The objective of this study was to investigate the dynamic neural mobilization program on the changes in muscle activity and nerve conduction velocity (NVC) in stroke patients. The participants were sampled and randomly divided into experimental group I (n=12) who underwent arm neural mobilization and experimental group II (n=13) who underwent arm dynamic neural mobilization. As the pretest, peripheral NVC of the radial, median, and ulnar nerves were measured using the Viking Quest; the biceps brachii, brachioradialis, flexor carpi radialis, and extensor carpi radialis activities were measured with sEMG. Each intervention program consisted of 10 trials per set and three sets per session. The intervention programs were performed once daily for four weeks (four days/week). Posttest measurements were taken equally as the pretest measurements. Significant differences in peripheral NVC in all sections of the radial and median nerves and wristbelow elbow and below elbow-above elbow areas of the ulnar nerve, as well as in muscle activity of all muscles except the biceps brachii. These findings indicate that dynamic neural mobilization was effective in increasing peripheral NVC and altering the muscle activity.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of traction and decompression therapies on the cervical muscle tone and disc height. The decompression group (n=16) received decompression therapy and Mckenzie exercises once a day and four times a week respectively, for three weeks. The traction group (n=15) also received traction therapy and Mckenzie exercises for the same period. Muscle tone was measured with a myotonometer, and the disk height was measured using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), before the interventions. Three weeks later, we investigated the therapeutic effect by repeating these measurements. The difference in disk height between the two groups was not significant. There was a significant difference in the disk herniation index (p<.05). A significant difference was found only in the upper trapezius muscle after comparison of muscle tone and stiffness between the groups (p<.05). Findings from this study suggest that the decompression therapy is a more effective intervention for patients with cervical intervertebral disc herniation.

Soybean peptide (SP) exhibited low intestinal absorption at oral administration due to its fragile structure under gastric digestion. Therefore, we have attempted to encapsulate peptide by cross-linkage interaction between positive charged chitosan (CS) or chitosan oligosaccharide (CSO) and negative charged peptide. The CS (or CSO) with SP nanoparticles were prepared by using ultrasonification technique. The objective of this study was to find the optimal processing method by changing concentration, pH, and homogenizing conditions. We measured physicochemical properties such as particle size, zeta-potential, encapsulation efficiency (EE%), release rate (RR) and antioxidant ability of samples. The results showed that the optimal processing method was using 0.5% (w/v) CSO (diluted by pH 3 Acetic acid buffer) mixed with 0.5% (w/v) SP (diluted by pH 6 buffer) by 9:1 ratio. Afterwards, using high-speed mixer at 12,000 rpm for 3 min, and then passed 2 times through an ultrasonicator (50% power, 3 min). In this way for processing, the particle sizes of CSO/SP nanoparticles were approximately 300 nm, zeta-potential were approximately 45 mV. In addition, the EE% and RR of CS/SP nanoparticles was higher than the CSO/SP nanoparticles. The increase in antioxidant ability of SP was attributed to the affected by CS/CSO microcapsules. In conclusion, this research can befoundation for the manufacturing process of CS/SP nanoparticles, and it was expected that the future application of this nanoparticle in food matrix.

Cryoprotectant is a substance used to protect biological tissue from freezing injury. However, there was few research paper on application of cryoprotectant in food stuff although its benefits was approved from the biological cell tissues. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of the sugar addition as a cryoprotectant on the properties of frozen soybean sprouts. Before freezing process, the samples were blanched at 100°C for 1 min to observe the influence of blanching treatment. The blanched or non-blanched soybean sprouts was immersed in sugar solution as cryoprotectant, and continuously, the samples were frozen at -18°C for 24 h. Their physicochemical properties such as drip loss, hardness, color and cellular tissue were analyzed after thawing in running water. In our study, the drip loss of blanched sample without sugar was 43%, and comparatively, blanched one with sugar was 20% which was the lowest value among all samples. There was no significant difference of hardness between sample with sugar and without sugar. From our results, it was supposed that sugar can protect the soybean sprouts during freezing process regardless blanching process.

Excessive salt intake in body induces health risks resulting high blood pressure or heart diseases. Therefore, the low salt concentration and sale tasted food is needed by means of the modification of manufacturing process. The purpose of this study was to study the effect of inhomogeneous salt localization in bread to enhance the saltiness encapsulated salt. The 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2.0% of liposome encapsulated salt (LS) was added into the baking of white pan bread. The final salt concentration was adjusted at 2% by addition of salt. After baking the bread, the moisture content, loaf volume, fermentation rate, color, texture analysis, salt release rate and sensory test were measured. From this study, moisture content has no significant difference between control and treatments (p>0.05), except for 2.0% LS. Lightness of all treatments was higher than control (p<0.05), whereas, there were no significant difference in hardness (p>0.05). From the sensory test, the bread added 2.0% LS was showed the highest value from the salty taste. Moreover, it is related to the highest release rate of salt was represented at 2.0% LS. In conclusion, the salty intensity of bread can be enhanced by the salt localization using encapsulation of salt.

