This study aims to examine the effects of taping of the ankle joint on the static and dynamic balance and gait ability of stroke patients. Twenty-six stroke patients receiving physical therapy at a hospital located in Gyeonggi-do were divided equally into a group that had taping in physical therapy and an ordinary physical therapy group. They exercised for 30 minutes each, 3 times per week for 8 weeks from June to August 2011. Romberg’s eye open and eye closed tests, limits of stability(LOS), forward and back test, timed up and go test(TUG) and 10-meter gait velocity test were performed to evaluate static balance, dynamic balance, and gait ability, respectively, prior to and 8 weeks after the intervention. Differences within each group in relation to the lapse of time were compared by a paired t-test. Differences between the two groups were compared by an independent t-test. Regarding comparison of differences within each group, all tests resulted in significant changes in both groups after the intervention (p<.05). Comparison of differences between the two groups showed that taping in the physical therapy group had significantly better test results than the ordinary physical therapy group in all measured items(p<.05). The after effects of ankle taping on stroke patients are more efficient and effective than ordinary physical therapy alone in improving balance and gait ability.

In the past four years, outbreaks of acute respiratory diseases associated with canine influenza H3N2 viruses in dogs and cats have been reported in South Korea and China. For prevention of disease from spread of the disease and for administration of timely medical treatments, including countermeasures for quarantine, use of a rapid and highly sensitive detection method are important to detection of the causative viruses. This study was conducted in order to develop a real time RT-PCR for the H3N2 subtype. It was based on primers targeting the highly homologous sequences of matrix, hemagglutinin, and neuraminidase genes. The detection limit of real time RT-PCR was 10 copies/ul with matrix and hemagglutinin genes, and 1 copy with neuraminidase genes, respectively. This real time RT-PCR was as sensitive as virus isolation in 52 clinical samples. The detection system developed in this study might provide more rapid and highly sensitive results than commercial rapid kits based on immunochromatographic assay.

The bulb storability of eight red and ten yellow onion (Allium cepa L.) cultivars grown primarily in Korea was evaluated. During storage, sprouting occurred earlier in red cultivars than in yellow cultivars. In addition, the ratio of sprouted to unsprouted bulbs increased more rapidly in red cultivars than in yellow cultivars. However, not all yellow cultivars had strong storabilities. Bulb storability of three yellow cultivars was as poor as that of red cultivars, suggesting only a slight possibility of a pleiotropic effect of color and bulb storability. Meanwhile, F3 lines of a red cultivar selected based on stronger storabilities showed intermediate storabilities between those of the red and yellow cultivars, implying that strong storability could be obtained by successive selection. In contrast, F1 hybrids from crosses between yellow and red breeding lines showed poor storability compared with the yellow cultivars, indicating that poor storability may be dominant over strong storability. The relationships between color and other traits that potentially affect storability, such as fresh and dry weight, water content, and firmness of bulbs, were evaluated. No significant differences in these traits were observed between the two colors, although the water content of yellow cultivars and the dry weight of red cultivars were slightly higher than their counterparts. Correlation analyses between bulb storability and other traits, including weight, water content, and firmness, also showed no significant correlations. In this study, no correlations were identified between bulb color, storability, and other traits. However, based on these results, red cultivars with stronger storabilities could be developed through successive selection of bulbs with stronger storabilities.