Plasminogen activators (PAs) are serine protease that cleave plasminogen to form the active protease plasmin and may participate in mammalian fertilization. Although correlations have been reported between reactive oxygen species (ROS) and sperm function, the relationship between PA activity and ROS is unknown. We determined the effects of ROS on sperm function and PA activities in boar spermatozoa preincubated under the X-XO system. When spermatozoa were treated with the X+XO group, a significant increase (p<0.05) was observed in the percentage of acrosome reacted spermatozoa compared with that of the control group. However, when antioxidants were added to the medium with X+XO, the rate of acrosome reaction tended to decrease. Also, a significantly lower percentage of acrosome reacted spermatozoa was observed in the X+XO+catalase group at 6 hr of incubation compared with that of X+XO group. The density of malondialdehyde (MDA) was higher in the X+XO group than in different treatment groups. In another experiment, incubation of spermatozoa in medium with X+XO was associated with a significant (p<0.05) increase in activity of tPA-PAI and tPA compared with the control group. Antioxidants decreased the increased activity of tPA-PAI and tPA by preincubation in the X-XO system. Also, a significantly lower (p<0.05) activities of tPA-PAI and tPA were observed in the X+XO+catalase group compared with the X+XO group. No significant differences, however, were observed in the activity of uPA. These results suggest that the increase of acrosome reaction by the X-XO system resulted in increase of PAs activity in the sperm incubation medium.

In this study, global positioning system (GPS)-derived precipitable water vapor (PWV) and microwave radiometer(MWR)-measured integrated water vapor (IWV) were compared and their characteristics were analyzed. Comparingthose two quantities for two years from August 2009, we found that GPS PWV estimates were larger than MWR IWV. Theaverage differenceover the entire test period was 1.1 mm and the standard deviation was 1.2 mm. When the discrepanciesbetween GPS PWV and MWR IWV were analyzed depending on season, the average difference was 0.7 mm and 1.9mm in the winter and summer months, respectively. Thus, the average difference was about 2.5 times larger in summerthan that in winter. However, MWR IWV measurements in the winter months were over-estimated than those in the summermonths as the water vapor content got larger. The results of the diurnal analysis showed that MWR IWV was underestimatedin the daytime, showing a difference of 0.8 mm. In the early morning hours, MWR IWV has a tendency to beover-estimated, with a difference of 1.3 mm with respect to GPS PWV.

Korean cultivars of buckwheat(Fagopyrum esculentum Moench.) was crossed with Canadian cultivars in order to improve seed yield as well as leaf production of buckwheat for using as food and medicine. The agronomic characteristics and rutin contents of F2 hybrids are investigated for further selection of superior lines. Dry weight per plant was the highest in a line 1110(6.71g) and leaf weight per plant was the highest in a line 1110(1.91g). Hybrid seeds were 0.55 - 0.70cm long and 0.37 - 0.47cm wide on average. 100 seeds weight ranged from 2.57g to 3.58g. Line 1076 produced the longest seeds(0.70cm) and line 1186 was the longest in seed width. Line 1196 showed the highest 100 seeds weight(3.58g). The highest frequency of the LWR(length/width rate) was 0.66~0.70, indicating that seed shape of the hybrids was mostly oval. Line 1087 showed the highest contents of rutin(77.26ppm). Lines 1090 and 1181 contained respectively rutin of 54.76ppm and 54.35ppm in the seeds. From the yield and rutin point of view, the most superior lines was line 1087 among the lines used for this study.