Green tea polyphenol (–)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is a potent antioxidant with protective effects against neurotoxicity. However, it is currently unclear whether EGCG protects neuronal cells against radiation-induced damage. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the effects of EGCG on ultraviolet (UV)-induced oxidative stress and apoptosis in PC12 cells. The effects of UV irradiation included apoptotic cell death, which was associated with DNA fragmentation, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, enhanced caspase-3 and caspase-9 activity, and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase cleavage. UV irradiation also increased the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and mitochondrial pathway-associated cytochrome c expression. However, pretreatment with EGCG before UV exposure markedly decreased UV-induced DNA fragmentation and ROS production. Furthermore, the UV irradiationinduced increase in Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, cytochrome c upregulation, and caspase-3 and caspase-9 activation were each ameliorated by EGCG pretreatment. Additionally, EGCG suppressed UV-induced phosphorylation of p38 and rescued UV-downregulated phosphorylation of ERK. Taken together, these results suggest that EGCG prevents UV irradiationinduced apoptosis in PC12 cells by scavenging ROS and inhibiting the mitochondrial pathways known to play a crucial role in apoptosis. In addition, EGCG inhibits UV-induced apoptosis via JNK inactivation and ERK activation in PC12 cells. Thus, EGCG represents a potential neuroprotective agent that could be applied to prevent neuronal cell death induced by UV irradiation.

L-ascorbic acid (L-AA; vitamin C) induces apoptosis in cancer cells. This study aimed to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of L-AA-induced apoptosis in human laryngeal epidermoid carcinoma Hep-2 cells. L-AA suppressed the viability of Hep-2 cells and induced apoptosis, as shown by the cleavage and condensation of nuclear chromatin and increased number of Annexin V-positive cells. L-AA decreased Bcl-2 protein expression but upregulated Bax protein levels. In addition, cytochrome c release from the mitochondria into the cytosol and activation of caspase-9, -8, and -3 were enhanced by L-AA treatment. Furthermore, apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) and endonuclease G (EndoG) were translocated into the nucleus during apoptosis of L-AA-treated Hep-2 cells. L-AA effectively inhibited the constitutive nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) activation and attenuated the nuclear expression of the p65 subunit of NF-κB. Interestingly, L-AA treatment of Hep-2 cells markedly activated Akt and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK; extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2, p38, and c-Jun N-terminal kinase [JNK]) and and LY294002 (Akt inhibitor), SB203580 (p38 inhibitor) or SP600125 (a JNK inhibitor) decreased the levels of Annexin V-positive cells. These results suggested that L-AA induces the apoptosis of Hep-2 cells via the nuclear translocation of AIF and EndoG by modulating the Bcl- 2 family and MAPK/Akt signaling pathways.

The number of North Korean defectors in South Korea has reached 30,000, however, it has been reported that many of them still have adaptation problems. Research on adaptation of North Koreans to South Korean society has been approached mainly from social, economic, and psychological perspectives, and little research has been conducted on their adaptation in terms of lifestyle of North Koreans in South Korean society. Adaptation to daily life pattern in a new social-cultural environment may be examined in the context of acculturation. As a part of the daily life, we are focusing on North Korean defectors’ clothing behavior and how they use clothing as a strategic tool for their adaptation to South Korea. The results of this study may provide marketers the information needed to develop mobile applications to help the North Korean defectors adapt to South Korean fashion style. This research also examined the impact of fashion SNS and word-of-mouth communication as a means of identity formation. In depth interviews using snowball sampling were conducted with 10 North Korean defectors in their 20s and 40s who agreed to voluntarily participate in the research from December 2016 to February 2017. The findings from the interviews are as follows. First, according to Berry’s(1997) types of acculturation, North Korean defectors were classified based on the subjective aspects(e.g. clothing norms) and objective aspects(e.g. clothing purchase behavior) of their daily clothing behavior. The Integrators still tried to abide by the clothing norm acquired in North Korea, but at the same time accepted the clothing norms of South Korea and tried to change their personal ideal. In the objective aspects, their clothing styles still reflect North Korean fashion norms, yet they newly acquire norms regarding thin body ideals or skin care management in the South. They also showed the change of store preference and choices as they become adapted to South Korean culture. The second group, Assimilators show high degree of acceptance of South Korean culture. They regarded the sense of belonging to South Korean society and appearance management as important. Many of them played a role as a fashion adviser among their North Korean peers while they have formed and kept the social network with South Korean. Thirdly, Segregators are the people who try to maintain North Korean culture and try to segregate from the South Korean (host) culture. Defectors in this type still abided by the clothing norms they acquired while in North Korea, and had a negative viewpoint on the South Koreans' styles. They still preferred North Korean fashion style, and were familiar with using North Korean words for expressing terminology related to fashion. Finally, Marginalized group is the people who consider themselves being individual and independent self-standing entity with low degree of acceptance of South and North Korean culture. They sought to express their own individuality before and after defecting by creating their own style. This study may contribute to the understanding of adaptation process, not only of North Korean defectors, but also other immigrants to other countries.

One of the major problems in the modern pig industry is infectious disease. Susceptibility to infectious diseases is influenced by both constitutional (e.g. genotype, age, gender, and reproductive status) and environmental factors (e.g. nutrition, management, infections, and other forms of stress). Genetic variations within individual animals or herds can cause differences in the execution of immune functions against infectious agents in domestic pigs. The objectives of the present study were to identify genetic factor(s) responsible for piglet survival and mortality under commercial field conditions with infectious diseases as well as determine QTL regions for immune capacity in a pig reference family. Sex ratio was examined between normal grown and presumed dead groups of F2 animals generated by Korean native pigs (KNP) and Yorkshire (YS) breeds. The ratio of males was significantly higher in the presumed dead group than in the normal grown group. In order to study genetic factors associated with presumed mortality under disease outbreak, allelic frequencies of 239 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were compared between normal grown and presumed dead groups. Exactly 22 SNPs showed significant differences in their allelic frequencies between the two groups, and four of them were validated with another commercial population divided by normal and emaciated pigs. Furthermore, the relationships between 239 SNPs and immune-related traits were studied. These results demonstrate that identification of genetic components of animal immune systems and susceptibility to infectious diseases is possible and will be useful to improve disease resistance in individuals as well as in breeding programs.

This study aims to investigate how Korean EFL college students' argumentative essays are similar to or different from those of native English speakers (NES) in the use of reference, with the consideration of Korean students' level of Engli sh proficiency. It employed both quantitative and qualitative analyses to examine referential use for estab lishing textual cohesion of wri tten discourse. The participants were 30 native English speakers and 61 Korean EFL college students, with 31 high proficiency students and 30 low proficiency students. Detai led examination on the use of referential devices revealed important findings. For example, the syntactic role of the reference influenced the relative difficulty for the Korean EFL students. When referring to nominal items, whereas the Korean EFL students did as well as the NES in referential choices in subject positions, they underused references in other syntactic roles, such as object and possessive positions. They also made different referential choices in one of the major functions of demonstratives. That is, whereas the NES mostly used demonstrative this when referring to extended text in the preced ing discourse, both levels of the Korean EFL students preferred pronoun it for such function. The present study holds important pedagogical implications with regard to L2 writing pedagogy.