• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
• /
• 제27권1호
• /
• pp.1-12
• /
• 2009

In 2008, baby formula containing melamine was found to be responsible for a large outbreak of renal failure in infants in China. A total of 294,000 infants were hospitalized, and at least 6 babies died due to ingestion of the tainted formula. Melamine contains high levels of nitrogen (>60%), which is used as an indicator of protein content. Therefore, high levels of melamine in infant formula were thought to be the result of deliberate contamination m an attempt to increase its apparent protein content. Following inspections by China's national inspection agency, assorted products from at least 22 dairy manufacturers across China were found to have varied levels of melamine (range: 0.096196.61 mg/kg). Melamine co-exposure with cyanuric acid can induce acute melamine-cyanurate crystal nephropathy, which can lead to renal failure at much lower doses than if either compound were ingested alone. However, currently, there are very few data on melamine analogues other than cyanuric acid. At an expert meeting of the WHO and FAO held to review toxicological aspects of melamine and cyanuric acid on December 14, 2008, a new tolerable daily intake (TDI) of melamine was established that could be applied to the entire population, including infants. Therefore, a risk assessment of the various theoretical melamine contamination levels in infant formula and selected representative foods (other than infant formula and sole-source nutrition products) is urgently needed for Korean babies and children up to 7 years of age. Although the undetectable level regulation for infant formula may be low enough to guarantee the safety of babies under the age of 1 year (including premature babies), the melamine standard of 2.5 ppm for foods other than baby formula could be insufficient to protect the 95th percentile population aged 1~2 years because of this demographic's high consumption of milk, yogurt, and soy milk (hazard index = 1.79). Because TDIs are chronic values intended to protect an individual over his/her lifetime, occasional modest ingestion in excess of the TDI is not likely to be a health concern. However, children aged 1~2 years may have renal systems that are comparatively more sensitive to the crystallization of melamine and its analogues. Therefore, governmental jurisdictions may need to practice more prudent management of food items that could raise the melamine exposure for this population.

• 과학기술학연구
• /
• 제8권1호
• /
• pp.97-129
• /
• 2008

새로운 기술의 개발과 확산으로 인해 기술 위험의 가능성과 영향이 크게 증가하고 있다. 불확실성을 기본적 속성으로 하는 위험의 특성상 지식의 불확실성 해소는 기술 위험관리의 핵심적 요소라고 할 수 있다. 지식의 불확실성이 기술위험 갈등의 중요한 원인이 되기 때문이다. 그러나 지식 축적만으로 기술위험 갈등이 해소되는 것은 아니다. 기술위험의 성격에 따라서는 기술위험에 대한 합의의 부족이 갈등의 주원인이 될 수 있기 때문이다. 휴대전화 전자파의 인체 유해성 논란은 대표적인 예라고 할 수 있다. 휴대전화 전자파의 인체 유해성 여부에 대해서는 명확한 결론을 내릴 수는 없지만 관련 지식이 꾸준히 축적되어 왔기 때문에 지식의 불확실성은 높지 않다. 산업계는 유해성을 입증할만한 뚜렷한 증거가 없기 때문에 법적 규제는 불필요하다는 입장인 반면 시민단체들은 유해 가능성이 입증되지 않았지만 가능성은 여전히 남아있기 때문에 사전 예방적 차원의 규제가 필요하다는 입장을 취하고 있다. 우리나라의 경우 시민단체의 지속적인 문제제기에 따라 정부는 인체흡수율(SAR) 기준을 설정하고 인체 흡수율 정보를 공개토록 하고 있다. 그러나 시민단체의 입장에서 보면 인체 흡수율 기준은 전신이 아닌 얼굴 부위에만 적용되는 제한적 기준이며, 인체 흡수율 정보도 자율적으로 공개토록 하고 있다는 점에서 완화된 형식적 규제라고 할 수 있다. 예방적 규제를 지지하는 시민단체와 산업계 보호의 관점에서 완화된 규제를 유지하려는 정부간에는 여전히 큰 인식 차이가 존재한다. 휴대전화 전자파의 기술 위험은 기술의 친숙성으로 인해 심각한 위험으로 받아들여지지 않고 있지만 심각한 갈등과 재난을 초래할 가능성도 있다. 따라서 이러한 문제를 예방하기 위해서는 안전의 목표를 경제적 목표와 통합하는 정책 통합과 위험 커뮤니케이션의 촉진을 통해 갈등 가능성과 재난의 발생의 소지를 차단하는 기술위험 관리가 필요하다.

