algae removal efficiency over 90%. Therefore, it can be concluded that coagulation-PCF process is very effective pretreatment process for algae removal.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.119-119
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• 2010

We report strong exciton transition and exciton-phonon couplings in photoluminescence (PL) of ZnO thin films grown on MgO/sapphire (buffer/substrate) by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The PL spectra at 10 K showed the intensity of the dominant emission, donor-bound exciton transition of front surface (top surface, the latter part in growth) is found to be about 100 times higher than that of back surface (in-depth bottom area, the initial part), while the room temperature PL spectra showed dominant contributions from the free exciton emissions and phonon-replicas of free excitons for front surface and back surface, respectively, It could be attributed to the strong contributions of exciton-phonon coupling. Time resolved PL spectra reveal that the life time of exciton recombination from the front surface are longer than those from back surface. This is most probably due to the fact that reduction of non-radiative recombination in the front surface. This investigation indicates that the existence of native defects or trap centers which can be reduced by the proper initial condition in growth and the exciton-phonon interaction couplings play an important role in optical properties and crystal quality of ZnO thin films.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.113-124
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• 1999

We elucidated factors such as membrane pore size, activity of the activated sludge and MLSS. affecting filtering characteristics or filtering resistance in an activated sludge bio-process using tubular type membranes. We used a commercial membrane module with $0.5m^2$ of effective membrane area and a bundle of 7 tubes(13mm of ID and 2m long) in the experiments. As a result, the flux was maintained in the range of $35{\sim}105l/m^2$ hr at 5,000~20,000mg/l of MLSS concentration, and there seemed to be a correlation between the flux and the MLSS. Also the greater the pores were, the higher the flux was in some comparison experiments using UF and MF membranes, but the water permeated through both of the membranes showed almost the same quality. However, the MF membrane showed a great reduction in filtering resistance initially, but went back to a stable stage afterwards. The activity of the activated sludge in the aeration tank was also found to be considered as a factor showing permeation characteristics of the membrane.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.830-843
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• 2006

Clinical evidence suggests that Nelumbinis Semen extracts have antidepressive properties and may offer an interesting alternative for the treatment of mood disorders. It was the aim of the present study to compare the effects of Nelumbinis Semen extracts with those of fluoxetine and hypericum perforatum extract in the rat forced swimming test (FST) and chronic mild stress (CMS), a model of depression. In the FST, p.o. administration of Nelumbinis Semen extracts (1 mg) induced a statistically significant reduction of immobility. The active behaviors in that test did not reflect decreased general activity because Nelumbinis Semen extracts failed to alter the locomotor activity of rats, measured in the open field test. Moreover Nelumbinis Semen extracts was superior to fluoxetine and hypericum perforatum extract in the incidence of sexual side-effects. These effects of Nelumbinis Semen extracts on the rat behavior is to be ascribed to increased Cytochrome c oxidase polypeptide Vla-liver, Mitogen-activated protein kinase 1 , Adenylosuccinate synthetase, and Aldehyde dehydrogenase in rat hippocampus.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.74-80
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• 2012

Candida albicans is a common opportunistic pathogen and is frequently associated with biofilm formation occurring on the surfaces of host tissues and medical devices. On account of the distinct resistance of C. albicans biofilms to the conventional antifungal agents, new strategies are required to cope with these infections. The root of Polygonum cuspidatum has been used for medicinal purposes in East Asia. The aim of this study was to assess the anticandidal potential of the P. cuspidatum ethanol extract by evaluating biofilm formation, integrity of the cell membranes of C. albicans and adhesion of C. albicans cells to polystyrene surfaces. The growth and development of the biofilm was assessed using an XTT reduction assay, and the extract (0.39 mg/ml) significantly reduced ($41.1{\pm}17.8%$) biofilm formation of 11 C. albicans strains. The extract damaged the cell membranes of C. albicans and remarkably inhibited cell adhesion to polystyrene surfaces. The plant extract displayed fungistatic activity without significant hemolytic activity. Based on the results of this study, the P. cuspidatum extract has promising potential for use in treating biofilm-associated Candida infection.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.728-734
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• 2017

