An importance of food allergen detection has been growing in food industry. Here, we developed a rapid and easy-to-use detection system for Ara h1, a major allergen in peanut, using gold nanoparticles and switchable linkers. The detection system was performed by two steps. In the first step, Ara h1 was mixed with various concentrations (0.2 - 1.0μg/mL) of biotinylated anti-Ara h1 antibody (i.e., switchable linker, SLs) solutions for 20 min. After mixing, streptavidin coated gold nanoparticle (Abs. 4.0) was added to the mixture solutions with agitation for10 min. Without Ara h1(control), the region of aggregation caused by quantitative relationship between SLs and gold nanoparticle was observed at more than 0.4 μg/mL of SLs. However, under presence of Ara h1, SLs covered with Ara h1 had less ability to react with gold nanoparticles than naked SLs. This resulted in a change of the quantitative relationship mentioned above, which led to shift of the aggregation region. When 10 nM and 40 nM of Ara h1 were added, the aggregation region was appeared from 0.5and 0.8 μg/mLof switchable linkers, respectively. Ara h1 in peanut sample was also detected with this system. 0.4 μg/mL of switchable linkers are mixed with serially diluted peanut extract solutions. As a result, the shift of the aggregation region was observed from undiluted extract to 10 -2 diluted solution. This system could be adapted to detect other harmful/useful bio materials in food.

Nanosized zeolites were prepared in an autoclave using tetraethoxysilane (TEOS), tetrapropylammonium hydroxide (TPAOH), and H2O, at various hydrothermal synthesis temperatures. Using transmission electron microscopy and particle size analysis, the nanopowder particulate sizes were revealed to be 10-300 nm. X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed that the synthesized nanopowder was silicalite-1 zeolite. Using atomic layer deposition, the fabricated zeolite nanopowder particles were coated with nanoscale TiO2 films. The TiO2 films were prepared at 300 oC by using Ti[N(CH3)2]4 and H2O as precursor and reactant gas, respectively. In the TEM analysis, the growth rate was ~0.7 Å/cycle. Zeta potential and sedimentation test results indicated that, owing to the electrostatic repulsion between TiO2-coated layers on the surface of the zeolite nanoparticles, the dispersibility of the coated nanoparticles was higher than that of the uncoated nanoparticles. In addition, the effect of the coated nanoparticles on the photodecomposition was studied for the irradiation time of 240 min; the concentration of methylene blue was found to decrease to 48%.

The effects of seed soaking treatment with the solutions of plant growth regulators IAA, GA3 and BAP on seed germination and shoot and bulb growth of Allium victorialis var. platyphyllum (Korean wild garlic) were determined. A significant variation in the seed germination rate was recorded at all treatments for various soaking periods. Maximum seed germination was obtained when seeds were soaked in IAA or GA3 solution at 200 mg L-1. The MAP treated seeds started to germinate after 3 months. Among treatments, IAA was found to be most effective in improving seed germination, but further seedling growth was not correlated to the soaking time. Seed soaking in IAA or GA3 solution enhanced further growth of seedlings compared with water control treatment. Shoot and bulb growth was highest in GA3 treatments.

Pseudomembranous colitis (PMC) is known to be associated with the long-term administration of antibiotics, which alter normal gastrointestinal flora and allow overgrowth of Clostridium difficile. However, antituberculosis agents are rarely reported as a cause of this disease. Besides, most cases of antituberculosis agent-induced PMC have been observed in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis but not with tuberculous meningitis. This report presents a case of PMC associated with antituberculosis therapy in a patient with tuberculous meningitis. A 29-year-old female patient was admitted due to headaches and diplopia that had lasted for 2 weeks. She had not recently received antimicrobial therapy. She was diagnosed with tuberculous meningitis by cerebrospinal fluid findings and neurologic examination, including brain imaging study. She was treated with standard antituberculosis agents (HERZ regimen: isoniazid, ethambutol, rifampicin, and pyrazinamide). After 11 days of HERZ, she developed a fever, sudden widespread skin eruption, and elevation of liver enzymes. Considering adverse drug reactions, antituberculosis agents were stopped. One week later, her symptoms were relieved. Thus, antituberculosis agents were reintroduced one at a time after liver function returned to normal. However, she presented with frequent mucoid, jelly-like diarrhea, and lower abdominal pain. Sigmoidscopy revealed multiple yellowish plaques with edematous mucosa, which were compatible with PMC. She was treated with oral vancomycin considering drug interactions. Symptoms were relieved and did not recur when all antituberculosis agents except pyrazinamide were started again. Therefore, when a patient complains of abdominal pain or diarrhea after initiation of antituberculosis therapy, the physician should consider the possibility of antituberculosis agent-associated PMC.

