The hypopharyngeal gland (HPG) of the honeybee worker produces royal jelly (RJ) and has a developmental cycle closely related to the division of labor. In this study, we investigated to compare the HPG acini diameter of differently aged worker bees with high royal jelly producing colony (HRC) or less producing colony (LRC). Additionally, we also evaluated whether the fresh weight of the head is a reliable indicator of the developmental status of HPG. The HRC showed a significantly higher RJ production about two-times as compared with those of the LRC. We measured the HG-diameters on days 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15. The microscopic analysis revealed that the acini size of the HRC was significantly larger than the LRC. In addition, the acini diameter of HRC was 15% longer than the LRC on the first day after emerging. It was shown that the fastest development during 3 days which is preparing for nurse the brood. The HPG acini diameters increased in both colonies in a similar fashion until day 12 and then decreased. We also compared the fresh head weight of the experimental colonies, differences were similar to the development of HPG. Therefore, high royal jelly production may have a positive correlation between HPG acini size and the fresh head weight.

Ixodid ticks are notorious as the vector of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) in Korea. To confirm the transovarial transmission of SFTSV, we collected blood-fed adult ticks from animals in SFTS case reported area of Jeju island in 2015. A total of 476 ticks were collected from four host animal species, horse (81.3%), dog (9.0%), roe deer (7.1%) and wild boar (2.5%). They were identified as 1 genus and 2 species, Haemaphysalis longicornis (87.8%) and H. flava (12.2%). Among them, 131 adults hatched their eggs successfully. The body weight of females was highly correlated with the number of egg masses laid (P < 0.05). We confirmed that one adult H. flava was infected with SFTSV and its infection rate was 0.77%. The eggs of the SFTSV-infected adults also were infected with SFTSV and its transovarial transmission was confirmed. This result suggests that the parent generation of H. flava could transmit SFTSV transovarially into their F1 progeny and H. flava might be one of major vectors of SFTSV in Korea.

A surveillance of chigger mites was performed to monitor the incidence of scrub typhus vectors at 4 environmental collection points of 6 locations from September to November 2014 in Korea. During the survey period, 420 chigger mites were collected and the dominant species was Leptotrombidium scutellare (42.6%). The first appearance of chigger mite was at 37th week (9.3.-9.10.) and the collected numbers of chigger mites was the highest at 43rd week (10.17.-10.23.). In Goryeong-gun, 299 chigger mites were collected, whereas 5 chigger mites were collected In Yesan-gun. The high environmental collecting rates were recorded at rice field (56%) and waterway (20%). The annually collected numbers (2012-2014) of chigger mites were compared with the average temperatures in August. This result suggests that the average temperature in August might be related with the annual incidence of scrub typhus vectors in Korea. However, the relationship between climate factors and the density of chigger mites needs to be studied by long-term periodical surveillance.

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of macrophages on growth of human colon cancer cells. The results showed that co-culture of colon cancer cells with macrophages inhibited the growth of colon cancer cells (HCT116 and SW620) depending on the number of macrophages, RAW 264.7 cells, and activated THP-1 cells accompanied by down regulation of pSTAT3 in cancer cells. We also found that expression and release of cancer cell growth inhibitory cytokines, IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) and IL-10, was increased in macrophages. Blocking of the STAT3 pathway with specific inhibitor and siRNA of STAT3 abolished the growth of colon cancer cells and expression of IL-1ra and IL-10. In addition, neutralization of IL-1ra and IL-10 with antibodies resulted in reversal of macrophage-induced inhibition of cancer cell growth. These data showed that IL-1ra and IL-10 released from macrophages inhibit growth of colon cancer cells through inhibition of the STAT3 pathway.

Background : Bitter gourd (Momordica charantia) is a vegetable with pantropical distribution and contains the active ingredient, such as momordicine and charantin. Moreover, bitter gourd has been reported to exhibit antidiabetic, anticancer, cardiovascular-protective and antioxidant effects. But, the distinctive bitter taste of bitter gourd was not suitable for food preference. This study was conducted to evaluate the improvement effects of bitter taste of bitter gourd with natural fermentation and roasting process. Methods and Results : Bitter gourd fruits were obtained from Headeulnyeokae Co., Ltd.(Gang-Jin 59253, Repubilc Korea). Fruits of bitter gourd were prepared by natural fermentation process for 4h at 25℃. After natural fermentation, the fruits were dried in hot-air dryer for 15h at 49-55℃. The dried fruits were roasted in 500 g batches at 120℃ for 10 min in the electric rotisserie oven. After roasting, fruit pieces were extracted with hot water and cold water. One of them was cool-type, and the other was hot-type bitter gourd tea. In the sensory evaluation, hot tea and cold tea showed the high scores on color, flavor and overall acceptability. Conclusion : These mean that roasted bitter gourd had less bitter, and it could be utilized widely as drink and food material.

Systemic acquired resistance is an important component of the disease resistance repertoire of plants. A novel syntheticchemical, Benzo (1,2,3) thiadiazole-7-carbothioic acid S-methyl ester (BTH), was shown to induce acquired resistance in wheat.BTH prote