The anti-inflammatory effect of PHBV/Collagen (PHCP) was examined in a mouse model of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced skin inflammation. Vascular permeability on the back skin was measured by the local accumulation of Evan’s blue dye after subcutaneous injection of LPS (30 µg site^-1 ). Dye leakage in the skin showed a significant increase at 2 h after injection of LPS. This LPS-induced dye leakage was also completely inhibited by HO-1 inhibitor, ZnPP, and antioxidants, including methyl gallate, trolox, and mannitol. To study the possible mechanisms underlying the in vivo anti-inflammatory effect of PHCP against LPS-induced inflammation, we also examined the effects of PHCP on malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione levels in skin tissues and found that pretreatment with PHCP resulted in inhibited MDA elevation and a remarkable reduction of glutathione level. In addition, similar results were obtained after pretreatment with antioxidants, including trolox and mannitol, and HO-1 inhibitor, ZnPP. Histopathologically, an influx of neutrophils into the skin dermis was detected between 24 h and 72 h after LPS injection (30, 100 µg site^-1), compared to control animals after injection of saline. This increase was greater in mice treated with 100 µg of LPS than in those treated with 30 µg of LPS and was significantly suppressed by pretreatment with PHCP, antioxidants, and HO-1 inhibitor. These results collectively suggest that PHCP has an anti-inflammatory effect against LPS-induced inflammation model in vivo and may be a good candidate for the skin tissue engineering biomedical application primarily through manipulation of the redox state.

Y -band is a broad passband that is centered at ~1 μm. It is becoming a new, popular window for extragalactic study especially for observations of red objects thanks to recent CCD technology de- velopments. In order to better understand the general characteristics of objects in Y -band, and to investigate the promise of Y -band observations with small telescopes, we carried out imaging observa- tions of several extragalactic fields, brown dwarfs, and high redshift quasars with Y -band filter at the Mt. Lemmon Optical Astronomy Observatory and the Maidanak observatory. From our observations, we constrain the bright end of the galaxy and the stellar number counts in Y -band. We also test the usefulness of high redshift quasar (z >6) selection via i − z − Y color-color diagram, to demonstrate that the i − z − Y color-color diagram is effective for the selection of high redshift quasars even with a conventional optical CCD camera installed at a 1-m class telescope.

Although baculoviruses have a long history of safe use as specific, environmentally benign insect control agents, their use has been limited by several factors, especially their slow speed of action. In this study, we intended to improve the insecticidal activities of Autographa californica nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) by expressing Kunitz-type toxin isolated from venoms of Bombus ignitus or Araneus ventricosus. For this, recombinant AcMNPVs, AcBi-KTT, AcAv-Tox1 and AcAv-Tox2 expressing Bi-KTT, Av-Tox1 and Av-Tox2, respectively, under the control of p10 gene promoter were constructed. While polyhedra produced by these recombinant viruses were identical to those of the wild-type AcMNPV in shape, their sizes were relatively smaller than those of the AcMNPV. Among recombinant viruses, AcBi-KTT and AcAv-Tox2 showed significant reduction in median lethal time (LT50) against Spodoptera exigua larvae. Especiaaly, these two viruses showed about 6.2~10-folds higher polyhedra production rate compared to that of the AcMNPV. These results suggested that Kunitz-type toxins from insect venom could be successfully applied to improve insecticidal activity of baculoviruses.

Plasmids from Bacillus thuringiensis have been implicated in pathogenicity as they carry the genes responsible for different types of diseases that in mammals and insects. A novel serogroup (H3a3b3d), B. thuringiensis strain K4 which showed mosquitocidal activity against Anopheles sinensis and Culex pipiens pallens, was isolated from fallen leaves in Mungyeong city, Republic of Korea. In contrast to the complicated plasmid profiles of B. thuringiensis H3 serotype strains, the strain K4 (designated as serovar mogi) had only one large plasmid (>200kb) on which the toxin genes were occasionally located. A 454 pyrosequencing was used for the complete sequencing of the large plasmid. The sequence analysis showed that k4 plasmid had at least seven putative cry genes, ending up to showing 84%, 75%, 73%, 58%, 84%, 39% and 75% homology with Cry27Aa, Cry19Ba, Cry20-like, Cry56Aa, Cry39ORF2, Cry8Ba and Cry40ORF2 toxins in amino acids, respectively. This novel 3a3b3d type strain, B. thuringiensis serovar mogi, can be used as a good resource for studying unknown mosquitocidal cry genes. The E. coli-B. thuringiensis shuttle vector, pHT1K was used to clone these cry genes for characterization. In each clone, the level of transcription and production of crystal proteins will be investigated in near the future.