In this study, the in vitro fermentation parameters of whole crop barley (WCBS-TMR) and Italian ryegrass (IRGS-TMR) silage total mixed rations were compared. A rice straw based diet (RSBD), which was a mixture of rice straw and concentrate (60:40), was used as the control. The feeds were incubated in buffered rumen fluid for 3, 6, 9, 12, 24, 48 and 72 hours at 39°C. At the end of each incubation period the following parameters were determined, total gas, pH, ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), volatile fatty acids (VFA) and then the acetate to propionate ratio (A/P) was calculated. The dietary treatments did not affect (p>0.05) the overall production of NH3-N, gas, total VFA and all the individual VFA, with the exception of n-butyrate (p<0.001). The treatment diets significantly affected the A/P ratio (p<0.01). The control diet resulted in the lowest A/P ratios, followed by WCBS-TMR and lastly IRGS-TMR had the highest ratios. Gas production was not different between treatments, suggesting a probable similar level of digestibility when treatments are fed to animals. It can therefore be concluded from the present study that WCBS and IRGS are of almost an equivalent nutritional value when incubated in a TMR form. WCBS-TMR however resulted in lower A/P ratios than IRGS-TMR, which is indicative of a more energy efficient diet.

본 연구는 반추동물의 조사료 자원으로서 거대억새를 개발하기 위한 목적으로 수행되었다. 우리나라에서 새롭게 개발된 품종인 거대억새 1호를 완숙기 이후에 채취하여 in vitro 반추위 발효를 이용해반추위내 pH, 암모니아태 질소, 가스발생량, 휘발성 지방산 생성량 및 건물소화율을 조사하였으며,볏짚과 비교하여 평가하였다. 거대억새는 볏짚에 비하여 유의적으로 높은 반추위내 pH를 나타내었다(p<0.01). 암모니아태 질소의 경우 배양 12시간 이후에는 두 처리구간의 유의적인 차이를 나타내지 않았다 (p>0.05). 배양 6시간 이후 부터는 거대억새의 가스발생량이 볏짚에 비하여 유의적으로 낮게 나타났다 (p<0.05). 휘발성 지방산 생성량에 있어 acetate, propionate, butyrate, valerate 및 총생상량에서 볏짚이 거대억새보다 높게 나타났다. 그러나 iso-butyrate와 iso-valerate에서는 두 조사료원별 차이는 발견되지 않았다. 건물소화율에 있어 배양 12~24시간 사이의 거대억새 소화율이 볏짚에 비하여 유의적으로 나타났다. 결론적으로 거대억새의 이용성은 볏짚의 약 80% 수준인 것으로 나타났다.

The influenza virus is an important respiratory risk affecting humans, and effective treatments are needed. Some oriental medicines are currently applied for treatment of common colds as well as influenza infection. Previous studies have reported that the therapeutic properties of MA-128 are effective for treatment of psoriasis antiasthmatic and atopic dermatitis. In this study, we investigated the therapeutic properties of the novel herbal medicine, MA-128, for treatment of influenza virus infection by oral administration. MA-128 is an active natural biological compound from herbal-marine origin. The results showed that oral administration of MA-128 in mice could confer a survival benefit against Type A influenza virus infection. Daily oral administration of MA-128 resulted in delayed death in infected mice for three days against mouse adapted H3N2 (A/Philippines/2/82). However, it protected more than 60% of mice from lethal infection of 2009 pandemic H1N1 (A/Korea/CJ01/2009) influenza virus. In addition, lung viral titers were significantly reduced at seven days post infection (~100 times) compared with mock-treated mice and viruses were cleared at 9 dpi only in the MA-128 treated groups. This study demonstrated the potential of the novel herbal medicine, MA-128, as an herbal remedy against influenza A viruses.

