• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2019

Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the preventive effects of ethanol extract of Polygalae radix (EEPR) against oxidative stress (hydrogen peroxide, $H_2O_2$)-induced DNA damage and apoptosis in Chang liver cells. Methods: Chang liver cells were pretreated with various concentrations of EEPR and then challenged with 0.5 mM $H_2O_2$. The cell viability and apoptosis were assessed using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay and flow cytometry analysis, respectively. The levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), mitochondrial membrane potentials (MMPs) and adenosine tri-phosphate (ATP) contents were measured. Expression levels of Bcl-2 and Bax were also determined using Western blot analysis. Results: The results showed that the decreased survival rate induced by $H_2O_2$ could be attributed to the induction of DNA damage and apoptosis accompanied by the increased production of ROS, which was remarkably protected by EEPR. In addition, the loss of $H_2O_2$-induced MMPs and ATP contents was significantly attenuated in the presence of EEPR. The inhibitory effect of EEPR on $H_2O_2$-induced apoptosis was associated with up-regulation of Bcl-2 and down-regulation of Bax, thus reducing the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio. Conclusions: Our data prove that EEPR protects Chang liver cells against $H_2O_2$-induced DNA damage and apoptosis by scavenging ROS and thus suppressing the mitochondrial-dependent apoptosis pathway.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.8_spc
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• pp.1284-1295
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• 2019

Considerable progress in reproduction of dairy goats has been made, with advances in reproductive technology accelerating dairy goat production since the 1980s. Reproduction in goats is described as seasonal. The onset and length of the breeding season is dependent on various factors such as breed, climate, physiological stage, male effect, breeding system, and photoperiod. The reproductive physiology of goats was investigated extensively, including hypothalamic and pituitary control of the ovary related to estrus behavior and cyclicity etc. Photoperiodic treatments coupled with the male effect allow hormone-free synchronization of ovulation, but the kidding rate is still less than for hormonal treatments. Different protocols have been developed to meet the needs and expectations of producers; dairy industries are subject to growing demands for year round production. Hormonal treatments for synchronization of estrus and ovulation in combination with artificial insemination (AI) or natural mating facilitate out-of-season breeding and the grouping of the kidding period. The AI with fresh or frozen semen has been increasingly adopted in the intensive production system, this is perhaps the most powerful tool that reproductive physiologists and geneticists have provided the dairy goat industry with for improving reproductive efficiency, genetic progress and genetic materials transportation. One of the most exciting developments in the reproduction of dairy animals is embryo transfer (ET), the so-called second generation reproductive biotechnology following AI. Multiple ovulation and ET (MOET) program in dairy goats combining with estrus synchronization (ES) and AI significantly increase annual genetic improvement by decreasing the generation interval. Based on the advances in reproduction technologies that have been utilized through experiments and investigation, this review will focus on the application of these technologies and how they can be used to promote the dairy goat research and industry development in the future.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.77-86
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• 2019

Due to the increasing demand for and complexity of plant construction projects, unpredictable risk factors are on the consequent increase. For that reason, the quantitative risk analysis is being called for, in order for the development of a risk assessment model using risk indicators for the plant construction projects. This study used the claim payout data collected at a global insurance company to reflect the actual financial losses in plant construction projects as dependent variables in the risk assessment model. In terms of independent variables, the geographic information, i. e., landform, and the construction information including test-run, schedule rate, total cost and duration are adopted. In addition, this study suggests that the regression model containing such independent variables that are statistically significant can be applied to as a foundational guideline for the plant construction project risk analysis during the phase of construction and commissioning.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.107 no.4
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• pp.436-445
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• 2018

This study aims to find out factors to affect forest area of public sector such as state forest and estimate optimum area of state forest in Korea. This study was carried out with the rate of public forest and public forest per capita as dependent variables and 15 independent variables to the 35 countries in OECD countries using analysis of linear regression. From research, optimum area of the public forests of Korea was estimated from to minimum 2,136,000 hectares to maximum 2,667,000 hectares, based on OECD countries. The public forest areas of Korea were 1,984,000 hectares in 2010. To reach the average level of OECD countries, it is required that public forest areas of Korea are expended from minimum 152,000 hectares to maximum 683,000 hectares. It is hard to expect that enhancing the areas of public forest in Korea through expanding local government owned forest areas. Therefore, it required that state forest areas are expanded by Korea government.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Oral Health
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.224-228
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• 2018

Objectives: As a first step to study the anticaries effect of ethanol alone, we investigated the effects of ethanol on the expression levels of the atpB gene and proton permeability of Streptococcus mutans in suspension cultures. Methods: S. mutans UA159 was grown in brain heart infusion medium at either pH 4.8 or 6.8. The total extracted RNA was reverse-transcribed into cDNA using a $Superscript^{TM}$ First-Strand Synthesis System. The resulting cDNA and negative controls were amplified by ABI PRISM 7700 real-time PCR system with SYBR Green PCR Master Mix. For proton flux assay, bacterial suspensions were titrated to pH 4.6 with 0.5 M HCl, and then additional 0.5 M HCl was added to decrease the pH values by approximately 0.4 units. The subsequent increase in pH was monitored using a glass electrode. Ten percent (v/v) butanol was added to the suspensions at 80 min to disrupt the cell membrane. Results: In a concentration-dependent manner, ethanol alone not only decreased the growth rate of S. mutans and the expression of the atpB gene but also increased the proton permeability at both pH 4.8 and 6.8. Conclusions: These findings suggest that ethanol has the potential for an anticaries ingredient. We believe that ethanol may be used together with fluoride and/or other cariostatic agents in order to develop better anticaries toothpastes and/or mouthrinses.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.64-71
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• 2018

