SERPINB3 (also known Squamous cell carcinoma antigen 1, SCCA1) is involved in apoptosis, immune response, cell migration and invasiveness of cells. It has been investigated in various types of squamous cell carcinoma. Therefore we investigated the functional role of SERPINB3 gene in human epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) using laying hens, the most relevant animal model. In 136 laying hens, EOC was found in 10 (7.4%). We compared the expression and localization of SERPINB3 using RT-PCR, quantitative RT-PCR, in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry, and SERPINB3 activation was detected in chicken and human ovarian cancer cell lines using immunofluorescence microscopy. Thereafter, we examined the prognostic value of SERPINB3 expression in patients with EOC by multivariate linear logistic regression and Cox’ proportional hazard analyses. In present study, SERPINB3 mRNA was induced in cancerous ovaries (p< 0.01), and it was only expressed in the glandular epithelium(GE) of cancerous ovaries of laying hens. SERPINB3 protein was localized predominantly to the nucleus of glandular epithelium in cancerous ovaries of laying hens, and it was abundant in the nucleus of both chicken and human ovarian cancer cell lines. In 109 human patients with EOC, 15 (13.8%), 66 (60.6%) and 28 (25.7%) of those patients showed weak, moderate and strong expression of SERPINB3 protein, respectively. Strong expression of SERPINB3 protein was a prognostic factor for platinum resistance (adjusted OR, 5.94; 95% Confidence Limits, 1.21-29.15). Therefore SERPINB3 may play an important role in ovarian carcinogenesis and be a novel biomarker for predicting platinum resistance and a poor prognosis for survival in patients with EOC. This research was funded by the World Class University (WCU) program (R31-10056), Basic Science Research Program (2010- 0013078) through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology and by the Next-Generation BioGreen 21 Program (No.PJ008142), Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.

Brentidae, a family of primitive weevils, is associated with dead woods mainly in the tropical rain forests and includes approximately 1,750 species worldwide. The genus Cyphagogus has been known more than 60 species from Madagascar to Samoa and Fiji islands and from Japan to Australia and Tasmania. Twelve species were previously recognized from Asia and Oriental region, among them three species from Japan, two from China. One male of the genus Cyphagogus was collected during faunal studies of wood-boring insects in the Gwangneung forest of South Korea in 2011. The species was identified as C. iwatensis Morimoto, which was described on two female specimens in 1976. This is the first discovery of the male of C. iwatensis as well as the first record of the genus and species in the country. Diagnosis and photographs of the detailed diagnostic characters including line drawing of male genitalia are provided in the present study, with a key to the East Asian species of bipunctatus-group.

Sepsis is a clinical syndrome defined as a systemic inflammatory response to infection. Eritoran is a synthetic lipid A derivative that competes with lipopolysaccharide in binding to the identical site of myeloid differentiation-2/toll-like receptor 4 complex. Eritoran is effective in decreasing the septic mortality of Gram-negative bacteria-infected animals. Eritoran has been highlighted as a candidate drug for treatment of endotoxemia in phase I clinical studies with healthy human volunteers. A phase II trial of eritoran has been conducted in patients with severe sepsis. Intravenous infusion of eritoran reduced the mortality rate, as compared with the placebo group, in sepsis patients at a high risk of mortality according to acute physiology and chronic health evaluation-II scores. A phase III study of eritoran was completed in 2011. The results appear to be disappointing as no statistically significant difference in all-cause mortality was observed between the eritoran treatment group and the placebo group on day 28 in sepsis patients with a high risk of death. In this review, we focus on the rationale for the use of eritoran in treatment of sepsis as well as its clinical applications.

Seedling drought resistance of three alfalfa cultivars-Medicago sativa L. cv. Aohan, Medicago sativa L. cv. Zhaodong and Medicago sativa L. cv. Tumu No.2 were studied and evaluated. The permeability of plasma membrane, the free proline content and the peroxidase (POD) activity of three alfalfa cultivars were tested at 24h after treating with 20% polyethylene glycol (PEG-6000). The results indicated t㏊t the drought resistance ability of all these varieties was in the order of Medicago sativa L. cv. Aohan, Medicago sativa L. cv. Zhaodong and Medicago sativa L. cv. Tumu No.2.

