• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.168-175
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• 2014

In order to understand the phytoplankton community structure based on their cell size duringlow water temperature periods, we studied 10 stations in the East Sea, Korea on March, 2012. The minimum standing crops of total phytoplankton were $3.4{\times}10^6cells\;L^{-1}$ at the station 5. The maximum values were $7.6{\times}10^6cells\;L^{-1}$ at the station 8, which is two times the amount of the minimum. The carbon mass at the station 4 ($6.3{\times}10^8pg\;L^{-1}$) was more than forty times higher compared with station 5 ($0.08{\times}10^8pg\;L^{-1}$). From these results, we found a significant difference between standing crops and carbon mass which might have caused due to their differences in community structure and cell size. Therefore, we considered the types of plankton biomass to estimate the primary product in the specific location and/or time. The phytoplankton communities were classified in 3 types: microplankton (> $20{\mu}m$), nanoplankton (< $20{\mu}m$) and picoplankton (< $2{\mu}m$). In the case of picoplankton, various morphological types were observed during the study period. These various picoplankton species were further classified as S (spherical), SF (spherical&flagella), O (oval), OF (oval&flagella) or R (rod) type, and we analyzed their community structure based on these categories. The picoplankton was found to be the most dominant type at 8 stations and S type as the most popular. The picoplankton seems to be the significant organism in the marine ecology during low water temperature periods in the coastal waters of East Sea. Therefore, picoplankton \;-with scientific surveys can be considered as the database for their identification. In conclusion, we suggest that cell size of the phytoplankton would be the best criteria to accurately analyze their community structure and to reveal groups having more ecological influence.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.516-521
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• 2003

The Aspergillus species produces metabolic products that play a significant role in the destructive processes in the lung. We experienced a case of chronic necrotizing pulmonary aspergillosis caused by an Aspergillus niger infection, which contained numerous calcium oxalate crystals in the necrotic lung tissue. A 46-year-old man, who had a history of pulmonary tuberculosis, presented with high fever, intermittent hemoptysis and pulmonary infiltrations with a cavity indicated by the chest radiograph. Despite being treated with several antibiotics and anti-tuberculosis regimens, the high fever continued. The sputum cultures yielded A. niger repeatedly, and intravenous amphotericin B was then introduced. The pathological specimen obtained by a transbronchial lung biopsy revealed numerous calcium oxalate crystals in a background of acute inflammatory exudates with no identification of the organism. Intravenous amphotericin B was continued at a total dose of 1600 mg, and at that time he was afebrile, although the intermittent hemoptysis continued. On the $63^{rd}$ hospital day, a massive hemoptysis (about 800 mL) developed, which could not be controlled despite embolizing the left bronchial artery. He died of respiratory failure the next day. It is believed that the oxalic acid produced by A. niger was the main cause of the patient's pulmonary injury and the ensuing massive hemoptysis.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.444-454
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• 2017

There are many ongoing studies of infectious diseases as the major factor responsible for global declining of the amphibian population. Although some point out the amphibian rearing facilities like frog farms as one of the important sources of harboring and spreading amphibian infectious pathogens in the wild, there have been few related studies in South Korea. In this study, we investigated the bacterial and fungal colonies on the skin and in the internal organs of frogs and tadpoles collected inside and outside of Dybowski's brown frog farms in Inje, Goesan, and Gongju to compare the difference according to the region and between inside and outside the farm. We also intended to classify the bacteria collected from the tadpoles into species by analyzing 16s rDNA gene sequences. The result showed that the number of bacterial colonies found in the skin and gut of frogs and the number of fungal colonies found in the skin and liver of frogs collected in Goesan was significantly greater than those in the frogs in Inje. However, there was no difference between the frogs collected inside and outside of farms in both regions. In the case of tadpoles, the number of fungal colonies in the tadpoles collected from Gongju was greater than that in the tadpoles collected from Inje. The comparison of inside and outside frog farms showed that there were more bacterial colonies on the skin of the tadpoles collected from inside than outside the frog farm in Inje and more bacterial colonies in the organs of the tadpoles collected from outside than inside the farm in Gongju. The frogs with higher condition factor (body weight/snout-vent length*100) showed fewer bacterial colonies on the skin and fewer fungal colonies in the heart, but there were no significant relationships in tadpoles. We identified the total of 15 genera and four phyla of bacteria, but the difference according to regions and between inside and outside farm was not evident. The result of this study indicates that the different conditions according to the locality of farm and between inside and outside farm cause the difference in the population sizes of bacterial and fungal colonies and that it can affect the overall health condition of Dybowski's brown frogs in the farm. Moreover, the result suggests that effective disease control in the facility is greatly necessary to ensure successful operation of amphibian rearing facility and to prevent the possible spread of diseases from the facility to the wild.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.137-144
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• 2002

