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Reproductive Performance of Holstein Dairy Cows Grazing in Dry-summer Subtropical Climatic Conditions: Effect of Heat Stress and Heat Shock on Meiotic Competence and In vitro Fertilization

  • Pavani, Krishna;Carvalhais, Isabel;Faheem, Marwa;Chaveiro, Antonio;Reis, Francisco Vieira;da Silva, Fernando Moreira
    • Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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    • v.28 no.3
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    • pp.334-342
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    • 2015
  • The present study was designed to evaluate how environmental factors in a dry-summer subtropical climate in Terceira-Azores (situated in the North Atlantic Ocean: 3843N2712W) can affect dairy cow (Holstein) fertility, as well as seasonal influence on in vitro oocytes maturation and embryos development. Impact of heat shock (HS) effects on in vitro oocyte's maturation and further embryo development after in vitro fertilization (IVF) was also evaluated. For such purpose the result of the first artificial insemination (AI) performed 60 to 90 days after calving of 6,300 cows were recorded for one year. In parallel, climatic data was obtained at different elevation points (n = 5) from 0 to 1,000 m and grazing points from 0 to 500 m, in Terceira island, and the temperature humidity index (THI) was calculated. For in vitro experiments, oocytes (n = 706) were collected weekly during all year, for meiotic maturation and IVF. Further, to evaluate HS effect, 891 oocytes were collected in the cold moths (December, January, February and March) and divided in three groups treated to HS for 24 h during in vitro maturation at: C (Control = 38.5C), HS1 (39.5C) and HS2 (40.5C). Oocytes from each group were used for meiotic assessment and IVF. Cleavage, morula and blastocyst development were evaluated respectively on day 2, 6, and 9 after IVF. A negative correlation between cow's conception rate (CR) and THI in grazing points (-91.3%; p<0.001) was observed. Mean THI in warmer months (June, July, August and September) was 71.7±0.7 and the CR (40.2±1.5) while in cold months THI was 62.8±0.2 and CR was 63.8±0.4. A similar impact was obtained with in vitro results in which nuclear maturation rate (NMR) ranged from 78.4% (±8.0) to 44.3% (±8.1), while embryos development ranged from 53.8% (±5.8) to 36.3% (±3.3) in cold and warmer months respectively. In vitro HS results showed a significant decline (p<0.05) on NMR of oocytes for every 1C rising temperature (78.4±8.0, 21.7±3.1 and 8.9±2.2, respectively for C, HS1, and HS2). Similar results were observed in cleavage rate and embryo development, showing a clear correlation (96.9 p<0.05) between NMR and embryo development with respect to temperatures. Results clearly demonstrated that, up to a THI of 70.6, a decrease in the CR occurs in first AI after calving; this impairment was confirmed with in vitro results.

Oxidative Stress Induced Damage to Paternal Genome and Impact of Meditation and Yoga - Can it Reduce Incidence of Childhood Cancer?

