• Title/Summary/Keyword: folk medicine

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Antioxidant activity and anti-tumor immunity by Propolis in mice

  • Choi, In-Sook;Itokawa, Yuka;Maenaka, Toshihiro;Yamashita, Takenori;Mitsumoto, Morihide;Tano, Kaoru;Kondo, Hiroyo;Ishida, Torao;Nakamura, Takashi;Saito, Kiyoto;Terai, Kaoru;Monzen, Hajime;Oshima, Masami;Takeuchi, Tetsuo;Mituhana, Yuicti;Bamen, Kenichi;Ahn, Kyoo-Seok;Gu, Yeun-Hwa
    • Advances in Traditional Medicine
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    • v.5 no.2
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    • pp.100-109
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    • 2005
  • In South America, natural products with unknown drug effects are used as folk remedies and for preventive medicine. Among South American natural products, we directed our attention to Propolis, which have been known as medicinal plants, and examined the mechanisms by which these substances affect antioxidant activity, anti-tumor activity and immunoresponse. When the antioxidant activities of Propolis were examined by the DPPH and Rhoudan iron methods, since Propolis contains high levels of flavonoids, it is thought that flavonoids may be responsible for the antioxidant activity in this study. In the examination of immunoenhancement activity, we measured lymphocyte versus polymorphonuclear leukocyte ratios (L/P activity). The number of lymphocytes was significantly increased in groups treated with Proplolis. Specifically, slightly high levels of $IFN-{\gamma}$ were measured in mice bearing the S-180 carcinoma, after administration of Propolis. This strongly suggests that cellular immunity is especially activated by treatment with Propolis, because production of $IFN-{\alpha}$ is limited to the T cells and NK cells stimulated by mitogen and sensitized antigen. $TNF-{\alpha}$ shows a different extent and mechanism of action depending on the target cells. When $TNF-{\alpha}$ was measured in mice bearing the S-180 carcinoma, mice treated with Propolis showed slightly higher $TNF-{\alpha}$ levels as compared to the control group. This suggests that activated macrophages produce $TNF-{\alpha}$ in mice treated with Prapolis, since activated macrophages and lymphocytes are the source of most $TNF-{\alpha}$. When anti-tumor action was examined using two kinds of sarcoma (Ehrlich solid carcinoma and Sarcoma-180 carcinoma), tumor-suppressive ratios after treatment with Propolis was 29.1%. When Sarcoma-180 solid carcinoma was used, tumor-suppressive ratios were 62%. Thus, Propolis showed strong anti-tumor activity against two kinds of solid carcinoma. Taken altogether, this strongly suggests that Propolis enhances original functions of macrophages and NK cells, and as a result, secondarily enhances the immune reaction and suppresses tumor growth.

Phylogenetic Analysis based on Metallothionein Gene Sequence of an Indigenous Species Pisidium (Neopisidium) coreanum in Korea (한국 고유종 Pisidium (Neopisidium) coreanum (산골조개) 의 metallothionein 유전자를 기초로 한 분자계통 분류학적 연구)

  • Baek, Moon-Ki;Lee, Jun-Seo;Kang, Se-Won;Lee, Jae-Bong;Kang, Hyun-Jung;Jo, Yong-Hun;Noh, Mi-Young;Han, Yeon-Soo;Choi, Sang-Haeng;Chae, Sung-Hwa;Park, Hong-Seog;Lee, Jun-Sang;Lee, Yong-Seok
    • The Korean Journal of Malacology
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    • v.25 no.2
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    • pp.153-160
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    • 2009
  • Pisidium (Neopisidium) coreanum is a freshwater snail and lives in spring water near mountain areas. Interestingly, this snail has been traditionally regarded as medicinal food, and thus has been used as folk remedies for healing broken bones. Recently, alpha classification on Pisidium (Neopisidium) coreanum through redescription has been conducted. However, not much attention has been made in beta classification. In this study, we performed the beta classification based on metallothionein (MT) genes found from various organisms. To this end, the complete cDNA sequences were obtained from the Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) sequencing project of Pisidium (Neopisidium) coreanum. The coding region (315 bp) encoded an amino acid sequence of 105 residues. The combined results from BLAST analyses, multiple sequence alignment and molecular phylogenetic study of Pc-MT gene indicate that Pisidium (Neopisidium) coreanum has similarity to freshwater bivalve such as Dreissena polymorpha (zebra mussel), Unio tumidus (swollen river mussel) and Crassostrea ariakensis (suminoe oyster).

