Gas hydrates are crystalline solids in which gas molecules (guests) are trapped in water cavities (hosts) that are composed of hydrogen-bonded water molecules. During the formation of gas hydrates in seawater, the equilibria and kinetics are then affected by salinity. In this study, the effects of salinity on the equilibria of CO2 and R134-a gas hydrates has been investigated by tracing the changes of operating temperature and pressure. Increasing the salinity by 1.75% led to a drop in the equilibrium temperature of about 2 oC for CO2 gas hydrate and 0.38 oC for R-134a gas hydrate at constant equilibrium pressure; in other words, there were rises in the equilibrium pressure of about 1 bar and 0.25 bar at constant equilibrium temperature, respectively. The kinetics of gas hydrate formation have also been investigated by time-resolved in-situ Raman spectroscopy; the results demonstrate that the increase of salinity delayed the formation of both CO2 and R134-a gas hydrates. Therefore, various ions in seawater can play roles of inhibitors for gas hydrate formation in terms of both equilibrium and kinetics.

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.

Ampelopsis brevipedunculata, a porcelain berry that is a kind of Korean domestic wild berry (Viticeae), has been known to be resistant to diseases and insects. A total of 2,622 unigenes containing 912 contigs and 1,710 singletons were obtained by sequencing 5,839 expressed sequence tag (EST) clones derived from the cDNA library of wild grape, A. brevipedunculata. In the gene ontology analysis, 1,175 genes related to biological process, 1,516 genes related to molecular function, and 1,413 ones related to cell components were annotated. Among the genes showing molecular function, 17 clones were classified into defense-related genes, and 102 were known to be related with responses to stress in plants. Domains, such as leucine-rich repeat, Serine/threonine protein kinase-related, WD40 repeat, EF-hand calcium-binding, pentatricopeptide repeat, and pathogenesis-related transcriptional factor were highly expressed. Genes encoding defense related proteins, such as chitinase, catalase, protein-serine/threonine kinases, were also clustered into an abundant group in cDNAs from A. brevipedunculata. Approximately, 80 simple sequence repeats with 2~5 nucleotides were detected in the cDNAs of A. brevipedunculata. These data could provide useful information for the genetic analysis of wild grapevines and in programs for breeding grape cultivars.

Tyrophagus putrescentiae (Tp) as a storage mite inhabitats in stored grains, hay, and straw at agricultural areas. T. putrescentiae stimulates an immune response and triggers inflammatory cytokines release, and thus it is a source of allergen that sensitize and induce allergic reactions. Also, T. putrescentiae has been reported to cause asthma and atopic disease by cross-reactivity with Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (Dp). The study on T. putrescentiae in human monocytic THP-1 cells is not enough to understand cytokine expression and pathological mechanisms. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of T. putrescentiae extract (TpE) on production of inflammatory cytokines and expression of mRNA level in THP-1 cells. THP-1 cells are treated with TpE and supernatants were analyzed for the production of cytokines using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). mRNA level in the culture cells was measured by a reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). As a result of this study, TpE significantly induced secretion of interleukin-6, interleukin-8, and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) in THP-1 cells in time- and dose-dependent manner. These results suggest that TpE may play a role in contributing to inflammatory disease through stimulation of immune cell. Further research of T. putrescentiae is needed to understand the elucidation of the pathogenic mechanism.

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%.

Chronic inflammatory diseases such as Crohn′s disease and ulcerative colitis are associated with increased risk of colon adenocarcinoma. Apoptic induction of colon cancer cells by cytokines and death receptors is an important anti-cancer therapy. We observed that co-administration of TNFα and IFNγ in human colon cancer cell line, HCT116, resulted in cell death and expression of IL-32. Cleavage forms of caspase-3, caspase-9, and PARP were increased in TNFα / IFNγ-treated HCT116. mRNA expression of death receptors, including TNFR1 and Fas were not changed and NO generation was not induced by combination of TNFα and IFNγ. However, mRNA expression of IL-32α, β, and γ was increased in TNFα / IFNγ-treated HCT116. To determine the effect of IL-32 in HCT116 cell apoptosis by TNFα / IFNγ stimulation, IL-32 siRNA-transfected HCT116 cells were cultured with TNFα / IFNγ and cell proliferation was measured. IL-32 siRNA induced slight recovery of cell viability of TNFα / IFNγ-stimulated HCT116. These results suggest that IL-32 is not directly related to apoptosis of HCT116 by TNFα / IFNγ stimulation. However, IL-32 expression by TNFα or TNFα / IFNγ in a colon cancer cell line is very interesting because of the unknown effect of IL-32 in colon cancer. Our study will contribute to development of studies for IL-32 function in human colon cancer and anti-cancer therapies using cytokines.

House dust mites (HDMs) play an important role in the occurrence of allergic diseases such as asthma and atopic dermatitis. Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (Der p) is one of the most prevalent HDMs. It mediates the activation of T cells and monocytes, and induces the elevation of immunoglobulin E levels in allergic diseases. However, the effects of Der p on human monocytes have not been fully understood. In the present study, we investigated whether or not Der p has a great effect on the chemotactic activity of the human monocytic cell line, THP-1 cells, as induced by CC chemokines. We also show that the Der p extract (DpE) increased the chemotactic activity of THP-1 cells in response to MCP-1, RANTES, MIP-1α, and TARC, but has no effect on the expressions of CC chemokine receptors (CCRs) binding to CC chemokines in THP-1 cells. Protease inhibitors, such as aprotinin and E64, blocked the increased chemotaxis, while cytoplasmic Ca2+ influx mediated by these chemokines was inhibited by DpE. These results indicate that DpE increases the chemotactic activity of THP-1 cells in response to CC chemokines by regulating the cells’ protease-dependent mechanism. This finding may be useful in identifying the pathogenesis of allergic diseases induced by Der p.

본 논문의 연구목적은 Choroidal neovascularization (맥락막 신생혈관) 모텔에서 HO-1 발현제와 억제재의 영향을 알아보고자 한다. 30마리의 Brown Norway rat을 각각 10마리씩 세 그룹， Hemin treated group, SnPP treated group, Contorl group으 로 나누어서 실험을 진행하였다. Hemin treat group은 10μmol/kg hemin(Frontier Scientific Inc. USA) 을 SnPP treat group은 10 μmol/kg SnPP(Frontier Scientific Inc. USA)을 laser 시술 2 일에서 14 일까지 복강내 주사하였고 Control군은 0.5 mß씩 식 염 수를 주사하였다. 14 일 후 안저사진촬영과 형광안저촬영을 실시하였다. SnPP treated group에서 Hemin treated group보다 더 많은 선생혈관이 생성되었다. Hemin treated group에서는 맥락막 신생혈관 형성의 정도가 정상대조군에 비교하여 저하됨을 알 수 있었다. 본 연구의 결과 HO-1 의 inducer 인 Hemin 이 맥락막의 신생혈관 억제에 영향을 미치는 것으로 보여진다.

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.