• 동의생리병리학회지
• /
• 제21권5호
• /
• pp.1226-1232
• /
• 2007

Phellinus linteus is a well-known Oriental medicinal fungus that has various biological activities, including immunomodulatory and anti-tumor activities, the mechanisms of which are poorly understood. In the present study, we investigated the anti-proliferative activity of the methanol extract of P. linteus-Barley corn (MEPLB) in human lekemic U937 cells. It was found that exposure of U937 cells to MEPLB resulted morphological change and growth inhibition in a dose-dependent manner as measured by trypan blue count and MTT assay. Upon treatment with MEPLB, U937 cells developed many of the hallmark features of apoptosis, including condensation of chromatin and an increase in the sub-G1 population suggesting that the anti-proliferative effect of MEPLB is associated with the induction of apoptosis. The anti-proliferative and apoptotic effects of MEPLB were connected with a marked induction of the pro-apoptotic Bax and cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk) inhibitor p21 in a p53-independent manner. Additionally, MEPLB treatment significantly induced the caspase-3 activity in U937 cells. Taken together, the present results suggest that apoptotic signals evoked by MEPLB in human leukemic U937 cells may converge caspase-3 activation through an up-regulation of Bax rather than a down-regulation of Bcl-2 or Bel-xL.

• 한국토양비료학회지
• /
• 제42권Spc호
• /
• pp.20-28
• /
• 2009

생물비료는 아직도 한국에서는 생소한 용어다. 한국에서 생물비료라 함은 식물추출액, 퇴비류-다양한 형태의 미생물 혼합제 등으로 인식되고 있다. 그러나 최근에는 식물영양요소의 흡수나 이용도를 증진시키는 토양미생물 사용으로 언급하기도 한다. 본 개관은 식물성장을 증진시키는 것으로 알려진 PGPR 서로 다른 기작과 실질적 역할에 대하여 검토하였다.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
• /
• 제24권6호
• /
• pp.623-629
• /
• 2016

(1S,2S,3E,7E,11E)-3,7,11,15-cembratetraen-17,2-olide (LS-1), a marine cembrenolide diterpene, has anticancer activity against colon cancer cells such as HT-29, SNU-C5/5-FU (fluorouracil-resistant SNU-C5) and SNU-C5. However, the action mechanism of LS-1 on SNU-C5 human colon cancer cells has not been fully elucidated. In this study, we investigated whether the anticancer effect of LS-1could result from apoptosis via the modulation of $Wnt/{\beta}$-catenin and the TGF-${\beta}$ pathways. When treated with the LS-1, we could observe the apoptotic characteristics such as apoptotic bodies and the increase of sub-G1 hypodiploid cell population, increase of Bax level, decrease of Bcl-2 expression, cleavage of procaspase-3 and cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase in SNU-C5 cells. Furthermore, the apoptosis induction of SNU-C5 cells upon LS-1 treatment was also accompanied by the down-regulation of $Wnt/{\beta}$-catenin signaling pathway via the decrease of GSK-$3{\beta}$ phosphorylation followed by the decrease of ${\beta}$-catenin level. In addition, the LS-1 induced the activation of TGF-${\beta}$ signaling pathway with the decrease of carcinoembryonic antigen which leads to decrease of c-Myc, an oncoprotein. These data suggest that the LS-1 could induce the apoptosis via the down-regulation of $Wnt/{\beta}$-catenin pathway and the activation of TGF-${\beta}$ pathway in SNU-C5 human colon cancer cells. The results support that the LS-1 might have potential for the treatment of human colon cancer.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
• /
• 한국균학회 2014년도 추계학술대회 및 정기총회
• /
• pp.11-11
• /
• 2014

