• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.577-586
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• 2009

Aging is associated with decreased energy expenditure, thermogenesis and energy requirements. Maintenance of physical fitness of the elderly has been reported to reduce the rate at which the basal metabolic rate, muscle strength, skeletal muscle mass and bone density deteriorate. Skeletal muscle disease is known to increase the risk of physical disability and psychological problems. This study was conducted to investigate changes in disability, emotional problems, body compositions, obesity indices and nutrient intake levels according to physical fitness with the elderly in rural areas. According to the results, physical fitness was negatively related with Activities of Daily Living(ADL, p<0.05), Instrumental Activities of Daily Living(IADL, p<0.001), Body Mass Index(BMI, p<0.001) and abdominal obesity(p<0.05), while it showed a positive correlation with the General Self Efficacy Scale(GSES)(p<0.001) and nutrient intake(p<0.05). When changes in these factors were compared according to the range of quartile of the Fullerton Advanced Balance Scale(FAB Scale), GSES(Q1=35.3, Q2=43.5, Q3=53.2, Q4=51.9, p<0.001), BMI(Q1=36.1%, Q2=34.7%, Q3=33.2%, Q4=28.6%, p<0.01), abdominal obesity(Q1=1.02, Q2=0.99, Q3=0.97, Q4=0.94, p<0.001) and nutrient intake(Q1=71.1%, Q2=75.4%, Q3=80.6%, Q4=80.2%, p<0.05) differed significantly. Taken together, these results suggested that better physical fitness would lead to a reduction in negative factors including physical disability and obesity indices, but to an increase in positive factors such as GSES and nutrient intake. The results of this study are expected to be used as basic data for the development of programs to promote the health of the elderly in a local society.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.801-806
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• 2016

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effects of different supplemental levels of Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentation product (SCFP; Original XP; Diamond V) on lactation performance in Holstein dairy cows under heat stress. Eighty-one multiparous Holstein dairy cows were divided into 27 blocks of 3 cows each based on milk yield ($23.6{\pm}0.20kg/d$), parity ($2.88{\pm}0.91$) and day in milk ($204{\pm}46d$). The cows were randomly assigned within blocks to one of three treatments: 0 (control), 120, or 240 g/d of SCFP mixed with 240, 120, or 0 g of corn meal, respectively. The experiment was carried out during the summer season of 2014, starting from 14 July 2014 and lasting for 9 weeks with the first week as adaption period. During the experimental period, average daily temperature-humidity index (measured at 08:00, 14:00, and 20:00) was above 68, indicating that cows were exposed to heat stress throughout the study. Rectal temperatures tended to decrease linearly (p = 0.07) for cows supplemented with SCFP compared to the control cows at 14:30, but were not different at 06:30 (p>0.10). Dry matter intake was not affected by SCFP supplementation (p>0.10). Milk yield increased linearly (p<0.05) with increasing levels of SCFP. Feed efficiency (milk yield/ dry matter intake) was highest (p<0.05) for cows fed 240 g/d SCFP. Cows supplemented with SCFP gained (p<0.01) body weight, while cows in the control lost body weight. Net energy balance also increased linearly (p<0.01) with increasing levels of SCFP. Concentrations of milk urea nitrogen (p<0.01) decreased linearly with increasing levels of SCFP, while no difference (p>0.10) was observed among the treatments in conversion of dietary crude protein to milk protein yield. In summary, supplementation of SCFP alleviated the negative effect of heat stress in lactating Holstein dairy cows and allowed cows to maintain higher milk production, feed efficiency and net energy balance. Effects of SCFP were dose-dependent and greater effects were observed from higher doses.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.797-803
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• 2017

