• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.39-44
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• 2019

Drought is one of the key limiting factors that adversely affects the growth and productivity of crop plants. For the enhancement of drought tolerance in crop plants, the identification of basic mechanisms of a plant to drought stress is necessary. In this study, we compared physiological and biochemical responses of five local Arundenilla hirta ecotypes to drought stress. These ecotypes were previously collected from various parts of Korean peninsula, including Youngduk, Gunsan, Jangsoo, Jinju-1 and Yecheon. A. hirta plants were exposed to drought stress for 14 and 17 days respectively, followed by re-watering for 3 days. The results showed that the lipid peroxidation (MDA), hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$), DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging activity, and proline level were significantly increased while the chlorophyll content was decreased by drought stress in A. hirta leaves. The highest proline content and DPPH scavenging activity were shown in Ecotype of Youngduk with least MDA and $H_2O_2$ levels while the highest MDA and $H_2O_2$ contents, and least proline and DPPH levels were shown in Gunsan, respectvely. These results indicate that the Youngduk is the most tolerant and Gunsan is the most sensitive ecotype among the five different collections. Together, these results provide a new insight of overall physiological responses of A. hirta to drought stress.

• Journal of Gynecologic Oncology
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.93.1-93.11
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• 2018

The introduction of checkpoint inhibitors revolutionized immuno-oncology. The efficacy of traditional immunotherapeutics, like vaccines and immunostimulants was very limited due to persistent immune-escape strategies of cancer cells. Checkpoint inhibitors target these escape mechanisms and re-direct the immune system to anti-tumor toxicity. Phenomenal results have been reported in entities like melanoma, where no other therapy was able to demonstrate survival benefit, before the introduction of immunotherapeutics. The first experience in ovarian cancer (OC) was reported for nivolumab, a fully human anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (PD1) antibody, in 2015. While the data are extraordinary for a mono-immunotherapeutic agent and very promising, they do not match up to the revolutionary results in entities like melanoma. The key to exceptional treatment response in OC, could be the identification of the most immunogenic patients. We hypothyse that BRCA mutation could be a predictor of improved response in OC. The underlying DNA-repair-deficiancy should result in increased immunogenicity because of higher mutational load and more neoantigen presentation. This hypothesis was not tested to date and should be subject to future trials. The present article gives an overview of the immunologic background of checkpoint inhibition (CI). It presents current data on nivolumab and other checkpoint-inhibitors in solid tumors and OC specifically and depicts important topics in the management of this novel substance group, such as side effect control, diagnostic PD-1/programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression assessment and management of pseudoprogression.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.63-68
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• 2021

Recently there is sharply increasing interest in watching and creating video contents such as YouTube. However, creating such video contents without privacy protection technique can expose other people in the background in public, which is consequently violating their privacy rights. This paper seeks to remedy these problems and proposes a technique that identifies faces and protecting portrait rights by blurring the face. The key contribution of this paper lies on our deep-learning technique with low detection error and high computation that allow to protect portrait rights in real-time videos. To reduce errors, an efficient tracking algorithm was used in this system with face detection and face recognition algorithm. This paper compares the performance of the proposed system with and without the tracking algorithm. We believe this system can be used wherever the video is used.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.137-151
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• 2021

