The multi-layer insulating curtains used in the experiment was produced in six combinations using non-woven fabric containing aerogel and compared and analyzed by measuring heat flux and heat perfusion rates due to weight, thickness and temperature changes. Using silica aerogel, which have recently been noted as new material insulation, this study tries to produce a new combination of multi-layer insulating curtains that can complement the shortcomings of the multi-layer insulating curtains currently in use and maintain and improve its warmth, and analyze the thermal properties. The heat flux means the amount of heat passing per unit time per unit area, and the higher the value, the more heat passing through the multi-layer insulating curtain, and it can be judged that the heat retention is low. The weight and thickness of multi-layer insulation curtains were found to be highly correlated with thermal insulation. In particular, insulation curtains combined with aerogel meltblown non-woven fabric had relatively higher thermal insulation than insulation curtains with the same number of insulation materials. However, the aerogel meltblown non-woven fabric is weak in light resistance and durability, and there is a problem that the production process and aerogel are scattering. In order to solve this problems, the combination of expanded aerogel non-woven fabric and hollow fiber non-woven fabric, which are relatively simple manufacturing processes and excellent warmth, are suitable for use in real farms.

We analyzed the anthocyanin accumulation, abscisic acid (ABA), gibberellic acid (GA) contents and metabolic genes expression in berry skins under high temperature (High T) at veraison, in order to investigate the cause of bad coloration of 'Kyoho' grape due to High T in summer season. The coloration of ‘Kyoho’ grapes was stopped by High T for 10 days from veraison, and the fruit quality was not affected except skin color. Total anthocyanin of skins was decreased by High T treatment and malvidin and peonidin were decreased compared to control. In berry skins, ABA content did not decrease by High T treatment, but it was rather higher than that of control. GA content was increased about two times compared to the control after 10 days of High T treatment, which caused decreased ratio of ABA/GA. Analysis of expression of anthocyanin biosynthetic genes showed that the early biosynthetic genes were not affected by High T and the expression of UFGT was decreased by temperature treatment. ABA biosynthetic gene expressions were not affected by High T and the expression of GA20ox1 and GA2ox1/2, which are known to regulate the biosynthesis and inactivation of GA, were increased and decreased by High T, respectively. Therefore, the bad coloration of ‘Kyoho’ grapes under the High T at veraison was due to inhibition of anthocyanin biosynthesis of skin, and it was suggested that the anthocyanin biosynthesis was controlled by the ratio of ABA and GA rather than ABA content.

In the last decade, several sellers have experimented with participative pricing, i.e., pricing mechanisms in which the buyers directly influence the price of a transaction. Pay What You Want (PWYW) is the most rigorous participative pricing model. The buyer can set any price, including zero, and the seller cannot refuse to serve the buyer for that price (Kim, Natter, & Spann, 2009). For the seller, PWYW can be advantageous if the buyers pay differentiated prices that are higher than posted prices. However, the profitability of the pricing model is limited to specific situations (Gerpott, 2017). We introduce a modification of PWYW labeled Multi-Tier Pay What You Want (MTPWYW). In MTPWYW, the seller offers different quality levels of a good. The lower-quality version is available under pure PWYW conditions. The higher-quality versions are only available to customers who pay at least a predefined threshold price. Nonetheless, customers can still pay more than the threshold price for the higher-quality good. Therefore, MTPWYW allows the seller to exclude customers who pay low prices for the higher-quality good. We run a field experiment comparing MTPWYW to PWYW by setting up a waffle stand with two quality levels: the basic version consisted of plain waffles only, the higher-quality version included waffles with toppings. In the case of PWYW, the buyers could choose any price they wanted to for both quality levels. In the case of MTPWYW, waffles with toppings were only available after paying at least the threshold price. The results indicate that MTPWYW can be more profitable than PWYW and that it can achieve two forms of price discrimination: endogenous price discrimination and second-degree price discrimination (i.e., self-selection into different quality levels).

