• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.84-90
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• 2020

We investigated carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N) of the slipmouth Leiognathus nuchalis to reveal the effects of body size, feeding strategy and spatial distribution on the food resource utilization during the migration in the Seomjin estuary and Gwangyang Bay. The δ¹³C values of L. nuchalis caught in the Seomjin estuary where the salinity is lower than 30 psu were much lower than those in the deep-bay area of Gwangyang Bay. Such a spatial heterogeneity in δ¹³C values of the L. nuchalis clearly indicates active feeding within the estuarine habitat. In contrast, the δ¹⁵N values of L. nuchalis showed a consistency among sites, indicating that this species occupies identical trophic level across the whole area. The slipmouth distributed throughout the bay area, reflecting its euryhaline characteristics. However, the distribution pattern appeared to be separated according to body size into smaller individuals in the low-saline estuary and larger ones in the deep bay. Overall results support the plastic feeding strategy of the slipmouth from zooplanktonic (estuarine habitat) to epibenthic (deep-bay habitat) feeder during the migration between estuarine to deep-bay habitats.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.71-80
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• 2013

Present study analyzes the rooftop gardening status, floristic composition and cost and return of the rooftop garden in Sylhet City Corporation of northeastern Bangladesh. Data was collected from 450 rooftop gardeners randomly during July-September 2010. Study reveal that rooftop gardening is generally for mental satisfaction (95.3%) followed by leisure time activity (87.8%) in the study area and almost all the family members of gardeners' were involved; while collection of planting materials, sites preparation and marketing of products were reported to be carried out by males only (male 71.33%). Middle income classes were most interested in rooftop gardening (43.78%). The survey recorded 53 plant species (35 families) of which Cucurbitaceae family represented highest eight species. Shrubs (28%) were highest followed by herbs (26%) among agri-crops (36%) and flower species (30%). About 89% of the rooftop gardeners procured planting materials from nursery, market, fair, neighbor, relative and friends and they mostly prefer to use seedlings (48%) for roof gardening followed by direct seed sowing (21%). Gardeners sell products sporadically in different local markets, directly or through intermediaries, with no uniform pricing for system. Rooftop gardening improves the food security and meet nutritional deficiency to the gardeners. Survey revealed that generally very few people consider rooftop gardening commercially to get profit and from the cost-return analysis this gardening system can be economically viable if proper and scientifically managed. The study conclude that active government and NGOs could play vital role to increasing this activities by providing training and motivate people with technical aspects of rooftop gardening.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.16
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• pp.7295-7302
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• 2015

Background: Lung cancer has been a major health problem in developed countries for several decades, and has emerged recently as the leading cause of cancer death in many developing countries. The incidence of lung cancer appears to be increasing more rapidly in rural than in urban areas of China. This paper presents the trends of lung cancer incidence and survival derived from a 40-year population-based cancer monitoring program in a rural area, Qidong, China. Materials and Methods: The Qidong cancer registration data of 1972-2011 were used to calculate the crude rate, age-standardized rate by Chinese population (CASR) and by world population (WASR), birth cohort rates, and other descriptive features. Active and passive methods were used to construct the data set, with a deadline of the latest follow-up of April 30, 2012. Results: The total number of lung cancer cases was 15,340, accounting for 16.5% of all sites combined. The crude incidence rate, CASR and WASR of this cancer were 34.1, 15.7 and 25.4 per 100,000, respectively. Males had higher crude rates than females (49.7 vs 19.0). Rapidly increasing trends were found in annual percent change resulting in lung cancer being a number one cancer site after year 2010 in Qidong. Birth cohort analysis showed incidence rates have increased for all age groups over 24 years old. The 5 year observed survival rates were 3.55% in 1973-1977, 3.92 in 1983-1987, 3.69% in 1993-1997, and 6.32% in 2003-2007. Males experienced poorer survival than did females. Conclusions: Lung cancer has become a major cancer-related health problem in this rural area. The rapid increases in incidence likely result from an increased cigarette smoking rate and evolving environmental risk factors. Lung cancer survival, while showing some improvement in prognosis, still remains well below that observed in the developed areas of the world.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.59 no.4
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• pp.532-538
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• 2014

