• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.25 no.8
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• pp.1178-1183
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• 2012

A 5-wk trial with 96 ($(Landrace{\times}Yorkshire){\times}Duroc$) pigs ($BW=26.56{\pm}0.42kg$) was conducted to investigate the effect of eugenol and cinnamaldehyde as feed additive in growing pigs. Pigs were assigned to 1 of 3 treatments in a randomized complete block design according to their sex and BW. Each treatment contained 8 replications with 4 pigs (2 gilts and 2 barrows) per pen. Treatments included: control (basal diet; CON); (basal diet+1,000 mg eugenol/kg; ET); (basal diet+1,000 mg cinnamaldehyde/kg; CT). Administration of eugenol and cinnamaldehyde did not did not affect (p>0.05) the growth performance and apparent total tract digestibility. Dietary CT and ET led to a higher (p<0.05) lymphocyte concentration compared with CON. The inclusion of CT and ET decreased (p<0.05) the fecal E. coli concentration (p>0.05). Pigs fed the diets supplemented with eugenol and cinnamaldehyde had reduced (p<0.05) $NH_3$ and $H_2S$ concentration throughout the experiment. In conclusion, results obtained in the present study indicated that supplementation of eugenol and cinamaldehyde had no effect on growth performance of pigs but exhibited lymphocyte-enhancing activity and decreased the fecal E. coli concentration and fecal noxious gas content ($NH_3$ and $H_2S$).

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.71-78
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• 2013

The purpose of the paper is to empirically investigate the role of human capital and labour market conditions in the growth process. To do so, cross-sectional data for 3062 counties across 50 states of the US. Firstly, findings from the empirical estimation suggest income convergence among US counties. Secondly, the stock of human capital appears to have the growth enhancing effect while education expenditures turn out to retard economic growth. Thirdly, it is found that the unemployment rate would have a negative association with regional growth whereas the net migration rate is likely to have a positive relationship with growth. Once the sample counties are divided into both the poor group and the rich group, finally, such main empirical results overall remain unchanged and statistically significant.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.135-142
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• 1984

The effect of biotin on the growth and sporulation of Bacillus subtilis SNU816 was investigated. When B. subtilis SNU816 was cultured on glucose as a sole carbon source, the growth was retarded markedly and usually ceased at early log phawe. But by addition of biotin to this medium, normal, rapid growth was restored. The growth rate was increased proportionally according to the concentration of exogenous biotin until it reached to 0.05㎍/ml, at which about three fold rapid growth was achieved. Also biotin was required for optimum sporulation for it facilitated the complete utilization of both glucose(Glc) and glutamic acid(Glu). Without biotin in Glc+Glu medium, about 40% of glutamic acid was remained unutilized. The dipicolinic acid content of cells cultured in Glc+Glu medium without biotin was markedly small and sporulation was suppressed before free spore release. Since biotin could be partiallyreplaced by one of TCA cycle intermediates such as oxalacetic acid, citric acid, or glutamic acid in enhancing growth in Glc medium, it was postulated that this strain might have a defect in converting pyruvate to oxalacetate which process is known to be mediated by pyruvate carboxylase that requires biotin as a cofactor.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.107-119
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• 2019

This paper examines the impact of financial integration on economic growth in Southeast Asia over the period 1993-2013. This paper further investigates whether the relationship depends on the level of financial and economic development, government corruption, and macroeconomic policy. These questions raise important issues both from a theoretical and a policy perspective. We employ the generalized methods of moment (GMM) in the dynamic panel estimation framework to analyse several factors, including initial income, initial schooling, financial development, inflation, trade openness, corruption, and financial crisis. The study further analyzes the data using the EGLS model to examine the consistency of the GMM model. We found that financial integration has a significant positive effect on economic growth in Southeast Asia. Our findings suggest that increasing financial integration could improve the productive capacity of the economy, including more investments and efficient allocation of capital, and thus enhancing economic growth in this region. More specifically, the results suggest that the government should work towards eliminating corruption and stabilizing macroeconomics in order to enhance financial integration and economic growth. This paper sheds new insights on a better evaluation of the past and present theorizing on the subject of financial integration and economic growth; especially, in Southeast Asia.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.206-217
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• 2023