The present study describes the bacterial blight of walnut, caused by Xanthomonas arboricola pv. juglandis (Xaj) in the northern Gyeongbuk province, Korea. Disease symptoms that appear very similar to anthracnose symptoms were observed in walnut trees in June 2016. Pathogens were isolated from disease infected leaves, fruits, shoots, bud, flower bud of walnut, and cultured onto yeast dextrose carbonate agar plates. Isolated bacteria with bacterial blight symptoms were characterized for their nutrient utilization profiles using Biolog GN2 and Vitek 2. In addition, isolates were subjected to physiological, biochemical, and morphological characterizations. Furthermore, isolates were identified using 16S rDNA sequence analysis, and multi-locus sequence analysis using atpD, dnaK, efp, and rpoD. To confirm pathogenicity, leaves, fruits, and stems of 3-year-old walnut plants were inoculated with bacterial pathogen suspensions as a foliar spray. One week after inoculation, the gray spots on leaves and yellow halos around the spots were developed. Fruits and stems showed browning symptoms. The pathogen Xaj was re-isolated from all symptomatic tissues to fulfill Koch's postulates, while symptoms were not appeared on control plants. On the other hand, the symptoms were very similar to the symptoms of anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides. When walnut plants were inoculated with combined pathogens of Xaj and C. gloeosporioides, disease symptoms were greater in comparison with when inoculated alone. Xaj population size was more in the month of April than March due to their dormancy in March, and sensitive to antibiotics such as oxytetracycline and streptomycin, while resistant to copper sulfate.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.23 no.12
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• pp.1565-1570
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• 2019

Many possibilities of Big Data has been discussed widely for several years. And the importance of protecting personal information has been emphasized more strongly. During the process of integrating several personal information for the improvement of usability of Big Data, there are many problems occured like the likelihood of the identification of one person, the level of personal infomation used to create personalized services in the companies making and using Big Data. In this study, I summarize GDPR(General Data Protection Regulation) of EU, CCPA(California Consumer Privacy Act) of USA and domestic Big Data 3 Acts Amendment proposals. Also I discuss re-identifcation of de-identificated information, social costs of the usage agreement of personal information, possible problems in construction and combination of private and public big data, political suggestions about settlement of regulatory environment.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.32-42
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• 2021

Objectives : In this study, we investigated the neuroprotective effects of ethanol extract of Lonicera japonica flower buds (EELJ) on glutamate-induced neurotoxicity in mouse hippocampus-derived neuronal HT22 cells. Methods : After analyzing the cytoprotective effect of EELJ on glutamate in HT22 cells, the inhibitory effect of apoptosis was studied using flow cytometry. In order to analyze the antioxidant efficacy of EELJ, the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and glutathione (GSH) were investigated, and the effects on the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) were also analyzed. Furthermore, the effect of EELJ on the expression of apoptosis regulators such as Bax and Bcl-2 in glutamate-treated HT22 cells was investigated. Results : According the current results, pretreatment with EELJ significantly reduced glutamate-induced loss of cell viability and release of lactate dehydrogenase. EELJ also markedly attenuated glutamate-induced generation of intracellular ROS, which was associated with increased levels of GSH, and activity of SOD and CAT in glutamate-stimulated HT22 cells. In addition, EELJ was strikingly inhibited glutamate-induced apoptosis in HT22 cells. Furthermore, the expression of pro-apoptotic Bax was increased and the expression of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 was decreased in glutamate-treated HT22 cells, while in the presence of EELJ, their expressions were maintained at the control levels. Conclusions : These findings indicate that EELJ protects glutamate-induced cytotoxicity in HT22 hippocampal neurons through antioxidant activity. Therefore, although identification of biologically active substances of EELJ and re-evaluation through animal experiments is necessary, this natural substance is a promising candidate for further research in preventing and treating oxidative stress-mediated neurodegenerative diseases.

• Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.35-44
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• 2021

A pregnancy diagnosis is an important standard for control of livestock's reproduction in paricular dairy cattle. High reproductive performance in dairy animals is a essential condition to realize of high life-time production. Pregnancy diagnosis is crucial to shortening the calving interval by enabling the farmer to identify open animals so as to treat or re-breed them at the earliest opportunity. MicroRNAs are short RNA molecules which are critically involved in regulating gene expression during both health and disease. This study is sought to establish the feasible of circulating miRNAs as biomarkers of early pregnancy in cattle. We applied Illumina small-RNA sequencing to profile miRNAs in plasma samples collected from 12 non-pregnant cows ("open" cows: samples were collected before insemination (non-pregnant state) and after pregnancy check at the indicated time points) on weeks 0, 4, 8, 12 and 16. Using small RNA sequencing we identified a total of 115 miRNAs that were differentially expressed weeks 16 relative to non-pregnancy ("open" cows). Weeks 8, 12 and 16 of pregnancy commonly showed a distinct increase in circulating levels of miR-221 and miR-320a. Through genome-wide analyses we have successfully profiled plasma miRNA populations associated with pregnancy in cattle. Their application in the field of reproductive biology has opened up opportunities for research communities to look for pregnancy biomarker molecules in dairy cattle.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.35-50
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• 2022

