동물의 장기를 인간에게 이식하게 되면 초급성거부반응(Hyperacute rejection, HAR)이 일어난다. 초급성거부반응은 면역계의 구성요소 중 보체(complement)에 의해 일어나는 거부반응으로 돼지의 혈관세포 표면에 있는 Galα(1,3)Gal 당분자에 인간의 항체가 즉각 반응하기 때문에 일어나며, α1,3-galactosyltransferase(α1,3-GT) 유전자는 돼지 혈관세포 표면의 Galα(1,3)Gal 당분자 생성에 관여한다. 따라서 인간에게 돼지의 장기를 이식하기 위해서는 α1,3-galactosyltransferase 유전자를 제거하는 것이 필요한 것으로 알려져 있다. 본 연구실의 이전 연구에서, 시카고 미니돼지 귀체세포에서 상동 재조합(Homologous recombination)을 통해 α1,3-galactosyltransferase 유전자가 제거된 체세포를 개발한 바 있으며, 이 체세포를 통하여 α1,3-GT 유전자가 제거된 돼지도 생산된 바 있다. 본 연구에서는, human serum 처리 시 돼지 세포를 보호해 준다고 보고되고 있는 human complement regulator인 human Decay-accelerating factor(hDAF)와 human α1,2-fucosyltransferase(hHT)유전자를 α1,3-GT 유전자 위치에 gene targeting하여 동시에 hDAF와 hHT가 발현하는 체세포를 개발하였다. Knock-in vector는 hDAF와 hHT 두 유전자가 발현할 수 있도록 IRES로 연결하였으며, α1,3-GT 유전자의 start codon을 이용하여 발현할 수 있도록 구축하였다. 구축한 vector는 electroporation을 통해 미니돼지 체세포에 도입하였으며, PCR 결과, α1,3-GT 유전자 위치에서 상동 재조합이 일어났음을 확인하였다. Positivenegative 선별 방법을 통해 얻은 gene targeting 된 체세포는 RT-PCR에 의해 hDAF와 hHT 유전자의 발현이 확인되었으며, 대조군(NIH minipig)에 비해 α1,3-GT 유전자의 발현이 감소하였다. 또한 이들 세포에 100% human complement serum을 처리하였을 때 knock-in 세포가 대조군에 비해 30% 정도 더 높은 생존율을 보였다. 따라서 개발된 체세포는 이종간 장기이식을 위한 돼지 생산과 함께 이를 이용한 이종간의 장기 이식 시 초급성 거부반응을 억제하는 데 사용될 수 있을 것으로 생각된다.

Proper oral hygiene is required to maintain oral health and prevent oral disease. Toothbrushing is central to proper oral hygiene. Mechanical tooth cleaning is the mainstay of plaque control. A variety of toothbrushing techniques have been developed and evaluated for their efficacy. However, these evaluations are subjective. To adequately evaluate toothbrushing objectively, a novel toothbrushing monitoring system was developed. The system involves user-monitored brushing patterns including toothbrush motions using a 3-axis gyroscope, 3-axis accelerometer, 3-axis magnetic sensor, one load-cell and Bluetooth devices. To confirm the efficacy of this toothbrushing monitoring system, eight periodontist performed tooth brushing in a dental model, and their brushing motion was monitored and recorded, and evaluated by statistical means. The proposed monitoring system can be used to aid dental care personnel in toothbrushing instruction.

The aim of this study was to carry out the comparative analysis of the brushing force following various brushing techniques bytoothbrush mounted pressure sensing unit. The study group consisted of 10 dental hygienist participants. The brushing forces (on buccal area of each first molar) were monitored on 8 different kinds of brushing techniques; Fones, Bass, Rolling, Scrub, Charters, stillman, Modified bass and Modified stillman. In Bass, Charters, Fones and Scrub method, force distributions showed a small gap of maximum and minimum value (Max/Min) while a big difference was noted in Modified bass, Modified stillman, Rolling and Stillman methods. Especially, the biggest difference of Max/Min value was observed in the area of lower left first molar. In conclusion, highly delicate manual skill is needed in showing big error range of force distribution. It means that careful force needs to be focused during toothbrushing instruction when a delicate manual skill was carried out.

Sesame is a major cooking oil crop in Korea. One of the primary problems in sesame cultivation is low healthy stand establishment due to the occurrence of seedling rot and damping-off resulting from a complex of soil-borne pathogens in the field. To address the problem, the bioformulation of Pseudomonas fluorescens M45 was prepared in powder form using clay and vermiculite, and was evaluated for its effect on biological control of soil-borne pathogens in sesame cultivation. In the petri dish trial, the emergence rate was overall good (> 92%) regardless of seeds being pelleted and/or M45-treated. In both pot and field trials containing disease-conducive soils, seed-pelleting substantially reduced emergence rate, whereas seed-pelleting with M45 significantly improved the emergence rate (> 26%). The emergence rate of sesame seeds treated with the strain M45 was greater than 30% regardless of seed pelletization. We also found that M45r colonized in the roots at the density of 1.6×105 cfu/g. With aid of the bioformulation, however, root colonization of the strain was significantly increased to 4.0×106 cfu/g. The powder formulation with strain M45 enhanced the rate of healthy stand establishment in disease-conducive soil. Therefore, bioformulation with strain M45 is a promising method to overcome problems associated with the successive cultivation of sesame.

To date there have been only two species in genus Pogonus and subgenus Europhilus of genus Agonum recognized from Korean insect fauna: Pogonus itoshimaensis Habu, 1954 and Agonum (Europhilus) bellicum Lutshnik, 1934. In the present study one additional species for each genus is newly recognized from Korea: Pogonus (Pogonus) japonicus Putzeys, 1875 and Agonum (Europhilus) gratiosum nipponicum Habu, 1972. A key to adults, redescription, diagnostic photos of adult and male and female genitalia are provided.

