• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.30 no.4 s.59
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• pp.870-883
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• 1997

The health center has to play an important role in promoting community health and satisfying a variety of community health needs and demands in the decentralized Korea. The nearly enacted Community Health Act compels every health center to make its own health plans which intend to deal with local health problems and plan its future health care. This obligation is obviously a big burden to most health centers. They do not have experiences in and abilities of making local health care plans. In order to establish a systematic community health plan, health centers have to concentrate their efforts on enhancing the ability of making health care plan through gathering and analysing the local health informations. However, it is very difficult in reality. This is simply because it will take long time to accomplish these activities. It seems natural that various professionals and researchers participate in carrying out the process of making community health plan in the initial stage. No standardized methodology and analysing framework exist even in the health professional society. Nonetheless, it is common to introduce survey research methodologies in analysing consumer's health care utilization and cost, and in identifying factors influencing health behaviors. Many researchers and professionals have applied social survey methodologies in obtaining information on providers and health policy makers as well. The authors have found that few studies have ever utilized local health data stored at the self-employed medical insurance society as the data source of planning activities. The purpose of this study is to illustrate the usefulness of the data stored at the Sung-Dong Gu Self-employed Medical Insurance Society in establishing the community health plan. The major contents of this study are as follows ; 1. frequency of utilization by age, area, sex, type of medical care institutions, and some major diseases 2. Medical treatment by type of medical care institutions, by classification of 21 diseases, by frequency of three-character categories 3. Medical treatment of major neoplasm and some chronic diseases by age, sex, and area. The conclusion of this study is that it is of great potentiality to find out the local health problems and to use them in blueprinting the community health plan through comparing the frequency of medical utilization analyzed by a variety of variables with NHI health data or the health data from survey research.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.560-564
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• 2016

The objective of this study was to investigate the anti-Bacillus cereus activity of actinonin. Actinonin inhibited the growth of B. cereus in a dose dependent manner. The growth-inhibitory activity of actinonin was evaluated using a broth micro-dilution method, and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and agar disk diffusion tests. B. cereus showed high susceptibility to actinonin in a concentration-dependent manner and MIC was determined to be $0.192{\mu}g/mL$. Additionally, 1 and 2 mM actinonin induced formation of B. cereus inhibition zones. In addition, as compared to B. cereus alone, B. cereus added with $10{\mu}M$ actinonin showed a lower level of cytotoxicity in HeLa cells in vitro. Thus, this study revealed that actinonin could be a potential source of a natural antimicrobial agent or a pharmaceutical component against B. cereus.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.8
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• pp.1052-1056
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• 2012

Undaria pinnatifada has been used as a natural diet food with few calories and as a source of iodine. Even though U. pinnatifida has been regarded as a diet food, the mechanisms of its inhibitory effects on adipocyte differentiation and the accumulation of fat in adipocytes are poorly understood. In this study, the effect and mechanism of U. pinnatifida ethanol extract on 3T3-L1 differentiation into adipocytes were investigated. The effects of U. pinnatifida ethanol extract on cell viability and the anti-adipogenic effect were investigated via MTT assay, Oil red O staining, RT-PCR, and western blot. The U. pinnatifida ethanol extract did not show toxicity up to a concentration of 50 ${\mu}g/ml$. The addition of U. pinnatifida ethanol extract decreased triglyceride contents by 40% when 50 ${\mu}g/ml$ of U. pinnatifida ethanol extract was added during 3T3-L1 differentiation and adipocyte triglyceride formation. The transcription and expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor ${\gamma}$ ($PPAR{\gamma}$), leptin, and hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) as adipocyte-specific proteins were determined by RT-PCR and western blot. The overexpression of $PPAR{\gamma}$ could accelerate adipocyte differentiation. Also, leptin was secreted for triglyceride accumulation in the adipocytes and the increase of adipocyte cell size. Thus, $PPAR{\gamma}$ and leptin were used as indicators of obesity. $PPAR{\gamma}$ and leptin were repressed by the increased addition of U. pinnatifida ethanol extract. This indicates that U. pinnatifida was effective as an anti-obesity agent by repressing the differentiation of 3T3-L1 into adipocytes and inhibiting triglyceride formation in adipocytes.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.117-122
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• 2009

