Black fungus gnats play an important role as the decomposers in the forest ecosystem. Their larvae live on various organic matters, and the subfamily Sciarinae, in particular, have restricted habitats that feed on dead woods in the deep forest. We compared the biodiversity of family Sciaridae from two different habitats, the clear-cutting area (CA) and the pitch pine forest (PF) by the emergence traps (ET) and the pitfall traps (PT) from May to October, 2010. A total of 12 species were reliably identified to the species among 19 unique taxa belonging to 9 genera 4 subfamilies from 716 collected black fungus gnats. Taxonomic studies show that Corynoptera bicuspidata (Lengersdorf, 1926) (200 individuals, 27.9 % of total) and Cory. sinedens Hippa, Vilkamaa & Heller, 2010 (74 individuals, 10.3 % of total) dominate in the PF and the CA, respectively. Species richness and abundance of CA is lower than those of PF. Any species of subfamily Sciarinae were not collected in the CA. These findings indicate that the biodiversity of Sciaridae was influenced by forest management such as clear cutting, which leads to the changes of canopy cover, dead woods and leaf litter layer.

We conducted a investigation for dispersal ability of Aedes albopictus, a dengue vector mosquito, using mark-release-recapture method in Korea. A certain number of fluorescence marked Ae. albopictus was released in four different habitats – urban (Cheonan), suburban (Jochiwon), port (Pyeongtaek), and airport (Cheongju), and sticky traps and BG-traps were used to recapture the mosquito in designated time period. In case of urban and suburban areas, 100 sticky traps were used in 3-week period for both regions, and 19 BG-traps and 15 BG-traps were used in 36-hour period for urban and suburban areas respectively. Using sticky trap, 21 from 1,300 released mosquitoes (1.62%) were recaptured in urban area; while in suburban area, only 2 individuals (0.1%) were recaptured. Most of them were recaptured within 100m from releasing point and about 40% were within 20m distance. When BG-traps were used, 35 from 900 released mosquitoes (3.8%) were recaptured in urban area; while 26 mosquitoes (2.8%) were recaptured in suburban area. The maximum distance of dispersal was 200m in urban and 100m in suburban area, while most of them were recaptured in 50 ~ 80m range. In case of port and airport area, 15 and 10 BG-traps were used respectively to recapture 1,000 released mosquitoes in 5-day period. In port area, 23 mosquitoes (2.3%) were recaptured; while 166 mosquitoes (16.6%) were recaptured in airport area. The maximum distance of dispersal was 130m in both areas; while most of them were recaptured in 50m range. In conclusion, Ae. albopictus has a narrow dispersal range compared to other mosquitoes, a typical characteristic of genus Aedes, and their dispersal ability is greatly affected by various environmental factors. These results can provide basic information for effective prevention of Ae. albopictus and overseas inflow of dengue fever.

The Cerambycidae is a very diverse family in Chrysomeloidea (Insecta: Coleoptera), and the members are commonly called as longhorn beetles, long-horned beetles or longicorn beetles. The family is comprised of approximately 25,000 described species in nine subfamilies worldwide, and 311 species are known from Korean insect fauna. Most species are associated with woods and shrubs or live on herbaceous vegetation in open areas. Cerambycid larvae are primarily borers in deadwood. Some species develop in living trees and cause damage on host plants by boring heart wood and making galleries. As the results of four year field surveys (from 2010 to 2013) and literature review, host plants of 181 species of Korean Cerambycidae are revised, including thirteen new cerambycid-host associations, and more than 179 host plants species of 107 genera in 44 families are compiled. Among them, most common host plants are belonged to mainly four families: Ulmaceae, Pinaceae, Fagaceae and Betulaceae. Additionally, Acer tegmentosum Maxim. (Aceraceae) is newly recognized as a host plant of the Asian longhorned beetle, Anoplophora grabripennis (Motchulsky) in South Korea.

Antibiotic Detection Kit (Combination I), a lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) developed for the detection of antibiotic residues in milk, was utilized for the analysis of antibiotic residues in the muscle tissue of olive flounder. After 60-min treatment by dipping in water dosed with ampicillin (200-g/ton water), the residue depletion of ampicillin was investigated in 25 cultured olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus). Muscles of fish were sampled on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th day after drug treatment. The concentration of ampicillin in the muscle was determined by LFIA. The absorbance ratio of the sample to the control blank (Bs/Bo) was employed as an index to determine the muscle residues in olive flounder. To investigate the recovery rate, standard solutions were added to muscle samples to give final concentrations in the muscle of 4 and 8 ng/ml. The recovery rates of all spiked samples were > 96% of the spiked value. Ampicillin was detected in the muscle of fish treated with the drug until the 2nd day of the withdrawal period. The present study showed that the LFIA can be easily adopted to predict ampicillin residues in tissue of farmed fishes.

