Shiga toxins (Stxs), some of the most important virulence factors in enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O157:H7, are known to be induced and released by various environmental cues, such as DNA damage responses and stress-inducing chemicals. In order to investigate the possible effects of growth media on Stxs expression, we analyzed the growth kinetics and expression of Stxs (Stx1 and 2) in cells grown in Luria-Bertani (LB) and E. coli (EC) media, which are widely used for EHEC O157:H7. Through direct plating and quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), it was revealed that, when EHEC O157:H7 was grown in EC medium, the total bacterial count was reduced significantly and the stx1 transcription was greatly increased during the stationary growth phase than that in LB. Here we report that bile salts and lactose, which are the two only components in EC medium that are absent in LB, function as negative and positive regulatory signals, respectively, for the transcription of both stx1 and stx2. Indeed, stx transcription was significantly increased (~5.7 and ~21.8 fold for stx1 and stx2, respectively; p < 0.05) in an EC medium lacking bile salts when compared to the normal EC. In contrast, EHEC O157:H7 grown in an EC medium lacking lactose did significantly decrease these transcriptions (~93.5 and ~4.3 fold for stx1 and stx2, respectively; p < 0.05). Consistently, stx transcription was drastically increased in an LB medium supplemented with lactose, implying that lactose might be an environmental trigger for the expression of Stxs.

The aim of the present study was to investigate sex- and age-associated clinico-metabolic characteristics of urinary stone patients. A retrospective review was performed on data from 2,009 consecutive patients presenting with their first urinary stone episode between 2005 and 2013. Of the 2,009 patients, 1,426 (71.0%) satisfied the inclusion criteria and were enrolled in the study. Patients were grouped by age (<60, ≥60 years old) and sex. The medical history and 24 hr urinary chemistry results of each patient were obtained. The mean age of the 165 (11.6%) patients aged 60 or over was 65.5 ± 4.2 years. Body mass index was greater in elderly females than in younger females (p=0.031). After stratification by sex and age, lower urinary excretion of calcium and uric acid was a protective factor for both sexes among the elderly (p<0.05, each, respectively). Low urine pH was a common risk factor for both sexes among the elderly (p=0.013 in males, p=0.047 in females, respectively), whereas lower citrate excretion was a risk factor for only the elderly female group (p=0.004). With regard to urinary metabolic abnormalities, elderly females showed higher incidence of hypocitraturia compared to younger females (p=0.049). In conclusion, this study demonstrated the sex- and age-associated clinico-metabolic characteristics of urinary stone patients. Thus, it is important to tailor metabolic evaluation and medical prevention therapies for patient according to sex and gender characteristics.

DNA methylation is the most common and well-characterized epigenetic change in human cancer. Recently, the association between GATA-binding protein 5 (GATA5) methylation and carcinogenesis of various types of tumors was investigated. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of GATA5 methylation status on clinicopathological features and prognosis in primary non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) patients with a long-term follow-up period. The GATA5 methylation status was determined for 171 human bladder specimens (eight normal controls [NCs] and 163 primary NMIBC patients) using quantitative pyrosequencing analysis. The primary NMIBC tissues were obtained from patients who underwent transurethral resection (TUR) for histologically diagnosed transitional cell carcinomas between 1995 and 2012 at Chungbuk National University Hospital. GATA5 methylation was significantly higher in NMIBC patients than in NCs and was significantly associated with higher grade and more advanced stage of cancer. Kaplan-Meier estimates showed significant differences in tumor recurrence and progression according to GATA5 methylation status (each p<0.05). Our results show that increased methylation of GATA5 was significantly associated with not only aggressive characteristics but also poor prognosis in primary NMIBC patients. Alteration of GATA5 methylation might be used as a biomarker for prognosis of NMIBC patients. However, prospective and functional investigations are necessary to clarify the role of GATA5 methylation in future clinical management of patients with NMIBC.

