Globally, colon cancer is increased gradually and known as one of the major causes of cancer death. Stevia, a substitute of sugar, is known to have many components including alpha-tocopherol and anthocyanin etc, as antioxidants. This study's purpose is to investigate whether stevia plant extract can have a protective effect against colon carcinogenesis induced by azoxymethane (AOM) and dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) in mice. Total 30 male ICR mice were divided into 2 groups; AOM/DSS treatment (control group), AOM/DSS + stevia extract (0.5%, in drinking water). After acclimation for 1 week, five weeks old mice received three intraperitoneal AOM (10 mg/kg b.w.) injections weekly for 3 weeks (0–2nd weeks of the experiment) and 2% DSS as drinking water for the next one week. AIN-76A purified rodent diet and 0.5% stevia extract water were supplied to the animals for 6 weeks. The colons of mice were collected and the number of aberrant crypt foci (ACF) and aberrant crypts (ACs) in colonic mucosa were counted after staining with methylene blue. Malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration in feces were determined. The numbers of ACF and ACs were significantly (p<0.01) decreased in stevia-treated group compared with the control group. The MDA concentration in feces was also significantly (p<0.01) decreased in stevia-treated group compared with the control group. In histopathology of colonic epithelium, hyperplasia of colonic epithelium was less observed in steviatreated group. These results indicate that stevia has a protective effect against colon carcinogenesis induced by AOM/DSS in mice and further study needs to illustrate the protective mechanisms.

This research scrutinizes the synergism of virtual reality, the Internet, and television on credibility, memory, attitude, presence, and purchase intention. Respondents are randomly assigned to view two advertisements on the same or different media. This present study parses outs the relationship between immersive media and extant media in cross-media advertising.

본 연구는 도심지 산지형 공원의 물리적 구조 및 식생구조가 기상에 미치는 영향을 분석하기 위해 물리적 구조인 표고, 경사도, 사면 향, 지형구조와 식생 구조인 현존식생, 흉고직경, 울폐도의 기상과의 평균비교를 실시하였다. 분석 결과, 표고의 경우 상대습도, 풍속, 일사에서 유형 간 차이가 있는 것으로 분석되었으며, 경사도의 경우 풍속을 제외한 모든 기상요소에서 유형 간 차이가 있는 것으로 분석되었다. 사면 향의 경우 기온과 상대습도에서 유형간 차이나 있는 것으로 분석되었다. 지형구조의 경우 계곡부, 사면부, 능선부로 구분하였으며, 상대습도에서 측정 값의 차이가 있는 것으로 분석되었으나 기온, 풍속, 일사량에서는 일정한 경향과 유형간 차이가 미미한 것으로 분석되었다. 식생구조 중 현존식생의 경우 일사량을 제외한 기온, 상대습도, 풍속 항목에서 유형 간 차이가 있는 것으로 분석되었으며, 흉고직경의 경우 기온, 풍속, 일사량 항목에서 유형 간 유의한 차이가 있는 것으로 분석되었다. 울폐도의 경우 기온과 일사량에서 유의한 차이가 있는 것으로 분석되었다. 식생 및 물리적구조가 기상환경에 미치는 영향 분석을 위한 관계분석결과 기온의 경우 경사도와 사면 향, 흉고직경과 울폐도에서 영향을 받는 것으로 분석되었으며, 상대습도의 경우 물리적구조인 표고, 경사도, 사면 향, 지형구조와 식생구조인 현존식생과 울폐도에서 상관성이 분석되었다. 풍속의 경우 표고, 현존식생, 흉고직경에서 상관성이 분석되었으며, 일사량의 경우 경사도와 흉고직경, 울폐도간의 상관성이 분석되었다. 전반적으로 기온과 상대습도, 일사량에 가장 큰 영향을 주는 인자는 울폐도로 분석되었으며, 다음으로 경사도에서 상관관계가 높게 분석되는 경향이 나타났다. 흉고직경 또한 기온과 일사량간의 상관성이 매우 높은 것으로 분석되었으며 풍속과의 상관관계도 나타났으나 상대습도는 통계적인 유의성이 나타나지 않았다.

Widespread consumption of fresh-cut vegetables without cooking results in ingestion of major foodborne pathogens including Bacillus cereus. In this study, we aimed to develop a method to rapidly detect B. cereus in fresh-cut vegetables by combining commercial PCR analysis with enrichment of the pathogenic levels. A mixture of B. cereus strains (KCTC1013, KCTC1014, KCTC1092, KCTC1094, and KCTC3624) was inoculated on the surface of fresh-cut cabbage lettuce (20 g) and baby leafy vegetables (10 g) to concentration 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 log CFU/g. Eighty milliliters of TSB with 0.15% polymyxin B was used for cabbage lettuce, and 90 mL of medium was used for baby leafy vegetables and incubated at 42oC for 0, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 h. One milliliter of the enriched media was plated on mannitol-egg yolk-polymyxin agar for quantification, and another 1 mL was used for DNA extraction for PCR analysis. Additionally, the minimum number of sub-samples to be tested from a pack of fresh-cut vegetable samples was determined using 5 sub-samples. The results from this study showed that for detecting B. cereus in fresh-cut cabbage lettuce, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 h enrichment were required to at least detect 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 log CFU/g of B. cereus, respectively. B. cereus in fresh-cut baby leafy vegetables could be detected after 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 h of enrichment at 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 log CFU/g, respectively, using a combination of enrichment and PCR analysis. To determine if a pack of fresh-cut vegetable is positive, the minimum number of sub-samples should be 3. These results can be used to develop a rapid detection method to semi-quantify B. cereus in fresh-cut vegetable samples combining enrichment and PCR.

The accurate estimation of fish assemblages is highly dependent on the sampling gear used for sampling. We used data from 15 sampling sites along the Nakdong River, which is a large river in South Korea, to identify differences in assemblages and sizes of freshwater fishes collected with either cast nets or gill nets, the two most commonly used sampling gear in South Korea. The two gears differed in the fish assemblages they captured, with more species caught by gill nets. Further, due to its tighter mesh size, the cast net caught significantly smaller fishes than the gill nets (independent t-test, p<0.05). We found the cast net to be appropriate for species that inhabit shallow (less than 2 m) and open water, but inappropriate for deep water, habitats with plant beds, and nocturnal species. Thus, cast net sampling is not efficient in a large river environment, and a combination of sampling methods is more suitable for understanding fish assemblages in such habitats. In general, appropriate selection of fishing methods to specific habitats is necessary to improve data quality and minimize the misrepresentation of environmental conditions.

A eukaryotic microalga was isolated from seawater in Janghang Harbor, Korea and its morphological, molecular, and physiological characteristics were investigated. Due to its simple morphology, no distinctive characters were found by morphological observation, such as light microscope or scanning/transmission electron microscopy (S/ TEM). However, molecular phylogenetic evidence inferred from the concatenated small subunit (SSU) 18S rRNA and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence data indicated that the isolate belonged to the newly described Micractinium singularis. Furthermore, it was clustered with Antarctic Micractinium strains and it also showed a psychrotolerant property, surviving at temperatures as low as 5°C. However, its optimal growth temperatures range from 15°C to 25°C, indicating that this microalga is a mesophile. Additionally, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis showed that the isolate was rich in nutritionally important omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid, and high-performance liquid chromatography analysis (HPLC) revealed that the high-value antioxidant lutein was biosynthesized as an accessory pigment by this microalga, with glucose as the major monosaccharide. Therefore, in this study, a Korean marine M. singularis species was discovered, characterized, and described. It was subsequently added to the national culture collections.