Background: Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is a prominent technology that can preserve superior genetic traits of animals and expand the population in a short time. Hematological characters and endocrine profiles are important elements that demonstrate the stability of the physiological state of cloned animals. To date, several studies regarding cloned camels with superior genes have been conducted. However, detailed hemato-physiological assessments to prove that cloned camels are physiologically normal are limited. In this study, We evaluated the hemato-physiological characteristics of cloned male and female dromedary camels (Camelus dromedaries). Methods: Therefore, we analyzed variations in hematological characteristics and endocrine profiles between cloned and non-cloned age-matched male and female dromedary camels (Camelus dromedaries ). Two groups each of male and female cloned and non-cloned camels were monitored to investigate the differences in hemato-physiological characteristics. Results: All the animals were evaluated by performing complete blood count (CBC), serum chemistry, and endocrinological tests. We found no significant difference between the cloned and non-cloned camels. Furthermore, the blood chemistry and endocrine profiles in male and female camels before maturity were similar. Conclusions: These results suggest that cloned and non-cloned camels have similar hematological characteristics and endocrine parameters.

The mobility of radionuclides in the subsurface environment is governed by a interaction of radioactivity characteristics and geochemical conditions with adsorption reactions playing a critical role. This study investigates the characteristics and mechanisms of radionuclides adsorption on site media in viewpoint of nuclear safety, particularly focusing on the potential effect of seawater infiltration in coastal site near nuclear power plant. Seawater intrusion alters the chemistry in groundwater, including parameters such as pH, redox potential, and ionic strength, thereby affecting the behavior of radionuclides. To assess the safety of site near nuclear power plant and the environmental implications of nuclide leakage, this research conducted various experiments to evaluate the behavior of radionuclides in the subsurface environment. High distribution coefficients (50-2,500 ml/g) were observed at 10 mg/L Co, with montmorillonite > hydrobiotite > illite > kaolinite. It decreased with competing cations (Ca2+) and was found to decrease significantly by 90% with a decrease in pH to 4. It is believed that the adsorption capacity of cationic radionuclides decreases significantly as the clay mineral surface becomes less negatively charged. For Cs, the distribution coefficient (180-560 ml/g) was higher for montmorillonite > hydrobiotite > illite > kaolinite. Compared to Co, it was found to be less influenced by pH and more influenced by competing cations. For Sr, the distribution coefficient (100-380 ml/g) was higher in the order of hydrobiotite > montmorillonite > illite > kaolinite. Compared to Cs, it was found to be less affected by pH and also less affected by the effect of competing cations compared to Cs. Seawater samples from Gampo and Uljin site near Nuclear Power Plant in Korea were analyzed to determine their chemical composition, which was subsequently used in adsorption experiments. Additionally, the seawater-infiltrated groundwater was synthesized in laboratory according to previous literature. The study focused on the adsorption and behavior of three key radionuclides such as cesium, strontium, and cobalt onto four low permeability media (clay minerals) such as kaolinite, illite, hydrobiotite, and montmorillonite known for their high adsorption capacity at a site of nuclear power plant. At concentrations of 5 and 10 mg/L, the adsorption coefficients followed the order of cobalt > cesium > strontium for each radionuclide. Notably, the distribution coefficient (Kd) values exhibited higher values in seawater-infiltrated groundwater environments compared to seawater with relatively high ionic strength. Cobalt exhibited a substantial adsorption coefficient, with a marked decrease in Kd values in seawater conditions due to elevated ionic strength. In contrast, cesium displayed less dependency on seawater compared to other radionuclides, suggesting distinct adsorption mechanisms, possibly involving fractured edge sites (FES) in clay. Strontium exhibited a significant reduction in adsorption in seawater compared to groundwater in all Kd sorption experiments. The adsorption data of cobalt, cesium, and strontium on clay minerals in contact with seawater and seawater-infiltrated solutions offer valuable insights for assessing radioactive contamination of groundwater beneath coastal site near nuclear power plant sites. This research provides a foundation for enhancing the safety assessment protocols of nuclear power plant sites, considering the potential effects of seawater infiltration on radionuclide behavior in the subsurface environment.

A 9-year-old, intact female, Pungsan dog was referred for purulent vaginal discharge and depression. Abdominal radiographs revealed gas-filled and soft tissue opacity tubular structures in the mid to caudal abdomen. On ultrasonography, fluid-filled uterus and cervix accompanied by hyperechoic foci and reverberation artifacts were identified. Multiple hyperechoic foci were found within the uterine wall, indicating gas content. Escherichia coli was isolated from aerobic and anaerobic bacterial cultures. Radiological differential diagnosis of tubular shaped, dilated gas-filled structure, and gas in the wall of the structure should consider emphysematous pyometra with endometrial pneumatosis in intact female dogs with vulvar discharge.

