• 한국식생활문화학회지
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• 제36권2호
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• pp.198-209
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• 2021

This study examined the dietary habits and nutrition quotient (NQ) scores according to leftover food during school meal services among middle school students in the Gyeonggi region. A survey on the dietary habits was conducted among 405 male and female middle school students located in Seongnam City, Gyeonggi Province. The amount of leftover food in the school meals was surveyed using the visual method through a questionnaire over two days. The survey was conducted from July 8, 2019, to July 12, 2019. After calculating the average total leftovers of each student over the two days, they were categorized into the following three groups: the top third was the large leftover group. The middle third was the medium leftover group, and the lower third was the small leftover group. The characteristics of the groups that had leftovers were analyzed. Female, normal-weight, and underweight students accounted for a greater proportion of the large leftover group than male, overweight, and obese students. The rates of selective eating and compliance with new food intake were significantly lower in the large leftover group than in the small leftover group. A comparison of the nutrition quotient for the adolescent (NQ-A) scores of each group revealed significantly lower scores of the large leftover group for all factors (balance, moderation, food diversity, practice, and environment) than the small leftover group. Therefore, there are statistically significant differences in the dietary habits, nutritional quality, and eating behaviors of middle school students that are associated with the amount of leftover food during school meals.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• 제23권5호
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• pp.381-392
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• 2019

Sperm function and male fertility are closely related to pH dependent $K^+$ current (KSper) in human sperm, which is most likely composed of Slo3 and its auxiliary subunit leucine-rich repeat-containing protein 52 (LRRC52). Onion peel extract (OPE) and its major active ingredient quercetin are widely used as fertility enhancers; however, the effect of OPE and quercetin on Slo3 has not been elucidated. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of quercetin on human Slo3 channels. Human Slo3 and LRRC52 were co-transfected into HEK293 cells and pharmacological properties were studied with the whole cell patch clamp technique. We successfully expressed and measured pH sensitive and calcium insensitive Slo3 currents in HEK293 cells. We found that OPE and its key ingredient quercetin inhibit Slo3 currents. Inhibition by quercetin is dose dependent and this degree of inhibition decreases with elevating internal alkalization and internal free calcium concentrations. Functional moieties in the quercetin polyphenolic ring govern the degree of inhibition of Slo3 by quercetin, and the composition of such functional moieties are sensitive to the pH of the medium. These results suggest that quercetin inhibits Slo3 in a pH and calcium dependent manner. Therefore, we surmise that quercetin induced depolarization in spermatozoa may enhance the voltage gated proton channel (Hv1), and activate non-selective cation channels of sperm (CatSper) dependent calcium influx to trigger sperm capacitation and acrosome reaction.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제42권4호
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• pp.321-332
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• 2019

The brain is the most common metastatic site of lung adenocarcinoma; however, the mechanism of this selective metastasis remains unclear. We aimed to verify the hypothesis that exposure of tumor cells to the brain microenvironment leads to changes in their gene expression, which promotes their oriented transfer to the brain. A549 and H1299 lung adenocarcinoma cells were exposed to human astrocyte-conditioned medium to simulate the brain microenvironment. Microarray analysis was used to identify differentially expressed genes, which were confirmed by quantitative real-time PCR and western blotting. Knockdown experiments using microRNAs and the overexpression of genes by cell transfection were performed in addition to migration and invasion assays. In vitro findings were confirmed in clinical specimens using immunohistochemistry. We found and confirmed a significant increase in insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP3) levels. Our results also showed that the up-regulation of IGFBP3 promoted A549 cell epithelial-mesenchymal transition, migration, and invasion, while the knockdown of IGFBP3 resulted in decreased cell motility. We also found that Transforming growth factor-${\beta}$ (TGF-${\beta}$)/Mothers against decapentaplegic homolog 4 (Smad4)-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition was likely IGFBP3-dependent in A549 cells. Finally, expression of IGFBP3 was significantly elevated in pulmonary cancer tissues and intracranial metastatic tissues. Our data indicate that up-regulation of IGFBP3 might mediate brain metastasis in lung adenocarcinoma, which makes it a potential therapeutic target.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제31권5호
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• pp.733-739
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• 2021

