The hypopharyngeal gland (HPG) of the honeybee worker produces royal jelly (RJ) and has a developmental cycle closely related to the division of labor. In this study, we investigated to compare the HPG acini diameter of differently aged worker bees with high royal jelly producing colony (HRC) or less producing colony (LRC). Additionally, we also evaluated whether the fresh weight of the head is a reliable indicator of the developmental status of HPG. The HRC showed a significantly higher RJ production about two-times as compared with those of the LRC. We measured the HG-diameters on days 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15. The microscopic analysis revealed that the acini size of the HRC was significantly larger than the LRC. In addition, the acini diameter of HRC was 15% longer than the LRC on the first day after emerging. It was shown that the fastest development during 3 days which is preparing for nurse the brood. The HPG acini diameters increased in both colonies in a similar fashion until day 12 and then decreased. We also compared the fresh head weight of the experimental colonies, differences were similar to the development of HPG. Therefore, high royal jelly production may have a positive correlation between HPG acini size and the fresh head weight.

농가 선호도가 높은 분홍색 비모란 선인장 ‘Yeonbit’는 분홍색 품종 ‘Yeonsi’을 모본으로, 분홍색 ‘Yeonsil’ 품종을 부본으로 하여 2011년에 교배하여 육성된 교배종이다. 종자를 70% C2H5OH와 2% NaOCl로 멸균처리한 후, 100mL 삼각플라스크 0.1% 활성탄이 첨가된 Kyoto 배지에 파종하였다. 발아된 유묘는 기저부를 잘라 기배계대 배양된 어린 삼각주에 접목한 후 동일한 배지가 첨가된 시험관에 치상하였다. 6개월 재배 후 온실로 옮겨서 순화과정을 거쳤으며, 기외에서 매년 접목을 하였으며 총 4번을 접목하여 2013년부터 2015년까지 총 3회에 걸쳐 생육특성을 조사하였다. ‘Yeonbit’ 품종은 편원형 모양과 분홍색 구색을 가지고 있다. 그리고 7~9개, 평균 8.0개의 능(rip), 갈색의 직립형 짧은 가시, 그리고 혹(tubercle)이 돌출된 형태로, 모구가 구성되어 있다. 정식 10개월 후 ‘Yeonbit’ 품종의 구직경은 34.5mm였으며 자구는 모구와 같은 분홍색으로 평균 15.4개가 생성되었다. 2015년 육성계통 평가회에서 ‘Yeonbit’ 품종은 기호도 점수 3.7을 받았다. 2017년 6월 12일에 이 품종은 국립종자원에 등록되었으며 종자산업법에 의해 품종보호(등록번호 6752)를 받게 되었다.

The change of phenolic compounds and radical scavenging activity of black soybean flours after germination and roasting treatment were evaluated as a part of the purpose of setting the quality of black soybean flours for each application. The moisture content of roasted black soybean flours decreased significantly according to roasting temperature and time, and the crude ash, protein, and fat contents increased. Water binding capacity of roasted black soybean flours without and with germination increased significantly according to roasting temperature and time, however water solubility index and swelling power decreased. The lightness of roasted black soybean flours was significantly decreased, and the redness and yellowness increased. The phenolic compounds and radical scavenging activity of roasted black soybean flours increase with increasing roasting temperature and time. The total polyphenol contents of roasted black soybean flours without and with germination were 5.43∼7.81 and 4.52∼6.17 mg GAE/g, and total flavonoid contents were 2.90∼3.50 and 2.34∼3.01 mg CE/g, respectively. DPPH radical scavenging activity of roasted black soybean flours without and with germination was 254.98∼415.05 and 171.95∼295.15 mg TE/100 g, and ABTS radical scavenging activity was 459.74∼596.37 and 422.95∼526.85 mg TE/100 g, respectively. As a result, it is necessary to set quality standards for each application considering the quality and antioxidant properties of roasted black soybean flours.