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A Study on the Blood-Letting Therapy in Elementary Questions (("황제내경소문(黃帝內經素問)" 중(中) 사혈(瀉血)에 관한 연구(硏究))

  • Lee, Jun-Geun
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Oriental Medical Informatics
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    • v.14 no.1
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    • pp.19-42
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    • 2008
  • Blood-Letting Therapy is a rational and ecological medical treatment by which we can heal most of the diseases by removing the static blood which precipitates in the blood vessel and blocks the flowing of blood. And the static blood is the generic term for the injurious, bad, dead and precipitated blood which is blocked the capillary vessel. The Yellow Emperor's Canon of Internal Medicine says that "the patient is treated with drugs internally and stone acupuncture externally. "In the old texts, the blood-letting therapy is mentioned as blood-letting, network vessel pricking, bloodletting, pricking, and arousing pulses etc and it is noted down as the method of network vessel pricking in 'On the Application of Needles' of Spiritual Pivot. Nine-pricking therapy, twelve-pricking therapy and five-pricking therapy are recorded in the methods of network vessel pricking and among them, the method of squeezing blood after pricking the affected part is explained as the network vessel pricking. There are four methods of network vessel pricking, pricking, picking, cluster needling and scatter-pricking and they are fluidly applied to the various symptoms of diseases. In 'On Discriminative Treating for Patients of Different Regions' in Elementary Questions, Ki-baek emphasizes "most of the local people, there are black in skin and loose in striate, and their diseases are mostly of carbuncle kind. It is suitable to treat the disease with stone therapy to prick with stone, so the stone therapy is transmitted from the east. "And in 'On the Corresponding Relation Between the Eum and Yang of Man and All Things' in Elementary Questions, when the Emperor asked Ki-Back, he answered "sthenia means the sthenia of evil, and deficiency means the deficiency of healthy energy. When the blood is sthenic, the evil should be discharged by pricking when out letting the blood; deficiency of vital energy is the asthenia of channels and network vessels, so the energy should drain from the channel which is not deficient, to replenish. "And in this case we can use the methods of 'Breaking out the static bloods', 'driving out the static bloods', blood-letting'. With this we can infer that the blood-letting therapy is made use of the important medical treatments from the ancient times. Especially in referring to the principles of treatment in The Yellow Emperor's Canon of Internal Medicine, it mostly alluded to acupuncture therapies and only eleven times to medicinal treatments. This is to verify that the blood-letting therapy formed the foundation of the medical art. In Dong's Therapy of Acupuncture-Moxibustion and Bloodletting, Dong Kyeong-Chang gave emphasis on the points that there must be extravasated bloods without exception in the serious illnesses which is old, unnatural, accompanying acute pains and so we can revive our body‘s sprit by circulating 'gi' and static blood piled up in the network vessel, regulating the weakness and strength, and controling the disharmony of the internal organs. The blood-letting therapy has effect on the orifice in emergency, such as fore draining, freeing network vessels, harmonizing gi and blood, relieving pain, dispersing swelling and concretion, sedation, resolving toxin as well as strengthening the heart, relieving itching. So it has distinguished effect on all kinds of medical treatment to the modern people. But by the change of social customs and the confucianism of confucius - it is widely spread on the period of North and South Dynasties, 'Wi' and 'Jin' in china and the period of the Three States in korea - The blood-letting therapy which was regarded as the most important medicinal treatment withered rapidly. And Confucius accentuated the importance of our body and all its members, loyalty and filial piety and banned any damage of our body under no circumstances. As a result of it, the therapy of blood-letting had a rapid decrease and barely kept itself in existence in both countries. What is worse, at the period of Japanese colonial rule of korea and our nation's founding of early stage, it has been withered by the high-handed policy to change Oriental Medicine into modern medical science. So the therapy of blood-letting barely kept itself in existence in some Buddhist temples. Another case, it has handed down as a old-fashioned quick fix in folk remedies. But all kinds of the contamination of heavy metals and the misuses of antibiotics are widely spread nowadays, which increased diseases of adult people and incurable diseases as modern society unavoidably made its way into a highly industrial society. To make us more miserable, the western medical science - the antibiotics and surgical operation medical science - already reveals itself into a limit. The necessity of a new medical science which can give a security to the patients who are suffering from the diseases of adult people and the incurable diseases is especially come into the force nowadays. In view of the results after bibliographically studying on the blood-letting Therapy in Elementary Questions of the Yellow Emperor's Canon of Internal Medicine, the blood-letting therapy has acted for the important Oriental medicinal science and has been clarified the prominent effects on the diseases of adult people and the incurable diseases. So it is regarded as an appropriate thing that we lay out a determined theory of the blood-letting therapy and of course prevent the unwanted side effects from inappropriate medicinal treatments, and make full use of clinic by elevating the curative value and that we win back our self-respect of medical treatment which is dominated from the western medical science and ultimately contribute to national medical welfare.