This study examined the effects of stretching and sling stabilizing exercises on changes in the angle of the cervical spine in military neck patients. The subjects were 20 adults diagnosed with a military neck(male:10, female:10) and they were randomly and equally assigned to a stretching exercise group and a sling stabilization exercise group. The total study period was four weeks. The intervention was applied three times per week for 60 minutes per each time. Before conducting the exercise, X-ray of each group was photographed to measure craniospinal angle(CVA) and cranial rotation angle(CRA). According to the result of comparing the two groups in changes in the cervical spine angle, there was no significant difference, and the result of comparing pre- and post-intervention was that there was significant change in CVA and CRA in the stretching group (p<.05) but there was no significant change in CVA and CRA in the sling stabilization exercise. Such result suggests stretching exercise is good for improving a military neck and stretching is more effective than sling in the therapeutic intervention for a military neck.

Backed by the rapidly-growing economy, China sends the most tourists to Korea. Accordingly, growing consumption of Chinese tourists is strongly drawing attention of the Korean retail industry. Academia has conducted more relevant researches, such as effective branding of Korean Wave, and services to attract tourists. Despite a series of efforts, including specialized tour products and language services, there have been an increasing number of Chinese visitors complaining about their experience in Korea and Chinese tourists are urgently demanding improvements. Hence, comprehending sophisticated consumption behavior of Chinese tourists is becoming more important than ever before. Also, it needs to explore how shopping experiential value that they experience while purchasing fashion goods in Korea affects their satisfaction of the store and product. Previous literature has shown that perceived shopping value has a positive effect on customer satisfaction and behavioral intention (Mathwick et al., 2001). Previous domestic studies that targeted Chinese tourists have focused on investigating the shopping motivation and satisfaction (Ko, 2011) and market segmentation of Chinese tourist shoppers (Oh, 2014). Previous studies have approached this problem mainly from its cognitive aspect and few studies have focused on the emotional aspect during shopping. This study suggests that emotional behavior mediates the relationship between shopping experiential value and consumer attitude toward products and stores. According to the Korea Tourism Organization, the ratio of male to female Chinese tourists visiting Korea changed from 69:31 in 1995 to 59:41 in 2005. In 2013, female Chinese tourists outnumbered males at a ratio of 41:59. The number of Chinese female tourists continues to increase. Females are known to be more involved in fashion consumption. Hence, this study is conducted on 550 Chinese female tourists who have shopping experiences during their visit to Korea. The ages of the respondents range from 20 to over 50 years old, with a mean age of 33.5 years. Their shopping experiential value is measured by visual appeal, crowding, economic benefits, and service excellence, and is expected to trigger emotions of entertainment and escapism. Variables including entertainment and escapism are measured using the Experiential Value Scale developed by Mathwick et al. (2001). This study finds that three experiential values (visual appeal, crowding, and service excellence) have positive influences on entertainment. For example, customers feel greater entertainment when visual appeal, service excellence and/or the number of customers in the store is greater. The emotion of entertainment turns out to have positive impacts on both store satisfaction and product satisfaction. According to the examination of how shopping experiential values affect escapism, crowding and economic benefits have a positive impact, whereas visual appeal and service excellence have a negative impact on escapism. Previous studies define escapism as an emotion of which customers are absorbed by entertaining activities and satisfied with shopping. This study assumes that all the shopping experiential values may have a positive impact on escapism. Escapism is a status where customers are deeply occupied with shopping without thinking of anything as if they were in another world, and a much stronger emotion of entertainment than usual pleasure from shopping. This study finds that the higher visual appeal and service excellence tends to generate the lower the escapism. This may be attributable to the fact that the survey was examined only on Chinese tourists. The respondents were asked to recall the most memorable item among the fashion products that they purchased during their visit to Korea. Their shopping experiences varied widely from well-organized malls, like department stores and duty free shops, to crowded environments, like Dongdaemun, traditional markets and subway stores. As a result, different experiential values have different impacts on escapism. Economic benefits and crowding which are experienced during shopping help to absorb in shopping, and these are likely to have positive impacts on escapism. On the other hand, visual appeal and service excellence may have different influences on escapism according to the shopping environment that Chinese consumers experienced. For example, Dongdaemun or subway stores are less visually appealing than department stores or duty free shops, but trigger stronger sense of escapism. Because survey questions to measure service excellence include Chinese (language) proficiency of sales staff, it is expected that higher language proficiency level of sales staff tends to generate lower degree of escapism, the sense of feeling that one is indeed in foreign country like Korea, for customers. Escapism has negative impacts on both product and store attitudes. Escapism is a status of absorption in which customers are emotionally occupied with pleasant feelings, and purchases along with a high escapism are likely to be less rational and more impulsive. In particular, this study examines tourist shoppers, and the respondents evaluate products they purchased in another country after they return home, and this may have caused the negative attitude toward products and shops. In fact, some previous studies found that overly positive emotions have negative impacts on purchase behavior (Liljander &Standvik, 1997; Andrade, 2005). This study confirms that the shopping experiential values perceived by Chinese tourists affect their product and store attitudes through the emotions of entertainment and escapism. It is particularly notable that this study verifies diverse roles of different emotions such as entertainment and escapism in the context of tourist shopping. This study employs empirical analysis on tourists, and provides practical implications including the importance of shopping experiential values for developing retail strategies.