Chrysanthemum stunt viroid (CSVd) is a serious pathogen affecting chrysanthemum that has caused significant economic losses to Chrysanthemum flower production worldwide. Control of CSVd disease is difficult due to its contagious nature and long latent period in the field. As chrysanthemum is most often produced by implanting seedlings, it is necessary to diagnose CSVd infection before cultivation. In this study, we screened CSVd infection in seedlings from 30 varieties including 5 domestic, 6 Japanese, and 19 European varieties. Molecular diagnosis of the combination of RT-PCR and nested PCR showed that CSVd was not detected by the first RT-PCR but detected by the second nested PCR analysis in 10 varieties, including 1 domestic, 2 Japanese, and 7 European varieties. Further comparison of 10 identified CSVd nucleotide sequences showed that those are highly conserved (99-100%) and the most similar to an isolate (AB006737) identified in Hokkaido, Japan. Our study suggests that the combination of RT-PCR and nested PCR analysis is successful for the CSVd diagnosis of seedlings and the molecular diagnosis is necessary to prevent the introduction and propagation of viroid disease into the fields.

We trace the dynamical evolution of dark matter (DM) content in NGC 6397, one of the native Galactic globular clusters (GCs). The relatively strong tidal field (Galactocentric radius of ~ 6 kpc) and short relaxation timescale (~ 0.3 Gyr) of the cluster can cause a significant amount of DM particles to evaporate from the cluster in the Hubble time. Thus, the cluster can initially contain a non-negligible amount of DM. Using the most advanced Fokker-Planck (FP) method, we calculate the dynamical evolution of GCs for numerous initial conditions to determine the maximum initial DM content in NGC 6397 that matches the present-day brightness and velocity dispersion profiles of the cluster. We find that the maximum allowed initial DM mass is slightly less than the initial stellar mass in the cluster. Our findings imply that NGC 6397 did not initially contain a significant amount of DM, and is similar to that of NGC 2419, the remotest and the most massive Galactic GC.

The microstructure evolution during sintering of the W-5 wt.%Cu nanocomposite powders was investigated for the purpose of developing a high density W-Cu alloy. The W-5 wt.%Cu nanopowder compact, fully-densified during sintering at 1623 K, revealed a homogeneous microstructure that consists of high contiguity structures of W-W grains and an interconnected Cu phase located along the edges of the W grains. The Vickers hardness of the sintered W-5 wt.%Cu specimen was Hv much higher than that ( Hv) of the conventional heavy alloy. This result is mostly due to the higher contiguity microstructure of the W grains compared to the conventional W heavy alloy.

A 14-year-old female South American sea lion (Otaria byronia) with persistent vaginal secretion and chronic hemorrhagic diarrhea was encountered. During postmortem examination, the uterus was found to resemble a balloon with mucosal congestion and was filled with grayish milky material. The ovaries also had abnormal features, including necrotic surface lesions and multiple whitish foci in the cut section. Hemorrhages and ulcerated changes due to toxemia were observed in other organs, including the liver, spleen, lung, intestines, and lymph nodes. Microscopically, the left ovary contained interlacing fascicles of fibroblast-like cells with blunt-end nuclei showing cytoplasmic positive immunoreactivity against alpha-smooth muscle actin and desmin. The right ovary contained cells with round to cigar-shaped nuclei showing cytoplasmic positive immunoreactivity against vimentin. In conclusion, based on classification of bilateral ovarian tumors as a leiomyoma in the left region and a fibroma in the right region, this sea lion was diagnosed with chronic closed pyometra.

The key concept of nanopowder agglomerate sintering (NAS) is to enhance material transport by controlling the powder interface volume of nanopowder agglomerates. Using this concept, we developed a new approach to full density processing for the fabrication of pure iron nanomaterial using Fe nanopowder agglomerates from oxide powders. Full density processing of pure iron nanopowders was introduced in which the powder interface volume is manipulated in order to control the densification process and its corresponding microstructures. The full density sintering behavior of Fe nanopowders optimally size-controlled by wet-milling treatment was discussed in terms of densification process and microstructures.

