• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.374-382
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• 2017

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) remains unexplained and untreated despite the high attention of research in recent years. Aside from its various characteristics is the baffling male preponderance over the female population. Using a validated animal model of ASD which is the telomerase reverse transcriptase overexpressing mice (TERT-tg), we conducted ASD-related behavioral assessments and protein expression experiments to mark the difference between male and females of this animal model. After statistically analyzing the results, we found significant effects of TERT overexpression in sociability, social novelty preference, anxiety, nest building, and electroseizure threshold in the males but not their female littermates. Along these differences are the male-specific increased expressions of postsynaptic proteins which are the NMDA and AMPA receptors in the prefrontal cortex. The vGluT1 presynaptic proteins, but not GAD, were upregulated in both sexes of TERT-tg mice, although it is more significantly pronounced in the male group. Here, we confirmed that the behavioral effect of TERT overexpression in mice was male-specific, suggesting that the aberration of this gene and its downstream pathways preferentially affect the functional development of the male brain, consistent with the male preponderance in ASD.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.295-304
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• 2001

Characterization of quantitative trait loci (QTL) was investigated in the experimental crosses between Berkshire and Yorkshire breed. A total of 525 F$_2$ progenies from 65 matting of F$_1$ Parents were produced. Phenotypic measurements included average daily gain (ADG), average back fat thickness (ABF), and loin eye area (LEA). To identify the presence of QTL for reproductive performance, birth weight (BWT) and body weight at 16 days (16DAY) were included as indirect trait. QTL segregation was deduced using 8 markers assigned to chromosome 2 (SSC2). Quantitative trait locus analyses were performed using interval mapping by regression under line-cross model. Presence of imprinting was tested under the statistical model that separated the expression of paternally and maternally inherited alleles. To set the evidence of QTL presence, significance thresholds were derived by permutation following statistical tests, respectively. Genome scan revealed significant evidence for three quantitative trait loci (QTL) affecting growth and body compositions, of which two were identified to be QTL with imprinting expression mode near the ICF II gene region. For average back fat thickness (ABF), a paternally expressed QTL was found on chromosome 2 (SSC2). A paternally expressed QTL affecting loin eye area (LEA) was found in the region of SSC2 where evidence of imprinted QTL was found for average back fat thickness (ABF). For average daily gain (ADG), QTL expressed with Mendelian mode was found on chromosome 2 (SS2). Also, QTL affecting average daily gain (ADC), was identified to be expressed with Mendelian express mode.

• Proceedings of the KSAR Conference
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• 2003.06a
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• pp.78-78
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• 2003

Embryonic stem (ES) cells, derived from preimplantation embryo, are able to differentiate into various types of cells consisting the whole body, or pluripotency. In contrast, terminally differentiated cells do not usually alter their nature but frequently die or transform if they are exposed to inappropriate external stimulations. In addition to the plasticity, ES cells are expected to be different from terminally differentiated cells in very many ways, such as patterns of gene expressions, ability and response of the cells in confronting environmental stimulations, metabolism, and growth rate. As a model system to differentiate these two types of cells, human ES cells (MB03) and terminally differentiated cells (HeLa), we examined the ability of these two types of cells in confronting a severe oxidative insult, that is $H_2O$$_2$. Approximately 1$\times$10$^4$ cells were plated in 96 well plate and serum starved for overnight. The conditioned cells were exposed to a various concentration of $H_2O$$_2$ fur 24 hrs and loaded with neutral red (50$\mu\textrm{g}$/ml) for 4 hrs, washed with PBS for 2 min three times, and entrapped dye was dissolved out using acetic ethanol. Cytotoxicity was determined by reading the amount of dye in the medium using microplate reader. equipped with 575 nm filter. Relative amount of the dye entrapped within MB03 or HeLa were not significantly different when cells were exposed up to 0.4 mM $H_2O$$_2$. However, this sharply decreased down to 0.12% in HeLa cells when the cells were exposed to 0.8 mM $H_2O$$_2$, while it was approximately 54% in MB03 suggesting that this concentration of $H_2O$$_2$ is the defensive threshold for HeLa cells. The resistance to oxidative stimulation reversed, however, when cells were co-treated with BSO (L-buthionine- 〔S, R〕-sulfoximine) which chelates intracellular GSH. This result suggests that cellular GSH is the major defensive mechanism of human ES cells. Induction of enzymes involved in GSH metabolism and type of cell death is currently being studied.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.1-10
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• 2018