After being subjected to different cooking methods, small black beans (Rhynchosia nulubilis) were investigated in order to assess the effects of the retained bioactive compounds. Using uncooked, pan broiled, boiled, steamed, and pressure cooked beans, the inhibitory effects of MCF-7 cell migration were evaluated at protein concentrations of 40, 160, and $640{\mu}m/mL$, using the Boyden's chamber assay. All protein concentrations (40, 160, and $640{\mu}m/mL$) of pan broiled beans showed significant reduction (59.83, 32.48, and 21.37%, respectively) in the rate of cell migration to the lower chambers (p-value less than 0.001). Estimated cell migration rates correlated to the exponential decay between experimentally measured cell migration rates and converted samples. The range of estimated cell migration rate for each 100 mg/mL of cooked sample was as follows: pan broiled (21.16%), boiled (22.48%), steamed (22.48%), pressure cooked (29.52%), and uncooked (35.03%) beans. Our study indicated that selective modifications of cooking methods for small black beans, such as pan broiling, ameliorated the inhibitory effects of MCF-7 cell migration. This suggests that optimized cooking methods increase the nutritional contents of the cooked food.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.273-279
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• 2012

Silica hybrid silver nanoparticles showing the strong antimicrobial activity, in which nano-silver is bound to silica molecules, has been synthesized using ${\gamma}-irradiation$ at room temperature. The present study relates to an antimicrobial composition for coating fiber products comprising silica hybrid silver nanoparticles. In this study, we describe antimicrobial fiber products coated with the silica hybrid silver nanoparticles and a method of antimicrobially treating fiber products by coating the fiber products with the silica hybrid silver nanoparticles. The antimicrobial fiber products exhibited excellent antimicrobial effects. In detailed practice, when the present composition comprising nanosized silica-silver was applied to a cloth (fabric) in a concentration of $6.4mg\;yard^{-1}$, the viable cell number decreased to less than 10 cells before and after laundering, resulting in a reduction of 99.9% or greater in the viable cell number. The present composition displays long-lasting potent disinfecting effects on bacteria. Also, we investigated the toxicity of silica hybrid silver nanoparticles in rats. The skin of rats was treated with a 30 ppm nanoparticles solution ($2ml\;Kg^{-1}$) for 8 days. No toxicity was detected in the treatment. These results suggest that the fiber products coated with the silica hybrid silver nanoparticles can be used to inhibit the growth of various microorganisms.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2019.04a
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• pp.93-93
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• 2019

In this study, we evaluated the anti-cancer activity and potential molecular mechanism of 70% ethanol extracts of branches from Taxillus yadoriki parasitic to Neolitsea sericea (TN-NS-B) against human lung cancer cells, A549. TY-NS-B dose-dependently suppressed the growth of A549 cells. TY-NS-B decreased ${\beta}$-catenin protein level, but not mRNA level in A549 cells. The downregulation of ${\beta}$-catenin protein level by TY-NS-B was attenuated in the presence of MG132. Although TY-NS-B phosphorylated ${\beta}$-catenin protein, the inhibition of $GSK3{\beta}$ by LiCl did not blocked the reduction of ${\beta}$-catenin by TY-NS-B. In addition, TY-NS-B decreased ${\beta}$-catenin protein in A549 cells transfected with Flag-tagged wild type ${\beta}$-catenin or Flag-tagged S33/S37/T41 mutant ${\beta}$-catenin construct. Our results suggested that TN-NS-B may downregulate ${\beta}$-catenin protein level independent on GSK3${\beta}$-induced ${\beta}$-catenin phosphorylation. Based on these findings, TY-NS-B may be a potential candidate for the development of chemopreventive or therapeutic agents for human lung cancer.