Royal jelly (RJ) is a gelatinous substance that bees produce to feed bees and queen bees. It’s frequently sold as a dietary supplement to treat a variety of physical ailments and chronic diseases. While it has long been used in traditional medicine, its applications in Western medicine remain controversial. The inhibitory effect of royal jelly on osteoarthritis was investigated in primary cultured rat cartilage cells and monosodium-iodoacetate (MIA)-induced arthritis rat model 10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid (10-HAD) is the main fatty acid present in RJ. Among the criteria for RJ quality analysis, 10-HAD content has been proposed as a freshness parameter. We investigated the effect of RJ on the improvement of osteoarthritis on SD rats and they were divided into five groups. In this study, we examined the effect of enzymatic royal jelly (ERJ) administration on osteoarthritis. To determine the antiinflammatory effects of RJ, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and Interleukin-6 (IL-6) expression were measured after lipopolysaccharide (LPS) activation in RAW 264.7 cells. In in vivo animal study, osteoarthritis was induced by intra-articular injection of MIA into knee joints of rats. As a results, ERJ showed that TNF-α and IL-6 levels were decreased by ERJ treatment in a dosedependent manner. In conclusion, ERJ extract was able to inhibit articular cartilage degeneration by preventing extracellular matrix degradation and cartilage cell damage. It was considered that ERJ extract may be a potential therapeutic treatment for degenerative osteoarthritis.

The fumigation toxicity of carbonyl sulfide to T. castaneum as a storage grain pest was evaluated. Carbonyl sulfide (COS) is registered in Australia for microorganism present in soil, root and fertilizer. the fumigation activity of carbonyl sulfide was investigated in 12 L desiccator for 24 h exposure to eggs, larvae, pupae, adults of T. castaneum. Eggs and pupae were showed 87.3% and 95.6% mortality for 25 mg/L of COS, respectively. Larvae and adults were investigated with 80.0% and 100.0% mortality at 15 mg/L treatment, respectively. Therefore, the eggs of T. castaneum showed the highest tolerance to COS.

The fumigation activity of phosphine (PH3) to T. castaneum as a storage grain pest was evaluated. The lethal concentration time (LCT) value of each developmental stage (egg, early larva, late larva, pupa and adult) of T. castaneum was analyzed in 12 L desiccator. At the T. castaneum larva stages, exposure for 4 h showed low LCT value, especially in early stage larvae (LCT99 = 0.32 mg·h/L) which is very high susceptibility to PH3. However, T. castaneum eggs were observed very high tolerance to PH3 at LCT99 77.47 mg·h/L. Therefore, the fumigant activity of PH3 against T. castaneum can be found to be significantly different depending on developmental stage.

This study investigated the fumigant activity of phosphine (PH3) on 2 kinds of mealybug (Pseudococcus longispinus and P. orchidicola (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae)) adults and nymphs. All of the two mealybugs adults showed higher LCT99 values than nymphs, and P. longispinus showed higher tolerance than P. orchidicola in a 12 L desiccator. The absorption of phosphine on 13 nursery plants showed 12.2~41.5% difference depending on the plant. All of the mealybugs treated with phosphine 2 mg/L in 0.5 m3 fumigation chamber for 4 h showed 100% fumigant activity, except P. longispinus adult (approximately 90% at bottom part). However, when the exposure time was increased to 24 h, all of them showed 100% mortality. In the treatment of 10 m3 container, the 24 h treatment of phosphine showed 100% mortality to P. longispinus and P. orchidicola adults and nymphs. In all the experiments, no phytotoxicity of phosphine observed on 13 plants until 1 month after treatment.

