Background: Research on the reproductive physiology of Water and Sika deer, an endemic in Korea, still needs to be completed. This study analyzed the ovarian development and morphological characteristics of wild Water deer and Sika deer. Methods: Water deer and Sika deer ovaries were collected from the Korean Peninsula and Russia–Korean Peninsula border during the estrus and pregnancy seasons, respectively. And, morphological and physiological analysis and immunohistochemistry were conducted to confirm the detection of Ca2+ and assess the morphological changes in the ovaries. Results: The results of morphological analysis of ovaries during pregnancy and estrus, the development of the corpus luteum and follicles of Water deer showed similar patterns to other mammals. In contrast, the corpus luteum of Sika deer differed in tissue morphology and composition from Water deer. Ca2+ related to tissue metabolism was detected in the theca cells zone of Water deer on the estrus and was highly detected in the luteum cells zone during pregnancy. The hormone receptor protein expression patterns were generally higher in the ovaries of Water deer on the estrus and the pregnancy than in Sika deer. The expression of LH receptor was relatively low in the lutein cell zone, unlikely that of Water deer. The expression of VEGF was also different from Water deer, and the response in Sika deer was relatively very low compared to Water deer in expressing all proteins-related development. Conclusions: Therefore, the results of the study were shown that the composition of the corpus luteum of Sika deer is not clear compared to Water deer, and there are many differences in the functional and morphological formation of the corpus luteum.

본 연구에서는 2021년 전남, 전북을 대상으로 23개소에서 어류 4종(향어, 비단잉어, 참붕어, 금붕어) 총 1,115마리에 대하여 병원체 감염 여부를 조사하였다. 법정전염병 3종(SVC, Spring viraemia of carp, EUS, Epizootic ulcerative syndrome, and KHVD, Koi herpesvirus disease)을 분 석한 결과, 조사한 모든 시료에서 법정전염병이 검출되지 않아 전라권에서 조사한 잉어과어 류는 청정국 또는 청정지역 선언에 중요한 정보를 제공할 것이다.

We previously showed that γ-glutamyltranspeptidase (GGT), an enzyme involved in glutathione metabolism, in Bacillus subtilis acts as a virulence factor for osteoclastogenesis via the RANKL-dependent pathway. Hence, it can be hypothesized that GGT of periodontopathic bacteria acts as a virulence factor in bone destruction. Because Fusobacterium nucleatum, which is a periodontopathic pathogen, has GGT with a primary structure similar to that of B. subtilis GGT (37.7% identify), the bone-resorbing activity of F. nucleatum GGT was examined here. Recombinant GGT (rGGT) of F. nucleatum was expressed in Escherichia coli and purified using the His tag of rGGT. F. nucleatum rGGT (Fn rGGT) was expressed as a precursor of GGT, and then processed to a heavy subunit and a light subunit, which is characteristic of general GGTs, including the human and B. subtilis enzymes. Osteoclastogenesis was achieved in a co-culture system of mouse calvaria-derived osteoblasts and bone marrow cells. Fn rGGT induced osteoclastogenesis to a level similar to that of B. subtilis rGGT; furthermore, osteoclastogenesis was induced in a dose-dependent manner. These results suggest that F. nucleatum GGT possesses a virulent bone-resorbing activity, which could play an important role in the pathogenesis of periodontitis.

본 연구는 코로나19 유행 시기 간호대학생의 코로나19에 대한 불안, 위험인식, 정보이해력, 감염예방행위 이행 수준을 파악하기 위해 시도되었다. 본 연구는 서술적 조사연구로 2020년 6월 8일부터 6월 14일까지 간호대학생 224명을 대상으로 온라인을 통해 설문조사를 실시하였다. 수집된 자료는 SPSS 26.0을 이용하여 기술통계, t-test, ANOVA, 상관관계 분석을 하였다. 간호대학생의 불안정도는 6.86점(최대10점)으로 보통 수준이었으며, 위험인식은 8.19점(최대10점), 정보이해력은 3.50점(최대4점), 감염예방행위 수행정도는 4.44점(최대5점)으로 높은 수준이었다. 감염예방행위는 불안정도, 위험인식, 정보이해력이 높을수록 수행정도가 높았다. 코로나19와 같은 신종감염병이 유행할 때는 감염에 대한 불안감과 위험인식이 증가할 수 있으므로 감염병에 대한 충분한 정보제공으로 감염병에 대한 정확한 이해가 필요하다. 신종 감염병에 대한 정확한 이해는 철저한 감염예방행위를 향상 시키므로 감염병 전파 위험을 감소시킬 수 있을 것이다.

