Ribosomal proteins mediate non-canonical regulation of gut inflammatory signature by crop contaminant deoxynivalenol.

Deoxynivalenol (DON), a prevalent mycotoxin produced by Fusarium species, contaminates global agricultural products and poses significant health risks, particularly to the gastrointestinal (GI) system. DON exposure disrupts ribosomal function, inducing stress responses linked to various inflammatory diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In this study, we elucidate a novel regulatory mechanism involving ribosomal proteins (RPs) RPL13A and RPS3, which mediate proinflammatory chemokine production in DON-exposed gut epithelial cells.

Integrated assessment of the natural purification capacity of tidal flat for persistent toxic substances and heavy metals in contaminated sediments.

Natural purification of pollutants is highly recognized as regulating ecosystem services; however, the purification capacity of tidal flats remains largely unknown and/or unquantified. A 60-day mesocosm transplant experiment was conducted in situ to assess the purification capacity of natural tidal flats. We adopted the advanced sediment quality triad approach, monitoring 10 endpoints, including chemical reduction, toxicity changes, and community recoveries.

Ecological interruption on food web dynamics by eutrophic water discharge from the world's longest dike at Saemangeum, Yellow Sea.

The man-made sea dike has disrupted the natural link between riverine and marine ecosystems and caused eutrophication within the aquatic ecosystem. The eutrophic water discharge has also raised concerns. As a representative tidal flat with the longest dike in the world, Saemangeum has experienced the problem of eutrophication.

The Intrinsic and Instrumental Values of Blockchain to Provide Beef Traceability in Hong Kong, South Korea, and the United States.

Although previous research has identified that consumers are willing to pay for traceability, it remains unknown which types of traceability information might have the highest value, and whether consumers have an intrinsic value for blockchain technology above and beyond the instrumental value of providing traceability. A choice experiment was conducted with over 1500 consumers in Hong Kong, South Korea, and the U.S.

Insight into the marine microplastic abundance and distribution in ship cooling systems.

Microplastics (MPs) are becoming widely recognized as one of many global environmental issues. Although recently, it has been suggested that marine plastics may affect a ship's operation, the presence of MPs in a ship's cooling system has not received significant attention. In this study, samples of 40 L each were taken from each of the five main pipes (sea chest (SC), ejector pump (EP), main engine jacket freshwater pump (MJFP), main engine jacket freshwater cooler (MJFC), and expansion tank (ET)) in each season (February, May, July, October 2021) to identify and characterize MPs in the five main pipes of the ship cooling system from the training ship Hanbada, Korea Maritime and Ocean University.

Association between Dietary Diversity Score and Metabolic Syndrome in Korean Adults: A Community-Based Prospective Cohort Study.

Dietary diversity is recognized as a key indicator of dietary quality and is known to affect the burden of non-communicable diseases. This study examined the gender-stratified association between dietary diversity score (DDS) and risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in 5468 adults aged 40−69 years during a 12-year follow-up of the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study (KoGES). DDS was calculated according to the consumption of the five food groups based on the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) for Koreans.

Association between Seafood Intake and Cardiovascular Disease in South Korean Adults: A Community-Based Prospective Cohort Study.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the most common non-communicable diseases causing 18.6 million deaths worldwide. Several studies have revealed that seafood consumption has a protective effect against CVD.

Exploring the impact of environmental, social, and governance on clean development mechanism implementation through an institutional approach.

The study hypothesizes that the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) of the host country have a significant effect on clean development mechanism (CDM) implementation. As CDM incorporates sustainable development as one of the objectives for the green transition, many countries endeavor to adopt and implement CDM as their cleaner production method. Based on the institutional theory, the study aims to investigate the mechanism by which the institutional process of each ESG pillar makes an opportunity for a host country and to see how such country-specific factors influence the implementation of CDM projects.

Multidisciplinary Understanding of the Urban Heating Problem and Mitigation: A Conceptual Framework for Urban Planning.