Acaricidal activities of 63 commecial pesticides against the longhorned tick, H. logicornis were investigated. Twenty-two pesticides (4 cabamates, 5 organophophates, 9 pyrethroids, 1 octopamine receptor agonists, 1 diamides, and 1 unknown) against adults H. logicornis showed >80% mortalities after 72 h of treatment. The residual effect of 22 pesticides was investigated at 1, 2, 3, 7, and 10 day intervals on grass for H. logicornis adults and nymphs. Eight and twenty pesticides in H. logicornis adults and nymphs showed >80% acaricidal activity at 3 days after the treatment, respectively. 7 days after the treatment, H. logicornis adults showed <60% acaricidal activity in all pesticides, but 7 pesticides (benfuracarb, gamma cyhalothrin, cypermethrin, lammda cyhalothrin, fenvalerate, cyantraniliprole, fluxametamide) showed >80% acaricidal activity in nymphs. all pesticides exhibited <60% acaricidal activity after 10 days of treatment both adults and mymphs, except benfuracarb showed 96.7% mortality in H. logicornis nymph.

A combination using phosphine (PH3) and ethyl formate (EF) was performed to compensate for the disadventages (long exposure time and phytotoxicity) of a single substance. P. longisipinus was more susceptible to mixed phosphine and ethyl formate than P. orchidicola in 12 L dessicator. Mortality of mixed treatment was higher than aggregated mortalities that treated individually, so it indicated to have a synergic effect on each other. Ethyl formate was showed higher adsorption rate than phosphine on imported nursery plants and showed differences depending on the plant. P. longispinus and P. orchidicola was showed 100% mortality when phosphine and ethyl formate was treated as 1 g/m3 and 30 g/m3 for 4 hour in 0.5 m3 fumigation chamber and in 10 m3 container. Phytotoxicity was evaluated to mixture of phosphine and ethyl formate at 1 month after treatment.

The present study evaluated the susceptibility of field populations of Plutella xylostella and Spodoptera exigua larvae to four diamide insecticides—chlorantraniliprole, cyantraniliprole, cyclaniliprole, and flubendiamide. All the four diamide insecticides induced 100% mortality in the populations from Seongju (SJ) and Geochang (GC) when treated at a concentration recommended for P. xylostella. However, a very low insecticidal activity was observed in the population from Pyeongchang (PC) with 42.3% 3 d after treatment with chlorantraniliprole. Further, the populations of S. exigua from Cheongju (CJ), Jindo (JD), and Yeonggwang (YG) were not completely controlled by the 4 diamide insecticides. A comparison of susceptibility of S. exigua larvae to chlorantraniliprole between 2014 and 2017 showed that chlorantraniliprole induced 100% mortality in all populations in 2014, whereas a very low insecticidal activity was observed among the populations in 2017. This study can serve as a basis to control pests effectively using diamide insecticides.

This study investigated the antidiabetic effect of amaranth grain ethanol extract (AEE) in a diabetic animal model, db/db mouse. The mice were divided into 4 groups: normal control mice (C57BL/6J), diabetic mice (C57BL/6J db/db), diabetic mice fed a lower concentration of AEE (0.3 mg/kg), and diabetic mice fed a higher concentration of AEE (0.5 mg/kg). After 10 weeks of treatment, body weights, blood insulin levels and blood glucose levels of each group were compared. At the end of treatment, the results showed that both AEE supplemented groups had lower body weights than those in the diabetic groups although higher than those in the normal groups. Moreover, in both AEE supplemented groups, serum insulin levels were higher and blood glucose levels were lower than those in the diabetic groups although both values were higher than those in the normal groups. The results of this study suggest that AEE can alleviate many of the common symptoms of diabetes in diabetic mice and, therefore, has potential as a therapeutic supplement for normalization of blood glucose and insulin levels in humans.

Although expression of foreign genes in a crop species has been target techniques for powerful protection against insect pests, classical breeding programs using varietal resistance of a crop are still being processed. It is, however, frequently difficult to find key products expressed from resistance-related genes in the variety, and those action mechanism. Here, an unterminated story about seed of a mungbean (Vigna radiata) variety with high resistance against the adzuki bean weevil and the bean bug is introduced. The two insects cannot survive on seeds of the variety, although they well develop on susceptible ones. Molecular markers linked to the resistance were selected through BAC library screening and near isogenic lines, and finally a bruchid resistance gene was suggested after map-based cloning approaches. Starvation and chemicals were suggested for a resistant mechanism and a related factor through feeding and behavior experiments, respectively. The seed flour was extracted with organic solvents, and isolated into several fractions on chromatography. Several peaks on HPLC in a fraction were related with the high mortality of the bean bug. A partial structure in an isolated chemical was observed before full identification.

