Various arthropods have directly and indirectly threatened human life by transmitting human pathogens such as malaria and Zika virus as well as by damaging crops such as direct feeding and transmission of plant pathogens. According to WHO, vector-borne diseases account for over 17% of all infectious diseases and there are over 1 million deaths from the diseases such as malaria, dengue, etc., globally. About 13% of total crop production is destroyed by agricultural pests during crop production and storage. To control medical or agricultural pests chemical pesticides have been used, but recently because of concerns about environmental pollution and human health the demands for eco-friendly control method are increasing. Insect pathogens are good alternative candidates instead of chemicals. Over 50 entomopathogens including viruses, bacteria, fungi and nematodes are now commercially used as microbial pesticides. Entomopathogenic fungi have also been evaluated as control agents for a diverse insect pests such as aphid, moth, thrip, whitefly, mosquitoes, tick, etc. We will discuss a development of microbial pesticides using, especially, entomopathogenic fungi to control noxious arthropods to agricultural crops and human.

Arsenic (As) is a toxic element that easily taken up by plants root. Several toxic forms of As disrupt plant metabolism by a series of cellular alterations. In this study, we applied annealing control primer (ACP)-based reverse transcriptase PCR (polymerase chain reaction) technique to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in alfalfa roots in response to As stress. Two-week-old alfalfa seedlings were exposed to As treatment for 6 hours. DEGs were screened from As treated samples using the ACP-based technique. A total of six DEGs including heat shock protein, HSP 23, plastocyanin-like domain protein162, thioredoxin H-type 1 protein, protein MKS1, and NAD(P)H dehydrogenase B2 were identified in alfalfa roots under As stress. These genes have putative functions in abiotic stress homeostasis, antioxidant activity, and plant defense. These identified genes would be useful to increase As tolerance in alfalfa plants.

Colorectal cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in men and women who consume a Western diet. We investigated the inhibitory effect of selenium (sodium selenite, Na2SeO3) and selenium nanoparticles (nano-Se) on experimental colon carcinogenesis in ICR mice. After a 1-week acclimation, 6-week-old mice received three intraperitoneal (i.p.) injections (experimental week 0-2) of azoxymethane (AOM, 10 mg/kg body weight, b.w.), followed by 2% dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-containing drinking water for the next 1 week. The three groups (10 mice/group) were orally administered either distilled water (control), selenium (1.7 ppm), or nano-Se (1.7 ppm) daily for 8 weeks. The numbers of aberrant crypt foci (ACF), aberrant crypt (AC), and tumorous lesions were measured in colonic mucosa. Se and nano-Se treatments significantly decreased the number of ACF, AC, and tumorous lesions compared with the control. However, there was no significant difference between the selenium and nano-Se groups. The glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity in the liver and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity in serum, were high in the selenium and nano-Se groups, while thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) level was low in both Se and nano-Se groups when compared with that in the control group. These findings indicate that selenium and nano-Se showed similar protective effects against colon carcinogenesis by inhibiting the development of ACF and tumorous lesions in mice.

Iron-overload can cause harmful effects such as cancer and aging via promoting the production of free radicals. The effect of orally administered nano-Fe overload with ascorbic acid on colon carcinogenesis was investigated in male ICR mice. After a 1-week acclimation, 5-week-old mice received three intraperitoneal injections (experimental week 0-2) of azoxymethane (AOM, 10 mg/kg body weight) weekly, followed by 2% dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) in drinking water for the next 1 week to induce aberrant crypt foci (ACF). Animals were divided into four groups; carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) alone (control), CMC + ascorbic acid (AA), CMC + nano-Fe (NFe), and CMC + NFe + AA groups. Animals were fed an AIN-76A purified rodent diet and daily administrated oral doses of 450 ppm each of nano-Fe and AA combination for 6 weeks. The colonic mucosa was stained with 0.5% methylene blue, and then the ACF and polyps were counted. Lipid peroxidation in the serum and liver was evaluated using the thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) assay. Iron concentration in the liver was measured using Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP-OES). Iron concentration in the liver of the NFe-overloaded groups was higher than that of the control (p<0.05). AA treatment increased the iron concentration in the liver. The number of ACF was not significantly different among all the groups. The number of polyps in all the NFe-treated groups was slightly higher than that in the control group and AA only-treated group. The serum TBARS was not significantly different among all the groups, but that in the liver was higher in all the NFe-treated groups than it was in the control group (p<0.05). These results indicate that the additional NFe treatment did not affect the experimental colon carcinogenesis in mice regardless of the presence of ascorbic acid.

