• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.221-228
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• 2014

Despite that porcine spermatogonial stem cells (pSSCs) have been regarded as a practical tool for preserving eternally genetic backgrounds derived from pigs with high performance in the economic traits or phenotypes of specific human diseases, there were no reports about precise definition of niche conditions promoting proliferation and maintenance of pSSCs. Accordingly, we tried to determine niche conditions supporting proliferation and maintenance of undifferentiated pSSCs for short-term. For these, undifferentiated pSSCs were progressively cultured in different composition of culture medium, seeding density of pSSCs, type of feeder cells and concentration of growth factors, and then total number of and alkaline phosphatase (AP) activity of pSSCs were investigated at post-6 day culture. As the results, the culture of $4{\times}10^5$ pSSCs on mitotically in activated $2{\times}10^5$ STO cells in the mouse embryonic stem cell culture medium (mESCCM) supplemented with 30 ng/ml glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) was identified as the best niche condition supporting effectively the short-term maintenance of undifferentiated pSSCs. Moreover, the optimized short-term culture system will be a basis for developing long-term culture system of pSSCs in the following researches.

• Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.31-37
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• 2006

This study is to compare the prevalence of obesity between Korean-American children and Korean children, and to investigate the role of environmental factors in obesity development. Prevalence of child obesity is compared by their residence, parents' anthropometric data, education and occupation, and the length of immigration, and birth place of the children. A total of 593 children between the ages of 9 and 12 were examined. 262 Korean-American children (KcUS group) from New Jersey, USA and 331 Korean children (KcK group) from Seoul, Korea were compared. KcUS group showed a higher obesity rate (male: 12.6% and female: 8.2%), compared to KcK group (male: 8.0% and female: 5.1 %). KcK male children showed lower weight and prevalence of obesity than Korean-American male children who lived in the United States for more than three years. Korean-American female children had higher weight and obesity rate than Korean female children. Waist circumference and hip circumference were also higher in obese children in both KcK and KcUS groups. The children who live in America had an odds ratio of 1.69 to be obese compared to KcK, while those born in America and those who have lived in America for more than 3 years had odds ratios of 1.53 and 1.25 to be obese, respectively. This study found that environmental factors, immigration to America for instance, could playa bigger role in child obese development than the genetic factor.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.89-94
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• 2006

Traditionally fatty acid composition used to be analysed by a GC and the sample preparation process includes lipid extraction from sample and subsequent methyl esters preparation, which are time-consuming and cumbersome. As an alternative, simultaneous extraction/methylation methods are being developed for rapid and simplified sample preparation. To optimize one-step extraction/methylation method for analysis of fatty acid composition in brown rice, various reaction factors such as sample to reaction solution ratio, reaction time and temperature, shaking intensity were changed and resultant fatty acid composition data were evaluated in comparison with previous reports. The ratio of sample weight to reaction solution volume was the most critical factor in that higher sample to reaction solution ratio caused overestimation of palmitic acid and linoleic acid composition, resulting in underestimation of oleic acid. Lower reaction temperature also induced overestimation of linoleic acid and underestimation of oleic acid. Reaction duration and the intensity of shaking prior to and during the reaction, however, caused no significant changes in analysis results. In conclusion, the optimum condition was mixing 5 grains (about 0.2 g) of brown rice with $680{\mu}L$ of extraction/methylation mixture and $400{\mu}L$ of heptane, followed by reaction at $80^{\circ}C$ for 2 hours.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.331-347
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• 1996

The geographic distribution and variation for Rhinogobius brunneus were surveyed by means of allozymic and morphological analyses and it was revealed that the Korean populations of R. brunneus comprise three distinct types, Type-A, Type-B, and Type-C, which show considerable differentiation to a degree of interspecific level(Rogers' S(1972): $S_{A-B}$=0.631, $S_{A-C}$=0.628, $S_{B-C}$=0.661). In addition, no evidence of gene flow among the types was found at sympatric area and it is assumed that reproductive isolation is completed. Moreover there is microhabitat segregation according to the distance from river mouth among each types and which segregation was regarded as a factor to facilitate reproductive isolating mechanism. Therefore, based on the evidence presented above, these three types of R. brunneus are considered as typical discrete species.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.235-240
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• 1995

The development of selectable markers for transformation has been a major factor in the successful genetic manipulation of plant. We established a new selectable marker system for tobacco transformation using chimeric adenosine deaminase (ADA) gene, which confers resistance to cytotoxic adenosine analogues, 9-$\beta$-D-arabinofuranosyl adenine(Ara-A) and cordycepin. The transformants with the chimeric ADA gene in tobacco grew in the presence of normally lethal level of cytotoxic adenosine analogues, 100 $\mu$M Ara-A and 50 $\mu$M cordycepin. We successfully distinguished transformed shoot from non-transformed shoot on the same selectable media with cytotoxic adenosine analogues. In this selectable media, we were able to select seeds with/ without ADA gene from transgenic tobacco seeds. Theses results show that the mammalian ADA gene may serve as a new selectable marker for tobacco transformation.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.91-97
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• 2020

