The subfamily Lachninae Herrich-Schaeffer, 1854 consist of about 400 species belonging to 19 genera world-wide. Lachninae are distributed mostly in the Nearctic, Oriental and Palaearctic Regions. Their host plants are known as grasses, deciduous tree and conifers. Taxonomic study of Lachninae has been dealt with some authors in several countries, whereas it has rarely performed in the Korean Peninsula after Lee et al. (1994). Here, we review the subfamily Lachninae from the Korean Peninsula, focusing on its taxonomic history and diversity.

Jumping plant-lice (Hemiptera: Psylloidea) are known for a few deleterious pest species worldwide, yet the phylogeny of the group has been poorly understood. The goal of researching the Korean Psylloidea is to achieve a total overview of the group. The systematic study relies on three main pillars which are i) the taxonomic review of superfamily Psylloidea in the Korean Peninsula, ii) the correction of taxonomic confusions caused by phenetic plasticity and iii) the molecular phylogeny of Psylloidea to elucidate the higher-level phylogenetic relationships among the families and subfamilies of the superfamily Psylloidea. Discussions of the early diversification and evolution of Psylloidea will be presented together with comments on biogeography and host plant association.

Two infamous ant species, red imported fire ant (RIFA, Solenopsis invicta) and tropical fire ant (TFA, S. geminata), originated from South America are invading and harming many countries around the world. Among them, RIFA, known as one of the 100 world’s worst invasive alien species, has been discovered in South Korea; in Busan (Gamman CT) in 2017, and subsequently in Busan (Hutchison CT), Pyongtaek, Incheon and Daegu in 2018. With these relentless introduction of RIFA, South Korea is not safe no more from these ants and faces a risk of settlement. Our research goal is tracing the country origin of invasive populations of RIFA and TFA based on molecular epidemiological approach. We are conducting both microsatellite and genome-wide SNP analyses in order to derive a complementary interpretation. These two methodologies are expected to result in improved resolution in population genetics analysis. Nevertheless, this work needs collaboration of many countries belonging to the range of origin and invasion of RIFA and TFA. We will briefly introduce our research project and progress of collaboration research.

Background: In some clinical guidelines followed in clinical practice, nonsurgical treatments are recommended as the primary intervention for patients with lumbar disc herniation (LDH). However, the effect of a therapeutic exercise program based on stabilization of the lumbar spine for treatment of multilevel LDH has not been evaluated thoroughly. Objective: To investigate the effects of therapeutic exercise on pain, physical function, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings in a patient with multilevel LDH. Design: Case Report Methods: A 43-year-old female presented with low back pain, radicular pain and multilevel LDH (L3–L4, L4–L5, L5–S1). The therapeutic exercise program was conducted. in 40-min sessions, three times a week, for 12 weeks. Low back and radicular pain, lumbar disability, and physical function were measured before and after 6 and 12 weeks of the exercise program. MRI was performed before and after 12 weeks of the program. Results: After 6 and 12 weeks of the therapeutic exercise, low back and radicular pain and lumbar disability had decreased, and lumbar range of motion (ROM) was improvedbilaterally, compared with the initial values. Also improved at 6 and 12 weeks were isometric lumbar strength and endurance, and the functional movement screen score. The size of disc herniations was decreased on MRI obtained after 12 weeks of therapeutic exercise than on the pre-exercise images. Conclusions: We observed that therapeutic exercise program improved spinal ROM, muscle strength, functional capacity, and size of disc herniation in LDH patient.

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are being faced with rapid changes in their business environments due to evolution of technologies and innovation in societal eco-systems. Particularly, dynamic interactions between such environments and enterprise activities have become significant, so technology planning, which is a process of identifying appropriate directions regarding product and technology development, has received much attention to cope with such dynamics proactively. However, SMEs typically have limits in performing independent, strategical and systematical technology planning activities due to the lack of human, material and financial resources. This paper proposes the development of a product roadmapping method so that SMEs carry out efficient technology planning activities with interconnections of external business environments. The present work provides product roadmap templates that directly accommodate the influence of business environments on the product’s system and its associated super/sub-systems with the use of external environment analysis techniques including TRIZ methodology, PEST and 5Forces analysis. These templates are useful to efficiently forecast the directions of product’s development and evolution, which arise from changes in external environments. Consequently, the present work enables SMEs to flexibly cope with the era of the next R&D generation, which pursues value creation through mutual interconnection between business environments and technology development.