Two different schemes were adopted to fabricate ordered macroporous structures with face centered cubic lattice of air spheres. Monodisperse polymeric latex suspension, which was synthesized by emulsifier-free emulsion polymerization, was mixed with metal oxide ceramic nanoparticles, followed by evaporation-induced self-assembly of the mixed hetero-colloidal particles. After calcination, inverse opal was generated during burning out the organic nanospheres. Inverse opals made of silica or iron oxide were fabricated according to this procedure. Other approach, which utilizes ceramic precursors instead of nanoparticles was adopted successfully to prepare ordered macroporous structure of titania with skeleton structures as well as lithium niobate inverted structures. Similarly, two different schemes were utilized to obtain disordered macroporous structures with random arrays of macropores. Disordered macroporous structure made of indium tin oxide (ITO) was obtained by fabricating colloidal glass of polystyrene microspheres with low monodispersity and subsequent infiltration of the ITO nanoparticles followed by heat treatment at high temperature for burning out the organic microspheres. Similar random structure of titania was also fabricated by mixing polystyrene building block particles with titania nanoparticles having large particle size followed by the calcinations of the samples.

Aqueous gold nanoparticle dispersion was synthesized by chemical reduction method using diethanolamine as reducing agent and polyethyleneimine as dispersion stabilizer. The synthesis conditions for the stable dispersion of the gold nanoparticle suspension were determined by changing the amount of the reducing agent and dispersant during the wet chemical synthesis procedures. The face centered cubic lattice structure of the gold nanoparticles was confirmed by using X-ray diffraction and the morphologies of the nanoparticles were observed by transmission electron microscope. The synthesized gold nanoparticle dispersion was concentrated by evaporating the dispersion medium at room temperature followed by the addition of ethyleneglycol as humectant for the increase of the elastic properties to obtain gold nanoparticle inks for direct ink writing process. The line patterns were obtained with the gold nanoparticle inks during the writing procedures and the morphologies of the fine patterns were observed by scanning electron microscope.

Cytosolic Ca2+ is an important regulator of tumor cell proliferation and metastasis. Recently, the strategy of blocking receptors and channels specific to certain cancer cell types has emerged as a potentially viable future treatment. Oral squamous cell carcinoma is an aggressive form of cancer with a high metastasis rate but the receptor-mechanisms involved in Ca2+ signaling in these tumors have not yet been elucidated. In our present study, we report that bradykinin induces Ca2+ signaling and its modulation in the human oral squamous carcinoma cell line, HSC-3. Bradykinin was found to increase the cytosolic Ca2+ levels in a concentration-dependent manner. This increase was inhibited by pretreatment with the phospholipase C-β inhibitor, U73122, and also by 2-aminoethoxydiphenyl borate, an inhibitor of the inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor. Pretreatment with extracellular ATP also inhibited the peak bradykinin-induced Ca2+ rise. In contrast, the ATP-induced rise in cytosolic Ca2+ was not affected by pretreatment with bradykinin. Pretreatment of the cells with either forskolin or phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (activators of adenylyl cyclase and protein kinase C, respectively) prior to bradykinin application accelerated the recovery of cytosolic Ca2+ to baseline levels. These data suggest that bradykinin receptors are functional in Ca2+ signaling in HSC-3 cells and may therefore represent a future target in treatment strategies for human oral squamous cell carcinoma.