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Effects of Fructus and Semen from Rosa rugosa on Osteoimmune cells (해당화의 과육 및 종자 추출물이 골형성 관련 세포에 미치는 영향)

  • Kang, Se-Chan;Lim, Jung-Dae;Lee, Jae-Cheol;Park, Hye-Jin;Kang, Nam-Sung;Sohn, Eun-Hwa
    • Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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    • v.23 no.2
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    • pp.157-164
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    • 2010
  • Rosa rugosa has been used as a folk medicine with various pharmacological properties for a long time in Asia. We investigated effects of fructus extracts of Rosa rugosa (RRF) and semen extracts of this herb (RRS) on bone forming cells (osteoblastic and pre-osteoclastic cells) to evaluate the pharmacological possibilities in a variety of bone-related disease. RRF showed significant effect on proliferation of osteoblastic cells in dose-dependent manners at 72 hrs and $100\;{\mu}g/m{\ell}$ of RRS was effective at 48 and 72 hrs. RRF and RRS did not decreased production of TNF-$\alpha$ but NO by pre-osteoclastic cells under inflammation circumstance indeced by LPS. We also investigated the effects of RRF and RRS on the mitogen-induced lymphocyte proliferation in the old and young mice in ex vivo systems. RRF and RRS significantly enhanced proliferative effects of untreated and ConA-treated splenocytes from the old and young mice. But, RRS at $500\;{\mu}g/m{\ell}$ increased LPS-induced TNF-$\alpha$ production in pre-osteoclastic cells and reduced LPS-stimulated lymphoblastogenesis in the old and young at $1000\;{\mu}g/m{\ell}$. These results indicate that RRF has beneficial effects on osteoarthritis and give further possibilities for the immunomodulating effects not only in old that has more frequent bone related diseases but also in young.

Antimicrobial, Anti-inflammatory, and Anti-oxidative Effects of Water- and Ethanol-extracted Brazilian Propolis

  • Kim, Kee-Tae;Yeo, Eun-Ju;Han, Ye-Sun;Nah, Seung-Yeol;Paik, Hyun-Dong
    • Food Science and Biotechnology
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    • v.14 no.4
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    • pp.474-478
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    • 2005
  • Because it possesses anti-inflammatory, antifungal, antiviral, and tissue regenerative properties, propolis has been used for thousands of years in folk medicine for multiple purposes. Although the antimicrobial activity of propolis has already been demonstrated, very few studies have been conducted on bacteria of clinical relevance in dentistry. The aim of this study is to evaluate the antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and anti-oxidative activities of 0.1% and 1.0% propolis, both of water-extracted (proAQ) and ethanol-extracted (proAL) propolis, for industrial applications. In studies of antimicrobial activity, the growth of Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 35556, Salmonella enteritidis ATCC 12021, Escherichia coli O157:H7, and Candida parapsilosis KCCM 35428, all general food or clinical pathogens, were tested. The culture medium used was trypticase soy broth including 0.6% yeast extract; after 6 hr of incubation, the turbidities were measured at 620 nm with a spectrophotometer. The results indicate that the antimicrobial effects of both 1.0% proAQ and 1.0% proAL were greater against the growth of S. aureus ATCC 35556 and C. parapsilosis KCCM 35428 rather than those of S. enteritidis ATCC 12021 and E. coli O157:H7. Additionally, it appears that the anti-inflammatory effects of proAL are greater than those of proAQ. The anti-inflammatory effects were evaluated by measurement of the inhibition of hyaluronidase activity in vitro. At a 1% concentration, the anti-inflammatory effects of proAL were greater than those of proAQ. Finally, the anti-oxidative effects of 1% and 10% solutions of each extract sample were measured according to the TBA method at $40^{\circ}C$ for 1, 2, 3, and 5 days and were compared with 1.0% BHT. The results indicate that the anti-oxidative effects at 0.1% for both proAQ and proAL were not significantly different than the anti-oxidative effects at 1.0% BHT (p<0.05). Thus, it appeared that the alcohol-extracted propolis had greater antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and anti-oxidative effects than the water-extracted propolis. This is based on the presumption that major biofunctional components were fat-soluble, rather than water-soluble.

