• Development and Reproduction
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2008

Specific protocols to increase the differentiation of neuronal cells from embryonic stem (ES) cells have been well established, such as retinoic acid induction and lineage selection of neuronal cells. For the neuropathological studies, ES-derived neurons (ES neurons) must show normal physiological characteristics related to cell death and survival and should be maintained in vitro for a sufficient time to show insults-specific cell death without spontaneous death. When mouse ES cells were plated onto astrocytes monolayer after retinoic acid induction, most ES cells differentiated into neuronal cells, which were confirmed by the presence of specific neuronal markers, and the cultures were viable for at least four weeks. When these cultures were examined for vulnerability to glutamate excitotoxicity, ES neurons were vulnerable to excitotoxic insults mediated by agonist-specific receptors. The vulnerability to excitotoxic death increased with developmental age of ES neurons in vitro. Specific receptors for Neurotrophin and GDNF family ligands were present in ES neurons. GDNF and NT-3 could modulate the survival and excitotoxic vulnerability of ES neurons. The vulnerability and resistance to toxic insults, which are essential requirements of model culture systems for neuropathological studies, make ES neurons to a useful model culture system. Especially ES cell are highly amenable to genetic modification unlikely to primary neuronal cells, which will give us a chance to answer more complicated neurophysiological questions. Recently there was an outstanding attempt to explore the cellular toxicity using human ES cells (Schrattenholz & Klemm, 2007) and it suggested that ES cells could be a new model system for neurophysiological studies soon and go further a large-scale screening system for pharmacological compounds in the future.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.16-23
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• 2005

In order to develop a new microbial fungicide using endophytic bacteria for the control of anthracnoses occurring on various crops, a total of 260 bacterial strains were isolated from fresh tissues of 5 plant species. After they were cultured in broth medium, their antifungal activities were tested for in vivo antifungal activity against cucumber anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum orbiculare. As the results, liquid cultures of 28 strains showed potent antifungal activities more than $90\%$ against cucumber anthracnose. At 3-fold dilutions of liquid cultures, 18 strains inhibited the development of cucumber anthracnose of more than $70\%$. They were further tested for in vivo antifungal activity against red pepper anthracnose caused by C. coccodes and in vitro antifungal activity against C. acutatum, a fungal agent causing red pepper anthracnose. Among 18 strains, a bacterial strain EB215 isolated from cucumber roots displayed the most potent antifungal activity against Colletotrichum species. It was identified as Burkholderia cepacia based on its physiological and biochemical characteristics, Biolog test and 16S rDNA gene sequence. It also controlled effectively the development of rice blast (Magnaporthe grisea), rice sheath blight (Corticium sasaki), tomato gray mold (Botrytis cinerea), and tomato late blight (Phytophthora infestans). Studies on the characterization of antifungal substances produced by B. cepacia EB215 are in progress.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.317-323
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• 2011

Strain A-3, an amylase-producing bacteria, was isolated from coastal seawater near Daecheon in the Republic of Korea. It was seen to possess a single polar flagella and grow well, on ASW-YP agar plates, at temperatures of between $20-37^{\circ}C$. However, it grew more slowly at the temperatures of $15^{\circ}C$ and $40^{\circ}C$. Similarly, it was observed to grow abundantly, in an Artificial Sea Water-Yeast extract-Peptone (ASW-YP) liquid medium, in a pH range of 6-9, but not grow at pHs of 4-5 and a pH of 10. Strain A-3 was noted as being close to Pseudoalteromonas phenolica O-$BC30^T$, Pseudoalteromonas luteoviolacea $NCIMB1893^T$, Pseudoalteromonas rubra $ATCC29570^T$, and Pseudoalteromonas byunsanensis $FR1199^T$, with 98.30%, 97.86%, 97.78%, and 97.25% similarities respectively, in its 16S rRNA sequence. A phylogenetic tree revealed that strain A-3 and P. phenolica O-$BC30^T$ belong to a clade. However, strain A-3 differed from P. phenolica O-$BC30^T$ in relation to a number of physiological characteristics. Strain A-3 exhibited no growth above 5% NaCl concentrations, no utilization of D-glucose, D-mannose, D-maltose, or D-melibose, and no lipase (C-14) activity. All of these properties strongly indicate that strain A-3 is distant from P. phenolica O-$BC30^T$ and thus led us to name it Pseudoalteromonas sp. A-3. Pseudoalteromonas sp. A-3 produces ${\alpha}$-amylase throughout growth. Maximal amylase activities of 144.48 U/mL and 149.20 U/mL were seen at pH 7.0 and $37^{\circ}C$, respectively. Pseudoalteromonas sp. A-3's high, stable production of ${\alpha}$-amylase in addition to its biochemical features, such as alkalitolerance, suggest that it is a good candidate for industrial applications.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.31-39
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• 1987