본 연구의 목적은 지역아동센터의 원예활동 프로그램 인식과 운영현황을 조사하여 향후 지역아동센터 원예활동 프로그램 발전을 위한 기초자료를 제공하는 것이다. 이를 위하여 충청남도 천안시에 위치한 지역아동센터 소장을 대상으로 2018년 2월 26일부터 2018년 3월 9일까지 방문, 이메일, 전화를 이용하여 설문조사를 실시하였다. 설문을 통해 수집된 자료는 SPSS 23.0 통계 프로그램을 사용하여 빈도분석, 다중응답분석을 실시하였다. 설문조사를 한 결과, 천안시의 지역아동센터 중 원예활동 프로그램을 실행해 본적이 있는 곳은 49%, 실행해보지 않은 곳은 51%로 나타났다. 실행해 본 적이 있는 곳 중 3개월 이상 프로그램을 진행한 센터는 40%에 불과했으며 주 1회, 1시간으로 복지원예사가 진행하였다. 지역아동센터에서 원예활동 프로그램을 시행하지 않은 가장 큰 이유는 ‘예산’이었다. 인지도를 살펴보면, 응답자 중 96.1%가 원예활동 프로그램이 필요하다고 생각하였으며 56.9%가 원예활동프로그램에 매우 관심이 있다고 답하였다. 원예활동 프로그램의 실행으로 지역아동센터가 아동에게 기대하는 효과로는, 정서안정과 사회성 발달에 도움이 될 것이라는 의견이 높게 나타났다. 위의 결과를 종합하여 보았을 때, 많은 소장이 원예활동 프로그램에 관심은 많지만, 일회성 프로그램으로 인식한다고 생각되어 원예활동 프로그램에 대한 정확한 이해와 교육이 필요하다고 사료되며, 앞으로 지역아동센터에서 프로그램을 진행할 때 ‘정서적 안정’과 ‘사회성 향상’을 목적으로 ‘주 1회’로 지속적인 운영을 할 수 있도록 지역아동센터의 예산확보와 원예활동에 대한 적극적인 홍보가 필요하다고 판단된다.

The present study aimed at evaluating serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) avidity to Porphyromonas gingivalis in elderly patients with mild and severe chronic periodontitis. The avidity of antibodies against P. gingivalis present in the sera of 18 patients with mild chronic periodontitis and 18 patients with severe chronic periodontitis was evaluated using an ammonium thiocyanate-dissociated enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The results showed that the mean absorbance value in serum IgG antibody titers was significantly higher in the severe chronic periodontitis group than in the mild chronic periodontitis group (198 ± 35 ELISA unit [EU] vs. 142 ± 32 EU, p < 0.01). However, there was no significant difference between the two groups in antibody avidity (65 ± 57 EU vs. 54 ± 27 EU). These findings suggest that humoral immune responses to P. gingivalis between mild and severe chronic periodontitis in elderly patients are characterized by the differences in the quantity rather than the quality of the antibodies.

목적 : 본 연구는 Tait-Wick과 Duke-Elder의 방법에 의한 시기능이상과 읽기능력의 상관성을 확인하고자 하였다. 방법 : 안질환이 없고 굴절이상이 완전 교정된 151명을 대상으로 Tait-Wick과 Duke-Elder의 방법으로 시기 능이상군의 종류를 나누어 읽기능력검사를 실시하였다. 시기능검사는 원‧근거리 수평사위도와 조절력, 폭주근점, 원․근거리 융합버전스, 조절용이성을 측정하였고, 읽기능력은 ReadAlyzer를 사용하여 단어주시시간, 단어반복보기횟수, 줄반복보기횟수, 읽기속도, 이해도를 측정하였다. 결과 : 폭주부족군은 정상군에 비해 유의하게 단어주시시간이 감소하였고(t=-2.423, p=0.019), 단어반복보기 횟수는 증가하였으며(t=4.770, p=0.000), 그 결과 읽기속도가 감소하였다(t=-5.674, p=0.000). 조절용이성이상군은 정상군에 비해 유의한 차이로 단어반복보기횟수가 증가했고(t=2.844, p=0.006), 읽기속도는 감소했다(t=-5.617, p=0.000). 다른 시기능이상군은 읽기요소에 대한 유의한 차이와 상관성을 보이지 않았다. 결론 : 폭주부족군은 독서 시 폭주가 충분치 않아 근거리 주시상태를 유지하기 어려워 단어주시시간이 감소하 고 단어를 반복해서 보게 되며 그 결과 읽기속도가 감소한 것으로 사료된다. 조절용이성이 작을수록 단어반복보기 횟수가 증가하고 읽기속도가 감소한 것으로 보아 검사거리가 40cm로 고정된 상태에서도 독서 시 미세한 조절자극의 변화가 발생하였고 이에 대한 부적응이 일어난 것으로 사료된다. 일부 시기능이상은 읽기의 운동적 요소에 영향을 미칠 수 있으나 인지적 요소에는 영향을 주지 않는다고 사료된다.