Breast cancer is of enormous concern worldwide and linked with age, sex, hormonal factors, and family history. The treatment of early breast cancer includes treating the disease locally with surgery, radiation therapy, or both and treating microscopic systemic disease with either one or a combination of chemotherapy, endocrine therapy, or biologic therapy. Doxorubicin is a well-known anthracycline antibiotic and antineoplastic drug usually administered to breast cancer patients. However, there have been some reports suggesting that doxorubicin causes side effects such as cardiotoxicity. Furthermore, breast cancer patients on doxorubicin treatment are commonly prescribed steroid suppression therapy. In addition, it has been previously reported that lack of estrogen elevates cardiotoxicity. In this study, we evaluated whether the steroid suppression therapy might influence the cardiotoxicity of doxorubicin. We hypothesized that the presence of a steroid hormone, particularly estrogen, is closely related to doxorubicin action. To investigate the effect of estrogen, mice were divided into four groups: control group, doxorubicin-treated group, ovariectomized group, and ovariectomized plus doxorubicin-treated group. We observed upregulation of inflammatory cytokine gene and downregulation of apoptotic genes in the groups treated with doxorubicin, particularly in the ovariectomized plus doxorubicin-treated group. This suggests that administration of doxorubicin under a non-steroid condition can excessively damage the heart. In summary, combination treatment of hormonal and doxorubicin therapy for breast or many different types of cancer patients must be prescribed with requisite precautions.

Type1 diabetes mellitus (DM) is generally known to be caused by destruction of insulin-producing pancreatic β cells or an immune-related problem. Polydipsia is a representative symptom of DM, and it has been reported that this condition is closely related to xerostomia and is considered that hyposalivation from the salivary gland results in this phenomenon. Although various studies have reported that induction of diabetes reduces endogenous stem cells in other organs (heart, brain etc.), diabetes-related changes in endogenous stem cells in the salivary gland have not yet been well established. Therefore, in this study, to verify the change in salivary gland stem cells after diabetes, salivary gland tissues in the control and diabetes-induced groups were processed by histochemistry (Masson’s trichrome staining) for morphological analysis, TUNEL assay for cell death, and immunohistochemistry (Ki-67 and c-Kit) for cell proliferation and maturation. Diabetes induced by STZ leads to vacuolization, apoptosis, and reduction in proliferating cells/salivary gland stem cells in salivary glands of rats. This result suggests that diabetes may be associated with reduction in salivary gland function such as degeneration and inhibition of regeneration in the salivary gland.

In all mammalian species, progesterone is essential in the preparation for and maintenance of pregnancy, if it occurs. Progesterone primes the endometrium for possible implantation and inhibits uterine contraction until birth. 20-alpha hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (20α-HSD; EC.1.1.1.149) enzyme belongs to the family of aldo-keto reductases. 20α-HSD predominantly converts progesterone into its biologically inactive form 20α-hydroxyprogesterone (20α-OHP), and plays a crucial role in the termination of pregnancy and initiation of parturition. In addition, the activity of 20α-HSD during the luteal phase known to be inhibited by prolactin. In this study, we focused on the analysis of transgenic mice expressing EGFP under control of monkey 20α-HSD promotor in mice testis. The protein expression and localization were detected by Western blotting and Immunohistochemical analysis, respectively. 20α-HSD protein was detected at molecular weight of 37-kDa by Western blotting analysis and EGFP was found at 27-kDa in the testis of TG mice. Also EGFP and 20a-HSD protein expression on 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks after birth were assessed. Both of them were increased the expression level time-dependently. 20α-HSD were strongly expressed in seminiferous tubule from 1 week after birth as seen in Immunohistochemical analysis. However, EGFP was strongly expressed in the seminiferous epithelial cells. Then, we determined the expression of EGFP mRNA in mice testis. Using primers specific for mouse EGFP, mRNA expression levels were analyzed by RT-PCR. The EGFP molecular weights is 400bp, qRT-PCR results using EGFP primer, The Cq value of the ratio decreased as the age increased. On this basis, mRNA were increased the expression level time-dependently. In conclusion, these observations suggest that the 20α-HSD in testis could be play a pivotal role in the spermatogenesis.

