Inflammation is an important protective response mechanism that occurs against microbial invasion or injury. However, excessive inflammation may lead to cause of morbidity and mortality in diseases. The activated macrophages plays a vital role in inflammatory response by stimulation of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). This activation further damages the host by inducing certain pro-inflammatory mediators such as nitric oxide (NO), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin- 6 (IL-6), TNF-α, inducible nitrous oxide (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase (COX-2). Flavonoids are bioactive compounds with potential effects as anti-cancer, anti-inflammation, anti-viral and anti-bacterial activities. Polymethoxyflavones (PMFs) are unique to citrus plants which are of specific interest owing to their biological effects that includes lipoprotein metabolism and anti-inflammatory activity. Sinensetin is one of the PMFs having five methoxy groups on the basic benzo-γ-pyrone skeleton with a carbonyl group at the C4 position. Sinensetin have been known for exerting various pharmacological activities including anti-angiogenesis, anti-diabetic and anti-inflammatory activities. However, there are no studies focused on the anti-inflammatory effects of sinensetin on skeletal muscle cells. In the present study, we investigated the antiinflammatory effect of flavonoids isolated from Sinensetin on the production of pro-inflammatory mediators mediated by nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) by inhibition of signal transduction in LPS - induced L6 skeletal muscle cells.

Programmed cell death (PCD) is decisive in eliminating affected cells in human cancers, whereas there are increasing cases of cancer-related death due to side effects of modern treatment methods. There is an urge for new methods of growth inhibition and elimination of cancer cells with a lower cytotoxicity to normal cells. Irregularity along PCD pathways plays a crucial role in cancer cell carcinogenesis. Apoptosis is a distinct cell death mechanism occurring in multicellular organisms and also called type one programmed cell death. Autophagy and paraptosis are non-apoptotic PCD occurring in multicellular organisms. Natural compounds are the fundament of pharmacological treatments, and flavonoids are natural polyphenolic compounds which are unique due to their diverse chemical structures and various biological active mechanisms like anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antioxidative and much more. This gives an increasing number of studies indicating that some flavonoids from medicinal plants could be promising candidates for new natural anticancer drugs, which attract high interests of academic researchers and advanced users. An understanding of the underlying mechanism of PCD induced by flavonoids in cancer cells is important as it plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of many diseases. This systematic review is to report flavonoids and their derivatives as new anticancer candidates to stimulate PCD with a different mechanism based on the pharmacological evidence.

This study compared the texture characteristics and consumer acceptance of cooked wheat noodles produced in four countries, which were Korea, Japan, China, and Italy. Noodle types were selected after FGI (focus group interview). Eleven noodles were studied, and they were categorized into four types: udon, fried udon, oriental noodles of various thickness, and pasta. Color was measured as L (lightness), a (redness), and b (yellowness) values using a colorimeter. Lightness decreased when noodles were cooked, whereas redness and yellowness of cooked noodles were unchanged. Texture properties of wheat noodles in terms of hardness, springiness, cohesiveness, and chewiness were measured using the Rheometer. Italian spaghetti (spgt_IL), Korean fried udon (yk_udng_KR) had highest values for hardness. Korean udon had the highest value for springiness, whereas Chinese medium noodle (mid_CN) had the lowest value (p<0.05). Chinese thick noodle (thick_CN) and fettuccine (fettc_IL) showed lower hardness but higher springiness. Cohesiveness was significantly higher for Japanese udon (udng_JP), Chinese medium noodle (mid_CN), and Chinese thick noodle (thick_CN), whereas values for Korean thin noodle (thin_KR) and Korean fried noodle (yk_udng_KR) were significantly low (p<0.05). Spaghetti (spgt_IL) showed significantly high values for chewiness (p<0.05). For overall acceptability, thick Korean noodle showed the highest score with a level of 'slightly like'. Taste and texture attributes were highest among all noodles, and its high scores for chewiness and smoothness might contribute to its overall acceptance. Korean thick noodle, Korean udon, and Japanese udon were not significantly different from Korean or Japanese thin noodles. Japanese fried noodle (yk_udng_JP) showed the lowest acceptance among noodles in terms of color, flavor, taste, and texture. Chinese thick and medium noodles showed lower scores for overall acceptability, whereas chewiness was not significantly different from other noodles. Spaghetti and fettuccine showed lower scores in terms of overall acceptability, taste, texture, springiness, and chewiness.

