The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the regular selling price and nutrient contents of foods used for special medical purposes in Korea. This study investigated the regular selling price and nutritional composition of 114 enteral nutrition (EN) foods on the manufacturer’s internet homepage. The average price of the total products was 1,156.0 won/100 mL. The price of foods used for calorie and nutrient supplementation (CNS) was significantly higher compared to that of the other EN food types (p<0.01). With respect to the nutritional content per 100 mL of the product, EN foods for CNS had significantly higher contents of energy, protein, 5 minerals, and 7 vitamins than the other EN food types. On comparing the nutritional contents of foods according to the price, the balanced nutrition foods showed significantly higher contents of energy, carbohydrate, protein, 3 minerals, and 7 vitamins in high-priced products than in low-priced foods. Summarizing these results, foods for CNS were approximately twice as expensive as the other EN foods, and the energy, protein, mineral, and vitamin contents were also high. Balanced nutrition foods had higher nutrient contents in high-priced products, which showed the relationship between the product price and nutrient content.

The present study investigated the participation of D-serine and NR2 in antinociception produced by blockade of central erythropoietin-producing hepatocellular carcinoma (Eph) A4 (EphA4) signaling in rats with trigeminal neuropathic pain. Trigeminal neuropathic pain was modeled in male Sprague-Dawley rats using mal-positioned dental implants. The left mandibular second molar was extracted under anesthesia, and a miniature dental implant was placed to induce injury to the inferior alveolar nerve. Our current findings showed that nerve injury induced by malpositioned dental implants significantly produced mechanical allodynia; additionally, the inferior alveolar nerve injury increased the expression of D-serine and NR2 subunits in the ipsilateral medullary dorsal horn (trigeminal subnucleus caudalis). Intracisternal administration of EphA4-Fc, an EphA4 inhibitor, inhibited nerve injury-induced mechanical allodynia and upregulated the expression of D-serine and NR2 subunits. Moreover, intracisternal administration of D-amino acids oxidase, a D-serine inhibitor, inhibited trigeminal mechanical allodynia. These results show that D-serine and NR2 subunit pathways participate in central EphA4 signaling after an inferior alveolar nerve injury. Therefore, blockade of D-serine and NR2 subunit pathways in central EphA4 signaling provides a new therapeutic target for the treatment of trigeminal neuropathic pain.

Soybean (Glycine max, 2n = 2x = 40) is broadly distributed throughout East and South East Asia, and important crop as a source of protein, oil, food and animal feed. In order to better understand the morphological differentiation of soybean germplasm collected from China, Japan, Korea, Philippines, America, we analyzed the morphological variabilities among 629 soybeans with 11 morphological traits, such as growth type, leaflet, flower color, trichome, seed coat color, color inside seed etc. and measured the fatty acid composition. The result of the principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) based on the 11 morphological traits revealed diversity among all accessions. The PCoA separated the accessions into two main groups, each group with distinctive features. Among tested germplasm, the contents of five fatty acids were as follows: linolenic acid (2.8%－16.23%), linoleic acid (27.4%－56.6%), oleic acid (9.2%－35.0%), stearic acid (2.9%－8.8%), and palmitic acid (8.7%－17.1%). The fatty acid composition has not shown significant variation among all accessions. IT 22268 was the highest linolenic acid composition (16.2%), while IT 154687 was the lowest (2.8%). Forty three of 629 accessions showed the arachidic acid (0.5%-3.6%), which is the saturated fatty acid with a 20 carbon chain and is as a minor constituent of peanut oil (1.1%-1.7%). This result of this characterization served as reliable resources for detailed description and new functional plant breeding of soybean varieties.