Objective: Effects of nitrogen supplementation associated with different levels of starch on voluntary intake, digestibility, and rumen and metabolic characteristics of cattle fed low-quality tropical forage (Brachiaria decumbens hay, 7.4% crude protein, CP) were evaluated using ruminal and abomasal cannulated steers. Methods: Five European${\times}$Zebu young bulls (186 kg body weight, BW) were distributed according to a $5{\times}5$ Latin square. The following treatments were evaluated: control, supplementation with 300 g CP/d (0:1), supplementation with 300 g starch/d and 300 g CP/d (1:1), supplementation with 600 g starch/d and 300 g CP/d (2:1), and supplementation with 900 g starch/d and 300 g CP/d (3:1). A mixture of nitrogenous compounds provided 1/3 from true protein (casein) and 2/3 from non-protein nitrogen (mixture of urea and ammonium sulphate, 9:1) was used as the nitrogen supplement. In order to supply energy a unique source of corn starch was used. Results: Supplements increased (p<0.05) dry matter intake, but did not affect (p>0.05) forage intake. There was a cubic effect (p<0.05) of starch on voluntary intake. This was attributed to the highest forage intake (g/kg BW) when using the 2:1 starch:CP ratio. Supplements increased (p<0.05) organic matter (OM) digestibility, but did not affect (p>0.05) neutral detergent fibre corrected for ash and protein (NDFap) digestibility. There was a positive linear effect (p<0.05) of the amount of starch supplemented on OM digestibility. Total NDFap digestibility was not affected (p>0.05) by the amount of supplemental starch. Ruminal ammonia nitrogen concentrations were higher (p<0.05) in supplemented animals, however, a negative linear effect (p<0.05) of amount of starch was observed. Supplements increased (p<0.05) the nitrogen balance (NB) and efficiency of nitrogen utilization. These effects were attributed to increased body anabolism, supported by higher (p<0.05) serum concentration of insulin-like growth factor 1. Increasing the amount of starch tended (p<0.06) to linearly increase the NB. In spite of this, there was a highest NB value for the 2:1 starch:CP ratio amongst the treatments with supplementation. Conclusion: Nitrogen supplementation in cattle fed low-quality tropical forage increases nitrogen retention in the animal's body. An additional supply of starch increases nitrogen retention by increasing energy availability for both rumen and animal metabolism.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.258-267
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• 2008

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects that body composition, nutrient intake, and biochemical indices have on skin status, as well as their associations with skin health status, by assessing 44 female university students. The subjects were classified into 3 groups according to skin sensitivity: sensitive skin (n=11), slightly sensitive skin (n=24), and normal skin (n=9). The study included anthropometric measurements and body composition analyses, dietary intake evaluations, blood chemical analyses, and skin health status assessments. Based on % body fat, the results indicated the subjects were moderately obese (29.6%). Obesity indices were not different among the groups, but the sensitive skin group tended to have higher skinfold thickness. Dry skin was determined as the skin type of all subjects. In the sensitive skin groups, U-zone and T-zone sebum were significantly lower (p<0.05), and spots were significantly higher (p<0.05) than in the normal skin group. In terms of nutrient intakes, the sensitive skin groups consumed significantly lower amounts of P and vitamins A and E (p<0.05). There were no significant differences in serum lipid fractions or total antioxidant status among the groups. In correlation coefficients analysis, skin elasticity had significant negative correlations with subscapular and midaxillary skinfold thickness, body protein, and body minerals (p<0.05). Wrinkling had positive correlations with triceps and thigh skinfold thickness (p<0.05). Skin evenness had negative correlations with energy intake, vitamins A, $B_1,\;B_2$, C, E, niacin, and zinc (p<0.05), as well as folate and P (p<0.01) and vitamin $B_6$ (p<0.001). A similar correlation tendency was observed for spots and nutrient intake, showing negative correlations with vitamins A, $B_6$, and E, as well as folate, Fe, and P. U-zone sebum showed significant positive correlations with serum levels of total cholesterol and triglycerides. From these findings, skin health status appears to be affected by both nutrient intake and body composition. Therefore, having a proper balance between dietary intake and body composition may influence skin health status in females with sensitive skin.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.17-23
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• 2024

Background: Honey bees play a crucial role in pollination and ecological balance. Apis mellifera L. colonies, especially those located in specific geographic regions, such as the palm garden in Eastern Thailand, are susceptible to potential threats from microbial contaminants. Understanding and detecting microbial organisms in these beehives is essential for the preservation of bee health, honey production, and the broader ecosystem. However, the problem of microbial infection and antibiotic-resistant bacteria is more severe and continuously increasing, resulting in a health, economic, and social crisis. The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence of microorganisms in A. mellifera beehives in palm gardens in Rayong province, Eastern Thailand. Results: Ten swabs in transport media were swabbed and obtained from different parts of each beehive (1 swab per beehive), for a total of 10 hives. Traditional microbial culture-based methods, biochemical tests, and antimicrobial susceptibility (disc-diffusion) tests were used to detect microbial organisms and antibiotic resistance in bacteria. The swab tests from nine beehives resulted in the detection of Gram-positive bacteria (63.64%), Gram-negative bacteria (27.27%), and fungi/yeast (9.09%). These microorganisms are classified as a group of coagulase-negative Staphylococcus spp. and made up 40.91% of the bacteria discovered. Other bacteria found were Coryneform bacteria (13.64%), Pantoea spp. (13.64%), Bacillus spp. (9.09%), yeast (9.09%), glucose non-fermentative Gram-negative bacilli (9.09%), and Pseudomonas spp. (4.55%). However, due to the traditional culture-based and 0biochemical tests usually used to identify the microbial organisms in clinical specimens and the limitation of identifying some environmental microbial species, the results of the antimicrobial susceptibility test cannot reveal if the organism is resistant or susceptible to the drug. Nevertheless, drug-sensitive inhibition zones were formed with each antibiotic agent. Conclusions: Overall, the study supports prevention, healthcare, and public health systems. The contamination of microorganisms in the beehives may affect the quality of honey and other bee products or even the health of the beekeeper. To avoid this kind of contamination, it is therefore necessary to wear personal protective equipment while harvesting honey and other bee products.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.207-215
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• 2009