With the global acceleration of urbanization, temperatures in cities are rising continuously with global climate change, creating an imminent risk of urban heat islands and urban heating. Although much research has attempted to analyze urban heating from various perspectives, a comprehensive approach to urban planning that addresses the problem is just beginning. This study suggests a conceptual framework for multidisciplinary understanding of urban heating by reviewing 147 selected articles from various fields, published between 2007 and 2021, that discuss urban heating mitigation.

Exploring the operational potential of the forest-photovoltaic utilizing the simulated solar tree.

The aim of this study was to explore the operational potential of forest-photovoltaic by simulating solar tree installation. The forest-photovoltaic concept is to maintain carbon absorption activities in the lower part while acquiring solar energy by installing a photovoltaic structure on the upper part of forest land. This study was conducted by simulating solar tree installation using Google Earth satellite imagery in a mountainous area where an agrophotovoltaic system was already installed.

The first national scale evaluation of total nitrogen stocks and burial rates of intertidal sediments along the entire coast of South Korea.

The regulating ecosystem services, such as water purification, that tidal flats provide by nitrogen (N) burial are being increasingly recognized; yet, quantitative estimates remain limited. Here, we first present nationwide evaluation of total N stocks and burial rates in the Korean tidal flats, based on a 3 year long monitoring assessment combined with remote sensing approach. A total of 20 intertidal flats representing 7 provinces of South Korea were extensively surveyed in 2018-20.

How Do Consumers' Food Values across Countries Lead to Changes in the Strategy of Food Supply-Chain Management?

Although one of the main goals of supply-chain management is to maximize consumer values, the research to date has mainly focused on the supply side. In the case of the food industry, understanding consumer needs and maximizing its utility are essential. In this study, we analyze consumers' 12 meta-values (e.

The first national scale evaluation of organic carbon stocks and sequestration rates of coastal sediments along the West Sea, South Sea, and East Sea of South Korea.

Blue carbon science requires the estimates of organic carbon stock and sequestration rate; however, holistic data analysis remains limited in South Korea. The present study reports current organic carbon stocks and sequestration rates in the coastal areas of West Sea, South Sea, and East Sea of South Korea, encompassing entire intertidal areas using long-term field survey combined with remote sensing technology. Twenty-one intertidal flats were targeted across seven provinces (Gyeonggi, Chungnam, Jeonbuk, Jeonnam, Gyeongnam, Gyeongbuk, Gangwon).

Stable isotope signatures reveal the significant contributions of microphytobenthos and saltmarsh-driven nutrition in the intertidal benthic food webs.

A tidal saltmarsh supporting marine ecosystem services becomes more recognized, but an understanding of its trophic dynamics is far limited. We investigated the benthic food-web dynamics in Ganghwa tidal flat, a representative tidal saltmarsh of South Korea. The stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratio values were analyzed for the sixteen species of macrobenthos and their potential food sources such as microphytobenthos (MPB) and various organic matters.

Illuminating dark fishing fleets in North Korea.

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing threatens resource sustainability and equity. A major challenge with such activity is that most fishing vessels do not broadcast their positions and are "dark" in public monitoring systems. Combining four satellite technologies, we identify widespread illegal fishing by dark fleets in the waters between the Koreas, Japan, and Russia.

Effects of polluted and non-polluted suspended sediments on the oxygen consumption rate of olive flounder, Paralichthys olivaceus.

The potential ecological impacts of elevated suspended sediments (SS) in coastal areas due to human activities remain unclear. In particular, physiological response of benthic fish to SS exposure in polluted environment has not been documented. We determined sub-lethal toxicity of polluted and non-polluted SS to olive flounder.

Natural purification capacity of tidal flats for organic matters and nutrients: A mesocosm study.

The regulating services by natural tidal flats to purify organic pollutants are increasingly recognized, but a quantitative assessment is very limited. We developed a mesocosm system to determine removal efficiency of organic matters and nutrients by simulating a natural tidal condition. The tidal flat sediments significantly removed waterborne organic pollutants to background levels in ~2 and 6-7 days for COD and TP, respectively.

Spatiotemporal variability in microphytobenthic primary production across bare intertidal flat, saltmarsh, and mangrove forest of Asia and Australia.