To search for a variety of cellulase genes from termites with different habitats consuming different foods, we collected three species (Neotermes spp., Odontotermes spp., Macrotermes spp.) from the wood and one species (Nasutitermes spp.) from the cow dung. Total RNA was isolated both from alimentary track tissues containing paunch and from other tissues, and used for the suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH). The resulting EST libraries were sequenced and searched by BLAST to identify cellulase genes. A total of 16 cellulase genes were found from the wood-dwelling termites whereas 4 cellulase genes from the cow dung-dwelling termites. Endo-beta-1,4-glucanase and beta-glucosidase were identified as the most abundant cellulase from the wood-dwelling termites and cow dung-dwelling termites, respectively. This finding suggests that cellulase profiles are significantly different depending on the termite’s habitat and food. In addition, we analyzed phylogenetic relationships among the cellulase genes along with other cellulase genes reported to date. All cellulase genes appeared to be originated from endosymbioants without any hint of horizontal gene transfer. Functional expression of endo-beta-1,4-glucanase using a baculovirus expression system is in progress to characterize its enzymatic properties.

Linuron is a pesticide with a weak anti-androgenic property, which impacts male reproductive organs. In this study, to clarify whether linuron affects the cellular antioxidant system of ventral prostate, gene expression patterns of the representative antioxidant enzymes such as glutathione peroxidase (GPx), selenoprotein P (SePP), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were investigated in the rat ventral prostates exposed to linuron using real-time RT-PCR analyses. Sprague-Dawley rats castrated at 6 weeks old were treated with linuron (25, 50, or 100 mg/kg per oral) daily for 10 days after testosterone propionate administration (0.4 mg/kg) subcutaneously. As compared to normal control animals, mRNA levels of phospholipid hydroperoxide GPx (PHGPx), SePP, and Mn SOD significantly increased in the prostates exposed to linuron (25, 50, and 100 mg/kg). However, cytosolic GPx (100 mg/kg) and Cu/Zn SOD (25, 50, and 100 mg/kg) mRNA levels significantly decreased in the ventral prostates. These results indicate that linuron upregulates the expressions of PHGPx, SePP, and Mn SOD mRNAs, but down-regulates the expressions of cytosolic GPx and Cu/Zn SOD in rat prostates, suggesting that linuron may have dual effects in the cellular antioxidant system of prostate.

내현적 주의와 재정향이 탐지과제 수행에 미치는 영향을 반응촉진과 회귀억제를 통해 탐색하였다. Posner와 Cohen(1980)의 고전적인 탐지패러다임에서는 단서를 제시하고 일정한 자극제시시차 후 그 단서와 같거나 또는 다른 위치에 나타나는 표적에 대한 탐지수행을 관찰한다. 본 연구에서는 내현적 주의를 유발하기 위해 단서가 표적에 대해 예측력을 가지도록 조작하였고, 단서자극과 표적 사이에 새로운 단서(재정향단서)를 삽입하여 재정향을 유도하였다. 실험 1에서는 재정향단서가 제시되는 시기를 초기, 중기, 후기로 구분하여 실험을 실시하였다. 그 결과 재정향이 제시되는 시기별로 자극제시시차(150ms, 400ms, 850ms)에 따라 다른 양상의 반응촉진 및 회귀억제가 발생하였으나, 해석 가능한 일정 패턴을 확인하기는 어려웠다. 하지만 재정향이 초기에 발생한 실험조건을 재분석한 결과, 반응촉진과 회귀억제가 자극제시시차에 따라 교차하여 나타나는 단순탐지과제의 전형적인 결과를 얻을 수 있었다. 실험 2에서는 실험 1에서 재정향이 초기에 발생하는 조건에 대한 추가 실험을 실시하였다. 실험 결과, 자극제시시차가 짧을 때는 반응촉진이 발생하였으며 자극제시시차가 길때는 회귀억제가 발생하였다. 이 결과는 단서자극이 표적에 대한 예측력을 가질 때 자극제시시차가 긴 조건에서 회귀억제가 사라진다는 기존의 보고(Wright & Richard, 2000)와 반대되는 결과이다. 이 결과는 최초 단서가 제시된 후 회귀억제의 효과가 소멸되기 전에 매우 빠르게 제시되는 재정향단서는 이중 회귀억제를 가져온다는 것을 제안한다. 본 연구는 내현적 주의에 의해 특정한 위치에 주의를 할당할 때에도 반복적으로 빠르게 제시되는 단서자극은 회귀억제를 극대화함으로써 내현적 주의를 상쇄할 수 있음을 시사한다.

