High intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) treatment of uterine myoma is a non-invasive procedure that uses high intensity, focused ultrasound to heat and destroy the tissue of uterine myoma. The history of using therapeutic ultrasound dates back to the early 20th century, and since, the technique has been continuously improved to an extent that the breadth of its clinical applications, both diagnostic and therapeutic, justify the integral role it plays in medicine today. HIFU treatment requires that ultrasound beams be focused on targeted uterine myoma. Due to significant energy dissipation at the focus, temperatures within tissues increase to more than 65℃, and destroy diseased tissue. This technology can achieve precise "ablation" of myoma tissue, and because it destroys diseased tissue non-invasively, it is also known as "Non-invasive HIFU surgery". Development of this technology significantly broadened the range of treatment options for patients suffering from uterine myoma. Furthermore, in contrast to surgery, HIFU requires only a short period of hospitalization and has a low complication rate. Today, HIFU is being used more frequently to treat adenomyosis, but its increased use has led to the reporting of more complications. Here, the authors report a case of uterine perforation after HIFU ablation for adenomyosis.

To evaluate the outcome, clinical efficacy and safety of endometrial radiofrequency cauterization for the treatment of hypermenorrhea. From January 2011 to March 2015, a total of 195 women who visited to Chosun University Hospital had their charts and telephones reviewed for demographics, procedure data, clinical history, and follow up. The mean age was 43.3±5.9 years old. A decrease in days per cycle (7.9±2.8vs 5.4±2.3 days, p<0.001), and in pads per day (10.1±2.7 vs 5.9±3.8 pads/day, p<0.001) and an increase in hemoglobin (g/dL, mean±SD) / hematocrit (%, mean± SD) (7.4±0.5 / 29.5± 2.7 vs 11.7±1.3 / 36.1±4.2, p<0.001) and an improvement in self-reported quality of life scores (limitation of life: 8.1±2.2 vs 2.9±1.7, p<0.0001, discomfort score: 2.1±1.5 vs 0.9±1.5, p<0.001) were observed after endometrial radiofrequency cauterization. Assessment of the level of satisfaction showed that 83.6% of patients were satisfied with the procedure. No major complications were found. The prognostic factors of endometrial radiofrequency cauterization were age, parity, uterine depth, and cauterization time. But age and cauterization time had no significant difference statistically. Endometrial radiofrequency cauterization is a safe and efficient method to treat of hypermenorrhea. It reduces the menstrual flow, improves the quality of life, and remarkably satisfies patients with a desire to preserve a uterus.

Background : Astragalus membranaceus is one of the most widely used traditional medicinal herbs in Korea. Studies on the genomic of A. membranaceus resources have not been carried out so far. The present study was carried out to discriminate A. membranaceus based on genetic diversity using genomic simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Methods and Results : We collected 5 A. membranaceus lines: Asung, Poongsung, Am-Jecheon, Am-Sancheong, and Am-China. One hundred mg of fresh leaves were used for genomic DNA extraction using the DNeasy plant DNA isolation kit (Qiagen GmbH, Hilden, Germany). 450,449 contigs were searched for 147,766 SSR candidate loci in this study using the MicroSAtellite identification tool (MISA). We selected 949 A. membranaceus genomic SSR markers that were showed variation for the five collections in silico screening with CLC genomics workbench program. The genetic diversity of all A. membranaceus resources was analyzed using 17 SSR markers employing the DNA fragment analysis method. Based on the genetic diversity analysis, these lines were classified into four distinct groups. Conclusion : These findings could be used for further research on cultivar development using molecular breeding techniques and for conservation of the genetic diversity of A. membranaceus. Furthermore, the markers could be used for marker-assisted selection for crop breeding.

Understanding the response of a crop to water deficiency is the first step towards breeding drought-tolerant varieties. In this study, inbred maize (Zea mays L.) lines KS140 and KS141 were subjected to drought stress by withholding water for 10 days at the V5 or V6 leaf stage. Water-deficient plants experienced a decrease in relative leaf water content, stomatal conductance, net CO2 assimilation rate, and water use efficiency compared to well-watered plants. This was accompanied by a decrease in the relative leaf water content that resulted in severe growth retardation in KS140 and KS141. However, leaf chlorophyll content in KS140 was unchanged. To understand the proteome dynamics during the 10-day drought stress in maize leaves, comparative proteome analysis was carried out between the well-watered and water-withheld leaves. Differential expression was observed for 29 protein spots from KS140 and 14 protein spots from KS141, and these were identified using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Among identified proteins, metabolism and stress related proteins were highly were increased by drought stress. This study provides a protein profile of a Korean maize inbred line during drought stress, which will be valuable for future studies of the molecular mechanisms underlying drought resistance and for development of selective breeding markers for drought tolerance in maize.

Cereal seeds, sorghum, foxtail millet, hog millet, adlay, and corn are traditionally used as health assistant as well as energy supplying food in Korea. While beneficial phytochemicals to human have revealed in cereals, the information on peptides from cereals is far less accumulated than major reserve protein. Here, we analyzed peptide profiles using surface enhanced laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF MS) in cereal seeds for construction of peptide information and attempted to develop peptide biomarkers for cereal identification. To optimize the analysis condition of SELDI-TOF MS, the effect of dilution factor on binding affinity to protein chips was tested using CM10 and Q10 arrays. Peptide clusters were significantly different at the level of 0.01 p-value. Peak spectra were the most stable in 1:50 of dilution factor in both chip arrays. Numbers of detected peak of 5 cereal seeds were 131 in CM10 and 74 in Q10 array. Each cereal was grouped as a cluster and well discriminated into different cluster in the level of 0.01 p-value. Numbers of potentially identified peptide biomarkers are 11, 13, 9, 5 and 12 in sorghum, foxtail millet, hog millet, adlay and corn, respectively. This study demonstrates that each cereal seed have own distinguishable specific peptides although their function are not identified yet in this study. In addition, the proteomic profiling using SELDI-TOF MS techniques could be a useful and powerful tool to discover peptide biomarker for discrimination and assess crop species, especially under 20 kDa.