The Maillard Reaction Products (MRPs) such as Glucose-tyrosine (Glu-Tyr) and Xylose-arginine (Xyl-Arg) have antioxidant, antimutagenic, and antibacterial effects. However, to date, still little is known about the other biological effects of the MRPs. In this study, we investigated whether the fructose-tyrosine MRP, 2,4-bis(p-hydroxyphenyl)-2-butenal (Fru-Tyr), could modulate cell cycle progression and NF-κB activity, and thereby induce apoptotic cell death of colon cancer cells. Treatment with different concentrations (10-40 μg/ ml) of Fru-Tyr for 24 h inhibited colon cancer cell (SW620 and HCT116) growth followed by induction of G₂/M phase cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. We also found that Fru-Tyr suppressed tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α)-induced NF-κB transcriptional activity. Moreover, Fru-Tyr induced the expression of apoptotic gene, cleaved caspse-3. These results suggest that Fru-Tyr inhibited colon cancer cell growth through induction of G₂/M phase cell cycle arrest and apoptotic cell death by modulating of NF-κB.

Bt crystal proteins, encoded by cry genes, are a group of insecticidal proteins unique in the Gram-positive and spore-forming bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis. These cry genes are widely applied as one of the most successful candidates for constructing transgenic crops resistant to pest insects. In our previous report, we found Cry1-5 had high insecticidal activity against Spodoptera larvae although its amino acid sequences showed high similarity (95.6%) to those of Cry1Ac which had low activity. In comparison with Cry1Ac, Cry1-5 had 12 different residues on domain I and II. In order to convert these residues to Cry1-5 randomly, 10 mutagenic primers were designed. Through multi site-directed mutagenesis, we mutated the modified cry1Ac gene by plant codon usage in pOBI-Modcry1Ac based on cry1-5 and constructed 63 mutant cry genes. Among them, 10 mutant cry genes on domain II were selected and their recombinant proteins were expressed by baculovirus expression system. From bioassay results to P. xylostella and S. exigua, we found some mutants have high insecticidal activities to be applicable to transgenic crops.

Bt crystal proteins, encoded by cry genes, are a group of insecticidal proteins unique in the Gram-positive and spore-forming bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis. These cry genes are widely applied as one of the most successful candidates for constructing transgenic plants resistant to pest insects. In our previous report, we found Cry1-5 had high insecticidal activity against Spodoptera larvae although its amino acid sequences showed high similarity (97.9%) to those of Cry1Ab which had low activity. In comparison with Cry1Ac, Cry1-5 had 12 different residues in domain Ⅰ and domain Ⅱ, and we focused on domain Ⅰand domain Ⅱ regions and designed 10 mutagenic primers to change 12 residues. Through multi site-directed mutagenesis, we mutated the modified cry1Ac gene by plant codon usage in pOBⅠ-Mod-cry1Ac based on cry1-5 and constructed 63 various mutant cry genes. In the further study, we will express those mutant proteins as a fusion form with polyhedrin using baculovirus expression system and subsequently do bioassay to Spodoptera larvae.

This study explores the effect of trade of Information Communications Technology (ICT) products and government’s role, measured by three factors: Control of corruption, Government effectiveness, and Administrative tax level, on raising the economy across the East Asia- Pacific region. Secondary data were collected from the World Bank database of 21 countries over 12 years from 2006 to 2017. Applying the Panel corrected standard error model and running a robustness check based on the Dynamic panel data method, this research found that the exported ICT products, control of corruption, and government effectiveness could increase the economic income of a country in the region. The paper also provided the evidence indicating that the imported ICT products and the Administrative tax level are two harmful factors for economic growth. The major finding confirmed the useful contribution on improving government quality and its economy. First, improving the economy of a country always poses various challenges to its government. During the past decades, although much of the literature confirmed that exporting ICT products could promote an economy, very few studies investigated the role of Administrative tax level and the Government effectiveness. Second, there are only a few studies exploring the capability of government and the economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region.