Numerous factors can affect the activities of hypothalamus-pituitary-gonad (HPG) hormonal axis, resulting in alteration of reproductive capacity or status such as onset of puberty and menopause. Soon after the finding of leptin, a multifunctional hormone secreted from adipocytes, a close relationship between reproduction and body energy balance have been manifested. Ghrelin, another multifunctional hormone from gastrointestinal tract, is an endogenous ligand of growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHSR), and is thought to be a counterpart of leptin in the regulation of energy homeostasis. As expected, ghrelin can also modulate the reproductive capacity through the modulation of activities of HPG axis. This paper summarizes the current knowledge on the discovery, gene structures, tissue distribution and roles of ghrelin and GHSRs in mammalian reproduction in particular modulation of reproductive hormone secretion in HPG axis. Like POMC gene expression in pituitary gland, preproghrelin gene can generate a complex repertoire of transcripts which further undergo alternative splicing and posttranslational modifications. Concerning the roles of preproghrelin gene products in the control of body physiology except energy homeostasis, limited knowledge is available so far. Several lines of evidence, however, show the interplay of ghrelin between metabolism and reproduction. In rat and human, the distribution of ghrelin receptor GHSRs (GHSR1a and GHSR1b) has been confirmed not only in the hypothalamus and pituitary which were originally postulated as target of ghrelin but also in the testis and ovary. Expression of the preproghrelin gene in the brain and gonads was also verified, suggesting the local role (s) of ghrelin in HPG axis. Ghrelin might play a negative modulator in the secretions of hypothalamic GnRH, pituitary gonadotropins and gonadal steroids though the action on pituitary is still questionable. Recent studies suggest the involvement of ghrelin in regulation of puberty onset and possibly of menopause entry. It is now evident that ghrelin is a crucial hormomal component in 'brain-gut' axis, and is a strong candidate links between metabolism and reproduction. Opposite to that for leptin, ghrelin signaling is likely representing the 'hunger' state of body energy balance and is necessary to avoid the energy investment into reproduction which has not a top priority in maintaining homeostasis. Further researches are needed to gain a deep insight into the more precise action mechanism and role of ghrelin in reproduction, and to guarantee the successful biomedical applications.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.37-43
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• 2003

Dam-eum(痰飮) is peculiar pathological product which is caused by functional difficulty in human fluid replacement and that principally originated functional difficulty between Lung(肺), Spleen(脾), Kidney(腎) and Sam-Cho(三焦). Dam-eum(痰飮) comes into force to disorder about ascending, decending, in and out of human energy circulation and frequently raises functional difficulty in human fluid replacement. As a result of that, it has much effect on action of Spirit(神志). After literatual study on the effect of Dam-eum(痰飮) on Spirit(神志), the result were obtained as follows : Dam-eum is not affecting to Spirit by itself. When Dam-eum is Positive Symptom(實證), Yang Symptom(陽證), mainly it affects to Spirit with Pung(風), Hwa(火), Kyung(驚), Youl(熱). And when it is Negative Symptom(虛症), it mostly affects with 脾胃虛寒, 心血不足. Dam-eum is a factor of causing disharmony between Heart & Kidney(心腎), Heart & Liver(心肝), Stomach & Gall Bladder Line(胃膽經) by 痰迷心竅, 痰火擾心. So it brings out troubles of fluid replacement. These are the main circumstances of affecting Spirit. To cure Disease of Spirit(神志病), which is caused by Dam-eum, there are not only uses the treatment of 理痰氣, 豁痰開竅. There are two treatments to use together. The first treatment is 淸熱, 定驚, 息風, 淸心 that removes fitted toxin. And the other treatment is that keeps the balance of Internal Organs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.97-107
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• 2013