Acinetobacter strains are widely present in the environment. Some antimicrobial-resistant strains of this genus have been implicated in infections acquired in hospitals. Genetic similarities have been reported between Acinetobacter strains in nosocomial infections and those isolated from foods. However, the antimicrobial resistance of Acinetobacter strains in foods, such as meat, remains unclear. This study initially aimed to isolate Campylobacter strains; instead, strains of the genus Acinetobacter were isolated from meat products, and their antimicrobial resistance was investigated. In total, 58 Acinetobacter strains were isolated from 381 meat samples. Of these, 32 strains (38.6%) were from beef, 22 (26.5%) from pork, and 4 (4.8%) from duck meat. Antimicrobial susceptibility tests revealed that 12 strains were resistant to more than one antimicrobial agent, whereas two strains were multidrug-resistant; both strains were resistant to colistin. Cephalosporin antimicrobials showed high minimal inhibitory concentration against Acinetobacter strains. Resfinder analysis showed that one colistin-resistant strain carried mcr-4.3; this plasmid type was not confirmed, even when analyzed with PlasmidFinder. Analysis of the contig harboring mcr-4.3 using BLAST confirmed that this contig was related to mcr-4.3 of Acinetobacter baumannii. The increase in antimicrobial resistance in food production environments increases the resistance rate of Acinetobacter strains present in meat, inhibits the isolation of Campylobacter strains, and acts as a medium for the transmission of antimicrobial resistance in the environment. Therefore, further investigations are warranted to prevent the spread of antimicrobial resistance in food products.

• 한국지형학회지
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• 제25권1호
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• pp.1-17
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• 2018

The characteristics and burial ages of sand sediments on the Jiduri coast in Daechung-myeon, Ongjin-gun, Incheon were investigated. Daecheong Island is the area where the characteristics of the rocky coast and sand coast are shown. Various studies have been conducted on the Okjukdong sand dune that appears in the north of the island. However, there has been no study on the sandy sedimentary topography of the Jiduri and Moraewul area in the south. The sandy sedimentary terrain of Jiduri is divided into sandy beaches, sand dunes and sand deposits along the slope including climbing dune. Overall, the depth of sandy sediments in Jiduri is not deep. The characteristics of sandy sediments and burial ages were investigated at an elevation of about 23 m above sea level at the back of Jiduli Beach and 46 m above sea level at the ridge line between Jiduri and Moraewol. From the Jiduri coast to the hillside behind, the average grain size decreases and the sorting becomes better as it moves from the intertidal zone to the beach and the foredune. This indicates the selective sand transport by the wind and can be judged by the terrain formed under the current sedimentation environment. The average grain size at the upper part of the section of JD-1 (elevation of about 23m MSL) was $1.6918{\varphi}$ of medium sand. The sorting was $0.4584{\varphi}$, skewness was -1.0491 and kurtosis was -1.2411, respectively. Particularly, the average particle size of the crosssection issomewhat uniform, but the color of the constituent material changes from brown to black. In the case of JD-2 (about 46 m MSL), the mean grain size of the section was $1.7943{\varphi}$, the sorting was 0.4931, the skewness was -1.1163, and the kurtosis was 1.2133. On the other hand, the brown and black layers of JD-1 exhibited a burial age of $0.1{\pm}0.0ka$ and the JD-2 had a burial age of $0.7{\pm}0.0ka$.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권4호
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• pp.1421-1430
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• 2022

