Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a fatal disorder wherein patients suffer from sensory, motor, and cognitive loss. Currently, the identification and validation of biomarkers for diagnosing AD and other forms of dementia are increasingly important. Olfactory dysfunction is present in patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or idiopathic Parkinson's disease. Alzheimer’s patients show neuropathological changes in areas of the brain central to the olfactory processing center, suggesting the theoretical importance and potential diagnostic utility of investigating functional changes in olfaction in these patients. However, the usefulness of olfactory screens to serve as informative indicators of Alzheimer’s is precluded by the lack of knowledge regarding neural and molecular mechanisms underlying olfactory dysfunction onto Alzheimer's diseases. To test these ultimate questions, we used molecular and electrophysiological recording techniques to find out the difference of olfactory responses and AD related protein expression patterns by using fly model, Drosophila melanogaster that over-expresses the human β -amyloid, tau protein. We postulated that such flies would present with progressive olfactory impairments compared with age-matched wild type control flies. In this study, our hypothesis is that there is a correlation between olfactory deficits and the spatial expression pattern of β-amyloid and tau protein deposition. Therefore, we demonstrate a specific concentration of lesions in central olfactory structures such as antenna and Maxillary palps. Our study indicates that deficits on olfactory identification may occur in AD, which will be valuable as an indicator of neuropathogenesis.

One hundred seven plant essential oils were tested for insecticidal activities against Bemisia tabaci B and Q biotype adults, using the fumigation and direct spray methods. In the fumigation assay with the Q biotype adults, garlic oil was the most toxic (1.5×10-3 μl/cm3) on the basis of the LC50 value. Clove leaf, thyme, oregano (origanum), clove bud, savory, cinnamon bark, dabana, vetiver haiti and catnip essential oils also gave potent toxicity with the range of 1.7 to 4.5×10-3 μl/cm3 of LC50 values. These essential oils showed similar strong toxicity against B biotype. Based on the results obtained from fumigation test, nine plant essential oils were selected for the direct spray application at three concentrations (0.5, 0.1 and 0.02%). A litter difference was obtained between B and Q types in mortality to the tested oils. At the 0.5% concentration, they gave considerable mortality of 76 to 100%. At 0.1%, only garlic essential oil produced 96 to 100% mortality, but the others showed less than 76% mortality. Several plant essential oils appear to be candidates for the control of B. tabaci.

The larvicidal activity of materials from Ostericum koreanum (Apiaceae) root against late 3rd or early 4th instar larvae of Aedes aegypti and Culex pipiens pallens was examined using standard WHO technique under laboratory conditions. Results were compared with those of temephos. The biologically active constituents of O. koreanum root were characterized as four coumarines; isoimperatorin (I), osthol (II), oxypeucedanin (III) and imperatorin (IV) by spectroscopic analysis, including EI-MS, LC-MS, 1H NMR and 13C NMR spectroscopy. On the basis of 24-hr LC50 values, osthol among these four coumarines was the most toxic against Ae. aegypti (1.97 ppm) and Cx. pipiens pallens (1.87 ppm) larvae, but its activity was less than temephos (0.0047 and 0.013 ppm, respectively). LC50 values of isoimperatorin, oxypeucedanin and imperatorin derived from O. koreanum root against Ae. aegypti larvae were 2.46, 6.92 and 2.17 ppm, and against Cx. pipiens pallens larvae, were 1.99, 5.04 and 3.68 ppm. The results indicate that both materials and coumarines from O. koreanum root have potential to be used for mosquito control.

Background : Recently, some of the previous stuies reported that was useful technique on growth and yield of organically grown ginseng transplantation in a rain shelter greenhouse. This study was conducted to investigate the optimum method of greenhouse shading for ginseng(Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer) cultivaton in the northern area of Ganwon, Korea. Methods and Results : We carried out to select optimal shade materials and light-penetrated ratio among polyethylene film with two-layered polyethylene net(PEF+PEN) and blue-white duplicated PE film(BWD-PEF) in the condition of greenhouse for ginseng cultivation. The order of light-penentrated ratio by shade meterials was PEN(75%)+PEF 〉 PEN(85%)+PEF 〉BWD-PEF(85%) 〉BWD-PEF(90%) and the order of air temperature was BWD-PEF(85%) 〉BWD-PEF(90%) 〉PEN+PEF(85%) 〉PEN+PEF(75%). The net photosynthetic rate was higher in PEN(75%)+PEF than other shading material treatments during growth season including summer high-temperature period. The root weight and yield were increased by 31.2~55.0% and 25.6~52.2%, respectively under PEN+PEF(75%) compared to other shading materials. Conclusion : We concluded that the PEN+PEF(75%) could be a good shading meterails of the greenhouse for organic 4-year-old ginseng cultivation in northern area of Gangwon, Korea.