본 연구에서는 양이온교환막 표면에 형성된 바이폴라 계면이 물분해 현상에 미치는 영향을 조사하였다. 실험결과, 전기투석 중 막표면에 형성된 고정화된 바이폴라 계면이 심각한 물분해를 유발함을 알 수 있었다. 특히, 고정화된 바이폴라 계면은 다가 양이온이 전해질로 이용되는 전기투석 시스템에서 양이온교환막 표면에 쉽게 형성됨을 알 수 있었다. 낮은 용해도적 상수를 갖는 다가 양이온들은 급격한 물분해를 유발하였는데 이는 이들이 막표면에서 쉽게 수산화물의 형태로 침적되며 따라서 수소-친화 그룹과 수산화-친화 그룹으로 구성된 바이폴라 계면이 막-용액 계면에 형성됨을 알 수 있었다. 따라서 물분해는 막 표면의 금속수산화물 층과 막의 고정전하 그룹간에 발생되는 강한 전기장에 의해 크게 활성화됨을 알수 있다. 또한 이와 유사하게 분자량이 큰 유기 상대이온들이 막표면에 누적되는 경우에도 고정화된 바이폴라 계면이 형성되어 한계전류밀도 이상에서 심각한 물분해를 유발하였다. 따라서 전기투석의 고전류 운전시 효율 향상을 위해서는 막표면에 유발되는 고정화된 바이폴라 계면의 형성을 억제하는 것이 매우 중요함을 알 수 있다.

Background : While the anti-inflammatory effects of 20 (S)-ginsenoside Rg3 (Rg3) have been studied, it remains unclear how Rg3 regulates lipid metabolism in inflammatory macrophages. Thus, in this study, we characterized some eicosanoids related to the anti-inflammatory effects of 20 (S)-ginsenoside Rg3 in murine macrophages. Methods and Results : UPLC-MS/MS was used to profile various eicosanoids from RAW264.7 cells treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and Rg3. The profiling data were statistically analyzed by principal component analysis, hierarchical clustering analysis and analysis of variance. The anti-inflammatory effect of Rg3 was validated by assessing the levels of nitric oxide, tumor necrosis factor-α, and interleukin-6 in the activated macrophages treated with Rg3. A total of 69 eicosanoids were analyzed in RAW264.7 cells. Principal component and hierarchical cluster analyses differentiated control cells from cells treated with LPS, Rg3, or LPS + Rg3 for 12 or 24 h. Furthermore, some differentially regulated compounds were found between macrophages treated with LPS for 24 h and those treated with LPS + Rg3 for 24 h. Conclusion : Rg3 alters eicosanoid metabolism in activated macrophages treated with LPS. Furthermore, we identified several eicosanoids correlated with the anti-inflammatory activity of Rg3.

