• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.217-224
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• 2019

Phthalates, endocrine disrupting chemicals, are similar in structure to sex hormones and mainly show reproductive toxicity and developmental toxicity. In this study, we analyzed 11 phthalates, including 3 kinds of phthalates prohibited in cosmetic use and 8 kinds of phthalates regulated in 'Common standards for children's products safety' and EU cosmetic regulation (EC No. 1223/2009). The phthalate analysis was optimized using GC-MS/MS. In analytical method validation, this method was satisfied in specificity, linearity, recovery rate, accuracy and MQL. Therefore, we used this method to analyze 82 products of Nail cosmetics & polish. Although six phthalates such as DBP, BBP, DEHP, DPP, DIBP and DIDP were detected at concentrations of $1.0{\sim}59.8{\mu}g/g$g, they were suitable to Korean cosmetic standards. DIBP and DBP were detected at concentration of $1.1{\sim}2.6{\mu}g/g$ in artificial nail, DBP and DEHP were $1.4{\sim}2.5{\mu}g/g$ in glue for nails, and DIBP, DBP, and DEHP were $2.5{\sim}33.3{\mu}g/g$ in nail stickers. Although substances such as DBP and DEHP in artificial nail, Glue for nails, and nail stickers were detected, they were suitable to 'Common safety standards for children's products. DIBP is not a regulated substance in Korea but showed the third highest detection rate following DBP (84.6%) and DEHP (63.4%). The concentration of phthalates detected in nail products is considered to be safe in current standards but continuous monitoring and research about non-regulated substances are also needed to be considered.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.303-308
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• 2019

L-carnitine is found in high levels in muscle tissues. It has been developed as a nutrient and dietary supplement, and also used as a therapeutic supplement in various diseases including type II diabetes, osteoporosis and metabolic neuropathies. However, it is not fully understood how it affects cellular mechanisms in colorectal cancer. Therefore, we attempted to determine the effect of L-carnitine in HCT116 human colorectal cancer cells. First, the HCT116 cells were exposed to L-carnitine for 24 hours at 0-40 mM, and then analyzed for cellular proliferation, oxidative stress and related mechanisms. In a MTT assay, L-carnitine inhibited cellular proliferation and induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) in HCT116 by DCF-DA analysis. To analyze the mechanism of L-carnitine in colorectal cancer cells, we performed a western blot analysis for pERK1/2 and pp38 MAP kinase. The western blot showed that L-carnitine significantly increased protein levels of pERK1/2 and pp38 compared with control. Taken together, we found that L-carnitine has anti-proliferative function via increased ROS and activation of ERK1/2 and p38 pathway in HCT116. These findings suggest that L-carnitine may have an anti-proliferative role on colorectal cancer.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.331-339
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• 2014

This study is aimed to provide the primary data about safety of cosmetics products using indirect preference of korean cosmetics customer and numerical comparison of applied area. For this study, we collected 9,879 cosmetics products which were inspected in cosmetics research team from January, 2010 to December, 2012. The domestic cosmetics was 645 cases (6.5%) and Imported cosmetics was 9,234 cases (93.5%). As manufacturing country, the France has 4,342 cases (44.0%) and the next ranking were like those, Germany 1,637 cases (16.6%), U.S.A 1,476 cases (14.9%), Republic of Korea 645 cases (6.5%), Italy 557 cases (5.6%), and etc 1,222 cases (12.4%). By the year, the cases of test cosmetics have decreased from 3,784 cases (2010), 3,394 cases (2011) to 2,701 cases (2012), the relative ratio of common cosmetics part was drop in but the other group (functional cosmetics and hair dye related products) was increased. The largest market share product was Skin care 5,470 cases (55.4%) and the next order was like those, Make up 1,908 cases (19.3%), Hand & Foot 1,026 cases (10.4%), Hair Care 616 cases (6.2%), Bath 361 cases (3.7%), and etc 498 cases (5.0%). In domestic cosmetics, the greatest proportion was Skin care and the others were Hair Care > Makeup > Hand & Foot > Bath, but the proportion was evidently changed in imported cosmetics, Skin care > Makeup > Hand & Foot > Hair Care > Bath. It is necessary to set the priority of the international quality standards to identify trends from domestic consumers directly or indirectly. Compare the ratio of category and human application parts from domestic and imported cosmetics, we utilize leverage as the basis for future-oriented cosmetic safety.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.547-561
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• 2020