This study was conducted to investigate the antioxidant effect of 80% ethanol extracts from Angelica acutiloba Kitagawa (A. acutiloba Kitagawa) in vitro. The extract was further fractionated subsequently by n-hexane, chloroform, ethylacetate, n-butanol and water. Antioxidative activities of different fractions were examined by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) radical generation, Rancimat test, thiobarbituric acid (TBA) value, nitrite scavenging activity, inhibition of lipid peroxidation and peroxide value (POV) in linoleic acid in comparison with the commercial antioxidant butylated hydroxy toluene (BHT). Antioxidant activities of n-hexane fraction of Angelico acutiloba Kitagawa ethanol extract were the highest among fractions and were a little less than that of BHT. Nitrite scavenging activity showed the most remarkable effect at pH 12. These results suggest that ethanol extracts of A. acutiloba Kitagawa can be used in natural antioxidant source.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.62-67
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• 2016

Anti-oxidant activity of 600 medicinal plants from Jeju was analyzed. Extracts from the leaves of Distylium racemosum have the highest anti-oxidant activity. D. racemosum is an oriental medicinal plant belonging to the Hamamelidacea and grows in the wild in Jeju. This study was conducted to evaluate the antioxidant and cell viability of different fractions (n-hexane, methylene chloride, ethyl acetate, buthanol, DW) from D. racemosum. Anti-oxidant activity was measured using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity test and total phenolic content. Cell viability was determined by 3-[4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) cell viability assay on HepG2 and A549 cells. Among various extracts, the ethyl acetate fraction showed the highest DPPH radical scavenging activity, reaching approximately 93% at 0.5 mg/mL, higher than that of quercetin used as a positive control. Ethyl acetate fractions showed the highest total phenolic content at 505 mg GAE/g. The phenolic content of each extract showed association with DPPH radical scavenging activity. The ethyl acetate extracts were resistant against hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) treatment in the MTT cell viability assay and showed a higher cell protective effect than other fraction extracts. These results suggest that the ethyl acetate fraction might be a source of anti-oxidants of D. racemosum.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.264-272
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• 2016

This study was carried out to evaluate the preventive effect of the Corni Fructus (SSU) 50 % EtOH extract (SSU-E50) against bisphenol A (BPA) toxicity in Leydig cells and improving testosterone deficiency syndrome in orchidectomized Sprague-Dawly (SD) rats. Antioxidant properties were measured by radical scavenging activity of SSU-E50 in ABTS assay and DPPH assay. Also, real-time polymerase chain reaction(real-time PCR) was performed to quantify the mRNA expression levels of antioxidant enzyme. SD rats were divided into eight group: normal, sham operation (Sham), orchidectomized (ORX), ORX treated with testosterone 1 mg/kg (Tes. 1), ORX treated with SSU water extract 100 mg/kg (SSU-A 100) and 300 mg/kg (SSU-A 300), ORX treated with SSU 50 % EtOH extract 100 mg/kg (SSU-E 100) and 300 mg/kg (SSU-E 300). On a comparative basis, the SSU showed better activity quenching ABTS with an IC50 value of 0.29 mg/ml and DPPH with an IC50 value of 0.33 mg/ml. Cell viability was evaluated by MTS assay as described not cytotoxic at the highest concentration of $500{\mu}g/ml$. Cytotoxicity of BPA showed in $200{\mu}M$, but definitely survived by treatment with SSU in Leydig cells. In addition, SSU increased the mRNA expression levels of antioxidant enzyme in BPA induced Leydig cells. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) level was slightly increased and malondialdehyde (MDA) level was decreased with SSU-A 100 in in-vivo. These results suggest that Corni Fructus extracts have the greatest property as a natural anti-oxidative and improves testosterone deficiency syndrome source.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.43-52
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• 2006

Effectiveness of activated soil containing directly enriched atrazine-degrading soil microorganisms as an inoculant to bioaugment degradation of atrazine in soils was investigated. A Wooster silt loam (Typic Fragiudalf) was spiked with atrazine at a rate of 4 mg/kg soil three successive times to create activated soil. Atrazine degradation was significantly enhanced (p < 0.05) after the first treatment. After the second treatment, there was an increase in the number, based on MPN, of microorganisms utilizing atrazine as a C- and N-source by 3 logs and 1 log of magnitude, respectively. Inoculation of typical agricultural soils collected from Ohio with activated soil at a rate as low as 0.5% reduced the extractable atrazine remaining in soils to the level below 2% of that initially recovered (initially added at a rate of 4 mg/kg soil) after 4 days. Inoculation at a higher rate was required to achieve the same result in soils with non-typical properties (pH of 4.5 or organic matter of 43% w/w). Activated soil was stable, in terms of atrazine degradation activity, at least up to 6 months when it was kept at low temperature (< $10^{\circ}C$) and moistened (water content above 15%). The results of this study indicate that microorganisms capable of degrading atrazine are relatively easily enriched in soil to create activated soil. Use of activated soil can be a practical option for bioremediation of contaminated soils.

