This study aims to investigate the effects of exogenous succinic acid (SCA) on Brucella (B.) abortus infection in macrophage RAW 264.7 cells and ICR mice. Firstly, the in vitro experiment was conducted by MTT cytotoxicity and bacterial internalization assay to evaluate the uptake of B. abortus into macrophage cells. Two non-cytotoxic concentrations of SCA demonstrated attenuated invasion of Brucella into macrophages at 30 and 45 min post- infection (pi). Secondly, ICR mice were treated with SCA and infected with B. abortus. On day-14 pi, spleen and blood serum were collected to evaluate the bacterial burden and total spleen weight as well as the production of cytokine/chemokine, respectively. The results showed that SCA treatment promoted bacterial growth and reduced the total spleen weight in mice. Furthermore, SCA treatment increased the level of IL-10 cytokine in the sera, while dampening the production of MCP-1 chemokine compared to the control. The results of bacterial load in spleen and spleen weight together with cytokine/chemokine production profile in the sera indicated that SCA induced the host anti-inflammatory response which is beneficial for the survival of Brucella. Therefore, these findings suggest that SCA contributed to host immunity against Brucella infection and the emerging potential topic-immunometabolism should be invested for further investigations.

As Deepfakes phenomenon is spreading worldwide mainly through videos in web platforms and it is urgent to address the issue on time. More recently, researchers have extensively discussed deepfake video datasets. However, it has been pointed out that the existing Deepfake datasets do not properly reflect the potential threat and realism due to various limitations. Although there is a need for research that establishes an agreed-upon concept for high-quality datasets or suggests evaluation criterion, there are still handful studies which examined it to-date. Therefore, this study focused on the development of the evaluation criterion for the Deepfake video dataset. In this study, the fitness of the Deepfake dataset was presented and evaluation criterions were derived through the review of previous studies. AHP structuralization and analysis were performed to advance the evaluation criterion. The results showed that Facial Expression, Validation, and Data Characteristics are important determinants of data quality. This is interpreted as a result that reflects the importance of minimizing defects and presenting results based on scientific methods when evaluating quality. This study has implications in that it suggests the fitness and evaluation criterion of the Deepfake dataset. Since the evaluation criterion presented in this study was derived based on the items considered in previous studies, it is thought that all evaluation criterions will be effective for quality improvement. It is also expected to be used as criteria for selecting an appropriate deefake dataset or as a reference for designing a Deepfake data benchmark. This study could not apply the presented evaluation criterion to existing Deepfake datasets. In future research, the proposed evaluation criterion will be applied to existing datasets to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each dataset, and to consider what implications there will be when used in Deepfake research.

고치벌과에 속하는 Microgastrinae 아과의 Diolcogaster perniciosa (넓적다리도랑꼬마고치벌)을 한국에서 처음으로 보고한다. 본 종의 재기 재, 진단, 분포정보, 그리고 삽화를 제공한다.

C-reactive protein (CRP) is an acute-phase protein produced by hepatocytes. The plasma concentration of CRP peaks around 48 hours following stimulation. A rapid decrease in CRP levels is observed when the stimuli end. Considering these characteristics of CRP, it is used to evaluate acute inflammatory responses in clinics. In addition, as it reflects the degree of surgical trauma, measuring the CRP concentration is an effective method of evaluating tissue damage depending upon the surgical method. As CRP is also an acute-phase protein in dogs, the purpose of the present study was to compare the factors related to acute inflammatory responses between dogs undergoing elective general surgery (GS) and orthopedic surgery (OS). A total of 44 healthy dogs were included in this study. The sex ratio of dogs that underwent OS was similar. Both groups showed increased CRP levels and white blood cell (WBC) counts on post-operative day (POD) 1-2. The CRP level in the OS group on POD 1-2 was significantly higher than that of the GS group and it was increased about 16-fold compared to the pre-operative value. No significant difference in WBC counts was observed between the two groups. Although a slight increase in the WBC count was observed on POD 1-2 in both groups, it was near the reference range during follow-up. Thus, measuring CRP levels can be more effective in evaluating acute inflammatory responses than WBC counts. Although a high level of post-operative serum CRP concentrations was observed in the OS group, it rapidly decreased to a level similar to the pre-operative value if there were no post-operative complications.

In this study, the layered structures of immiscible Fe and Cu metals were employed to investigate the interface evolution through solid-state mixing. The pure Fe and Cu powders were cold-consolidated by high-pressure torsion (HPT) to fabricate a layered Cu-Fe-Cu structure. The microstructural evolutions and flow of immiscible Fe and Cu metals were investigated following different iterations of HPT processing. The results indicate that the HPTprocessed sample following four iterations showed a sharp chemical boundary between the Fe and Cu layers. In addition, the Cu powders exhibited perfect consolidation through HPT processing. However, the Fe layer contained many microcracks. After 20 iterations of HPT, the shear strain generated by HPT produced interface instability, which caused the initial layered structure to disappear.