Plant biomass is a huge carbon-complex that has potential as a nutrient. Therefore we extracted and separated useful materials for plant growth from tea leaf and stem. The pre-treatment process including high temperature (200 °C) and pressure (20-40 kgf/cm2) was treated for several minutes and extracted at 120 °C for 30-60 minutes. After that the chemical compositions and ingredients were analyzed from that plantnutrient. As a result of mineral contents, calcium and magnesium concentrations are higher than other minerals. Also the result of carbohydrates analyses has shown that the sugar oligomer consists of xylose(95.3%) and glucose(4.7%), and the sugar monomer consists in the order of xylose (52.7%) > manose (22.8%) > arabinose (10.8%) > galactose (10.2%) > glucose (3.5%). Before applied to field, in vitro plant growth system and formulation were examined. To evaluate the effect of the nutrients, both strawberry green-house and persimmon fields were used in this test. The treated persimmons were heavier than controls scored at 13-22%. In addition, the storageperiod was extended in the treated strawberries. Interestingly in the treated strawberry, the contents of polyphenols were increased (38-57%). These results suggest that the plant-nutrient can afford to help for plant growth and storage, and it can be substituted for other commercial nutrients. In conclusion, this plant-nutrient may help to extend eco-friendly or organic farming in Hadong-gun area.

“Hwanggeumchal”, a new covered waxy cultivar derived from the cross between “Chalssalbori” and “Milyang 65” with waxy endosperm and early maturing cultivars, respectively was developed at Honam Agricultural Research Institute (HARI), NICS, RDA, 2006. The origin of “Hwanggeumchal” is “Suwon 403” (SB942090-B-B-B-42-1). The initial cross was made in 1994 and the selected line showed a high yield and good quality characteristics under yield trial test in 2003. “Suwon 403” consistently performed well for three years (2004-2006) from the four locations of regional yield trial (RYT) in Korea and released as “Hwanggeumchal”. The characteristics of “Hwanggeumchal” were the following: rate I growth habit, green leaf and stem, compact spike and with long rough awns. The heading date was April 30 in upland and April 28 in paddy field, which was 1 and 4 days later than that with check cultivar, “Seodunchalbori”. The culm length was 81 cm which was 3 cm shorter than those with check cultivar. It showed spike length of 4.5 cm and 633 spikes per m2, 64 grains per spike, 27.6 g of 1,000-grain weight and 632 g of test weight. It showed stronger winter hardiness and higher resistance to barley yellow mosaic virus (BaYMV) than those with check cultivar. It had yellow aleurone and showed higher water absorption, expansion rate and total phenol content than those of check cultivar, but lower protein, β-glucan content and pearling rate. The average yield of the pearled grain in the RYT was 4.04 ton ha-1 in upland and 4.12 ton ha-1 in paddy field, which was 10% higher and 4% lower than that of the check cultivar, respectively. This cultivar would be suitable for the area above the daily minimum mean temperature of -8℃ in January in Korean peninsula.

“Hyemi”, a new covered cultivar derived from the crosses between “Suwon 298” and “Milyang 34/Albori//Dongbori” developed at the Honam Agricultural Research Institute (HARI), NICS, RDA in 2006. The origin of “Hyemi” is “Suwon 400” (SB951032-B-B-B-28). The initial cross was made in 1995 and the selected line showed a high yield and good quality characteristics under yield trial test in 2003. “Suwon 400” consistently performed well for three years (2004-2006) from the four locations of regional yield trial (RYT) in Korea and released as “Hyemi”. The characteristics of “Hyemi” were the following: rate Ⅳ growth habit, green leaf and stem, compact spike and with long rough awns. The heading date was April 29 in upland and April 23 in paddy field, which was similar and 2 days earlier than that with check cultivar, “Olbori”. The culm length was 81 cm which was 4 cm shorter than those with check cultivar. It showed spike length of 4.1 cm and 646 spikes per m2, 52 grains per spike, 33.4 g of 1,000-grain weight and 672 g of test weight. It showed similar winter hardiness and higher resistance to barley yellow mosaic virus (BaYMV) than those with check cultivar. It showed higher protein content, whiteness and total phenol content than those of the check cultivar, but lower β-glucan content and pearling rate. The average yield of the pearled grain in the RYT was 3.95 ton ha-1 in upland and 4.38 ton ha-1 in paddy field, which was 13% and 16% higher than that of the check cultivar, respectively. This cultivar would be suitable for the area above the daily minimum mean temperature of -8℃ in January in Korean peninsula.

Suwon295 at the Honam Agricultural Research Institute (HARI) in 2005. An elite line, 953017-BG-BN-BN-53N, was selected in2000 and designated as Milyang126. It showed good agronomic performance in the regional adaptation yield trials (RYT) from2003 to 2005

A new malting barley cultivar, “Sinho”, with a resistant gene (rym5) to barley yellow mosaic virus (BaYMV) was developed by the barley breeding team of National Crop Experiment Station (NCES), RDA in 1999. This cultivar was derived from the cross between