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The immunomodulatory effect of Platycodon grandiflorum (PG) has been reported, but studies on its mechanism are still lacking. This study was undertaken to confirm whether the hydrolyzed and fermented PG extract (HFPGE) obtained by adding hydrolysis and fermentation to the extraction process has an immune-enhancing effect in the in vivo system. MATERIALS/METHODS: Five-week-old BALB/c mice were divided into 4 groups: normal control group (NOR), control group (CON), 150 mg/kg body weight (BW)/day HFPGE-treated group (T150), and 300 mg/kg BW/day HFPGE-treated group (T300). The mice were administered HFPGE for 4 weeks and intraperitoneally injected with cyclophosphamide (CPA, 80 mg/kg BW/day) on day 6, 7, and 8, respectively, to induce immunosuppression. The levels of immunoglobulins (Igs) and cytokines were measured in the serum. In splenocytes, proliferation and cytokine levels were measured. RESULTS: Serum IgA, IgG, and IgM levels were observed to decrease after CPA treatment, which was recovered by HFPGE administration. The levels of serum interleukin (IL)-12, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, IL-8, and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β were also decreased after exposure to CPA but increased after HFPGE administration. Decreased splenocyte proliferation was seen in CPA-treated mice, but was observed to increase in the T150 and T300 groups as compared to the NOR group. Compared to the CON group, splenocyte proliferation stimulated with concanavalin A (ConA) or lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in the HFPGE-treated groups was significantly increased. The cytokines secreted by ConA-stimulated splenocytes (IL-2, IL-12, interferon-γ, TNF-α) were increased in the T150 and T300 groups, and cytokines secreted by LPS-stimulated splenocytes (IL-4, IL-8, TGF-β) were also increased by HFPGE administration. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that HFPGE stimulates the immunity in immunosuppressed conditions, thereby enhancing the immune response. Therefore, it is expected that HFPGE has the potential to be used as functional food and medicine for immune recovery in various immunocompromised situations.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.776-782
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• 2016

Salinity has been a threat to agriculture in some parts of the world; and recently, the threat has grown. Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) may benefit plant growth, either by improving plant nutrition or producing plant growth hormones. The effects of rhizobacterial strains to attenuate the salinity stress on the germination of Chinese cabbage seeds were tested using four different concentrations of NaCl (50, 100, 150, and 200 mM). Also, PGPR strains were tested to enhance the early germination of Chinese cabbage seeds under normal conditions. Azotobacter chroococcum performed best with enhancing the radicle length of 4.0, 1.2, and 1.0 times at treatments of 50, 100, and 150 mM of NaCl, respectively. Additionally, significant differences were found in plumule length, A. chroococcum and Lactobacillus sp. showed remarkable activation either in normal or under stress conditions. Co-inoculation by three rhizobacterial strains (LAPmix) indicated synergistic effect to enhance the early germination of the seeds. The results of this study are promising for application of rhizobacterial strains that possess plant growth promoting traits to enhance the plant tolerance against salinity.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.173-182
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• 2019

The use of double lumen catheters as a means of hemodialysis access is commonly accompanied with the use of gentamicin as an antibiotic lock. Other antibiotics and anticoagulants are often added to increase the efficacy of gentamicin in order to reduce catheter-related infection and to prevent biofilm formation. This review aimed to evaluate the following: 1) the use of gentamicin in eliminating catheter-related infection and reducing biofilm formation in hemodialysis catheters, 2) the efficacy of additional antibiotics in combination with gentamicin, and 3) the effect of additional anticoagulants to complement the efficacy of gentamicin as the main prophylactic antibiotic lock. We sorted through data from 242 PubMed and ScienceDirect studies, which were then short-listed to 33 studies. Next, they were grouped, extracted, and analyzed qualitatively to fulfil the objectives of this review. Consequently, the use of a gentamicin-lock solution was shown to reduce the incidence of bacteremia; however, it was not strong enough to inhibit the growth of infectious microbes and formation of biofilms. Several bacteria, such as Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Escherichia coli, and Klebsiella pneumoniae, have been reported as infectious agents. Combination with other antibiotics also provided no effect in reducing bacterial growth and biofilm formation in catheters. Furthermore, the additional anticoagulants (trisodium citrate and EDTA) were reported to be effective in enhancing the efficacy of gentamicin in avoiding catheter-related infection, bacterial growth, and biofilm formation; thus, the use of gentamicin can be rationalized.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.10
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• pp.1473-1478
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• 2008