Among 154 putative ORFs of Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV), ac78 and ac79 are highly conserved genes in baculovirus, but their functions in the virus life cycle have been unknown so far. To determine their roles in AcMNPV replication, knockout mutants, ac78KO and ac79KO, were constructed using the plasmid capture system (PCS). Real-Time PCR analysis showed that both of ac78 and ac79 transcripts were first detected at 6 hours post-infection, and accumulated to maximum at 24 hours post-infection, suggesting that both of ac78 and ac79 are belong to late gene. When the genomic DNA of ac78KO was transfected into Sf9 cells, viral replication was restricted to a single cell infection. These results demonstrated that the ac78 play an important role in BV production, and therefore is essential for AcMNPV to mount a successful infection. Whereas Sf9 cells infected with the ac79KO showed normal viral symptoms such as rounding and swelling, OBs were not observed from majority of infected cells. These results suggested that the ac79 might play an important role in OB production.

We used the three kinds of mosquito traps (Black-hole with UV light, CO2-baited Mos-hole with the newly developed attracting-solvent, CO2-baited DMS; Digital Mosquito Monitoring System) to know their collecting efficiency for the female mosquitoes in Korean rural areas. The Black-hole mosquito trap caught many kinds of insects including only few female mosquitoes. The Black-hole trap has the UV-light and the light seemed to attract other terrestrial and aquatic insects, such as the common flies, May flies, and the stone flies. Even though the trap was developed to collect mosquitoes, the trap caught only few of female mosquitoes less than 1% of all insects caught. Their selective efficiency to collect the female mosquitoes was relatively lower than other two kinds of traps. The Mos-hole and CO2-baited DMS traps had the collecting efficiency of over 80% to collect the female mosquitoes. The two traps caught the relatively lower number (less than 3% of total insects) of other insects, such as few Coleoptera and Diptera, and their collecting efficiency for the female mosquitoes was very higher. Generally speaking, mosquitoes disliked the UV light but they relatively preferred CO2 gas including the attracting-solvent. They had also been attracted the acidic solvent with CO2 gas. If we could use the efficient and selective mosquito traps with the fully understanding about the mosquito habits, we could assume that we can keep the biodiversity high around the mosquito habitats as well as to save money for the insect pest control.

We developed two kinds of selective mosquito traps. The first selective mosquito trap called Mos-hole was developed with emitting carbon dioxide. The principle was that CO2 gas was obtained from burning liquid naphtha. The process principle was very unique that some heat and moisture which cannot be obtained by using dry ice could be generated additionally. It is the main cause to bring more mosquitoes. The trap is consisted of the acidic and CO2-baited suction system. CO2 was so powerful mosquito attractant gas, and the color and shape of a suction trap was also very important factors for improving the mosquito capturing efficiency. The trap burned naphtha in a rate of 1.3g/hr~3.0g/hr (CO2:50ml/min-110ml/min) and the efficiency of the trap was higher at the burning rate with the high number of female mosquitoes. The second mosquito trap called DMS (Digital Mosquito Monitoring System) is developed for reporting the number of captured mosquito automatically every day. This automatic reporting device called DMS uses CO2 gas as a mosquito attractant and it has a IR array sensor for counting mosquito. We established a sensor network with several DMSs and one server. The server collected the data of each DMS through Internet or CDMA RF communication system. This data were analyzed in the GIS pest prevention information system and were sometimes used as a reference for the next pest control activities. The DMS systems emit CO2 about 300cc/min. CO2 was very effective for attracting mosquito. DMS systems were very effective to count the number of mosquitoes at the certain areas. By using two kinds of mosquito traps together, we could determine the mosquito population size increase and decrease at certain areas

The α-proteobacterium Wolbachia is maternally inherited and is known to induce reproductive distortions in a wide range of insect taxa such as cytoplasmic incompatibility, feminization, male killing and parthenogenesis (PI). When a female is infected with PI-Wolbachia, she does not need a male to produce female offspring, because the female can produce female offspring via gamete duplication without the aid of sperm. However, in the parasitoid wasp Trichogramma kaykai species, Wolbachia infected parthenogenetic females still produce a fraction of male offspring. Offspring sex ratio for 10 days are different according to each T. kaykai isofemale line that is infected with PI- Wolbachia. This may be caused by complex interactions between Wolbachia and the host genetic backgrounds on converting sex of infected eggs.

