Kombucha is a fermented tea manufactured by adding various microorganisms and sugars to brewed herb tea such as green tea and black tea. Its components and functions vary depending on ingredients, inoculated microorganism compositions, and fermentation conditions. Therefore, this study aims to examine which conditions affect kombucha properties and how these features are affected. Types of substrates, specifically plant-based foods, alter profiles of polyphenol, organic acids, carbohydrates, and protein amounts in kombucha. Long fermentation time raises polyphenol contents and high fermentation temperatures increase sourness in kombucha. Microbial composition of SCOBY, which is the symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast used to inoculate microorganisms, change the kombucha microbiome that contributes to the chemical composition and functions of kombucha. Several studies have discovered that kombucha has health beneficial functions such as antioxidant activity, hepatic protective effects, antimicrobial effects, anti-diabetic effects, anti-inflammatory effects, and cholesterol reducing effects. These findings indicate that kombucha has high potential as a health functional food. However, future studies are needed to further determine the relationship of manufacturing conditions and functional properties of kombucha.

The majority of silence research has been limited in a negative perspective in which silence was stigmatized as passive non-behavior or counterproductive behavior in the organization. The present study proposed a broader and balanced approach of silence as a way of active communication in daily communication and investigated its social functions. The Eighty college students completed an open-ended questionnaire asking context cues, the reasons, and the consequence of intentional silence in daily life. The reasons and consequence were categorized to extract their structural factors. Eleven factors of silence reasons were abstracted: “partner caring”, “conflict avoidance”, “thinking arrangement”, “dissatisfaction”, “discomfort”, “embarrassed”, “annoyingness”, “misunderstanding”, “no-idea”, “uninterestedness”, and “ignorance”. The silence consequence data revealed 11 factors such as “turning topic”, “understanding and accepting silence”, “apologizing”, “partner's efforts of resuming communication”, “escaping discord”, “continuation of partner's unilateral speaking”, “misunderstanding”, “partner–embarrassed”, “awkwardness”, “stop communicating”, and “nothing happened”. Furthermore, the analyses on frequencies of silence reasons by partner's gender or relational attribute(vertical vs. horizontal) showed the patterns that have been consistently found in verbal communication literature. The findings suggest that silence is not meaningless inaction but active and goal-driven communication. Its functional implications in cultural contexts were discussed.

The purpose of the study was to simplify standard HACCP manual for improving the on-site applicability and increasing the implementation rate of HACCP program for small- and medium-sized dairy farms (SMDF). A survey was carried out in 32 SMDFs using a structured questionnaire. The results indicated that the number of workers had a positive correlation with HACCP certifications (p < 0.05). Most of HACCP non-certified farms (66.7%) were run by two workers with 40-60 cows and milking yields of 1,000-1,500 L per day. Major drawbacks for dairy farmers to implement current HACCP system were the difficulties in daily recording and facility management (40%). On the basis of the survey results, it was suggested that the development of on-site standard HACCP manual and user-friendly record chart with O/X checklist were the most urgent factors to increase HACCP implementation rate. In addition, the alternative third party service for microbial and chemical tests could also be accompanied for small-sized dairy farms.

GRAS (generally recognized as safe) 하며 열에 민감한 기능성 물질의 전달체로 이용될 수 있는 beta-lactoglobulin (β-Lg) 나노입자 연구는 건강 기능성 유식품 개발에 기여 할 수 있다. 본 연구에서는 protein self-assembly 방법을 이용하여 β-Lg나노입자를 제조하고, 투과 전자 현미경과 분광광도계를 이용하여 β-Lg나노입자 제조 공정요인에 따른 나노입자의 구조 형태 및 화학적 특성 연구가 수행 되었다. 65℃ 열처리 온도와 1mM CaCl₂에서는 β-Lg나노입자가 형성 되지 않았다. 그러나 CaCl₂농도가 2mM에서 5mM로 증가 함 에 따라 나노입자 형성이 관찰 되었고 그 입자 크기도 점차 증가함을 알 수 있었다. 또한 CaCl₂농도가 증가 할수록 turbidity 값이 증가하였다. 이러한 CaCl₂농도 증가에 따른 나노입자의 구조적 변화는 β-Lg와 Ca² 사이의 정전기적 상호작용이 중요한 요인임을 알 수 있었다. 열처리 온도가 55℃에서 85℃로 증가함에 따라 β-Lg나노입자 크기가 증가 하였고, 이러한 열처리 온도 증가에 따른 나노입자의 구조적 변화는 β-Lg의 내부 free sulfhydryl 기와 관련된 분자간의 disulfide 결합이 입자형성에 관여함 을 알 수 있었다. 결론적으로 나노입자 형성과 입자크기 조절에는 CaCl₂농도와 열처리 온도가 중요한 요인임을 알 수 있었다.

이 연구는 고지방 및 고 콜레스테롤식이(HD)를 먹인 rat에서의 저지질혈증 및 항염증 효과에 영향을 미치는 카제인과 유당(cMRP) 그리고 락토바실러스 fermentum H9 (FcMRP)에 의해 발효된 cMRP에 의해 반응된 마일라드 반응 생성물의 효과를 조사했다. HD 식이를 실시한 rat은 정상적인 식이를 먹인 rat과 비교했을 때, 간의 트리글리세리드 농도가 유의적으로 증가했다. 이는 HD 그룹에 비해서 Simvastatin, L. fermentum H9(H9), cMRP, FcMRP의 처리기간의 총 트리글리세리드를 감소시킨 것으로 나타났다. 조직학적 분석에서 cMRP, F-cMRP 및 H9-를 먹인 rat에서 간과 대동맥 조직의 지질 축적이 감소한 것으로 관찰되었다. 또한, F-cMRP와 cMRP는 HD 그룹에서 내중막 두께를 감소시켰다. 게다가 H9, Cmrp, F-cMRP 처리는 ICAM-1 및 VCAM-1의 발현수준을 유의적으로 감소시켰지만, MCP-1의 발현 수준은 유의하게 감소시키지 못했다. 특히, ICAM-1과 VCAM-1의 발현은 HD 그룹에 비해 F-cMRP 그룹에서 유의적으로 감소했다. 이 연구 결과는 낙농 식품의 cMRP와 F-cMRP가 심혈관계 질환, 특히 죽상 동맥 경화증을 예방하거나 치료하는데 잠재적으로 사용될 수 있음을 시사한다.