The research aims to investigate the impact levels of determinants on the loyalty of accountants to FDI firms underlying investment management in Thanglong Industrial Park in Hanoi, Vietnam. We conducted a questionnaire consisting of 31 observation variables with a 5-point Likert scale. Independent variables were measured from 1 “without effect” to 5 “strongly”. The method of data collection was done through the survey and subjects are accountants in FDI firms doing business in Thanglong Industrial Park in Hanoi. After checking the information on the votes, there are 120 questionnaires with full information for data entry and analysis, This study employs Cronbach‟s Alpha test, and regression model. The results show that seven determinants including Working environment, The characteristics of working; Training, promotion prospects and development; Income, Personal characteristic, Collective work together and The method of leading had positive relationships with the loyalty of accountants. Based on the findings, some recommendations are given related to such determinants to improve the loyalty of accountants of FDI firms in general and FDI firms in Thanglong Industrial Park in Hanoi in particular. With which, those firms can enhance performance, reduce financial strain, saving on investment in the recruiting process of new staff, increase profitability to ensure investment management.

The study aims to investigate factors influencing business households’ decision for borrowing credit: the case of commercial banks in Tra Vinh Province, VietNam. The study was conducted by collecting data from 300 business households traded at four commercial banks in Tra Vinh province (Viet Nam bank for agriculture and rural development, Tra Vinh Branch; Viet Nam jointstock commercial bank industry and trade, Tra Vinh Branch; Asia joinstock commercial bank, Tra Vinh Branch; Viet Nam jointstock commercial bank for foreign trade, Tra Vinh Branch). By the use of the Binary Logistic regression method, the research found out that the factors influencing to borrow credit of household business’s decision including: banks brand names, loan interest rates, service attitude, and loan procedures. Of those, the banks brand names and lending interest rates have the strongest impacts on borrow credit decision of business households at commercials banks in Tra Vinh province. Since then, the study has proposed solutions to improve access to credit of business households in commercial banks in Tra Vinh province in the coming time, such as: developing a bank brand; the development of flexible lending interest rate policies; improve service style of bank staff; at the same time, simplifying lending procedures.

A new Gomchwi cultivar ‘Sammany’ was developed by a cross between Gomchwi (Ligularia fischeri (Ledeb.) Turcz.) and Handaeri-gomchwi (Ligularia fischeri var. spiciformis Nakai). Gomchwi is a common Korean name referring wild edible plant species within Ligularia genus. ‘Sammany’ has purple colored petiole ears and petiole trichome is absent. It has 2nd degree leaf vein density. Plant height, leaf length, leaf width and petiole length were 46.2, 19.1, 19.5 and 32.1 ㎝, respectively. Plant height was higher than ‘Gondalbi’. Bolting occurred in mid. July and it flowered from late August to early September. ‘Gondalbi’ bolted and flowered 26 days earlier than ‘Sammany’, and consequently has earlier flowering time more than 26 day. Leaf number of ‘Sammany’ was 156 per plant but ‘Gondalbi’ had 130. ‘Sammany’ had thicker leaves (0.61 ㎜) compared to ‘Gondalbi’ (0.46 ㎜). As a result, yield was higher in ‘Sammany (1,077 g/plant)’ than ‘Gondalbi (798 g/plant)’ and leaf hardness was lower in ‘Sammany (20.8 ㎏/㎠)’ compared to ‘Gondalbi (23.0 ㎏/㎠)’. In addition, ‘Sammany’ was found to be moderately resistant to powdery mildew. With enhanced agronomic and pathology traits, ‘Sammany’ was newly registered as a new Gomchwi cultivar (variety protection no. 131 on May 2017).