Purpose: This study was conducted to segment the delivery food market and to develop customized products and services. Methods: This study analyzed 636 responses collected from customers who ordered delivery food. Statistical analyses were conducted using the SPSS program (ver. 25.0) for frequency analysis, χ²-test, one-way analysis of variance, factor analysis, and cluster analysis. Results: Four factors were extracted by exploratory factor analysis (safety-orientation, convenience-orientation, taste-orientation, and economy-orientation) to explain the consumers' food-related lifestyles. The results of cluster analysis indicated that the 'low-interest group', 'convenience and economy-oriented group', and 'gourmet and economy-oriented group' should be regarded as the target segments. Characteristic analysis of each cluster showed that lowinterest group had higher rates of married (67.1%) and living with family (85.4%) than other clusters. The convenience and the economy-oriented group had higher rates of living alone (28.9%) than others. The gourmet and the economy-oriented group had a higher percentage of unmarried (62.0%) than the others. In addition, the average age of convenience and economy-oriented group (32.3 years) and gourmet and economy-oriented group (32.5 years) were significantly lower than the safety seeker (40.0 years) (p < 0.001). Difference analysis of the consumption practice according to the cluster, revealed significant differences in the order frequency (p < 0.001), main day to order (p < 0.05), source of information about delivery food (p < 0.001), order method (p < 0.001), and co-consumer (p < 0.01). In addition, the convenience and the economy-oriented group had significantly higher overall satisfaction than the others (p < 0.001). Conclusion: These findings suggest that customer segmentation based on a food-related lifestyle can be used to build a successful marketing strategy. Therefore, restaurant managers and delivery platform operators should consider developing products and services according to the segmentation to maximize customer satisfaction.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.30-45
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• 2009

Background: The safety of herbal products is an important issue in Korea. It is more complicated because of the concomitant use of conventional western drugs and herbal medicine, including prescribed medicine, folk herbs and food supplements. Although both western and traditional Korean medical doctors have studied on the safety of HMP, their results did not show relevant or consistent conclusions because of the poor quality of studies, including bias. Objectives: The aim of this study was to review the studies in Korea related to drug induced liver injury (DILI) systematically. We tried to estimate the proportion of causative materials of DILI and evaluate the clinical difference of DILIs from different materials. Methods: Systematic searches were performed on MedRIC and MEDLIS in Korea. The extraction of data as well as selective screening of the studies was carried out independently by two of the authors. There were no restrictions on the types of publication, including grey literature. Results: Twenty-one articles were included. Of them only 7 adapted prospective design and only 6 were published in peer-reviewed journals. The proportion of conventional drugs associated with hepatotoxic injuries in all DILI ranged from 15.8% to 83.3% and that of herbal medicine was from 28.9% to 44.7%. However, the criteria for herbal medicine were not clearly defined and concomitant medications were not fully investigated in most studies. There were limited objective data in the clinical differences of liver injuries from different materials and their results were conflicting. Conclusions: The causality assessments regarding DILI of herbal medicine were not performed properly and causative materials were misclassified in most of the studies published in Korea. These make the safety issue still ambiguous because of the limitations and lack of objectivity of the studies. More rigorous studies are required for clearly addressing these conflicting issues with cooperative investigation between traditional Korean and western medicine.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.141-145
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• 2014

There is a burgeoning number of products on the market that contain probiotics, but do they do you any good? What exactly are probiotics? They have been defined as living organisms that, when ingested in sufficient quantities, provide health benefits beyond basic nutrition. They are often referred to as "friendly bacteria" or "good bacteria." Probiotics have been claimed, amongst other things, to (i) reduce the incidence of colon cancer and other diseases of the colon, such as IBS, (ii) stimulate the immune system, (iii) have anti-hypertensive and anti-cholesterolemic properties, (iv) mitigate against the effect of antibiotics on the intestinal microbiota, and (v) protect against gastrointestinal infections. However, the scientific basis for many of these claims is not well-established. Indeed, the European Food Safety Authority has denied the use of several health claims associated with probiotics, particularly those related to mitigation of diarrhea following consumption of antibiotics. Thus, there is a need for research on the mechanisms of action of probiotics. We have been mainly interested in the use of probiotics to control enteric infections. There are several possible modes of action to explain how probiotics may protect the host from enteric pathogens, including competitive exclusion and immunomodulation. We have shown that probiotics produce bioactive molecules that interfere with bacterial cell-cell communication (also called quorum sensing), and this results in a down-regulation of virulence genes that are responsible for attachment of the pathogen to the gastrointestinal epithelium. These bioactive molecules act on a variety of bacteria, including enterohemorrhagic and enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Clostridium difficile and Clostridium perfringens, and there is evidence that they can inhibit the formation of biofilms by Listeria monocytogenes. These bioactive molecules, which are peptidic in nature, can exert their effects not only in vitro but also in vivo, and we have shown that they mitigate against E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella in mice and Salmonella and E. coli K88 infections in pigs. They can be delivered in foods such as yoghurt and maintain their activity.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.157-165
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• 2002

