This study investigated changes of milk production in dairy cows intramuscularly injected with drugs containing dexamethasone (DXM). Three types of dexamethasone formulations (Bueunde® (DXM 0.5 mg/mL), Dexason INJ.® (DXM 1 mg/mL) and Dexolone-20 inj.® (DXM 1 mg/mL)) were intramuscularly injected into sixteen healthy dairy cows each. Bueunde® was intramuscularly injected into 8 dairy cows with 5 mg (BED-1) and 10 mg (BED-2) of DXM once a day for 3 consecutive days, respectively. Dexason INJ.® was intramuscularly administered once into dairy cows with 20 mg (DXS-1, n=8) and 40 mg (DXS-2, n=8) of DXM, respectively. Dexolone-20 inj.® was intramuscularly injected once into dairy cows with 20 mg (DXS-1, n=8) and 40 mg (DXS-2, n=8) of DXM, respectively. Milk production (MP) of BED-1 and BED-2 significantly decreased during the drug administration and up to 48-hour post-drug treatment. Compared with the MP before drug administration, the MP of DXS-1 and DXL-1 was meaningfully decreased by 36 and 24-hour post-drug administration, respectively, and that in both DXS-2 and DXL-2 significantly decreased until 48-hour post-drug treatment. In conclusion, it was confirmed that the MP temporarily decreased by 48 hours after administration of DXM to dairy cows.

The canine parvovirus (CPV) causes clinical signs, such as severe enteritis, dehydration, diarrhea, vomiting, leukopenia, and hair loss, which may lead to death. Vaccination is still the most important approach, as no specific treatment exists to prevent CPV. Monoclonal antibodies are valuable tools to study the pathogenic mechanisms of CPV and develop effective diagnostic reagents and pharmaceuticals. In this study, two monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against CPV-2a were obtained through hybridoma technology by fusing myeloma cells and B cells from the spleens of mice immunized with CPV type 2a (CPV-2a). Two MAbs (CPV-330 and CPV-620) were studied on the reactivity of vaccine (CPV-2a) and field strains (CPV-new 2a, -2b, and -2c) by indirect immunofluorescence (IFA), hemagglutination inhibition test (HI), virus neutralization test (VN), and inhibition of virus growth test. Two MAbs showed similar antibody titers for HI and VN. On the other hand, CPV-330 inhibited the viral replication in Crandell-Rees Feline Kidney (CRFK) cells better than CPV-620. These CPV MAbs may provide valuable biological reagents to study the CPV pathogenic mechanisms and work as therapeutic antibodies.

This study examines the word-initial stop variation in the speech of speakers who were born in North Kyungsang province and moved to Seoul after the age of 20 and that of speakers who were born in Seoul and moved to North Kyungsang province after the age of 20. Specifically, this study investigates whether Seoul Koreans moving to North Kyungsang have acquired the NKK-like word-initial tensification in any of the two contexts - wordlist and reading passage. Moreover, this study explores whether North Kyungsang Korean moving to Seoul have lost the NKK-like word-initial tensification in the two contexts. Finally, this study examines whether social factors, including gender, length of stay in a new region, attitude toward the first and second dialects, and awareness of the word-initial tensification affect the acquisition or loss of the second dialect feature. A major finding is that both mobile groups do not show the NKK-like word-initial tensification in wordlist and reading passage speech. With respect to the effect of the social factors, male Kyungsang Koreans in Seoul produce tensified stops more than female counterparts. Meanwhile, none of the social factors are significant in the speech of Seoul Koreans in North Kyungsang.

Various eco-friendly seed disinfection technologies have been developed due to the increase in the global demand for organic food. In order to produce sustainable and eco-friendly agricultural products in Korea, seed disinfection technologies for the production of wholesome seedlings have been researched in diverse ways compared to how they were examined in advanced countries. Both domestically and internationally, the eco-friendly seed disinfection technologies to secure the horticultural crops have been treated by biological or physical methods, such as hot water treatment with ultrasonic disinfection technology, or applying organic agricultural materials like organic acids in plant extracts. However, from a practical perspective, various applied technologies can be implemented in farm fields to disinfect significant agricultural crops, such as lettuce, Chinese cabbage, radish, watermelon, cucumber, paprika, red pepper, ginger, ginseng, and sesame seeds.