This study has been investigated the effect of Ganordema lucidum extract on Saccharomyces cerevisiae growth and physiology. Sacch. cerevisiae was inoculated in Hayduck solution medium which were added 0, 0.1, 0.5, 1.0% extracts of G. lucidum and fermented at $30^{\circ}C$ for 5 days respectively. Some results about cell number, alcohol content and carbon dioxide products during fermentation are as follows: $CO_2$ evolution of yeasts by addition of extract of G. lucidum was more increased than control after the fermentation for 120 hours. It was the most abundant by addition of 1.0% extract of pot-culture G. lucidum. The cell number of yeasts during the fermentation w as more increased than control by addition of extract of G. lucidum. It was by addition of extract of pot-culture G. lucidum that the cell number of yeasts was more increased than by each addition of extract of wood-culture G. lucidum and G. lucidum. Dry weight of yeasts was systematically increased in addition of extract of pot 0.5%>pot 1.0%>wild 1.0%>wood 1.0%=wood 0.5%>wild 0.5%>wild 0.1%>pot 0.1%>wood 0.1%>control in order. It was by addition of extract of pot-culture G. lucidum that. the dry weight of yeasts was more increased than by addition of woodculture G. lucidum and wild G. lucidum. Alcohol quantity by addition of extract of G. lucidum was increased more than 3 times after the fermentation for 72 hours compared with control but there was no any difference among them after the fermentation for 120 hours. The rate of sugar-consumption and fermentation of yeast by addition of extract of G. lucidum was highly increased during the early fermentation. As times went, there was no difference among them during the subsequent fermentation.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.265-270
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• 2010

Adipogenesis has been one of the most intensely studied models of cellular differentiation. During adipogenesis, differential expression of many adipogenesis related genes lead to profound changes in cellular, morphological, and physiological characteristics of the differentiating cells. The aim of the present study was to examine the expression levels of adipogenic candidate genes, cAMP early repressor (ICER), nephroblastoma over-expressed protein (NOV), heat shock protein beta 1 (HSPB1) and succinate dehydrogenase (SDH), during adipogenesis of bovine mesenchymal stem cells (BMSC). The BMSC were cultured in DMEM / low glucose medium with adipogenic inducers for 6 days and the expression of various candidate genes which seemed related to adipogenesis were measured by real-time PCR. This study showed that the expression of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor ${\gamma}$(PPAR${\gamma}$) and fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP4) genes as adipogenic indicators were increased to 3.11 and 3.11 folds on day 6 than on day 0, respectively (p<0.05). To determine whether candidate genes were related to adipogenesis, the expression levels of ICER, NOV, HSPB1, and SDH genes were measured during adipogenesis in BMSC. Our results showed that the expression level of ICER gene was significantly increased to 4.12 folds (0.01729 vs. 0.07138; p<0.05), whereas NOV, HSPB1, and SDH genes were decreased to 2.89, 3.18 and 2.36 folds, respectively, on day 6 when compared to day 0. These results suggest that these candidate genes have stimulatory or inhibitory effects on adipogenesis in BMSC, indicating that these genes may be directly or indirectly related to the adipogenic event of adipose precursor cells.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.7-16
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• 2009

Appenzeller cheese samples were prepared by addition of 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0% green tea (Camellia sinensis, CS) powder and control cheese. We examined various quality characteristics of the novel cheese, such as viable-cell counts, pH, water-soluble nitrogen (WSN), non-casein nitrogen (NCN), non-protein nitrogen (NPN), and catechin level during maturation for 16 weeks at $14^{\circ}C$. To develop a Korean natural cheese containing green tea powder, we also analyzed the changes in the polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis pattern, chemical composition, and sensory qualities. The viable cell counts of the samples were not significantly different. Until the $3^{rd}$ week, the pH of the CS cheese decreased with an increase in the maturation time. However, the pH gradually increased by the $12^{th}$ week, while WSN, NCN, NPN also increased. The WSN, NCN, NPN, and catechin values for the CS cheese samples were significantly higher than the values for the control cheese. The polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic pattern of caseins for the CS cheese indicated that this cheese degraded more rapidly than the control cheese did. In the sensory evaluation, cheese with 1.0% CS powder showed the highest scores in taste and appearance and good scores in flavor and texture. These results indicate that 1.0% CS is the optimal value for addition to cheese, and cheese containing 1.0% CS shows good physiological properties and reasonably high overall sensory acceptability.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.502-513
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• 2016