Effect of Essential Oil from San-Jo-In (Zizyphus jujuba Mill. seeds) on Human Electroencephalographic Activity (산조인(Zizyphus jujuba Mill.) 에센셜오일 흡입이 인간의 뇌파에 미치는 영향)

  • Cho, Haeme;Yu, Byoungsun;Sowndhararajan, Kandhasamy;Jung, Ji-Wook;Jhoo, Jin-Woo;Kim, Songmun
    • Journal of Life Science
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    • v.23 no.9
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    • pp.1170-1176
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    • 2013
  • Essential oils have been used to treat psychophysiological disorders, but their effects on human electroencephalographic (EEG) activity have not been thoroughly investigated. We evaluated the effects of essential oil of Zizyphus jujuba seeds, a Korean folk medicine known as San-Jo-In, on human EEG activity. For this purpose, essential oil was extracted from San-Jo-In by the supercritical carbon dioxide extraction method. The effect of its inhalation on EEG activity was evaluated by measuring the EEG power spectrum (25 indices) in 20 healthy participants. The results of the EEG power spectrum indicated that the values of the theta wave decreased significantly (p<0.05) in the left (from 17.277 to $13.854{\mu}V$) and right parietal (from 15.324 to $13.020{\mu}V$) regions compared to the other regions. During the inhalation of San-Jo-In oil, the EEG spectrum values of fast alpha, relative gamma, and spectral edge frequency increased 50% compared to those before inhalation. The values of the fast alpha wave increased significantly (p<0.05) in the left prefrontal (from 0.063 to $0.085{\mu}V$), right prefrontal (from 0.064 to $0.085{\mu}V$), and left frontal (from 0.073 to $0.100{\mu}V$) regions following inhalation of the San-Jo-In essential oil. The changes in the EEG activities following inhalation of San-Jo-In suggest that the oil can improve psychological well-being by increasing attention and relaxation.

Effect of Inorganic Components on the Seedling Growth Performance of Kalopanx pictus Nakai (음나무의 유묘생장에 영향을 미치는 엽중 무기성분 함량)

  • Lee, Cheul-Ho;Shin, Chang-Ho;Kim, Kyu-Sick;Choi, Myung-Suk
    • Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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    • v.14 no.3
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    • pp.173-177
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    • 2006
  • Terminal buds and young leaves of Kalopanax pictus are in a great demand as a edible vegetable. Its bark of stems and roots have been used as the resources of folk medicine in Korea. Recently, attempts to cultivate the plant have being tried in farms and mountain villages. This study was conducted to determine effect of inorganic elements on seedlings growth of K. pictus. Levels of inorganic elements in the leaves were variable based on macro and micro inorganic elements. Among the inorganic elements in the leaves of K. pictus seedlings, level of N was high, while other ions were low in the order of K, Ca, P, Mg, Mn, Fe and Zn. A highly significant correlations between the seedling growth and the level of N, P, K, and Na in the leaves, while a low positive significant correlations between the growth and the level of either Mg or Mn and no significant correlations between the growth and the level of Ca, Fe, Cu, and Zn. The most affecting inorganic ion on the seedling growth was N, and followed by the order of K, P, Mg, Mn and Na.

Antioxidative compounds of Achillea sibirica Ledeb (톱풀의 항산화 성분)

  • Moon, Hyung-In;Lyu, Sung-Hyo;Roh, Jong-Hwa;Zee, Ok-Pyo
    • Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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    • v.8 no.1
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    • pp.1-8
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    • 2000
  • Achillea sibirica Ledeb. is widely distributed in Korea and has been often used as folk medicine in peptic and tonic. As one of our searches for bioactive (anti oxidation) compounds from medicinal plants, we studied Achillea sibirica Ledeb. (Compositae). Antioxidant activity of Achillea sibirica was determined by measuring lipid peroxide produced when a mouse liver homogenate was exposed at $90^{\circ}C$ using 2-thiobarbituric acid (TBA) and by evaluation the radical scavenging activity on 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical. Whole parts of Achillea sibirica was extracted with methanol and its extracts was fractionated with organic solvent; n-Hexane, methylene chloride, ethyl acetate, n-Butanol. EtOAc fraction exhibited antioxidant activity and From its, two flavonoid glycosides were isolated by silica gel and gel filtration colume chromatography and identified to kampferol 3-O-glucoside and luteolin 7-O-neo-hesperidoside, respectively, by physico-chemical and spectroscopical method. At antioxidant activity test for two compounds isolated, antioxidant activity was showed too. And from hexane fraction sterol was is isolated and identificated to mixture of campesterol, stigmasterol, and ${\beta}-sitosterol$.