Osteonecrosis is defined as non-vital bone tissue as a result of abnormal process of osseous healing, and is caused by several reasons such as infection, radiation, and medication. Osteomyelitis, osteoradionecrosis, and medication related osteonecrosis of the jaws (MRONJ) which have necrotic bone in common are confused clinically due to similar symptoms and radiographic findings, and are difficult to diagnose definitively. Because each disease represents a separate clinical progress and requires a different treatment approach, it is very important to distinguish each disease. The aim of this study was to analyze the histopathologic features of osteomyelitis, osteoradionecrosis, MRONJ and to understand their different pathogenesis.

Despite the worldwide distributions of genus Lepidepecreum and the previous reports from China and Japan, this genus has not yet been recorded in Korean waters. In this study, Korean materials of lysianassid amphipods are assigned readily to the genus Lepidepecreum and identified as L. vitjazi Gurjanova, 1962 based on the following features: well-developed dorsal keels of the pleonite 3 and urosimite 1; unconcaved palmer margin of ganthopod 1; hooked locking spines of propodus on pereopods 3 and 4; and the shape of coxa 4. We also provide the description and illustrations of this species.

Dietary and lifestyle modifications are widely prescribed to prevent recurrence of urolithiasis, although little is known about the clinical and demographic factors associated with patient compliance and urinary metabolic changes. The present study assessed the clinical and demographic factors influencing compliance with a modified diet and lifestyle in first-time ureteric stone formers as well as determined the effects of compliance on urinary stone risk factors. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 53 patients presenting with ureteric calcium stones. Using a self-completed questionnaire, patients were classified according to compliance with seven recommendations for modifying diet and lifestyle into good compliance group (complied with ≥ three recommendations) and poor compliance group. Before (on a random diet) and after prescribing the modifications, 24 hour urine samples were collected from those in the good and poor compliance group. The stone size at presentation and initial treatment modality were closely associated with patient compliance (P=0.019, P=0.027, respectively). Citrate excretion significantly increased in the good compliance group after adopting modifications (P=0.012), whereas the poor compliance group did not show a statistically significant difference. Moreover, patients in the poor compliance group showed significantly increased urinary calcium excretion by the end of the study (P=0.040). After adjustments for age, sex, body mass index, and metabolic abnormality status, poor compliance was found to be an independent risk factor for persistence or development of hypocitraturia (OR: 3.885; 95% CI: 1.102~13.694; P=0.035). In conclusion, our results imply that patient education programs regarding diet and lifestyle should be tailored to the individual’s clinical and demographic characteristics.

The oocyte undergoes various events during maturation and requires many substances for the maturation process. Various intracellular organelles are also involved in maturation of the oocyte. During the process glucose is essential for nuclear and cytoplasmic maturation, and adenosine triphosphate is needed for reorganization of the organelles and cytoskeleton. If mitochondrial function is lost, several developmental defects in meiotic chromosome segregation and maturation cause fertilization failure. The endoplasmic reticulum, a store for Ca2+, releases Ca2+ into the cytoplasm in response to various cellular signaling molecules. This event stimulates secretion of hormones, growth factors and antioxidants in oocyte during maturation. Also, oocyte nuclear maturation is stimulated by growth factors such as epidermal growth factor. This review summarizes roles of organelles with focus on the Golgi apparatus during maturation in oocyte.

