This study was conducted to observe egg and larvae morphological development of carp to obtain basic data for resource conservation and taxonomic research. Brood carp used in the research (total length 67.3-75.5 cm, average 71.0±3.45 cm) were bred in a circular rearing aquarium (600×300×100 cm) using a running water system from January to July, 2015. Breeding water temperature was maintained at 23.0-25.0℃(average 24.0℃). Fertilized carp eggs were translucent and globular, and their size was 1.75-1.89 mm (average 1.82±0.06 mm). Blastoderms formed 10 min after fertilization and reached the two-cell stage 30 min after fertilization. Then, the embryo turned dark and exhibited melanophores, and blood started flowing from the heart across the egg yolk at 42 hrs and 50 min after fertilization. Hatching began 70 hrs and 26 min after fertilization larvae emerged through the egg membrane, starting from the head. The length of prelarvae immediately after hatching was 5.23-5.38 mm (average 5.31±0.11 mm) the mouth and anus were closed, and the pectoral fin was formed. Postlarvae at 18 days after hatching had a total length of 11.9-13.9 mm (average 12.9±1.40 mm), separate anal fin and back membranes, and fin ray. Juveniles fish at 35 days after hatching had a total length of 29.9-30.2 mm (average 30.1±0.13 mm), with the body covered with scales, and the same number of fin rays, color, and shape as their broodstork.

This study aimed to analyze difference in clinical findings, including coronary artery complications, in patients with Kawasaki disease and respiratory symptoms with several respiratory infections. We studied 182 pediatric patients diagnosed with Kawasaki disease. Examinations for respiratory viral polymerase chain reaction were conducted in the group of patients with respiratory symptoms. Echocardiography was perfomed by a pediatric cardiologist, and laboratory findings were evaluated. Clinical manifestations and laboratory findings based on medical records were compared. There were no differences between patients with and without respiratory viral infections with respect to age, male-female ratio, coronary artery complications, Kawasaki disease-specific clinical manifestations, duration of fever, duration of hospitalization, or recurrence rate. There was a significant difference in C-reactive protein levels (55.6 vs. 73.9 mg/L) between the two groups, but the other laboratory findings. The rate of respiratory infections in pediatric patients with Kawasaki disease was similar to those reported in previous studies, and clinical manifestations and laboratory findings were not significantly different between the groups.

For successful embryo implantation, the stromal cells of the endometrium are morphologically and functionally differentiated into decidual cells. In the endometrium, estrogen induces proliferation of epithelial cells, but progesterone regulates the differentiation of epithelial cells, leading to decidualization of stromal cells. Kruppel like factor (KLF) is a zinc finger DNA binding protein that regulates transcription and has a wide range of functions in the cell cycle, cell apoptosis and differentiation control. In the uterus, KLF9, 13 plays an important role in implantation and decidual cell differentiation. KLF4 and KLF15 regulate the proliferation and differentiation of endometrial epithelial cells, but their role in stromal cells is unknown. In this study, we investigated the role of KLF4 and KLF15 in endometrial stromal cells. In mouse uterus, KLF4 was expressed in proliferative phase of glandular and luminal epithelial cells. However in endometrial stromal cells, KLF4 was highly expressed in secretory phase and secondary decidual zone after implantation. The expression of KLF15 was little in cytoplasm of luminal and glandular epithelial cells and proliferated in nucleus of secretory phase stromal cell.herefore, KLF4 and 15 are thought to be important for decidualization. To investigate the effect of estrogen and progesterone on the expression of KLF4 and KLF15, uterus of ovariectomy (OVX) mice which were injcected 17β- estradiol (E2, 0.3 mg) and progesterone (P4, 1 mg) and both ERα-knock out and wild type (diestrus, estrus) mice were used. KLF4 in OVX+E2 group was significantly higher than OVX+E2 / P4 group was lower than OVX+E2 group. There was no significant difference between ERαKO and WT diestrus group and significantly lower than WT estrus group. Expression of KLF15 was higher in the OVX+ P4 group than in the OVX group and lower in the OVX+E2 group. The OVX+E2 / P4 group was higher than the OVX+E2 group. There was no difference between ERαKO and WT diestrus. The differences in expression of KLF4 and KLF15 by P4 in OVX mouse uterine tissues may be due to the tissue specific expression pattern of epithelial (KLF4) and stromal cells (KLF15). The expression of KLF4 and KLF15 was increased by treatment of cyclic adenosine monophostphate (cAMP, 0.5 mM) and medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA, 1μM) in human endometrial stromal cells. KLF15 siRNA increased the expression of decidualization markers (BMP2, IGFBP-1 and prolactin) with increasing progesterone receptor A/B (PR A/B), while KLF4 siRNA treatment decreased expression of decidualization markers. There was no significant difference in cell proliferation and apoptosis markers in KLF4 / 15 siRNA treatment. Therefore, progesterone induces KLF4 to promote decidualization, while normally induced KLF15 inhibits progesterone receptor expression. Expression of KLF4 in endometrial epithelium is induced by estrogen but induced by progesterone to promote decidualization, and KLF15 is mainly induced by progesterone in stromal cells and inhibit excessive PR A / B activity.

Equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) is a unique molecule that elicits the response characteristics of both follicle- stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) in other species. Previous studies from this laboratory had demonstrated that recombinant eCG (rec-eCG) from Chinese hamster ovary (CHO-K1) cells exhibited both FSH- and LH-like activity in rat granulosa and Leydig cells. In this study, we analyzed receptor internalization through rec-eCGs, wild type eCG (eCGβ/α) and mutant eCG (eCGβ/αΔ56) with an N-linked oligosaccharide at Asn56 of the α-subunit. Both the rec-eCGs were obtained from CHO-K1 cells. The agonist activation of receptors was analyzed by measuring stimulation time and concentrations of rec-eCGs. Internalization values in the stably selected rat follicle-stimulating hormone receptor (rFSHR) and rat luteinizing/ chorionic gonadotropin receptor (rLH/CGR) were highest at 50 min after stimulation with 10 ng of rec-eCGβ/α. The dose-dependent response was highest when 10 ng of rec-eCGβ/α was used. The deglycosylated eCGβ/αΔ56 mutant did not enhance the agonist-stimulated internalization. We concluded that the state of activation of rFSHR and rLH/CGR could be modulated through agonist-stimulated internalization. Our results suggested that the eLH/CGRs are mostly internalized within 60 min by agonist-stimulation by rec-eCG. We also suggested that the lack of responsiveness of the deglycosylated eCGβ/ αΔ56 was likely because the site of glycosylation played a pivotal role in agonist-stimulated internalization in cells expressing rFSHR and rLH/CGR.

The clinical importance of biologic markers remains elusive in gastric cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of p53, Ki-67, and COX-2 in gastric cancer. This retrospective study examined based on medical records of postoperative immunohistochemical test of 176 patients who demonstrated high expression of all three biological markers being tested (p53, Ki-67, and COX-2), among 357 gastric cancer patients who underwent surgical resection consecutively. This study demonstrates the correlation with biologic marker between clinical relationship and recurrence free survival (RFS). A positive correlation was observed between the expression of Ki-67 and p53, and a positive correlation was also observed between the expression of Ki-67 and COX-2 Expression of p53 did not correlate with any of the clinicopathological variables examined. Both Ki-67 and COX-2 expression significantly correlated with tumor depth, classified as early gastric cancer and advanced gastric cancer. The expression of COX-2 significantly correlated with tumor differentiation, with more tumors being of the undifferentiated type than of the differentiated type in the COX-2 positive group. A significant difference between p53 and RFS, also COX-2 expression and RFS was observed. This study showed that only p53 and COX-2 have significantly correlated with the RFS of gastric cancer.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of different light-emitting diode (LED) on the stress response of workers before and after a flower arrangement (FA) activity. Participants were 16 office workers who performed FA under 7 out of 8 LED lighting conditions: darkness, white (at correlated color temperature of 4,500 K), red, blue, green, magenta, cyan, and yellow; no FA is performed in the darkness condition. To identify significant differences among the different lighting conditions, the heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), heart rate variability (HRV) consisting of standard deviation of the normal-normal intervals (SDNN), total power (TP), ratio of the low and high frequency (LF/HF), and blood pressure were measured before and after FA. The salivary cortisol level was analyzed immediately after FA. The correlations among HR, HRV, and cortisol showed that the blue and green lights positively affected stress-responses and caused considerable reduction of stress. However, there was only a minor significant difference among other lighting colors, although individual lights may impact one or more parameters. These findings reflect that the methodologies and results of this study can be effectively used to achieve a highly active horticultural therapy with the constructive assistance of LED lighting colors.

