A surveillance of chigger mites was performed to monitor the incidence of scrub typhus vectors at 4 environmental collection points of 6 locations from September to November 2014 in Korea. During the survey period, 420 chigger mites were collected and the dominant species was Leptotrombidium scutellare (42.6%). The first appearance of chigger mite was at 37th week (9.3.-9.10.) and the collected numbers of chigger mites was the highest at 43rd week (10.17.-10.23.). In Goryeong-gun, 299 chigger mites were collected, whereas 5 chigger mites were collected In Yesan-gun. The high environmental collecting rates were recorded at rice field (56%) and waterway (20%). The annually collected numbers (2012-2014) of chigger mites were compared with the average temperatures in August. This result suggests that the average temperature in August might be related with the annual incidence of scrub typhus vectors in Korea. However, the relationship between climate factors and the density of chigger mites needs to be studied by long-term periodical surveillance.

Explicit environmental attitude measures tend to produce strong socially desirable responses (Bruni & Schultz, 2010; Milfont & Duckitt, 2010; Stern & Dietz, 1994) and fail to capture more than what participants consciously recall (e.g., explicit belief, past behavior, Dunlap, Van Liere, Mertig, Jones, 2000; Schultz, Shriver, Tabanico, & Khazian, 2004). A number of studies have highlighted the popularity of environmental issues in common discourse in various countries, which leads individuals to eagerly express pro-environmental explicit attitudes (Dunlap, 1998; Leiserowitz, 2005; Meijers & Stapel, 2011). Therefore, an explicit measure of environmental attitudes would hardly be an unbiased indicator of prior knowledge and experience when testing the effect of subtle feeling on judgments: although a participant explicitly reports favorable attitudes toward environment or related issues, it does not necessarily mean that she or he has knowledge and experience to hinder the regulatory fit effects. Using the Implicit Association Test, we examined whether the extent to which individuals are implicitly biased toward (or against) sustainability moderates the regulatory focus by construal level interaction. Scores from the indirect measure of attitudes served as the indicator of the strength of associations between the concept of sustainability and evaluations that may result form its frequent pairing with desirable consumption patterns or repeated exposure to persuasive messages promoting sustainability. Specifically, we showed that the regulatory focus – construal level fit effect will be greater among individuals who have not formed significant associations about sustainability since these individuals are more likely to rely on feeling right from regulatory fit rather than using prior experience or knowledge.

A fabrication method to improve the processability of thermoplastic carbon nanotube (CNT) mat composites was investigated by using in-situ polymerizable and low viscous cyclic butylene terephthalate oligomers. The electrical conductivity of the CNT mat composites strongly depended on the compression pressure, and the trend can be explained in terms of two cases, low and high compression pressure, respectively. High CNT mat content in the CNT mat composites and the surface of the CNT mat composites with fully contacted CNTs was achieved under high compression pressure, and direct contact between four probes and the surface of the CNT mat composites with fully contacted CNTs gave resistance of 2.1Ω. In this study the maximum electrical conductivity of the CNT mat composites, obtained under a maximum applied compression pressure of 27 MPa, was 11 904 S m-1, where the weight fraction of the CNT mat was 36.5%.

ReαlITent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) appears to be one of the most common oral diseases. However, the defmitive etiology of RAS is not well established, though many etiologic faαors have been suggested and examined. The present study was petformed to investigate the association between HIA and Korean recurrent aphthous stomatitis pa디ents. πle proportions of class 1 and class II HIA types expressed in 49 Korean subjects affected by recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) and in 50 healthy controls were deteffi1Í11ed by microlymphocytotoxicity test. 까le sig띠ficance of the data was analyzed by chi-square test and Fisher' s exact test. πle proportions of HIA-Cw1 and -DR9 antigens were significantly higher in RAS pa디ents (p(0.05), whereas those of HIA-DR4 and -DQ2 antigens were significantly lower (p(0.05). 까le odds ratio (OR) were 2.8 for HIA-Cw1 and 2.7 for -DR9. πle etiologic fractions (EF) were 0.262 and 0.193, respectively. The results s맹gest that, in Koreans, there Í$ a sig띠ficant relation between HIA antigens and RAS. Genetic faαors ， reflected in the HIA type, may play an in1portant role in the development of RAS.

