목적 : 노안이 진행된 굴절이상안을 대상으로 노안보정용 안경 착용이 안구 굴절이상과 가입도 변화에 미치는 영향을 확인하고자 하였다. 방법 : 안과질환이 없고 백내장 수술 및 망막질환 경험과 노안교정용 안경을 착용한 경험이 없는 40~70세 사이의 중노년층 200명(400안, 1차 방문 시: 나이 51.56±5.82세, 등가구면굴절력 -0.62±1.66 D, 양안 원거리 교정시력 16/20)을 대상으로 희망하는 노안교정방법에 따라 누진다초점 안경, 근용 안경(단초점가입도 안경) 및 노안보정 안경 미착용(대조군) 그룹으로 분류하여 2년 후 굴절이상도와 근용 가입도 변화를 비교하였다. 결과 : 근시, 정시 및 원시안에서 모두 연령이 많을수록 원용 굴절이상도는 플러스(+) 굴절력 방향으로 증가하여 원시화의 경향을 보였으며(r=0.435, p<0.001), 가입도도 증가하였다(r=0.893, p<0.001). 연구에 참여하고 2 년 후 누진다초점 안경, 근용 안경 착용군과 미착용군의 원용 굴절이상도의 변화량은 각각 0.10±0.33, 0.15±0.17, 0.19±0.81 D로 누진다초점 안경을 착용한 군에서 변화가 가장 적었고(p<0.001), 근시군은 0.16±0.31, 0.20±0.18, 0.25±0.41 D, 원시군은 0.20±0.25, 0.25±0.19, 0.29±0.15 D, 정시군은 0.12±0.20, 0.14±0.17, 0.15±0.11 D로 세 그룹 모두 누진다초점 안경을 착용한 경우에 변화가 적었고, 원시 군에서 변화가 가장 많았으며, 정시군이 가장 적었다(all, p<0.001). 2년 후 가입도 변화량은 누진다초점 안경, 근용 안경 착용군과 대조군에서 각각 0.19±1.13, 0.24±0.15, 0.28±0.10 D로 누진다초점 안경 착용군에서 가입도 증가가 가장 적었고 대조군에서 가장 많았다(p<0.001). 결론 : 노안이 진행된 중노년층의 경우 나이가 들수록 원용 굴절이상도는 원시화로 진행되며, 근용 가입도는 증가하는데, 누진다초점 안경으로 노안을 교정할 경우에는 원시화와 가입도 증가를 지연시킬 수 있을 것으로 사료 된다.

In recent years, various methods of measuring body temperature have been developed using wireless biosensors to facilitate an early detection of pregnancy and parturition in cows. However, there are no studies on real-time monitoring of cattle body temperature throughout pregnancy. Therefore, we investigated the daily mean ruminal temperature in pregnant cows throughout pregnancy using a ruminal bio-capsule sensor and then evaluated the temperature variation between pregnant and non-pregnant cows. In pregnant cows, the mean and standard deviation of ruminal temperature was 38.86 ± 0.17℃. Ruminal temperature in pregnant cows slowly decreased until 180 to 190 days after artificial insemination and after that, the temperature increased dramatically until just before parturition. Furthermore, the means ruminal temperature was significantly different between pregnant and nonpregnant cows. The mean and standard deviation of ruminal temperature were as follows: 38.68 ± 0.01℃ from days 80 to 100, 38.78 ± 0.02℃ from days 145 to 165, 38.99 ± 0.45℃ from days 200 to 220, 39.14 ± 0.38℃ from days 250 to 270 before parturition. Therefore, our results could provide useful data for early detection of pregnancy and parturition in Korean cows.

Under the stressed condition, a complex feedback mechanism for stress is activated to maintain homeostasis of the body and secretes several stress hormones. But these stress hormones impair synthesis and secretion of the reproductive hormones, followed by suppression of ovarian function. Cytochrome P450 1A2 (CYP1A2) plays a major role in metabolizing exogenous substances and endogenous hormones, and its expression is recently identified at not only the liver but also several organs with respect to the pancreas, lung and ovary. Although the expression of CYP1A2 can be also affected by several factors, understanding for the changed pattern of the ovarian CYP1A2 expression upon stress induction is still limited. Therefore, CYP1A2 expression in the ovaries from immobilization stress-induced rats were assessed in the present study. The stress-induced rats in the present study exhibited the physiological changes in terms of increased stress hormone level and decreased body weight gains. Under immunohistological observation, the ovarian CYP1A2 expression in both control and the stressed ovary was localized in the antral to pre-ovulatory follicles. However, its expression level was significantly (p < 0.01) higher in the stress-induced group than control group. In addition, stress-induced group presented more abundant CYP1A2-positive follicles (%) than control group. Since expression of the ovarian CYP1A2 was highly related with follicle atresia, increased expression of CYP1A2 in the stressed ovary might be associated with changes of the ovarian follicular dynamics due to stress induction. We hope that these findings have important implications in the fields of the reproductive biology.