Background : This study was carried out to provide basic data for the cultivation of the rare Glehnia littoralis in Korean Midwest. Methods and Results : In Korean Midwest, Glehnia littoralis was distributed at an average dis tance of 36.1m from the shoreline. The average altitude of the emergence area was 4.2m and the average slope was 4.3%. All the Glehnia littoralis grew on the sand of the coastal sand d unes. The average pH of habitat was 8.4, the organic matter content was 0.4%, and the avail able phosphate content was 9.1 ㎎/㎏. The potassium, calcium, magnesium and sodium of exc hangeable cation were 0.09, 9.31, 0.43 and 0.23 cmol+/㎏, respectively. Conclusions : Glehnia littoralis are native to the coastal sand dunes, but when cultivated, it is necessary to extend the range of soil selection.

Background : This study was carried out to provide basic data for in-situ conservation of the rare Glehnia littoralis in Korean Midwest. Methods and Results : In Korean Midwest, The average number of plants with Glehnia littora lis were 7 taxa in per plot, and Sinduri was the most abundant in 8 taxa among the surveyed areas. The total number of plants that appeared together were 16 taxa including Glehnia littor alis, the plants were Artemisia capillaris, Asparagus schoberioides, Calystegia soldanella, Care x kobomugi, Carex pumila, Elymus mollis, Glehnia littoralis, Imperata cylindrica var. koenigii, Ischaemum anthephoroides, Ixeris repens, Lathyrus japonica, Miscanthus sinensis, Oenothera bi ennis, Rosa rugosa, Vitex rotundifolia and Zoysia macrostachya. Among them, Carex kobomug i (46.3%), Elymus mollis (15.9%), and Imperata cylindrica var. koenigii (11.7%) were the pla nts with an average coverage of more than 10%. The plants that appeared in all 4 sites in th e survey area were Carex kobomugi and Carex pumila. Conclusions : Rare medicinal plant of Glehnia littoralis was required to be in-situ conservatio n with accompanying plants of coastal sand dunes.

Background : Aronia melanocarpa ‘Viking’ known as black chokeberry, is a species of rosaceae family. Chokeberry is high in flavonoid/anti-oxidants as well as high in vitamins and minerals. Black chokeberry contains high amount of polyphenols, especially anthocyanins. Methods and Results : The aim of this study is to figure out the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory property of Aronia melanocarpa ‘Viking’ (AMV) for both water and ethanol extract. The extracts have been tested to assess the 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2ʹ-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) and nitrite scavenging activity. We have also evaluated the reducing power activity of AMV. AMV extracts showed a good radical scavenging activity on DPPH and ABTS free radical. The DPPH radical scavenging activity ranges from 20.59% - 80.12% and 26.12% - 95.59% for water and ethanol extract, respectively. The total phenolic and flavonoid contents have also been estimated in this study. Moreover, to appraise the anti-inflammation property we examined cell viability and inhibition of nitric oxide (NO) production by using the lipopolysaccharide-treated RAW 264.7 macrophage cell line. The extracts showed no cytotoxic effects on RAW 264.7 cells. Conclusion : According to the results, we suggest AMV contains noticeable antioxidant properties and could be source of natural antioxidant substances.

