This study investigated the antidiabetic effect of amaranth grain ethanol extract (AEE) in a diabetic animal model, db/db mouse. The mice were divided into 4 groups: normal control mice (C57BL/6J), diabetic mice (C57BL/6J db/db), diabetic mice fed a lower concentration of AEE (0.3 mg/kg), and diabetic mice fed a higher concentration of AEE (0.5 mg/kg). After 10 weeks of treatment, body weights, blood insulin levels and blood glucose levels of each group were compared. At the end of treatment, the results showed that both AEE supplemented groups had lower body weights than those in the diabetic groups although higher than those in the normal groups. Moreover, in both AEE supplemented groups, serum insulin levels were higher and blood glucose levels were lower than those in the diabetic groups although both values were higher than those in the normal groups. The results of this study suggest that AEE can alleviate many of the common symptoms of diabetes in diabetic mice and, therefore, has potential as a therapeutic supplement for normalization of blood glucose and insulin levels in humans.

The Egr family of zinc finger transcription factors is rapidly induced by various mitogens and regulates cell growth, differentiation, and apoptosis. While it is clear that loss of Egr1 leads to anovulatory infertility due to LHβ deficiency in female mice, molecular function of Egr1 in male reproduction has not been clearly investigated. Here, we demonstrate that Egr1 acts as an intrinsic transcription factor in Leydig cells to regulate their proliferation and steroidogenesis in the testis as well as an extrinsic factor for male reproduction via LHβ transcription in the pituitary. Egr1 is predominantly expressed in spermatogonia and Leydig cells in immature testes and later detected in some of these cell types in mature testes. The fertility potential of Egr1(-/-) male mice is relatively deteriorated even at 2 month-old age and aggravated with aging. The incidence of abnormalities of seminiferous tubules such as Sertoli cell only was dramatically increased with aging. The number and mean size of Leydig cells were significantly reduced in Egr1(-/-) testes. The impairment of Leydig cells is consistent with significant reduction in levels of testosterone and expression of factors critical for steroidogenesis such as StAR in Egr1(-/-) testes. Exogenous administration of hCG rapidly and transiently induced Egr1 expression in Leydig cells culture in vitro. hCG could reinstate reduced mean size of Leydig cells but not reduced number of Leydig cells and aberrantly low StAR expression, suggesting that Egr1 has critical functions for Leydig cell proliferation and their steroidgenesis. In addition, daily sperm production and in vitro fertilization (IVF) competence were significantly reduced, and apoptosis was facilitated in these mice. Furthermore, hCG administration to compensate for relatively low LH levels in Egr1(-/-) males could not restore the compromised reproductive phenotypes such as IVF competence and apoptosis in these mice. Interestingly, expression of Egr2, a member of Egr family, is significantly elevated in Egr1(-/-) Leydig cells suggesting that genetic compensation of Egr2 may alleviate phenotypic aberration of Egr1(-/-) male testes. Collectively, these results suggest that Egr1 act as an intrinsic transcription factor required for proliferation and steroidogenesis of Leydig cells to govern spermatogenesis in the testis.

Agastache rugosa, a member of the mint family (Labiatae), is a perennial herb widely distributed in East Asian countries. It is used in traditional medicine for the treatment of cholera, vomiting, and miasma. This study assessed the genetic diversity and population structures on 65 accessions of Korean mint A. rugosa germplasm based on inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers. The selected nine ISSR primers produced reproducible polymorphic banding patterns. In total, 126 bands were scored; 119 (94.4%) were polymorphic. The number of bands generated per primer varied from 7 to 18. A minimum of seven bands was generated by primer 874, while a maximum of 18 bands was generated by the primer 844. Six primers (815, 826, 835, 844, 868, and 874) generated 100% polymorphic bands. This was supported by other parameters such as total gene diversity (HT) values, which ranged from 0.112 to 0.330 with a mean of 0.218. The effective number of alleles (NE) ranged from 1.174 to 1.486 with a mean value of 1.351. Nei's genetic diversity (H) mean value was 0.218, and Shannon's information index (I) mean value was 0.343. The high values for total gene diversity, effective number of alleles, Nei's genetic diversity, and Shannon's information index indicated substantial variations within the population. Cluster analysis showed characteristic grouping, which is not in accordance with their geographical affiliation. The implications of the results of this study in developing a strategy for the conservation and breeding of A. rugosa and other medicinal plant germplasm are discussed.

"Gounbyeo" is an early-maturing and good quality japonica rice variety that was developed by the rice breeding team of National Institute of Crop Science, RDA, in 2004. "Gounbyeo" was derived from a cross between Jinbul0 and Jinbul7. This variety has early heading date of July 28 and medium culm length of 68 cm, similar to Odaebyeo. It is moderately resistant to blast disease, but susceptible to bacterial leaf blight, virus diseases and insect pests. Gounbyeo showed less delay of heading date and higher grain fertility than Odaebyeo in cold-water irrigated nursery, Chucheon. The milled rice of Gounbyeo exhibits translucent, clear non-glutinous endosperm and medium short grain. Gounbyeo has lower amylose content of 18.5% and similar gelatinization temperature and good palatability of cooked rice compared to Odaebyeo. The average milled rice yield of this variety is 5.29 MT/ha at ordinary cultivation in local adaptability test for three years. Gounbyeo would be highly adaptable to mid-northern mountainous area and eastern coastal areas of Korea.

“Bora” is a new perilla (Perilla frutescens (L.) Britton) cultivar developed from a cross between Ipdeulkkae1 and YCPL199 at National Yeongnam Agricultural Experiment Station, RDA, in 2001. Purple backside leaf color is one of the most important characteristics for the high quality perilla leaf. “Bora” has purple backside leaf color in all climate condition, while a check variety, Ipdeulkkae1 has too light color during summer season or in high temperature condition. “Bora” matures at October 18th and has 79 cm of the stem length, shorter than that of Ipdeulkkae1. Although leaf yield is 11% less than that of a check variety Ipdeulkkae1, the harvested leaf number of “Bora” is similar with that of Ipdeulkkae1. The cultivar is appropriable in all area of Korea for the leaf harvesting cultivation whereas it is restricted to southern part of Korea South Gyeongsang and South Jeola provinces, for the seed harvesting cultivation.

The purpose of this study is to explore the concept of a logistics hub, identify key factors and milestones for its development, and give some recommendations and implications to developing countries. For this the countries competing to be Logistics hub in Northeast Asia (NEA), such as South Korea, japan and China, are taken into consideration These countries have under its priority policies the development of a logistics hub vision to become the central area of the region achieving microeconomic and macroeconomic prosperity. Based on the review of the relevant literature, five factors came up as key determinants for the development of a hub project: 1. Logistics services support and infrastructure. 2. Business environment. 3. Economic determinants. 4. Political support and 5. Access to international markets. These are going to be analyzed together with its different variables, using statistical methods.