• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.683-690
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• 2014

Nanomaterials are used in a range of fields, including industry, medicine, aerospace, and manufacturing, due to their unique and useful properties. In recent years, nanotechnology has developed rapidly, and the amount of nanomaterials used in various fields has increased consistently. As a result, nanomaterials are released into the aquatic and soil ecosystem, posing potential risks to organisms and environment. These materials can enter the cells and may cause serious damage to organisms. Furthermore, they can be transferred through trophic levels and food web, thereby leading to bioconcentration and biomagnification. In this study, we analyzed the trends in research on food chain transfer of nanomaterials and investigated the techniques used in the research. Although many studies have been underway, there is a need for further advanced studies on higher trophic levels and complex microcosm and mesocosm. Furthermore, study topics should be expanded to include various types of nanomaterials and varied species and trophic levels.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.317-326
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• 2011

With its recent advances, nanotechnology is now being applied to various areas. Despite the benefits of nanoparticles, their risk in the environment has caused controversy, which is now becoming an international issue. Nanoparticles can easily infiltrate into cells, accumulate in biota, and may cause adverse effects in the levels of molecules, cells and organisms, and in the community. If nanoparticles are released into the environment, they can be transferred to organisms in the ecosystem, and eventually to the human body through the food chain. In this study, the research trend of the trophic transfer of nanoparticles in the food chain was investigated. Although a few investigations have been conducted regarding this topic, the trophic transfer of nanoparticles is becoming a significant issue in the area of nanotoxicology due to the potential risk to humans via the biomagnification process. While previous studies have demonstrated evidence of the trophic transfer of nanoparticles intensive future studies are needed to provide further information on the properties of nanomaterials, the exposure media, and the in vivo mechanisms such as uptake, accumulation, and depuration.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.43-51
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• 2020

The present study was designed to characterize the bioaccumulation of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in marine organisms (zooplankton, oyster, crab, and goby) on different trophic level. In the present study, sedentary bivalve (oyster) showed strong correlations in OCPs levels with surface sediment in the study area. This indicates the two compartments can be used as alternative for pollution monitoring of OCPs even in narrow scale in space. Bioaccumulation and trophic transfer of OCPs was strongly associated with their hydrophobicity (i.e., K_OW). HCHs with log K_OW < 5 did not show any enrichment through food-chain. However, log BAF values of OCPs with log K_OW > 5 positioned over the 1:1 lines of log BAF and log K_OW of the top predator, indicating the greater fugacities in the higher trophic level and thus the occurrence of biomagnification via ingestion. Based on trophic transfer factors (TTF), more hydrophobic OCPs with log K_OW > 5 were enriched by several to several ten times in the highest trophic level relative to the lowest trophic level. This finding can be used in the establishment of marine environmental water quality criteria by considering biomagnification factors (TTF in this study) of OCPs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.423-431
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• 2001

Animals are one of the important memberships of the food chain. The low-efficiency rule of nutrient transfer from one member to the next in the food chain determines the low efficiency of animal agriculture for human food. On the average, about 20% feed proteins and 15% feed energy can be converted into edible nutrients for humans. The rest proportion of feed nutrients is exposed to the environment. Environmental pollution, therefore, is inevitable as animal agriculture grows intensively and extensively. The over-loading of the environment by nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus from animal manure results in soil and water spoilage. The emission of gases like $CH_2$, $CO_2$, $SO_2$, NO, $NO_2$ by animals are one of the contributors for the acidification of the environment and global warming. The inefficient utilization of natural resources and the probable unsafety of animal products to human health are also a critical environmental issue. Improving the conversion efficiency of nutrients in the food chain is the fundamental strategy for solving environmental issues. Specifically in animal agriculture, the strategy includes the improvements of animal genotypes, nutritional and feeding management, animal health, housing systems and waste disposal programs. Animal nutrition science plays a unique and irreplaceable role in the control of nutrient input and output in either products or wastes. Several nutritional methods are proved to be effective in alleviating environmental pollution. A lot of nutritional issues, however, remain to be further researched for the science of animal nutrition to be a strong helper for sustainability of animal agriculture.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.67-74
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• 1991

Parameter uncertainty and sensitivity of KFOOD model for calculating the ingestion dose via terrestrial food-chain pathway was analyzed with using Monte-Carlo approach. For the rice ingestion pathway, estimated values from KFOOD code were very conservative. Most sensitive input parameters in model were deposition velocities and soil-to-plant transfer coefficient of radionuclides.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.55-65
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• 1991