The computation of the solid angle and the detector efficiency is considering to be one of the most important factors during the measuring process for the radioactivity, especially the cylindrical γ-ray NaI(Tl) detectors nowadays have applications in several fields such as industry, hazardous for health, the gamma-ray radiation detectors grow to be the main essential instruments in radiation protection sector. In the present work, a generic numerical simulation method (NSM) for calculating the efficiency of the γ-ray spectrometry setup is established. The formulas are suitable for any type of source-to-detector shape and can be valuable to determine the full-energy peak and the total efficiencies and P/T ratio of cylindrical γ-ray NaI(Tl) detector setup concerning the truncated conical radioactive source. This methodology is based on estimate the path length of γ-ray radiation inside the detector active medium, inside the source itself, and the self-attenuation correction factors, which typically use to correct the sample attenuation of the original geometry source. The calculations can be completed in general by using extra reasonable and complicate analytical and numerical techniques than the standard models; especially the effective solid angle, and the detector efficiency have to be calculated in case of the truncated conical radioactive source studied condition. Moreover, the (NSM) can be used for the straight calculations of the γ-ray detector efficiency after the computation of improvement that need in the case of γ-γ coincidence summing (CS). The (NSM) confirmation of the development created by the efficiency transfer method has been achieved by comparing the results of the measuring truncated conical radioactive source with certified nuclide activities with the γ-ray NaI(Tl) detector, and a good agreement was obtained after corrections of (CS). The methodology can be unlimited to find the theoretical efficiencies and modifications equivalent to any geometry by essential sufficiently the physical selective considered situation.

• International Journal of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• 제15권4호
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• pp.31-43
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• 2023

News credibility is on a decline for many democratic countries. Among the countries, South Korea is currently witnessing one of the steepest declining curves. Since people obtain news from various media, for example, television and portals, news credibility can be measured for each of the media separately. Most often, television news credibility is much higher than portal news credibility because people tend to trust traditional media more than online ones. To understand the discrepancy between news credibility of the two media in specific relation to South Koreans' everyday news use and overall news credibility evaluation, this exploratory study examined how the factors that influence television news credibility and portal news credibility differ from each other by examining the relations of news credibility of the two media to credibility of news I use and of news in general. Drawing from previous research on partisan news use, it assumed that normative beliefs for television as a traditional medium work for television news credibility in the similar way as the mechanisms of selective exposure and bias perception do. It also assumed that the experiences dimension of news trust works for credibility of portal news and of news in general similarly. To verify these assumptions, a regression analysis was conducted from a sample of 58,936 South Koreans collected in 2022. As assumed, results revealed a greater relation between credibility of television news and of news I use, and between credibility of portal news and of news in general respectively. The findings suggest that measurement of credibility should be revised in the way that reflects media characteristics and the differing expectations held by news users.

• 천문학회지
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• 제56권1호
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• pp.97-115
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• 2023

We present the deep homogeneous UBV RI photometric data of 135,071 stars down to V ~ 23 mag and I ~ 22 mag toward the Carina Nebula. These stars are cross-matched with those from the previous surveys in the X-ray, near-infrared, and mid-infrared wavelengths as well as the Gaia Early Data Release 3 (EDR3). This master catalog allows us to select reliable members and determine the fundamental parameters distance, size, stellar density of stellar clusters in this star-forming region. We revisit the reddening toward the nebula using the optical and the near-infrared colors of early-type stars. The foreground reddening [E(B-V)_fg] is determined to be 0.35 ± 0.02, and it seems to follow the standard reddening law. On the other hand, the total-to-selective extinction ratio of the intracluster medium (R_V,cl) decreases from the central region (Trumpler 14 and 16, R_V,cl ~ 4.5) to the northern region (Trumpler 15, R_V,cl ~ 3.4). It implies that the central region is more dusty than the northern region. We find that the distance modulus of the Carina Nebula to be 11.9 ± 0.3 mag (d = 2.4 ± 0.35 kpc) using a zero-age main-sequence fitting method, which is in good agreement with that derived from the Gaia EDR3 parallaxes. We also present the catalog of 3,331 pre-main-sequence (PMS) members and 14,974 PMS candidates down to V ~ 22 mag based on spectrophotometric properties of young stars at infrared, optical, and X-ray wavelengths. From the spatial distribution of PMS members and PMS candidates, we confirm that the member selection is very reliable down to faint stars. Our data will have a legacy value for follow-up studies with different scientific purposes.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제34권4호
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• pp.812-827
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• 2024