As the 4th industrial revolution emerges, the implementation of smart factories are essential in the manufacturing industry. However, 80% of small and medium-sized enterprises that have introduced smart factories remain at the basic level. In addition, in root industries such as injection molding, PLC and HMI software are used to implement functions that simply show operation data aggregated by facilities in real time. This has limitations for managers to make decisions related to product production other than viewing data. This study presents a method for upgrading the level of smart factories to suit the reality of small and medium-sized enterprises. By monitoring the data collected from the facility, it is possible to determine whether there is an abnormal situation by proposing an appropriate algorithm for meaningful decision-making, and an alarm sounds when the process is out of control. In this study, the function of HMI has been expanded to check the failure frequency rate, facility time operation rate, average time between failures, and average time between failures based on facility operation signals. For the injection molding industry, an HMI prototype including the extended function proposed in this study was implemented. This is expected to provide a foundation for SMEs that do not have sufficient IT capabilities to advance to the middle level of smart factories without making large investments.

Cryopreservation of porcine ovarian tissue by vitrification method is a promising approach to preserve genetic materials for future use. However, information is not enough and technology still remains in a challenge stage in pig. Therefore, the objective of present study was to determine possibility of vitrification method to cryopreserve porcine ovarian tissue and to confirm an occurrence of cryoinjuries. Briefly, cryoinjuries and apoptosis patterns in vitrified-warmed ovarian tissue were examined by histological evaluation and TUNEL assay respectively. In results, a damaged morphology of oocytes was detected among groups and the rate was significantly (p < 0.05) lower in vitrification group (25.8%) than freezing control group (67.7%), while fresh control group (6.6%) showed significantly (p < 0.05) lower than both groups. In addition, cryoinjury that form a wave pattern of tissues around follicles was found in the frozen control group, but not in the fresh control group as well as in the vitrification group. Apoptotic cells in follicle was observed only in freezing control group while no apoptotic cell was found in both fresh control and vitrification. Similarly, apoptotic patterns of tissues not in follicle were comparable between fresh control and vitrification groups while freezing control group showed increased tendency. Conclusively, it was confirmed that vitrification method has a prevention effect against cryoinjury and this method could be an alternative approach for cryopreservation of genetic material in pigs. Further study is needed to examine the viability of oocytes derived from vitrified-warmed ovarian tissue.

It is essential to provide a safe working environment for radiation workers. At a research reactor decommissioning site in Seoul (KRR1 & KRR2), radioactive waste drum disposal work is in progress. Before performing radiation work, it is necessary to determine the radioactivity of the waste drum to ensure safety. In this reason, we conducted a study to determine the detection efficiency of waste drums using the EXVol code. Determination of the full energy absorption peak efficiency (detection efficiency) is one of the important processes of the gamma-ray activation analysis. For the large voluminous gamma-ray sources like waste drum, the geometrical and attenuation effect should be considered. EXVol (Efficiency calculator for eXtended Voluminous source) code is a detection efficiency calculation code using the effective solid angle method. EXVol can calculate both coaxial and asymmetric structure. In addition, the introduction of a collimator made it possible to reduce the radiation intensity of a high radiation source. And it is possible to determine the precise detection efficiency according to the energy of a gamma ray at a specific position of the volume source. To verify the performance of the EXVol, a high resolution gamma spectroscopy system was constructed and measurement and analysis were performed. Measurements were performed on coaxial, asymmetric and collimated structures with standard point source, standard 1 L liquid volume source and HPGe detector. The measured results were compared with the calculation results of EXVol. The relative deviation of the measurement and calculation in the coaxial and asymmetric structures was 10%, and that of the collimation structure was 20%. Results can be available in analysis of waste drums’ radioactivity determination at a specific position.

수출용 스프레이 장미 신품종을 육성하기 위해 경남농업기술원 화훼연구소에서 2012년 분홍색 스프레이 장미 ‘Pink Sensation’을 모본으로, 오렌지색 스프레이 장미 ‘Orange Jam’ 을 부분으로 하여 잿빛곰팡이병 민감성이 약하고 수송성과 생산성이 좋은 황색 스프레이 장미 ‘Egg Tart’를 육성하였다(품종보호 제7791호). ‘Egg Tart’의 화형은 불규칙한 원형이고, 잎색은 짙은 녹색으로 광택이 강하였으며, 잎 수는 15매, 잎의 길이는 12.3cm로 대조품종 ‘Yellow Tea’에 비해 작았다. 잎의 형태적인 면에서 대조품종과 뚜렷한 차이를 보였는데 ‘Egg Tart’는 소엽 가장자리의 물결모양이 크지 않고 정단부 소엽이 좁은 타원형이었으며, 특히 정부의 모양은 매우 뾰족한 형태를 보였다. ‘Egg Tart’의 절화수량은 152본(㎡/년), 절화장은 78cm, 꽃잎수는 78.8매, 절화수명은 14.4일로 길어 스프레이 절화장미로서 대조품종 ‘Yellow Tea’보다 우수하였다. ‘Egg Tart’의 수출품종으로서 가능성을 확인하기 위해 같은 황색 품종인 ‘Yellow Babe’와 함께 장미 수출업체 재배온실에서 2017 년부터 3년간 실증재배를 하였고 생산된 절화는 내수시장과 일본 수출 시장에 출하하였다. 시험 결과 절화수량과 소화수는 두 품종간 차이가 없었으나 절화길이와 꽃 직경의 크기는 ‘Egg Tart’가 컸으며, 시장 가격도 내수시장과 일본 시장이 각각 송이당 845원, 758원으로 ‘Yellow Babe’ 보다 높았다. ‘Egg Tart’의 잿빛곰팡이병에 대한 민감성을 확인하기 위해 인위적으로 잿빛곰팡이병 균주를 접종하여 병 발생 및 확산 정도를 조사한 결과 대조품종인 ‘Yellow Babe’는 병원균 접종 후 1일 부터 감염이 되었으나 ‘Egg Tart’는 2일부터 감염되었고, 접종 후 4일에 ‘Yellow Babe’는 100% 감염되었지만, ‘Egg Tart’는 38.9%로 대조품종에 비해 상대적으로 감염이 적고 확산 속도도 느렸다. 이상의 결과를 종합해볼 때 황색 스프레이 장미 ‘Egg Tart’는 기존 수출품종 ‘Yellow Babe’를 대체 가능한 품종으로 판단된다.

