• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.524-531
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• 2004

Photosynthetic activities and primary production of phytoplankton were investigated in Lake Gocheonam from October 1999 to August 2000. As an estuary lake with a barrage in the Southwestern coast of the Korean peninsula, the lake has received more attention after it became known as the habitat of large population of rare and endangered bird- Baikal Teal. As the lake had high algal biomass ranging from $20\mu{g}\;chl-aL^{-1}\;to\;125\mu{g}\;chl-aL^{-1}$ in average values and rich eutrophication indicator species, the freshwaters were in a very productive or hypertrophic state. In the results obtained from the phytoplankton incubation in the laboratory, the maximum photosynthetic rate $(P_{max})$ varied according to seasons and sampling stations. Photo- synthetic activities were higher during the warm season than the cold seasons and the serial order of $P_{max}$ was August dominated with Microcystis, April with Chlamydomonas and Nitzschia, October with Chlamydomonas and January with Stephanodiscus. The water of the lake was persistently turbid throughout the year due to strong winds from the adjacent sea. Despite the water turbidity, the phytoplankton productions estimated from a mathematical model had very broad range from 18mg C $m^{-2}day^{-1}\;to\;10,300mg\;C\;m^{-2}day^{-1}$.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.501-506
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• 2004

In organic agriculture, choose of effective and cheap bio-pesticide is very important. The authors developed an insecticidal extract from neem cake, waste of neem oil from kernel, and applied as a bio-pesticide. Bio-pesticide neem cake extracts experiment on cabbage pest was carried out at Wonju Agricultural Technology and Extension Center from 11 March to 30 May 2003. There were six treatments with three replications, using completely randomized design. Treatments involved three and six sprays of synthetic pyrethroid pesticide cypermethrin 10 EC at the dilution rate of 2.2 mL $L^{-1}$ of distilled water and four, five and six sprays of bio-pesticide neem at the dilution rate of 13.3 mL $L^{-1}$ of distilled water, and untreated control. For each treatment, designated sprayings were done at 7 days interval. Pre-spray data showed that the plants in all the experimental plots were already infested with aphid (Aphis gossypii), and diamondback moth (Pluetella xylostella). The results indicated that all neem pesticide treatments were more effective in insecticidal activity than the untreated control and the chemical treatments in controlling aphids and diamondback moth. Among the three neem treatments, there were no significant differences between them.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.40-44
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• 1999

The in vitro antioxidative activities of the 33 plant-derived essential oils and 37 phytochemicals including 3 Mentha arvensis leaf-, 2 Thymus vulgaris leaf- and 2 Syzygium aromaticum flower-derived isolates were determined by the inhibition of linoleic acid autoxidation, the generation of superoxide anion and scavenging of DPPH radical. They were then compared to those of the widely used plant-derived antioxidants (pyrogallol and quercetin) and synthetic antioxidant BHT. At a concentration of 0.01%, potent antioxidative effect was observed in the essential oils from Cinnamomum cassia roots, Mentha arvensis leaves, Ginkgo biloba fruits, and Syzygium aromaticum flowers. Of the phytochemicals used, eugenol and isoeugenol at 0.01% showed potent antioxidative activity, and their activities were comparable to those of pyrogallol, quercetin, and BHT. The Cinnamomum root-, the Mentha leaf-, the Ginkgo fruit-, and the Syzygium flower-derived materials may be a good source for an alternative to the currently used antioxidants.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.85-105
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• 1998

Prions cause neurodegenerative diseases in animals and humans. The scrapie prion protein (PrPSc) is the major-possibly only-component of the infectious prion and is generated from the cellular isoform (PrPC) by a conformational change. Limited proteolysis of PrPSc produces an polypeptide comprised primarily of residues 90 to 231, which retains infectivity. The three-dimensional structure of rPrP(90-231), a recombinant protein resembling PrPC with the Syrian hamster (SHa) sequence, was solved using multidimensional NMR. Low-resolution structures of rPrP(90-231), synthetic peptides up to 56 residues, a longer (29-231, full-length) protein with SHa sequence, and a short here further structure refinement of rPrP(90-231) and dynamic features of the protein. Consideration of these features in the context of published data suggests regions of conformational heterogeneity, structural elements involved in the PrPC\longrightarrowPrPSc transformation, and possible structural features related to a species barrier to transmission of prion diseases.

• Journal of Aquaculture
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.84-87
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• 2003

Effect of artificial illumination on feeding by the rockfish Sebastes schlegeli receiving no synthetic feed in the cage of the Tongyong Marine Ranch was investigated by analysing the stomach contents of 20 individuals every month from October 1998 to July 1999. The fish was found to have fed on naturally available zooplanktons, i.e. Calanus sinicu, zoeae, amphipods and copepodites in October, fish larvae in November-December, nematodes in January, amphipods in February and again fish larvae from May to July. Despite increase in the weight of stomach contents from 260 mg/fish during the initial period of study to 2,173 mg/fish, as many as 70% of the fish were found to have empty stomach during March-April. Weight of stomach contents did not increase with increasing age of the fish. Occurrence frequency was 83-90% for C. sinicus during October-November and >50% for fish larvae during March-April and June-July.

