Colorectal cancer causes the most cancer-associated death worldwide, having a high cancer incidence. Pectin is a complex polysaccharide present in various fruits, emerging as an anti-carcinogenic candidate. Although pectin has a suppressive capacity for colon carcinogenesis, the effect of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and colonic aberrant foci formation in the colon carcinogenesis mouse model remains unclear. Therefore, this study investigates the regulatory effect of pectin supplementation on colon carcinogenesis induced by azoxymethane (AOM) and dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) in mice. In an animal experiment, thirty male institute for cancer research (ICR) mice were divided into two experimental groups; AOM/DSS (control group) and AOM/DSS + pectin (5% in drinking water). Furthermore, the number of aberrant crypt foci (ACF) and aberrant crypt (AC) on colonic mucosa were counted, and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) assay was performed to estimate lipid peroxidation in feces. Pectin treatment significantly decreased the number of ACF and AC per colon compared with the control. Additionally, fecal TBARS level in the pectin group was significantly lower than those in the control group. Conclusively, these findings indicate that pectin-inhibited hyperplastic alteration and oxidative stress suppress colitis-associated colon carcinogenesis.

A eukaryotic marine microalga was isolated from Jungmun Saekdal Beach, Jeju Island, Korea and an integrated approach, including molecular phylogeny and morphology, was used to determine its taxonomical status. Molecular phylogenetic evidence inferred from the small subunit (SSU) 18S rRNA sequence and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) secondary structure analysis clearly showed that the isolate belonged to the recently described species, Jaagichlorella roystonensis. Distinctive morphological keys of the species were also observed by light microscopy and scanning/ transmission electron microscopy (S/TEM). In this study, a Korean marine J. roystonensis species was described for the first time and was subsequently added to the national culture collections in Korea.

Untargeted metabolomic fingerprinting is a discovery tool for the identification of metabolites associated with the response to dietary and environmental perturbations. Direct analysis in real-time mass spectrometry (DART MS) promises to be a powerful analytical technique for high-throughput metablome analysis of insect. In this study, we used the DART MS technique to find tracers related to the origin of small brown planthopper (Laodelphax striatellus), and conducted a untargeted metabolomic fingerprinting on the wings and exoskeleton in Chinese and domestic collectives. This paper showed that DART MS metabolomic fingerprinting represents a rapid and powerful analytical strategy enabling distinguish of two different origin’s small brown planthoppers by recording metabolomic fingerprints.

It was available to store both nymphs and adults of Geocoris pallidipennis at 5℃ for 3 weeks without negative effects on their survival, fecundity, and Bamisia tabaci nymph predation. Up to 140 days, it was also possible to store Micromus angulatus adults at low temperature, showing approximately 50% cumulative survival rate, but over 2 week cold storage was not suitable for their fecundity. With the increase of cold storage duration, the aphid predation by M. angulatus decreased, but it could be possible to cold store until 5 weeks without a significant effect on their aphid predation. Thus, short term cold storage of G. pallidipennis and M. angulatus could be useful for inundative biological control.

Three ambrosia beetle species, Xyleborus glabratus, Monarthrum mali, and Euwallacea fornicatus belong to subfamily, Scolytinae, showing similar morphology and body size, but their flight capability and patterns showed species-specific. Body length of Xyleborus glabratus and Monarthrum mali was negatively correlated with flight capabilities; shorter beetles performed longer average flights, longer single flights, total flight distance, and total flight time. Elytral length also was negatively correlated with flight distance in X. glabratus and M. mali. Conversely, only average flight time of E. fornicatus was positively correlated with body length, pronotal width, and elytral length. Body length had no effect on the flight velocity of any of the three beetle species examined. Therefore, our results indicate that body size characteristics of ambrosia beetles differentially influence on their dispersal by species.

약용작물인 천궁류를 가해하는 총채벌레류의 발생종을 확인하고자 2018년 7월과 8월 2회에 걸쳐 영주와 봉화의 일천궁과 토천궁 재배지에서 채집하였다. 두 재배지에서 총 5종의 총채벌레류가 발생함을 확인하였고 꽃노랑총채벌레 > 대만꽃노랑총채벌레 > 미나리총채벌레 > 볼록총채벌레 > 대관령총채벌레 > 파총채벌레 순으로 동일하였지만 포획비율에서는 약간의 차이를 보여 주었다. 이러한 결과는 약용작물로 재배하고 있는 2종의 천궁에서 우점종이 꽃노랑총채벌레와 대만총채벌레임을 확인시켜 주었다. 또한 미나리총채벌레와 대관령총채벌레가 천궁류에서 서식하고 있음을 처음 확인하였다.

One of the leading pests of rice, small brown planthopper (Laodelphax striatellus) can grow up to have either short or long wings, depending on conditions. However, under the same breeding conditions, the phenotypes of the long- and short-winged small brown planthopper observed to keep the first collected phenotype. To investigate the mechanism involved in wing dimorphism, metabolomic researches have been conducted. In this study, we observed several metabolites change, and the difference of metabolites could provide clues to the relationship between physiological changes in the small brown planthopper and ecological transport.

The swelling capacity of bentonite buffers is vital in high-level radioactive waste (HLW) repositories, as it minimizes groundwater infiltration, prevents nuclides from reaching the biosphere, and stabilizes the HLW canisters. As swelling capacity is a function of temperature, understanding bentonite’s behavior at approximately 100°C (its presumed upper limit) is essential. However, research on this subject has been scarce. Hence, this study explored the effects of thermal treatment of Ca-bentonite at 105°C under injected water pressures. The results suggest a 19% reduction in “swell index” and a 35%–36% decrease in the total pressure in thermally treated bentonite. The heated samples demonstrated higher hydraulic conductivity than the non-heated ones, indicating potential performance deterioration in controlling the fluid movement. Furthermore, the injected water pressure (base pressure) was not fully transmitted to the sample owing to the difference between the base and back pressures, leading to variations in the total pressure despite maintaining a constant differential pressure. Thus, the results demonstrated a degradation in bentonite’s swelling capacity and its compromised role in safe HLW disposal, when subjected to treatment at 105°C. The insights from this research can assist in HLW repository design, while highlighting the need for further research into bentonite’s performance.