Arsenic (As) is nonessential element toxic to plants. In Korea little is not only known about the extent of actual anthropogenic sources and inputs of arsenic to the agricultural land which plays a active role as a sink, but also systematic research on arsenic as an toxic element entering the food chain via the soil-plant pathway has not been investigated in the fields and greenhouses besides in few places of abandoned mining sites. Therefore, it is important to focus on the effect of As-contaminated soils on As uptake and biomass production of lettuce plants. In this study, As concentrations in the soil and accumulation of As in lettuce transferred by As uptake from soils were investigated. To do this, soil which was mixed with various rates of arsenopyrite gravels containing arsenic from 0 to 100% was packed into a round plastic pot. Then, 10 days old vegetable crops of chinese cabbage and lettuce after germination were transplanted into a pot. Growth of lettuce was observed for four weeks with one week interval. All experiments were done by triplicate. The results showed that the growth rates for number of leaves, width and length of the crop plants were retarded with increasing amount of gravel mixed due to increasing bioavailable amount of arsenate with increasing rate of gravel in soils. With these results, we conclude that the bioavailable amount of arsenate can influence the growth of lettuce.

• Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.429-467
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• 2019

Various digital literacy and critical competencies are crucial for success in the information and media-rich 21st century game of life. This study explores and describes the digital literacy practices of role-players in WildStar, a science fantasy Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG). Active role-players create and participate in group-driven interactive stories while in-character. A hybrid ethnographic method integrating overt participant observation and engagement, collection of community artifacts across multiple sites (such as wikis, discussion boards, and social media), and semi-structured interviews was employed to understand how role-players seek, use, evaluate, and manage information, media, and technology. Role-players used various media and technologies to supplement, simplify, and make role-playing more immersive. The relative digital literacy skill levels of individuals varied, leading role-players to leverage the skills of more proficient or experienced community members. Given the broad appeal of online games and educational benefits of role-playing, implications and applications for digital literacy skills instruction and library programming are also discussed.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.869-877
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• 2000

A mechanism of ozonation of simulated soil slurry contaminated by phenanthrene and benzo[a]pyrene has been studied under various conditions. The effects of soil media(BS, S, GB), radical scavenger, ozone input ratio(0.17~0.73mg/min), bicarbonate ion, and humic acid were investigated, BS showed the highest removal efficiency in media tested. The generation of OH-radical via the catalytic decomposition of ozone on active sites of the natural sand was confirmed by OH-radical scavenger experiments. The enhanced removal efficiency by OH-radical was indirectly quantified to be about 22%. As initial concentration of humic acid(as sodium salt) was increased, pseudo first-order rate constant ($k_o$) of phenanthrene was decreased from $1.37{\times}10^{-2}s^{-1}$ to $0.53{\times}10^{-2}s^{-1}$. The amount of ozone required to oxidize 80% of the initial mass of phenanthrene(10mg/kg) and benzo[a]pyrene(10mg/kg) was 67.2mg/kg-soil and 48.0mg/kg-soil, respectively.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.377-382
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• 1998

This study was carried out to investigate the relation between surface acidity and interfacial electrical characteristics of surface-treated ${\gamma}-alumina$ whose surface activity was increased. The points of zero charge (P. Z. C.) of ${\gamma}-alumina$ whose surface is treated with the sulfuric, nitric and hydro-chloric acid of various concentration were measured from the site-binding theory and mass transport method. The surface active sites were measured by amine titration method and Hammett indicator method. The interfacial properties at alumina/KCl(aq) interface were measured by potentiometric titration. From the experimental results, the following results were obtained. Pure ${\gamma}-alumina$ surface acidity decreases with the increase of calcination temperature at strength $H_o{\leq}+9.3$ Surface-treated alumina acidic properties increase with the anion loading on alumina surface. The surface ionization constants decrease with anion loading on alumina surface, then P. Z. C. decreases with acid amount on alumina surface. Acid amount of surface treated alumina can be correlated with surface charge density at strength $H_o{\leq}+4.8$ as follows. $SO_4^2-/Al_2O_3:Q_A=-0.172ln(0.0418{\sigma}+1.448)$ $NO_3^-/Al_2O_3:Q_A=-0.024{\sigma}-0.0189$ $Cl^-/Al_2O_3:Q_A=-0.01{\sigma}-0.2006$.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.67 no.4
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• pp.331-337
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• 2009

