• Journal of the Korean Geophysical Society
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.9-26
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• 1999

The Ulleung Basin (Tsushima Basin) in the southwestern East Sea (Japan Sea) is floored by a crust whose affinity is not known whether oceanic or thinned continental. This ambiguity resulted in unconstrained mechanisms of basin evolution. The present work attempts to define the nature of the crust of the Ulleung Basin and its tectonic evolution using seismic wide-angle reflection and refraction data recorded on ocean bottom seismometers (OBSs). Although the thickness of (10 km) of the crust is greater than typical oceanic crust, tau-p analysis of OBS data and forward modeling by 2-D ray tracing suggest that it is oceanic in character: (1) the crust consists of laterally consistent upper and lower layers that are typical of oceanic layers 2 and 3 in seismic velocity and gradient distribution and (2) layer 2C, the transition between layer 2 and layer 3 in oceanic crust, is manifested by a continuous velocity increase from 5.7 to 6.3 km/s over the thickness interval of about 1 km between the upper and lower layers. Therefore it is not likely that the Ulleung Basin was formed by the crustal extension of the southwestern Japan Arc where crustal structure is typically continental. Instead, the thickness of the crust and its velocity structure suggest that the Ulleung Basin was formed by seafloor spreading in a region of hotter than normal mantle surrounding a distant mantle plume, not directly above the core of the plume. It seems that the mantle plume was located in northeast China. This suggestion is consistent with geochemical data that indicate the influence of a mantle plume on the production of volcanic rocks in and around the Ulleung Basin. Thus we propose that the opening models of the southwestern East Sea should incorporate seafloor spreading and the influence of a mantle plume rather than the extension of the crust of the Japan Arc.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.161-168
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• 2008

The effects tea beverages (TBs) prepared from powdered green tea (Gt), oolong tea (Ot), black tea (Bt), or pure tea (Pt) with lemon, orange, grenadine etc on cadmium toxicity in rats were investigated Sensory evaluations of the TBs are better than those of each water extracted teas. Cadmium (50 ppm) was administered to experimental rats fed a basic diet, or a diet with various TBs (15% w/v), for 5 weeks. Although body weight gains, feed intakes, and fecal weights in all Cd-treated groups were lower than those in the normal control group (NC), feed efficiency ratio, urine volumes, liver weights, and kidney weights did not differ significantly between groups. The serum ALT and AST levels in the Cd-treated control group (Cd-Co) were higher than those in the NC animals. Serum ALT and AST levels in all Cd-treated rats fed TB-supplemented diets were lower than in animals of the Cd-Co group. Tibia and femur weights in Cd-Co animals were lower than those in NC rats. Tibia and femur weights in Cd-treated rats fed TB-supplemented diets were higher than those in Cd-Co animals. There were no between-group differences in tibia lengths; animals in the NC and TB-supplemented diet groups showed femur lengths longer than those of Cd-Co rats. Although the contents of crude ash and cadmium in the femurs of Cd-Co mts was markedly higher than in the femurs of NC animals, the cadmium content in femurs of Cd-Co rats was significantly lower than that in the femurs of NC animals. The changes in mineral levels caused by Cd administration were alleviated by every TB-supplemented diet tested Whereas fecal calcium excretion by Cd-Co animals was significantly higher than that of NC rats, calcium excretion by Cd-treated rats fed TB-supplemented diets was significantly lower than that of Cd-Co animals. Fecal cadmium excretion by all Cd-treated rats fed TB-supplemented diets was significantly higher than that of Cd-Co animals. In conclusion, this study provides experimental evidence that various TBs may regulate cadmium-induced organ toxicity by reducing cadmium accumulation in tissues through the mechanism of increasing the fecal excretion of cadmium.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.1224-1230
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• 2012