Aggression among pigs adversely affects economic returns and animal welfare in intensive pigsties. Recently, some studies have applied information technology to a livestock management system to minimize the damage resulting from such anomalies. Nonetheless, detecting each pig in a crowed pigsty is still challenging problem. In this paper, we propose a new Kinect camera and deep learning-based monitoring system for the detection of the individual pigs. The proposed system is characterized as follows. 1) The background subtraction method and depth-threshold are used to detect only standing-pigs in the Kinect-depth image. 2) The standing-pigs are detected by using YOLO (You Only Look Once) which is the fastest and most accurate model in deep learning algorithms. Our experimental results show that this method is effective for detecting individual pigs in real time in terms of both cost-effectiveness (using a low-cost Kinect depth sensor) and accuracy (average 99.40% detection accuracies).

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.15-20
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• 2007

Background: Lipo-prostaglandin E1 (Lipo-$PGE_1$) has vasodilating and platelet aggregation inhibitory characteristics and it has been used as a treatment for patients with blood flow dysfunction disease. Based on the mechanisms of lumbar spinal stenosis, including veno congestion, neuro-ischemia and mechanical compression, we aimed to study whether intravenous Lipo-$PGE_1$ injection has any therapeutic effect on hyperalgesia in a rat foraminal stenosis model. Methods: In this study, twenty male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into the control (n = 10) and Lipo-$PGE_1$ (n = 10) groups. A small stainless steel rod was inserted into the L5-6 intervertebral foramen to induce intervertebral foramen stenosis and chronic DRG compression. In the Lipo-$PGE_1$ group, $0.15{\mu}g/kg$ of Lipo-$PGE_1$ were injected intravenously via a tail vein for 10 days starting from the $3^{rd}$ day after operation. Behavioral testing for mechanical and thermal hyperalgesia was performed for 3 weeks after the injections. Results: From the $10^{th}$ day after Lipo-$PGE_1$ injection, the rats in the experimental group showed significant recovery of their mechanical threshold, and this effect was maintained for 3 weeks. No significant differences of the thermal hyperalgesia were observed between the two groups. Conclusions: These findings suggest that intravenously injected Lipo-$PGE_1$ may be effective for alleviating neuropathic pain, which isthe main symptom of spinal stenosis, by improving the blood flow dysfunction.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.33-40
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• 2020

Background: Understanding the geographical distribution of a species is a key component of studying its ecology, evolution, and conservation. Although Schlegel's Japanese gecko (Gekko japonicus) is widely distributed in Northeast Asia, its distribution has not been studied in detail. We predicted the present and future distribution of G. japonicus across China, Japan, and Korea based on 19 climatic and 5 environmental variables using the maximum entropy (MaxEnt) species distribution model. Results: Present time major suitable habitats for G. japonicus, having greater than 0.55 probability of presence (threshold based on the average predicted probability of the presence records), are located at coastal and inland cities of China; western, southern, and northern coasts of Kyushu and Honshu in Japan; and southern coastal cities of Korea. Japan contained 69.3% of the suitable habitats, followed by China (27.1%) and Korea (4.2%). Temperature seasonality (66.5% of permutation importance) was the most important predictor of the distribution. Future distributions according to two climate change scenarios predicted that by 2070, and overall suitable habitats would decrease compared to the present habitats by 18.4% (scenario RCP 4.5) and 10.4% (scenario RCP 8.5). In contrast to these overall trends, range expansions are expected in inland areas of China and southern parts of Korea. Conclusions: Suitable habitats predicted for G. japonicus are currently located in coastal cities of Japan, China, and Korea, as well as in isolated patches of inland China. Due to climate change, suitable habitats are expected to shrink along coastlines, particularly at the coastal-edge of climate change zones. Overall, our results provide essential distribution range information for future ecological studies of G. japonicus across its distribution range.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.35-43
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• 2016