본 연구는 생산자와 시장의 기호성이 우수한 스프레이 장미 품종 ‘Haesal’의 유용한 화색변이 품종을 단기간에 육성하기 위해 삽수와 발근삽목묘에 각각 감마선을 처리한 후 변이 발생 양상과 주요 화색변이의 생육특성을 조사하기 위해 실시하였다. 감마선 처리 시료 형태에 상관없이 선량이 높아질수록 식물체 치사율은 높아졌고 신초의 발생량과 신초 생장량이 감소하였다. 50% 치사선량(LD50, Lethal dose 50)은 삽수는 70Gy부터, 발근삽목묘는 90Gy부터였고 변이 발생률은 삽수와 발근삽목묘에서 각각 2.6%, 3.1% 였으며, 변이형태는 양쪽 모두 완전변이체, 키메라, 그리고 꽃 형태변이였다. 감마선을 처리한 삽수로부터 ‘Haesal’과 거의 유사한 특성을 가진 화색변이 MUL-1과 MUL-2를 각각 70Gy와 50Gy 선량에서 유기하였고 특성을 조사한 결과 꽃 직경과 꽃잎수, 절화수량은 ‘Haesal’에 비해 조금 적었지만 화형과 잎의 특성, 절화장 등은 ‘Haesal’과 차이가 없었다.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is emerging as the most common liver disease in industrialized countries. Recently, natural compounds that may be beneficial for improving NAFLD have received increasing attention. Artemisia annua L. is the source of antimalarial phytomolecule, artemisinin, which has been reported to prevent obesity. However, the effect of A. annua extract on hepatic lipid metabolism remains unclear. This study was performed to determine the protective effect of Artemisia annua extract (AAE) on high-fat diet (HFD)-induced hepatic lipid accumulation, and elucidate the molecular mechanisms behind its effects in vivo and in vitro. We found that HFD-fed mice with AAE administration (50 mg/kg/day) for 8 weeks dramatically reduced hepatic lipid accumulation compared to the control mice taken with HFD alone. The body and liver weights of AAE group were significantly lower than those of HFD group, and oral administration of AAE remarkably suppressed the serum levels of triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), fasting glucose, alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST) in HFD-fed mice. AAE significantly increased the phosphorylation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) in the liver of HFD-fed mice and HepG2 hepatocytes. Moreover, AAE downregulated the hepatic expression of sterol regulatory element-binding protein-1c (SREBP-1c) and fatty acid synthase (FAS) in HFD-fed mice and high glucose-treated HepG2 cells. In addition, the inhibitory effects of AAE on the overexpression of SREBP-1c and FAS were attenuated by compound C, which is the specific AMPK inhibitor, in high glucose-treated HepG2 cells. These results indicated that AAE may represent a promising approach for the prevention and treatment of obesity-related NAFLD via the activation of AMPK and the regulation of AMPK-dependent lipogenic genes.

Ostrea denselamellosa and Eriocheir japonica samples were collected from the Seomjin River in 2019 as part of the “Research of Host-Associated Bacteria” research program. Almost 200 bacterial strains were isolated from the O. denselamellosa and E. japonica samples and subsequently identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Among the bacterial isolates, ten strains possessed greater than 98.7% sequence similarity with published bacterial species that had not previously been recorded in Korea. These species were phylogenetically diverse, belonging to three phyla, four classes, seven orders, and eight genera. At the genus and class level, the previously unrecorded species belonged to Pseudoalteromonas, Aliivibrio, Rheinheimera, Leucothrix, and Shewanella of the class Gamma-proteobacteria, Olleya of the class Flavobacteriia, Algoriphagus of the class Cytophagia, and Lactococcus of the class Bacilli. The previously unrecorded species were further characterized by examining their Gram staining, colony and cell morphology, biochemical properties, and phylogenetic positions.