The aim of this study was to establish relationships between chemical and physical parameters of wheat with performance and digestibilities of feed components in broiler chickens fed on wheat-based diets. Ninety-four wheat samples were selected for inclusion in four bird trials. Birds were housed in individual wire metabolism cages from 7 to 28 d and offered water and feed ad libitum. Dry matter intake (DMI), liveweight gain (LWG) and gain:feed were measured weekly. A balance collection was carried out from 14 to 21 d for determination of apparent metabolizable energy (AME), ME:gain, dry matter retention, oil and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) digestibility. At 28 d the birds were humanely killed, the contents of the jejunum removed for determination of in vivo viscosity and the contents of the ileum removed for determination of ileal dry matter, starch and protein digestibility. When wheat parameters were correlated with bird performance data, it was found that specific weight was not significantly (p>0.05) related to bird performance. Bird DMI, LWG and gain:feed were best correlated (p<0.05) with the rate of starch digestion, although the coefficients of correlation (r) were still low (0.246 to 0.523). A negative relationship (p<0.01) between AME and total (r = -0.432) and soluble (r = -0.304) non starch polysaccharide (NSP) was observed in this study. Thousand grain weight (TG) was positively correlated with DMI (r = 0.299), LWG (r = 0.343) and gain:feed (r = 0.371). When establishing multiple regression relationships, correlation coefficients greater than 0.8 were achieved for DMI, LWG, gain:feed and ileal crude protein digestibility. However, the economics involved in determining the parameters involved in the regressions make the process impractical.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.100-107
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• 2004

This study was performed to evaluate the effect of dietary protein source and sulfur amino acid content on bone metabolism in ra. Thirty male rats (body weight 145$\pm$2g) were divided into three groups. The rats in the first group were fed on casein 20% diet as animal protein source and those in the second group were fed on soy 20% diet as plant protein source. Sulfur amino acid ratio of these group was 1.07:1. The rats in the third group were fed on soy 20% diet and the sulfur amino acid were supplemented with the amount contained as much in the soy 20% diet. All rats were fed on experimental diet and deionized water ad libitum for 9 weeks, The total body, spine, femur bone mineral density and bone mineral content were measured using Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry Calcium, phosphate, pyridinoline, creatinine in urine and calcium, phosphate, alkaline phosphatase, osteocalcin in serum were measured. During the experimental period, plant protein (soy protein) group had a lower urinary Ca excretion, urine pyridinoline ＆ crosslinks value and had a higher Ca efficiency in total bone and femur bone mineral density than animal protein (casein) group. There were no significant differences in serum calcium, phosphate, alkaline phosphatase and osteocalcin among the three groups of the rats. The findings from this study demonstrated that plant protein (soy protein) is beneficial of bone mineral density because it had a higher Ca efficiency in total bone and femur bone mineral density than animal protein (casein). However, the supplementation of sulfur amino acid on soy results were consistent with prior studies that dietary sulfur amino acid load had a negative effect on calcium balance. The rats fed sulfur amino acid supplementation diet increased urinary calcium excretion and decreased calcium efficiency for total and femur mineral density. Therefore, dietary protein source and sulfur amino acid content influence bone metabolism. (Korean J Nutrition 37(2): 100-107, 2004)

• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.63-70
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• 2008

Objectives Obesity is the major risk factor of the heart disease and the metabolic disease. The autonomic nervous system is a key contributor in the regulation of energy balance, so the blunted activity may contribute to the maintenance of the obese state. So we evaluated the function of the autonomic nervous system in young overweight and obese women with heart rate variability. Methods The subjects were 26 overweight and obese young women(BMI〉$23kg/m^2$) and 25 lean women who visited Kangnam Kyunghee hospital for obesity management from March 2006 to April 2008. Bioimpedance Analysis (BIA), short-term spectral analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) were performed. Results HRV of obese young group was lower than the lean young group, but there is no statistical significance. BMI had significantly a negative correlation with Low Frequency(LF) of HRV. LF power is mediated by sympathetic nervous system activity. These results indicate a decrease of sympathetic modulation in overweight and obese young women. Conclusions Overweight and obese young women have decreased sympathetic nervous system activity. In clinical practice, an assessement of HRV would be noninvasive and sensitive methods for sympathetic nervous system of young overweight and obese women.