Background: Despite its anticancer activity, cisplatin exhibits severe testicular toxicity when used in chemotherapy. Owing to its wide application in cancer therapy, the reduction of damage to normal tissue is of imminent clinical need. In this study, we evaluated the effects of catechin hydrate, a natural flavon-3-ol phytochemical, on cisplatin-induced testicular injury. Methods: Type 2 mouse spermatogonia (GC-1 spg cells) were treated with 0-100 μM catechin and cisplatin. Cell survival was estimated using a cell proliferation assay and Ki-67 immunostaining. Apoptosis was assessed via flow cytometry with the Dead Cell Apoptosis assay. To determine the antioxidant effects of catechin hydrate, Nrf2 expression was measured using qPCR and CellROX staining. The anti-inflammatory effects were evaluated by analyzing the gene and protein expression levels of iNOS and COX2 using qPCR and immunoblotting. Results: The 100 μM catechin hydrate treatment did not affect healthy GC-1 spg cells but, prevented cisplatin-induced GC-1 spg cell death via the regulation of anti-oxidants and inflammation-related molecules. In addition, the number of apoptotic cells, cleaved-caspase 3 level, and BAX gene expression levels were significantly reduced by catechin hydrate treatment in a cisplatin-induced GC-1 spg cell death model. In addition, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory marker genes, including Nrf2 , iNOS, and COX2 were significantly downregulated by catechin hydrate treatment in cisplatintreated GC-1 cells. Conclusions: Our study contributes to the opportunity to reintroduce cisplatin into systemic anticancer treatment, with reduced testicular toxicity and restored fertility.

The 2-round Delphi survey and Focus Group Interview (FGI) survey method, in this study, are sequentially applied for the level analysis of the high-level radioactive waste (HLW) management technologies, that are classified into transport/storage, site evaluation, and disposal categories. The 2- round Delphi survey was conducted on domestic 56 experts in the HLW field in Korea, and survey answers were managed with questionnaires distributed by e-mail. In the FGI survey, domestic 24 experts from management field were formed into three groups to conduct in-depth interviews. Past research achievements including journal papers, intellectual properties and the expert opinions presented at expert hearing on HLW technology were used as reference materials. As a result of the survey, in this study, the average domestic technology level compared to the leading countries was 83.1% in transport area, 79.6% in storage area, 62.2% in site evaluation area, and 57.4% in disposal area, respectively. When compared to the former level analysis results in 2017, technology level of transport-storage area increased by 8.6%, and the site evaluation-disposal technology area decreased by 7.27%. The highest factor that increase the level of technology in the transport-storage field was due to the increased R&D program resulting on journal papers, intellectual properties. In addition, the decrease factor in the level of technology in the site evaluation-disposal field was mainly due to relatively low R&D program when compared to the leading countries. Suggested method for the level survey can be used to find out the basic data of the lower tech technologies, to estimate the efficient research budgets and to prepare the R&D human resources. With this regards, R&D roadmap can be matured with suggested prediction method for the domestic technology level on HLW.

Scented lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) may be highly valued in certain lettuce growing areas, and the trait may be useful as a marker for genetic studies in lettuce. Crosses were made between the scented cultivar ‘Baimach’ and the nonscented cultivar ‘Oaklea

A sweet sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] cultivar was planted on 9 and 30 June 2000 at plant densities of 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 plants m-2 to determine the optimum plant density in Jeju region. There were no significant planting date x plant density interactions for most traits measured. Delaying planting from 9 to 30 June delayed 21 days in heading date, and significantly decreased plant height, the number of productive stems m-2 /, and lodging. Fresh stem yield tended to be higher at the 9 June planting date than at the 30 June planting date, but total sugar and ethanol yields were not significantly affected by planting date. Percentage of soluble solid was higher at the 30 June planting date compared with the 9 June planting date. Fresh stem, total sugar, and ethanol yields quadractically increased from 22.9 to 36.7 t-1 , from 1.66 to 2.54 t-1 , and from 945 to 1440 L-1 , respectively, with increasing plant density. The optimal plant densities for the maximum fresh stem, total sugar, and ethanol were estimated to be 10.7, 9.6, and 9.9 plants m-2 respectively.