This study aimed to examine the effect of a mild elevation in serum cholesterol level in a porcine coronary overstretch restenosis model using a balloon angioplasty catheter or drug-eluting coronary stent. Pigs were divided into two groups and were fed a commercial normal diet (CND, n = 4) or a high-fat diet (HFD, n = 4) for 5 weeks. Coronary overstretch injury by balloon angioplasty or stent implantation was induced in the left anterior descending and left circumflex artery after 1 week of feeding. Histopathological analysis was performed at 4 weeks after coronary injury. During the experiment, the total cholesterol level in the HFD group increased by approximately 44.9% (from 65.9 ± 3.21 mg/dL at baseline to 95.5 ± 9.94 mg/dL at 5 weeks). The lumen area in the CND group was reduced in comparison with that in the HFD group after balloon angioplasty. After stent implantation, the injury score showed no significant difference. There were significant differences in the neointimal area (2.7 ± 0.33 mm2 in the CND group vs. 3.3 ± 0.34 mm2 in the HFD group, p<0.05), lumen area (2.6 ± 0.54 mm2 in the CND group vs. 2.0 ± 0.33 mm2 in the HFD group, p<0.05), and percent area stenosis (52.0 ± 7.96% in the CND group vs. 62.4 ± 5.15% in the HFD group, p<0.05). Body weight change was not different between the two groups. Increased serum cholesterol level activated vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation in the porcine coronary overstretch model.

Entomopathogenic fungus Aschersonia aleyrodis naturally occurred on citrus whitefly, Dialeurodes citri nymph was often observed in organic citrus orchards, Jeju. The genus Aschersonia is also known to be toxic against scale insects and other pests. However, little is known about artificial media for mass production of spores of Aschersonia species. Grains are excellent sources of media for mass conidia production of various entomopathogenic fungi. The yeast extract, which converts carbohydrates to carbon dioxides and alcohols, contains a large amount of vitamin B complexes which facilitate the carbohydrate metabolism. The more yeast extract content the more conidia production on artificial medium made from commercial corn flour and corn gluten feed. The number of conidium produced on oat, millet, sorghum, and unhulled barley medium containing 1% yeast extract were 1.8, 1.8, 1.6, and 2.1×1010/plate (90mm × 15mm), respectively. However, the greatest yeast effect among four media showed appeared on sorghum medium, which produced 25 times higher spore production than sorghum alone. Furthermore, the conidia from solid sorghum medium could be easily harvested with cell scraper.

Aschersonia aleyrodis was well-known to be a biological control agent for citrus whitefly, Dialeurodes citri. This entomopathogenic fungus is naturally occurred in organic farming citrus orchards in Jeju. Both lime-sulfur and Bordeaux mixtures are extensively used today to control citrus diseases like citrus melanose and citrus scab, especially in organic farming pest management program. The high concentrated lime-sulfur is also used for pest control such as pink citrus rust mite and scale insects. This study was focused to test the conidial germination and sporulation of Aschersonia aleyrodis on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium containing different concentrations of two fungicides. The conidia of Aschersonia aleyrodis grown on PDA mixed with commercial bordeaux mixtures, CM150-505, at dilution rate 1:200 (water : bordeaux mixture) were well-germinated but not sporulated at all. On the other hand, Aschersonia aleyrodis did not sporulate and germinate on lime sulfur treated PDA medium even at extremely low dilution rate 1:2,048,000 (water : lime sulfur). However, when the mycelial cells grown at 25o C for at least 7 days at soluble starch-tryptone medium were added to PDA, they were well-sporulated even at high dilution rate 1:100 (water : lime sulfur). This result suggested that the spore mixtures of Aschersonia aleyrodis should be applied to field quite long after lime-sulfur spray.

A 67-year-old man presented with painful whitish mucosal rashes on the left side of his palate at initial presentation, and subsequently, multiple, grouped erythematous vesicular eruptions developed on the left side of his face (V2-V3 distribution). In this case, the distribution pattern of oral lesions were atypical of herpes zoster infection. Attention should be paid to the possibility that such symptoms could be early signs of herpes zoster infection.

This study was carried out to determine the amount of lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose in six kenaf cultivars during different harvesting stages. Three mutant cultivars (Jangdae, Jeokbong and Baekma), two original cultivars (Jinju, C14), and one Chinese cultivar (Auxu) were planted on May 14, 2013. Four harvesting times were made at intervals of 20 days from 15 July to 16 September, 2013. The overall growth characters of mutant cultivar ‘Jeokbong’ such as plant height, stem diameter, flowering time, and dry mass were similar with those of the original variety. The mutant cultivar ‘Baekma’ occurred 10-day late flowering in comparison with the original variety and also displayed higher dry mass than the original variety. Jinju, Auxu and Jangdae, mid-late maturing kenaf cultivars, had high dry weight compared to early maturing cultivars such as Jeokbong, Baekma and C14. In all cultivars, the lignin contents were increased by a late harvest. The Mid-late maturing kenaf cultivars showed high lignin content in comparison with those of the early maturity cultivars. There were no significant differences of cellulose, and hemicellulose content between the cultivars, however cellulose content in stems of these kenaf cultivars were significantly decreased by a late harvest. These results may provide valuable information to assist the parental selection of kenaf breeding.