We tested the hypothesis that angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) and angiotensinogen gene polymorphism influence the incidence, development and outcome of preeclampsia. Subjects were recruited from 90 Korean patients with preeclampsia during pregnancy and 98 age-matched controls. After isolation of DNA, polymerase chain reactions (PCR) were carried out to detect polymorphism of the ACE and angiotensinogen. M235T and T174M genotypes of angiotensinogen were determined by digestion with restriction enzyme endonuclease Tth 111-I and NCo I, respectively. The frequency of DD genotype was significantly greater in preeclampsia (0.36) than in controls (0.14) (p<0.05). The frequency of D allele was 0.55 in preeclampsia and 0.40 in controls (p<0.05). There were no differences in the onset of preeclampsia and pregnancy outcomes according to the ACE genotypes. There was no difference in the frequency of a allele of angiotensinogen M235T between the groups (0.79:0.78 in preeclampsia : controls). The frequency of T allele of angiotensinogen T174M gene was slightly increased, but not significantly, in preeclampsia (0.11) than in controls (0.07). In a multivariate analysis, only ACE genotype was associated with the development of preeclampsia (β=0.27, p=0.05). In conclusion, a molecular variant of ACE, but not angiotensinogen, gene is associated with preeclampsia in Korean women.

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The amount of export of paprika has been increased rapidly in recent years. Therefore, its cultivation area has greatly increased in Korea according to current consumer's attraction. Moreover, it becomes one of the major exporting products while it recorded 53 million dollars, in 2009 resulting in 40% of the total vegetables export. Most of the products are exported to Japan, but it is necessary to prolong the quality preservation periods to export paprika to nations like U.S.A. or EU. However, to encourage an export to many countries, washing and disinfection became more important to deal with longer transportation and medical inspection. The non-chemical use is very important due to stronger regulation of safety to agricultural production. Accordingly, this study was performed to determine the optimum conditions and develop a prototype washing machine, hot water washing of paprika. The results were as follows :The working performance of the prototype was 938 kg/hr, and which was 1.5 times higher than the conventional air gun type washing machine. The operation cost of prototype was 30 won/kg, and 56% of the cost was reduced when compared with air gun type washing machine.