Pork loins that retailed in market were used as experimental samples. Some pork samples in raw state were packaged with PVDC in either aerobic or vacuum condition. The other pork samples were cooked until core temperature reached at 70$\^{C}$ and then packaged immediately in the same way with the raw samples. After these samples were irradiated by electron beam 6 kGy, the samples were stored in a refrigerator (2∼4$\^{C}$). Identification and quantification of cholesterol oxides were performed at 0 and 7 days. The results were following. During the early stage of storage, cholesterol oxides were not produced from the raw meat samples, but with the passage of storage time,7 $\alpha$-hydroxycholesterol, 7$\beta$-hydroxycholesterol, 7-ketocholesterol, 20 $\alpha$-hydroxycholesterol, $\beta$-epoxide and $\alpha$-epoxide, which were not produced during the early stage of storage, were produced. The production of cholesterol and lipid oxidation products were significantly higher (P<0.05) in the meats with aerobic packaging than those with vacuum packaging, Cooked meat after irradiation showed 7 $\alpha$-hydroxycholesterol, 7 $\beta$-hydroxycholesterol, $\alpha$-epoxide and cholestanetriol on the 7th day of storage, although those chemicals were not produced during the early stage of storage. Production of cholesterol oxides was significantly increased (P<0.05) with the passage of storage time for all treatments, and showed significantly lower value (P<0.05) with the vacuum packaging than these for aerobic packaging. Species of cholesterol oxides from irradiated meat after cooking were similar to those from cooked meat after irradiation. Collectively, it was found that the production of cholesterol oxides was more easily affected by packaging condition than irradiation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.74-84
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• 1998

A doubly resonant ultrasonic transducer has been designed as an attempt to increase the bandwidth of underwater transducers. The dual resonance conditions were accomplished by attaching a single acoustic matching layer on the front face of a Tonpilz transducer consisted of an aluminum head, a piezoelectric ring, a brass tail and a prestress bolt. A modified Mason's model was used for the performance analysis and the design of transducers, and the constructed transducers were tested experimentally and numerically by changing the impedances and thicknesses of the head, tail and matching layers in the water tank. Two distinct resonance peaks in the transmitting voltage response(TVR) of a developed transducer were observed at 34.3 and 40.4 kHz, respectively, with the difference frequency of 6.1kHz and the center frequency of 37.2kHz. The values of TVR at these frequencies were 136.5 dB re $1\;\muPa/V$ at 34.3 kHz and 136.8 dB re $1\;\muPa/V$ at 40.4 kHz, respectively. Reasonable agreement between the experimental results and the numerical results was achieved. From this result, it is expected that the generation of the distinct resonances at any two desired frequencies can be achieved through the proper choice of the matching layer to provide the impedance transformation between the transducer and the medium.

