African swine fever (ASF) is a hemorrhagic viral disease of pigs requiring laboratory diagnosis for confirmation. Though tissue and blood samples are considered optimal for ASF diagnosis, collection of these samples can be laborious, time-consuming, and pose a risk of contaminating the environment. Here, we suggest an alternative non-invasive sampling method, hair plucking, for ASF diagnosis. ASF virus was detected in plucked hair samples from experimentally infected pigs. Although the sensitivity was inferior to whole blood, the results suggest that hair plucking can be an alternative method that can also improve animal welfare.

The purpose of this study is to analyze how modern fashion brands practice cultural sustainability by investigating the ways they use and reinterpret traditional culture and clothing. The transmission and reinterpretation of traditional cultural elements connect the past, present, and future. These forces also lead to the development of new creativity in the fashion industry. Three brands have been selected for case studies: Danha (Korea), Mittan (Japan), and Jan Jan Van Essche (Belgium). These brands possess in-depth understanding of traditional cultural elements, including clothing, dyeing techniques, and patterns unique to various regions and minority groups. The brands all make use of traditional cultural identities whose clothing contains the historical and sentimental values of various regions and ethnic groups. The use and mixing of various cultures can be seen as the respectful preservation of global culture. Also, in contemporary fashion, the use of traditional culture plays an important role in the presentation and development of creative designs. The use of traditional handicraft techniques and the use of traditional clothing in the past convey cultural diversity to future generations; they will have a lasting influence on future fashion trends. The results of the study show that cultural sustainability in contemporary fashion has been implemented through safeguarding and respecting indigenous cultures and developing cultural elements into creative design.

Insect peptides have been extensively studied due to beneficial effects in the treatment of infectious diseases. Melittin, a fundamental component of honeybee venom produced by European honeybee Apis mellifera, has applied to prevent various inflammatory disease and bacterial infections in human. However, the therapeutic application of melittin is limited due to its low stability, hemolytic activity and expensive manufacturing costs. In this study, we aimed to discovery unknown peptides from the Apis mellifera and evaluate its antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli KACC 10005. A total 15,853 peptide sequences were diciphered using Illumina HiSeq 2500 next-generation sequencing (NGS) platform and analyzed based on the Apis mellifera official Gene Set Version 3.2 (amel_OGSv3.2) and the Collection of Anti-Microbial Peptides (CAMPR3) database. All the peptide sequences and annotation data sets were combined and sorted by physicochemical features of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), such as short peptide length <=50, positive charge, isoelectric point (8.0<=pl<=12), and aggregation propensity (in-vitro: <=500, in-vivo: –40<= Na4vSS <=60). Among the screened peptides, four unknown peptide candidates, named AMP1-4, were chemically synthesized and tested for antimicrobial activity in comparison with a reference peptide, melittin. Inhibition of bacterial growth was observed in the AMP4 treated group from 6 hours to 48 hours post-treatment against E. coli. These results suggest that honeybee-derived peptide sequences can be applied as natural resources to acquire novel AMPs and the peptide sequences derived parameters are enough to recognize antibacterial peptides. In addition, the selected novel peptide candidate, AMP4, has antibacterial activity.

Probiotics are defined as advantageous microorganisms to human when they are ingested. However, without any protection, the viability of microbes and their adhesive ability to surface of colon decreases through acidic condition such as stomach and intestines. Therefore, many studies have been conducted to figure out to enhance not only the viability of probiotics, but also its adhesion for increasing effect of probiotics. In this study, extrusion method was conducted to encapsulate Enterococcus faecium. E. faecium-alginate solution was injected to CaCl2 solution with regular side air injection. To prevent coagulation of beads, stirring was conducted in CaCl2 solution and encapsulated alginate-Ca2+ microspheres were produced. For optimal encapsulation condition, air pressure was 100 mbar, flow rate of E. faecium solution was 0.02 ml/h and stirring rate was 200 rpm. For mucoadhesive ability, Monolayer of HT-29 cells used as a colon cell and encapsulated cells were inoculated and incubated in 37℃, 5% CO2/95% air atmosphere for 1 h. Encapsulation efficiency of the encapsulation method used in this study was 98.2%. For mucoadhesive test, the concentration of inoculated E. faecium was 9.9×108 CFU/ml and the concentration of adhered E. faecium was 1.6×106 CFU/ml. In conclusion, encapsulation efficiency of extrusion method was high enough to be accepted for this study, however, alginate-Ca2+ microspheres revealed lower adhesive ability compared to expectation. Therefore, it needs further studies to increase adhesive ability with other polymers.