Phloroglucinol (PG) is one of the abundant isomeric benzenetriols in brown algae. Due to its polyphenolic structure, PG exhibits various biological activities. However, the impact of PG on anagen signaling and oxidative stress in human dermal papilla cells (HDPCs) is unknown. In this study, we investigated the therapeutic potential of PG for improving hair loss. A non-cytotoxic concentration of PG increased anagen-inductive genes and transcriptional activities of β-Catenin. Since several anagen-inductive genes are regulated by β-Catenin, further experiments were performed to elucidate the molecular mechanism by which PG upregulates anagen signaling. Various biochemical analyses revealed that PG upregulated β-Catenin signaling without affecting the expression of Wnt. In particular, PG elevated the phosphorylation of protein kinase B (AKT), leading to an increase in the inhibitory phosphorylation of glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK3β) at serine 9. Treatment with the selective phosphoinositide 3-kinase/AKT inhibitor, LY294002, restored the increased AKT/GSK3β/β-Catenin signaling and anagen-inductive proteins induced by PG. Moreover, conditioned medium from PG-treated HDPCs promoted the proliferation and migration of human epidermal keratinocytes via the AKT signaling pathway. Subsequently, we assessed the antioxidant activities of PG. PG ameliorated the elevated oxidative stress markers and improved the decreased anagen signaling in hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂)-induced HDPCs. The senescence-associated β-galactosidase staining assay also demonstrated that the antioxidant abilities of PG effectively mitigated H₂O₂-induced senescence. Overall, these results indicate that PG potentially enhances anagen signaling and improves oxidative stress-induced cellular damage in HDPCs. Therefore, PG can be employed as a novel therapeutic component to ameliorate hair loss symptoms.

• 자원환경지질
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• 제43권2호
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• pp.109-121
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• 2010

광양 광산 폐석더미에 많은 양으로 방치되어 있는 황철석으로부터 유용금속을 보다 효과적으로 용출시켜내기 위해서 $42^{\circ}C$에서 미생물 용출실험을 실시하였다. $42^{\circ}C$의 미생물 용출 실험에서 생존할 수 있는 토착 호산성박테리아를 일본 하쵸바루 산성 온천수에서 채취하였고, 박테리아의 용출능력을 향상시켜 주기 위하여 황철석-용출 배양액에 yeast extract를 첨가하였다. 원소황과 yeast extract가 포함된 성장-배양액에서 성장한 토착박테리아들은 막대 모양으로 나타났다. 크기가 약 $0.7\times2.6\;{\mu}m$, $0.6\times7\;{\mu}m$, $0.8\times5\;{\mu}m$ 및 $0.7\times8.4\;{\mu}m$인 박테리아들이 황철석 표면에 부착하였다. 막대 모양의 박테리아들은 황철석 표면에 발달한 육각형 공동 주변과 공동 안쪽 벽면에 집중적으로 군집을 형성하여 부착하였다. 길이가 약 $4.92\;{\mu}m$에서 약 $10.0\;{\mu}m$인 filament-shaped 박테리이들이 황철석 표면의 크랙 주변과 크랙 안쪽 벽변에 부착하였다. 황철석에 대한 XRD분석에서, 박테리아에 반응시킨 시료가 비교시료에 비하여 상대적으로 (111), (311), (222) 및 (320) 결정면들의 강도는 감소하였고, (200), (210) 및 (211)의 결정면들의 강도는 증가하였다. Fe 이온은 미생물학적 용출량이 화학적 용출량에 비하여 3.4배 이상 높게 용출되었고, Zn 이온은 화학적 용출량보다 미생물학적 용출량이 2배 이상 높게 용출되었다. 토착호산성박테리아가 황철석의 특정 표면을 선택적으로 공격히는 것을 SEM 및 XRD분석에서 확인하였다. 앞으로 보다 더 높은 온도로 미생물 용출실험을 실시한다면 보다 많은 유용금속이온이 용출될 것으로 기대된다.