  • Dada, Rima;Kumar, Shiv Basant;Chawla, Bhavna;Bisht, Shilpa;Khan, Saima
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.17 no.9
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    • pp.4517-4525
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    • 2016
  • Background: Sperm DNA damage is underlying aetiology of poor implantation and pregnancy rates but also affects health of offspring and may also result in denovo mutations in germ line and post fertilization. This may result in complex diseases, polygenic disorders and childhood cancers. Childhood cancer like retinoblastoma (RB) is more prevalent in developing countries and the incidence of RB has increased more than three fold in India in the last decade. Recent studies have documented increased incidence of cancers in children born to fathers who consume alcohol in excess and tobacco or who were conceived by assisted conception. The aetiology of childhood cancer and increased disease burden in these children is lin ked to oxidative stress (OS) and oxidative DNA damage( ODD) in sperm of their fathers. Though several antioxidants are in use to combat oxidative stress, the effect of majority of these formulations on DNA is not known. Yoga and meditation cause significant decline in OS and ODD and aid in regulating OS levels such that reactive oxygen speues meditated signal transduction, gene expression and several other physiological functions are not disrupted. Thus, this study aimed to analyze sperm ODD as a possible etiological factor in childhood cancer and role of simple life style interventions like yoga and meditation in significantly decreasing seminal oxidative stress and oxidative DNA damage and thereby decreasing incidence of childhood cancers. Materials and Methods: A total of 131 fathers of children with RB (non-familial sporadic heritable) and 50 controls (fathers of healthy children) were recruited at a tertiary center in India. Sperm parameters as per WHO 2010 guidelines and reactive oxygen species (ROS), DNA fragmentation index (DFI), 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxy guanosine (8-OHdG) and telomere length were estimated at day 0, and after 3 and 6 months of intervention. We also examined the compliance with yoga and meditation practice and smoking status at each follow-up. Results: The seminal mean ROS levels (p<0.05), sperm DFI (p<0.001), 8-OHdG (p<0.01) levels were significantly higher in fathers of children with RB, as compared to controls and the relative mean telomere length in the sperm was shorter. Levels of ROS were significantly reduced in tobacco users (p<0.05) as well as in alcoholics (p<0.05) after intervention. DFI reduced significantly (p<0.05) after 6 months of yoga and meditation practice in all groups. The levels of oxidative DNA damage marker 8-OHdG were reduced significantly after 3 months (p<0.05) and 6 months (p<0.05) of practice. Conclusions: Our results suggest that OS and ODD DNA may contribute to the development of childhood cancer. This may be due to accumulation of oxidized mutagenic base 8OHdG, and elevated MDA levels which results in MDA dimers which are also mutagenic, aberrant methylation pattern, altered gene expression which affect cell proliferation and survival through activation of transcription factors. Increased mt DNA mutations and aberrant repair of mt and nuclear DNA due to highly truncatred DNA repair mechanisms all contribute to sperm genome hypermutability and persistant oxidative DNA damage. Oxidative stress is also associated with genome wide hypomethylation, telomere shortening and mitochondrial dysfunction leading to genome hypermutability and instability. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to report decline in OS and ODD and improvement in sperm DNA integrity following adoption of meditation and yoga based life style modification.This may reduce disease burden in next generation and reduce incidence of childhood cancers.

Change in Health Behaviors of Patients Before and After Stroke (뇌졸중 환자의 발병전후 건강행위의 변화)

  • Jang, Sang-Hyeon;Kang, Pock-Soo;Lee, Kyeong-Soo;Kim, Seok-Beom;Yun, Sung-Ho
    • Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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    • v.27 no.1
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    • pp.9-19
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    • 2002
  • This study was conducted to compare the health behaviors of patient s before and after a stroke and propose health education program to reduce risk factors related to stroke recurrence. Data were collected from eighty- eight stroke patients registered at the Gyeongju-si Health Center between July 1, to August 30, 1999, by interviewing patients from a prepared structured questionnaire, which included questions on that patients ' general characteristics, health- related behaviors, family-related characteristics, and pre- and post - stroke health status. Smoking rate of 51.1% before stroke reduced to 25.0% after stroke; drinking rate of 52.3% before stroke reduced to 17.0% after stroke; daily smoking amount of 20.1 packs per day before stroke significantly reduced to 14.9 packs per day after stroke; and daily drinking amount of 92.4ml before stroke significantly reduced to 23.7ml after stroke. Smoking rate according to sex showed a marked decrease in the male subjects, but 31.6% still smoked even after their stroke. Among the female subjects, smoking rate of 16.1% before stroke reduced to 12.9% after stroke. Observation of the change in health- related behaviors of stroke patient s showed significant change in smoking rate, drinking rate and intake of regular meals etc. of patient s with a spouse and patients who received preventive health education. Health education on quitting smoking, temperance, low fat diet, exercise and regular meals for stroke patient s are needed, and public and private organizations can do their part in development and providing continuing health education programs and health education.