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Anti-obesity Effect of Salsola collina Ethanol Extract (솔장다리 추출물의 항비만 효과)

  • Jin, Kyong-Suk;Lee, Su Hyeon;Kwon, Hyun Ju;Kim, Byung Woo
    • Journal of Life Science
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    • v.27 no.8
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    • pp.888-895
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    • 2017
  • Salsola collina (S. collina) is an annual plant widely distributed in drought and semi-drought areas, which has been used for a long time as a kind of folk remedy in traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of hypertension. Previously, the anti-oxidative and anti-cancer activities of S. collina were elucidated in our research group. In this study, the anti-obesity activities of S. collina ethanol extract (SCEE) were evaluated using a pancreatic lipase enzyme inhibition assay and cell culture model. The results showed that SCEE effectively suppressed pancreatic lipase enzyme activity in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, SCEE significantly suppressed adipocyte differentiation, lipid accumulation, and triglyceride (TG) content, and triggered lipolysis on insulin, dexamethasone, and 3-isobutyl-l-methylxanthine-treated 3T3-L1 preadipocytes in a dose-dependent manner without cytotoxicity. Its anti-obesity effect was modulated by cytidine-cytidine-adenosine-adenosine-thymidine (CCAAT)/enhancer binding proteins ${\alpha}$ ($C/EBP{\alpha}$), $C/EBP{\beta}$, and the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor ${\gamma}$ ($PPAR{\gamma}$) gene, as well as protein expressions. Taken together, these results offer the important new insight that S. collina possesses anti-obesity properties, such as pancreatic lipase inhibition and anti-adipogenic and lipolysis effects through the modulation of their upstream signaling pathway. It could become a promising source in the field of nutraceuticals, and the identification of active compounds that confer the biological activities of SCEE may be needed.

Morphological characteristics, chemical and genetic diversity of kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) genotypes

  • Ryu, Jaihyunk;Kwon, Soon-Jae;Kim, Dong-Gun;Lee, Min-Kyu;Kim, Jung Min;Jo, Yeong Deuk;Kim, Sang Hoon;Jeong, Sang Wook;Kang, Kyung-Yun;Kim, Se Won;Kim, Jin-Baek;Kang, Si-Yong
    • Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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    • v.44 no.4
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    • pp.416-430
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    • 2017
  • The kenaf plant is used widely as food and in traditional folk medicine. This study evaluated the morphological characteristics, functional compounds, and genetic diversity of 32 kenaf cultivars from a worldwide collection. We found significant differences in the functional compounds of leaves from all cultivars, including differences in levels of chlorogenic acid isomer (CAI), chlorogenic acid (CA), kaempferol glucosyl rhamnoside isomer (KGRI), kaempferol rhamnosyl xyloside (KRX), kaemperitrin (KAPT) and total phenols (TPC). The highest TPC, KAPT, CA, and KRX contents were observed in the C22 cultivars. A significant correlation was observed between flowering time and DM yield, seed yield, and four phenolic compounds (KGRI, KRX, CAI, and TPC) (P < 0.01). To assess genetic diversity, we used 80 simple sequence repeats (SSR) primer sets and identified 225 polymorphic loci in the kenaf cultivars. The polymorphism information content and genetic diversity values ranged from 0.11 to 0.79 and 12 to 0.83, with average values of 0.39 and 0.43, respectively. The cluster analysis of the SSR markers showed that the kenaf genotypes could be clearly divided into three clusters based on flowering time. Correlations analysis was conducted for the 80 SSR markers; morphological, chemical and growth traits were found for 15 marker traits (corolla, vein, petal, leaf, stem color, leaf shape, and KGRI content) with significant marker-trait correlations. These results could be used for the selection of kenaf cultivars with improved yield and functional compounds.