• Annals of Clinical Microbiology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.37-43
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• 2015

Background: Tuberculosis is globally the most important cause of death from single pathogen. Rapid and accurate identification of mycobacteria is essential for the control of tuberculosis. We evaluated a fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) method using peptide nucleic acid (PNA) probes for the differentiation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTB) and nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) in direct smears of sputum specimens. Methods: The cross-reactivity of MTB- and NTM-specific PNA probes was examined with reference strains of M. tuberculosis ATCC 13950, Mycobacterium kansasii ATCC 12479, Mycobacterium fortuitum ATCC 6841, several clinical isolates of mycobacteria (Mycobacterium abscessus, Mycobacterium avium, Mycobacterium intracellulare, Mycobacterium gordonae and Mycobacterium chelonae), and 11 frequently isolated respiratory bacterial species other than mycobacteria. A series of 128 sputa (89 MTB culture positive, 29 NTM culture positive, and 10 under treatment culture negative) with grades of trace to 4+ were used to evaluate the performance of the method. Results: The MTB- and NTM-specific PNA probes showed specific reactions with the reference strains of MTB and M. kansasii and clinical isolates of mycobacteria except M. fortuitum ATCC 6841, and no cross-reactivity with other tested bacteria. The PNA probe-based FISH assay for detection of MTB had a sensitivity and specificity of 100%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of the NTM-specific PNA probe was 100%. The smear grades of the PNA FISH test were same as with those of the fluorescence AFB stain in 2+ or higher grade. Conclusion: Detection and differentiation based on PNA FISH is sensitive and accurate for detecting mycobacteria and for differentiating MTB from NTM in clinical sputum smears.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.126-136
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• 2021

Oxidative stress causes injury to and degeneration of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells. It is involved in several retinal disorders and leads to vision loss. In the present study, we investigated the effect of 14 kinds of natural compounds and two kinds of synthetic compounds on oxidative stress-induced cellular damage in human PRE cell lines (ARPE-19). From among them, we selected five kinds of compounds, including auranofin, FK-509, hemistepsin A, honokiol, and spermidine, which have inhibitory effects against hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-mediated cytotoxicity. In addition, we found that four kinds of compounds (excluding auranofin) have protective effects on H2O2-induced mitochondrial dysfunction. Furthermore, the expression of phosphorylation of histone H2AX, a sensitive marker of DNA damage, was markedly up-regulated by H2O2, whereas it was notably down-regulated by FK-506, honokiol, and spermidine treatment. Meanwhile, five kinds of candidate compounds had no effect on H2O2-induced intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, suggesting that the five candidate compounds have protective effects on oxidative stress-induced cellular damage through the ROS-independent pathway. Taken together, according to the results of H2O2-mediated cellular damage―such as cytotoxicity, apoptosis, mitochondrial dysfunction, and DNA damage―spermidine and FK-506 are the natural and synthetic compounds with the most protective effects against oxidative stress in RPE. Although further studies on the identification of the mechanism responsible are required, the results of the present study suggest the possibility of using spermidine and FK-506 to suppress the risk of retinal disorders.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.61 no.2
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• pp.319-330
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• 2022

Andong is a place to culture the great amount of hot pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) in Korea. This study reports a yearly occurrence (March 31~October 25, 2021) of thrips infesting the hot pepper in Andong. Thrips caught to yellow sticky traps were diagnosed by morphological characters and showed two dominant species: Frankliniella occidentalis and F. intonsa. During this period, a total of 107,874 thrips were caught and included F. occidentalis at about 82%, F. intonsa at about 17%, and the other thrips at about 0.3%. There were two main peaks at May~June and at September~October, respectively, in which the total number of thrips was higher in the second peak and most were F. occidentalis. Interestinly, a low level of thrips occurred during July~August was observed and explained by their susceptibility to high temperatures. A laboratory experiment by exposing thrips to high temperatures showed that thrips were susceptible to temperatures higher than 35℃ and not tolerant to 45℃ for 1 h. Indeed, high temperatures higher than 45℃ were recorded in the greenhouses in Andong during July~August. F. occidentalis was more tolerant to the high temperatures than F. intonsa. On the other hand, the thrips showed the highest occurrence peak at July~August in hot pepper-culturing greenhouse in Kangwon, where the average temperatures were mostly lower than those of Andong and no high temperatures higher than 45℃ were recorded during July~August. A viral disease caused by tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) was observed in the hot peppers cultured in Andong greenhouses. Multiplex PCR was used to detect the virus along with identification of thrips. With a high record of about 30%, the virus-infected thrips were detected during all the monitoring period. The virulent thrips were identified to be only F. intonsa. These results suggest that F. occidentalis gives a direct damage especially during harvesting period with their high populations while F. intonsa gives indirect damage by transmitting TSWV.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.112 no.1
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• pp.40-56
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• 2023