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The Gains To Bidding Firms' Stock Returns From Merger (기업합병의 성과에 영향을 주는 요인에 대한 실증적 연구)

  • Kim, Yong-Kap
    • Management & Information Systems Review
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    • v.23
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    • pp.41-74
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    • 2007
  • In Korea, corporate merger activities were activated since 1980, and nowadays(particuarly since 1986) the changes in domestic and international economic circumstances have made corporate managers have strong interests in merger. Korea and America have different business environments and it is easily conceivable that there exists many differences in motives, methods, and effects of mergers between the two countries. According to recent studies on takeover bids in America, takeover bids have information effects, tax implications, and co-insurance effects, and the form of payment(cash versus securities), the relative size of target and bidder, the leverage effect, Tobin's q, number of bidders(single versus multiple bidder), the time period (before 1968, 1968-1980, 1981 and later), and the target firm reaction (hostile versus friendly) are important determinants of the magnitude of takeover gains and their distribution between targets and bidders at the announcement of takeover bids. This study examines the theory of takeover bids, the status quo and problems of merger in Korea, and then investigates how the announcement of merger are reflected in common stock returns of bidding firms, finally explores empirically the factors influencing abnormal returns of bidding firms' stock price. The hypotheses of this study are as follows ; Shareholders of bidding firms benefit from mergers. And common stock returns of bidding firms at the announcement of takeover bids, shows significant differences according to the condition of the ratio of target size relative to bidding firm, whether the target being a member of the conglomerate to which bidding firm belongs, whether the target being a listed company, the time period(before 1986, 1986, and later), the number of bidding firm's stock in exchange for a stock of the target, whether the merger being a horizontal and vertical merger or a conglomerate merger, and the ratios of debt to equity capital of target and bidding firm. The data analyzed in this study were drawn from public announcements of proposals to acquire a target firm by means of merger. The sample contains all bidding firms which were listed in the stock market and also engaged in successful mergers in the period 1980 through 1992 for which there are daily stock returns. A merger bid was considered successful if it resulted in a completed merger and the target firm disappeared as a separate entity. The final sample contains 113 acquiring firms. The research hypotheses examined in this study are tested by applying an event-type methodology similar to that described in Dodd and Warner. The ordinary-least-squares coefficients of the market-model regression were estimated over the period t=-135 to t=-16 relative to the date of the proposal's initial announcement, t=0. Daily abnormal common stock returns were calculated for each firm i over the interval t=-15 to t=+15. A daily average abnormal return(AR) for each day t was computed. Average cumulative abnormal returns(CARTT1,T2) were also derived by summing the ARts over various intervals. The expected values of ARt and CARTT1,T2 are zero in the absence of abnormal performance. The test statistics of ARt and CART1,T2 are based on the average standardized abnormal return(ASARt) and the average standardized cumulative abnormal return (ASCART1,T2), respectively. Assuming that the individual abnormal returns are normal and independent across t and across securities, the statistics Zt and ZT1,T2 which follow a unit-normal distribution(Dodd and Warner), are used to test the hypotheses that the average standardized abnormal returns and the average cumulative standardized abnormal returns equal zero.

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The Impact of Amalgam Exposure an Urinary Mercury Concentration in Children (어린이의 구강 내 아말감 노출이 요중 수은농도에 미치는 영향)

