The primary therapeutic approach for Brucella species infections has mainly been based on antibiotic treatment. However, the development of vaccines for brucellosis control remains controversial. Furthermore, there is currently no licensed vaccine available for human brucellosis. This study aims to evaluate the effect of a combination of recombinant protein vaccines against Brucella (B.) abortus infection using a mouse model. Two B. abortus genes, namely dapB and gpm, were cloned and expressed in competent Escherichia (E.) coli DH5α using the pCold-TF vector. Successfully cloned vectors were subjected to PCR amplification using specific primer pairs. The apparent sizes of dapB and gpm were detected at 807 bp and 621 bp, respectively. Besides, the purified recombinant proteins dapB and gpm were detected using SDS-PAGE electrophoresis with correct sizes of 82.86 kDa and 87.61 kDa, respectively. These recombinant proteins were used to immunize mice as a combined subunit vaccine (CSV) to elicit host immunity against B. abortus infection. Mice immunized with CSV exhibited increased proliferation of CD4+ and/or CD8+ T cells at week 7th and 9th before sacrifice, in comparison to the control group. Notably, CSV immunization showed a significant decrease in bacterial burden in the spleen compared to the control group. Altogether, CSV using dapB and gpm induced host adaptive immune response against Brucella infection, suggesting its potential as an effective new subunit vaccine candidate.

In this review, the regulatory mechanisms of autophagy were described, and its interaction with apoptosis was identified. The role of autophagy in embryogenesis, tooth development, and cell differentiation were also investigated. Autophagy is regulated by various autophagy-related genes and those related to stress response. Highly active autophagy occurrences have been reported during cell differentiation before implantation after fertilization. Autophagy is involved in energy generation and supplies nutrients during early birth, essential to compensate for their deficient supply from the placenta. The contribution of autophagy during tooth development, such as the shape of the crown and root formation, ivory, and homeostasis in cells, was also observed. Genes control autophagy, and studying the role of autophagy in cell differentiation and development was useful for understanding human aging, illness, and health. In the future, the role of specific mechanisms in the development and differentiation of autophagy may increase the understanding of the pathological mechanisms of disease and development processes and is expected to reduce the treatment of various diseases by modulating the autophagic phenomenon.

형식은 텍스트와 컨텍스트 사이의 상호작용으로 발생하여, 이중 어느 하나로도 귀결되지 않는 동시에 이들 사이를 조정한다. 형식은 단순히 텍스트의 부산물이 아니고 비가의 예에서처럼 사회적 관습에 종속된다. 동시에 형식은 컨텍스트와 별개로 독립적인 형식의 패턴을 유지한다. 알리와 멀둔에 관한 이 비교연구는 형식이 가진 이러한 역동성을 전제로 진행된다. 두 시인은 역사적 구체성과 구조적 자율성에 기반한 전통적인 시 형식이 가진 역동성을 사용하여 고국이 식민주의 이후 극심한 분쟁을 겪을 때 노스탤지아적 세계관을 구축한다. 두 시인은 스스로를 망명자로 인식하며 가잘, 소네트, 세스티나, 빌라넬과 같은 시 형식을 통해 노스탤지아적 갈망을 표현한다.

In this study, we examined the antagonistic effects of sprout-borne lactic acid bacteria (LAB) on Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis. This antagonism is promoted as a means of controlling contamination during sprout production and provides additional LAB for consumers. We isolated a total of 24 LAB isolates in nine species and five genera from seven popular vegetable sprouts: alfalfa (Medicago sativa), clover (Trifolium pratense), broccoli (Brassica oleracea ssp. italica), vitamin (B. rapa ssp. narinosa), red radish (Raphanus sativus), red kohlrabi (B. oleracea var. gongylodes), and Kimchi cabbage (B. campestris var. pekinensis). Based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, the LAB species were identified as Enterococcus casseliflavus, E. faecium, E. gallinarum, E. mundtii, Lactococcus taiwanensis, Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Pediococcus pentosaceus, and Weissella cibaria, and W. confusa. A total of 16 LAB isolates in seven species including E. faecium, E. gallinarum, E. mundtii, L. taiwanensis, L. mesenteroides, P. pentosaceus, and W. cibaria showed antagonistic activity toward S. enterica. The growth inhibition of sprout LAB on S. enterica was confirmed by co-culture. Unexpectedly, sprout LAB failed to suppress the growth of S. enterica in alfalfa sprouts, whereas all LAB strains stimulate S. enterica growth even if it is not significant in some strains. The findings of this study indicate that S. enterica-antagonistic LAB are detrimental to food hygiene and will contribute to further LAB research and improved vegetable sprout production.