The temperature-dependent development of Metcalfa pruinosa overwintering eggs was investigated at ten constant temperatures (12.5, 15, 17.5, 20, 22.5, 25, 27.5, 30, 32.5, and $35{\pm}1^{\circ}C$, Relative Humidity 20~30%). All individuals collected before April 13, 2012 failed to develop into first instar larvae. In contrast, some individuals that were collected on April 11, 2013 successfully developed when reared under $20{\sim}32.5^{\circ}C$ temperature regimes. The developmental duration was shortest at $30^{\circ}C$ (13.3 days) and longest at $15^{\circ}C$ (49.6 days) in the fourth collected colony (April 26 2013). Developmental duration decreased with increasing temperature up to $30^{\circ}C$ and development was retarded at high-temperature regimes ($32.5^{\circ}C$). The lower developmental threshold was $10.1^{\circ}C$ and the thermal constant required to complete egg overwintering was 252DD. The Lactin 2 model provided the best statistical description of the relationship between temperature and the developmental rate of M. pruinosa overwintering eggs ($r^2=0.99$). The distribution of the developmental completion of overwintering eggs was well described by the 2-parameter Weibull function ($r^2=0.92$) based on the standardized development duration. However, the estimated cumulative 50% spring emergence dates of overwintering eggs were best predicted by poikilotherm rate model combined with the 2-parameter Weibull model (average difference of 1.7days between observed and estimated dates).

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Near Infrared Spectroscopy Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.1031-1031
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• 2001

The mammary gland is made up of remarkably sensitive tissue, which has the capability of producing a large volume of secretion, milk, under normal or healthy conditions. When bacteria enter the gland and establish an infection (mastitis), inflammation is initiated accompanied by an influx of white cells from the blood stream, by altered secretory function, and changes in the volume and composition of secretion. Cell numbers in milk are closely associated with inflammation and udder health. These somatic cell counts (SCC) are accepted as the international standard measurement of milk quality in dairy and for mastitis diagnosis. NIR Spectra of unhomogenized composite milk samples from 14 cows (healthy and mastitic), 7days after parturition and during the next 30 days of lactation were measured. Different multivariate analysis techniques were used to diagnose the disease at very early stage and determine how the spectral properties of milk vary with its composition and animal health. PLS model for prediction of somatic cell count (SCC) based on NIR milk spectra was made. The best accuracy of determination for the 1100-2500nm range was found using smoothed absorbance data and 10 PLS factors. The standard error of prediction for independent validation set of samples was 0.382, correlation coefficient 0.854 and the variation coefficient 7.63%. It has been found that SCC determination by NIR milk spectra was indirect and based on the related changes in milk composition. From the spectral changes, we learned that when mastitis occurred, the most significant factors that simultaneously influenced milk spectra were alteration of milk proteins and changes in ionic concentration of milk. It was consistent with the results we obtained further when applied 2DCOS. Two-dimensional correlation analysis of NIR milk spectra was done to assess the changes in milk composition, which occur when somatic cell count (SCC) levels vary. The synchronous correlation map revealed that when SCC increases, protein levels increase while water and lactose levels decrease. Results from the analysis of the asynchronous plot indicated that changes in water and fat absorptions occur before other milk components. In addition, the technique was used to assess the changes in milk during a period when SCC levels do not vary appreciably. Results indicated that milk components are in equilibrium and no appreciable change in a given component was seen with respect to another. This was found in both healthy and mastitic animals. However, milk components were found to vary with SCC content regardless of the range considered. This important finding demonstrates that 2-D correlation analysis may be used to track even subtle changes in milk composition in individual cows. To find out the right threshold for SCC when used for mastitis diagnosis at cow level, classification of milk samples was performed using soft independent modeling of class analogy (SIMCA) and different spectral data pretreatment. Two levels of SCC - 200 000 cells/$m\ell$ and 300 000 cells/$m\ell$, respectively, were set up and compared as thresholds to discriminate between healthy and mastitic cows. The best detection accuracy was found with 200 000 cells/$m\ell$ as threshold for mastitis and smoothed absorbance data: - 98% of the milk samples in the calibration set and 87% of the samples in the independent test set were correctly classified. When the spectral information was studied it was found that the successful mastitis diagnosis was based on reviling the spectral changes related to the corresponding changes in milk composition. NIRS combined with different ways of spectral data ruining can provide faster and nondestructive alternative to current methods for mastitis diagnosis and a new inside into disease understanding at molecular level.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.261-269
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• 2018