The follicular lymphoid hyperplasia is a very rare nonneoplastic lymphoproliferative disease in the oral mucosa. Clinically, it usually presents as asymptomatic, non-ulcerated, normal-colored, soft, sessile, unilateral and slow growing mass in the posterior hard palate. Therefore, soft-tissue mass of the hard palate can be a difficult diagnostic challenge for the clinician. Herein, we report a case of follicular lymphoid hyperplasia located in the left posterior hard palate. A 40-year-old male presented a soft, non-ulcerated, painless mass of 1.5 X 1.0cm in size. Radiographically, it was no bony involvement. Histology revealed germinal center surrounding mantle zone of small lymphocytes. Immunohistochemistry showed CD3,CD20 were postive but Bcl-2 and cyclin D1 were negative. The patient underwent surgical excision and 3-year follow-up has not shown any evidence of recurrence.

Calcipex II, calcium hydroxide paste, is used widely as intracanal dressing material during root canal treatment. When extrusion of calcium hydroxide through root canal occurred, various tissue reactions have been reported. Herein, we report a case of chronic maxillary sinusitis induced by extrusion of Calcipex II. A 20-year-old male was referred our institution during #26 root canal treatment. Radiographically, it was presented radiopaque round mass with sinus mucosal thickening. The mass was excised and analyzed histologically. Histology revealed Calcipex II granules engulfed by macrophages and chronic maxillary sinusitis around Calcipex II granules.

Beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua, diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella and tobacco cutworm, Spodoptera litura are the three most serious pests of many economically important crops such as cruciferous crops, various vegetables and ornamental plants. Because these pests are known to be resistant to lots of chemical insecticides, integrated control using both or either entomophathogen and/or natural enemy is thought to be an attractive alternative for effective control. One of the obstacles using and expanding mycopesticide is narrow host ranges. At commercial farms, cultivating crops are seriously damaged by various Lepidopteran pests. Farmers want to use a microbial control agent which can control various host insects to reduce cost and labor. In previous study, we selected two entomopathogenic fungi, Metarhizium anisopliae and Paecilomyces fumosoroseus, which shown high virulence against beet armyworm. For wide use of the isolates in farm, we tested its host ranges, especially to diamondback moth and tobacco cutworm, which also are serious pest in Korea. The two isolates were shown a good control effect in leaf disc bioassy.

Microbe have been considered as potential control agents for pest, as alternative to chemical control methods. Among entomopathogens, fungi cause the mortality by penetrating the cuticle of pest and/or by metabolites such as toxin. Not only this direct control effect of fungi, but repellency of fungi also may be used to prevent the pest. Repellence effect of fungi is considered as inhibitory factor to control termite. A study was reported in Japan that termite was able to detect and remove the conidia of fungi on their surface. The termite can escape from fungal infection and protect their colony. There is few study that insect pest such as moth can detect and avoid the virulence fungi. Therefore, we has been conducting the detection and avoidance of beet armyworm to high pathogenic fungi, Paecilomyces fumosoroseus. Adult of the beet armyworm avoided oviposition at Chinese cabbage treated with P. fumosoroseus compare to control. This result may be used to prevent the infestation of moth in crop production.

Various insect pests and plant disease can outbreak in a field. For the effective control of pests and plant diseases during crop cultivation, farmers simultaneously or sequentially spray various eco-friendly agricultural materials (EFAM), chemical pesticides and microbial control agents on the same fields. It was reported that many agrochemicals are harmful to entomopathogenic fungi, especially some fungicides with broad spectrum activity that are routinely applied for the control of plant diseases. In addition, some pesticides may antagonize the potential insecticidal activity and efficiency of entomopathogenic fungi. Therefore, sometimes the utilization of fungal entomopathogen in forestry and agricultural production is limited because of the undesirable interference from some fungicides and pesticides. There is little research that examines the compatibility of these EFAMs with entomopathogenic fungi and the influence of EFAMs on the control efficacy of mycopesticides. We conducted a study of influence of pretreated eco-friendly agricultural materials on control efficacy of Isaria javanica isolate against sweet potato whitefly.