Background: The whole-blood interferon-gamma release assay (QuantiFERON-TB Gold [QFT-G]: Cellestis, Carnegie, Victoria, Australia) has been studied primarily for the use of diagnosing active pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) or latent TB. In the present study, the usefulness of QFT-G was evaluated for the diagnosis of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis (EP-TB). Methods: From June 2006 to February 2009, we evaluated the usefulness of QFT-G in patients (n=65) suspected with EP-TB, retrospectively. The diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of the QFT-G assay were analyzed. Results: EP-TB was diagnosed in 33 (51%) participants. The overall sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV of the QFT-G assay for EP-TB were 78%, 79%, 81%, and 77%, respectively. Of the 33 with EP-TB, 14 (42%) were diagnosed with TB pleurisy, 7 (21%) with TB lymphadenitis, 7 (21%) with intestinal TB, and 5 (15%) with EP-TB in other sites. In subgroup analyses according by site of infection, the QFT-G showed 86% sensitivity, 64% specificity, and 78% NPV in TB pleurisy. On the other hand, the sensitivity, specificity, and NPV of the assay were 71%, 83% and 71%, respectively in TB lymphadenitis, and 86%, 100% and 88%, respectively in intestinal TB. Among the patients with suspected alternative site EP-TB, the sensitivity, specificity, and NPV of the assay were 50%, 80% and 67%, respectively. Conclusion: The QFT-G assay showed moderate diagnostic accuracy in EP-TB. However, negative QFT-G assay does not exclude EP-TB because of the low NPV of this assay.

• BMB Reports
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.247-260
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• 2007

Cinnamate 4-hydroxylase (C4H) is a key enzyme of phenylpropanoid pathway, which synthesizes numerous secondary metabolites to participate in development and adaption. Two C4H isoforms, the 2192-bp BnC4H-1 and 2108-bp BnC4H-2, were cloned from oilseed rape (Brassica napus). They both have two introns and a 1518-bp open reading frame encoding a 505-amino-acid polypeptide. BnC4H-1 is 57.73 kDa with an isoelectric point of 9.11, while 57.75 kDa and 9.13 for BnC4H-2. They share only 80.6% identities on nucleotide level but 96.6% identities and 98.4% positives on protein level. Showing highest homologies to Arabidopsis thaliana C4H, they possess a conserved p450 domain and all P450-featured motifs, and are identical to typical C4Hs at substrate-recognition sites and active site residues. They are most probably associated with endoplasmic reticulum by one or both of the N- and C-terminal transmembrane helices. Phosphorylation may be a necessary post-translational modification. Their secondary structures are dominated by alpha helices and random coils. Most helices locate in the central region, while extended strands mainly distribute before and after this region. Southern blot indicated about 9 or more C4H paralogs in B. napus. In hypocotyl, cotyledon, stem, flower, bud, young- and middle-stage seed, they are co-dominantly expressed. In root and old seed, BnC4H-2 is dominant over BnC4H-1, with a reverse trend in leaf and pericarp. Paralogous C4H numbers in Brassicaceae genomes and possible roles of conserved motifs in 5' UTR and the 2nd intron are discussed.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.128-136
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• 2014

Alginates are linear acidic polysaccharides composed with (1-4)-linked ${\alpha}$-L-guluronic acid and ${\beta}$-Dmannuronic acid. Alginate can be degraded by diverse alginate lyases, which cleave the alginate using a ${\beta}$-elimination reaction and produce unsaturated uronate oligomers. A gene for a polyMG-specific alginate lyase possessing a novel structure was previously identified and cloned from Stenotrophomonas maltophilia KJ-2. Homology modeling of KJ-2 polyMG-specific alginate lyase showed it belongs to the PL6 family, whereas three Azotobacter vinelandii polyMG lyases belong to the PL7 family of polysaccharide lyases. From $^1H$-NMR spectra data, KJ-2 polyMG lyase preferably degraded the M-${\beta}$(1-4)-G glycosidic bond than the G-${\alpha}$(1-4)-M glycosidic bond. Seventeen mutants were made by site-directed mutagenesis, and alginate lyase activity was analyzed. Lys220Ala, Arg241Ala, Arg241Lys, and Arg265Ala lost alginate lyase activity completely. Arg155Ala, Gly303Glu, and Tyr304Phe also lost the activity by 60.7-80.1%. These results show that Arg155, Lys220, Arg241, Arg265, Gly303, and Tyr304 are important residues for catalytic activity and substrate binding.