Final instars of cicada typically emerge from the ground and metamorphose into adults. Exuviae are typically left on tree branches or leaves where metamorphosis takes place. We investigated morphological characteristics of final instar exuviae for the most prevalent species of cicada that occur in urban areas of central Korea: Cryptotympana dubia, Meimuna opalifera, Oncotympana fuscata, and Graptopsaltria nigrofuscata. The characters analyzed were body length, body width, distance between compound eyes, proboscis length, antennal segmentation, femoral structure, and body coloration. The results of Principal Component Analysis for body-size related characters, body length, body width, distance between compound eyes, and proboscis length, revealed that only the first component (PCA1) was significant. The distribution of PCA1 showed that there were three non-overlapping groups: C. dubia, a complex of O. fuscata and G. nigrofuscata, and M. opalifera. Although O. fuscata and G. nigrofuscata were not distinguishable based on size-related characters, these two species differed in femoral structure. That is, the angle between the femur and femoral claw were generally 120° in G. nigrofuscata, whereas it was usually 90° in the other three species. Exuviae of M. opalifera were pale brown and non-polishing, whereas exuviae of three other species were all brown and highly polishing. Therefor, the exuviae of four cicada species can be easily distinguishable based on body size, femoral structure, and body coloration.

This snag-dwelling arthropod community study was conducted for the ecological evaluation of dead woods at Korean fir stand in Mt. Woonak in Pocheon-si, Gyeonggi-do, from April 2010 to August 2011. We put a windows trap and an emergence trap on the trunk of each snag, and we selected the six snags during the study periods. We collected 3930 individuals (5 class, 21order, 52 families) but we didn’t include the number of unidentified larva. We separated those individuals into the three functional groups and we found out the proportion and number of each functional group from the total individuals: herbivores (27.6%, 1083) predators (10.9%, 430), detritivores (61.4%, 2413), etc(0.1%, 4). We found out the proportion and number of each taxon group for herbivores, Armadillidae (0.15%, 6), Acarina (2.57%, 101), Psocoptera (0.25%, 10), Hemiptera (0.46%, 18), Mecoptera (0.05%, 2), Hymenoptera (not ant) (5.14%, 202), Aphididae (3.82%, 150), Cicadellidae (0.4%, 16), Curculionidae (3.61%, 142), Chrysomelidae (0.23%, 9), Elateridae (3.36%, 132), Erotylidae (3.16%, 124), Nitidulidae (2.6%, 102), Pyrochoroidae (0.08%, 3), Scarabaeidae (0.31%, 12), and Cetoniidae (0.13%, 5). Predators were consisted of the following taxa groups: Araneae (2.9%,114), Chilopoda (0.31%, 12), Formicidae (4.25%, 167), Carabidae (0.08%, 3), Staphylinidae (1.09%, 43), Cleridae (0.05%, 2), Pselaphidae (0.1%, 4), Colydiidae (0.38%, 15), Harpalidae (0.1%, 4), Histeridae (0.36%, 14), and Dermestidae (0.8%, 31). Detritivores were consisted of the following taxa groups: Millipedes (0.92%, 36), Archaeognatha(1.6%, 63), Diptera (7.81%, 307), Collembola (35.47%, 1394), Protura (0.03%, 1), Dermaptera (0.1%, 4), Tettigoniidae (0.08%, 4), Raphiidophoridae (0.03%, 1), Ipidae (14.12%, 555), Silphidae (0.15%, 6), Cuculidae (0.15%, 6), Cerambycidae (0.38%, 15), Oedeeridae (0.03%, 1), Lucamnidae (0.03%, 1), Stenotrachelidae (0.05%, 2), Buprestidae (0.13%, 5), Tenebrionidae (0.23%, 9), and Mordellidae (0.1%, 4), etc. Conclusively, the snag plays an important roll as the diverse arthropods’ habitats in the Korean fir forest ecosystem.

In this study, a nanofibrous scaffold was obtained by co-electrospinning poly (3-hydroxybutyrate- co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) and collagen in 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol at a ratio of 3/7. The fiber diameters were in the range of 250-600 nm. It was found that PHBV/Collagen (PHCP) nanofibrous scaffold showed greater proliferation than the PHBV nanofibrous scaffold induced by oxidant in NIH3T3 cells. Otherwise, in the early-stage wound-healing mouse model, wound closure was evaluated according to wound size reduction and histology of regenerated skin on the backs of mice. Each of the tissues removed on day 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18 was used for analysis of biochemical and pathological changes. None of the nanofiber-attached mice showed significant difference on the third day, however, from the third day until the ninth day, significantly faster healing was observed in PHCP-attached mice, compared to control wounds in epithelialization, wound contraction, and histopathological examinations. These results strongly support the beneficial effects of biomedical application of PHCP nanofiber in acceleration of the initial phase of wound healing through α-SM actin contraction.