Purpose - Considering the importance of housing needs to real estate market, domestic studies on real estate prices from the perspective of demand are basically based on macro-data, but relatively few are associated with micro-data of urban real estate demand. We try to find a reliable relation of elasticity of demand and commercial housing market. Research design, data, and methodology - In this paper, we have derived housing demand theoretic method and have utilized micro-data of residential family housing survey of downtown area in Kunming City in October, 2015 to estimate income elasticity and price elasticity of housing demand respectively and make a comparative analysis. Results - The results indicate that income elasticity and price elasticity of families with owner-occupied housing are both larger than those of families with rental housing. Income elasticity of housing demand of urban residential families in Kunming is far below the foreign average and eastern coastal cities level, however, the corresponding price elasticity is far higher. Conclusions - We suggest that housing affordability of urban families in western China are constrained by the level of economic development, and the current housing price level has exceeded the economic affordability and psychological expectation of ordinary residents. Furthermore, noticing the great rigidity of housing demand, the expansion space of housing market for improvement and for commodity is limited.

Background : Water uptake and flow across cellular membranes is a fundamental requirement for plant growth and development, and plant water status is important not only for plant growth under favorable conditions but also for ability of a plant to tolerate adverse environmental conditions. Thus identification of plasma membrane water channel genes (aquaporins) in ginseng provides extensive information for functional studies and the development of markers for salinity stress tolerance. Methods and Results : For salinity treatment, the plants were grown for 4 weeks in culture medium gelled with 0.8% Phytoagar, and the old media were replaced with the fresh medium containing NaCl at 0, 50, 100, 200 and 400 mM, respectively. The samples for stress treated and non-stressed plants were collected from 6h to 72h, and frozen immediately into liquid nitrogen. According to the sequence information from the assembled transcripts, four primer pairs were designed from the aquaporin gene regions. In order to determine the pattern of aquaporins expression in ginseng seedlings to salinity stress, we conducted semi-quantitative RT-PCR. Conclusion : A tonoplast intrinsic protein 1 (TIP1)-type aquaporin is not only believed to be essential for plant life, but also to be beneficial for growth under salinity stress. Therefore, a deeper understanding of aquaporin genes in ginseng will be essential for crop improvement, which could help us to understand the molecular genetic basis for the ginseng genetic improvement and also provide the functional genetic resources for selective breeding and transgenic research.

Background : This study was carried out to understand the effect of seedling weight (SW) on growth and flowering in Panax ginseng. Methods and Results : The testing materials were Chunpoong (CP), Yunpoong (YP) and Jakyeongjong (JK). The increase of seedling (1yr) weight led to an increase in ratio of flowering plant and in number of flower per plant. The seed setting rate of two year-old plant (CP, YP, JK) increased with increase of SW at the planting time (PT) and number of flower per plant of three year-old plant (CP, YP) increased also. In the two year-old plant (JK), the ratio of three leaves per plant was 8.8, 19.6, 31.0, 42.0, 44.7 and 58.2%, respectively, in the SW of >0.6, 0.6~0.8, 0.8~1.0, 1.02~1.2, 1.2~1.4 and 1.4g<. The growth of ginseng plant was good with increase of SW at the PT. Conclusion : There was a highly positive correlation between seedling weight and flowering characteristics.

Background : Correct identification of Panax species is important to ensure food quality, safety, authenticity and health for consumers. This paper describes a high resolution melting (HRM) analysis based method using internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and 5.8S ribosomal DNA barcoding regions as target (Bar-HRM) to obtain barcoding information for the major Panax species and to identify the origin of ginseng plant. Methods and Results : A PCR-based approach, Bar-HRM was developed to discriminate among Panax species. In this study, the ITS1, ITS2, and 5.8S rDNA genes were targeted for testing, since these have been identified as suitable genes for use in the identification of Panax species. The HRM analysis generated cluster patterns that were specific and sensitive enough to detect small sequence differences among the tested Panax species. Conclusion : The results of this study show that the HRM curve analysis of the ITS regions and 5.8S rDNA sequences is a simple, quick, and reproducible method. It can simultaneously identify three Panax species and screen for variants. Thus, ITS1HRM and 5.8SHRM primer sets can be used to distinguish among Panax species.