Nine fish and one clam species were collected from freshwater environments in Korea, including four lakes, two streams, and the Nakdong River, to investigate the host-associated bacteria. Hundreds of bacterial strains were isolated from the samples using a cell sorter and a dilution plating method. After identification of the bacterial strains using 16S rRNA gene sequences, 42 strains with greater than 98.7% sequence similarity with validly published species were determined to be unrecorded bacterial species in Korea. These strains were phylogenetically diverse and assigned to four phyla, six classes, 17 orders, 27 families, and 32 genera. At the genus level, the unrecorded species were classified as Corynebacterium, Mycobacterium, Mycolicibacterium, Gordonia, Williamsia, Modestobacter, Brachybacterium, Sanquibacter, Arthrobacter, and Mycolicibacterium of the class Actinobacteria; Empedobacter, and Flavobacterium of the class Flavobacteriia; Fictibacillus, Psychrobacillus, Cohnella, Paenibacillus, Rummeliibacillus, Enterococcus, and Vagococcus of the class Bacilli; Aquamicrobium, Paracoccus, and Sphingomonas of the class Alphaproteobacteria; Achromobacter, Delftia, and Deefgea of the class Betaproteobacteria; and Aeromonas, Providencia, Yersinia, Marinomonas, Acinetobacter, and Pseudomonas of the class Gammaproteobacteria. The 42 unrecorded species were subjected to further taxonomic characterization using gram staining, cellular and colony morphological determination, biochemical analyses, and phylogenetic analyses. This paper provides detailed descriptions of the 42 previously unrecorded bacterial species.

Periodontitis is a bacteria-induced inflammatory disease associated with alveolar bone loss. Osteoclast is a macrophage-lineage cell that exhibits phagocytic activity; however, osteoclast phagocytic activity has not been demonstrated under pathological conditions. Diabetes is a pathological condition that exacerbates alveolar bone loss via periodontitis; therefore, we examined phagocytic osteoclasts in diabetic rats that had periodontitis. The rats were divided into the control (C), periodontitis (P), and diabetes with periodontitis (DP) groups. Diabetes and periodontitis were induced by streptozotocin injection and ligature of the mandibular first molars, respectively. On days 3 and 20 after the ligature, the rats were sacrificed, and osteoclasts containing inclusions were quantified by tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase staining. On day 3, there were more osteoclasts containing inclusions in the DP group than in the C group. Among inclusions, osteocyte-like cells and dense bodies were more frequently observed in the DP group than in the C group. Cytoplasm-like structures were elevated more in the DP group than in the C and P groups. However, no differences were observed on day 20. Interestingly, some osteoclasts were in contact with the osteocytes within the exposed lacunae and contained several inclusions within a large vacuole. Thus, the elevation of phagocytic osteoclasts in rats with diabetes and periodontitis provides insight into the role of osteoclast phagocytic activity under pathological conditions.

The purpose of this study was to investigate dietary behavior and nutritional knowledge related to sodium intake in high school students. A questionnaire survey was conducted in 400 high school students (200 boys) in Incheon, Korea. Survey data were analyzed according to gender and degree of obesity. The distribution of the degree of obesity was the highest in 231 normal weight individuals (57.8%), followed by 89 underweight (22.3%), 41 overweight (10.3%), and 39 obese (9.8%). The sodium-related undesirable dietary behavior score was 2.9 points out of 5 points. The detailed dietary behavior scores of ‘I eat kimchi when I eat instant noodles or noodles’ and ‘I like dried fish with salt’ were significantly higher in boys than in girls (p<0.05). It was found that boys consumed more frequently high sodium foods, such as pizza, hamburger, and hotdog than girls. According to the degree of obesity, the underweight group consumed more kimchi fried rice and potato chips frequently than the other groups (p<0.05). Preference for salty taste was not significantly different among the groups by gender and degree of obesity. Sodium-related nutritional knowledge score was 5.3 points out of 10 and which was significantly higher in girls or normal weight group than in boys or obesity group. These results suggest that nutritional education on sodium intake is needed because the nutritional knowledge of adolescents is relatively low. Moreover, intensive nutritional guidance is required, especially in boys or adolescents with undesirable degree of obesity.

The disadvantage of the current Red imported fire ants (RIFA) diagnostic is that it takes at least two days, because it is subjected to PCR amplification and DNA sequence identification process using an arthropod universal mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I prime pair after genomic DNA extraction. In order to overcome this drawback, two RIFA specific genes were confirmed and used to develop techniques for identifying the species using various PCR methods. The conventional PCR method can be confirmed by the presence of amplified DNA, but additional time is required to confirm whether the PCR products are present or not. In contrast, SYBR green Real Time (RT) PCR or TaqMan probe RT PCR method has the advantage of confirming the results immediately after the reaction is completed. The new molecular diagnostic method has the advantage of shortening the time of two days, which is the biggest disadvantage of RIFA molecular diagnostic method, to 3 hours or less.

