Porous carbon from charcoal filled polypropylene composites were prepared and their mechanical properties were evaluated. In preparing the composites, crosslinking agent (sodium benzonate) were used in order to improve the bonding force between matrix and fillers. In this study, the effects of charcoal powder and sodium benzonate concentration on the mechanical properties and interface phenomena on the composites were evaluated. The mechanical properties of composites increased progressively with the decrease of filler loading. In the case of addition of the crosslinking agent into the composite, the mechanical properties were increased and showed maximum value at the 3 wt% concentration of sodium benzonate. According to the result of the TGA, the weight loss of composite according to crosslinking agent was not observed and initial thermal degradation temperature of composite reinforced charcoal was located at 390℃.

To improve survival rates of vitrified pig oocytes, the treatment of cytoskeletal stabilizer on an appropriate time is one of the possible approaches. However, the exact treatment timing and effect of cytoskeletal stabilizer such as cytochalasin B (CB) is not well known during oocyte vitrification procedures. Thus, the present study was conducted to determine optimal treatment timing of CB during vitrification and warming procedures. In experiment 1, the survival rates of the post-warming pig oocytes were analyzed by fluorescein diacetate (FDA) assays with 4 classifications. In results, post-warming oocytes showed significantly (p<0.05) decreased number of alive oocytes (31.8% vs. 86.4%) compared to fresh control. In detail, the significant difference (p<0.05) was found only in strong fluorescence (18.2% vs. 70.5%) not in intermediate fluorescence groups (13.6% vs. 15.9%). In experiment 2, CB was treated before (CB-Vitri) and after (Vitri-CB) vitrification. In results, group of Vitri-CB showed significantly (p<0.05) higher (91.6%) survival rates compared to group of CB-Vitri (83.7%), significantly (p<0.05) and comparable with group of Vitri Control (88.7%) by morphological inspection. In FDA assay results, group of Vitri-CB showed significantly (p<0.05) higher (44.2%) survival rates compared to groups of CB-Vitri (36.7%) and Vitri Control (35.1%). In conclusion, the increased survival rates of post-warming pig oocyte treated with Vitri-CB method are firstly described here. The main finding of present study is that the CB treatment during recovery could be helpful to refresh the post-warming pig oocyte resulting its improved survival rates.

Gluten proteins play a key role in the unique baking quality of wheat by determining the water absorption capacity, cohesivity, viscosity, and elasticity of the dough. However, gluten from wheat, barley, rye, and oat can induce gluten sensitivity as well as celiac disease in susceptible populations. Hence, the gluten levels in foods labeled “gluten free” should be monitored. In this study, gluten-containing samples (sample: 600 g, water: 390 g) were treated with the commercial enzyme Protamex® (0.1-0.3% of sample weight) for 1-4 h and then measured with three ELISA kits. In the more viscous sample after treatment with 0.1% Protamex® for 1 h, the measured gluten contents were 1,802.6, 1,718.6, and 1,698.7 mg/kg using the G12, GLUTEN-CHECK, and Wheat/gluten (Gliadin) ELISA kits, respectively. The sample treated with 0.3% enzyme for 4 h had a lower viscosity (32.2 cps), and all three kits gave its gluten content as around 8.4 mg/g. When gluten breaks down, it does not act as gluten and its degradation is due to the enzyme. However, even when Protamex® was used at the same concentration for the same time, the measured values seem to be different for samples with and without the final heating treatment.

