• The korean journal of orthodontics
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• v.33 no.3 s.98
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• pp.169-183
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• 2003

Tooth movement by orthodontic force effects great tissue changes within the periodontium, especially by shifting the blood flow in the pressure side and resulting in a hypoxic state of low oxygen tension. The aim of this study is to elucidate the possible mechanism of apoptosis in response to hypoxia in MC3T3El osteoblasts, the main cells in bone remodeling during orthodontic tooth movement. MC3T3El osteoblasts under hypoxic conditions ($2\%$ orygen) resulted in apoptosis in a time-dependent manner as estimated by DNA fragmentation assay and nuclear morphology stained with fluorescent dye, Hoechst 33258. Pretreatment with Z-VAD-FMK, a pancaspase inhibitor, or Z-DEVD-CHO, a specific caspase-3 inhibitor, completely suppressed the DNA ladder in response to hypoxia. An increase in caspase-3-like protease (DEVDase) activity was observed during apoptosis, but no caspase-1 activity (YVADase) was detected. To confirm what caspases are involved in apoptosis, Western blot analysis was performed using anti-caspase-3 or -6 antibodies. The 10-kDa protein, corresponding to the active products of caspase-3, and the 10-kDa protein of the active protein of caspase-6 were generated in hypoxia-challenged cells in which the processing of the full length form of caspase-3 and -6 was evident. While a time course similar to this caspase-3 and -6 activation was evident, hypoxic stress caused the cleavage of lamin A, which was typical of caspase-6 activity. In addition, the stress elicited the release of cytochrome c into the cytosol during apoptosis. Furthermore, we observed that pre-treatment with SB203580, a selective p38 mitogen activated protein kinase inhibitor, attenuated the hypoxia-induced apoptosis. The addition of SB203S80 suppressed caspase-3 and -6-like protease activity by hypoxia up to $50\%$. In contrast, PD98059 had no effect on the hypoxia-induced apoptosis. To confirm the involvement of MAP kinase, JNK/SAPK, ERK, or p38 kinase assay was performed. Although p38 MAPK was activated in response to hypoxic treatment, the other MAPK -JNK/SAPK or ERK- was either only modestly activated or not at all. These results suggest that p38 MAPK is involved in hypoxia-induced apoptosis in MC3T3El osteoblasts.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.45-55
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• 2007

Flora, actual vegetation map, distribution area by the life form, primary productivity and annual primary production by the vascular hydrophytes and hygrophytes were investigated in the Upo wetland, Changnyeong-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do, Korea from May 2005 to March 2006. The flora of Upo, Mokpo, Sajipo, Jokjibyeol, Topyeongcheon upstream, and Topyeongcheon downstream were composed of 263, 233, 244, 182, 190, and 178 taxa, respectively. The flora of total study area was 85 families, 224 genera, 287 species, 42 varieties, 4 form, or total 333 taxa. Among them, hydrophytes, hygrophytes, and others were 38, 108, and 187 taxa, respectively. The life form of the vascular hydrophytes was classified as 20 taxa of emergent plants, 6 taxa of floating-leaved plants, 5 taxa of free-floating plants, and 7 taxa of submersed plants, respectively. There were 27 plant communities including pure population, mixed population, and etc. It is also found that Trapa japonica-Ceratophyllum demersum community occupies 60.64 ha, the largest area, and Salvinia natans-Ceratophyllum demersum community 32.91 ha, Zizania latifolia community 30.05 ha, and that the area of free-floating plants was the largest as 172.6 ha(47.9%) on the basis of life form. Total annual primary production of the vascular hydrophytes and hygrophytes was 1,383.3ton. That of the emergent hydrophytes was the most as 564.1 ton(40.8%), and those of the free-floating, floating-leaved, and the submersed were 484.1 ton(34.9%), 146.7 ton(10.6%), and 1.3 ton(0.5%), respectively, and the hygrophytes was 182.1 ton(13.2%). Since most plant species are fairly adapted to the present marsh environment, bad influences and change of species composition are expected by the artificial influences on the wetland such as fragmentation, reclamation, and introduction of the exotic species. Therefore, schemes and counterplans for the conservation and preservation of the marsh are demanded.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.635-647
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• 2014

Unfertilized oocytes age inevitably after ovulation, which limits their fertilizable life span and embryonic development. Rapamycin affects mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) expression and cytoskeleton reorganization during oocyte meiotic maturation. The goal of this study was to examine the effects of rapamycin treatment on aged porcine oocytes and their in vitro development. Rapamycin treatment of aged oocytes for 24 h (68 h in vitro maturation [IVM]; $44h+10{\mu}M$ rapamycin/24 h, $47.52{\pm}5.68$) or control oocytes (44 h IVM; $42.14{\pm}4.40$) significantly increased the development rate and total cell number compared with untreated aged oocytes (68 h IVM, $22.04{\pm}5.68$) (p<0.05). Rapamycin treatment of aged IVM oocytes for 24 h also rescued aberrant spindle organization and chromosomal misalignment, blocked the decrease in the level of phosphorylated-p44/42 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), and increased the mRNA expression of cytoplasmic maturation factor genes (MOS, BMP15, GDF9, and CCNB1) compared with untreated, 24 h-aged IVM oocytes (p<0.05). Furthermore, rapamycin treatment of aged oocytes decreased reactive oxygen species (ROS) activity and DNA fragmentation (p<0.05), and downregulated the mRNA expression of mTOR compared with control or untreated aged oocytes. By contrast, rapamycin treatment of aged oocytes increased mitochondrial localization (p<0.05) and upregulated the mRNA expression of autophagy (BECN1, ATG7, MAP1LC3B, ATG12, GABARAP, and GABARAPL1), anti-apoptosis (BCL2L1 and BIRC5; p<0.05), and development (NANOG and SOX2; p<0.05) genes, but it did not affect the mRNA expression of pro-apoptosis genes (FAS and CASP3) compared with the control. This study demonstrates that rapamycin treatment can rescue the poor developmental capacity of aged porcine oocytes.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.123-141
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• 2017

This study predicted urban green spaces for 2020 based on two scenarios keeping or freeing the green-belt in the Daegu metropolitan city using a hybrid Cellular Automata(CA)-Markov model and analyzed the spatial dynamics of urban green spaces between 2009 and 2020 using a land cover change detection technique and spatial metrics. Markov chain analysis was employed to derive the transition probability for projecting land cover change into the future for 2020 based on two land cover maps in 1998 and 2009 provided by the Ministry of Environment. Multi-criteria evaluation(MCE) was adopted to develop seven suitability maps which were empirically derived in relation to the six restriction factors underlying the land cover change between the years 1998 and 2009. A hybrid CA-Markov model was then implemented to predict the land cover change over an 11 year period to 2020 based on two scenarios keeping or freeing the green-belt. The projected land cover for 2009 was cross-validated with the actual land cover in 2009 using Kappa statistics. Results show that urban green spaces will be remarkably fragmented in the suburban areas such as Dalseong-gun, Seongseo, Ansim and Chilgok in the year 2020 if the Daegu metropolitan city keeps its urbanization at current pace and in case of keeping the green-belt. In case of freeing the green-belt, urban green spaces will be fragmented on the fringes of the green-belt. It is thus required to monitor urban green spaces systematically considering the spatial change patterns identified by this study for sustainably managing them in the Daegu metropolitan city in the near future.