• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.30-37
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• 2005

Xuesaitong Ruanjiaonang (XR), a soft capsule containing Panax notoginseng saponins as main ingredients, is believed to remove extravasated blood and increase cerebral blood flow by improving blood circulation, and therefore, has been used in China to treat ischemic stroke or hemiplegia caused by cerebral thrombosis. To characterize pharmacological actions of XR, the present study evaluated its effects on neuronal cell damage induced by various oxidative insults or excitotoxic amino acids in primary cultured rat cortical cells. The neuronal cell viability was not affected by XR with the exposure for 2 h at the concentrations tested in this study ($10{\sim}1000\;{\mu}g/ml$). However, significant reduction of the cell viability was observed when the cultured cells were exposed to XR at $1000\;{\mu}g/ml$ for 24 h. XR was found to concentration-dependently inhibit the oxidative neuronal damage induced by $H_{2}O_2$, xanthine/xanthine oxidase or $Fe^{2+}$/ascorbic acid. In addition, it dramatically inhibited the excitotoxic damage induced by glutamate or N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA). We found that the NMDA-induced neurotoxicity was inhibited more effectively and potently than the glutamate-induced toxicity. Moreover, XR was found to exert mild inhibition of lipid peroxidation induced by $Fe^{2+}$/ascorbic acid in rat brain homogenates and some 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity. Taken together, these results demonstrate neuroprotective and antioxidant effects of XR, showing inhibition of oxidative and excitotoxic damage in the cultured cortical neurons, as well as inhibition of lipid peroxidation and its radical scavenging activity. Considering that excitotoxicity and oxidative stress pl ay crucial roles in neuronal cell damage during ischemia and reperfusion, these results may provide pharmacological basis for its clinical usage to treat ischemic stroke.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.19-45
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• 2011

Objectives: This study was performed to analyse the effects of Sweet Bee Venom(Sweet BV-pure melittin, the major component of honey bee venom) on the central nervous system in rats. Methods: All experiments were conducted at Biotoxtech Company, a non-clinical studies authorized institution, under the regulations of Good Laboratory Practice (GLP). Male rats of 5 weeks old were chosen for this study and after confirming condition of rats was stable, Sweet BV was administered in thigh muscle of rats. And checked the effects of Sweet BV on the central nervous system using the functional observational battery (FOB), which is a neuro-toxicity screening assay composed of 30 descriptive, scalar, binary, and continuous endpoints. And home cage observations, home cage removal and handling, open field activity, sensorimotor reflex test/physiological measurements were conducted. Results: 1. In the home cage observation, there was not observed any abnormal signs in rats. 2. In the observation of open field activity, the reduction of number of unit areas crossed and rearing count was observed caused by Sweet BV treatment. 3. In the observation of handling reactivity, there was not observed any abnormal signs in rats. 4. In the observation of sensorimotor reflex tests/physiological measurements, there was not observed any neurotoxic signs in rats. 5. In the measurement of rectal temperature, treatment of Sweet BV did not showed great influences in the body temperature of rats. Conclusions: Above findings suggest that Sweet BV is relatively safe treatment in the central nervous system. But in the using of over dose, Sweet BV may the cause of local pain and disturbance of movement. Further studies on the subject should be conducted to yield more concrete evidences.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 1999.04a
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• pp.149-156
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• 1999

In the United States (U.S.), the monitored natural attenuation (MNA) approach has been used as an alternative remedial option for organic and inorganic compounds retained in soil and dissolved in groundwater. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines the MNA as“in-situ naturally-occurring processes include biodegradation, diffusion, dilution, sorption, volatilization, and/or chemical and biochemical stabilization of contaminants and reduce contaminant toxicity, mobility or volume to the levels that are protective of human health and the environment”. The Department of Soil Environment. National Institute Environmental Research (NIER) is in the process for demonstrating the MNA approach as a potential remedial option for the BTEX contaminated site in Uiwang City. The project is charactering the research site in terms of the nature and extend of contamination, biological degradation rate, and geochemical and hydrological properties. The microbial-degradation rate and effectiveness of nutrient and redox supplements will be determined through laboratory batch and column tests. The geochemical process will be monitored for determining the concentration changes of chemical species involved in the electron transfer processes that include methanogenesis, sulfate and iron reduction, denitrification, and aerobic respiration. Through field works, critical soil and hydrogeologic parameters will be acquired to simulate the effects of dispersion, advection, sorption, and biodegradation on the fate and transport of the dissolved-phase BTEX plume using Bioplume III model. The objectives of this multi-years research project are (1) to evaluate the MNA approach using the BTEX contaminated site in Uiwang City, (2) to establish a standard protocol for future application of the approach, (3) to investigate applicability of the passive approach as a secondary treatment remedy after active treatments. In this presentation, the overall picture and philosophy behind the MNA approach will be reviewed. Detailed discussions of the site characterization/monitoring plans and risk-based decision-making processes for the demonstration site will be included.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.166-173
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• 2010