The objective of the study was to measure the beneficial effects of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) inoculation on the nutritive value of oat silage collected from thirteen regions in the Republic of Korea. The contents of crude protein, acid detergent fiber (ADF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and crude ash (CA) were slightly lower in LAB inoculated silage when compared with the control silage, whereas inoculation of LAB resulted in increased total digestible nutrient (TDN). Higher number of LAB, but lower count of yeast and fungi indicated the effectiveness of the LAB inoculation on oat silage fermentation. LAB inoculation resulted in low pH silage, which may prevent undesirable microbial growth. The LAB inoculation promoted lactic acid dominant fermentation with marginal levels of acetic acid and butyric acid in oat silage. These data suggest that the LAB inoculation may preserve oat silage at better quality for ruminant animal production.

An experiment was carried out to determine the homofermentative activity of Lactobacillus plantarum KCC-10 and KCC-19 on the ensiling of whole crop barley (WCB). The crude protein in the silages was slightly higher in the KCC-10 and KCC-19 treatments compared to the control, but there was no significant difference between the two inoculant-treated silages. Nutrient parameters such as acid detergent fiber, neutral detergent fiber and in vitro dry matter digestibility in L. plantarum KCC-10 and KCC-19 treated silages did not differ from those in the control silage. The lactic acid content increased in KCC-10 and KCC-19 treated silage when compared with the control silage but the contents of acetic acid and butyric acid produced in KCC-10 and KCC-19 treated silages were similar with the control silage. Further, the number of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in KCC-10 treated silage demonstrated a significant increase when compared to the control. Especially, KCC-19 treated silage showed greater lactic acid bacterial growth potential. Other microbes such as yeast and fungi were not detected in KCC-10 and KCC-19 treated WCB silages. Hence, this study suggests that the addition of L. Plantarum KCC-10 and KCC-19 to the WCB silage can improve fermentation quality for the production of high-quality silage.

An investigation was carried out to evaluate the potential role of Lactobacillus Plantarum KCC-10 and KCC-19 on the quality and fermentation characterization of Italian ryegrass (IRG) silages. The physiochemical properties of IRG silage such as crude protein content, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, total digestible nutrient and in vitro dry matter digestibility were not affected by KCC-10 and KCC-19. The pH of IRG silage in KCC-10 and KCC-19 treatments decreased compared to the control (p<0.05), while the lactic acid content in KCC-10 and KCC-19 treatments increased compared to the control (p<0.05). In addition, the number of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in the KCC-10 treatment increased compared to the control (p<0.05). The number of lactic acid bacteria in KCC-19 increased, but there was no significant difference in all treatments. Therefore, we recommend L. plantarum KCC-10 and KCC-19 as potential additive candidates in IRG silage with lots of advantages.

The effects of seed soaking treatment with the solutions of plant growth regulators IAA, GA3 and BAP on seed germination and shoot and bulb growth of Allium victorialis var. platyphyllum (Korean wild garlic) were determined. A significant variation in the seed germination rate was recorded at all treatments for various soaking periods. Maximum seed germination was obtained when seeds were soaked in IAA or GA3 solution at 200 mg L-1. The MAP treated seeds started to germinate after 3 months. Among treatments, IAA was found to be most effective in improving seed germination, but further seedling growth was not correlated to the soaking time. Seed soaking in IAA or GA3 solution enhanced further growth of seedlings compared with water control treatment. Shoot and bulb growth was highest in GA3 treatments.