It has been reported that collagen and elastin inhibit skin wrinkle formation. Skin elasticity is closely associated with the formation of wrinkles induced by UV exposure. In this study, we investigated the protective effects Pleurotus ostreatus (P. ostreatus) on UVB irradiation induced wrinkle in hairless mice. We evaluated for their free radical-scavenging activities against 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), the anti-elastase activities, and for their anti-matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) activity in human skin fibroblast cells. In the wrinkle measurement and image analysis of skin replicas, the results showed that P. ostreatus significantly inhibited wrinkle formation caused by chronic UVB irradiation. These results suggest that P. ostreatus has anti-wrinkle activity.

This study is to construct the spatial information of river environment by surveying and analysing the river ecosystem using the physical structure and vegetation, and present the assessment result of natural properties. The assessment items of habitat were 4 units including special river bed structure, vertical shoal, deposit diversity and special waterway structure. In physical structure, the items were 7 units including adjacent landuse, cross section type, bank material and so forth. The dominant species were Phragmites japonica, Phragmites communis, Salix koreensis, Persicaria thunbergii and Typha orientalis. The river bed materials were made up of sand, gravel, clay and concrete. The assessment results of natural properties were classified into 5 grades, 1 grade is the highest and 5 grade is the lowest. From results that calculating the assessment grade of natural properties, there mainly showed 4 grade in Gaeumjeong stream, 3 grade in Namsan stream and Nam stream, 4 grade in Naedong stream and Daebang stream, 3 grade in Bongrim stream, 2 grade in Sangbok stream, 3 grade in Yanggok stream, 4 grade in Wanam stream, 3 grade in Changwon stream and Towol stream and 5 grade in Hanam stream. In the assessment results, Sangbok stream was the highest, and Hanam stream was the lowest. In the future, the restoration method would have to be drawn up according to the assessment results of natural properties, and the way the weighting of indicators needs to be applied.

Background : Ginseng, an important traditional medicinal plant still used in rats with bone fractures or dislocation to promote connective tissue repair and to reduce inflammantion. We investigated the effect of ginseng on the proliferation rate of rat bone. Methods and Results : We investigated the effect of ginseng extracts on blood biochemical parameters, bone density and bone inorganic components etc. and data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA. In the results of our study, the level of albumin and HDL, Ca, P, Mg, and estradiol in blood, and the content of Ca, P, ash in femur were significantly increased in ginseng treated group than in OVX group, and the level of ALP, AST, ALT, blood glucose, total cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL, creatinine, osteocalcin, and N-terminal telopeptide were significantly decreased in red ginseng treated group than in OVX group (p < 0.01). Conclusion : From these results, we knew that within the normal level, ginseng extracts improved liver and kidney function, component of glucose and lipid in blood, bone densith, bone ash and inorganic components in femur, and index related with bone metabolism.

Background : Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) appears to enhance the differentiation of osteoblasts and to activate the mineralization of bone. Hence, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of ginseng complex on the remodeling of rats tibia. Methods and Results : Ginseng complex significantly increased serum IGF-1 by 58% and 34.5% than the control, respectively. Treatment with α-amylase when manufacturing these extracts remarkably increased the concentration of IGF-1 by 63% and 36% above the control, respectively. This ways that this ginseng complex, especially α-amylase treated extracts, contained a higher level of IGF-1 secretion in the ginseng complex groups. In addition, increases of 8% in femuf length were found after 12 weeks of oral administration with ginseng complex (300mg/kg). Conclusion : These results mean that ginseng complex have beneficial effects on bone effects on bone growth via IGF-1.

Background : Our animal model of stress contained two components: (1) acute trauma, immobilization of rats in close proximity to a cat twice in 10 days, and (2) chronic social instability, 31 days of randomized housing of cage cohorts. Here we tested the hypothesis that daily social stimulation would block the development of the stress. Methods and Results : Beginning 24 h after the first cat exposure, adult male rats were given our established stress model, alone or in conjunction with daily social stimulation, in which all rats within a group interacted in a large apparatus for 2 h each day for the final 30 days. All behavioral, for example, anxiety, memory, startle testing, and physiological assessments, for example, body growth, organ weights, and corticosterone levels, took place following completion of the psychosocial stress period. Conclusion : From the above study, V. fauriei possess significant anti-stress properties and can be used for the treatment of stress-induced disorders.

The promotion of walking and bicycling is recently a hot topic in the urban planning and design field. Many planners have already examined the many components of the land use-transportation connection and built environment-physical activity link. A rapidly growing area of urban form research is to measure the level of walkability in urban environments. With this background, this research conducted a preliminary study to develop the evaluation indicators of pedestrian environments. Based on the literature reviews on walking or pedestrian environments, we proposed the seventeen indicators related with pedestrian facilities, road attributes and walking environment. We also performed a questionary survey to evaluate the satisfaction of their neighborhood pedestrian environments for 302 randomly selected adults living in the City of Changwon, Gyeongsangnam-do. Finally, this research provided the valid model to evaluate the effects of physical environmental factors on the walking satisfaction using factor analysis and multiple regression analysis.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the water pollution degree in the Mid-Nakdong River watershed regarding to landcover types using GIS method. As a result of landcover classification, rate of urban appeared highly on Daegu Metropolitan city. Also, rate of agriculture showed highly in the riparian zones of the Nakdong and Guemho River and rate of forest appeared highly in the borders of the study area. To identify the groups of watershed with similar landcover patterns using the Cluster Analysis. According to the cluster analysis, the fifty sub-watersheds were grouped in three clusters, "Urban watershed", "Agriculture watershed", "Forest watershed". The proportion of urban area in each cluster had a positive correlation with water pollution degree. Otherwise, the proportion of agriculture in the Agriculture watershed had a high positive correlation with water pollution degree. Therefore, it is necessary to estimate environmental capacity of water quality considering ecological and environmental characteristics of watershed ecosystem and expand water quality monitoring systems to small stream.