Tree species within the Populus genus grow rapidly and have an excellent capacity to absorb carbon, conferring substantial ability to effective purify the environment. Poplar breeding can be achieved rapidly and efficiently if a genetic linkage map is constructed and quantitative trait loci (QTLs) are identified. Here, a high-density genetic linkage map was constructed for the control pollinated progeny using the genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) technique, which is a next-generation sequencing method. A search was also performed for the genes associated with quantitative traits located in the genetic linkage map by examining the variables of height and diameter at root collar, and resilience to insect damage. The height and diameter at root collar were measured directly, while the ability to recover from insect damage was scored in a 4-year-old breeding population of aspen hybrids (Odae19 × Bonghyeon4 F1) established in the research forest of Seoul National University. After DNA extraction, paternity was confirmed using five microsatellite markers, and only the individuals for which paternity was confirmed were used for the analysis. The DNA was cut using restriction enzymes and the obtained DNA fragments were prepared using a GBS library and sequenced. The analyzed results were sorted using Populus trichocarpa as a reference genome. Overall, 58,040 aligned single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers were identified, 17,755 of which were used for mapping genetic linkages. The genetic linkage map was divided into 19 linkage groups, with a total length of 2,129.54 cM. The analysis failed to identify any growth-related QTLs, but a gene assumed to be related to recovery from insect damage was identified on linkage group (chromosome) 4 through genome-wide association study.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.306-314
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• 2023

Stream sediments are an important component of water quality management because they are receptors of various pollutants such as heavy metals and organic matters emitted from upland sources and can be secondary pollution sources, adversely affecting water environment. To effectively manage the stream sediments, identification of primary sources of sediment contamination and source-associated control strategies will be required. We evaluated the performance of machine learning models in identifying primary sources of sediment contamination based on the physico-chemical properties of stream sediments. A total of 356 stream sediment data sets of 18 quality parameters including 10 heavy metal species(Cd, Cu, Pb, Ni, As, Zn, Cr, Hg, Li, and Al), 3 soil parameters(clay, silt, and sand fractions), and 5 water quality parameters(water content, loss on ignition, total organic carbon, total nitrogen, and total phosphorous) were collected near abandoned metal mines and industrial complexes across the four major river basins in Korea. Two machine learning algorithms, linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and support vector machine (SVM) classifiers were used to classify the sediments into four cases of different combinations of the sampling period and locations (i.e., mine in dry season, mine in wet season, industrial complex in dry season, and　industrial complex in wet season). Both models showed good performance in the classification, with SVM outperformed LDA; the accuracy values of LDA and SVM were 79.5% and 88.1%, respectively. An SVM ensemble model was used for multi-label classification of the multiple contamination sources inlcuding landuses in the upland areas within 1 km radius from the sampling sites. The results showed that the multi-label classifier was comparable performance with sinlgle-label SVM in classifying mines and industrial complexes, but was less accurate in classifying dominant land uses (50~60%). The poor performance of the multi-label SVM is likely due to the overfitting caused by small data sets compared to the complexity of the model. A larger data set might increase the performance of the machine learning models in identifying contamination sources.