In this study, β-1,3/1,6-glucan, lactic acid bacteria, and β-1,3/1,6-glucan+lactic acid bacteria were tested for 10 weeks using an immunodeficient animal model infected with LP-BM5 murine AIDS virus On the immune activity. Cytokines production, plasma immunoglobulin concentration, T cell and B cell proliferation were measured. As a result, the T cell proliferative capacity which was weakened by immunization with LP-BM5 murine AIDS virus increased significantly T cell proliferative capacity compared with the red ginseng control group. B cell proliferative capacity was significantly higher than the infected control group. Increased B cell proliferation was reduced. In the cytokine production, IL-2, IL-12 and IL-15 in the Th1-type cytokine increased the secretion of IL-2, IL-12 and IL-15 compared to the infected control. The proliferative capacity of the treated group was higher than that of the mixed treatment group. TNF-α was significantly decreased compared with the infected control group. The IL-4, IL-6 and IL-10 levels were significantly inhibited in the infected control group and the Th1/Th2 type cytokine expression was regulated by immunohistochemistry. IgE, IgA, and IgG levels were significantly lower in the immunoglobulin secretion assay than in the control. As a result, the immunomodulatory effect of β-1,3/1,6-glucan+lactic acid bacteria was confirmed by mixing with LP-BM5 murine AIDS virus-infected immunodeficient animal model.

Dual-color fluorescence in situ hybridization karyotype analysis was created using repetitive sequences including two types of rDNA repeats (45S and 5S rDNAs) and Arabidopsis-type telomere sequence repeats. The somatic metaphase cells of Carthamus tinctorius were observed as diploids (2n=2x=24). A symmetrical or slightly asymmetrical karyotype with seven pairs of metacentric and five pairs of submetacentric chromosomes was observed. The lengths of the somatic metaphase chromosomes ranged from 4.18 to 6.53 ㎛, with a total length of 60.71 ㎛. One locus of 45S rDNA was located on the pericentromeric regions of three pairs of chromosomes and the other pair was situated on the terminal regions of the short arms of a single pair of chromosomes. One locus of 5S rDNA was detected on the interstitial regions of the short arms of two pairs of chromosomes. Arabidopsis-type telomeric repeats were detected on the terminal regions of all pairs of chromosomes. Co-localization of loci between telomeric repeats and 45S rDNA was observed in a single pair of chromosomes. The results provide additional information for the existing physical mapping project of C. tinctorius and will also serve as a benchmark to a more intricate cytogenetic investigation of C. tinctorius and its related species.

One of the reasons to causing blood coagulation in the tissue of xenografted organs was known to incompatibility of the blood coagulation and anti-coagulation regulatory system between TG pigs and primates. Thus, overexpression of human CD73 (hCD73) in the pig endothelial cells is considered as a method to reduce coagulopathy after pig-to-non-humanprimate xenotransplantation. This study was performed to produce and breed transgenic pigs expressing hCD73 for the studies immune rejection responses and could provide a successful application of xenotransplantation. The transgenic cells were constructed an hCD73 expression vector under control porcine Icam2 promoter (pIcam2-hCD73) and established donor cell lines expressing hCD73. The numbers of transferred reconstructed embryos were 127 ± 18.9. The pregnancy and delivery rate of surrogates were 8/18 (44%) and 3/18 (16%). The total number of delivered cloned pigs were 10 (2 alive, 7 mummy, and 1 died after birth). Among them, three live hCD73-pigs were successfully delivered by Caesarean section, but one was dead after birth. The two hCD73 TG cloned pigs had normal reproductive ability. They mated with wild type (WT) MGH (Massachusetts General Hospital) female sows and produced totally 16 piglets. Among them, 5 piglets were identified as hCD73 TG pigs. In conclusion, we successfully generated the hCD73 transgenic cloned pigs and produced their litters by natural mating. It can be possible to use a mate for the production of multiple transgenic pigs such as α-1,3-galactosyltransferase knock-out /hCD46 for xenotransplantation.

