The Fingerprint of Climate Change and Urbanization in South Korea

Understanding long-term changes in precipitation and temperature patterns is important in the detection and characterization of climate change, as is understanding the implications of climate change when performing impact assessments. This study uses a statistically robust methodology to quantify long-, medium- and short-term changes for evaluating the degree to which climate change and urbanization have caused temporal changes in precipitation and temperature in South Korea. We sought to identify a fingerprint of changes in precipitation and temperature based on statistically significant differences at multiple-timescales. This study evaluates historical weather data during a 40-year period (1973–2012) and from 54 weather stations. Our results demonstrate that between 1993–2012, minimum and maximum temperature trends in the vicinity of urban and agricultural areas are significantly different from the two previous decades (1973–1992). The results for precipitation amounts show significant differences in urban areas. These results indicate that the climate in urbanized areas has been affected by both the heat island effect and global warming-caused climate change. The increase in the number of rainfall events in agricultural areas is highly significant, although the temporal trends for precipitation amounts showed no significant differences. Overall, the impacts of climate change and urbanization in South Korea have not been continuous over time and have been expressed locally and regionally in terms of precipitation and temperature changes

The Fingerprint of Climate Change and Urbanization in South Korea

Understanding long-term changes in precipitation and temperature patterns is important in the detection and characterization of climate change, as is understanding the implications of climate change when performing impact assessments. This study uses a statistically robust methodology to quantify long-, medium- and short-term changes for evaluating the degree to which climate change and urbanization have caused temporal changes in precipitation and temperature in South Korea. We sought to identify a fingerprint of changes in precipitation and temperature based on statistically significant differences at multiple-timescales. This study evaluates historical weather data during a 40-year period (1973–2012) and from 54 weather stations. Our results demonstrate that between 1993–2012, minimum and maximum temperature trends in the vicinity of urban and agricultural areas are significantly different from the two previous decades (1973–1992). The results for precipitation amounts show significant differences in urban areas. These results indicate that the climate in urbanized areas has been affected by both the heat island effect and global warming-caused climate change. The increase in the number of rainfall events in agricultural areas is highly significant, although the temporal trends for precipitation amounts showed no significant differences. Overall, the impacts of climate change and urbanization in South Korea have not been continuous over time and have been expressed locally and regionally in terms of precipitation and temperature changes

Regional Climate Change Impacts on Irrigation Vulnerable Season Shifts in Agricultural Water Availability for South Korea

Reservoirs are principal water resources that supply irrigation water to paddy fields and play an important role in water resources management in South Korea. For optimal irrigation reservoir operation and management, it is necessary to determine the duration of irrigation water shortages. Management of reservoir operation and irrigation scheduling should take into consideration essential variables that include the water supply in a reservoir and the water demand in the associated irrigation district. The agricultural water supply and demand show different patterns based on the variability and uncertainty of meteorological and hydrological phenomena. The duration of excessive water supply can be quantitatively determined through analysis of deviations and changes in the timing of agricultural water supply and demand. In this study, we introduce an approach to assess the vulnerable seasons of paddy irrigation to enable more effective operation and management of reservoirs. The vulnerable seasons were evaluated through comparison of the potential water supply capacity and irrigation water requirements based on water budget analysis via a time series change analysis. We have assessed the changing in the total duration and duration shifts of the vulnerable irrigation seasons for four agricultural reservoirs using past observed data (1981–2010) from meteorological stations maintained by the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) and projected climate change scenarios (2011–2100) as depicted by the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) emission scenarios. For irrigation vulnerable seasons under both the RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios, the results showed periods of significant increases in which total vulnerable seasons compared to the historical period; the longest duration of vulnerability occurred during the 2071–2100 period under the RCP 8.5. Identification of the vulnerable seasons for paddy irrigation can be applied in agricultural water management to more effectively manage reservoir operation during irrigation periods with climate changes

Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic drug–drug interactions between evogliptin and empagliflozin or dapagliflozin in healthy male volunteers

Abstract Evogliptin (EV) is a novel dipeptidyl peptidase‐4 inhibitor (DPP4i) for glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This study evaluated the pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) interactions between EV and sodium glucose cotransporter‐2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) in healthy volunteers since combination therapy of DPP4i and SGLT2i has been considered as an effective option for T2DM treatment. A randomized, open‐label, multiple‐dose, two‐arm, three‐period, three treatments, two‐sequence crossover study was conducted in healthy Korean volunteers. In arm 1, subjects were administered 5 mg of EV once daily for 7 days, 25 mg of empagliflozin (EP) once daily for 5 days, and the combination once daily for 5 days (EV + EP). In arm 2, subjects were administered 5 mg of EV once daily for 7 days, 10 mg of dapagliflozin (DP) once daily for 5 days, and the combination once daily for 5 days (EV + DP). Serial blood samples were collected for PK analysis, and oral glucose tolerance tests were conducted for PD analysis. In each arm, a total of 18 subjects completed the study. All adverse events (AEs) were mild with no serious AEs. The geometric mean ratio and confidence interval of the main PK parameters (maximum concentration of the drug in plasma at steady state and area under the plasma drug concentration‐time curve within a dosing interval at a steady state) between EV and either EP or DP alone were not significantly altered by co‐administration. Administration of EV + EP or EV + DP did not result in significant PD changes, as determined by the glucose‐lowering effect. Administration of EV + EP or EV + DP had no significant effects on the PK profiles of each drug. All treatments were well‐tolerated

Raphani Semen (Raphanus sativus L.) Ameliorates Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease by Regulating De Novo Lipogenesis

In this study, we investigated the pharmacological effect of a water extract of Raphani Semen (RSWE) on alcoholic fatty liver disease (AFLD) using ethanol-induced AFLD mice (the NIAAA model) and palmitic acid (PA)-induced steatosis HepG2 cells. An RSWE supplement improved serum and hepatic triglyceride (TG) levels of AFLD mice, as well as their liver histological structure. To explore the molecular action of RSWE in the improvement of AFLD, we investigated the effect of RSWE on four major pathways for lipid homeostasis in the liver: free fatty acid transport, lipogenesis, lipolysis, and β-oxidation. Importantly, RSWE decreased the mRNA expression of de novo lipogenesis-related genes, such as Srebf1, Cebpa, Pparg, and Lpin1, as well as the protein levels of these factors, in the liver of AFLD mice. That these actions of RSWE affect lipogenesis was confirmed using PA-induced steatosis HepG2 cells. Overall, our findings suggest that RSWE has the potential for improvement of AFLD by inhibiting de novo lipogenesis