A two-year survey of consumers'awareness and perception of genetically-modified (GM) foods was conducted during May through September of 2000 and 2001 with a random sample of Korean consumers. More than 68% of the respondents were exposed to some information related to GM foods. The greatest benefit of the development of GM foods was thought to be the remedy for the food shortage in the future. More than 90% of Korean consumers wanted GM foods to be labeled. About 18% of the respondents would buy GM foods voluntarily, whereas over 49% would not until they found out more. Only 40% of Korean consumers were found to realize that food items originated ken plants contain genes. More consumers responded that they would not buy herbicide-tolerant GM soybean but buy vitamin-enriched GM soybean. It seemed to be that many Korean consumers do not make decisions of acceptance or rejection of GM foods not on the basis of biotechnology but on the basis of the word(5) used to describe the products, such as herbicide and vitamin. Only 4% of Korean consumers responded that GM foods were the greatest safety-threatening factor of Korean foods.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.474-484
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• 2019

In this age, where the social environment is changing rapidly and unpredictably, interest in safety from crime is increasing in Korean society. As the desire to live a life free from the fear of crime increases, interest in the construction of safe cities is also rising nationwide. To meet the national demand, the Korean government is promoting a project to link public disaster safety systems by involving municipalities, 112, 119, and other emergency services and institutions through the Smart City Integrated Platform in order to construct a smart safety net. This study investigates the linking of theSmart City Integrated Platform and theIntelligent Security Project. The results are as follows. 1. The linkage's objective is clear. 2. The system sector can provide information to accident-related organizations. 3. The scenario area can be expanded to a crime-prevention sector, and a long-term urban information integration infrastructure can be created. 4. Product testing is enabled by a smart city road map and through continuous consultation with relevant organizations. 5. Project diffusion to other local governments can be promoted with the continued addition of commercial products.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.9-17
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• 2021

Objectives : Tetrapanacis Medulla and Akebiae Caulis are one of the most frequently adulterated herbal medicines because of their confusability of terms in the ancient writings and the similarity of morphological features of dried herbal products. The major adulterant is Aristolochia manshuriensis (Guanmutong) which has a serious safety concern with its toxicity. To ensure the safety and quality of the two herbal medicines, it is necessary to discriminate the toxic adulterant from authentic species. The aim of this study is to develop SCAR markers and to establish the multiplex-SCAR assay for discrimination of four plant species related to Tetrapanacis Medulla and Akebiae Caulis. Methods : ITS regions of fifteen samples of four species (Tetrapanax papyrifer, Fatsia japonica, Aristolochia manshuriensis, and Akebia quinata) collected from different sites were amplified and sequenced. Fifteen obtained ITS sequences were aligned and analysed for the detection of species-specific sequence variations. The SCAR markers were designed based on the sequence alignments and then, multiplex-SCAR assay enhancing rapidity was optimized. Results : ITS sequences clearly distinguished the four species at the species level. The developed SCAR markers and multiplex-SCAR assay were successfully discriminated four species and detected the adulteration of commercial product samples by comparison of the amplified DNA fragment sizes. Conclusions : These SCAR markers and multiplex-SCAR assay are a rapid, simple, and reliable method to identify the authentic Tetrapanacis Medulla and Akebiae Caulis from adulterants. These genetic tools will be useful to ensure the safety and to standardize the quality of the two herbal medicines.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.97-112
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• 2021

This study introduces lessons learned from investigation and analysis of major domestic and overseas cases of marine chemical incidents involving hazardous and noxious substances (HNS) during maritime transportation by chemical tankers carrying petrochemical products in bulk. The study then suggests plans to improve domestic marine HNS training curricula based on these lessons. Lessons learned from six incident cases are classified into the following six categories: 1) incident-related information, 2) safety, 3) pollution, 4) response, 5) salvage and 6) others. Based on these six categories, it is suggested that the curriculum provided by the Marine Environment Research & Training Institute for marine pollution prevention managers aboard noxious liquid substance carriers should be changed from the existing two-day training of eight subjects (16 h) to a three-day training of sixteen subjects (24 h). In addition, it is proposed that the marine chemical incident response course of the Korea Coast Guard Academy should be changed from the existing five-day training of fifteen subjects (35 h) to a six-day training of thirty-two subjects (48 h). These results are expected to contribute to sharing experiences and lessons learned about response to marine chemical incidents and to be used as basic data for improving the education and training courses for response personnel in preparedness for marine HNS incidents.