In order to provide the basis for developing practical mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) culture method, how the endogenous level of self-renewal-stimulating factor genes was altered in the mESCs by different extracellular signaling was investigated in this study. For different extracellular signaling, mESCs were cultured in 2 dimension (D), 3D and integrin-stimulating 3D culture system in the presence or absence of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) and transcriptional level of Lif, Bmp4 and Wnt3a was evaluated in the mESCs cultured in each system. The expression of three genes was significantly increased in 3D system relative to 2D system under LIF-containing condition, while only Wnt3a expression was increased by 3D culture under LIF-free condition. Stimulation of integrin signaling in mESCs within 3D system with exogenous LIF significantly up-regulated transcriptional level of Bmp4, but did not induce transcriptional regulation of Lif and Wnt3a. In the absence of LIF inside 3D system, the expression of Lif and Bmp4 was significantly increased by integrin signaling, while it significantly decreased Wnt3a expression. Finally, the signal from exogenous LIF significantly caused increased expression of Lif in 2D system, decreased expression of Bmp4 in both 2D and 3D system, and decreased expression of Wnt3a in integrin-stimulating 3D system. From these results, we identified that endogenous expression level of self-renewal-stimulating factor genes in mESCs could be effectively regulated through artificial and proper manipulation of extracellular signaling. Moreover, synthetic 3D niche stimulating endogenous secretion of self-renewal-stimulating factors will be able to help develop growth factor-free maintenance system of mESCs.

Metabolomics aims at the comprehensive, qualitative and quantitative analysis of wide arrays of endogenous metabolites in biological samples. It has shown particular promise in the area of toxicology and drug development, functional genomics, system biology and clinical diagnosis. In this study, analytical technique of MS instrument with high resolution mass measurement, such as time-of-flight (TOF) was validated for the purpose of investigation of amino acids, sugars and fatty acids. Rat urine and serum samples were extracted by selected each solvent (50% acetonitrile, 100% acetonitrile, acetone, methanol, water, ether) extraction method. We determined the optimized liquid chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC/TOFMS) system and selected appropriated columns, mobile phases, fragment energy and collision energy, which could search 17 metabolites. The spectral data collected from LC/TOFMS were tested by ANOVA. Obtained with the use of LC/TOFMS technique, our results indicated that (1) MS and MS/MS parameters were optimized and most abundant product ion of each metabolite were selected to be monitorized; (2) with design of experiment analysis, methanol yielded the optimal extraction efficiency. Therefore, the results of this study are expected to be useful in the endogenous metabolite fields according to validated SOP for endogenous amino acids, sugars and fatty acids.

최근 돼지의 장기를 사람에게 이식하는 이종간 장기 이식에 관한 연구가 급속히 발전되고 있다. 그러나 돼지의 장기를 이식할 경우 가장 큰 문제점 중의 하나는 돼지 genome 내에 존재하는 내인성 레트로바이러스(porcine endogenous retrovirus; PERV)가 인간에게 그대로 전이될 수 있다는 것이다. 이에 대한 대안으로 최근 활발히 연구되고 있는 RNA 간섭을 통한 PERV RNA의 발현을 최대한 억제하는 방법이 제안되고 있는데, RNA 간섭(RNA interference)은 double- stranded RNA (dsRNA)가 상보적인 표적 mRNA를 분해하여 결과적으로 표적 단백질의 발현을 특이적으로 억제하는 현상을 의미한다. 본 연구에서는 PERV에 대한 RNA 간섭 현상을 일으키는 shRNA 유전자를 레트로바이러스 벡터를 이용하여 돼지세포에 RNA)가 상보적인 표적 mRNA를 분해하여 결과적으로 표적 단백질의 발현을 특이적으로 억제하는 현상을 의미한다. 도입한 후 PERV의 발현율 감소 여부를 조사하였다. 그 결과, gag-pol 유전자와 env 유전자 발현은 각각 대조군 세포의 4%와 10% 정도로 억제되었다. 한편, virus 입자의 생산에서 gag-pol 유전자는 대조군 세포에 비해 300배 이상 억제되었으며, env 유전자에서는 20만 배 이상 억제되었다. 이상의 결과를 미루어 볼 때 형질 전환 돼지를 이용한 이종 장기 이식에 있어서 RNA 간섭 현상을 이용한 PERV의 발현을 억제하는 시도는 생물학적 안전성을 크게 증가시킬 수 있을 것으로 사료된다.