• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.33-45
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• 2011

Heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) is ATPase-directed molecular chaperon and affects survival of cancer cell. Inhibitory effect of Hsp90 by inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in the cancer cell was reported. However, its role during oocyte maturation and early embryo development is very insufficient. In this study, we traced the effects of Hsp90 inhibitor, 17-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (17-AAG), on meiotic maturation and early embryonic development in pigs. We also investigated several indicators of developmental potential, including structural integrity, gene expression (Hsp90-, cell cycle-, and apoptosis-related genes), and apoptosis, which are affected by 17-AAG. Then, we examined the roles of Hsp90 inhibitor on viability of primary cells in pigs. Porcine oocytes were cultured in the NCSU-23 medium with or without 17-AAG for 44 h. The proportion of GV arrested oocytes was significantly different between the 17-AAG treated and untreated group (78.2 vs 34.8%, p<0.05). After completion of meiotic maturation, the proportion of MII oocytes was lower in the 17-AAG treated group than in the control group (27.9 vs 71.0%, p<0.05). After IVF, the percentage of penetrated oocytes was significantly lower in the 17-AAG treated group (25.2%), resulting in lower normal pronucleus formation (2PN of 14.6%). Therefore, the inhibition of meiotic progression by Hsp90 inhibitor played a critical role in fertilization status. Porcine embryo were cultured in the PZM-3 medium with or without 17-AAG for 6 days. In result, significant differences in developmental potential were detected between the embryos that were cultured with or without 17-AAG. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) showed that the number of containing fragmented DNA at the blastocyst stage increased in the 17-AAG treated group compared with control (7.5 vs 4.4, respectively). Blastocysts that developed in the 17-AAG treated group had low structural integrity and high apoptotic nuclei than those of the untreated control, resulting in decrease the embryonic qualities of preimplantation porcine blastocysts. The mRNA expressions of cell cycle-related genes were down-regulated in the 17-AAG treated group compared with control. Also, the expression of the pro-apoptotic gene Bax increased in 17-AAG treated group, whereas expression of the anti-apoptotic gene Bel-XL decreased. However, the expression of ER stress-related genes did not changed by 17-AAG. Cultured pESF cells were treated with or without 17-AAG and used for MIT assay. The results showed that viability of pESF cells were decreased by treatment of 17-AAG ($2{\mu}M$) for 24 hr. These results indicated that 17-AAG decreased cell proliferation and increased cell death. Expression patterns Hsp90 complex genes (Hsp70 and p23), cell cycle-related genes (cdc2 and cdc25c) and apoptosis-related genes (Bax and Bcl-XL) were significantly changed by using RT-PCR analysis. The spliced form of pXbp-1 product (pXbp-1s) was detected in the tunicamycin (TM) treated cells, but it is not detected in 17-AAG treated cells. In conclusion, Hsp90 appears to play a direct role in porcine early embryo developmental competence including structural integrity of blastocysts. Also, these results indicate that Hsp90 is closely associated with cell cycle- and apoptosis-related genes expression in developing porcine embryos.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.105-112
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• 2005

Obiective : The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of acupuncture treatment for chronic headache patients using power spectrum analysis of the heart rate variability(HRV). Methods : 15 clinical experiment participants were gathered and through a questionnaire patients who experienced headache for more than 4 hours a day and more than IS days per month were qualified as Chronic Headache patients. Treatment was afplied 2 times a weeks for 8 weeks. The acupoints, GV2O, HN23, ST8, HN46, TEl7, GB2O, LI2O, LI11, LI14, ST36, and LR3 were stimulated for 20 minutes. The effects of acupuncture treatment were analyzed using power spectrum analysis of the HRV. HRV was recorded before and after acupuncture treatment. Results : HRV before and after treatment was compared after 8 weeks of acupuncture treatment. Increase in mean values of SDNN and RMSSD were observed but the increases were not statistically significant. Increase in mean values of TP, LF and HF were observed but, the increase was significant(p<0.05) only in TP. Conclusions : The results suggest that acupuncture treatment on chronic headache patients can increase the activity of autonomic nervous system. Further use of HRV for quantitative analysis of acupuncture treatment on autonomic nervous system related symptoms is suggested.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.158-167
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• 2006