Background : Pachyrhizus erosus (Leguminosae), locally called as “Yam bean” is a traditional medical plant that grows in the tropical and subtropical region. The root of P. erosus is used by the local people to treat insomania, treatment of osteoporosis and extracts of this plant have shown antioxidant activity, immunomodulatory activity, tyrosinase inhibitionby, antitumour properties and cardiovascular benefit. Methods and Results : Free radical scavenging activity was evaluated using α-tocopherol and butylated hydroxy toluene (BHT) as standard antioxidants. The radical scavenging activity was measured using the stable radical 1,1-diphenyl–2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and ABTS assay. Total phenolic content was determined by following Folin-Ciocalteau colorimetric method and Total flavonoids were determined using aluminium chloride calorimetric methods. Phenolic compound concentration and compositions were determined by HPLC-MS/MS system. Seedlings grown under the flourescent light (Fl) exhibited the highest DPPH radical scavenging activity when compared to the plants treated with light emitting diodes (LEDs) and light emitting plasma (LEP). LED-Blue showed the higher DPPH radical scavenging activity and ABTS concentration of PE compared to other LEDs. The accumulation of phenolic compounds increased under different white-LEDs conditions as compared to LEP and FL light conditions. Conclusion : In this study, antioxidant activity and phenolic compound composition of P. erosus was improved by the application of LED and LEP.

Background : The interests in the consumption of red pepper (Capsicum annum L.) is, to a large extent due to its content of bioactive compounds and their importance as dietary antioxidants and Red pepper is commonly used as food material and a broad variety of medicinal applications, Therefore, we investigated the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of red pepper. Methods and Results : This present study was evaluated the effect of red pepper ethanol and distilled water extracts on antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity. Antioxidant activity of the extracts were evaluated by the assay of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity and reducing power, along with the determination of total phenolic and flavonoid contents. The ethanol and the water extracts showed strong antioxidant activity by the testing methods. Total phenol content was high in ethanol extract, whereas total flavonoid content was high in water extract. The red pepper extract exhibited high scavenging activity against DPPH radicals and showed high reducing power. In vitro cytotoxic assay, red pepper extract showed noncytotoxic effect in the RAW 264.7 cells with or without LPS. The level of nitric oxide (NO) production induced by LPS decreased in a dose-dependent manner (0.25 ㎍/ ㎖ – 1.0 ㎎/㎖). Proinfllamatory cytokine level including TNF-ɑ and IL-6 decresed in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells by treating red pepper extracts. Conclusion : These results indicate that the ethanol and distilled water extracts of red pepper can be used as an anti-proliferative therapeutic agent or functional food.

Background: There is an increasing surplus of chestnut that are abandoned due to their failure to meet customer awareness. Thus, we investigated the anti-proliferative and apoptotic effects of chestnut (Castanea crenata) inner shell extracts in hepatocarcinoma HepG2 cells as a potential source of anti-cancer materials. Methods and Results: Distilled water extract (CI-W) and ethanol extract (CI-E) were prepared from chestnut inner shell and evaluated their anti-proliferative effects in vitro. Each extract significantly decreased the cell viability of HepG2 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Indeed, the morphology of HepG2 cells treated with CI-W or CI-D was distorted to shrunken cell masses. Furthermore, it was revealed that their extracts induced cell death as evidenced by increased reactive oxygen species (ROS), formation of apoptotic body and condensation. In addition, Their extracts clearly modulated the down regulated of Bcl-2 (anti-apoptoic)/ Bax (pro-apoptotic) family and cleaved caspase-3 as an effector caspase in a dose-dependent manner. Conclusion: These results indicate that the extracts of chestnut inner shell can be used as an anti-proliferative therapeutic agent or functional food.