The bio-active materials were isolated from prickly lettuce (Lactuca serriola) by using several extraction solvents. The contents of general compounds, vitamins, polyphenols and flavonoids of prickly lettuce were analysed. In addition, nitrite scavenging activity, anti-oxidative activity and anti-microbial activity of methanol extracts were measured. The ethylacetate (EtOAc) fraction of methanol extracts of prickly lettuce showed the best on the nitrite scavenging activity, anti-oxidant activity and anti-microbial activity. And also, the contents of polyphenols and flavonoids were the highest among all fractions. The subfraction 2 (EtOAc:MeOH=3:1) of EtOAc fraction showed the strongest anti-oxidative activity among 5 subfractions. The subfraction 2 was identified as ρ-coumaric acid and caffeic acid by GC-MS. The anti-microbial activity of each solvent fraction from prickly lettuce was measured. The EtOAc fraction showed the strongest anti-microbial activity. Overall, these results may provide the basic data to understand the biological activities of bio-active materials derived from prickly lettuce.

This study was designed to estimate the prevalence of arthritis and to identify subgroups with high prevalence rates of arthritis. Study subjects were 18,406 Korean adults aged 19 and more from the 4th (2007)(2008)(2009)) Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys data. Annual self-reported prevalence and its rate ratios by demographic and behavioral factors were calculated using SAS 9.2 with survey procedure. The result was as follows. The crude prevalence of arthritis was 11.7% (osteoarthritis 10.2% and rheumatoid arthritis 1.7%). The prevalence was increased by age strata (2.4% in 19-44 aged, 16.4% in 45-64, 38.3% in 65 and more). After adjusting for age, we found the subgroups with high prevalence: older people, women, residents in non-apartment area, separated and divorced people, people with low education, people with several occupations (agricultural and fishery workers, elementary occupations, and unemployed), people with low household incomes, people with medical aid, and people with higher BMI. Those subgroups may be target populations in community health programs to control the disability from arthritis.

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In the present study, we prepared eighty-five different kinds of lees extracts and their solvent fractions and investigated their anti-proliferative activities against human colorectal cancer HCT116 cells. HCT116 cells were treated with eighty-five solvent fractions of lees extracts and then cell viability was measured using MTS assay. Among the treated solvent fractions, three solvent fractions (KSD-E1-3, KSD-E2-3, and KSD-E4-3) were selected based on cell viability assay. In addition, we performed an oligo DNA microarray analysis to analyze the gene expression changes by treatment of KSD-E1-3 in HCT116 cells. Among the up-regulated genes, we selected 4 genes (NAG-1, ATF3, p21, and DDIT3) and performed RT-PCR using gene-specific primers. Among the treated solvent fractions, KSD-E1-3 dramatically induced the expressions of the four selected genes. In addition, we investigated whether the up-regulations of those genes were dependent on the transcription factor p53's presence using p53 null HCT116 cells. The results indicate that the up-regulations of NAG-1, ATF3, and DDIT3 are not dependent on the p53 presence, whereas p21 is dependent on the p53 presence. These findings may help to understand the molecular mechanisms of the anti-proliferative activity mediated by rice wine lees in human colorectal cancer cells.

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