The anti-diabetic effect of Cirsium setidens water extract and the combinations with Bletilla striata, Cymbidium kanran, and Sparganium stoloniferum Buch.-Ham. ethanolic extracts had been studied. The combination of four extracts (3:1:1:1) showed larger anti-diabetic activity in vitro and in vivo. It is notable that the single water extract from C. setidens exhibited more effective anti-diabetic effect than most of the combinations. We also investigated whether fermentation process was promoted the anti-diabetic activity. The data suggested the fermentation product of combination of four extracts (3:1:1:1) exhibited the strongest activity both in vitro and in vivo, which was higher than the non-fermented group. The result indicated the fermentation and the appropriate combination of extracts enhanced the anti-diabetes activity.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a substantial contributor to morbidity and mortality. In search of a natural products capable of inhibiting this multidrug resistant bacteria, we have investigated the antimicrobial activity of brazilein (BRZ) isolated from Caesalpinia sappan L. (Leguminosae) against 8 different strains of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). New antimicrobial activity was found using the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs), broth dilution as well as checkerboard method. Against the 8 strains, the minimum inhibitory concentrations of BRZ were in the range of 62.5-500μg/mL. From those results we performed the checkerboard test to determine the synergism of BRZ in combination with Hygromycin-b (HgB) against 4 strains. The combined activity of BRZ and HgB against 4 strains resulted in a fractional inhibitory concentrations index (FICI) ranging from 0.18-0.5. The effect of BRZ with HgB was found to be synergistic. We found that BRZ reduced the MICs of HgB. BRZ and HgB could lead to the development of new combination antibiotics against MRSA infection.

In this study, anaerobic co-digestion experiments for mixtures consisting of sewage sludge with food wastewater and livestock wastewater were conducted to assess the methane yields, the volatile solids (VS) removal rates and the dynamic kinetics. An augmented simplex centroid design (ASCD) was employed to design the mixing rate of organic wastes for the anaerobic co-digestion. Also, synergistic effects on the anaerobic co-digestion were studied using models obtained by the ASCD. As a result, synergistic effects were not observed in terms of methane yield and VS removal rate. It was just showed that there was a linear relationship between the cumulative methane yield and the mixing rate of food wastewater. The results might be attributable that the sewage sludge and the livestock wastewater had very lower C/N ratio compared with food wastewater that had a C/N ratio within a range required for a correctly operating anaerobic co-digestion. Therefore, increasing mixing rates of food wastewater increased the methane yield and VS removal rate, but there was not a synergistic effect by the anaerobic co-digestion.

유자의 생리활성 식품 소재로서 검토하기 위해 비타민 C가 첨가된 유자 추출물의 항산화 효과와 암세포 억제활성에 대한 상승효과를 측정하였다. 과육과 과피의 추출물 중에 총 페놀 함량은 각각 건물당 와 으로서 과피가 과육보다 약 1.24배 높았으며, 총 플라보노이드 함량은 각각 건물당 와 로서 과피가 과육보다 2.11배 높았다. 전자공여능은 유자 과피의 추출물은 유자 과육의 추출물보다 약간 높았으며, 이들 추출물은 그 자체에 비하여 각각 추출물에