Color is one of the most important attributes determining the purchase of food products by consumers. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify consumer color preferences for songpyun, a traditional Korean rice cake, by a consumer acceptance test and using coated Pantone color chips. Color evaluation tools for the study were developed accordingly. From the results, the songpyun sample designated as product E was given the highest color acceptability score, and was ‘slightly liked’ (p<0.05). The color of product E was ‘very pale red-purple’. All the evaluated pink-color songpyun products were based on this red-purple hue, however, they had differences in tone. The consumer panel favored a pale tone over a bright tone. The color concept for traditional songpyun within the pink color category was identified as ‘very pale red-purple’, using coated Pantone color chips. This result for the conceptual color preference was consistent with that of the consumer color acceptance test. Thus, color chips could be an effective tool when applied for color standardization in traditional foods production. From the overall results, it seems consumers are perceiving color trends and are willing to adapt to such changes in food applications.

The effects of pressure cooker brand awareness, in terms of rice cooking performance, were evaluated using consumer acceptability tests. A blind test was performed using rice samples cooked by 3 different pressure cookers without any brand information, and a brand awareness test followed with the same informed consumer panel. Overall acceptability, glossiness, stickiness, hardness, flavor, and color were evaluated and compared to determine whether or not there were changes on consumer choice for acceptability. Brand A and brand B were not significantly different in their overall acceptibility, moisture content, flavor, or color (p > 0.05), but they were significantly different for glossiness, stickiness, and hardness. Brands A and C were significantly different for all the attributes (p < 0.05). In the brand awareness test, brands A and B were not significantly different in their liking scores for all the attributes (p > 0.05). Brand C had significantly lower liking scores for overall acceptability, glossiness, stickiness, hardness, and moisture content than the other brands (p < 0.05). When comparing the liking scores for all the attributes with those of the blind test, the scores of the brand awareness test were slightly higher. For brand A, there were changes in its liking scores for overall acceptability, flavor, and glossiness (p < 0.05). However, brands B and C had brand awareness effects for all the attributes (p < 0.05).

Cowpea might have been introduced from China to Korea and cultivated for several hundred years but it has never been a staple food crop in Korea. In this study, genetic diversity of 492 Korean cowpea landrace accessions that have passport information was estimated using six SSR markers. The mean of Weir's gene diversity was 0.665 from all accessions investigated in the study. Cowpea gene diversity of six local provinces in Korea was ranged from 0.370 in accessions of Gangwon to 0.680 in Jeonra provinces. Low gene diversity of the cowpea genepool of Gangwon province was probably derived from relatively few introductions. Especially SSR markers VM36 and VM39 seem to be good markers to distinguish the Gangwon accessions from others by occurring at a specific locus with higher than 78% of allele frequency. Except for the Gangwon province with the low genetic diversity, gene diversity of cowpea accessions from other provinces was ranged from 0.600 to 0.680 indicating no big differences among provinces. Distribution pattern of the allele frequencies was similar among the other provinces. This may reveal that Korean farmers might exchange cowpea seeds easily with even their neighbors with geographical barriers. A core collection, 100 landraces, ca. 20% of base collection, was developed at the 70% of a similarity coefficient level using random sampling approaches after stratification of the entire landrace collection based on the phenetic dendrogram. The variability of SSR in the base and core collections of Korean cowpea landrace was compared by calculating Weir's gene diversity. The mean of Weir's gene diversity of the core was 0.707 while that of the base collection was 0.665. The higher diversity index in the core collection indicates that it maintains the initial variability and well represents the base collection. The core collection included one of determinate accession (IT 216155) and two of no branching type accessions (IT 103959 and IT 161024). The core collection could be used to guide more efficient management and utilization of the entire collection. This core collection should be revised periodically as additional accessions are collected and further characterization is conducted.

“Neulbora” is a new leaf vegetable perilla (Perilla frutescens (L.) Britton) variety developed from a cross between Ipdeulkkae1/YCPL173 and YCPL199 at the Yeongnam Agricultural Research Institute, NICS, RDA, in 2005. Wrinkled leaf shape and purple color o