Unlike mouse results, cloning efficiency of nuclear transfer from porcine induced pluripotent stem cells (piPSCs) is very low. The present study was performed to investigate the effect of cell cycle inhibitors on the cell cycle synchronization of piPSCs. piPSCs were generated using combination of six human transcriptional factors under stem cell culture condition. To examine the efficiency of cell cycle synchronization, piPSCs were cultured on a matrigel coated plate with stem cell media and they were treated with staurosporine (STA, 20 nM), daidzein (DAI, 100 μM), roscovitine (ROSC, 10 μM), or olomoucine (OLO, 200 μM) for 12 h. Flow Cytometry (FACs) data showed that piPSCs in control were in G1 (37.5±0.2%), S (34.0±0.6%) and G2/M (28.5±0.4%). The proportion of cells at G1 in DAI group was significantly higher than that in control, while STA, ROSC and OLO treatments could not block the cell cycle of piPSCs. Both of viability and apoptosis were affected by STA and ROSC treatment, but there were no significantly differences between control and DAI groups. Real-Time qPCR and FACs results revealed that DAI treatment did not affect the expression of pluripotent gene, Oct4. In case of OLO, it did not affect both of viability and apoptosis, but Oct4 expression was significantly decreased. Our results suggest that DAI could be used for synchronizing piPSCs at G1 stage and has any deleterious effect on survival and pluripotency sustaining of piPSCs.

This study was performed to investigate the effects of enhanced light transmission on plant growth, photosynthetic ability, and disease tolerance to leaf blight, anthracnose in ginseng (Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer, Araliacease family) during the early growth stage (April to June). The photosynthetic ratio, stomatal conductance, and stem diameter of plants grown under a shade net with 15% light transmission rate showed an increasing trend compared to the control plants (5% light transmission rate) although the growth of the aerial parts were not influenced significantly. Plant height, stem length, and leaf length of treated plants were not significantly different from those of the control plants. Root parameters, such as root length, diameter, and weight of treated plants increased significantly compared to the control. Yield performance (187.4 ㎏• 10 a−1) of treated plants was 55.5% higher than that of the control (150.4 ㎏• 10 a−1). Additionally, disease severity scores of treated plants were lower than those of the control plants, revealing higher survival rates. To retain high yield potential and enhance the level of disease tolerance in ginseng, we suggest the increase of light transmission rate during the early growth stage.

The Korean native pig (KNP) have been considered as animal models for animal biotechnology research because of their relatively small body size and their presumably highly inbred status due to the closed breeding program. However, little is reported about the use of KNP for animal biotechnology researches. This study was performed to establish the somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) protocol for the production of swine leukocyte antigens (SLA) homotype-defined SCNT KNP. The ear fibroblast cells originated from KNP were cultured and used as donor cell. After thawing, the donor cells were cultured for 1 hour with 15 μM roscovitine prior to the nuclear transfer. The numbers of reconstructed and parthenogenetic embryos transferred were 98 ± 35.2 and 145 ± 11.2, respectively. The pregnancy and delivery rate were 3/5 (60%) and 2/5 (40%). One healthy SLA homotype-defined SCNT KNP was successfully generated. The recipient-based individual cloning efficiency ranged from 0.65 to 1.08%. Taken together, it can be postulated that the methodological establishment of the production of SLA homotype-defined cloned KNP can be applied to the generation of transgenic cloned KNP as model animals for human disease and xenotransplantation researches.

This study investigated the effect of NH4 + concentrations on microalgae growth by appling mixotrophic microalgae chlorella vulgaris in order to treat anaerobic digested food waste leachate. The growth rate and final microalgae growth were an order as 400 > 100 > 800 > 1300 mg-N/L. As results, The growth rate and final growth of microalgae were highest at ammonia concentration of 400 mg-N/L, On the other hand microalgae growth was inhibited when ammonia concentrations were over 800 mg-N/L. high concentrations of nitrogen over 800 mg-N/L interrupt the growth of microalgae. All of nitrogen and phosphorus were removed by microalgae at the ammonia concentration of 100~400 mg-N/L. In addition, when ammonia concentration was over 800 mg-N/L, the removal of nitrogen and phosphorus was limited mainly due to the microalgae growth limit. It was possible to treat anaerobic digested food waste leachate with mixotrophic microalgae when the ammonia concentration was controlled below 400 mg-N/L.