Entomopathogenic fungi have been used as important part of integrated pest management program to control aphid. In particular, Beauveria bassiana was distributed throughout the world including temperate and tropical area, various habitats from alpine soil, desert soil to running water and both insect and plant. Especially the fungus has also been isolated from the surface and the interior of plants and act as natural control agent. Viability of fungi on the plant surface may be influenced by temperature, humidity, sunlight and plant type as well as fungal isolate. Persistence of treated fungal control agent on phylloplane and control efficacy may differ from environmental conditions and isolates. In this study, we investigated the persistence of an B. bassiana which is developing as prototype wettable powder to control cotton aphid, and the residual efficacy of the prototype on cucumber under three different greenhouse conditions.

Cotton aphid, Aphis gossypii Gloever is one of the major pests on a wide range of economically important crops in the world. The sustained use of chemical insecticides to control the aphid has led to the emergence of resistant strains to numerous used insecticides. As an alternative strategy entomopathogenic fungi have been used as part of integrated pest management program to control aphid, especially insecticide-resistance population. In particular, Beauveria bassiana-based commercial bio-insecticide has been used to reduce the pest population under greenhouse conditions in various countries. In this study, we investigated the control efficacy of a prototype of commercial mycopesticide using an B. bassiana (wettable powder) against cotton aphid on potted cucumber plant in greenhouse conditions.

Various insect pests and plant disease can outbreak in a field. For the effective control of pests and plant diseases during crop cultivation, farmers simultaneously or sequentially spray various eco-friendly agricultural materials (EFAM), chemical pesticides and microbial control agents on the same fields. It was reported that many agrochemicals are harmful to entomopathogenic fungi, especially some fungicides with broad spectrum activity that are routinely applied for the control of plant diseases. In addition, some pesticides may antagonize the potential insecticidal activity and efficiency of entomopathogenic fungi. Therefore, sometimes the utilization of fungal entomopathogen in forestry and agricultural production is limited because of the undesirable interference from some fungicides and pesticides. There is little research that examines the compatibility of these EFAMs with entomopathogenic fungi and the influence of EFAMs on the control efficacy of mycopesticides. We conducted a study of influence of pretreated eco-friendly agricultural materials on control efficacy of Isaria javanica isolate against sweet potato whitefly.

Entomopathogenic fungi are natural enemies of insect pests and contribute to the natural regulation of their host populations. These fungal group are often used as active ingredients for microbial insect pest control. In addition, the potential antimicrobial effect by entomopathogenic fungi including Beauveria bassiana, Lecanicillium spp., and Isaria fumosorosea have recently been reported against fungal plant pathogens. Dual microbial control effects with entomopathogenic fungi against both aphids and cucumber powdery mildew had reported in Canada. In our previous studies we conducted bioassay with entomopathogenic fungi to develop dual microbial control agent which can control both aphid and fungal plant disease. We selected an Beauveria bassiana isolate which has high dual control effects against both cotton aphid, Aphis gossypii and sclerotinia rot, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. In this study, we have tested the dual control efficacy of the B. bassiana isolate against cotton aphid and sclerotinia rot on whole potted cucumber plants. We found that the B. bassiana isolate protected the plant from cotton aphid and sclerotinia rot under laboratory condition.

This study is the first report about the toxicity of pesticides to the mycophagous predator, I. koebelei, of powdery mildew of agricultural crops. Pesticides we tested are composed of synthetic and environmental-friendly products and being used conventionally for the control of insect or microbial pests on cucumber in Korea. our study was conducted to determine the relative toxicities of several pesticides used in Korea cucumber production to mycophagous natural enemy, I. koebelei and to provide a background for implementation of integrated powdery mildew management programs. Based on IOBC classification, three insecticides, bifenthrin + imidacloprid, acetamiprid + indoxacarb, acetamiprid + etopheprox are classified as having a Class 4 (harmful). Spiromesifen showed the low toxicity to the survival and the fecundity of I. koebelei when this chemical had been exposed to 3rd larva or newly emerged adult via feeding with cucumber powdery mildew. However, pyriproxyfen not only decreased the fecundity of female adult but also strongly prohibited from pupation. Many commercial biological or botanical pesticides can restrict the population of I. koebelei. However, Q pact (a.i. Ampelomyces quisqualis 94013), Top seed (a.i. Paenibacillus polymyxa AC-1), BT one (Bacillus thuringiensis) and Solbitchae (insecticidal microorganism) had no toxicity to I. koebelei when this chemical had been exposed to 3rd larva or newly emerged adult feeding with cucumber powdery mildew.