Purpose: Overgrowth syndromes are conditions that involve generalized or localized areas of excess growth. In this study, the clinical, molecular, and genetic characteristics of Korean patients with overgrowth syndrome were analyzed. Materials and Methods: We recruited 13 patients who presented with overgrowth syndrome. All patients fulfilled inclusion criteria of overgrowth syndrome. Analysis of the clinical and molecular investigations of patients with overgrowth syndrome was performed retrospectively. Results: Among the 13 patients with overgrowth syndrome, 9 patients (69.2%) were found to have molecular and genetic causes. Among the seven patients with Sotos syndrome (SS), two had a 5q35microdeletion that was confirmed by fluorescent in situ hybridization. In two patients with SS, intragenic mutations including a novel mutation, c.5993T>A (p.M1998L), were found by Sanger sequencing. One patient had one copy deletion of NDS1 gene which was confirmed by multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification. Among five patients with Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome, three had aberrant imprinting control regions; 2 hypermethylation of the differentially methylated region of H19, 1 hypomethylation of the differentially methylated region of Kv. In one patient displaying overlapping clinical features of SS, a de novo heterozygous deletion in the chromosomal region 7q22.1-22.3 was found by single nucleotide polymorphism-based microarray. Conclusion: Considering high detection rate of molecular and genetic abnormalities in this study, rigorous investigations of overgrowth syndrome may be an important tool for the early diagnosis and genetic counseling. A detailed molecular analysis of the rearranged regions may supply the clues for the identification of genes involved in growth regulation.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.321-325
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• 2018

In this study, we evaluated the possibility of wrinkle-reducing functional cosmetic material of isoquercitrin (IQC) isolated from Nymphoides indica (NP) by measuring the efficacy of ROS inhibition, procollagen synthesis induction, and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1 inhibition. As a result, ROS tended to be inhibited in a concentration dependent manner, and the procollagen protein synthesis rate was increased by 70% ($5{\mu}g/mL$) and the MMP-1 protein was decreased by 41% ($5{\mu}g/mL$) compared with the control. This was suggested the ability of IQC to induce the procollagen synthesis and to reduce the ROS and MMP-1 production. Therefore, it is considered that IQC isolated from NP has enough value to be a functional cosmetic material.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.183-193
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• 2019

This study developed a shockwave detection and prediction of their extinction point method based on continuous wavelet transform using trajectory data from probe vehicles equipped with automotive sensors.. To analyze the effectiveness of the proposed method, this paper proposed two measures which are a distance error between the extinction points of the predictor and an time-location error of the extinction points. The proposed concept was proved using the micro simulation based experiment with three exogenous variables of traffic volume, lane-close duration, market penetration of probe vehicles. The analysis results show that the proposed method is capable of detecting the traffic shockwaves as well as predicting their extinction point, and also that the accuracy of the proposed method is highly dependent on the rate of the probe vehicles.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.117-125
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• 2019

Malarial infection induces tissue hypoxia in the host through destruction of red blood cells. Tissue hypoxia in malarial infection may increase the activity of $HIF1{\alpha}$ through an intracellular oxygen-sensing pathway. Activation of $HIF1{\alpha}$ may also induce vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) to trigger angiogenesis. To investigate whether malarial infection actually generates hypoxia-induced angiogenesis, we analyzed severity of hypoxia, the expression of hypoxia-related angiogenic factors, and numbers of blood vessels in various tissues infected with Plasmodium berghei. Infection in mice was performed by intraperitoneal injection of $2{\times}10^6$ parasitized red blood cells. After infection, we studied parasitemia and survival. We analyzed hypoxia, numbers of blood vessels, and expression of hypoxia-related angiogenic factors including VEGF and $HIF1{\alpha}$. We used Western blot, immunofluorescence, and immunohistochemistry to analyze various tissues from Plasmodium berghei-infected mice. In malaria-infected mice, parasitemia was increased over the duration of infection and directly associated with mortality rate. Expression of VEGF and $HIF1{\alpha}$ increased with the parasitemia in various tissues. Additionally, numbers of blood vessels significantly increased in each tissue type of the malaria-infected group compared to the uninfected control group. These results suggest that malarial infection in mice activates hypoxiainduced angiogenesis by stimulation of $HIF1{\alpha}$ and VEGF in various tissues.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.99-104
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• 2019

In Korea, nonpoint pollutants have a significant effect on rivers' water quality, and they are discharged in very different ways depending on rainfall events. Therefore, preparing an optimal countermeasure against nonpoint pollutants requires much monitoring. The present study was conducted to help prepare a method for installing an automatic nonpoint pollutant measurement system for the cost-effective monitoring of the effect of nonpoint pollutants on rivers. In the present study, monitoring was performed at six sites of a river passing through an urban area with a basin area of $454.3km^2$. The results showed that monitoring could be performed for a relatively long time interval in the upstream and downstream regions, which are mainly comprised of forests, regardless of the rainfall amount. On the contrary, in the urban region, the monitoring had to be performed at a relatively short time interval each time when the rainfall intensity changed. This was because the flow rate was significantly dependent on the rainfall's intensity. The appropriate sites for installing an automatic measurement system were found to be a site before entering the urban region, a site after passing through the urban region, and the end of a river where the effects of nonpoint pollutant sources can be well-decided. The analysis also showed that the monitoring time should be longer for the rainfall events of a higher rainfall class and for the sites closer to the river end. This is because the rainfall runoff has a longer effect on the river. However, the effect of nonpoint pollutant sources was not significantly different between the upstream and the downstream in the cases of rainfall events over 100 mm.