There is about 80% organic acid in the Food wastes leachate and organic acid can be used as organic carbon source for mixotrophic microalgae. The mixotrophic cultivation is that the combination of autotrophic and heterotrophic cultivation, where inorganic and organic carbon sources are used in their methabolism simultaneously. Therefore, this study investigated the effect of various organic acid on the microalgae when Food wastes leachate treatment. Chlorella vulgaris was used in this study, also NaHCO3 is supplied at all conditions as inorganic carbon source. In order to see the effect of organic carbon sources centrally, the carbon source conditions was set in 5 conditions - glucose known to have excellent effectiveness to increase of biomass productivity 1500 mg-COD/L, acetate 1500 mg-COD/L, isobutyrate 1500 mg-COD/L, propionate 1500mg-COD/L and the mixed organic acid (acetate, isobutyrate, propionate each 500 mg-COD/L). This study evaluated final biomass production, consumption of organic carbon, and N,P removal. In the result, the final biomass productivity by using glucose, acetate and isobutyrate is the highest level, followed by mixed organic acid and propionate. This is same aspect in N,P removal; the more rapid growth rate is, the more rapid N,P removal rate is. In the view of consumption of organic carbon, acetate make best use among organic acid.

This study aims to increase the organic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus removal efficiencies than the conventional method and meet higher effluent water quality standards by co-culture with bacteria in activated sludge in the aeration tank. By the co-culture in mixotrophic conditions through metabolic characterization of Scenedesmus dimorphus and bacteria in the aeration activated sludge, assessed how the impact on the organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus removal rate. In addition, the study was to determine if it is possible to supply the oxygen necessary for the bacteria through the photosynthesis of algae without aeration. To test the synergistic effects of the co-culture, we compared co culture with S. dimorphus - only, Bacteria - only as a controls. In the co-culture condition inoculation ratio is based on the TSS concentration S. dimorphus and bacteria 1 : 5 (w / w), 5 : 5 (w / w) at a ratio. The growth rate of S. dimorphus - only condition was higher, which was 10 times and 2 times lower compared to B : A (5 : 1), B : A (5 : 5) respectively. Organic carbon removal rate of S. dimorphus - only condition was lower than other conditions, the remaining conditions were consumed at a similar rate. In the co-culture of Mixed bacteria and S. dimorphus, ammonium and phosphate removal rate has been high. But, nitrate removal rate showed a tendency to decrease compared to the Bacteria-only condition. When considering the Ammonium, nitrate and phosphate removal rate, N, P removal efficiency which is most excellent in terms of bacteria, such as S. dimorphus ratio (5 : 5) were co-cultured in the conditions. DO was maintained at 3 mg/L or more under all conditions. So, implying co-culture has the potential to decrease aeration costs.

This study investigated the semi-continuous and continuous cultivation of microalgae-sludge for artificial digested food wastes leachate treatment, and the effect of hydraulic retention times(HRT) on microalgae growth and nutrient removal. In this study, two reactors were examined the HRTs from 4 to 1 day, the Chlorella vulgaris cell density of semi-continuous and continuous cultivation reached a maximum value at HRT 3 day, then decreasing HRT to 2 day and 1 day the Chlorella vulgaris cell density was decreased. The maximum Chlorella vulgaris cell density in semi-continuous cultivation was 1.4 times higher than continuous cultivation. The maximum NH4-N, PO4-P removal efficiency was 100%, 75.7% with HRT of 3 day in semi-continuous cultivation, while 96.5%, 65.7% with HRT of 4 day in continuous cultivation. These results indicate that semi-continuous cultivation is more suitable than continuous cultivation. And the effect of increased light intensity from 100 μmol/m²/s to 400 μmol/m²/s was also evaluated, as the result, increased light intensity improved Chlorella vulgaris cell growth and nutrient removal.