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.

In order to improve rice dough functionality, we cloned 4 kinds of high-molecular-weight glutenin subunit (HMW-GS) genes from bread wheat, ‘Jokyeong’. Among them, we first examined Dx5 gene to generate marker-free transgenic rice for advanced quality processing of bread and noodles. The GluB1 promoter was inserted into binary vector for seed specific expression of the Dx5 gene. Two expression cassettes comprised of separate DNA fragments containing only the high-molecular-weight glutein subunit (HMW-GS) protein (Dx5) and hygromycin phosphotransferase II (HPTII) resistance genes were introduced separately to tumefaciens EHA105 strain for co-infection. Each EHA105 strain harboring Dx5 or HPTII was infected to rice calli at 3: 1 ratio of Dx5 and HPTII, respectively. Then among 66 hygromycin-resistant transformants, we obtained two transgenic lines inserted both with Dx5 and HPTII gene to rice genome. We reconfirmed integration of the Dx5 and HPTII genes into the rice genome by Southern blot analysis. Wheat Dx5 transcriptsin rice seeds was examined with semi-quantitative RT-PCR. Finally, the marker-free plants containing only Dx5 gene were successfully screened at T1 generation. This result also provides that co-infection system with two expression cassettes could be efficient strategy to generate marker-free transgenic rice plants.

Two sugary mutants, Hwacheong sugary-1 (Hsu1) and Hwacheong sugary-2 (Hsu2) were obtained by chemical mutagenesis from japonica cultivar, Hwacheongbyeo. Sugary mutants exhibited wrinkled and translucent grain with high soluble sugar content. In addition, amber-colored endosperm of sugary mutants was loosely packed due to abnormal starch granules compared to densely packed wild-type. Especially, the grain of Hsu2 mutant was less wrinkled than that of Hsu1, thus Hsu2 can be polished easily. Previous studies reveal that su1 mutant was resulted from mutation in gene for a debranching enzyme, isoamylase but the sequence of the mutated gene has not been identified. To identify the sequence of sugary genes, the map-based cloning strategy was applied. The genetic study revealed that the phenotype of Hsu2 mutant was controlled by two recessive genes. Interestingly, one of the genes was located on chromosome 8 at the position of isoamylase which was known as su-1. This indicates that mutation in isoamylase gene causes sugary endosperm characteristics. However we found different mutation points between the Hsu1 and Hsu2. The point mutation in Hsu1 was occurred at 10th exon whereas the other mutation related with Hsu2 was occurred at 15th exon. As mentioned above, the Hsu2 mutant has less wrinkled shape and less soluble sugar content than the Hsu1 mutant. Thus, we hypothesize that the other gene controlling Hsu2 mutant phenotype may have a role in weakening the effect of the su-1. Further study on the other gene associated with the Hsu2 phenotype is in progress.

The removal of nitrogen compounds from a wastewater is essential and it is often accomplished by biological process. An aerobic nitrate-removing bacterium was isolated from a municipal sewage treatment plant and soil. On the basis of its morphological, cultural and physiological characteristics and 16S rRNA sequencing data, this strain was identified as Pseudomonas fluorescens, and named as P. fluorescens K4. The optimal conditions of the initial pH and temperature of media for its growth were 7.0~8.0 and 30℃, respectively. P. fluorescens K4 was able to remove 99.9% of nitrate after 24 h in a culture. The strain could grow with a nitrate concentration up to 800 mg/l and was able to remove 99.9% of nitrate after 104 h of incubation. The optimal electron donor was sodium citrate for a nitrate removal. The strain K4 showed a capability of a complete nitrate removal when the initial C/N ratio was 1.0. An effect of the initial seed concentration was observed for a cell of 10% (v/v) for a nitrate removal. Especially P. fluorescens K4 could completely remove 200 mg/l ammonium for 3 days.