This studies was conducted to define community structure and diversity of epigeal spiders in apple orchards under different farming practices (organic and conventional). In 11 commercial apple orchards, epigeal spider community structure was investigated during 2012-2014 (3 orchards, 2012; 3 orchards, 2013, 5 orchards, 2014). Epigeal spiders were collected by pitfall traps from April to October, 2012 in Danyang-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do; 2013 in Muju-gun, Jeollabuk-do; 2014 in Cheongsong-gun and Uiseong-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Korea. Sampled spiders were identified to the species level. Biodiversity was analyzed with species richness (total numbers of spider species), abundance (total numbers of individuals) and Shannon-Wiener diversity index (H΄) for each site and compared between organic and conventional orchards. In all regions, abundance of the spider communities were relatively higher in organic orchards than in conventional orchards. But, no significant difference in species richness and specie diversity (H΄) between organic and conventional orchards. Lycosidae was the most dominant family in all orchards regardless farming practices. However, Linyphiidae dominated in organic orchards only. The most dominant species were Pardosa laura (Lycosidae), Erigone koshiensis (Linyphiidae) in organic, Piratula procurvus (Lycosidae) in conventional orchards.

The purpose of the present study is to provide exercises, together with music, that are helpful for elderly people’s balancing ability, and to determine their effects in order to provide data for the promotion of elderly persons’health. Thirty elderly persons were randomly assigned to a balance training group(BTG) of 15 subjects, or a music and balance training group (music therapy + balance training [MTBTG]) of 15 subjects; intervention was implemented three times per week for six weeks. To measure the changes in their balancing ability before and after the experiment, the limit of stability, the“Timed Up and Go”(TUG) test, and the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) were measured. Changes in the limit of stability before and after the experiment were shown to be significant in both the BTG and the MTBTG. Changes in the limit of stability of the right side before and after the experiment showed statistically significant differences between the BTG and the MTBTG. Changes in the TUG test and the BBS before and after the experiment were shown to be statistically significant in both the BTG and the MTBTG. The application of music during balance training thus is considered to have a positive effect on elderly persons’balancing ability.

Objective of this study was to investigate the effect of nicotinic acid (NA) on the characteristics in fresh semen of miniature pig. We evaluated viability, acrosome reaction and mitochondrial integrity of sperm on 0, 3, 7 and 10 days during storage period with nicotinic acid. As results, the survival rate of sperm in 15 mM NA (day 3, 87.8 ± 1.2%; day 5, 84.0 ± 2.7%; day 7, 82.2 ± 0.9%) and 30 mM NA (day 3, 87.7 ± 0.3%; day 5, 84.4 ± 2.5%; day 7, 82.3 ± 0.7%) groups were higher than control and 5 mM NA groups in 3, 7 and 10 days of semen storage. The NA-treated sperm on 10 day was used day for observing acrosome integrity. The survival sperm with acrosome reaction was higher in 30 mM NA group (day 3, 2.7 ± 0.2%; day 5, 3.3 ± 0.6%; day 7, 11.4 ± 0.3%) than in the control, significantly (P<0.05). Moreover, the live sperm with mitochondrial integrity was higher in whole treatment groups of NA than control group, significantly (P<0.05). Specially, most mitochondrial integrity on 10 day of semen storage was significantly higher in 30 mM NA group (90.2 ± 1.6%) than other treatment groups (control, 81.8 ± 3.1%; 5 mM NA, 83.4 ± 3.0%; 15 mM NA, 89.1 ± 0.7%, P<0.05). In conclusion, supplement of NA in liquid semen of miniature pig can improve and maintain semen quality, such as viability, acrosome reaction, and mitochondria integrity.