Cancer chemotherapy drugs command a large share of the market, and the development of new therapeutics with high efficacy and specificity is an active area of study. Recently, the development of cancer therapeutics from natural products targeting angiogenesis has drawn attention due to conventional chemotherapeutics showing serious side effects and resistance in cancer cells. In this study, we investigated the pharmacological efficacy of Gomisin A, an active ingredient of Schizandra chinensis baillon, on tumor growth and metastasis. Administration of Gomisin A at 10 and 100 ${\mu}g/ml$ reduced tumor growth in vivo by $80.5{\pm}8.1%$ and $96.2{\pm}2%$, respectively, compared with positive tumor controls. Treatment of Gomisin A in normal and various tumor cell lines did not exert significant toxicity. Mice treated with Gomisin A at a concentration of 10 and 100 ${\mu}g$/head showed a significant reduction in tumor-induced angiogenesis of $151{\pm}16.9%$ and $98.5{\pm}29.5%$, respectively. Furthermore, tumor metastasis analysis revealed that the administration of Gomisin A at a concentration of 10 and 100 ${\mu}g$/head inhibited tumor metastasis by $13.5{\pm}8.56%$ and $58.3{\pm}9.12%$, respectively. In addition, Gomisin A significantly decreased cell adhesion of the B16BL6 cells to the extracellular matrix. These results demonstrate that Gomisin A inhibits tumor growth via suppression of angiogenesis and tumor metastasis inhibition, without cellular toxicity. The pharmacological efficacy of Gomisin A suggests that it may be a potential candidate for the development of cancer drugs.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.1012-1018
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• 2010

The aim of this study was to determine whether Alzheimer's amyloid precursor protein (APP) is dysregulated in adipose tissues of C57BL/6 male mice by high-fat diet (HFD) induced obesity, aging, or streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes. APP mRNA expression was examined by quantitative real-time PCR (QPCR) in subcutaneous (SAT) and epididymal adipose tissues (EAT) from mice in 8 different condition groups. By combining conditions of age (16 weeks/26 weeks of age), diet (normal diet (ND)/high-fat diet), and induction of diabetes (non-diabetic/diabetic), 88 mice were divided into 8 different groups. QPCR demonstrated that APP expression in SAT was significantly increased by about two-fold in HFD-induced obese mice compared to both 16 week-old and 26 week-old mice in the ND group (16 weeks p=0.001; 26 weeks p<0.0001), but no changes in EAT was found. Particular effects of aging on APP gene expression were not observed in either adipose tissue depots. Significantly decreased APP expression was found in SAT in STZ-induced diabetic mice fed on ND or HFD at 16 weeks of age (ND p<0.05; HFD p<0.01). Linear regression analysis demonstrated that APP expression levels correlated with body weight in both the non-diabetic group (R=0.657, p<0.0001, n=39) and the diabetic group (R=0.508, p=<0.0001, n=49), but did not correlate with plasma glucose levels, which suggests that decreased APP expression in STZ-induced diabetic mice is most likely due to weight loss rather than hyperglycemia. These data confirm APP dysregulation by weight changes in humans and suggest a possible role linking midlife obesity with the later development of amyloidogenesis in the brain of older patients with Alzheimer's disease.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.686-693
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• 2014

Restricted supply of nutrients may affect genes at the molecular level as well as physiological functions. Understanding the cellular responses during starvation is necessary for developing strategies to reduce damage caused by starvation stress. After 1 h of starvation, Got1 gene expression was increased but its expression returned to the normal state after 24 h. Mat1 gene expression continuously increased with starvation from 1 h until 24 hr. Rats starved for 1-3 days showed significant changes in expression of the Got1 and Mat1 genes, which were significantly reduced in the cerebral cortex and cerebellum. In the lung, gene expression was increased by starvation for 1-2 days but decreased on the third day. No differences were observed in gene expression in the heart. Strong Got1 lung gene expression was seen in the starvation group one day after restoration of the food supply. Muscle mass was significantly reduced at the start of starvation and remained the same after two days of starvation and one day after the food supply was restored. The Mat1 gene expression did not change. The Got1 was induced by NaCl and showed strong expression in the lung and the thymus, but the apparent decrease of the remaining changes were not observed in male rats. The Mat1 gene was not as sensitive as the Got1 gene to induction by NaCl. However, differences in gene induction by NaCl were evident between males and females, indicating that diet control of gene expression is associated with hormones.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.82-86
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• 2010