연중생산이 가능하고 특히, 저온에서 화색발현이 우수하며 볼륨감 있는 스프레이국화 신품종을 개발하기 위하여 충청남 도농업기술원 화훼연구소에서 2010년에 모본으로 황색의 홑꽃 ‘SP09-251-01’를 부본으로 ‘SP08-010-16’계통을 인공수분 하였다. 종자 파종은 2011년에 실시하였고, 실생개체 중 화색과 화형이 우수한 281번째 개체를 선발하여 ‘SP11-103-05’로 계통명을 부여하였다. 주년생산성 검정을 위하여 2011년부터 2013년까지 자연일장, 전조재배, 차광재배를 각각 실시하였고, ‘Yes Holic’과 화형, 화색, 초형이 비슷한 ‘Jazz’ 품종을 대조품 종으로 사용하였다. ‘Yes Holic’ 품종은 2013년에 국립종자원에 품종보호 출원을 하였다. ‘Yes Holic’은 황색(Yellow 7A)의 꽃잎과 녹색(Green 1B)의 화심색으로 조사되었고 자연일장 작형의 개화기는 10월 25일로 ‘Jazz’의 10월 26일에 비해 빨랐다. ‘Yes Holic’의 초장과 줄기굵기는 각각 80.2cm와 6.1mm 로 ‘Jazz’의 78.6cm와 5.3mm보다 컸다. ‘Yes Holic’의 꽃 직경은 4.4cm로 ‘Jazz’의 4.1cm보다 컸으며, 착화수도 ‘Yes Holic’ 가 29.4개로 ‘Jazz’의 22.1개보다 많았다. 흰녹병저항성은 ‘Yes Holic’이 10%이하의 발병율인 3단계로 흰녹병이 저항성이 높은 것으로 확인되었다. 재배상 유의사항은 ‘Yes Holic’은 소등 후 야간온도를 18℃로 가온하면 고유화색 발현과 적당한 착화수 확보 및 균일한 개화가 가능하다. 그리고 여름철 고온기에는 ‘Yea Holic’의 총포에 잿빛곰팡이병이 주로 발생되므로 스크린과 포그를 활용하여 주간온도를 낮추고 봉오리 착색기에 전용 농약을 살포해 주어야 한다.

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of rumen origin lactate-utilizing bacteria (LUB) as one of the potential treatments on subacute ruminal acidosis (SARA) during in vitro challenge compared to buffering agents (NaHCO3, sea minerals, MgO) and direct-fed microorganism (yeast). We hypothesized that rumen LUB (RLUB) could be a potential treatment to treat ruminal acidosis. The supplementation level of other treatments was determined by referring to previous studies in the literature. The 108 CFU/g freeze-dried RLUB isolated from Hanwoo cattle were compared with 0.1% NaHCO3, 0.8% of MgO, 0.5% sea mineral and 0.4% yeast during in vitro SARA challenge. Rumen fluid collected from one cannulated Holstein and one Hanwoo steer fed by maize silage was mixed with 0.5g feed consisted of 0.05g forage and 0.45g concentrate. These mixtures were incubated in triplication for 3, 6, 12 and 24h. After 6h of incubation, along with MgO and sea minerals, RLUB treatment showed higher (p<0.05) ㏗ values than control with no significant differences in total volatile fatty acid concentration. However, in the same period, the propionate concentration and A:P ratio were higher in RLUB than in the other treatment (p<0.05), which might alter the fermentation pattern. On the other hand, the RLUB treatment produced a higher (p<0.05) ammonia-N concentration. Based on these results, we can conclude that RLUB might have the potential to alleviate SARA. Nonetheless, further study on its mechanism in SARA is required, especially with live animals.

A pregnancy diagnosis is an important standard for control of livestock’s reproduction in paricular dairy cattle. High reproductive performance in dairy animals is a essential condition to realize of high life-time production. Pregnancy diagnosis is crucial to shortening the calving interval by enabling the farmer to identify open animals so as to treat or re-breed them at the earliest opportunity. MicroRNAs are short RNA molecules which are critically involved in regulating gene expression during both health and disease. This study is sought to establish the feasible of circulating miRNAs as biomarkers of early pregnancy in cattle. We applied Illumina small-RNA sequencing to profile miRNAs in plasma samples collected from 12 non-pregnant cows (“open” cows: samples were collected before insemination (non-pregnant state) and after pregnancy check at the indicated time points) on weeks 0, 4, 8, 12 and 16. Using small RNA sequencing we identified a total of 115 miRNAs that were differentially expressed weeks 16 relative to non-pregnancy (“open” cows). Weeks 8, 12 and 16 of pregnancy commonly showed a distinct increase in circulating levels of miR-221 and miR-320a. Through genome-wide analyses we have successfully profiled plasma miRNA populations associated with pregnancy in cattle. Their application in the field of reproductive biology has opened up opportunities for research communities to look for pregnancy biomarker molecules in dairy cattle.