현대사회에서 스트레스와 긴장감은 피할 수 없는 요인이다. 다양한 피부질환은 스트레스를 일 으키는 중요한 요인으로 언급되고 있다. 피부질환을 가진 환자들은 수면상태가 원활하지 않아 전반적으로 수면 효율이 낮다. 또한 피부질환으로 인해 심리적 스트레스 수치가 높아지고, 이와 같은 과정은 반복적으 로 발생하고 있다. 피부질환과 스트레스는 상호적으로 연관되어 있으며, psychodematology에 대한 연구가 증가하고 있다. 이에 본 연구에서는 피부질환을 저하 시킬 수 있는 호박, 작약, 타트체리 복합물을 활용하 여 피부 각질 형성 세포에서 스트레스로 인한 만성 피부질환을 개선할 수 있는 소재를 개발하고 효능을 입 증하고자 하였다. HaCaT 각질형성세포에 복합 추출물은 12.5, 25, 50, 100 μg/mL 농도 의존적으로 TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, MDC, TARC 발현량이 저해되었으며 특히 IL-1β의 경우, 100 μg/mL의 농도 에서 40% 이상 저해하는 우수한 효능을 확인하였다. 또한 AQP-3, HA, filaggrin의 생성량 농도 의존적으 로 유의미한 증가를 보이며 TNF-α/IFN-γ로 증가된 p-ERK, p-JNK, p-p38의 단백질 발현은 복합 추 출물의 처리로 유의하게 감소시 키는 것으로 나타났다. 이를 통하여 해당 복합 추출물은 피부질환을 치료 및 예방할 수 있는 소재로서 활용가치가 있는 것으로 판단되며, 이는 피부질환과 스트레스 간의 상호 관계 의 악영향을 낮춰 줄 것으로 판단된다.

Today’s customer service providers, who have the greatest impact on customer satisfaction, are experiencing severe stress and job burnout due to various causes. Unlike general companies, the corporation has a relatively high level of dissatisfaction with customer service since there is a large conflict between the provision of kindness and the reasonable handling of civil complaints according to laws and regulations. In order to analyze the environment of the NPS’ customer service providers, 5.583 branch employees working at the National Pension Service and 407 call center employees were surveyed online using the questionnaire function of the Enterprise resource planning system. The contents of the survey consisted of a survey on customer-facing employees, the level of awareness of customer-facing workers protection measures, and opinions on improvement and supplementation related to customer-facing workers protection measures. As a result of the survey, 72.8% of the total respondents experienced grievance complaints, and the proportion of call center employees was even higher at 89.0%. In addition, both the branch and the call center had the largest share of complaints about obstruction of business, unreasonable demands, abusive language, and verbal abuse. More than 40% of call center employees in their 20s and 30s experienced the highest frequency of complaints 13 or more times a year. The most difficult thing in the process of responding to complaints was that both branch offices and call centers had insufficient psychological recovery time, lack of space, and lack of help from colleagues and superiors. Based on the survey analysis, it is suggested to establish a countermeasure through case analysis rather than the right to suspend work for civil complaints that cannot be handled, such as customized manuals and action strategies for the age group with high grievance complaints.

This study was carried out to identify medicinal mushrooms with protective effects against oxidative stress in PC12 neuronal cell line, followed by evaluation of their antioxidant property. Extracts of medicinal mushrooms, including Ganoderma lucidum extract (GLE), antler-shaped Ganoderma lingzhi extract (AGLE), Hericium erinaceus extract (HEE), and Sanghuangporus baumii extract (SBE), were screened for cytotoxicity using MTT assay. None of the extracts up to 10 μg/ml concentration affected cell viability. These extracts were further checked for their protective effect against oxidative stress-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. Exposure to 50 μM H₂O₂ induced ROS generation in PC12 cells, which was inhibited only by treatment with AGLE. In addition, inhibition of H₂O₂-induced ROS generation by AGLE was found to be in a dose-dependent manner (2.5, 5, and 10 μg/ml). Microscopic examination of DCF fluorescence for detection of ROS showed a similar pattern. Further, antioxidant activity of AGLE was determined by ABTS radical cation assay, and its IC50 was found to be 46.90±0.31 μg/ml. Taken together, these results suggest that AGLE may help to alleviate oxidative stress in PC12 neuronal cells.

It is noted that Dioscorea quinqueloba is a medicinal herb that is widely used to treat cardiovascular disease and is assessed as useful to treat other various medical conditions. The immunopotentiating effects of the protein extract (DQP-1) from Dioscorea quinqueloba were thus formally investigated in vivo under incident of cold stress. In this case study, the spleen and thymus weight in mice was shown to have decreased after a measured exposure to cold stress, while the adrenal gland weight in the mice was shown to have increased. The systematic oral administration of DQP-1 significantly recovered the weight loss of the spleen and suppressed the adrenal gland hypertrophy during the association with cold stress. Additionally, the DQP-1 also restored the ascorbic acid level in the adrenal gland reduced after cold stress. The cold stress exposure lowered the percentage of CD4+ and CD8+ cells in the mouse thymus as determined by the flow cytometric analysis, as well as the levels of some serum immunological cytokines(interleukin-2, interleukin-12, and interferon-γ) in the studied mice. The resulting identified weakened immunity caused by cold stress was also recovered by a treatment with DQP-1. The DQP-1 significantly suppressed the formation of serum enzymes of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and lactate dehydrogenase, which were systematically elevated during the cold stress episode. These results indicate that DQP-1 can improve immunity in mice that are characteristically weakened under stress.

Background : Scopolamine induces cholinergic dysfunction and oxidative stress, and the impairment of memory function. Therefore, oxidative stress and cholinergic dysfunction are important role of the brain pathology of amnesia. In this study, we investigated the impact of Safflower seed against oxidative stress and cholinergic dysfunction on scopolamine-induced amnesic mice. Methods and Results : Mice were orally pretreated with safflower seed (100 ㎎/㎏ body weight) or vehicle for 7 days, and scopolamine (1 ㎎/㎏ body weight) was injected intraperitoneally, 30 min before the behavior tests such as T-maze and novel objective recognition test on first day. To evaluate learning and memory function, the Morris water maze task was performed for 5 days, consecutively. The results showed that spatial perceptive ability and novel object recognition was significantly increased by preadministration of safflower seed compared with scopolamin-induced control mice in the behavior tests. Consistently, immuno blot revealed the elevated expression of superoxide dismutase 1 in the safflower seed pretreated mice, compared to the control mice. Moreover, protein expression of acetylcholinesterase was decreased in safflower seed pre-treated group. Conclusion : Subsequently, our results suggests that the Safflower seed extract improved memory impairment through inhibition of cholinergic dysfunction and oxidative stress.