As ubiquitous organisms entomopathogenic fungi may natually occur within environment including phylloplanes and soil or deposite and survive for a while after spraying a fungal suspension to control insect pest. The existence of pathogenic fungi is a threat to arthropods foraging for food and oviposition sites. The detection and avoidance of pathogens is important for host survival, longevity and ultimate fitness. Although entomopathogenic fungi are ubiquitous worldwide and act as common natural enemies of many invertebrate species, very few studies have conducted abiut the detection and avoidance of pathogenic fungi by insect pest. We have studied that an insect pest can recognize a high virulence fungi on crop surface, avoid oviposition and don’t enter the field treated their pathogen.

Entomopathogenic fungus is a useful control agent to sucking type insect such as whitefly and aphid. The fungi are influenced by some environmental factors such as relative humidity, temperature and UV and cause slow and fluctuation in pest control efficacy. Especially, UV kills conidia or spores of entomopathogenic fungi and a mycopesticide using fungi has short control period in field. UV intensity changes from season to season. Survival rate of entomopathognic fungi treated may differ from seasons and will show different control efficacy. Therefore, we conducted a study to estimate the persistence of an Isaria javanica isolate, which was already reported as sweet potato whitefly control agent, in potted greenhouse soil planted different crops. The number of survival spore decreased gradually and differ from seasons.

Entomopathogenic fungi are natural enemies of insect pests and contribute to the natural regulation of their host populations. These fungal group are often used as active ingredients for microbial insect pest control. In addition, the potential antimicrobial effect by entomopathogenic fungi including Beauveria bassiana, Lecanicillium spp., and Isaria fumosorosea have recently been reported against fungal plant pathogens. Dual microbial control effects with entomopathogenic fungi against both aphids and cucumber powdery mildew had reported in Canada. In our previous studies we conducted bioassay with entomopathogenic fungi to develop dual microbial control agent which can control both aphid and fungal plant disease. We selected an Beauveria bassiana isolate which has high dual control effects against both cotton aphid, Aphis gossypii and sclerotinia rot, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. In this study, we have tested the dual control efficacy of the B. bassiana isolate against cotton aphid and sclerotinia rot on whole potted cucumber plants. We found that the B. bassiana isolate protected the plant from cotton aphid and sclerotinia rot under laboratory condition.

Insect pests have been a serious problem over many years and remain a major threat for food production. Although chemical pesticides are major pest control strategies, use of microorganisms such as entomopathogenic bacteria, fungi, viruses and nematodes have continuously increase last few decades to minimize the use of agrichemicals. According to BBC research, the global biocontrol market was about $2.1 billion in 2011, and this is expected to rise $3 ~ 4 billion by 2017. Over 50 entomopathogens are commercially produced and used augmentatively as microbial pesticides. About 175 biopesticide active ingredients and 700 products have been registered worldwide. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium spp., nuclear polyhedrosis virus and Steinernema spp. are the most popular control agents used in plant protection. Among the microbial control agents Bt products have more than 50% of market share. In Korea, only 13 environmentally-friendly crop protectants were registered for insect pest control in 2015. Market share is very low and has grown slowly. We will discuss how we can expand the market with our techniques.

경기도 8개 지역에서 2010년부터 2012년 동안 식균성인 노랑무당벌레의 발생기주를 조사한 결과, 흰가루병에 감염된 12종의 식물에서 관찰 이 되었다. 특히 가장 밀도가 높았던 배과원에서 노랑무당벌레는 7월 상순부터 11월 상순까지 발견되었다. 식균성인 노랑무당벌레의 장내에서는 흰가루병 균사나 포자 외에 다른 먹이의 흔적이 발견되지 않았고, 알과 번데기를 제외한 전 발육단계에서 균을 섭식하는 특성을 볼 때 절대적 식균성 곤충으로 생각된다. 25℃에서 오이 흰가루병균을 섭식한 노랑무당벌레의 발육기간은 알, 유충, 번데기, 성충이 각각 3.9, 10.4, 4.1, 37.7일 이었고, 발육단계별 오이 흰가루병 섭식량은 45.6, 144.4, 372.2, 628.1, 473.7 mm 2로 4령, 성충, 3령, 2령, 1령 순으로 많았다. 본 연구를 통해 노랑무당벌 레의 오이 흰가루병에 대한 섭식능력을 바탕으로 향후 유용 토착천적으로써 대량사육기술, 저독성 약제 선발 등 작물 흰가루병 종합방제기술(IPM) 에 대한 연구가 필요하리라 사료된다.

