• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.2_spc
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• pp.350-363
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• 2023

Beef quality is characterized by marbling (marbling degree and marbling fineness), physiochemical (shear force, meat color, fat color, texture, and maturity), and sensory (tenderness, flavor, juiciness, taste, odor, and appearance) traits. This paper summarizes and addresses beef-quality characteristics and the beef-grading systems in Korea, Japan, the USA, and Australia. This paper summarizes recent research progresses on the genetic and nutritional factors that affect beef quality. Intramuscular (i.m.) adipose tissue deposition or marbling is a major determinant of beef quality. This paper addresses the mechanisms of i.m. adipose tissue deposition focused on adipogenesis and lipogenesis. We also address selected signaling pathways associated with i.m. adipose tissue deposition. Nutrients contribute to the cellular response and phenotypes through gene expression and metabolism. This paper addresses control of gene expression through several nutrients (carbohydrates, fat/fatty acids, vitamins, etc.) for i.m. adipose tissue deposition. Several transcription factors responsible for gene expression via nutrients are addressed. We introduce the concept of genome-based precision feeding in Korean cattle.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.85-89
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• 2016

We tested a set of conditions for obtaining optimal tissue quality in preparation for histology in samples of mouse brain. C57BL/6J mice were sacrificed and perfused with 4% paraformaldehyde, after which the brains were removed and dehydrated in 30% sucrose solution. The brains were then divided into four groups according to freezing temperature and usage of optimal cutting temperature (OCT) compound. Next, we stained the sectioned brain tissues with Harris hematoxylin and eosin Y and immunohistochemistry was performed for doublecortin. The best quality tissue was obtained at $-25^{\circ}C$ and by not embedding with the OCT compound. When frozen at $-25^{\circ}C$, the embedded tissue was significantly damaged by crystals, while at $-80^{\circ}C$ there were no meaningful differences between qualities of embedded- and non-embedded tissues. Overall, we identified a set of conditions to obtain quality frozen brain sections. Our developed protocol will help resolve matters associated with damage caused to sectioned brain tissue by crystal formation during freezing.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.1799-1808
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• 2006

This study was designed to explore the effects of marbling on meat quality characteristics and intramuscular connective tissue of beef longissimus muscle. Chemical determinations, histological and mechanical measurements were performed on the raw and cooked meat at d 4 postmortem. The results showed that crude fat, collagen, fiber diameter and maximum transition temperature of intramuscular connective tissue increased (p<0.05) with the increase of marbling score. The cooking losses, collagen solubility, WBSF and perimysial thickness decreased (p<0.05) with the increasing marbling. WBSF correlated (p<0.05) with moisture, crude fat, collagen, cooking losses, sarcomere length and perimysial thickness. The development of marbling results in the decline in cooking losses, the avoidance of sarcomere shortening, and the disorganization of the perimysia, which accounts for the improvement of beef tenderness.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.30 no.6 s.113
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• pp.340-346
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• 2005

Major quality features of the beef carcass in most countries including Korea are size, marbling state of the lean tissue, color of the fat and lean tissue, and thickness of back fat of the 13th rib. To evaluate the beef quality, extracting loin parts from the sectional image of the 13th beef rib is crucial and is the first step. However, because of the inhomogeneous distribution and fuzzy pattern of the fat and lean tissues on the beef cut, it is difficult to extract automatically the proper contour of the lean tissue. In this paper, a prototype mobile beef quality measurement system, which can be implemented practically at the beef processing site was developed. The developed system was composed of the hand held image acquisition unit and mobile processing unit mounted with touch-pad screen. Algorithms to extract the boundary of the lean tissue and a proper tool to evaluate the marbling status have been developed using color image processing. The boundary extraction algorithm showed successful results for the beef cuts with simple and moderate patterns of the lean tissue and fat. However, it had some difficulty in eliminating complex pattern of the extraneous tissues adhered to the lean tissue in the boundary extraction. The developed algorithms were implemented to the prototype mobile processing unit.

• Archives of Reconstructive Microsurgery
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.97-105
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• 2012

Background: Increasing numbers of super-elderly patients (>80 years old) with cancer now require microvascular-free tissue transfer. The objectives of this study were to evaluate potential applications of microvascular tissue transfer in this patient population, and post-surgical changes in quality of life. Methods: The records of cancer patients 80 years or older who had undergone microsurgical tissue transfer were retrospectively reviewed. Structured interviews were conducted with patients and family caregivers after surgery, and the patients' quality of life was qualitatively assessed. Results: The study cohort consisted of seven patients with a mean age 87.6 years (range, 81 to 95). Wound and medically-related complications were minimal. During the patient interviews, eight of the nine respondents reported remarkable improvements in quality of life following surgery and expressed a high level of satisfaction with their surgical results. Conclusions: Our study showed that microsurgical reconstruction performed in super-elderly patient not only appropriately repairs post-oncologic defects but also significantly improves the patients' quality of life.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 2000.11c
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• pp.715-721
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• 2000