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are known to promote activation of macrophages, selectively eliminate harmful intestinal bacteria that enter the body, and increase secretion of cytokines, chemokines, and inflammatory mediators that boost the immune system. In the current study, the immune-enhancing effects of five Leuconostoc stains (Leu. kimchii WK18, Leu. citreum DH33, Leu. mesenteroides DH34, SE34, and GY17) isolated from traditional Korean fermented food, Kimchi, were evaluated. Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG), which is known for its extraordinary immunopotentiating activity, was used as a reference strain. According to the results, several heat-killed Leuconostoc strains induced a higher level of NO, IL-1β, or TNF-α production than the LGG strain. Collectively, results of the current study suggest that Leuconostoc strains could enhance immune response through activation of macrophages, and could be significant references when verifying the possibility for use of Leuconostoc strains as probiotics, starter, dietary supplement, or immune-enhancing medicine.

The phylogeny of the subfamily Sciarinae is reconstructed by the result of maximum likelihood, maximum parsimony, and Bayesian inference of 4,809 bp from two mitochondrial (COI and 16S) and two nuclear (18S and 28S) genes. The current subfamily Sciarinae is polyphyletic, since the genera Chaetosciara, Mouffetina, Schwenckfeldina, and Scythropochroa are grouped separately as the sister clade of other subfamilies. The monophyly of the genera Chaetosciara, Sciara, Scythropochroa, and Trichosia s. str. is strongly supported; however, the genus Leptosciarella s. l. is polyphyletic due to the separation of subgenus Leptosciarella (Leptospina) as a sister taxa of remaining Sciarinae (Leptosciarella s. str., Sciara, and Trichosia s. str.). The classification of the Sciarinae is revised and discussed on the basis of molecular phylogenetic hypotheses.

Cimicomorpha is one of the most diverse groups in true bugs, and attract a great attention for a variety of reasons, among them, extraordinary insemination methods in the bed bugs and their relatives (Cimicoidea), feeding-habits alternations in the plant bugs (Miridae), parasitism in the bed bugs and their relatives (Cimicidae and Polyctenidae), agricultural pests in the lace bugs and the plant bugs (Tingidae and Miridae), biological control agents in the minute pirate bugs and the plant bugs (e.g., the genus Orius), disease transmission in the Triatominae (Reduviidae), and micro-habitat transition in the assassin bugs and the flower bugs (Reduviidae and Anthocoridae). In this talk, we propose the phylogenetic relationships within the Cimicomorpha especially including some critical taxa in terms of the biological traits such as haemocoelic insemination and parasitism (e.g., the species belonging to Lasiochilidae, Lyctocoridae, Prostemminae and Corydromius). Based on the phylogenetic results, we also present the evolutionary history of the specialized biological traits of the Cimicomorpha using phylogenetic comparative analyses.

Relationship with fungi is one of the habitat adaptation of Sciaridae. While the earlier studies suggested that many fungus gnats are playing as the important vectors of various fungus diseases on plants and mushrooms, evidences have not been well reported. Based on a multi-gene phylogeny, by the Bayesian framework, we propose the correlation of four morphological characters of adults and habitat adaptation from saproxylic to phytophagous in the Sciaridae. Our results suggest that the evolution of habitat transition from dead plant litter to the live plant is related to habitat adaptation to the phytophagy and the morphological characters of fore tibia apex is also related to the functional linkage between these traits. We performed Bayes factor-based tests, referred with evolutionary pathway test (EPT), to decide the correlated traits gained the during evolutionary processes. The EPTs strongly suggest that fore tibia structures appeared first and followed by plant-feeding adaptation. The divergence time estimations of Sciaridae are also largely congruent with the fossil records. The members of subfamily Megalosphyinae have radiated explosively and contemporaneously since the Oligocene, with the expansion of modern grasslands and the increase of herbivores. Consequently, we suggest that the evolutionary benefit of tibial structure may be closely related with the fungal carrying in Sciaridae.

