• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.367-374
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• 2017

Despite the broad distribution of leishmaniasis among Iranians and animals across the country, little is known about the genetic characteristics of the causative agents. Applying both HSP70 PCR-RFLP and sequence analyses, this study aimed to evaluate the genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships among Leishmania spp. isolated from Iranian endemic foci and available reference strains. A total of 36 Leishmania isolates from almost all districts across the country were genetically analyzed for the HSP70 gene using both PCR-RFLP and sequence analysis. The original HSP70 gene sequences were aligned along with homologous Leishmania sequences retrieved from NCBI, and subjected to the phylogenetic analysis. Basic parameters of genetic diversity were also estimated. The HSP70 PCR-RFLP presented 3 different electrophoretic patterns, with no further intraspecific variation, corresponding to 3 Leishmania species available in the country, L. tropica, L. major, and L. infantum. Phylogenetic analyses presented 5 major clades, corresponding to 5 species complexes. Iranian lineages, including L. major, L. tropica, and L. infantum, were distributed among 3 complexes L. major, L. tropica, and L. donovani. However, within the L. major and L. donovani species complexes, the HSP70 phylogeny was not able to distinguish clearly between the L. major and L. turanica isolates, and between the L. infantum, L. donovani, and L. chagasi isolates, respectively. Our results indicated that both HSP70 PCR-RFLP and sequence analyses are medically applicable tools for identification of Leishmania species in Iranian patients. However, the reduced genetic diversity of the target gene makes it inevitable that its phylogeny only resolves the major groups, namely, the species complexes.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.80 no.2
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• pp.220-231
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• 1991

The main purpose of this research is to standardize the logging operation with special reference to the net working time for thinning. This study was carried out to obtain the standard working method and working technique for Korean logging operation through the comparison of the present Korean working method and the German standard working method 1. The net working time devided into work elements showed little difference between those two working methods. 2. From the correlation analysis, net working time was significantly correlated with breast height diameter, the dependant variable, with the highest correlation coefficient in each species. 3. Total working time increases by 11 to 13 seconds to every 1 centimeter increase in breast height diameter from i to 16 centimeter. 4. The result of this study concluded that the German working method is recommended for improving the labour problems in the forest operation due to high wages and lack of manpower gradually increasing from now in Korea. In addition to the application of this standard working method, the technical training for the method should be done to the workers for improving the productivity.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.12-22
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• 2018

The US government has enacted the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) in 2011, which is being phased in and planned. The final Rules of Produce Safety focus on biological hazards related to agricultural production, harvesting, packaging and storage, which are being phased in since 2017 depending on farm scale. As a result of comparison with the Korean-GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) standards, it is difficult to compare the two standards to be compared with each other by 1:1. However, many of the Korean-GAP standards are similar to FSMA Produce Safety rules. However, the Korean-GAP standards can be judged differently according to the evaluator as a comprehensive standard, so the details of the standards need to be reinforced. In terms of the provisions, the Korean-GAP standards are the most appropriate for the safety of workers (FSMA Subpart D), followed by livestock and wild animals (FSMA Subpart I), buildings, equipment and tools (FSMA Subpart L) and harvesting activities (FSMA Sub-part K). However, there are some weaknesses in the field of agricultural water management (FSMA Subpart E) and farm manager's qualifications and training (FSMA Subpart C), and the response to the biological soil amendments of animal origin and human waste (FSMA Subpart F) is weak. The FSMA regulation is not a certification standard, but it is expected that the marbling effect, which is the standard laid down by the United States leading the world food safety standards, is expected to be considerable. Therefore, we hope that the review of the Korean-GAP standards will help improve the quality of agricultural products and expand our exports, since the standard for responding to microbiological safety emphasized in the FSMA regulations is the Korean-GAP standard.

• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.63-67
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• 1976

The purpose of the present study was to see the Panax Ginseng has any influence upon the acquisition of the conditioned avoidance response(CAR) in rats. Sixty male rats of Holtsman strain were used. The animal weighed between 20 and 300 gm at the beginning of the experiment. Training of avoidance conditioning was done in a two-way shuttle box which was separated into two compartments by a guilotine door. The conditioned stimulus (CS) was a light beam and the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) was an electric shock. The shock was presented 10 sec. after onset of the CS and continued until the subject crossed to the opposite safety compartment within 20 sec. after onset of UCS. Each S was received 30 trials a day (one session) for 6 consecutive sessions. The number of CR which avoided successfully without having shock and the number of fecal balls during the conditioning were served as an index of learning performance and emotionality. The results obtained as follows. All doses of Ginseng saponin treated animals showed more CR than control, but did not differ significantly from control. Ginseng saponin treated animals with the doses of $50{\sim}100\;mg/kg$ defecated the fecal balls significantly less frequent than the placebo control during CAR.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.130-139
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• 2018

In ancient times, horse racing was done in ancient European countries in the form of wagon races or mountain races, and wagon racing was adopted as a regular event at the Greek Olympic Games. Thoroughbred horse has been bred since 17th century by intensive selective breeding for its speed, stamina, and racing ability. Then, in the 18th century, horse racing using the Thoroughbred species began to gain popularity among nobles. Since then, horse racing has developed into various forms in various countries and have developed into flat racing, steeplechasing, and harness racing. Thoroughbred racehorse has excellent racing abilities because of powerful selection breeding strategy for 300 years. It is necessary to maintain and maximize horses' ability to race, because horse industries produce enormous economic benefits through breeding, training, and horse racing. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) methods which process large amounts of genomic data have been developed recently. Based on the remarkable development of these genomic analytical techniques, it is now possible to easily carry out animal breeding strategies with superior traits. In order to select breeding racehorse with superior racing traits, the latest genomic analysis techniques have to be introduced. In this paper, we will review the current efforts to improve race performance for racehorses and to examine the research trends of genomic analysis. Finally, we suggest to utilize genomic analysis in Thoroughbred racehorse and Jeju horse, and propose a strategy for selective breeding for Jeju horse, which contributes job creation of Korea.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.25 no.11
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• pp.1304-1310
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• 2015

The period circadian clock gene 3 (PER3) plays a role in the mammalian circadian clocksystem. A regular exercise regime may affect the PER3 transcription in skeletal muscle. Although the effects of day length on circadian and circannual processes are well established in humans and mice, the influence of exercise on these processes in the horse has not been investigated. The present study investigated the expression of the PER3 gene following exercise in a thoroughbred breed of Korean horse. In addition, a comprehensive in silico nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphism (nsSNP) analysis of the horse PER3 gene and predicted effects of nsSNPs on proteins were examined. The expression of PER3 in skeletal muscle was significantly upregulated after exercise. Four nsSNPs were functionally annotated and analyzed by computational prediction. The total free energy and RMSD values of PER3 gene showed causative mutations. The results showed that nsSNP s395916798 (G72R) was associated with residues that have stabilizing effects on structure and function of PER3 gene. This study documented role of PER3 gene in phenotypic adaptation related to exercise in skeletal muscle. Further, the SNPs in PER3 could serve as useful biomarkers of early recovery after exercise in racehorses.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.657-663
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a cheonggukjang diet and aerobic exercise on lipid metabolism and antioxidant enzyme activity in rats. Thirty-two Sprague Dawley rats were randomized into a cheonggukjang diet with aerobic exercise (A), aerobic exercise (B), cheonggukjang diet (C), and control group (D). The cheonggukjang diet group consumed 20 g of 20% cheonggukjang a day with their normal diet. Exercise training consisted of treadmill running (25~40 min, 5 day/wk) and the exercise intensity was gradually increased. The results are as follows: T-C was significantly lower (p<0.05) in A compared to B and C. TG was significantly lower (p<0.001) in A compared to D. B and C were significantly lower than D. HDL-C was significantly higher (p<0.05) in C compared to D. LDL-C was not statistically different across the groups. Additionally, TBARS were not statistically different in the control or experimental groups. SOD was significantly lower (p<0.05) in A compared to D. C was significantly lower (p<0.05) that of D. CAT and GPx failed to reach the statistical difference between experimental and control groups. The major findings of this study were that aerobic exercise with a chenggukjang diet intervention improved lipid profiles and antioxidant capacity in this animal model. Therefore, a cheonggukjang diet and aerobic exercise will help to improve antioxidant capacity and prevent lifestyle related diseases.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.199-206
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• 2022