In this research, rule and neuro net based boundary extraction algorithm was developed. Extracting boundary of the interest, lean tissue, is essential for the quality evaluation of the beef based on color machine vision. Major quality features of the beef are size, marveling state of the lean tissue, color of the fat, and thickness of back fat. To evaluate the beef quality, extracting of loin parts from the sectional image of beef rib is crucial and the first step. Since its boundary is not clear and very difficult to trace, neural network model was developed to isolate loin parts from the entire image input. At the stage of training network, normalized color image data was used. Model reference of boundary was determined by binary feature extraction algorithm using R(red) channel. And 100 sub-images(selected from maximum extended boundary rectangle 11${\times}$11 masks) were used as training data set. Each mask has information on the curvature of boundary. The basic rule in boundary extraction is the adaptation of the known curvature of the boundary. The structured model reference and neural net based boundary extraction algorithm was developed and implemented to the beef image and results were analyzed.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.30-36
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• 2002

This research was conducted to investigate the feasibility of using deinked pulp of white ledger(DIP) for the manufacture of high quality premium tissue. The three types of tissues were prepared using the softener treated bleached DIP, softener treated mixed pulp of unbleached DIP and virgin pulp, and untreated mixed pulp of bleached DIP and virgin pulp, respectively, and their tensile index. softness, and brightness were measured and compared. The bulk and surface softness increased only slightly by the addition of softener(0.2% mineral oil) into the bleached DIP. The tensile index was decreased by 15∼30%, and the brightness was the range of 86% to 87% ISO. The softener(0.2∼0.8% mineral oil or dialkyl imidazoline) treatment of mixed pulp of unbleached DIP and virgin pulp Improved the bulk and surface of tissue considerably. However, the brightness was low as 85% ISO or below. Although the softness of the tissue made from bleached DIP blended with virgin pulp was the lowest among three types of tissues evaluated, its tensile index was the highest and brightness was 87∼88% ISO. Based on the results, it may be predicted that the bleached DIP blended with virgin pulp is the best raw material for the manufacture of high quality premium tissue if softener treatment is applied to mixed pulp, because the softness can be improved by the addition of softener. In general, the softness of tissue was improved with the increase in the amount of softener: However, the tensile index inversely proportional to the amount of softener added. Dialkyl imidazoline was more effective than mineral oil with respect to the improvement in softness, even though the loss in tensile index was severe with the treatment of dialkyl imidazoline.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.34 no.4 s.135
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• pp.339-343
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• 2003

We investigated the effects of Rhus verniciflua Stokes (RVS) on high fat diet- induced obesity in C57BL/6 that received ad libitum exposure to a high fat diet for 8 weeks. Male C57BL/6 mice weighing $20.1{\pm}0.95\;g$ were divided into four groups and the body weight and food intake were weighed for 8 weeks. After the administration of RVS extract, the liver, subcutaneous and retroperitoneal adipose tissue in the mice were weighed and common blood count in whole blood and biochemical parameters in plasma were measured. It was founded that body weight increase was significantly suppressed by the oral administration of RVS extract in group with high fat diet. Weight of subcutaneous adipose tissue and concentration of triglyceride in plasma from mice which were administrated RVS extract were lower than obesity control group. These results suggest that RVS extract may effect on inhibition of diet-induced obesity.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.1197-1202
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• 2008

Present study investigated the effects of the 70% ethanol extracts of tissue-cultured mountain ginseng (TCMG), Korean red ginseng (KRG), and Panax ginseng (PG) on agonist-induced platelet aggregation and activation in human whole blood. The $IC_{50}$ values for TCMG, KRG, and PG were 1.159, 3.695, and 4.978mg/mL for collagen-induced aggregation, 0.820, 2.030, and 4.743mg/mL for arachidonic acid-induced aggregation, and 1.070, 2.617, and 2.954 mg/mL for ADP-induced aggregation, respectively. Also, this study assessed the effects of the most active extract, TCMG, on markers of platelet activation by determining receptor expression on platelet membranes in healthy subjects, including expression of GPIIb/IIIa-like (PAC-1) and P-selectin (CD62), by flow cytometry. A significant decrease in PAC-l expression (p=0.018) was observed in the presence of TCMG. These results show that TCMG has potent anti-platelet activity.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.1458-1460
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• 2008

Tissue engineering is an interdisciplinary field that utilizes the principles of engineering and life sciences toward the creation of biological substitutes. Traditionally, major components of tissue engineering are cells, scaffolds, growth factors and recently biomechanical aspects have been given much attention. A large number of studies have reported that mechanical signals are of particular interest in either encouraging or inhibiting cellular responses. In tissue engineering, cell adhesion is a very important step, because quality of adhesion may determine a cell fate in the future. Elasticity of cell-adhesive substrate is found critical in regulating stem cell differentiation. Cells exert different contractile forces for cell migration, depending on substrate mechanics. Though tissue engineering is very interactive with diverse expertise, for a breakthrough, principles of biomechanics in tissue and cell level needs to be fully understood.