Because mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) maintain distinct capacities with respect to self-renewal, differentiation ability and immunomodulatory function, they have been highly considered as the therapeutic agents for cell-based clinical application. Of particular, differentiation condition alters characteristics of MSCs, including cellular morphology, expression of gene/protein and cell surface molecule, immunological property and apoptosis. However, the previous results for differentiation-related apoptosis in MSCs have still remained controversial due to varied outcomes. Therefore, the present study aimed to disclose periodical alterations of pro- and anti-apoptosis in MSCs under differentiation inductions. The human dental pulp-derived MSCs (DP-MSCs) were differentiated into adipocytes and osteoblasts during early (1 week), middle (2 weeks) and late (3 weeks) stages, and were investigated on their apoptosis-related changes by Annexin V assay, qRT-PCR and western blotting. The ratio of apoptotic cell population was significantly (p < 0.05) elevated during the early to middle stages of differentiations but recovered up to the similar level of undifferentiated state at the late stage of differentiation. In the expression of mRNA and protein, whereas expressions of pro-apoptosis-related makers (BAX and BAK) were not altered in any kind and duration of differentiation inductions, anti-apoptosis marker (BCL2) was significantly (p < 0.05) elevated even at the early stage of differentiations. The recovery of apoptotic cell population at the late stage of differentiation is expected to be associated with the response by elevation of anti-apoptotic molecules. The present study may contribute on understanding for cellular mechanism in differentiation of MSCs and provide background data in clinical application of MSCs in the animal biotechnology to develop effective and safe therapeutic strategy.

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the comparison of balance and muscle strength between dominant and non-dominant legs in adults. Thirty adults in their 20s participated in this study. The dominant and non-dominant legs were selected based on the dominant hands of the target. The subject's muscle strength of legs was measured with Nicholas MMT, and the balance was measured with BIO-Rescue. We compared the dominant and non-dominant legs based on the results. The result, indicated no statistical difference on balance and muscle strength between dominant and non-dominant legs(p>.05). The results of this study will be helpful in setting the effective treatment direction and treatment level, and in controlling posture, balance and motor function.

To date, there are no protocols optimized to the effective separation of spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) from testicular cells derived from mouse testes, thus hindering studies based on mouse SSCs. In this study, we aimed to determine the most efficient purification method for the isolation of SSCs from mouse testes among previously described techniques. Isolation of SSCs from testicular cells derived from mouse testes was conducted using four different techniques: differential plating (DP), magnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS) post-DP, MACS, and positive and negative selection double MACS. DP was performed for 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 h, and MACS was performed using EpCAM (MACSEpCAM), Thy1 (MACSThy1), or GFR α1 (MACSGFRα1) antibodies. The purification efficiency of each method was analyzed by measuring the percentage of cells that stained positively for alkaline phosphatase. DP for 8 h, MACSThy1 post-DP for 8 h, MACSGFRα1, positive selection double MACSGFRα1/EpCAM, and negative selection double MACSGFRα1/α-SMA were identified as the optimal protocols for isolation of SSCs from mouse testicular cells. Comparison of the purification efficiencies of the optimized isolation protocols showed that, numerically, the highest purification efficiency was obtained using MACSGFRα1. Overall, our results indicate that MACSGFRα1 is an appropriate purification technique for the isolation of SSCs from mouse testicular cells.

Ensuring the quality of molds is one of the major issues in mass production. In general, securing the quality of the molds is achieved by repeating grinding and die spotting after machining the molds based on engineer’s decision. However, this heuristic method is affected by the engineer’s skill and working environment. Therefore, a lot of time and resources are needed in order to ensure quality. In this study, ensuring the quality of molds using grinding map which is generated using automatic measurement is proposed. An automatic measuring system based on CMM (Coordinate Measuring Machine) is developed for measuring the molds. This system generates the measurement path automatically using the 3D CAD model of products. CAD (Computer- Aided-Design), CAM (Computer-Aided-Manufacturing), and CAQ (Computer-Aided-Quality) technology is integrated using DMIS (Dimensional Measuring Interface Standard) format in the automatic measuring system. After measuring the molds, a grinding map is generated using the gap between the CAD model and measured values of mold. The grinding map displays the machining tendency and the required amount of grinding with values on a 3D map. Therefore, the quality of molds can be ensured with exactness and quickness based on the grinding map. This study shows that integrating the planning, measuring, and analyzing based on computer technology can solve the problem of quality assurance of mold using the proposed method, therefore the productivity can be increased.