High-coercive (Nd,Dy)-Fe-B magnets were fabricated via dysprosium coating on Nd-Fe-B powder. The sputtering coating process of Nd–Fe–B powder yielded samples with densities greater than 98%. (Nd,Dy)2Fe14B phases may have effectively penetrated into the boundaries between neighboring Nd2Fe14B grains during the sputtering coating process, thereby forming a (Nd,Dy)2Fe14B phase at the grain boundary. The maximum thickness of the Dy shell was approximately 70 nm. The maximum coercivity of the Dy sputter coated samples(sintered samples) increased from 1162.42 to 2020.70 kA/m. The microstructures of the (Nd,Dy)2Fe14B phases were effectively controlled, resulting in mproved magnetic properties. The increase in coercivity of the Nd-Fe-B sintered magnet is discussed from a micro- structural point of view.

Sloan-Kettering virus gene product of a cellular pro-oncogene c-Ski is an unique nuclear pro-onco protein and belongs to the Ski/Sno proto-oncogene family. Ski plays multiple roles in a variety of cell types, it can induce both oncogenic transformation and terminal muscle differentiation when expressed at high levels. Ski protein is implicated in proliferation/differentiation in a variety of cells. The alternative fate of granulosa cells other than apoptosis is to differentiate to luteal cells, however, it is unknown whether Ski is expressed and has a role in granulosa cells undergoing luteinization. Thus, the aim of this study was, by means of immunohistochemical methods, to locate Ski protein in the rat ovaries during ovulation and corpora lutea(CL) formation to predict the possible involvement of Ski in luteinization. In addition, to examine whether the initiation of luteinization with luteinizing hormone(LH) directly regulates expression of Ski in the luteinized granulosa and luteal cells after ovulation by in vivo models. In order to examine the expression pattern of Ski protein along with the progress of luteinization, follicular growth was induced by administration of equine chorionic gonadtropin to immature female rat, and luteinization was induced by human chorionic gonadtropin treatment to mimic luteinizing hormone(LH) surge. While no Ski-positive granulosa cells were present in preovulatory follicle, Ski protein expression was induced in response to LH surge, and was maintained after the formation of corpus luteum(CL). These results indicate that Ski is profoundly expressed in the luteinized granulosa cells and luteal cells of CL during luteinization, and suggest that Ski may play a role in luteinization of granulosa cells.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of NEAA and leptin supplemented to in vitro culture medium on the developmental competence of porcine embryos after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), and to modify the culture condition to improve the quality and the development of ICSI-derived porcine embryos in vitro. After ICSI, the putative zygotes were then cultured in PZM-3 medium with/without NEAA or leptin. The proportion of embryos that developed to the blastocyst stage significantly increased when 1% NEAA (24.62%) was added to the medium compared with 2% NEAA and no NEAA group (17.24% and 20.24%, respectively, p<0.05). The effect of different concentration of leptin (0, 10, 100, 500 ng/ml) was evaluated on the development of porcine ICSI embryos cultured in vitro. In case of blastocyst formation, 100 ng/ml group (27.05%) showed significantly higher rate than 10, 500 ng/ml, and control group (23.45%, 17.99%, and 19.68%, respectively, p<0.05). We also evaluated the effects of different NEAA and leptin treatment time on the development of porcine embryos after ICSI. Among groups of embryos cultured in the presence of NEAA or leptin for whole 7 days (D 1-7), first 4 days (D 1-4), the subsequent 3 days (D 5-7), both NEAA (27.13%, 21.17 %, and 17.56%, respectively, p<0.05) and leptin (25.60%, 20.61%, and 16.53%, respectively, p<0.05) showed that supplementation for whole 7 days significantly increased the blastocyst formation rate compared with the other groups of D1-4 and D5-7. We further evaluated the combination effect of 1% NEAA and 100 ng/ml leptin compared with the effect of each supplementation with 1% NEAA or 100 ng/ml leptin or no supplementation on development of embryos. For blastocyst formation, combination group of NEAA and leptin (24.78%) showed significantly higher rate than other three groups (18.37%, 20.44 %, and 13.27%, respectively, p<0.05). We further evaluated the expression of proapoptosis genes such as BAX and BAK and anti-apoptosis genes, BCL-XL and BCL-2 in blastocysts cultured in the presence of 100 ng/ml leptin. RT-PCR analysis revealed that leptin supplementation significantly decreased the expression of pro-apoptosis genes as well as increased the expression of anti-apoptosis genes. These results of present study demonstrate that NEAA and leptin could improve the in vitro development of ICSI- derived porcine embryos with optimal concentration of each reagent. Furthermore, the optimal culture condition could increase the quality of ICSI-derived embryos in vitro.

True hermaphrodites are animals of equivocal sex in which both male and female gonads develop simultaneously. The frequency of true hermaphroditism is higher in pigs than in other domestic animals. Two Korean pigs were diagnosed with true hermaphroditism showing ovotestes, epididymes, penes, and uteri. Histomorphologically, the testicular tissues consisted of Sertoli cells that were devoid of spermatogenic germ cells and showed proliferation of interstitial cells. However, the uteri were of normal architecture and had well-developed uterine endometrial glands. The samples were 38, XX female karyotype without the sex-determining region Y (SRY) gene. The findings of this study could contribute to the understanding of true hermaphroditism in the Korean pig industry. * This work was supported by a grant (Code# PJ008148) from BioGreen21 Program, Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.