This study was designed to evaluate the effect of bovine serum albumin (BSA) in a maturation medium on oocyte maturation and embryonic development in pigs. Immature pig oocytes were matured for 44 h in a medium supplemented with 0.4% (w/v) BSA, 0.1% (w/v) polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), or 10% (v/v) pig follicular fluid (PFF). After IVM, oocytes reached metaphase II stage were activated for parthenogenesis (PA) or used as cytoplasts for somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Nuclear maturation (89.5%, 90.7% and 91.3% for BSA, PVA and PFF, respectively) and intraoocyte glutathione contents (1.20, 1.16 and 1.00 pixels/oocyte for BSA, PVA and PFF, respectively) were not altered by the macromolecules added to maturation medium. IVM of oocytes in a medium containing BSA (21.4%) and PVA (20.7%) showed significantly lower blastocyst formation after PA than culture in medium with PFF (39.2%). After SCNT, oocytes matured in medium with BSA showed decreased embryonic development to the blastocyst stage (9.2%) compared to those matured in medium with PFF (28.9%), while 23.6% of SCNT oocytes matured in medium with PVA developed to the blastocyst stage. When the effect of BSA in a maturation medium during the first 22 h and the second 22 h of IVM in combination with PFF or PVA was examined, PVA-BSA showed a higher nuclear maturation (94.1%) than BSA-PFF (84.5%). However, there was no significant difference in the blastocyst formation among tested combinations (47.3, 52.2, 50.0, 44.4 and 49.0% for PFF-PFF, PFF-BSA, PVA-BSA, BSA-PVA and BSA-PFF, respectively). Our results demonstrate that BSA and PVA added to maturation medium can support oocyte maturation comparable to PFF-supplemented medium. However, maturation of oocytes in a BSA-containing medium decreases embryonic development after PA and SCNT when compared with the medium supplemented with PFF.

L-Carnitine is an antioxidant for the transport of fatty acids in mitochondria and breakdown of lipids for metabolic energy. Some studies have suggested that carnitine improves sperm motility in mammals. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of L-carnitine on the characteristics in fresh semen of miniature pigs. The collected fresh semen was stored in modena B medium with L-carnitine (0, 1.0, 2.0, and 4.0 mg/ml) for 10 days at 18℃. The semen quality of viability, acrosome reaction and mitochondria integrity was analyzed on 0, 3, 7, and 10 day of semen storage. The percentages of live and dying sperm were not different among treatment groups with different concentrations of L-carnitine during the storage period. In acrosome reaction analysis, when the sperm stored for 7 day, the percentages of live sperm with acrosome reaction were significantly (p<0.05) lower in 1 (9.0±0.9%), 2 (7.6±0.2%) or 4mg/ml (7.9±0.8%) L-carnitine-treated groups than the control group (0 mg/ml L-carnitine) (11.12±0.2%). However, there were no difference in percentages of live sperm with acrosome reaction for 3 and 10 days of storage with each concentrations of L-carnitine. When sperm was stored for 3 and 10 days, the percentages of live sperm with mitochondria integrity were significantly higher in 2 mg/ml of L-carnitine-treated group than control group (p<0.05). In conclusion, the L-carnitine has a positive effect on acrosome reaction and mitochondria integrity in liquid state of fresh semen in miniature pigs.

The purpose of this study is to observe the effect of elasticity of taping on ankle muscles’activity and endurance after plyometric training that easily causes ankle injury, and provide baseline data for physical therapy intervention methods. The study subjects are 24 male students in their 20s who attend N University in Choongnam. They were divided into three groups; 8 subjects in the elastic taping group, 8 in the non-elastic taping group, and 8 in the non-taping group(control group). They had plyometric training for 6 weeks. After the training, this study measured their maximum voluntary isometric contraction(MVIC) and muscle endurance of the muscles around ankle joint. The experiment result is as follows. After the training, all three groups showed improvement in muscle strength and endurance. The elastic taping group showed insignificant improvement in muscle strength but significant increase in muscle endurance in plantarflexion. In dorsiflexion, both muscle strength and endurance increased significantly. The non-elastic taping group showed insignificant improvement in muscle strength but significant increase in muscle endurance in plantarflexion. Taping during plyometric training had a little or insignificant effect on muscle endurance and strength compared to the non-taping group.