Fungal pathogens have huge impact on health and economic wellbeing of human by causing life-threatening mycoses in immune-compromised patients or by destroying crop plants. A key determinant of fungal pathogenesis is their ability to undergo developmental change in response to host or environmental factors. Genetic pathways that regulate such morphological transitions and adaptation are therefore extensively studied during the last few decades. Given that epigenetic as well as genetic components play pivotal roles in development of plants and mammals, contribution of microbial epigenetic counterparts to this morphogenetic process is intriguing yet nearly unappreciated question to date. To bridge this gap in our knowledge, we set out to investigate histone modifications among epigenetic mechanisms that possibly regulate fungal adaptation and processes involved in pathogenesis of a model plant pathogenic fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae. M. oryzae is a causal agent of rice blast disease, which destroys 10 to 30% of the rice crop annually. Since the rice is the staple food for more than half of human population, the disease is a major threat to global food security. In addition to the socioeconomic impact of the disease it causes, the fungus is genetically tractable and can undergo well-defined morphological transitions including asexual spore production and appressorium (a specialized infection structure) formation in vitro, making it a model to study fungal development and pathogenicity. For functional and comparative analysis of histone modifications, a web-based database (dbHiMo) was constructed to archive and analyze histone modifying enzymes from eukaryotic species whose genome sequences are available. Histone modifying enzymes were identified applying a search pipeline built upon profile hidden Markov model (HMM) to proteomes. The database incorporates 22,169 histone-modifying enzymes identified from 342 species including 214 fungal, 33 plants, and 77 metazoan species. The dbHiMo provides users with web-based personalized data browsing and analysis tools, supporting comparative and evolutionary genomics. Based on the database entries, functional analysis of genes encoding histone acetyltransferases and histone demethylases is under way. Here I provide examples of such analyses that show how histone acetylation and methylation is implicated in regulating important aspects of fungal pathogenesis. Current analysis of histone modifying enzymes will be followed by ChIP-Seq and RNA-seq experiments to pinpoint the genes that are controlled by particular histone modifications. We anticipate that our work will provide not only the significant advances in our understanding of epigenetic mechanisms operating in microbial eukaryotes but also basis to expand our perspective on regulation of development in fungal pathogens.

• 대한교통학회지
• /
• 제35권3호
• /
• pp.169-182
• /
• 2017

본 논문에서는 국내의 철도 항공 육로를 통한 물류운송산업 규제에 대해 살펴보고 여객 및 화물운송업 규제의 개선이 국민경제에 미칠 수 있는 영향을 계량화하고자 한다. 우리나라의 물류산업은 산출 및 생산규모가 점진적으로 확대되고 있으나 산업구조는 비교적 영세한 편이다. 한편 산업의 규제는 OECD 국가에 비해 높은 수준이며 국내의 여타 산업에 비해서도 그 수준이 높은 것으로 나타났다. 경제적 규제의 수준을 비교 제시한 OECD의 국가별 네트워크산업 규제지수를 살펴보면 우리나라의 물류운송산업 규제지수는 지난 40여 년 동안 점차 감소하였으나 여전히 EU, 일본, 미국 등의 국가보다 높은 수준이며 특히 철도물류에서는 가격규제와 진입규제가 상당한 것으로 파악되었다. 본 논문에서는 네트워크산업 중 하나인 물류산업의 규제 지수가 1인당 국내총생산에 미치는 효과를 고정효과 모형을 통해 분석하였다. 실증분석 결과 교통물류부문의 규제지수가 한 단위 개선될 경우 1인당 실질 GDP를 약 8.1% 증가시키는 효과가 있는 것으로 나타났다. 즉, 우리나라 물류운송산업 규제가 약 10%가량 개선될 경우 1인당 국내총생산을 2.16% 상승시키는 효과가 있을 것으로 추정되었다. 특히 이러한 개선효과는 우리나라와 같은 제조업 중심의 국가에서 경제적 규제의 개선에 대해 더욱 크게 나타날 것으로 기대되며 이를 실현하기 위해서는 물류 및 운송업 부문별로 구체적이고 신중한 규제개선 노력이 요구된다.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• 제22권4호
• /
• pp.542-554
• /
• 1989

The skyrocketing inflation of medical costs has become a major health problem among most developed countries. Korea, which recently covered the entire population with National Health Insurance, is facing the same problem. The proportion of health expenditure to GNP has increased from 3% to 4.8% during the last decade. This was remarkable, if we consider the rapid economic growth during that time. A few policy analysts began to raise cost containment as an agenda, after recognizing the importance of medical cost inflation. In order to Prepare an appropriate alternative for the agenda, it is necessary to find out reasons for the cost inflation. Then, we should focus on the reasons which are controllable, and those whose control are socially desirable. This study is designed to articulate the theory of medical cost inflation through literature reviews, to find out reasons for cost inflation, by analyzing aggregated data with a deterministic model. Finally to identify determinants of changes in both medical demand and service intensity which are major reasons for cost inflation. The reasons for cost inflation are classified into cost push inflation and demand pull inflation, The former consists of increases in price and intensity of services, while the latter is made of consumer derived demand and supplier induced demand. We used a time series (1983-1987), and cross sectional (over regions) data of health insurance. The deterministic model reveals, that an increase in service intensity is a major cause of inflation in the case of inpatient care, while, more utilization, is a primary attribute in the case of physician visits. Multiple regression analysis shows that an increase in hospital beds is a leading explanatory variable for the increase in hospital care. It also reveals, that an introduction of a deductible clause, an increase in hospital beds and degree of urbanization, are statistically significant variables explaining physician visits. The results are consistent with the existing theory, The magnitude of service intensity is influenced by the level of co-payment, the proportion of old age and an increase in co-payment. In short, an increase in co-payment reduced the utilization, but it induced more intensities or services. We can conclude that the strict fee regulation or increase in the level of co-payment can not be an effective measure for cost containment under the fee for service system. Because the provider can react against the regulation by inducing more services.