Postpartum diseases should be predicted to prevent productivity loss before calving especially in organic dairy farms. This study was aimed to investigate the incidence of postpartum metabolic diseases in an organic dairy farm in Korea, to confirm the association between diseases and prepartum blood biochemical parameters, and to evaluate the accuracy of these parameters with a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis for identifying vulnerable cows. Data were collected from 58 Holstein cows (16 primiparous and 42 multiparous) having calved for 2 years on an organic farm. During a transition period from 4 weeks prepartum to 4 weeks postpartum, blood biochemistry was performed through blood collection every 2 weeks with a physical examination. Thirty-one (53.4%) cows (9 primiparous and 22 multiparous) were diagnosed with at least one postpartum disease. Each incidence was 27.6% for subclinical ketosis, 22.4% for subclinical hypocalcemia, 12.1% for retained placenta, 10.3% for displaced abomasum and 5.2% for clinical ketosis. Between at least one disease and no disease, there were significant differences in the prepartum levels of parameters like body condition score (BCS), non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA), total bilirubin (T-bil), direct bilirubin (D-bil) and NEFA to total cholesterol (T-chol) ratio (p < 0.05). The ROC analysis of each of these prepartum parameters had the area under the curve (AUC) <0.7. However, the ROC analysis with logistic regression including all these parameters revealed a higher AUC (0.769), sensitivity (71.0%), and specificity (77.8%). The ROC analysis with logistic regression including the prepartum BCS, NEFA, T-bil, D-bil, and NEFA to T-chol ratio can be used to identify cows that are vulnerable to postpartum diseases with moderate accuracy.

• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.133-145
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• 2022

Compared to the continuously increasing dog population and industry size in Korea, systematic analysis of related data and research on breed classification methods are very insufficient. In this paper, an automatic breed classification method is proposed using deep learning technology for 14 major dog breeds domestically raised. To do this, dog images are collected for deep learning training and a dataset is built, and a breed classification algorithm is created by performing transfer learning based on VGG-16 and Resnet-34 as backbone networks. In order to check the transfer learning effect of the two models on dog images, we compared the use of pre-trained weights and the experiment of updating the weights. When fine tuning was performed based on VGG-16 backbone network, in the final model, the accuracy of Top 1 was about 89% and that of Top 3 was about 94%, respectively. The domestic dog breed classification method and data construction proposed in this paper have the potential to be used for various application purposes, such as classification of abandoned and lost dog breeds in animal protection centers or utilization in pet-feed industry.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.586-595
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• 2012

This study was conducted to determine the effects of horticultural therapy (HT) program using hydroponics on work adjustment skills of students with mental retardation. Based on the critical role transitional model and special education curriculum for agriculture, especially hydroponics, HT program (total 22 sessions) using hydroponics procedure for Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. 'Asia Heuk Romaine') was developed. Fourteen (10 males, 4 females) graded $1^{st}$ to $2^{nd}$ with intellectual disabilities were recruited from a special education class in a high school located in Inchon, Korea and then a special farm for hydroponics in Inchon, Korea was offered for the HT program. The students with intellectual disabilities participated in the HT program for 4-month (from September to December of 2011, twice a week, approximately 60 minutes per session). Before and after the HT program, the McCarron assessment neuromuscular development, emotional behavioral checklist, interpersonal negotiation strategies, and KEPAD picture vocational interest test were performed by the teachers and horticultural therapists. As the results, the students significantly improved motor performance (p = 0.002), emotional behavioral strategies (p = 0.00), and interpersonal negotiation strategies (p = 0.05). However, no significant difference between before and after the HT program for vocational interest was observed. In conclusion, the HT program using hydroponics, consists of simple and easy tasks so that it would be applicable for the students with intellectual disabilities positively affected to work adjustment skills by improving the motor performance, emotional behavioral strategies, and interpersonal negotiation strategies. Additionally, HT programs using hydroponics with various kinds of vegetables are required to develop and to apply in practical settings for improving work adjustment skills.