  • Jeon, Eun-Suk;Jin, Hye-Jung;Kim, Eun-Kyong;Im, Sang-Uk;Song, Keun-Bae;Choi, Youn Hee
    • Journal of dental hygiene science
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    • v.14 no.1
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    • pp.7-14
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    • 2014
  • This study aims to evaluate the impact of varying exposure to dental amalgam on urinary mercury levels in children by measuring the number of amalgam-filled teeth and the variance of mercury concentration in urine over a period of 2 years. A total of 317 (male 158, female 159) elementary school children (1st~4th graders) attending 2 schools in urban regions participated in this study. At 6-month intervals, 4 oral examinations were conducted to check any variance in the conditions of dental caries and the status of dental fillings. Also, urine tests were conducted followed by a questionnaire survey. To elucidate the factors potentially affecting the mercury concentration in urine, t-test, ANOVA, chi-square test and a mixed model were used for the analysis. Regarding the status of dental fillings in line with examination time periods, deciduous teeth had more amalgam-filled surfaces than those filled with resin, whereas permanent teeth had more resin-filled surfaces than those filled with amalgam. A significant relevance was found between the exposure to dental amalgam and urinary mercury levels. Specifically, subjects whose teeth surfaces had been filled with dental amalgam showed higher urinary mercury levels than those who had no dental amalgam fillings. Based on the analysis using the mixed model, the increase in the number of teeth surfaces filled with amalgam was found to be the factor affecting the increase in urinary mercury levels. The urinary mercury levels were found to be highly associated with the exposure to dental amalgam. The more the teeth surfaces filled with amalgam, the higher the urinary mercury levels. Hence, even a trace of dental amalgam fillings can liberate mercury, affecting the variance in the urinary mercury levels. These findings suggest that some criteria or measures should be developed to minimize the exposure to dental amalgam. Moreover, relevant further studies are warranted.

The First Report on the Acanthocephalan Infection of the Dybowskii's Brown Frogs (Rana dybowskii) Collected Inside and Outside the Commercial Frog Farms in Korea (국내 개구리 양식장 내·외에서 채집된 북방산개구리(Rana dybowskii)의 구두충 감염 최초보고)

  • Kim, Jong-Sun;Koo, Kyo-Soung;Park, Jae-Jin;Kwon, Sera;Choia, Woo-Jin;Cho, Han-Na;Park, Daesik
    • Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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    • v.30 no.4
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    • pp.694-704
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    • 2016
  • Various infectious and parasitic diseases are known to be the main factors that cause decline in the global amphibian population. In Korea, commercial frog farms have been running since 2005. However, until now, studies on diseases including studies on parasitic diseases that occur in farm frogs have not been conducted. In this study, we studied and compared the acanthocephalan infection rates and the number of parasites in the body cavity, stomach, and small and large intestines of the Dybowskii's brown frogs collected from inside and outside the frog farms in Inje, Goesan, Gongju and Boryeong. In addition, we classified the acanthocephalan parasites into genera by analyzing their nuclear 18S rRNA genes. On an average, 51.7% of the investigated frogs were infected by acanthocephalans, which belong to the Centrorhynchus genus. The infection rate of the frogs collected in the Inje farm was 15%, significantly lower than those from the Goesan, Gongju and Boryeong farms. The rate in Goesan was 55%, which is lower than Gongju (80%) and Boryeong (90%) although it is not statistically significant. No difference was found in the infection rate and in the number of parasites in male and female frogs and between the groups collected from inside and outside of the farms. The number of infected parasites negatively correlated with the body condition of the frogs. The most parasites were found in the stomach followed by the small and large intestines and the body cavity. This study is the first report on the Centrorhynchus acanthocephalan infection of amphibians in Korea and it suggests the necessity for acanthocephalan parasite management and for conducting further disease-related studies in commercial frog farms.