Oxidative stress to proteins, lipids, or DNA is higher in human autopsy tissue and in rodent models of a number of neurodegenerative conditions, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. On the basis of this information, we established a screening system using N18-RE-105 cells to identify therapeutic agents that can protect cells from glutamate toxicity. During the course of our screening program, we recently isolated the active compound 9-hydroxy-$\alpha$-tocopherone ($\alpha$-TP), which prevents glutamate-induced cell death, from Viola mandshurica. The chemical structure of $\alpha$-TP was identified using spectroscopic methods and by comparison with literature values. Antioxidant activity and protective effects of $\alpha$-TP were evaluated by DPPH radical-scavenging assay, morphological assay, MTT reduction assay, and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release assay. These results suggest that $\alpha$-TP could be a new potential chemotherapeutic agent against neuronal diseases.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.86-96
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• 1998

In this study, an intermittently aerated activated sludge process, modified process from conventional activated sludge process, was developed to treat high strength swine wastewater, which has been blamed as major pollutant for stream pollution. Therefore, the optimum cycle for oxic and anoxic period, SRT, and OLR were studied as design parameters. The effects of different time interval for oxic and anoxic period on nitrification and denitrification were examined by operating two reactors with 60/60min and 60/90min as oxic/anoxic period. Although the reactor with 60/60min showed complete denitrification of $NO_x-N$ generated during oxic period, the reactor with 60/90min showed incomplete nitrification due to the inactivity of nitrifier by accumulated $NH_3-N$ toxicity during anoxic period. Therefore, it is recommended to operate same interval for oxic and anoxic period. In order to determine the optimum cycle for oxic/anoxic period, four different reactors with 30/30, 60/60, 90/90 and 120/120min were examined. The reactor operation with 90/90min was optimum to get the most stable results in this study. However, the optimum cycle for oxic and anoxic period should be changed with characteristics of influent wastewater and operating conditions. According to lie operation results of three reactors with SRT of 15, 20 and 30days. The reactor with 2Odays SRT showed best removal efficiency of T-N. The optimum OLR would be $2.5Kg\;COD/m^3/day$ which showed the most stable nitrification and denitrification. Since characteristics of influent wastewater in the real system has a severe fluctuation, so it is very difficult to determine each interval for oxic and anoxic period. Therefore, ORP curves, describing the change of oxidation/reduction potential in reactor, can be used as a control parameter for automatic control of oxic and anoxic period. In other words, bending point (Nitrate Knee) of ORP curve during anoxic period could be used as a starting point of oxic period.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.1173-1180
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• 1997

Hepatotoxicity of caffeine and acetaminophen was investigated in this study. Special attention was paid to the effect of vitamins on the reduction of hepatotoxicity caused by the chemicals. Rat hepaocytes isolated by two-step perfusion method were cultured in two differents methods-suspension, monolayer cultures-, and exposed to caffeine and/or acetaminophen for 24hrs. Caffeine or acetaminophen exhibited no significant hepatotoxicity in terms of intracellular glutathione(GSH) level and lipid peroxidation(MDA), but GSH level was significantly decreased after administrated acetaminophen, and the toxicity caused by the chemicals showed a dose-dependent manner. The synergistic effect of caffeine and acetaminophen was observed when both caffeine and acetaminophen were supplemented to culture medium. At the concentration 1mM, caffeine enhanced the intracellular GSH depletion and MDA formation by 63% and 64%, respectively, compared to single supplementation of 10mM acetaminophen in culture medium. This hepatotoxicity induced membrane integrity loss was observed by lightmicroscope on the simultaneous administration of caffeine and acetaminophen in monolayer cultured hepatocytes. Co-supplementation of vitamins with caffeine/acetaminophen to culture medium results in the protection of hepatocytes from hepatotoxic attach by caffeine/acetaminophen. Especially, vitamin E was superior to vitamin C and $\beta$-carotene from the standpoints of GSH depletion and MDA formation. From this results, it has been speculated that vitamin E may play a role of antioxidant scavenging radicals produced from acetaminophen. Taken all together, in vitro culture system like monolayer culture of hepatocytes may be a useful tool for the evaluation of hepatotoxicity or protection ability of food ingredients.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.196-209
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• 2019

