This study aims to investigate the effects of exogenous succinic acid (SCA) on Brucella (B.) abortus infection in macrophage RAW 264.7 cells and ICR mice. Firstly, the in vitro experiment was conducted by MTT cytotoxicity and bacterial internalization assay to evaluate the uptake of B. abortus into macrophage cells. Two non-cytotoxic concentrations of SCA demonstrated attenuated invasion of Brucella into macrophages at 30 and 45 min post- infection (pi). Secondly, ICR mice were treated with SCA and infected with B. abortus. On day-14 pi, spleen and blood serum were collected to evaluate the bacterial burden and total spleen weight as well as the production of cytokine/chemokine, respectively. The results showed that SCA treatment promoted bacterial growth and reduced the total spleen weight in mice. Furthermore, SCA treatment increased the level of IL-10 cytokine in the sera, while dampening the production of MCP-1 chemokine compared to the control. The results of bacterial load in spleen and spleen weight together with cytokine/chemokine production profile in the sera indicated that SCA induced the host anti-inflammatory response which is beneficial for the survival of Brucella. Therefore, these findings suggest that SCA contributed to host immunity against Brucella infection and the emerging potential topic-immunometabolism should be invested for further investigations.

PURPOSES : This study uses deep learning image classification models and vehicle-mounted cameras to detect types of pavement distress — such as potholes, spalling, punch-outs, and patching damage — which require urgent maintenance. METHODS : For the automatic detection of pavement distress, the optimal mount location on a vehicle for a regular action camera was first determined. Using the orthogonal projection of obliquely captured surface images, morphological operations, and multi-blob image processing, candidate distressed pavement images were extracted from road surface images of a 16,036 km in-lane distance. Next, the distressed pavement images classified by experts were trained and tested for evaluation by three deep learning convolutional neural network (CNN) models: GoogLeNet, AlexNet, and VGGNet. The CNN models were image classification tools used to identify and extract the combined features of the target images via deep layers. Here, a data augmentation technique was applied to produce big distress data for training. Third, the dimensions of the detected distressed pavement patches were computed to estimate the quantity of repair materials needed. RESULTS : It was found that installing cameras 1.8 m above the ground on the exterior rear of the vehicle could provide clear pavement surface images with a resolution of 1 cm per pixel. The sensitivity analysis results of the trained GoogLeNet, AlexNet, and VGGNet models were 93 %, 86 %, and 72 %, respectively, compared to 62.7 % for the dimensional computation. Following readjustment of the image categories in the GoogLeNet model, distress detection sensitivity increased to 94.6 %. CONCLUSIONS : These findings support urgent maintenance by sending the detected distressed pavement images with the dimensions of the distressed patches and GPS coordinates to local maintenance offices in real-time.

We investigated the cytotoxic potential of three different commercially available absorbent feminine hygiene products and one transdermal patch using direct contact and extract exposure methods. Two different cell lines were used – mouse fibroblast L929 and normal human skin fibroblast CCD-986sk cell lines. The test samples were extracted using three different methods in accordance to International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Viability of cells was analyzed using MTT assay and morphology of the cells were also observed using phase contrast microscopy. Overall, the direct contact method using L929 cells showed that all the test samples had no toxic effect when exposed to extracts for 1 h. For the exposure method, no toxic effect was observed in both L929 and CCD986sk cells incubated with all the test samples regardless of the extraction methods used.

The study investigates whether differences in metalinguistic information contained in written corrective feedback (CF) mediate its effectiveness for second language (L2) development. To address this, metalinguistic CF was distinguished into three types in terms of how specific its metalinguistic information was. They were then compared among themselves and with non-metalinguistic direct CF in their efficacy for short- and long-term development of explicit and implicit L2 knowledge. The target features for written CF were the English articles, and explicit and implicit knowledge were measured by the error correction test and dictogloss writings by 93 EFL learners respectively. The results suggest that, for both explicit and implicit L2 knowledge, metalinguistic CF was beneficial for short-term development only when it had high levels of specific information while it was effective for long-term development regardless of its type. The findings are discussed from the perspective of SLA theory, and their pedagogical implications and suggestions for future research are put forth.

벼의 잎은 광합성을 위한 주요 기관으로, 동화산물의 생산을 통해 벼의 수량 결정에 영향을 준다. 따라서, 상위엽의 형태적 특징은 다수성 벼 품종의 육성을 위한 필수적인 고려요소이다. 본 연구에서는, 연차간 안정적으로 발현하는 3개의 엽폭 조절 QTL인 qLW4.1, qLW4.2, qLW7을 탐지하였다. 이들은 분석집단에서 나타난 엽폭 표현형 변이의 5.2~44.9% 를 설명할 수 있었다. qLW4.2 영역에 대한 후보유전자 분석 결과, 해당 QTL 영역에서 엽폭 조절 유전자인 NAL1을 발견하였다. 상위엽은 수량에 대해 정의 간접효과 나타냈으며, 그 효과의 크기는 수당립수에 대한 상위엽의 정의 직접효과와 수수에 대한 상위엽의 부의 직접효과에 의해 결정되었다. 한국 벼 유전자원에서 엽폭은 상대적으로 좁은 범위에서 표현형 변이를 나타내었으며, 이는 특정 상위엽폭이 한국 자원에서 선호 되었음을 시사한다. NAL1의 하플로타입 분석결과는 대다수의 한국 자원들이 자포니카형 하플로타입을 지닌 반면에, 모든 통일형 품종들은 인디카형을 지니고 있음을 밝혀냈다. 이러한 결과는 유용 대립유전자형인 자포니카형 NAL1의 도입을 통해 통일형 품종의 다수성 형질을 더욱 향상시킬 수 있음을 의미 한다.

This study investigated the efficacy of four Brucella (B.) abortus recombinant proteins, namely adenylate kinase (Adk), nucleoside diphosphate kinase (Ndk), 50S ribosomal protein (L7/L12) and preprotein translocase subunit (SecB), as a combined subunit vaccine (CSV) against B. abortus infection in BALB/c mice. Immunoblotting assay showed that these four recombinant proteins as well as pcold-TF vector reacted individually with Brucella-positive serum, but not with Brucella-negative serum. The peripheral blood CD4+ T cell population was increased in CSV-immunized mice compared to PBS and pcold-TF vector groups. In addition, CSV and pcold-TF groups displayed induced IgG1 and IgG2a antibodies production compared to PBS and RB51 group, whereas IgG2a titer was higher than IgG1 titer in CSV group. The secretion profiles of IgG1 and IgG2a production together with an enhancement of CD4+ T cell population suggested that CSV did not only induce T helper 1 (Th1) T cell immunity but also humoral immunity. Therein, Th1 T cell immunity is more predominant in eliminating intracellular bacteria B. abortus. Furthermore, CSV immunization significantly reduced the bacterial burden in the spleen as well as the spleen weight in comparison to PBS and pcold-TF groups. Altogether, combination of these antigens could be potential to induce protective immunity against B. abortus infection in animals.