In this study, we introduce the validation of the analysis guidelines through preliminary experiments of the draft analysis guidelines before analyzing waste materials (non-combustible). This validation data was applied the accuracy and efficiency of the separation and analysis for the waste such as steel generated from NPP. Steel (non-flammable) was leached the mixed acid and the leaching solution was separated by using the separation guidelines. Steel was corroded with radioactive RM (Co-60, Cs-137) and mixed acid. After drying, the corroded steel was measured the initial radioactivity by a HPGe detector (10,000 seconds). The sample was inserted in a beaker and leached with mixed acid (10 M HNO3 + 4 M HCl) for 2 hours. In this solution, it added 2 ml of H2O2 to increase the leaching effect. The ultrasonic device was adjusted so that the temperature does not exceed 60°C. After elution, the surface of the sample was washed with pure water. The weight of the sample was measured accurately, and recorded the weight loss rate after infiltration. The leaching sample was measured radioactivity by a HPGe detector (10,000 seconds). It was calculated the recovery rate based on the difference in total radioactivity before and after leaching. Before the test, radioactive RM (Co-60, Cs-137) was radioactive deposited by corrosion, but Cs- 137 was not detected in the initial gamma measurement and only Co-60 nuclides were deposited. The recovery rate test results were confirmed to be about 100%.

Chelating agents, such as ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA), and nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) are widely used in industry and agriculture as water softeners, detergents, and metal chelating agents. In wastewater treatment plants, a significant amount of chelating agents can be discharged into natural waters because they are difficult to degrade. Since those compounds affect the mobility of radionuclides or heavy metals in decontamination operations at nuclear facilities and radioactive waste disposal, quantification of the amount of ligand is very important for safe nuclear waste management. To predict the behavior of the main complexation in sample matrices of radioactive wastes, it is essential to evaluate the distribution of the metal-chelating species and their stabilities in order to develop analytical techniques for quantifying chelating agents. We have investigated to collect information on the pH speciation of metal chelation and the stability constants of metal complexes depending on three chelating agents (EDTA, DTPA, and NTA). For example, Zhang’s group recently reported that the initial coordination pH of Cu(II) and EDTA4− is delayed with the addition of Fe(III), and the pH range for the stable existence of [Cu(EDTA)]2− is narrowed compared to when it is alone in the sample matrix. The addition of Fe(III) clearly impacts the chemical states of the Cu(II)-EDTA solution. Additionally, Eivazihollagh’s group demonstrated differences in the speciation and stability of Cu(II) species between Cu(II) and three chelating ligands (EDTA, DTPA, and NTA). This study will be greatly helpful in identifying the sample matrix for binding major chelating agents and metals as well as developing chemically sample pretreatment and separation methods based on the sample matrix. Finally, these advancements will enable reliable quantitative analysis of chelating agents in decommissioning radioactive wastes.