Differential Susceptibility to High Temperature and Variation of Seasonal Occurrence between Spodoptera exigua and Plutella xylostella (파밤나방과 배추좀나방의 고온 감수성 차이와 연중 발생 변이)

  • Kim, Minhyun;Lee, Seunghee;Kim, Yonggyun
    • Korean journal of applied entomology
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    • v.55 no.1
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    • pp.17-26
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    • 2016
  • Climate change has been regarded as one of main factors to change Korean insect pest fauna. Especially, a global warming model predicts to expand habitat for insect pests originated from tropical or subtropical regions. Two insect pests, the beet armyworm (Spodoptera exigua) and the diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella), are known to overwinter in some greenhouse conditions without diapause induction in Korea. There was a clear difference between these two insects in seasonal occurrence. P. xylostella occurred only at early spring and fall seasons, but did not occur during summer. In contrast, S. exigua maintained their occurrence from late spring to fall seasons. This study set up a hypothesis that the difference in the seasonal occurrence may be resulted from variation in susceptibility to high temperature. To test the hypothesis, heat tolerance was compared between these two insects. Exposure to 42C for 40 min killed 100% individuals of P. xylostella larvae. However, most larvae of S. exigua survived in response to 42C even for 80 min. Heat tolerance varied among developmental stages in both insects. Highest tolerant stages were 4th instar larvae and adults for P. xylostella, but 1st instar larvae for S. exigua. Pre-exposure to 37C for 30 min significantly increased heat tolerance in both insects. Induction of heat tolerance accompanied with significant increase of glycerol contents in the hemolymph in both insects and up-regulation of three heat shock protein expressions in S. exigua. These results suggest that the differential susceptibility to high temperature explains the disappearance of P. xylostella during summer, at which S. exigua maintains its occurrence.

Evaluation for Soil Moisture Stabilization and Plant Growth Response in Horizontal Biofiltration System Depending on Wind Speed and Initial Soil Moisture (풍속과 초기 토양수분에 따른 평면형 바이오필터 내 토양수분 안정화 및 식물 생육반응 평가)

  • Choi, Bom;Chun, Man Young;Lee, Chang Hee
    • Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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    • v.27 no.5
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    • pp.546-555
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    • 2014
  • The final aim of this study is to develop a biofiltration system integrated with plant vegetation for improving indoor air quality effectively depending on indoor space and characteristics. However, to approach this final goal, several requirements such as constant pressure drops (PDs) and soil moisture contents (SMCs), which influence the capacity design for a proper ventilation rate of biofiltration system, should be satisfied. Thus, this fundamental experiment was carried out to adjust a proper wind speed and to ensure a stabilization of initial SMCs within biofilter for uniform distribution of SMCs and PDs, and for normal plant growth, especially avoiding root stress by wind. Therefore, we designed horizontal biofliter models and manufactured them, and then calculated the ventilation rate, air residence time, and air-liquid ration based on the biofilter depending on three levels of wind speed (1, 2, and 3cms1). The relative humidity (RH) and PD of the humidified air coming out through the soil within the biofilter, and SMC of the soil and plant growth parameters of lettuce and duffy fern grown within biofilter were measured depending on the three levels of wind speed. As a result of wind speed test, 3sec1 was suitable to keep up a proper RH, SMC, and plant growth. Thus, the next experiment was set up to be two levels of initial SMCs (low and high initial SMC, 18.5 and 28.7%) within each biofilter operated and a non-biofiltered control (initial SMC, 29.7%) on the same wind speed (3cmsec1), and measured on the RH and PD of the air coming out through the soil within the biofilter, and SMC of the soil and plant growth parameters of Humata tyermani grown within biofilter. This result was similar to the first results on RHs, SMCs, and PDs keeping up with constant levels, and three SMCs did not show any significant difference on plant growth parameters. However, two biofiltered SMCs enhanced dry weights of the plants slightly than non-biofiltered SMC. Thus, the stability of this biofiler system keeping up major physical factors (SMC and PD) deserved to be adopted for designing an advanced integrated biofilter model in the near future.