As the functions and structure of the system are complicated and elaborated, various types of structures are emerging to increase reliability in order to cope with a system requiring higher reliability. Among these, standby systems with standby components for each major component are mainly used in aircraft or power plants requiring high reliability. In this study, we consider a standby system with a multi-functional standby component in which one standby component simultaneously performs the functions of several major components. The structure of a parallel system with multifunctional standby components can also be seen in real aircraft hydraulic pump systems and is very efficient in terms of weight, space, and cost as compared to a basic standby system. All components of the system have complete operation, complete failure, only two states, and the system has multiple states depending on the state of the component. At this time, the multi-functional standby component is assumed to be in a non-operating standby state (Cold Standby) when the main component fails. In addition, the failure rate of each part follows the Weibull distribution which can be expressed as increasing type, constant type, and decreasing type according to the shape parameter. If the Weibull distribution is used, it can be applied to various environments in a realistic manner compared to the exponential distribution that can be reflected only when the failure rate is constant. In this paper, Markov chain analysis method is applied to evaluate the reliability of multi-functional multi-state standby system. In order to verify the validity of the reliability, a graph was generated by applying arbitrary shape parameters and scale parameter values through Excel. In order to analyze the effect of multi-functional multi-state standby system using Weibull distribution, we compared the reliability based on the most basic parallel system and the standby system.

To determine the effect of the tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in odontoclast formation, we administrated a TNF-α inhibitor in rats with diabetes rats with periodontitis. The rats included in the study were divided into three groups: control rats without diabetes or periodontitis (the C group), rats with periodontitis and diabetes (the PD group), and rats with periodontitis and diabetes treated by infliximab, the TNF inhibitor (the PD+infliximab group). The PD and PD+ infliximab groups received intravenous administrations of streptozotocin (STZ, 50 mg/kg) to induce diabetes. After 7 days of STZ injections, the mandibular first molars were ligatured to induce periodontitis. The PD+infliximab group was intrapenitoneally administrated by infliximab (5 mg/kg). On days 3 and 20 after the ligature administration, odontoclast formation along root surfaces was evaluated by tartrate resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) staining and cathepsin K immunohistochemistry. On day 3, the number of TRAP- and cathepsin K-positive cells increased more so in the PD group than in the C group. The PD+infliximab group showed a lower number of positive cells than the PD group. There was no difference in all the groups on day 20. On day 3, the cathepsin-K positive multinucleated and mononucleated cells were higher in the PD group than in the C group. The number of cathepsin-K positive multinucleated cells was lower in the PD+infliximab group than in the PD group. The PD group showed more cathepsin K-positive cells in the furcation and distal surfaces than the c group. The Cathepsin K-positive cells of the PD+infliximab group were lower than that of the PD group in furcation. These results suggest that TNF-α stimulates odontoclast formation in diabetes with periodontitis.

This study was conducted to determine the effect of mathematical transformation on near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) calibrations for the prediction of chemical composition and fermentation parameters in corn silage. Corn silage samples (n=407) were collected from cattle farms and feed companies in Korea between 2014 and 2015. Samples of silage were scanned at 1 nm intervals over the wavelength range of 680~2,500 nm. The optical data were recorded as log 1/Reflectance (log 1/R) and scanned in intact fresh condition. The spectral data were regressed against a range of chemical parameters using partial least squares (PLS) multivariate analysis in conjunction with several spectral math treatments to reduce the effect of extraneous noise. The optimum calibrations were selected based on the highest coefficients of determination in cross validation (R2 cv) and the lowest standard error of cross validation (SECV). Results of this study revealed that the NIRS method could be used to predict chemical constituents accurately (correlation coefficient of cross validation, R2 cv, ranging from 0.77 to 0.91). The best mathematical treatment for moisture and crude protein (CP) was first-order derivatives (1, 16, 16, and 1, 4, 4), whereas the best mathematical treatment for neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) was 2, 16, 16. The calibration models for fermentation parameters had lower predictive accuracy than chemical constituents. However, pH and lactic acids were predicted with considerable accuracy (R2 cv 0.74 to 0.77). The best mathematical treatment for them was 1, 8, 8 and 2, 16, 16, respectively. Results of this experiment demonstrate that it is possible to use NIRS method to predict the chemical composition and fermentation quality of fresh corn silages as a routine analysis method for feeding value evaluation to give advice to farmers.