• Genomics & Informatics
• /
• 제8권4호
• /
• pp.206-211
• /
• 2010

The Fas (TNF receptor superfamily, member 6) (FAS)/FAS ligand (FASLG) interaction plays a central role in the regulation of programmed cell death. FAS and FASLG polymorphisms in promoter regions affect transcriptional activities. To investigate whether FAS and FASLG polymorphisms are associated with the development and clinical phenotypes of stroke, 2 promoter single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in FAS (rs1800682, -670C/T) and FASLG (rs763110, -844C/T) were selected and genotyped by direct sequencing in 220 stroke patients [107 ischemic stroke (IS), 77 intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), and 36 subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH)] and 369 control subjects. For the analysis of clinical symptoms, all stroke patients were divided into 3 clinical phenotypes according to the respective results of the National Institutes of Health Stroke Survey (NIHSS) and the Modified Barthel Index (MBI) and the presence or absence of complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). The SNPStats, SNPAnalyzer, and Helixtree programs were used to analyze the genetic data. Multiple logistic regression models (codominant, dominant, and recessive) were used to estimate odds ratios (ORs), 95% confidence intervals (CIs), and p-values. The promoter SNP rs1800682 was associated with stroke in the codominant (OR=0.48, 95% CI=0.25-0.94, p=0.04) and dominant models (OR=0.51, 95% CI=0.30-0.87, p=0.011). However, a FASLG SNP (rs763110) was not in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (p<0.05). In the analysis of stroke types, rs1800682 was associated with IS in the codominant (OR=0.30, 95% CI=0.12-0.74, p=0.025), dominant (OR=0.44, 95% CI=0.23-0.88, p=0.018), and recessive models (OR=0.45, 95% CI=0.21-0.99, p=0.042). The genotype frequencies of rs1800682 were different between ICH and controls in the dominant model (OR=0.49, 95% CI=0.26-0.94, p=0.031) but not between SAH and controls. In the analysis of clinical symptoms, however, rs1800682 was not related to the 3 clinical phenotypes (NIHSS, MBI, and CRPS). These results suggest that a promoter SNP (rs1800682, -670C/T) in FAS may be associated with the development of stroke in the Korean population.

• 지역사회간호학회지
• /
• 제13권4호
• /
• pp.757-766
• /
• 2002

Purpose: Recently there have been many changes in health care environments in Korea. To perform public health programs effectively and efficiently, it is necessary to analyze and identify the demand and supply for the public health nurses. Method: The study analyzed experts' opinions regarding the supply of public health nurses, as well as national and foreign statistical data on workforce supply of public health nurses. Two methods for estimating the amount of demand for public health nurses were used: one was applying the indicators of developed countries for public health nurses based on population: the other was to refer to regulations and/or recommended guidelines in Korea. Result: 1) The number of public health centers, public health sub-centers, and primary health care posts have decreased between 1990 and 2001, from 260 to 242, 1318 to 1270, 2038 to 1907, respectively. 2) Between 1997 and 2002, the number of public health nurses has also decreased from 5572 to 5112. 3) In the case of applying regulations, the number (5112) of existing public health nurses falls shortly by 942. 4) In 2001, the Korean population per one public health nurse was 9262. 5) In the case of applying regulations, the number of public health nurses required to meet the demand for health services in 2001 and 2020 is estimated at 5932 and 6347, respectively. 6) In the case of applying the indicators of developed countries, the number of public health nurses required to meet the demand for health service in 2001 and 2020 is estimated at 9.469 and 10.310, respectively. Conclusion and suggestions: Because of the importance of public health industry, public health nurses have been approved as a field specialist and specialized nurse practitioner by the newly revised legal regulation, there have been absence of approval of their role differentiation and capability. In addition, organizational activity and insufficient number of the public health nurses have contributed to the inactive utilization of them. As community public health is focused on caring individuals as well as organizations, it requires more autonomy and special skills than other fields. Therefore, public health nurses need to enhance the capability as health educator, consultant, and information management persons through advanced education course for public health nurses. Public health nurses need to be prepared as advanced nurse practitioners by receiving advanced education courses and field experiences.