Jumping translocations (JT) are chromosomal rearrangements involving one donor chromosome and several recipient chromosomes. While JTs are frequently observed as acquired chromosomal abnormalities in hematologic malignancies, constitutional JTs are only rarely reported. We report two cases of constitutional JT in chorionic villi derived from the products of conception. The karyotype of the first case was 46,XY,add(18)(p11.1)[61]/45,XY,der(18;21)(q10;q10)[32]/46,XY,-18,+mar[16]/46,XY,i(18)(q10)[9]/45,XY,der(15;18)(q10;q10)[6]/46,XY,+1,dic(1;18)(p22;p11.1)[2]/45,XY,der(13;18)(q10;q10)[1]/46,XY[32]. The donor was a chromosome 18. The recipient chromosomes were chromosomes 1, 13, 15, 18 and 21. In the second case, the karyotype was 46,XY,der(22)t(9;22)(q12;q13)[22]/46,XY,der(22)t(1;22)(q21;q13)[13]/46,XY,add(22)(q13)[5]/46 XY[23]. The donor was a chromosome 22 and recipients were chromosomes 1 and 9. Both cases were de novo. The breakpoints of chromosomes were mostly in centromeric regions, pericentromeric regions, or telomeric regions. Normal cell lines were observed in both cases. This report supports the prior findings that the unstable nature of JT, resulting in chromosomal imbalance, most likely contributed to these early miscarriages.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.29-39
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• 2009

The influence of windbreak to minimize the ventilation velocity near the plant canopy of a greenhouse strawberry was thoroughly investigated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technology. Windbreaks were constructed surrounding the plant canopy to control ventilation and maintain the concentration of the supplied $CO_2$ from the soil surface close to the strawberry plants. The influence of no windbreak, 0.15 m and 0.30 m height windbreaks with varied air velocity of 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 m/s were simulated in the study. The concentrations of supplied $CO_2$ within the plant canopy of were measured. To simplify the model, plants were not included in the final model. Considering 1.0m/s wind velocity which is the normal wind velocity of greenhouses, the concentrations of $CO_2$ were approximately 420, 580 and 653 ppm ($1{\times}10^{-9}kg/m^3$) for no windbreak, 0.15 and 0.30 m windbreak height, respectively. Considering that the maximum concentration of $CO_2$ for the strawberry plants was around 600-800 ppm, the 0.30 m windbreak height is highly recommended. This study revealed that the windbreak was very effective in preserving $CO_2$ gas within the plant canopy. More so, the study also proved that the CFD technique can be used to determine the concentration of $CO_2$ within the plant canopy for the plants consumption at any designed condition. For an in-depth application of this study, the plants as well as the different conditions for $CO_2$ utilization, etc. should be considered.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.120-130
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• 1999

Purpose: This study was performed to evaluate the diagnostic usefulness of double-phase Tc-99m MIBI parathyroid scintigraphy with single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in patients with hyper-parathyroidism. We also evaluated the relationship between Tc-99m MIBI uptake and oxyphil cell contents in parathyroid glands. Materials and Methods: The subjects were 28 parathyroid glands of 10 patients who underwent Tc-99m MIBI parathyroid scintigraphy and parathyroidectomy for clinically suspected hyper-parathyroidism. Early and delayed pinhole images were obtained at 15 minutes and 2 hours after injection of Tc-99m MIBI, and SPECT images were followed. The weight and oxyphil cell contents of parathyroid tissue were obtained from pathologic specimen, and the scintigraphic findings were compared with histopathology. Results: In surgical histopathology, 6 parathyroid adenomas and 9 parathyroid hyperplasias were confirmed. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value of early and delayed images were 46.7% (7/15), 76.9% (10/13), 70% (7/10) and 66.7% (10/15), 92.3% (12/13), 90.9% (10/11), respectively. SPECT image detected an additional small hyperplasia.. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value of combined interpretation of early and delayed images with SPECT were 73.3% (11/15), 100% (13/13), 100% (11/11). The sensitivity was 100% (6/6) for adenoma, whereas that was 55.5% (5/9) for hyperplasia. Both adenomas and hyperplasias showed significantly increased oxyphil cell contents compared with normal parathyroid glands (p<0.0001), but the oxyphil cell content and weight were not significantly different between adenomas and hyperplasias. Conclusion: Double-phase Tc-99m MIBI parathyroid scintigraphy with SPECT is useful for lesion localization in patients with hyperparathyroidism. Although both adenoma and hyperplasia have increased oxyphil cell content, the sensitivity is high in adenoma, but low in hyperplasia.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.15 no.4 s.71
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• pp.522-527
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• 2005