Despite that porcine spermatogonial stem cells (pSSCs) have been regarded as a practical tool for preserving eternally genetic backgrounds derived from pigs with high performance in the economic traits or phenotypes of specific human diseases, there were no reports about precise definition of niche conditions promoting proliferation and maintenance of pSSCs. Accordingly, we tried to determine niche conditions supporting proliferation and maintenance of undifferentiated pSSCs for short-term. For these, undifferentiated pSSCs were progressively cultured in different composition of culture medium, seeding density of pSSCs, type of feeder cells and concentration of growth factors, and then total number of and alkaline phosphatase (AP) activity of pSSCs were investigated at post-6 day culture. As the results, the culture of 4x105 pSSCs on mitotically in activated 2x105 STO cells in the mouse embryonic stem cell culture medium (mESCCM) supplemented with 30 ng/ml glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) was identified as the best niche condition supporting effectively the short-term maintenance of undifferentiated pSSCs. Moreover, the optimized short-term culture system will be a basis for developing long-term culture system of pSSCs in the following researches.

This study was performed to evaluate antimicrobial resistance of food-borne pathogens isolated from retail meat in Korea. A total of 157 samples of beef, pork, and chicken were collected and analyzed for E. coli, Salmonella, Campylobacter. Resistances to tetracycline were declined in accord with reduced usage of tetracycline in live stock production. E. coli stains from chicken meat had higher multi-drug resistance ratio than strains from other meat. One extended spectrum beta lactamase (ESBL) producing E. coli and two ESBL producing Salmonella were identified in this study. ESBL producing Salmonella strains were confirmed to carry CTX-M-1 type genes.

Despite many researches related with in-vitro culture of porcine spematogonial stem cells (SSCs), adherent culture system widely used has shown a limitation in the maintenance of porcine SSC self-renewal. Therefore, in order to overcome this obstacle, suspension culture, which is known to have numerous advantage over adherent culture, was applied to the culture of porcine SSCs. Porcine SSCs retrieved from neonatal testes were suspension-cultured for 5 days or 20 days, and characteristics of suspension-cultured porcine SSCs including proliferation, alkaline phosphatase (AP) activity, and self-renewal-specific gene expression were investigated and compared with those of adherent-cul-tured porcine SSCs. As the results, the suspension-cultured porcine SSCs showed entirely non-proliferative and significantly higher rate of AP-positive cells and expression of self-renewal-specific genes than the adherent-cultured porcine SSCs. In addition, long-term culture of porcine SSCs in suspension condition induced significant decrease in the yield of AP staining-positive cells on post-day 10 of culture. These results showed that suspension culture was inappropriate to culture porcine SSCs, because the culture of porcine SSCs in suspension condition didn’t stimulate proliferation and maintain AP activity of porcine SSCs, regardless of culture periods.

This study was conducted to investigate the community structure and species distribution of ground beetle assemblages in western part of Yeongwol-gun, Korea. Ground beetles were collected by pitfall traps from 9 study sites during July to October in 2013. A total of 30 species were identified from 4,439 collected ground beetles. Two dominant species, Synuchus nitidus (1,916 individuals) and Synuchus cycloderus (1,900 individuals) were occupied 85.8% of total. Interestingly, Pterostichus orientalis orientalis and Synuchus melantho were only collected in relative high altitude above 350 m, such as Beopheung-ri, Unhak-ri, and Yongseok-ri. Large-sized beetles, such as Damaster, Leptocarabus, and Carabus species, were generally more collected from Suju-myeon (Beopheung-ri and Unhak-ri) and Jucheon-myeon (Docheon-ri and Yongseok-ri) as well-conserved area, but not occurred in Yeongwol-eup and Hanbando-myeon, which forests may have lower habitat quality for these species. These differences also lead to increasing of dissimilarity among study sites, which were diverged into 3 groups at 53.0% of similarity. In particular, species composition of Samok-ri was significantly different at 8.2% of similarity because of difference in habitat characteristics as river side. This study has an important value to provide the fundamental information of inventory and monitoring in Yeongwol-gun. For detail mapping of species distribution in Yeongwol-gun, however, further studies are necessary, especially eastern parts of Yeongwol-gun.