The ecological role of intertidal microphytobenthos (MPB) is increasingly recognized in coastal production systems. MPB primary production (PP) measured in coastal wetlands of Korea, Cambodia, and Australia confirmed large variability at the global scale. Surprisingly, MPB biomass in mangrove forests almost doubled those measured in nearby bare tidal flats.

The Influence of Tourists' Experience of Quality of Street Foods on Destination's Image, Life Satisfaction, and Word of Mouth: The Moderating Impact of Food Neophobia.

Due to growing food-related tourism, there is increasing interest about street foods worldwide, including South Korea. Many types of food-related experiences have been considered as one of the significant elements to develop positive perceptions about a destination, and street food has been recognized as a critical clue for encouraging tourists to a destination. Previous scholars mentioned street food as a public health risk element as well as a significant factor to attract tourists' attention.

Application of satellite remote sensing in monitoring dissolved oxygen variabilities: A case study for coastal waters in Korea.

Dissolved oxygen (DO) is one of the critical parameters representing water quality in coastal environments. However, it is labor- and cost-intensive to maintain monitoring systems of DO since in situ measurements of DO are needed in high spatial and temporal resolution to establish proper management plans of coastal regions. In this study, we applied statistical analyses between long-term monitoring datasets and satellite remote sensing datasets in the eastern coastal region of the Yellow Sea.

Optimally adjusted last cluster for prediction based on balancing the bias and variance by bootstrapping.

Estimating a predictive model from a dataset is best initiated with an unbiased estimator. However, since the unbiased estimator is unknown in general, the problem of the bias-variance tradeoff is raised. Aside from searching for an unbiased estimator, the convenient approach to the problem of the bias-variance tradeoff may be to use the clustering method.

A comparative review and analysis of tentative ecological quality objectives (EcoQOs) for protection of marine environments in Korea and China.

Ecological quality objectives (EcoQOs), as tools for implementing ecosystem approach, have long been acknowledged to protect the marine ecosystems and fisheries in regional seas through joint efforts by surrounding countries over the past decade. The present review analyzed the best available meta-data relating to the five ecosystem elements that were recently proposed by the Northwest Pacific Action Plan to evaluate the current status of coastal ecosystem health in marine environment of the Yellow Sea. We suggested the six tentative EcoQOs among five ecological quality elements including: 1) biological and habitat diversity; 2) invasive species; 3) eutrophication; 4) pollutants; and 5) marine litters.

Analysis of forty years long changes in coastal land use and land cover of the Yellow Sea: The gains or losses in ecosystem services.

The drastic land cover change and its impacts in the Yellow Sea have long been significant issues in terms of coastal vulnerabilities, but holistic data analysis is limited. The present study first reports 40 years long geographical changes of the Yellow Sea coasts including all three neighboring countries of China, North Korea, and South Korea. We delineated tidal flats by analysis of Landsat series satellite imageries (662 scenes) between 1981 and 2016.

Integrated assessment of persistent toxic substances in sediments from Masan Bay, South Korea: Comparison between 1998 and 2014.

Complexity of anthropogenic influences on coastal ecosystems necessitates use of an integrated assessment strategy for effective interpretation and subsequent management. In this study a multiple lines of evidence (LOE) approach for sediment assessment, that combined use of chemistry, toxicity, and benthic community structure in the sediment quality triad was used to assess spatiotemporal changes and potential risks of persistent toxic substances (PTSs) in sediments of Masan Bay highlighting "long-term changes" between 1998 and 2014. Specific target objectives encompassed sedimentary PTSs (PAHs, alkylphenols (APs), and styrene oligomers), potential aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR; H4IIE-luc assay)- and estrogen receptor (ER; MVLN assay)-mediated activities, and finally several ecological quality (EcoQ) indices of benthic community structure.

Composition and abundance of marine debris stranded on the beaches of Sri Lanka: Results from the first island-wide survey.

This study provides the first assessment of marine debris washed ashore on 22 beaches along the coast of Sri Lanka. There was an average of 4.1 large (>25 mm) and 158 small (5-25 mm) pieces of debris per square meter of beach.