We investigated the anti-obesity effects of Foeniculum fructus water extract on body weight, epididymal adipocyte size, plasma lipid levels and activities of key enzymes such as lipoprotein lipase (LPL), acyl-CoA synthetase (ACS) in high fat diet-induced obese mice. Experimental groups were normal diet group (ND), high fat diet group (HFD), high fat diet with 0.05% orlistat group (HFDO), and high fat diet with 0.5% Foeniculum fructus group (HFDF). Eleven-weeks feeding with HFD resulted in significant increase in lipid levels, body weight, liver and epididymal adipose tissue weight, compared with the ND group. Diet containing Foeniculum fructus water extract significantly reduced plasma total cholesterol, triglyceride and glucose concentrations as well as body weight, liver and epididymal adipose tissue weights. Plasma LDL cholesterol levels were significantly lower in the HFDF group than those in HFDO group. LPL activities elevated by a high fat diet were significantly decreased by Foeniculum fructus water extract administration. ACS activities decreased in the high fat diet group and markedly increased in the Foeniculum fructus water extract administered group. All things considered, Foeniculum fructus water extract efficiently inhibits the inflow of fatty acid into the cell, and activates metabolic process that uses fatty acids flowing as an energy source. Thus, Foeniculum fructus water extract may have great potential as a novel anti-obesity agent.
Mine leachate discharging from mine waste rocks and tailings can contaminate the surrounding environment including soil and water. Therefore, it is required to predict the mine leachate pathway to determine critically contaminated zones that require more detailed site investigations. The purpose of this study is to predict the mine leachate pathway using Multiple Flow Direction(MFD) and D-Infinity algorithms. The MFD and D-Infinity algorithms allow divergent flow of surface runoff in hydrological analyses, therefore they can make up for the weak points of conventional single flow direction algorithms. The characteristics of MFD and D-Infinity algorithms were examined by applying them to synthetic data representing concave and convex cones. Applications of MFD and D-Infinity algorithms in an abandoned mining area in Korea showed that they can account for the divergent flow of surface runoff and predict the mine leachate pathway effectively.
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