Art Therapy and Hospice & Palliative Care in Korea (한국의 예술치료와 호스피스 완화의료)

  • Kim, Chang Gon
    • Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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    • v.18 no.2
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    • pp.85-96
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    • 2015
  • In Korea, modern art therapy was developed in the 1960s and 1970s in the form of supplementary activities for patients in psychiatry. Along with the foundation of the Korean Association for Clinical Art in 1982 by psychiatric doctors, the therapy involved more various arts forms such as music, art, dance, poetry therapy, and psychodrama. More organizations with specific expertise opened such as the Korean Art Therapy Association, Korean Art Therapy Association, etc. in the 1990s and the Korea Arts Therapy Institute in 2001. As of April 2015, the members of the Korean Art Therapy Association total 15,000, including 6,200 regular members. The arts in integrative arts therapy (IAT) is an individual's creative activity which is related to his inner world, and the forms of IAT include music, drawing, dance and poetry therapy. From the aspect of phenomenology, IAT is psychophysical therapy involving the arts that helps patients recognize and perceive their experiences with an aim of at a recovery of the body and creativity from the phenomenological aspect. It is also a therapeutic activity that targets growth and development of the body and mind. Meta-analysis of the effects of art therapy with a focus on that involving music, drawing, dance movement and IAT in recent years in Korea, significant effects were observed in all factors but physical function. The biggest effect was mentality adaptation followed by activity adaptation and physiology. In the run up to the implementation of the daily flat-rate system for the health insurance reimbursement for palliative care in July 2015, the Ministry of Health and Welfare is reviewing the coverage of music therapy, drawing therapy and flower therapy, which are currently practiced by 56 hospice institutes in Korea. This is a meaningful step because the coverage of hospice and palliative care came after that of art therapy for psychiatric patients was approved in 1977. Still, there is a need clarify the therapeutic mechanism by exploring causality among the treatment media, mediation type and treatment effects. To address the issue of indiscriminately issued licenses, more efforts are needed to ensure expertise and identity of the licensed therapists through education, training and supervision.

Quality Evaluation and Optimization of Storage Temperature with Eight Cultivars of Kimchi Cabbage Produced in Summer at Highland Areas (고랭지 여름배추 품종간 품질 비교 및 저장온도 최적화)

  • Eum, Hyang Lan;Kim, Byung-Sup;Yang, Yong Joon;Hong, Sae Jin
    • Horticultural Science & Technology
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    • v.31 no.2
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    • pp.211-218
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    • 2013
  • This study was conducted to investigate the quality characteristics of eight Kimchi cabbage cultivars and the effect of cold storage on the quality of two kinds of cabbage cultivars, such as 'CR-Nongshim', and 'Ryouckgwang'. Early planted and harvested cultivars at July showed that fresh weight was lower than late harvested cultivars at September, because early harvesting time of July was heavy rainy season at highlands of Gangwon province. The firmness was more than 10 N for all cultivars and 'Cheongock', 'Sanjanggoon', and 'Ryouckgwang' cultivars had high value of firmness among them. No differences among the cultivars were found in appearance, freshness, and texture evaluations at harvest. Sweetness and bitterness had statistical differences and showed high value in 'Ryouckgwang' and in 'CR-Nongshim' and 'Sooho'. Two Kimchi cabbage cultivars such as 'CR-Nongshim' and 'Ryouckgwang' were stored at 0C, 2C, 5C, and room temperature (25C) with more than 90% RH. Significant difference was found in weight loss during room and low temperature storage. In general, weight loss of the Kimchi cabbages at room temperature was significantly increased by 15% within 3 days, whereas it was delayed at low temperature until 3 weeks on all Kimchi cabbage cultivars. Firmness of 'CR-Nongshim' was higher than 'Ryouckgwang' but there was no difference within low storage temperatures. Appearance among the sensory factors was a critical indicator to estimate storage periods. On the point of appearance, storage period at 0C was 1 week and 2C and 5C was 3 weeks and 1 week in 'CR-Nongshim' cultivar, respectively. The storage period of 'Ryouckgwang' cultivar was 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and 2 weeks, respectively. Conclusively, storage at 2C with more than 90% RH was recommended as optimum temperature to maintain quality in both cultivars.