The content of harmful materials was investigated for coffee beans sold in Daejeon. Total 79 samples were analysed and 213 residual pesticides and 2 heavy metals were analysed simultaneously by GC-MS/MS, GC-NPD, GC-ECD, LC-MS/MS and ICP-MS. The instrumental method was validated with limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), the linearity of standard curves. LOD of the residual pesticides was between 0.0003 to 0.0021 mg/kg, LOQ of the residual pesticides was between 0.0008 to 0.0064 mg/kg. LOD of the heavy metals was between 0.0077 to 0.0079 μg/kg, LOQ of the heavy metals was between 0.0233 to 0.0239 μg/kg. The linearity correlation coefficient for the calibration curve was between 0.9929 to 0.9999 and the recovery rate was between 95.4% to 106.1%. According to the monitoring of residual pesticides and heavy metals, no pesticide was detected in all coffee bean samples. 88.6% (70 samples) of analysed total 79 coffee beans contained at least 1 heavy metal but there was no sample which exceeded the maximum residual limit. Risk assessment was also carried out based on the content of heavy metals detected in coffee beans. The carcinogenic risk assessment to heavy metals showed that all cancer-risk (CR) values were below 10–6 and it meant that the CR due to heavy metals intake was evaluated as safe. The non-carcinogenic risk assessment to heavy metals showed that all hazard index (HI) were below 1, which was considered acceptable at the current level of exposure. The %PTWI values of lead and cadmium for 55 roasted coffee bean samples were 0.09% and 0.04% respectively, compared with the reference values. This results indicate that there is almost no health risk from heavy metal intake through the consumption of coffee beans in circulation in Daejeon.

Cytochrome P450 1A2 (CYP1A2) is a member of the cytochrome P450 superfamily enzymes in mammals and plays a major role in metabolizing endogenous hormones in the liver. In recent days, CYP1A2 expression has been found in not only the liver but also other tissues including the pancreas and lung. However, little information is available regarding the expression of CYP1A2 in the ovary, in spite of the facts that the ovarian follicle growth and atresia are tightly associated with controls of endocrine hormonal networks. Therefore, the expression of CYP1A2 in the ovaries of prepubertal and pubertal rats was investigated to assess its expression pattern and puberty-related alteration. It was demonstrated that the expression level of CYP1A2 was significantly (p < 0.01) higher in the pubertal ovaries than prepubertal counterparts. At the ovarian follicle level in both groups, whereas CYP1A2 expression was less detectable in the primordial, primary and secondary follicles, the strongly positive expression of CYP1A2 was localized in the granulosa cell layers in the antral and pre-ovulatory follicles. However, the ratio of CYP1A2-positive ovarian follicle was significantly (p < 0.01) higher in the ovary of pubertal group (73.1 ± 3.1%) than prepubertal one (41.0 ± 10.5%). During the Immunofluorescence, expression of CYP1A2 was mainly localized in Fas-positive follicles, indicating the atretic follicles. In conclusion, these results suggested that CYP1A2 expression was mainly localized at the atretic follicular cells and affected by the onset of puberty. Further study is still necessary but we hypothesize that CYP1A2 expresses in the atretic follicles to metabolize residue of the reproductive hormones. These findings may have important implications for the fields of reproductive biology of animals.

To understand the role of small heat shock protein (sHSPs) in rice plant response to various stresses such as the heat and oxidative stresses, a cDNA encoding a 24.1 kDa mitochondrial small HSP (Oshsp24.1) was isolated from rice by rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) PCR. The deduced amino acid sequence shows very high similarity with other plant small HSPs. DNA gel blot analysis suggests that the rice genome contains more than one copy of Oshsp24.1. High level of expression of Oshsp24.1 transcript was observed in rice seedlings in response to heat, methyl viologen, hydrogen peroxide, ozone, salt and heavy metal stresses. Recombinant OsHSP24.1 protein was produced in E. coli cells for biochemical assay. The protein formed oligomeric complex when incubated with Sulfo-EGS (ethylene glycol bis (succinimidyl succinate)). Our results shows that Oshsp24.1 has an important role in abiotic stress response and have potential for developing stress-tolerant plants.