This mini-review focused on the current advances in the development and the application of the antibacterial agents produced from probiotics strains against foodborne pathogens. Inhibitory activity of the pathogen growth could be achieved by co-culture with probiotics and/or the treatment of metabolites extracted from probiotics culture, whereas strain-dependent efficacy was mainly reported according to the bacterial species of the target pathogens. To overcome the limited antibacterial spectrum and the efficacy of the metabolites from probiotics, the recent research highlight the discovery of novel bioactive substances with broad range of the inhibitory activity of foodborne pathogens and mode-of-action which has not been reported as the major research goal. Moreover, understanding the distribution of functional and regulation genes coding the production of the antibacterial metabolites based on the bacterial genome analysis can provide the clues for the mechanisms of the pathogen control by using probiotics. Major strategies on the application of the genomics in this research area can be represented as follows: 1) functional annotation specialized for antimicrobial proteins, 2) assessment of the antibacterial effects followed by the general/functional annotation, 3) genome and metabolites analysis for the purification of antimicrobial proteins, 4) comparative genomics and the characterization of antimicrobial potential. Especially the relationship between phenotype-genotype based on genomic bioinformation with the results of the practical efficacy tests of bacterial metabolites as an active substance of disinfectants and/or preservatives can be expected to act as supportive research for broadening our knowledge regarding the key metabolic pathways associated with the production of antibacterials from probiotics.

Electrochemical water splitting is an important process for next generation of eco-friendly energy systems. The oxygen evolution reaction (OER), which occurs at an anode during the process, requires efficient electrocatalysts to reduce activation energies. Although Ru- or Ir-containing materials show excellent electrocatalytic activities, their high cost is a critical drawback. Consequently, the development of efficient electrocatalysts composed of low-cost metal components is a great challenge. In this study, we develop a new route to produce a hybrid material (Fe–NC) containing Fe3C particles dispersed on the surface of N-doped carbon (NC) materials by heat treatment of a mixture of urea and Fe(II)Cl2(H2O)4. Microscopic analyses prove that the Fe3C particles are placed on the surfaces of thin NC materials. Additionally, various characterizations reveal that the particles contain Fe3C structure. Fe–NC shows good electrocatalytic properties with onset and overpotentials of 1.57 V and 545 mV, respectively, for OER in KOH electrolyte. This study suggests the possibility of the use of Fe3C- based composites as OER electrocatalysts.

The International Atomic Energy Agency recommends the deep geological disposal system as one of the disposal methods for high-level radioactive waste (HLW), such as spent nuclear fuel. The deep geological disposal system disposes of HLW in a deep and stable geological formation to isolate the HLW from the human biosphere and restrict the inflow of radionuclides into the ecosystem. It mainly consists of an engineered barrier and a natural barrier. Safety evaluation using a numerical model has been performed primarily to evaluate the buffer’s long-term stability. However, although the gas generation rate input for long-term stability evaluation is the critical factor that has the most significant influence on the long-term hydraulic-mechanical behavior of the buffer, in-depth research and experimental data are lacking. In this study, the gas generation rate on the interface between the disposal canister and the buffer material, a component of the engineered barrier, was mainly studied. Gas can be generated between the disposal canister and the buffer material due to various causes such as anaerobic corrosion of the disposal canister metal, organic matter decomposition, radiation decomposition, and steam generation due to high temperature. The generation of gas in such a disposal environment increases the pore gas pressure in the buffer and causes internal cracks. The occurred cracks increase the intrinsic permeability of the buffer, which leads to a decrease in the primary performance of the buffer. For this reason, it is essential to apply the appropriate gas generation rate according to the disposal condition and buffer material for accurate long-term stability analysis. Therefore, the theoretical models regarding the estimation of gas generation were summarized through a literature study. The amount of gas generated was estimated according to the disposal environment and material of the disposal canister. It is expected that estimated values might be used to estimate the long-term stability analysis of buffer performance according to the disposal condition.

Inflammation is a protective mechanism against pathogens, but if maintained continuously, it destroys tissue structures. Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans is a gram-negative, facultative anaerobic bacterium often found in severe periodontitis. A. actinomycetemcomitans invades epithelial cells and triggers inflammatory response in the immune cells. In this study, we investigated the effect of water-soluble rosehip extract on A. actinomycetemcomitansinduced inflammatory responses. A human monocytic cell line (THP-1) was differentiated to macrophages by phorbol 12-mystristate 13-acetate treatment. The cytotoxic effect of extract was determined using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2- yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. The effects of extract on bacterial growth were examined by measuring the optical densities using a spectrophotometer. THP-1-derived macrophages were infected A. actinomycetemcomitans after extract treatment, and culture supernatants were analyzed for cytokine production using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Protein expression was measured by western blotting. Extract was not toxic to THP-1- derived macrophages. A. actinomycetemcomitans growth was inhibited by 1% extract. The extract suppressed A. actinomycetemcomitans-induced tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin (IL)-1β, and IL-8 production. It also decreased mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAP kinase) and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) phosphorylation. Moreover, the extract inhibited the expression of inflammasome components, including nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor pyrin domain-containing protein 3, Absent in Melanoma 2, and apoptosis associated speck-like protein containing a CARD. And cysteine-aspartic proteases-1 and IL-1β expression were decreased by the extract. In summary, extract suppressed A. actinomycetemcomitans growth and decreased inflammatory cytokine production by inhibiting activation of MAP kinase, NF-κB, and inflammasome signaling. Rosehip extract could be effective in the treatment of periodontal inflammation induced by A. actinomycetemcomitans infection.