Pellicle is defined as a thin transparent film stretched over an aluminum (Al) frame that is glued on one side of a photomask. As semiconductor devices are pursuing higher levels of integration and higher resolution patterns, the cleaning of the Al flame surface is becoming a critical step because the contaminants on the Al flame can cause lithography exposure defects on the wafers. In order to remove these contaminants from the Al frame, a highly concentrated nitric acid (HNO3) solution is used. However, it is difficult to fully remove them, which results in an increase in the Al surface roughness. In this paper, the pellicle frame cleaning is investigated using various cleaning solutions. When the mixture of sulfuric acid (H2SO4), hydrofluoric acid (HF), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and deionized water with ultrasonic is used, a high cleaning efficiency is achieved without HNO3. Thus, this cleaning process is suitable for Al frame cleaning and it can also reduce the use of chemicals.

This study was conducted to evaluate the accumulation and distribution of hydrophobically modified glycol chitosan (HGC) as a degradable nanoparticle in the body. To determine the movement of degradable HGC nanoparticles in the body, 20 mg/kg of lutetium177-labeled HGC (Lu177-HGC) with the size ranging from 320 to 400 nm was injected intravenously into ICR mice, and the amount of radioactivity remaining in blood and several organs was measured at various time points during the period of 5 days. In the pharmacokinetics analysis using the Lu177 radioisotope, the free Lu177 was mainly distributed and accumulated in the order of kidney>liver>lung at 1 day after the injection of the radioisotope. However, the Lu177-HGC showed a high distribution of nanoparticles in the order of liver>spleen>kidney during the experimental period of 5 days. These results would provide a basic pharmacokinetics for the use of HGC as a drug carrier in drug delivery system.

The ultimate goal of this study is to assess the accumulation and distribution of hydrophobically modified glycol chitosan (HGC) as a degradable nanoparticle in the body. To understand the movement of degradable nanoparticle HGC in the body, we intravenously injected a dose of 20 mg/kg of Cy5.5-labeled HGC with size ranging from 320 to 400 nm into ICR mice, and measured the amount of fluorescence remaining in blood and several organs at various time intervals. In blood, the level of Cy5.5-labeled HGC was the highest at 15 min, then after 30 min it decreased rapidly and reached a plateau form 30 min to 28 days. In the tissue we confirmed the presence of nanoparticles at high levels in the order of kidney>liver>submandibular gland until 28 days after injection. However, we did not find the presence of the particles in the brain or testes. These results will provide basic information on HGC as a drug delivery agent.

Calcifying cystic odontogenic tumor (CCOT), also known as calcifying odontogenic cyst or Gorin cyst is a rare developmental lesion which arises from odontogenic epithelium. It has been classified as a benign odontogenic neoplasm related to odontogenic apparatus by the World Health Organization. CCOT may be associated with other odontogenic tumors, most frequently odontoma, a finding that is a rare event in other types of odontogenic cysts or tumors. This report describes a case of hybrid odontogenic tumor composed of CCOT and ameloblastic fibroma-odontoma of the impacted right maxillary canine region that occurred in a 14-year-old female.

Peripheral ameloblastoma, a rare and unusual variant of odontogenic tumor, representing 1% of all ameloblastomas. The extraosseous location is the peculiar feature of this type of tumor, which is otherwise similar to the classical ameloblastoma. This paper describes a case of peripheral ameloblastoma in a 43-year-old female affecting the left retromolar pad area of the mandible which was clinically diagnosed as a pyogenic granuloma. Histologically, the tumor showed of follicular ameloblastoma in continuity with a surface oral epithelium.