A total of 5 female elk dEER $(220kg\pm10kg)$ were included in a study on the changes in physicochemical properties of deer meat during storage at $4^{\circ}C\;and\;-2^{\circ}C$. The deer was exposed to normal pre-slaughter handling and put under anesthesia before slaughtered. The loin and leg cuts were deboned from the carcass after 24hrs slaughter. The samples weighing approximately 300g were packaged using wrap packaging and stored for 3, 7, 11 and 15 days at $4^{\circ}C\;and\;-2^{\circ}C$. Water-holding capacity was decreased with increasing storage days at $4^{\circ}C\;or\;-2^{\circ}C$, respectively The deer meats kept at $-2^{\circ}C$ showed lower TBARS value than the meats kept at $4^{\circ}C$, and it was possible to extend the storage period of the meats. VBN values of the meats kept at $4^{\circ}C\;and\;-2^{\circ}C$ showed as edible values after storage for 15 days, although there were no significant differences among the storage temperature. pH values of loin and leg tended to be increased with the passage of storage time, and the values of the meats kept at $-2^{\circ}C$ was lower than that at $4^{\circ}C$. The change of meat softness was remarkable at $4^{\circ}C$, and the change at $-2^{\circ}C$ was slow. Therefore, it was effective to extend the storage period when the meats were kept at $-2^{\circ}C$. Color of the meats kept at $-2^{\circ}C$ was darker than that at $4^{\circ}C$, the index of red color was higher for the meats kept at $-2^{\circ}C$, and yellow color of meats kept at $-2^{\circ}C$ was more rapidly changed with the passage of storage time.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.250-260
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• 2012

In the present study, the antioxidative and antibacterial activities of Artemisia princeps Pampanini (A. princeps Pamp.) extract were investigated. The ethyl acetate fraction of A. princeps Pamp. showed the most prominent free radical (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl, DPPH) scavenging activity ($FSC_{50}=12.27{\mu}g/mL$). Reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging activities ($OSC_{50}$) of A. princeps Pamp. extract on $Fe^{3+}-EDTA/H_2O_2$ systems were investigated using a luminol-dependent chemiluminescence assay. The ethyl acetate fraction of the extract ($OSC_{50}=0.33{\mu}g/mL$) had a 5 times greater ROS scavenging activity than L-ascorbic acid ($1.50{\mu}g/mL$), known as a water soluble antioxidant. The cellular protective effects of fractions of A. princeps Pamp. on the rose-bengal sensitized photohemolysis of human erythrocytes were examined. The aglycone fraction of extracts suppressed photohemolysis in a concentration dependent manner. The inhibitory effects of A. princeps Pamp. extract on tyrosinase were investigated to assess their whitening efficiency. The ethyl acetate fraction demonstrated a 7 times higher tyrosinase inhibitory effect ($IC_{50}=29.20{\mu}g/mL$) than albutin, known as a whitening agent. The antibacterial activity of ethyl acetate fractions against various normal skin flora were measured. The results showed that the antibacterial activity of the fraction was the highest on Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, and Propionibacterium acnes. Antioxidant substances were isolated and purified from the ethyl acetate fractions. Eupatilin and jaceosidin were identified. These results indicate that the extract/fractions of A. princeps Pamp. can function as antioxidant and/or antibacterial agents for the skin.