Radiation from spent nuclear fuel (SNF) is one of key factors affecting the dissolution process of SNF and the source term from repository. The dissolution rate of uranium dioxide (UO2) matrix of SNF is expected to control the release of radionuclides from SNF in contact with water under geological disposal conditions. Based on the oxidative dissolution mechanism, the solubility of UO2 can increase significantly if the reducing environment near the fuel surface is altered by water radiolysis caused by radiation from SNF. Therefore, the analysis of water radiolysis products such as radicals (·OH, ·OH2, eaq, ·H) and molecules (H3O+, H2, H2O2) is perquisite for studies on the rate of such dissolution process to determine oxidation/dissolution mechanism and related rate constants. In this study we examined the two-known spectroscopic methods developed for H2O2 determination; one is the luminol-based chemiluminescence (luminol-CL) method and the other is the spectrophotometry using ferrous oxidation-xylenol orange complexation (FOX). Their applicability for quantitative analysis of H2O2 in potential aqueous samples from SNF dissolution studies was evaluated in terms of the analytical dynamic range (ADR), the limit of detection (LOD) and the interfering effects of various metal ions possibly present in real samples. The luminol-CL method exploits the chemiluminescence reaction caused by luminol; when in the presence of a metallic catalyst (e.g., Cu2+, Co2+), luminol emits a blue light (425 nm) at pH 10- 11 in response to oxidizing agents such as hydrogen peroxide. Although a flow-through reaction system is routinely employed to enhance the analytical sensitivity we achieved the ADR up to ~200 μM and LOD < 1 μM by a batch-wise CL detection using conventional cuvette cells and an intensified charge-coupled device (ICCD). Interestingly, it turned out that the interfering effects of other metal ions (e.g., UO2 2+, U4+, Fe2+ and Fe3+) is minimal, which should be advantageous for the luminol-CL method to be employed for samples potentially containing other metal ions. On the other hand, the FOX method spectrophotometrically analyzes H2O2 based on the difference in color (or absorption spectra) of Fe-xylenol orange (XO) complexes. Initially, the Fe2+-XO complex was provided in working solutions at pH 3, which was subsequently mixed with samples having H2O2 and allowed for quantitative oxidation of Fe2+ to Fe3+. Typically, by monitoring the absorbance of Fe3+-XO complex at 560-580 nm (λmax) the ADR up to ~100 μM and LOD ~1.6 μM were achieved. However, it is found that interfering effects from M3+ and M4+ ions are significant; these interfering metal ions can form XO complexes so as to directly contribute the measured absorbance. In contrast, the influence from M2+ ions was found to be negligible. To summarize we conclude that both methods can be applied for H2O2 determination for aqueous samples taken from SNF dissolution tests. However, prior to applying the FOX method the metal ion composition in those samples should be thoroughly identified not to overestimate the H2O2 concentration of samples. More details of underlying chemical reactions in both methods will be discussed in the presentation.

One of the important components of a nuclear fuel cycle facility is a hot cell. Hot cells are engineered robust structures and barriers, which are used to handle radioactive materials and to keep workers, public, and the environment safe from radioactive materials. To provide a confinement function for these hot cells, it is necessary to maintain the soundness of the physical structure, but also to maintain the negative pressure inside the hot cell using the operation of the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. The negative pressure inside the hot cells allows air to enter from outside hot cells and limits the leakage of any contaminant or radioactive material within the hot cell to the outside. Thus, the HVAC system is one of the major components for maintaining this negative pressure in the hot cell. However, as the facility ages, all the components of the hot cell HVAC system are also subject to age-related deterioration, which can cause an unexpected failure of some parts. The abnormal operating condition from the failure results in the increase of facility downtime and the decrease in operating efficiency. Although some major parts are considered and constructed in redundancy and diversity aspects, an unexpected failure and abnormal operating condition could result in reduction of public acceptance and reliability to the facility. With the advent of the 4th Industrial Revolution, prognostics and health management (PHM) technology is advancing at a rapid pace. Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, Siemens, and other companies have already developed technologies to constantly monitor the integrity of power plants and are applying the technology in the form of digital twins for efficiency and safety of their facility operation. The main point of PHM, based on this study, is to monitor changes and variations of soundness and safety of the operation and equipment to analyze current conditions and to ultimately predict the precursors of unexpected failures in advance. Through PHM, it would be possible to establish a maintenance plan before the failure occurs and to perform predictive maintenance rather than corrective maintenance after failures of any component. Therefore, it is of importance to select appropriate diagnostic techniques to monitor and to diagnose the condition of major components using the constant examination and investigation of the PHM technology. In this study, diagnostic techniques are investigated for monitoring of HVAC and discussed for application of PHM into nuclear fuel cycle facilities with hot cells.