A chemical, MNU-induced hulless barley mutant line designated as 'Mutant 98 (M98)' was developed from a Korean hulless waxy barley cultivar, 'Chalssalbori'. The objective of the study was to determine the genetic basis of 'M98' and the possibility of using 'M98' as breeding parent to improve lysine level. Compared to 'Chalssalbori', 'M98' had large embryo and higher lysine content in both the embryo and endosperm. Significantly different lysine content in 'M98' and the other high-lysine barley mutant stocks was observed for two years. However, the genotype by year interaction was not significant. 'M98' was higher than the other high-lysine barley mutant stocks in the percentage of lysine of total amino acid composition (0.75%). The trait of shrunken endosperm of 'M98', which was typical in the high-lysine mutants, was inherited by a single recessive gene. Based on seed morphology and lysine content of F1 seeds, 'M98' had a genetically different gene from the other high-lysine mutants for shrunken endosperm. Segregation of F2 for plump/shrunken endosperm did not fit the expected ratio of Mendelian inheritance except for only one cross combination (GSHO1784 (lys1)/M98). The amino acid analysis of F5 and F6 progenies from the cross between 'M98' and 'Chalssalbori' revealed that the attempt to increase the range of lysine content of plump lines did not go beyond the limit of the average high-lysine barley germplasm.

Ethanol treatment during the brain growth spurt period has been known to induce the death of Purkinje cells. The underlying molecular mechanisms and the role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in triggering ethanol-induced Purkinje cell death are, however, largely unresolved. We undertook TUNEL staining, western blotting assay and immunohistochemistry for the cleaved forms of caspase-3 and -9, with calbindin D28K double immunostaining to identify apoptotic Purkinje cells. The possibility of ROS-induced Purkinje cell death was immunohistochemically determined by using anti-8-hydroxy-2'deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), a specific cellular marker for oxidative damage. The results show that Purkinje cell death of PD 5 rat cerebellum following ethanol administration is mediated by the activation of caspase-3 and -9. However, unexpectedly, TUNEL staining did not reveal any positive Purkinje cells while there were some TUNEL-positive cells in the internal and external granular layer. 8-OHdG was detected in the Purkinje cell layers at 8 h, peaked at 12-24 h, but not at 30 h post-ethanol treatment. No 8-0HdG immunoreactive cells were detected in the internal and external granular layer. The lobule specific 8-OHdG staining patterns following ethanol exposure are consistent with that of ethanol-induced Purkinje cell loss. Thus, we suggest that ethanol-induced Purkinje cell death may not occur by the classical apoptotic pathway and oxidative damage is involved in ethanol-induced Purkinje cell death in the developing cerebellum.

The anandamide signaling plays various roles in directing reproductive processes. Mouse embryos are shown to express high levels of CB1 receptor (CB1R). It has recently been shown that an analog of anandamide induces autophagy-mediated cell death through stimulation of ER stress response in glioma cells. Since adverse effects of high levels of anandamide agonists on embryo development and implantation are well known, we hypothesized that anandamide mediates an autophagic response in embryonic cells as in cancer cells via highly abundant CB1R on embryos. We tested this hypothesis by using a stable anandamide agonist, Methanandamide (MET) in three embryonic cell systems, i.e., mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEF), trophoblast stem (TS) cells, and preimplantation embryos from mice. RT-PCR, immunofluorescence staining, and Western blot analysis were used to examine the effects of anandamide on autophagy in these systems. In MEF cells, the conversion of LCI to LCII was heightened by methanandamide (MET), and AM251, a selective CB1 antagonist partially reversed the effects of MET. Treating MEF cells with a high level of MET induces clustering of GFP-LC3, seen as large puncta throughout the cytoplasm. At 28 nM concentration, MET also weakly increased LC3II in TS cells. When MET was injected to day 4 pregnant mice, autophagy was increased in blastocysts in utero as demonstrated by the increased number of LC3 puncta. Formation of numerous autophagic vacuoles was also confirmed by electron microscopic observation. In conclusion, this work suggests that the anandamide-CB1 signaling pathway may be one inducer of autophagy in embryonic cells.

A field experiment was conducted to examine the fruit quality characters in second generation (F2) hybrid cultivar and to compare the fruit characters with original F1 hybrid cultivar of minipaprika (yellow and orange type) at the Research Farm, Hwacheon in July, 2010. Fruit characters varied within F2 population of each minipaprika type. In minipaprika yellow, fruit weight varied from 12.2 g to 50.8 g (average 28.5 g) and fruit length/width varied from 1.4 to 2.8 (average, 2.0). Pericarp thickness ranged from 1.8 mm to 4.1 mm (average, 2.9 mm). Total soluble solid (TSS) varied from 6.2˚Brix to 13.5˚Brix with an average of 8.7˚Brix. Fruit volume varied from 10.3 cc to 46.7 cc with an average of 24.4 cc. In minipaprika orange type, fruit weight ranged from 19.7 g to 42.4 g (average, 29.0 g) and fruit length/width varied from 1.5 to 2.6 (average, 2.0). Pericarp thickness varied from 2.1 mm to 4.1 mm with an average of 3.0 mm. TSS varied from 5.0˚Brix to 12.2˚Brix (average, 7.9˚Brix) and average fruit volume was 24.6 cc ranging from 10.7 cc to 35.0 cc. The average fruit quality characters in F2 population in both yellow and orange minipaprika did not differ from their F1 hybrid parent and F2 seed can be an additional way to supply high yielding hybrid cultivars at lower cost to the minipaprika growers.

Since cable members are the major structural components in cable bridges, they should be properly inspected for surface damage as well as inside defects such as corrosion and/or breakage of wires. Starting from August 2010, a new research project supported by Korea Ministry of Land, Transportation Maritime Affairs (MLTM) was initiated to develop the cable inspection robot. In this study, only the vision-based surface damage detection system based on image processing techniques is addressed. The damage detection algorithm combines some image enhancement techniques with principal component analysis (PCA) to detect damages on cable surface. The images from three cameras attached to the cable climbing robot are wirelessly transmitted to the server computer at the cable support. They are processed with image enhancement method together with noise removal technique to improve overall image quality. Then they are projected into PCA sub-space. Finally, the Mahalanobis square distances of the projected images to all sample patterns are calculated. The smallest distance is found to be the match for the input image. The proposed damage detection algorithm was verified through laboratory tests on three types of cables.

This study was conducted to investigate the anti-inflammatory effects of Pruns mume, Schisandra chinensis, Chaenomeles sinensis-- Prunus mume mixtrue (PM) treatment on colitis induced in mice by dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) treatment. A total of 25 male BALB/c mice (average weight 20.7 ± 1.6 g) were divided into 5 treatment groups and fed a commercial diet (A), PM administration (B), commercial diet + induced colitis by DSS (C), PM administration + induced colitis by DSS (D) and sulfasalazine + induced colitis by DSS (E). We found that PM treatment (D) and sulfasalazine (E) decreased the expression of TNF-α and COX-2 compared to the DSS-induced colitis group (C). The expression of IL-4, STAT6, IFN-γ, STAT1 was decreased in group D and group E compared to the colitis group (C), COX-2 and STAT1 were more decreased in group D. The serum IgE levels decreased in the PM treatment groups (C and D) compared to the non-PM treatment groups (A and B) although there was no significant difference between the PM treatment groups. It is notable that a therapeutic application of the PM extracts ameliorated DSS-induced colitis in mice.