As a traditional method to apply fingerprint powder, brush method ("dusting") can create a risk to the health of crime scene investigators due to the inhalation toxicity of harmful and fine powders. Therefore, as a new method of applying powders, we tried to evaluate the potential of a chamber method for the development of latent fingerprint using fans in a closed chamber with a fixed capacity that can prevent the powders from being blown outside and exposed to the users, by comparing with the development results of the conventional brush method. Fingerprints on glass and plastic (PET) were extracted with black powder and green fluorescent powder, and the sharpness and minutiae of the developed fingerprints were compared for each method. The results of the black powder showed similar results, but the effect of the chamber method was slightly decreased when the green fluorescent powder was used. In order to improve the development with the green fluorescent powder, the mixture (50 : 50) of the fluorescent powder with the silica gel was tested and the results were similar to those of the brush method. It is expected that the chamber method has a high potential as a new powder application method considering the health of the crime scene investigator after fine tuning of development conditions with additional studies.

• Journal of Radiopharmaceuticals and Molecular Probes
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.80-84
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• 2018

$[^{13}N]$Ammonia or $[^{13}N]NH_3$ is one of the most widely used PET tracer for the measurement of MBF. To produce $[^{13}N]NH_3$, devarda's alloy which contains aluminum, copper and zinc is used for the purpose of reduction from $^{13}N$-nitrate/nitrite to $[^{13}N]NH_3$. Since aluminum has neurotoxicity and renal toxicity, the amount of it should be carefully limited for the administration to the human body. Although USP and EP provide a way to identify the aluminum ion concentration, there are some difficulties to perform. Therefore, we tried to develop the modified method for verifying aluminum concentration of test solution. We compared color between test and standard solutions using chrome azurol S in pH 4.6 acetate buffer. We also tested color change of test and standard solutions according to pH, amounts and the order of reagent and time difference These results demonstrated that the color change of the solution can reflect quantitatively measure aluminum ion concentration. We hope the method is to be used effectively and practically in many sites where $[^{13}N]NH_3$ is produced.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.128-135
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• 2019

This study evaluates the effect of dissolved effluent organic matter (SE-dEfOM) from sewage wastewater treatment plants on the adsorption and estrogenic activity of bisphenol A (BPA). Specific ultraviolet absorbance and fluorescence index analyses indicated that SE-dEfOM was mainly microbially derived non-humic substances differed from Suwannee River natural organic matter (SR-NOM) as reference. Both Langmuir and Freundlich models successfully explained the adsorption of BPA onto both SE-dEfOM and SR-NOM. Additionally, the SE-dEfOM showed higher binding capacities and affinities for BPA than those of SR-NOM, resulting in better reduction of the estrogenic activity of BPA. These findings suggest that the binding and toxicity of BPA are largely dependent on the source of organic matters.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.430-445
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• 2019

Natural edible waxes mixed with plant oils, containing high levels of unsaturated fatty acids (FAs), are known as oleogels. Oleogels are used for replacing saturated FAs in animal-derived food with unsaturated FAs. However, the health effects of edible waxes are not yet clearly defined. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of FAs and natural waxes on the adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 cells. The 3T3-L1 cells were differentiated and treated with FAs and waxes. These FAs [Palmitic acid (PA), Stearic acid (SA), Oleic acid (OA), Linoleic acid (LA), and Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA)] and waxes [beeswax (BW) and carnauba wax (CW)] were prepared at varying concentrations, and cell toxicity, triglyceride accumulation, lipid droplets size, and distribution inside of cells were determined. Adipogenic gene expression including $PPAR{\gamma}$, FASN, $C/EBP{\alpha}$, SREBP-1, and CPT-1 was determined. Results showed that increasing the concentration of FAs and waxes led to a decrease in the adipocyte cells viability and metabolic performance. SA showed the highest level of triglyceride accumulation (p<0.05), whereas ALA showed the lowest (p<0.05). Both BW and CW at 3.0 ppm showed significantly higher lipid accumulation than in the control and other groups (p<0.05). ALA had significantly downregulated adipogenic gene expression levels, excluding those of CPT-1, compared to the other treatment groups (p<0.05). Moreover, BW demonstrated similar adipogenic gene expression levels as ALA compared to CW. Consequently, ALA and BW may have health benefits by reducing adipogenesis and can be used in processed meat.