Background : Undulatum Rhubarb, commonly produced in domestic, is rhizome of Rheum undulatum L. that belongs to the family Polygonaceae. It also can be used as a substitute of R. palmatum L., R. tanguticum Maximowicz ex Balf., and R. officinale Baillon which completely depend on import system. However, there should be clear clarification among Undulatum Rhubarb and Rhubarb, because Undulatum Rhubarb contains rhaponticin as marker compound that is not indicated at Rhubarb. Some of the recently imported Undulatum Rhubarbs have been found to be Rhubarb. Also, it is known that only Undulatum Rhubarb is cultivated at domestic environment. But some plant origins of Rhubarb are grown in Korea, too. Further study are needed to clarify clear origin between Undulatum Rhubarb and Rhubarb. Thus, we collected some domestically cultivated samples and identified them. Methods and Reseults : Rheum undulatum L., Rhubarb, Rheum tanguticum Maximowicz ex Balf. which were cultivated in Gangwondo Agricultural Research and Extension Services in Cheorwon were collected and anayzed the DNA sequences. We also compared DNA sequences in Rhubarb collected from England and R. rhabarbarum L., R. undulatum L., and R. franzenbachii on NCBI. As a result, two kinds of rhubarb cultivated in the test plantation were identified as R. rhabarbarum and R. officinale. In addition, R. undulatum (plant origin of Undulatum Rhubarb) was identified as Rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum) in England with 99 - 100% identical in nuclear ITS gene region. Conclusion : R. undulatum, plant origin of Undulatum Rhubarb, is reported as synonym of R. rhabarbarum, R. franzenbachii. Rheum speices which are cultivated as tester in Gangwondo Agricultural Research and Extension Services in Cheorwon are estimated as R. undulatum and R. officinale. Therefore, not only Undulatum Rhubarb but Rhubarb could be grown in Korea.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the relation of internal factors and to build a foundation for SWOT Matrix strategy of horticulture therapy in the domestic. 438 master’s and doctorate degree dissertations on horticultural therapy from 1998 to 2015 were analyzed with years, school groups, degree classifications and regional groups. Master’s and doctorate degree dissertations published 438 studies in 1998 (1), 2002 (13), 2007 (32), and 2012 (44) have increased continuously. Among all the 211 Korean schools, 82 published dissertations related to horticultural therapy. The schools that have published more than 10 theses are as follows. Konkuk university has published the most 67 theses. The dissertations were followed by Korea univ. (50), Dankook univ. (44), Catholic univ. of Daegu (40), Seoul national univ of education (21), univ. of seoul (15), Mokpo national univ. (12), Jeju national univ. (11), Chungnam univ. (11), Daegu univ. (10), Chosun univ. (10). In the frequency analysis of academic degree types related to 438 theses, agricultural science (39.3%) accounted for the largest percentage. The next was followed by natural science (17.6%), education (16%), social welfare (8.4%), health science (5.7%), art plastic (2.3%), literature (2.1%), special education (2.1%), engineering (1.8%), science of nursing (1.1%), design (1.7%), theology (0.7%), psychology (0.7%), natural therapy (0.7%), etc (0.9%). According to the frequency analysis of regions where 438 dissertations were published in 15 cities/provinces in South Korea except Ulsan city. The results of this study confirmed that horticultural therapy satisfied the internal environment to become a field of complementary and alternative medicine.

With the object of examining the effects of horticultural therapy based on structural recall by developmental stage on cognitive, emotional, and hand functions of institutionalized elderly, this study executed a horticultural therapy program once a week and through a total of 14 sessions during the period from May 2 to December 5, 2013. The subjects of this study were 34 elders admitted to S Geriatric hospital for geriatric diseases, and they were divided into a control group and an experimental group. Because the program was designed for institutionalized elders who were able to do only indoor activities, it provided various seasonal horticultural activities that could be done even in a limited space by giving materials and subjects that could be recalled by developmental stage. The results of this study are as follows. As to changes in cognitive functions (MSQ) after the horticultural therapy program, the control group showed a decrease as having more negative ranks, and the experimental group showed an increase as having more positive ranks, but such changes in the control and experimental groups were not significant. As to changes in emotional functions after the horticultural therapy program, the control group showed a decrease but without significance in ego integrity as having more negative ranks, and the experimental group showed an increase with significance as having more positive ranks (P=0.020). As to the experimental group’s changes in the sub factors of ego integrity, positive ranks increased in all the sub-factors and the increase was particularly significant in satisfaction with present life (P=0.038). As to changes in life satisfaction, the control group showed increased positive ranks but without significance, and the experimental group showed significantly increased positive ranks (P=0.022). As to the experimental group’s changes in the sub-factors of life satisfaction, changes in denial of the past (P=0.029) and denial of the future (P=0.016) were particularly significant. As to changes in hand functions, both the control and experimental groups showed some improvement in pinch after the horticultural therapy program but the changes were not significant. Grip strength did not change in the control group, and in the experimental group right-hand grip strength was improved slightly more than left-hand one, the difference was not significant. The results of this study suggest that horticultural therapy based on structural recall by developmental stage is effective in improving institutionalized elders’ emotional functions and, consequently, can contribute to higher quality of life, which is the ultimate goal of elders.