Extracts from Aloe vera leaves, Aloe arborescens leaves, Aloe vera callus, Portulaca oleracea and cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) bean husk (CBH) were prepared using acetone, chloroform, ethanol, hexane, and water. Solvent extracts of Aloe vera leaf had very high antioxidant activities showing IC50 values in the ranges of 0.02-0.17 mg/ mL, and had the highest total phenolic and flavonoid content among the tested samples. We hypothesized that Aloe vera leaf and CBH extracts might possess considerable in vitro anti-glycation activities. Indeed, these extracts strongly inhibited the formation of advanced glycation end-products from RNase in the presence of ribose. The chloroform extract of Aloe vera leaf showed the strongest inhibition of AGE formation (99.9%), followed by the 95% acetone extract (92.8%) at a concentration of 1 mg/mL, exhibiting higher anti-glycation activities than those of AG and rutin (73.4% and 96.1% at 1 mg/mL, respectively). The anti-glycation activity of all extracts was correlated positively with their total contents of phenolics and flavonoids. We conclude that Aloe vera leaf extracts and their constituents may be used as anti-glycation agents.

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.

The centipede Scolopendra subspinipes mutilans has been a medically important arthropod species by using it as a traditional medicine for the treatment of various diseases. In this study, we derived a novel lactoferricin B like peptide (LBLP) from the whole bodies of adult centipedes, S. s. mutilans, and investigated the antifungal effect of LBLP. LBLP exerted an antifungal and fungicidal activity without hemolysis. To investigate the antifungal mechanism of LBLP, a membrane study with propidium iodide was first conducted against Candida albicans. The result showed that LBLP caused fungal membrane permeabilization. The assays of the three dimensional flow cytometric contour plot and membrane potential further showed cell shrinkage and membrane depolarization by the membrane damage. Finally, we confirmed the membrane-active mechanism of LBLP by synthesizing model membranes, calcein and FITC-dextran loaded large unilamellar vesicles. These results showed that the antifungal effect of LBLP on membrane was due to the formation of pores with radii between 0.74 nm and 1.4 nm. In conclusion, this study suggests that LBLP exerts a potent antifungal activity by pore formation in the membrane, eventually leading to fungal cell death.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of gait training using functional electrical stimulation on the improvement of hemiplegic patients' functions for balance and gait velocity. The subjects of the experiment were determined to be 10 each hemiplegic patients who had been diagnosed with stroke or brain damage six months or longer earlier assigned to an experimental group and a control group respectively. The subjects were evaluated before the experiment using Tetrax and 10M gait tests, received gait training five times a week for four weeks using functional electrical stimulation and were evaluated after the experiment in the same method as used in the evaluation before the experiment. In order to examine differences between the experimental group that received gait training using functional electrical stimulation and the control group that was treated by functional electrical stimulation and received gait training thereafter, differences between before and after the experiment were analyzed using paired sample t-tests and differences in changes after the experiment between the experimental group and the control group were analyzed using independent sample t-tests in order to compare the two groups with each other. Experimental results showed significant differences in weight bearing, balance and gait velocity between before and after the experiment in the experimental group(p<.05). In the control group, whereas weight bearing and gait velocity did not show any significant difference between before and after the experiment(p>.05), balance showed significant differences(p<.05). Weight bearing, balance and gait velocity change rates showed significant differences between the experimental group and the control group(p<.05). In conclusion, it was indicated that gait training using functional electrical stimulation is effective for enhancing stroke patients' weight bearing rates, balance abilities and gait velocity.

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.