An experiment was conducted to investigate the mechanism for the effect of tetrabasic zinc chloride (TBZC) in enhancing growth performance of weanling piglets. Gut-brain peptides play an important role in the regulation of growth and appetite in animals. This study evaluated the effects of TBZC on blood concentrations of growth hormone (GH), ghrelin, insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), cholecystokinin (CCK) and neuropeptide Y (NPY). Seventy-two weanling piglets (Landrace$\times$Large White) with an initial body weight (BW) of $6.7{\pm}0.16kg$ and aged $24{\pm}1days$ were assigned to three dietary treatments: i) control diet without TBZC supplement, ii) the control diet supplemented with 2,000 mg Zn from TBZC/kg and iii) TBZC-supplemented diet pair-fed with respect to the control diet. Each treatment had six replications (pens) of four piglets. At the end of a 14-d experimental period, piglets were weighed and feed consumption was measured, and blood samples were collected for assays of GH, ghrelin, IGF-I, CCK and NPY concentrations. The inclusion of TBZC in the diet increased average daily gain (p<0.01), average daily feed intake (p<0.05), and feed conversion ratio (p<0.05). Pair-fed piglets had higher ADG, and lower FCR than (p<0.05) Control piglets. Supplementation of the diet with TBZC increased (p<0.05) serum GH and plasma ghrelin levels in weanling piglets, but did not affect (p>0.05) serum IGF-I and plasma NPY and CCK concentrations. Pair-fed piglets had lower (p<0.05) serum GH levels than TBZC-supplemented piglets, but did not (p>0.05) differ from Control piglets. These data indicated that TBZC elevated the concentration of ghrelin and GH. This observation may partly explain the beneficial effects of TBZC on growth performance of weanling piglets.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.324-333
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• 2004

To determine whether Insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I) treatment represents a potential means of enhancing the survival of cardiac muscle cells from adriamycin (ADR)-induced cell death, the present study examined the ability of IGF-I to prevent cell death. The study was performed utilising the embryonic, rat, cardiac muscle cell line, H9C2. Incubating cardiac muscle cells in the presence of adriamycin increased cell death, as determined by MTT assay and annexin V-positive cell number. The addition of 100 ng/mL IGF-I, in the presence of adriamycin, decreased apoptosis. The effect of IGF-I on phosphorylation of PI, a substrate of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI 3-kinase) or protein kinase B (AKT), was also examined in H9C2 cardiac muscle cells. IGF-I increased the phosphorylation of ERK 1 and 2 and $PKC{\;}{\zeta}{\;}kinase$. The use of inhibitors of PI 3-kinase (LY 294002), in the cell death assay, demonstrated partial abrogation of the protective effect of IGF-I. The MEK1 inhibitor-PD098059 and the PKC inhibitor-chelerythrine exhibited no effect on IGF-1-induced cell protection. In the regulatory subunit of PI3K-p85- dominant, negative plasmid-transfected cells, the IGF-1-induced protective effect was reversed. This data demonstrates that IGF-I protects cardiac muscle cells from ADR-induced cell death. Although IGF-I activates several signaling pathways that contribute to its protective effect in other cell types, only activation of PI 3-kinase contributes to this effect in H9C2 cardiac muscle cells.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.356-361
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• 2017

Houttuyniae Herba is widely used as a cosmetic for enhancing hair growth, and study on promoting mouse hair growth has also been reported. However, studies on the effects of the Houttuyniae Herba on dermal papilla (DP) cells, which play an important role in hair growth, are not well known. For this reason, we studied the effect of Houttuyniae Herba on DP cells. The strong antioxidant activity of Houttuyniae Herba was confirmed by ABTS assay. In the MTS assay, cell viability was reduced to 94.5% in DP cells by treatment of 2 mg/ml concentration of Houttuyniae Herb and cytotoxicity was not observed at 1 mg/ml concentration. The mRNA expression levels of Bone morphogenetic pretein (BMP6), fibroblast growth factor 7 (FGF7), FGF10, and ${\beta}$-galactosidase genes, which are involved in hair growth cycle and hair loss induction, were measured by quantitative RT-PCR after Houttuyniae Herbtreatment. Houttuyniae Herb did not significantly affect mRNA expression of BMP6, FGF7, FGF10, and ${\beta}$-catenin, which are important factors for regulating the hair cycle, including type 1 $5{\alpha}$-reductase. However, mRNA expression of type 2 $5{\alpha}$-reductase, the major cause of male hair loss, was significantly reduced to 56.1% by treatment of Houttuyniae Herbtreatment. Taken together, these results suggest that the Houttuyniae Herbtreatment can help to treat lair loss through removing free radicals and suppression of the expression level of type 2 $5{\alpha}$-reductase in DP cells.