• BMB Reports
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.58-62
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• 1996

The structural changes in the electron donor side of the PSII reaction center have been monitored since heat treatment ($45^{\circ}C$ for 5 min) of thylakoids is known to decrease the oxygen evolving activity. In heat-treated spinach chloroplast thylakoids, the inhibitory effect of 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea (DCMU) on the electron transport activity of the PSII reaction center from diphenyl carbazide to dichlorophenolindophenol became reduced approximately 3.8 times and [$^{14}C$]-labeled DCMU binding on the D1 polypeptide decreased to 25~30% that of intact thylakoid membranes, implying that the conformational changes of the DCMU binding pocket, residing on the D1 polypeptide, occur by heat treatment. The accessibility of trypsin to the $NH_2$-terminus of the cytochrome b-559 ${\alpha}$-subunit, assayed with Western blot using an antibody generated against the synthetic peptide (Arg-68 to Arg-80) of the COOH-terminal domain, was also increased, indicating that heat-treatment caused changes in the structural environments near the stromal side of the cytochrome b-559 ${\alpha}$-subunit, allowing trypsin more easily to cleave the $NH_2$-terminal domain. Therefore, the structural changes in the electron donor side of the PSII reaction center complexes could be one of the reasons why the oxygen evolving activity of the heat-treated thylakoid membranes decreased.

• BMB Reports
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• v.48 no.8
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• pp.438-444
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• 2015

Lysosomal storage diseases (LSDs) are a group of inherent diseases characterized by massive accumulation of undigested compounds in lysosomes, which is caused by genetic defects resulting in the deficiency of a lysosomal hydrolase. Currently, enzyme replacement therapy has been successfully used for treatment of 7 LSDs with 10 approved therapeutic enzymes whereas new approaches such as pharmacological chaperones and gene therapy still await evaluation in clinical trials. While therapeutic enzymes for Gaucher disease have N-glycans with terminal mannose residues for targeting to macrophages, the others require N-glycans containing mannose-6-phosphates that are recognized by mannose-6-phosphate receptors on the plasma membrane for cellular uptake and targeting to lysosomes. Due to the fact that efficient lysosomal delivery of therapeutic enzymes is essential for the clearance of accumulated compounds, the suitable glycan structure and its high content are key factors for efficient therapeutic efficacy. Therefore, glycan remodeling strategies to improve lysosomal targeting and tissue distribution have been highlighted. This review describes the glycan structures that are important for lysosomal targeting and provides information on recent glyco-engineering technologies for the development of therapeutic enzymes with improved efficacy. [BMB Reports 2015; 48(8): 438-444]

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.2305-2309
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• 2012

Crocin, the main pigment of Crocus sativus L., has been shown to have antiproliferative effects on cancer cells, but the involved mechanisms are only poor understood. This study focused on probable effect of crocin on the immortality of hepatic cancer cells. Cytotoxicity of crocin ($IC_{50}$ 3 mg/ml) in hepatocarcinoma HepG2 cells was determined after 48 h by neutral red uptake assay and MTT test. Immortality was investigated through quantification of relative telomerase activity with a quantitative real-time PCR-based telomerase repeat amplification protocol (qTRAP). Telomerase activity in 0.5 ${\mu}g$ protein extract of HepG2 cells treated with 3 mg/ml crocin was reduced to about 51% as compared to untreated control cells. Two mechanisms of inhibition, i.e. interaction of crocin with telomeric quadruplex sequences and down regulation of hTERT expression, were examined using FRET analysis to measure melting temperature of a synthetic telomeric oligonucleotide in the presence of crocin and quantitative real-time RT-PCR, respectively. No significant changes were observed in the $T_m$ telomeric oligonucleotides, while the relative expression level of the catalytic subunit of telomerase (hTERT) gene showed a 60% decrease as compared to untreated control cells. In conclusion, telomerase activity of HepG2 cells decreases after treatment with crocin, which is probably caused by down-regulation of the expression of the catalytic subunit of the enzyme.

• BMB Reports
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.173-178
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• 2014

There is rapidly growing interest in the human microbiome because of its implication in metabolic disorders and inflammatory diseases. Consequently, understanding the biology of short chain fatty acids and their receptors has become very important for identifying novel therapeutic avenues. GPR41 and GPR43 have been recognized as the cognate receptors for SCFAs and their roles in metabolism and inflammation have drawn much attention in recent years. GPR43 is highly expressed on immune cells and has been suggested to play a role in inflammatory diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease. Both GPR41 and GPR43 have been implicated in diabetes and obesity via the regulation of adipose tissue and gastrointestinal hormones. So far, many studies have provided contradictory results, and therefore further research is required to validate these receptors as drug targets. We will also discuss the synthetic modulators of GPR41 and GPR43 that are critical to understanding the functions of these receptors.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.59 no.6
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• pp.266-269
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• 2015

Coccidiosis is induced by Toxoplasma gondii and Eimeria tenella and novel anticoccidial drugs have been requested. In this study, the anticoccidial effect of 3-(4-methoxybenzylaminomethylene)-1,3-dihydroindole-2-one (5-108) on T. gondii and E. tenella was evaluated. Novel synthetic derivative 5-108 showed 1.44 fold higher relative selectivity compared to pyrimethamine against T. gondii in vitro assay. In chicken study, compound 5-108 significantly decreased the number of oocytes of E. tenella in feces, obtained from E. tenella-infected chickens, by $33{\pm}2.64%$ and $23{\pm}3.60%$ (P<0.001) at $7^{th}$ day and $9^{th}$ day p.i.. Conclusively, compound 5-108 was effective against T. gondii and E. tenella.