Soil-to-plant transfer coefficients of Mn-54, Co-60, Zn-65, and Cs-137 were estimated for the edible parts of the rice, soybean, lettuce, carrot, and squash grown in different soils by radiotracer uptake experiments using pot cultures. The transfer coefficients of radionuclides were in the order of Zn-65 > Mn-54 > Cs-137 > Co-60 in most of the cases studied. The coefficients for soybean were roughly an order of magnitude higher than those for rice. Among vegetables, lettuce mostly showed the highest value and squash, the lowest. In the strongly acidic soils, transfer coefficients were much higher than in the moderately acidic soils. From the data obtained. crop-specific transfer coefficients of the four nuclides were proposed for the use in Korean food-chain radiation dose assessment.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.263-269
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• 2016

Temperate phages have been suggested to carry virulence factors and other lysogenic conversion genes that play important roles in pathogenicity. In this study, phage TEM123 in wild-type Staphylococcus aureus from food sources was analyzed with respect to its morphology, genome sequence, and antibiotic resistance conversion ability. Phage TEM123 from a mitomycin C-induced lysate of S. aureus was isolated from foods. Morphological analysis under a transmission electron microscope revealed that it belonged to the family Siphoviridae. The genome of phage TEM123 consisted of a double-stranded DNA of 43,786 bp with a G+C content of 34.06%. A bioinformatics analysis of the phage genome identified 43 putative open reading frames (ORFs). ORF1 encoded a protein that was nearly identical to the metallo-β-lactamase enzymes that degrade β-lactam antibiotics. After transduction to S. aureus with phage TEM123, the metallo-β-lactamase gene was confirmed in the transductant by PCR and sequencing analyses. In a β-lactam antibiotic susceptibility test, the transductant was more highly resistant to β-lactam antibiotics than S. aureus S133. Phage TEM123 might play a role in the transfer of β-lactam antibiotic resistance determinants in S. aureus. Therefore, we suggest that the prophage of S. aureus with its exotoxin is a risk factor for food safety in the food chain through lateral gene transfer.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.414-422
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• 2001

Antibiotic resistance in human pathogens is a major public health issue. Some of the resistance problem can be attributed to the transfer of resistant bacteria from animals to people and the transfer of resistance genes from animal pathogens and commensal bacteria to human pathogens. Control measures include improvements in food hygiene to reduce the spread of zoonotic bacteria to people via the food chain. However, to specifically address the issue, the medical profession must control misuse and overuse of antibiotics in hospitals and community practice. In addition, the livestock industries and their advisors must reduce and refine the use of antibiotics in animal production and replace antibiotics with alternative disease control measures as much as possible.

• Advances in environmental research
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.15-35
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• 2012

Mercury (Hg) is a global environmental pollutant that has been the cause of many public concerns. One particular concern about Hg in aquatic systems is its trophic transfer and biomagnification in food chains. For example, the Hg concentration increases with the increase of food chain level. Fish at the top of food chain can accumulate high concentrations of Hg (especially the toxic form, methylmercury, MeHg), which is then transferred to humans through seafood consumption. Various biological and physiochemical conditions can significantly affect the bioaccumulation of Hg-including both its inorganic (Hg(II)) and organic (MeHg) forms-in fish. There have been numerous measurements of Hg concentrations in marine and freshwater fish worldwide. Many of these studies have attempted to identify the processes leading to variations of Hg concentrations in fish species from different habitats. The development of a biokinetic model over the past decade has helped improve our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the bioaccumulation processes of Hg in aquatic animals. In this review, I will discuss how the biokinetic modeling approach can be used to reveal the interesting biodynamics of Hg in fish, such as the trophic transfer and exposure route of Hg(II) and MeHg, as well as growth enrichment (the increases in Hg concentration with fish size) and biomass dilution (the decreases in Hg concentration with increasing phytoplankton biomass). I will also discuss the relevance of studying the subcellular fates of Hg to predict the Hg bioaccessibility and detoxification in fish. Future challenges will be to understand the inter- and intra-species differences in Hg accumulation and the management/mitigation of Hg pollution in both marine and freshwater fish based on our knowledge of Hg biodynamics.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.211-217
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• 2006

For more realistic assessment of Korean food chain radiation doses due to the operation of nuclear facilities, it is required to use domestically produced data for radionuclide transfer parameters in crop plants. This paper analyzed results of last about 10 year's studies on radionuclide transfer parameters in major crop plants by the Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute, comparing with the published international data, and consequently suggested the proper parameters to use. The trends of transfer parameter shows normal distributions if we have a lot of experimental data, but some radionuclides showed enormous variations with the environment of experimental, crops and soils. These transfer factors can be used to assess realistic radiation doses or to predict the doses in crops for normal operation or accidental release. Some kinds of parameter can be produced as conservatives or fragmentary results because soil-to-plant transfer factors were measured through greenhouse experiments which sometimes showed improper field situations. But these parameters mentioned in this paper can be representative of the status of Korean food chain than that of foreign country.