본 연구는 아파트 단지에 식재된 조경수의 시계열 변화를 파악하고 조경수 중 소나무의 수요를 예측하기 위하여 수행되었다. 2003년부터 2020년까지 수도권의 아파트 단지에 사용된 수목의 종수는 평균 51종이며 2000년대 중후반에 비하여 2010년대 후반에는 다양한 종류의 수목이 사용되었다. 식재 수량은 평균 149,567주/1단지이며 시계열 변화가 두드러지지 않는다. 상록수와 낙엽수의 수종 비율은 2:8 이지만 식재된 수량은 3.5:6.5의 비율이었다. 상록수는 낙엽수에 비하여 한 수종의 식재량이 많은 반면에 낙엽수는 상록수에 비하여 상대적으로 다양한 수종이 식재되고 있다. 교목과 관목의 수종 비율은 6:4이지만 식재량은 관목 97.6%로 식재량에 비해 식재된 수목의 종류는 다양하지 않다. 조경수 중에서도 선호도와 이용가치가 높은 소나무의 식재현황을 분석하면 식재 수량은 증가하는 경향이며 특히, 근원직경이 큰 소나무의 식재 비율이 증가하고 있다. 아파트 단지의 소나무 식재수요를 예측하면 식재량은 지속적으로 증가할 것이며 특히 근원직경 40㎝ 이상의 특수목의 수요가 증가할 것이다. 이러한 조경수의 수요변화에 대응하여 다양한 식물소재를 발굴하고 생산할 수 있는 전략이 요구된다. 특히 지속적으로 소나무의 대형화가 예측되므로 시장에서 요구하는 수형과 규격을 갖춘 소나무가 적기에 공급될 수 있도록 생산관리가 이루어져야 할 것이다.

The planting date of corn for silage has been delayed because of spring drought and double cropping system in Korea. This experiment was conducted to evaluate agronomic characteristics, forage production and feed value of corn at April and May in 2019. Experimental design was a split-plot with three replications. Planting dates (12 April and 10 May) were designated to the main plot, and corn hybrids (‘P0928’, ‘P1543’ and ‘P2088’) to the subplot. The silking days of the early planting date (12 April) was 79 days and that of the late planting date (10 May) was 66 days (p<0.0001), however, there were no significant differences among the corn hybrids. Ear height of the late planting date was higher than that of the early planting (p<0.05), while there were no significant differences in plant height of corn. Insect resistance at the early planting was lower than that of late planting (p<0.05), however, lodging resistance was no significant difference at planting date. The rice black streaked virus (RBSDV) infection of early planting was 3.7% and that of late planting was 0.3% (p<0.001). Dry matter (DM) contents of stover, ear and whole plant had significant difference at planting date (p<0.05). And differences in ear percentages were observed among the corn hybrids (p<0.01). And ear percentages of early maturing corn (‘P0928’) was higher than for other hybrids. Ear percentage at the early planting date was higher than that at the late planting date (p<0.01). DM and total digestible nutrients (TDN) yields had significant difference at planting date, however, there were no significant differences among the corn hybrids. DM and TDN yields at the late planting (21,678 kg/ha and 14,878 kg/ha) were higher than those of the early planting (13,732 kg/ha and 9,830 kg/ha). Crude protein content at the early planting date was higher than that of the late planting. Acid detergent fiber content of the late planting was lower than that of the early planting date (p<0.01), while there were no significant neutral detergent fiber content difference among the corn tested. Calculated net energy for lactation (NEL) and TDN at the early planting were higher than those of at the late planting (p<0.01). Results of this our study indicate that the late planting date (May) is better than early planting date (April) in forage yield and feed value of corn. Therefore, the delay of planting date by May was more suitable for use in cropping system.