• Ocean Science Journal
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.167-176
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• 2005

A time-series sediment trap was deployed at 1,034 m water depth in the eastern Bransfield Strait for a complete year from December 25, 1998 to December 24, 1999. About 99% of total mass flux was trapped during an austral summer, showing distinct seasonal variation. Biogenic particles (biogenic opal, particulate organic carbon, and calcium carbonate) account for about two thirds of annual total mass flux $(49.2\;g\;m^{-2})$, among which biogenic opal flux is the most dominant (42% of the total flux). A positive relationship (except January) between biogenic opal and total organic carbon fluxes suggests that these two variables were coupled, due to the surface-water production (mainly diatoms). The relatively low $\delta^{13}C$ values of settling particles result from effects on C-fixation processes at low temperature and the high $CO_2$ availability to phytoplankton. The correspondingly low $\delta^{l5}N$ values are due to intense and steady input of nitrates into surface waters, reflecting an unlikely nitrate isotope fractionation by degree of surface-water production. The $\delta^{l5}N$ and $\delta^{l3}C$ values of sinking particles increased from the beginning to the end of a presumed phytoplankton bloom, except for anomalous $\delta^{l5}N$ values. Krill and the zooplankton fecal pellets, the most important carriers of sinking particles, may have contributed gradually to the increasing $\delta^{l3}C$ values towards the unproductive period through the biomodification of the $\delta^{l3}C$ values in the food web, respiring preferentially and selectively $^{12}C$ atoms. Correspondingly, the increasing $\delta^{l5}N$ values in the intermediate-water trap are likely associated with a switch in source from diatom aggregates to some remains of zooplankton, because organic matter dominated by diatom may be more liable and prone to remineralization, leading to greater isotopic alteration. In particular, the tendency for abnormally high $\delta^{l5}N$ values in February seems to be enigmatic. A specific species dominancy during the production may be suggested as a possible and speculative reason.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.127-134
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• 2005

Although the bulk composition of materials is one of the major considerations in extractive metallurgy and environmental science, surface composition and topography control surface reactivity, and consequently play a major role in determining metallurgical phenomena and pollution by heavy metals and organics. An understanding of interaction mechanisms of different chemical species at the mineral surface in an aqueous media is very important in natural environment and metallurgical processing. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) has been used as an ex-situ analytical technique, but the material to be analyzed can be any size from $100\;{\mu}m$ up to about 1 cm. It can also measure mixed solids powders, but it is impossible to ascertain the original source of resulting x-ray signals where they were emitted from, since it radiates and scans the macro sample surface area. The study demonstrated the ability of TOF-SIMS to detect individual organic species on the surfaces of mineral particles from plant samples and showed that the TOF-SIMS techniques provides an excellent tool for establishing the surface compositions of mineral grains and relative concentrations of chemicals on mineral species.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2001

Spiders are carnivores that prey upon insects and other small arthropods through digestion of food outside the body. Although spider poison may contain proteolytic enzymes, these are thought to play an insignificant role in actual digestion. The source of active proteolytic enzymes can be either the digestive tract cells of spider, or natural microbial flora in the digestive tract of spider. In this study, digestive tracts from the spider, Nephila clavata, were screened for bacteria that have protease or lipase activity. A total of $10^3-10^5$ CFU was recovered from a spider and more than 90% of them showed protease and lipase activity respectively. Of the microbial isolates, 63.3% showed protease or lipase activity, and 50% of these showed both protease and lipase activity. Some of the isolates were characterized using a battery of chemical, phenotypic and genotypic methods. Eleven Gram negative bacteriaa (Acinetobacter calcoaceticus, A. haemolyticus, Alcaligenes faecalis, Cedecea davisae, C. neteri, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus vulgaris, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Serratia marcescens, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Suttonella indologenes) and 11 Gram positive bacteria (Bacillus cereus, B. coagulans, B. pasteurii, B. thuringiensis, Cellulomonas flavigena, Corynebacterium martruchotii, Enterococcus durans, E. faecalis, Micrococcus luteus, Staphylococcus hominis, S. sciuri) were identified.