Cytokines are known to function as regulatory molecules that can be produced by virtually every nucleated cell type in the body, including lymphocytes, monocytes/macrophages, epithelial cells, fibroblasts, and many others. Cytokines include lymphocyte-derived factors (lymphokines), monocyte-derived factors (monokines), hematopoietic factors (colony-stimulating factors), connective tissue/ growth factors, and chemotactic chemokines. Cytokines released in response to infection can affect tumor development in different ways. When exposed to infectious agents, cytokines are secreted by sentinel cells, such as macrophages and dendritic cells. These cytokines include interleukin 1 (IL-1) and tumor necrosis factor-α, as well as others, such as IL-6, IL-12, and IL-18. When released in sufficient quantities, these molecules can cause inflammation. Chronic inflammation is highly associated with tumor initiation, promotion, and progression. In this article, we review the roles and mechanisms of cytokines in tumor development.

Livestock wastewater has high potential as one of energy resources because this wastewater is including high organic matter. Therefore the studies attempting to bio-gasification and bio-electricity generation using livestock wastewater is being tried. The pre-treatment system used in this study was the purpose to control the ammonia nitrogen in conjunction with the system and the microbial fuel cell. Because ammonia nitrogen is to inhibit the electricity generation efficiency of microbial fuel cell. These studies were to ascertain the effect of oxidants on the nitrogen removal in the pre-treatment system using catalyst and microbubbles to treat the ammonia nitrogen. The three kinds of oxidant such as air, oxygen (O2), and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) were used to know the ammonia and nitrate nitrogen removal. This system was operated with four kinds of conditions. First method is O2 gas with 100 mL/min with 1ml of 30% H2O2 was supplied to the wastewater. A second method, the O2, with 400 and 1,000 mL/min was supplied through the flow meter before livestock wastewater was flow in the reactor. The last method, air was supplied 800 mL/min. The nitrate removal had no significant difference all conditions except the air supply. On the other hand, the ammonia and nitrate nitrogen removal when oxygen was supplied with 1000 mL O2/min was higher than that of the other conditions. The removal rate when air was supplied 800 mL/min was similar to the value in the supplied with 400 ml O2/min. This result showed that oxidant was important factor to improve the ammonia nitrogen removal rate.

A new poinsettia cultivar 'Scarlet' was bred by the National Horticultural Research Institute (NHRI) in 2006. A cross was made between 'Christmas Eve', a variety with dark green leaves and dark red bracts, and 'Red Velvet', a red colored variety in 2003. 'Scarlet' was finally selected in 2006 after investigating the growth and flower characteristics from 2004 to 2006. 'Scarlet' has bright red colored and elliptic bracts and has absent or very weak intensity of rugosity between veins in bract. In comparison with the check variety, 'Red Velvet', plant height is tall, leafblade is long and narrow. Petiole is also longer than that of 'Red Velvet'. Short day response is fast and its bracts are fully colored 7 weeks after short day commencement.

A new poinsettia cultivar 'Miss Maple' was bred by the National Horticultural Research Institute (NHRI) in 2006. A cross was made between 'Sonora Red', a variety with short plant height, dark green leaves and dark red bracts, and 'Cranberry Punch', a deep pink colored variety in 2003. 'Miss Maple' was finally selected in 2006 after investigating the growth and flower characteristics from 2004 to 2006. 'Miss Maple' has light red colored and obovate bracts, and has weak intensity of rugosity between veins in bract. Fully colored transitional leaves are so deeply lobed that they resemble the leaves of maple. Plant height is shorter than that of 'Cranberry Punch', the check variety. Short day response fast and its bracts are fully colored 7 weeks after short day commencement.