In this study, heavy metal distributions in the tissues of feral pigeon (Columba livia) were characterized using samples collected from bio-monitoring sites (Hangang Park and Hampyeong Park) of the NESB (National Environmental Specimen Bank), Korea, in order to evaluate the feasibility of feral pigeons as an indicator for the environmental monitoring. Cadmium (Cd) was analyzed to be accumulated in kidneys at higher concentration than in the other tissues. Such trend can also be found in the reviews on the Cd accumulations of the 34 cases including 17 avian species which showed that 31 cases had the highest Cd concentrations in the kidney among tissues. However, lead (Pb) was found to be richest in the bones in this study. 17 cases out of 30 reviewed cases had the highest Pb concentration in bones, whereas other 10 cases showed the highest concentration in kidneys, and 3 cases in livers. Therefore, kidneys together with bones can be a main target organ to test cadmium exposure to different habitat environments depending on physiological traits of birds. Zinc (Zn) was found to be the highest concentration in the pigeon livers of Hangang Park, but not in the bones. In contrast, the 13 cases of 16 reviewed cases had the highest Zn concentration in bones, and the 3 cases in livers. In addition, the heavy metal distribution patterns in relations to the metal accumulation mechanisms (a competition between Pb and Ca, a function of methallothionein protein, and etc.) were discussed.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.35-41
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• 2001

This paper describes Linear Discriminant Analysis and common vector extraction for speech recognition. Voice signal contains psychological and physiological properties of the speaker as well as dialect differences, acoustical environment effects, and phase differences. For these reasons, the same word spelled out by different speakers can be very different heard. This property of speech signal make it very difficult to extract common properties in the same speech class (word or phoneme). Linear algebra method like BT (Karhunen-Loeve Transformation) is generally used for common properties extraction In the speech signals, but common vector extraction which is suggested by M. Bilginer et at. is used in this paper. The method of M. Bilginer et al. extracts the optimized common vector from the speech signals used for training. And it has 100％ recognition accuracy in the trained data which is used for common vector extraction. In spite of these characteristics, the method has some drawback-we cannot use numbers of speech signal for training and the discriminant information among common vectors is not defined. This paper suggests advanced method which can reduce error rate by maximizing the discriminant information among common vectors. And novel method to normalize the size of common vector also added. The result shows improved performance of algorithm and better recognition accuracy of 2％ than conventional method.

• Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.84-100
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• 2000

Are the body and th spirit to different things? How individual ability and feeling displays in a human being and what correation between the two lise physiologically? Namely, what determines the external and the internal world? By what physiological functions and circulations, it makes possible to indciate individual's characteristic? These kinds of questions in constitutional medicine is able us lead to the following approach.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.76 no.3
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• pp.230-240
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• 1987

Half-sib seedlings of Ginkgo biloba (one-year-old) were treated with various simulated acid rains(pH2.0, pH3.0, pH4.0 and pH5.0) to examine the effects of acid rain on leaf surface area, leaf injury, leaf chlorophyll content and photosynthetic ability of the leaf tissue. The seedlings were grown in a pot($4500cm^3$) containing one of three different soils(nurseryy soil, mixed soil and sandy soil). Simulated acid rain was made by diluting sulfuric and nitric acid solution($H_2SO_4:HNO_3=3:1$, V/V) with tap water and tap water(pH6.4), and treated by 5mm each time for three minutes during the growing seasons(April to October 1985). Acid rain treatments were done three times per week to potted seedlings by spraying the solutions. The results obtained in this study were as follows : 1. Leaf surface area per seedling at pH2.0 level was the lowest among the levels of pH, but those at other pH levels were not significantly different. 2. Leaf injury(injured leaf rate and injured leaf area) increased with decreasing pH levels of acid rain. 3. Leaf chlorophyll content measured during the period June through October was significantly different among the soil types, and that of the seedling in nursery soil was the highest. The lower pH levels of simulated acid rain was treated ; more leaf chlorophyll content was measured at the beginning of treatment, and the more it severely decreased at the late growing period. 4. Photosyntetic abilities, and the highest value was shown in nursery soil. Significand difference in photosynthetic ability among the levels of pH was observed only in August. Photosynthetic ability increased with decreasing pH levels at the beginning of treatment, but decreased rapidly after July.