The object of this study is to detect of land-cover change in western DMZ and vicinity. This was performed as a basic study to construct a decision support system for the conservation or a sustainable development of the DMZ and Vicinity near future. DMZ is an is 4km wide and 250km long and it's one of the most highly fortified boundaries in the world and also a unique thin green line. Environmentalists want to declare the DMZ as a natural reserve and a biodiversity zone, but nowadays through the strengthening of the inter-Korean economic cooperation, some developers are trying to construct a new-town or an industrial complex inside of the DMZ. This study investigates the current environmental conditions, especially deforestation of the western DMZ adopting remote sensing and GIS techniques. The Land-covers were identified through the linear spectvral mixture analysis(LSMA) which was used to handle the spectral mixture problem of low spatial resolution imagery of Landsat TM and ETM+ imagery. To analyze quantitative and spatial change of vegetation-cover in western DMZ, GIS overlay method was used. In LSMA, to develop high-quality fraction images, three endmembers of green vegetation(GV), soil, water were driven from pure features in the imagery. Through 15 years, from 1987 to 2002, forest of western DMZ and vicinity was devastated and changed to urban, farmland or barren land. Northern part of western DMZ and vicinity was more deforested than that of southern part. ($52.37km^2$ of North Korean forest and $39.04km^2$ of South Korean were change to other land-covers.) In case of North Korean part, forest changed to barren land and farmland and in South Korean part, forest changed to farmland and urban area. Especially, In North Korean part of DMZ and vicinity, $56.15km^2$ of farmland changed to barren land through 15 years, which showed the failure of the 'Darakbat' (terrace filed) project which is one of food increase projects in North Korea.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.93-104
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• 2005

Objective : Because the cause and etiology of chronic headache are not yet fully explained, the treatment of this symptom is not simple. In order to study the effectiveness of East-West pain treatment on chronic headache, we evaluated its effect of pain alleviation and quality of life improvement on chronic headache patients who were treated with nerve block and acupuncture, and only acupuncture for eight weeks. Methods : 92 clinical experiment participants were gathered and through a questionnaire patients who experienced headache for more than 4 hours a day and more than 15 days per month were qualified as chronic headache patients. The qualified patients were classified into two groups, nerve block and acupuncture group(EW group, n=49) and acupuncture group(E group, n=43). Treatment was applied 2 times a weeks for 8 weeks. The acupoints, GV20, HN23, ST8, HN46, TE17, GB20, LI20O, LI11, LI14, ST36, and LR3 were stimulated for 20 minutes. The effects of two groups were analyzed using VAS scores and BPI(Brief Pain Inventory).

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.64 no.4
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• pp.299-310
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• 2019

The eating quality of rice is one of the main concerns of rice breeding programs in many countries, especially in japonica rice cultivation areas. To select new resources with high eating quality from Korean native japonica rice, we evaluated a total of 76 varieties, including 47 native rice resources (26 landraces + 21 weedy rice) of Korea. In this study, all eating quality traits varied widely among the native resources, and some of the native resources revealed a high evaluation score in the palatability, expected eating quality, and physicochemical traits among the tested whole-plant materials. From the results, we selected two landraces (Sangdo and Waebyeo) and three weedy rice varieties (Hoengseongaengmi3, Namjejuaengmi6, and Wandoaengmi6) as promising resources for improvement of rice eating quality. Specifically, Wandoaengmi6 presented potential as a key breeding material for improving the eating quality of Korean rice cultivars, having the best evaluation results in palatability score (PS 0.83) from the sensory test and glossiness value (GV 81.8) from the Toyo taste meter of cooked rice. Given the urgent need to overcome the constraint of the narrow genetic background of Korean japonica rice, the results could be a practical solution for exploring new opportunities for improving rice eating quality through the expansion of genetic resources.