Recently, semi-dried sweet potato is popular as a natural snake for children’s dessert. The drying condition was optimized to obtain high quality of sweet potato by oven drying process. The mashed yellow and chestnut sweet potato was dried using the oven drier at different temperature (50, 60, 70, and 80°C) then evaluated for the moisture content, appearance observation, texture properties, and sugar contents and sensory test in every 2, 6 and 12 hours. During the dehydration and drying process, the ending point of moisture content divided in three zone from 0-2 hour, 4-6 hour and 8-12 hour. The moisture content was dramatically decreased from 0 hour - 8 hour, but after 8 hour there is no significant decrease. Yellow sweet potato dried at 80°C for 6 hours was investigated as good product base on the sensory test, hardness value, and color appearances as compared to chestnut potato.

Nitrogen (N) fertilizer management is one of the important aspects of economic production of sorghums in sustainable agriculture. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of different N application rates and its split N application methods on productivity, growth characteristics, N accumulation, N use efficiency (NUE), and feed value of Sorghum × Sudangrass hybrids. Treatments consisted of five N application rates (0, 150, 200, 250, and 300 kg ha-1) and two split N application methods (40% in basal N, 30% at the growing stage, and 30% after the first harvest vs. 50% in basal N and 50% after the first harvest). Plant height, leaf width, and stem diameter were increased (p≤0.05) with increasing N fertility rates at each harvest. Chlorophyll content (expressed as SPAD values) was the highest at a rate of 300 kg N ha 1 (first harvest, 46.32; second harvest, 33.09). It was the lowest at zero N (first harvest, 21.56; second harvest, 18.5). Total N, N uptake, and NUE were increased with higher N rates. Split N application had little effect on total N, amount of N uptake, or NUE. Total dry matter yields were the highest (21,715 kg ha-1) at a rate of 300 kg N ha-1. It was the lowest (10,054 kg ha-1) at zero N. Our results suggest that more than 300 kg N ha-1 can improve dry matter yield to be above 116% compared to zero N, thus enhancing the agronomic characters of sorghums. However, no significant effect had been found for split N application. Further work is needed to determine the optimal N levels and the effect of split N application rates.

There are a lot of types of wild vegetables such as Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott stem in Korea. However, the consumption of these wild vegetables is restricted because their storage decreased dramatically after harvest. To maintain original quality of vegetables, pre-treatments such as blanching and drying are important. But conditions for these treatments were still not optimized for many vegetables including Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott stem. Thus, the objective of this study was to set up an optimal pre-treatment method for freezing storage. Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott stems were peeled and cut equally (10 cm) for sample preparation. Dried samples (D) were dried at 90℃ for 3 h. Blanched samples (B) were blanched in hot water at 100℃ for 2 min. Blanched and dried samples (BD) were blanched and dried as same protocol. Physicochemical properties were analyzed to evaluate the quality including texture, moisture content, total color difference and viable cell count. Raw sample had 6.85 kg/cm 3 of hardness and 78.75 of chewiness whereas B was 6.83 kg/cm 3 of hardness and 7.8 of chewiness. B had the similar value compared to raw samples. Moisture content of raw sample was 94.4% and that of B was 94.1%, though there were not any significant differences between them. ΔE value of B showed lower value than those of the others. Viable cell counts and total coliforms were not detected after treatment, while raw sample had 5.39 log CFU/g of viable cell count without total coliform. Therefore, pre-treatments are essential for microbial safety of samples. All results considered, it is supposed that blanching is the optimal pre-treatment to sustain its original quality of Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott stems before freezing.

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.

The influence of the culture media on the growth and catechins and caffeine production was investigated in adventitious root cultures of tea tree. The growth rate of adventitious roots was higher than that of solid medium. Growth rate of adventitious roots was noted to be optimal in N6 liquid medium. Yields of (-)-epicatechin gallate (ECG) and caffeine were the highest when adventitious root cultures were maintained in Nitsch and B5 liquid medium, respectively. The production of (-)-epicatechin (EC) and (-)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) from adventitious roots was maximal when cultured in 1/2MS liquid medium. The adventitious root extracts of tea tree produced on catechins as EC (20.77 mg/g) and EGCG (1.84 mg/g) in 1/2MS medium; EGC (24.39 mg/g) and caffeine (12.97 mg/g) in B5 medium and (-)-epigallocatechin (ECG) (2.16 mg/g) in Nitsch liquid medium.

We have conducted surface photometry of a spiral galaxy NGC4419, by making use of photographic plates in U, B, V and R-bands taken by 105cm Schmidt Camera at Kiso Observatory. Two dimensional surface brightness distributions as well as luminosity profiles along the major axis are examined in detail to decipher the morphological properties of the galaxy. Analysis of the color distributions of NGC4419 shows that B-V and U-B colors remain constant throughout the galaxy with a weak trend of blue bulge in B-V color. The blue bulge might indicate an active star formation in the nucleus of NGC4419. For a quantitative analysis of the luminosity distribution of NGC4419, the observed luminosity profiles are decomposed into bulge and disk components, assuming the bulge component to follow de Vaucouleurs γ 1 / 4 − l a w while the disk component is assumed to be exponential. The fitting generally fails at the central part and at the shoulder near r = 15' where bulge and disk components overlap. The failure at the central part cannot be attributed wholly by the seeing disk since the core-radius of the central plateau is much larger than the width of point spread function. The failure at shoulder could be due to the luminosities from the spiral arms.

This study was carried out to understand the genetic pattern of self-sterility, using a self-fertile variety Cheongyangnative 1 and nine self-sterile cultivars in cultivated boxthorn (Lycium chinense Mill., 2n=24). The inheritance of self-fertility (SF)wa