본 연구는 침입종 사향쥐의 국내 자연생태계 정착 여부를 확인하였다. 아울러 관리전략 수립과 현장 관리에 필수적인 관리대상지역과 기초적인 행동특성 정보, 서식지 이용에 관한 자료를 제공하고자 하였다. 이를 위해 해외의 사향쥐 관리 동향을 파악하여 정착 단계에 따른 관리 방향을 검토하였다. 그리고 국내 72개 사육농가의 위치정보를 확보하였고, 실태조사를 통해 경기도, 충청남도, 경상북도, 세종특별자치시 소재 5개 지역을 자연 유출 가능성이 높은 지역으로 제시하였다. 또한, 2016년부터 2018년까지 3년간 동일 지점에 서식하는 개체를 모니터링하였다. 2018년 모니터링 지역에서 포획한 개체의 연령이 1.2년생으로 확인되었으며, 2012년 이후 해당지역에 추가적인 개체 보충이 없었다는 사실에 근거하여 국내 자연생태계에 사향쥐가 정착한 것으로 판단하였다. 국내 자연에 정착한 사향쥐는 0.0027 km2 (MCP 95%)의 작은 행동권을 나타내었으며, 봄철과 가을철 규칙적인 이동성을 보이는 것으로 나타났다. 사향쥐의 서식이 관찰된 지역은 서식환경의 교란이 높게 발생한 지역이었으며, 사향쥐의 흔적 출현 빈도는 부엽식물과 부유식물의 생육이 왕성한 개방수역과 개체의 은신처로 활용 가능한 습생목본 식생유형에서 높게 확인되어 이들의 생태적 특성과 섭식 습성이 그대로 반영되었다. 국제적인 침입종 사향쥐가 국내 생태계에 정착하였고, 향후 확산이 우려되는 만큼 정부 차원의 선제적 대응과 과학적 관리를 위한 필수 자료 구축이 검토될 필요가 있다

Using a theoretical framework of cultural capital, the present study analyzed a collecting system in AbyssRium, a mobile healing game. AbyssRium provides users with emotional satisfaction by allowing them to decorate a virtual aquarium using fishes and other sea creatures. We conducted a content analysis using contents generated in online communities and focus group interview with heavy users of AbyssRium. Results suggest that game players feel superiority by possessing rare fishes over others. These rare items were also utilized to distinguish users who collected the items from others not possessing such fishes. Also, the game operator of AbyssRium maintains the game balance by imposing greater costs for experienced users than for novice users in collecting fishes and decorate the aquarium. Such a strategy contributes to sustaining the social ecosystem of Abyssrium by encouraging new users to start to play the game. The current study suggests that a simple mobile game can afford a social interaction and a social system allowing users to constructs social meaning of artifacts presented in the virtual environments. Future research may broaden the generalizability of the cultural capital framework by replicating these findings in different video games.

The seaweed Ecklonia cava, a brown algae abundant in JeJu Island, South Korea, has large amounts of the polyphenol compound phloroglucinol (PG, 1,3,5-trihydroxybenzene), which has been proposed to exert interesting biological properties including antioxidant and radioprotective effects against ionizing radiation-induced damages in various cells and tissues. To identify antioxidant and radioprotective effects of PG in skin tissues, we exposed mice to 8.5 Gy whole body irradiation (WBI) at day 6 after depilation with and without PG treatment. In PG treated cases, PG was applied twice, once at 17.8 hours before and then at the time of WBI. At 8 hours after WBI, a reduction in the formation of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substrates (TBARS) was observed in the PG treated group. Upon western blot analysis, PG treatment overexpressed the MnSOD, catalase, and GPx-1, although the difference was not significant. In parallel with the results of western blot analysis, the percentage of MnSOD-and catalase-positive cells was significantly increased at 8 and 24 hours after WBI, while no significant difference was observed over 48 hours in PG treated skins. Moreover, PG treatment increased the percentage of Ki-67 positive cells compared with that of irradiated only mice at 8 hours after WBI. Our results suggest that PG is effective at attenuating oxidative stress, and that the promotion of antioxidant enzymes such as MnSOD and catalase may be an important aspect for its radioprotection in skin.

Sasa quelpaertensis Nakai is a type of edible bamboo grass distributed on Jeju Island, Korea. S. quelpaertensis has been used as afolk medicine for treatment of a variety of ailments. It has been reported to present biological effects, including anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. In this study, we demonstrate that S. quelpaertensis Nakai extract (SNE) rescues immunocytes from gamma radiation-induced apoptosis and oxidative DNA damage. We examined the cytotoxicity, cell proliferation, DNA damage, apoptosis, and generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in mice given SNE for 45 days in immune cells. To determine the splenocytes protection capability of SNE, gamma-ray was irradiated to the whole body of C57BL/6 mice. Our results suggest that SNE stimulated the proliferation of splenocytes without cytotoxic effects. In addition, SNE not only decreased DNA damage but also reduced apoptosis of splenocytes, and attenuated the production of ROS generation in hydrogen peroxide-induced splenocytes. Therefore, SNE can protect against gamma radiation-induced damage in mice.

Polydnavirus (PDV) is a group of double-stranded DNA insect viruses. PDV is mutualistic with some ichneumonid and braconid wasps to parasitize specific lepidopteran hosts. The viral genome is located on the wasp chromosome(s) as a proviral form and replicates only at the female reproductive organ during late pupal stage. The viral particles are accumulated in the oviduct lumen and delivered to the parasitized host along with wasp eggs during parasitization. The viral particles enter target tissues in the parasitized larvae and alter host physiological processes for the wasp development by suppressing immune responses and extending larval period. Cotesia plutellae bracovirus (CpBV) is a PDV symbiotic to C. plutellae parasitizing young larvae of the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella. The viral particles of CpBV encode 157 open reading frames classified into different gene families. CpBV-PTP family is the largest and comprises of at least 40 gene members. CpBV-BEN, CpBV-ELP, and CpBV-IkB families also share common motifs in each gene group. In addition, two homologous genes of CpBV15α and CpBV15β are encoded in a viral genome segment. To apply these viral genes to enhance an alpha-baculovirus in insecticidal activity, they were recombined with AcNPV under a PDV promoter. As a control, under the same promoter, the recombinant baculovirus expressed an enhanced green fluorescence protein (EGFP). Upon injection or oral feeding tests, three different recombinant baculoviruses (AcNPV-ELP1, AcNPV-CpBV15α, AcNPPV-CpBV15β) enhanced the insecticidal activity compared to a control recombinant (AcNPV-EGFP). However, there was a variation in the up-regulation of the insecticidal activities among the recombinants. AcNPV-ELP1 showed the greatest potency in the insecticidal activity against the beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua, larvae. AcNPV-ELP1 exhibited a significant variation in insecticidal activity among different larval stages of S. exigua. In the fifth instar, 1.435x107 PIB treatment of AcNPV-ELP1 showed a median lethal time at 112.7 h. ELP1 protein was detected in the hemolymph at 24 h after the viral treatment. Foliar spray of AcNPV-ELP1 was performed in pot assay and resulted in 88% control efficacy against S. exigua, while control efficacies of AcNPV-EGFP and bifenthrin (a pyrethroid insecticide) resulted in 65% and 96%, respectively. These results suggest that a PDV gene, ELP1, may be applied to develop a novel control agent by ameliorating commercial microbial insecticides or by generating transgenic crops.