The cowpea aphid Aphis craccivora Koch (Hemiptera: Aphididae) is a polyphagous species with a worldwide distribution. We investigated the temperature effects on development periods of nymphs, and the longevity and fecundity of apterous female of A. craccivora. The study was conducted at six constant temperatures of 10.0, 15.0, 20.0, 25, 30.0, and $32.5^{\circ}C$. A. craccivora developed successfully from nymph to adult stage at all temperatures subjected. The developmental rate of A. craccivora increased as temperature increased. The lower developmental threshold (LT) and thermal constant (K) of A. craccivora nymph stage were estimated by linear regression as $5.3^{\circ}C$ and 128.4 degree-days (DD), respectively. Lower and higher threshold temperatures (TL, TH and TH-TL, respectively) were calculated by the Sharpe_Schoolfield_Ikemoto (SSI) model as $17.0^{\circ}C$, $34.6^{\circ}C$ and $17.5^{\circ}C$. Developmental completion of nymph stages was described using a three-parameter Weibull function. Life table parameters were estimated. The intrinsic rate of increase was highest at $25^{\circ}C$, while the net reproductive rate was highest at $20^{\circ}C$. Biological characteristics of A. craccivora populations from different geographic areas were discussed.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.227-245
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• 1998

A most appropriate model of 3-D conformal radiotherapy has been induced by clinical evaluation and animal study, and therapeutic gains were evaluated by numerical equation of tumor control probability(TCP) and normal tissue complication probability (NTCP). The radiation dose to the tumor and the adjacent normal organs was accurately evaluated and compared using the dose volume histogram(DVH). The TCP and NTCP was derived from the distribution of given dosage and irradiated volume, and these numbers were used as the biological index for the assessment of the treatment effects. Ten patients with liver disease have been evaluated and 3 dogs were sacrificed for this study. Based on the 3-D images of the tumor and adjacent organs, the optimum radiation dose and the projection direction which could maximize the radiation effect while minimizing the effects to the adjacent organs could be decided. 3). The most effective collimation for the normal adjacent organs was made through the beams eye view with the use of multileaf collimator. When the dose was increased from 50Gy to 70Gy, the TCP for the conventional 2-port radiation and the 5-port multidimensional therapy was 0.982 and 0.995 respectively, while the NTCP was 0.725 and 0.142 respectively, suggesting that the 3-D conformal radiotherapy might be the appropriate therapy to apply sufficient radiation dose to the tumor while minimizing the damages to the normal areas of the liver. Positive correlation was observed between the NTCP and the actual complication of the normal liver in the animal study. The present study suggest that the use of 3-D conformal radiotherapy and the application of the mathematical models of TCP and NTCP may provide the improvements in the treatment of hepatoma with enhanced results.