Testes‐derived unipotent male germ‐line stem (GS) cells can acquire multipotency under appropriate culture conditions to become mGS cells which can contribute to all three germ‐layers. This study was designed to investigate the epigenetic characteristics of mGS cells derived from adult mouse testes (maGS cells). The GS cells were isolated from 4 6 week DBA mouse and were cultured in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle Medium supplemented with 15% (v/v) fetal bovine serum, 1,000 U/ml LIF, 4 ng/ml GDNF at 37℃ in an humidified atmosphere of 5% CO2 in air to derive the maGS cells. The multipotency of maGS cells were verified by morphological and gene expression analyses, teratoma formation upon transplantation into nude mouse and in vitro differentiation ability. Bisulfite genomic sequencing revealed that GS cells had androgenetic DNA methylation pattern at the Igf2‐H19, Gnas‐Nespas , and Dlk1‐Dio3 imprinted gene clusters which changed to hemi‐zygotic embryonic stem (ES)‐cell like pattern in the maGS cells. Western blot analysis, using modification‐ and residue‐specific antibodies, revealed that both maGS and ES cells had similar level of histone di‐methylation at 4th and 27th lysine residue of histone 3 (H3K4me2 and H3K27me2) which represent “bivalent domain” for regulating self‐renewal and differentiation of mouse ES cells. Both maGS and ES cells also shared similar hisone modification for H3K9me2, H3K79me2, H3K9ac and H3K18ac. However, maGS cells had higher level of H3K- 36me2 and H3S10p. These data suggest that maGS and ES cells share several epigenetic characteristics but they also have their own unique epigenetic marks that may be useful as a molecular marker for their identification.

Larval stages of Callipogon relictus (Semenov) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), a gigantic longhorn beetle designated as a natural monument of Korea, has never been studied as it is hardly discovered in nature. The DNA barcoding gene, mt-COI, was used to identify a dead larva found in the Gwangneung forest of the Korea National Arboretum. Based on the result, we provide the morphology of the immature stage, with the illustrations of diagnostic characteristics.

We develop a proto-model of an off-axis reflective telescope for infrared wide-field observations based on the design of Schwarzschild-Chang type telescope. With only two mirrors, this design achieves an entrance pupil diameter of 50 mm and an effective focal length of 100 mm. We can apply this design to a mid-infrared telescope with a field of view of 8 ̊ X 8 ̊. In spite of the substantial advantages of off-axis telescopes in the infrared compared to refractive or on-axis reflective telescopes, it is known to be difficult to align the mirrors in off-axis systems because of their asymmetric structures. Off-axis mirrors of our telescope are manufactured at the Korea Basic Science Institute (KBSI). We analyze the fabricated mirror surfaces by fitting polynomial functions to the measured data. We accomplish alignment of this two-mirror off-axis system using a ray tracing method. A simple imaging test is performed to compare a pinhole image with a simulated prediction.

This study aims to reveal how EA affects BAX and NF-kB involved in cell deaths from global ischemia, and to do this, observes the changes of BAX and NF-kB caused by EA application after transient global ischemia. The experimental method is to give rise to global ischemia and apply EA to 27 SD rats with the particulars of being six-week-old, male, around-300 gram-weighing, and adapted to laboratory environment for more than a week, and divide them into three groups, that is, GV20 EA group(n=9), L14 EA group(n=9), no-treatment GI group(n=9), and then observe their changes of BAX and NF-kB at the time lapse of 6 hours, 9 hours and 12 hours after ischemia, using western blotting. The numerical decrease of BAX expression at the time lapse of 9 hours after EA application, though not statistically significant, was observed in GV20 EA group and L14 EA group, and the NF-kB expression appeared statistically significant decrease in GV20 EA group and L14 EA group, but the expression was higher in the group with EA application. Therefore, EA application at the early phase of global ischemia is considered to affect BAX and NF-kB and play a positive role in decreasing apoptosis and cell deaths by inflammation.

The effects of high energy ball-milling (HEBM) on the sintering behavior and piezoelectric properties of 0.1 wt% doped 0.8Pb()-0.2Pb() (PMN-PZT) ceramics were investigated. It was found that HEBM treatment was quite effective to reduce the average particle size down to 300 nm, leading to increased density as well as enhanced piezoelectric properties of a sintered specimen even though prolonged HEBM resulted in unwanted secondary phases that caused a degradation of piezoelectric properties. The dielectric constant (), piezoelectric coupling factor () and piezoelectric constant of 0.1 wt% doped PMN-PZT ceramics prepared via HEBM for 10 h reached 2040, 0.68 and 554 pC/N, respectively.