Purpose: Alport syndrome (AS) is one of the most common inherited renal diseases caused due to mutations of genes encoding specific proteins of the type IV collagen family, and its major clinical manifestations include progressive renal failure, sensorineural deafness, and ocular abnormalities. We investigated the clinical characteristics and long-term prognosis of AS in Korean pediatric and adult populations. Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of medical records of 33 children and adults who had been diagnosed or treated with AS from 1985 to 2019. Results: The mean age of the 33 patients diagnosed with AS was 16.2±13.6 years, and the male-to-female ratio was 2:1. At the first visit, recurrent gross hematuria was the most common initial symptom. In 10 of 33 patients (30.3%), sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) was diagnosed, but none had ophthalmic problems. Moreover, 11 of 33 patients (33.3%) had advanced to end-stage renal disease (ESRD), and a significant difference was observed in the age of the patients who progressed to ESRD based on the presence or absence of SNHL (P=0.035). Conclusion: SNHL in AS can be an important prognostic factor for long-term deterioration of renal function. Further investigation is required to confirm the clinical course and the genetic characteristics of AS in Korea through prospective national cohort studies.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.43 no.9
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• pp.821-830
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• 2020

Altered dendritic morphology is frequently observed in various neurological disorders including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD), but the cellular and molecular basis underlying these pathogenic dendritic abnormalities remains largely unclear. In this study, we investigated dendritic morphological defects caused by dipeptide repeat protein (DPR) toxicity associated with G4C2 expansion mutation of C9orf72 (the leading genetic cause of ALS and FTD) in Drosophila neurons and characterized the underlying pathogenic mechanisms. Among the five DPRs produced by repeat-associated non-ATG translation of G4C2 repeats, we found that arginine-rich DPRs (PR and GR) led to the most significant reduction in dendritic branches and plasma membrane (PM) supply in Class IV dendritic arborization (C4 da) neurons. Furthermore, expression of PR and GR reduced the number of Golgi outposts (GOPs) in dendrites. In Drosophila brains, expression of PR, but not GR, led to a significant reduction in the mRNA level of CrebA, a transcription factor regulating the formation of GOPs. Overexpressing CrebA in PR-expressing C4 da neurons mitigated PM supply defects and restored the number of GOPs, but the number of dendritic branches remained unchanged, suggesting that other molecules besides CrebA may be involved in dendritic branching. Taken together, our results provide valuable insight into the understanding of dendritic pathology associated with C9-ALS/FTD.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.5-10
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• 1999

This is a case report of 46,XY female phenotype (46,XY karyotype, no pubic hair, blind vagina and absence of uterus)in an 18-year-old patient. To confirm whether a Y chromosome has a structural abnormality, fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) with the chromosome X/Y cocktail probe was simultaneously performed, and the six loci [PABY, RPS4Y(sy16, sy17), ZFY, DYS14] on the short arm, one locus (DYZ3) on the centromere and one locus (DYZ1) on the long arm were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The probes used FISH hybridized to centromere of the X chromosome and heterochromatin region (Yq12) of the Y chromosome, and all PCR related Y chromosome showed positive band like normal male. From the results obtained, it seemed that the Y chromosome from the 46,XY female was structurely normal. Especially, the SRY gene has been equated with the mammalian testis-determining factor, and absence or point mutation in the SRY gene causes XY female. To detect the point mutations of SRY sequences, single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) assay was used. Our results confirm that this patient has no mutation in the SRY gene on the Y chromosome.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.334-340
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• 2017

Reliability is considered a particularly important design factor for systems that have critical results once a failure occurs in a system, such as trains, airplanes, and passenger ships. The reliability of the system can be improved in several ways, but in a system that requires considerable reliability, the redundancy of parts is efficient in improving the system reliability. In the case of duplicating parts to improve reliability, the kind of parts and the number of duplicating parts should be determined under the system reliability, part costs, and resources. This study examined the redundancy allocation of multi-level systems with serial structures. This paper describes the definition of a multi-system and how to optimize the kind of parts and number of duplications to maximize the system reliability. To optimize the redundancy, the cuckoo search algorithm was applied. The search procedure, the solution representation and the development of the neighborhood solution were proposed to optimize the redundancy allocation of a multi-level system. The results of numerical experiments were compared with the genetic algorithm and cuckoo search algorithm.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.663-670
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• 2017

The problem of layup optimization of the composite laminates involves a very complex multidimensional solution space which is usually non-exhaustively explored using different heuristic computational methods such as genetic algorithms (GA). To ensure the convergence to the global optimum of the applied heuristic during the optimization process it is necessary to evaluate a lot of layup configurations. As a consequence the analysis of an individual layup configuration should be fast enough to maintain the convergence time range to an acceptable level. On the other hand the mechanical behavior analysis of composite laminates for any geometry and boundary condition is very convoluted and is performed by computational expensive numerical tools such as finite element analysis (FEA). In this respect some studies propose very fast FEA models used in layup optimization. However, the lower bound of the execution time of FEA models is determined by the global linear system solving which in some complex applications can be unacceptable. Moreover, in some situation it may be highly preferred to decrease the optimization time with the cost of a small reduction in the analysis accuracy. In this paper we explore some machine learning techniques in order to estimate the failure of a layup configuration. The estimated response can be qualitative (the configuration fails or not) or quantitative (the value of the failure factor). The procedure consists of generating a population of random observations (configurations) spread across solution space and evaluating using a FEA model. The machine learning method is then trained using this population and the trained model is then used to estimate failure in the optimization process. The results obtained are very promising as illustrated with an example where the misclassification rate of the qualitative response is smaller than 2%.