In this review, the compositions of the sex pheromones of 22 lepidopteran species were analyzed and briefly arranged by comparing the research results conducted in different locations worldwide. These compositions can be used as monitoring tools for pests of rice, maize, leguminous crops, perilla, and sesame in Korea. The sex pheromone compounds and those compositions of four species were successfully identified within Korean populations. The optimal compositions of sex pheromones of three other species were selected through behavioral studies using synthetic chemicals of the known pheromone compounds in laboratories and fields, without chemical identification processes in the sex pheromone compounds of Korean populations. For a few species, the roles of the minor components of the sex pheromone volatiles should be re-assessed for use in the development of optimal monitoring lures.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.14-21
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• 2022

Complex chromosome rearrangements (CCRs) are structural chromosomal rearrangements involving at least three chromosomes and more than two breakpoints. CCR carriers are generally phenotypically normal but related to higher risk of recurrent miscarriage and having abnormal offspring with congenital anomalies. However, most of CCR carriers are not aware of their condition until genetic analysis of either abortus or affected baby or parental karyotyping is performed. Herein, we present the case that CCR carrier patients can be identified by preimplantation genetic testing of preimplantation embryos. An infertile male patient with severe oligoasthenoteratozoospermia was diagnosed balanced reciprocal translocation, 46,XY,t(3;11) (p26;p14) at first. After attempting the first preimplantation genetic testing for structural rearrangement (PGT-SR) cycle, we found the recurrent segmental gain or loss on 21q21.3-q22.3 of five out of nine embryos. As a result of karyotype re-analysis, the patient's karyotype showed a balanced CCR involving chromosomes 3, 11, and 21 with three breakpoints 3p26, 11p14, and 21q21. The patient underwent two PGT-SR cycles, and a pregnancy was established after the transfer of an euploid embryo in the second cycle. Amniocentesis confirmed that the baby carried normal karyotype without mosaicism. At 37 weeks gestation, a healthy girl weighting 3,050 g was born.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.88-107
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• 2023

In the present investigation, bacterial isolates from infected apple trees causing apple canker during winter were studied in the northern Gyeongbuk Province, Korea. The pathogen was identified as Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae (Pss) through various physiological and biochemical characterization assays such as BIOLOG, gas chromatography of fatty acid methyl esters, and 16S rRNA. Bioassays for the production of phytotoxins were positive for syringopeptin and syringomycin against Bacillus megaterium and Geotrichum candidum, respectively. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method enabled the detection of toxin-producing genes, syrB1, and sypB in Pss. The differentiation of strains was performed using LOPAT and GATTa tests. Pss further exhibited ice nucleation activity (INA) at a temperature of -0.7℃, indicating an INA⁺ bacterium. The ice-nucleating temperature was -4.7℃ for a non-treated control (sterilized distilled water), whereas it was -9.6℃ for an INA^- bacterium Escherichia coli TOP10. These methods detected pathogenic strains from apple orchards. Pss might exist in an apple tree during ice injury, and it secretes a toxin that makes leaves yellow and cause canker symptoms. Until now, Korea has not developed antibiotics targeting Pss. Therefore, it is necessary to develop effective disease control to combat Pss in apple orchards. Pathogenicity test on apple leaves and stems showed canker symptoms. The pathogenic bacterium was re-isolated from symptomatic plant tissue and confirmed as original isolates by 16S rRNA. Repetitive element sequence-based PCR and enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus PCR primers revealed different genetic profiles within P. syringae pathovars. High antibiotic susceptibility results showed the misreading of mRNA caused by streptomycin and oxytetracycline.