The osmolarity of a medium that is commonly used for in vitro culture (IVC) of oocytes and embryos is lower than that of oviductal fluid in pigs. In vivo oocytes and embryos can resist high osmolarities to some extent due to the presence of organic osmolytes such as glycine and alanine. These amino acids act as a protective shield to maintain the shape and viability in high osmotic environments. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of glycine or/and alanine in medium with two different osmolarities (280 and 320 mOsm) during IVC on embryonic development after parthenogenesis (PA) and somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) in pigs. To this end, IVC was divided into two stages; the 0-2 and 3-7 days of IVC. In each stage, embryos were cultured in medium with 280, 320, or 360 mOsm and their combinations with or without glycine or/and alanine according to the experimental design. Treatment groups were termed as, for example, "T(osmolarity of a medium used in 0-2 days of IVC)-(osmolarity of a medium used in 3-7 days of IVC)" T280-280 was served as control. When PA embryos were cultured in medium with various osmolarities, T320-280 showed a significantly higher blastocyst formation (29.0%) than control (22.2%) and T360-360 groups (6.9%). Glycine treatment in T320-280 significantly increased blastocyst formation (50.4%) compared to T320-280 only (36.5%) while no synergistic was observed after treatment with glycine and alanine together in T320-280 (45.7%). In contrast to PA embryonic development, the stimulating effect by the culture in T320-280 was not observed in SCNT blastocyst development (27.6% and 23.7% in T280-280 and T320-280, respectively) whereas the number of inner cell mass cells was significantly increased in T320-280 (6.1 cells vs. 9.6 cells). Glycine treatment significantly improved blastocyst formation of SCNT embryos in both T280-280 (27.6% vs. 38.0%) and T320-280 (23.7% vs. 35.3%). Our results demonstrate that IVC in T320-280 and treatment with glycine improves blastocyst formation of PA and SCNT embryos in pigs.

This study investigated the characteristics of obesity induced by a high-fat diet (HD) over 13 weeks in Rhbdf2 gene knockout (KO) mice. Forty 7-week-old Rhbdf2 wild and KO mice were used and the mice were divided into 4 groups: Wild-ND (n=10, Rhbdf2 wild mice, normal diet (ND)), Wild-HD (n=10, Rhbdf2 wild mice, HD), KO-ND (n=10, Rhbdf2 KO mice, ND) and KO-HD (n=10, Rhbdf2 KO mice, HD). The relative epididymal fat weight in KO-HD was significantly increased compared with that in KO-ND (P<0.01). The relative liver and spleen weights in KO-HD were decreased compared with those in Wild-HD (p < 0.05) and KO-ND (p < 0.01). The mRNA expression of SOD1 in KO-ND was significantly reduced compared with that in Wild-ND (p < 0.05). In Wild-ND and HD, the mRNA expressions of TNF-α and IL-6 in epididymal fat were significantly increased compared with those in KO-ND and HD (p < 0.01). A significant increase of TNF- α and IL-6 mRNA expression was observed in KO-HD compared with KO-ND (p < 0.01). These results indicated that Rhbdf2 genes may regulate high fat diet-induced obesity damage by anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative roles in fat tissue of mice.

The setting of values on door hinge mounting compensation for door assembly tolerance is a constant quality issue in vehicle production. Generally, heuristic methods are used in satisfying appropriate door gap and level difference, flushness to improve quality. However, these methods are influenced by the engineer's skills and working environment and result an increasement of development costs. In order to solve these problems, the system which suggests hinge mounting compensation value using CAE (Computer Aided Engineering) analysis is proposed in this study. A structural analysis model was constructed to predict the door gap and level difference, flushness through CAE based on CAD (Computer Aided Design) data. The deformations of 6-degrees of freedom which can occur in real vehicle doors was considered using a stiffness model which utilize an analysis model. The analysis model was verified using 3D scanning of real vehicle door hinge deformation. Then, system model which applying the structural analysis model suggested the final adjustment amount of the hinge mounting to obtain the target door gap and the level difference by inputting the measured value. The proposed system was validated using the simulation and showed a reliability in vehicle hinge mounting compensation process. This study suggests the possibility of using the CAE analysis for setting values of hinge mounting compensation in actual vehicle production.

Coke aggregates and carbon artifacts were produced to investigate the interactions of coke and pitch during the kneading process. In addition, the kneading ratio of the coke and binder pitch for the coke aggregates was controlled to identify the formation of voids and pores during carbonization at 900°C. Experiments and thermogravimetric analysis revealed that carbon yields were improved over the theoretical yield calculated by the weight loss of the coke and binder pitch; the improvement was due to the binding interactions between the coke particles and binder pitch by the kneading process. The true, apparent, and bulk densities fluctuated according to the kneading ratio. This study confirmed that an excessive or insufficient kneading ratio decreases the density with degradation of the packing characteristics. The porosity analysis indicated that formation of voids and pores by the binder pitch increased the porosity after carbonization. Image analysis confirmed that the kneading ratio affected the formation of the coke domains and the voids and pores, which revealed the relations among the carbon yields, density, and porosity.