• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.177-182
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• 2009

The glycosylated human MINPP (multiple inositol polyphosphate phosphatase), which was recombinantly over-expressed by using industrial host, Pichia pastoris, showed the phytase activity against phytate ($InsP_6$) and the enzyme activity of the unglycosylated counterpart was decreased to 30%. The optimal phytase activity occurred at pH 7.4. The human MINPP showed high substrate specificity for $InsP_6$ with little activity on other organic phosphate conjugates such as para-nitrophenylphosphate (pNPP), ATP, and ribose-1-phosphate (R-1-P). The phosphatase activity against 2,3-bisphosphoglycerate (2,3-BPG) by human MINPP was increased to 1.2-fold in the presence of stimulator, 1 mM 2-phosphoglycolate (2-PG) but the phytase activity against $InsP_6$ was not affected by addition of 1 mM 2-PG. The phosphatase activity against 2,3-BPG by human MINPP was not increased in the presence of 2 mM $Mg^{2+}$ or 100 mM $Cl^-$.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.333-337
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• 2002

Bacteriophage of Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri, a causal agent of citrus canker disease, was studied for its cultural characteristics. The relative efficiency of plat-ing (EOP) of 11 phages used to 13 strains off, axonopodis pv. citri tested ranged from 0.8 to 1, indicating that the phages are homogeneous. Homogeneity of the phages suggests that citrusphage belongs to a single group CPK as reported in a previous study. Typical one-step growth of a phage P5 selected from the citrusphages was observed. The EOP of the P5 was dependent upon the media, pH, and temperature. It was observed that multiplication of the phage cultured in Wakimotos potato semisynthetic media at $25^{\circ}C$ was more effective than that in other temperatures, regardless of the bacterial strains and media used. It was observed that pH 6.5 is optimal for multiplication of the phage. In comparison of the EOP among citrusphages $CP_1$, $CP_2$, and P5, multiplicative characteristic of phage P5 in the bacteria on time-course was similar with that of phage $CP_1$. Thus, it was concluded that citrusphage group CPK from Korea is $CP_1$ based on host specificity of the phage as described in a previous study, homogeneity, and its multiplication pattern.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.346-350
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• 2010

Purpose: Diagnosis of diabetic foot infection is sometimes difficult, since the classical inflammatory signs and leukocytosis may be absent due to the decreased host immune response in diabetics. Therefore inflammatory blood markers, such as white blood cell (WBC) count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and C-reactive protein (CRP) have been commonly needed to confirm the diagnosis of infection. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the diagnostic usefulness of WBC, ESR and CRP for detection of diabetic foot infection. Methods: Peripheral blood samples were taken from 113 patients with diabetic foot ulcers admitted from June 2007 to April 2009. Diabetic foot infection was diagnosed according to the microbiological culture from soft tissue and bone specimens. Reference values of tests were 4500-11000 /${\mu}L$ for WBC count, 0-20 mm/hr for ESR, and 0-5 mg/L for $CRP^{13,14}$. Sensitivities, specificities, positive and negative predictive values of laboratory tests were calculated and analysed. Receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) curve was also created. Results: There was a significant difference in WBC, ESR, and CRP between infectious group and noninfectious group (p<0.05). The sensitivity of WBC>11,000 /${\mu}L$ ESR > 20 mm/hr, and CRP > 5 mg/L was 30%, 96%, and 84%. The specificity was 86%, 14%, and 50% for WBC, ESR, and CRP, respectively. Positive predictive value was 88%, 78%, and 84%, and negative predictive value was 28%, 50%, and 50% respectively. The areas under the ROC curve for WBC, ESR and CRP were 0.72, 0.75, and 0.78 respectively. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, we conclude that CRP is more useful method in predicting and diagnosing infection than WBC, ESR in diabetic foot ulcer patients.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.487-492
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• 2012

Damages of medicinal crops by thrips and identification of thrips species were investigated by periodic surveys on major medicinal crops, Platycodon grandiflorum, Schizandra chinensis, Codonopsis lanceolata, Lycium chinense, Bupleurum falcatum, Ledebouriella seseloides, Angelica gigas, Glycyrrhiza uralensis, Liriope platyphylla, Atractyloides sp., once or twice a month in Suwon, Eumseong, Jecheon, Pyeongchang, Chyungyang from May to October in 2012. Thrips and their damages were found at all of the medicinal crops investigated, mostly occurring at early growing stages of each medicinal crop and causing apical meristem region withered, thereby inhibiting the growth of plants. For species identification of thrips collected from each medicinal crops, DNA from each individual was extracted and ITS2 and COI regions were amplified by PCR. As a result, Frankliniella intonsa, Thrips tabaci, and Megalurothrips distalis have been identified as dominant species on medicinal crops in open field, whereas Frankliniella occidentalis was restricted to Lycium chinense in which protected cultivation. This study suggests that the occurrence of thrips species on medicinal crops seems to be affected by host specificity and environmental factors such as cultivation types.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.57 no.5
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• pp.521-524
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• 2019

We are going to describe the female soboliphymid nematodes, which were recovered from the stomach of a Asian badger, Meles leucurus (Mammalia: Mustelidae), in Geochang-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do, Korea. In February 1998, we found 2 peculiar nematodes with a cup-like organ in the anterior end from the stomach of badger. Recovered worms were fixed with 10% formalin, cleared in glycerin-alcohol solution and observed under a light microscope with a micrometer. They were 34.46 (33.43-35.50) mm long by 2.13 mm at maximum width. Cephalic sucker cup-like, 3.34 (3.13-3.55) mm wide, 2.40 (2.25-2.55) mm long, with the oral aperture and meridionally striated on the buccal capsule. Oral aperture 2.38 mm in diameter. Circumoral membrane 0.41 (0.38-0.45) mm wide. Esophagus muscular, 4.81 (4.50-5.00) mm long by 0.80 (0.78-0.83) mm at maximum width. Vulva situated at 3.13 mm ventro-anterior level from the esophago-intestinal junction. Vagina anteriad, 3.38 mm long, making a canal from the uterus to the vulva opening. Uterus single, large. Tail 0.35 (0.33-0.38) mm long. Intrauterine eggs long elliptical, 0.058-0.065 (0.062) mm long and 0.030-0.033 (0.031) mm wide. Based on the some morphological characters and host-specificity, our specimens are nearly identical with S. baturini. Therefore, the present report describes S. baturini for the first time in Korea.

• Food Science and Industry
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.229-240
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• 2019

Ever since the definition "live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host"and guidelines of probiotics by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the WHO were announced, the research and product development using probiotics has been hugely successful. As a result, probiotics products become an important part of the functional food market. Recently, thanks to rapidly growing microbiome research, more diverse roles and health benefits of probiotics are being elucidated. Based on those results, pharmabiotics using probiotics are anticipated. In addition, in order to be internationally competitive and distributed, efforts should be made for certification such as GRAS/NDI notification through quality control that meets global standards. In this paper, we reviewed several aspects of probiotics concerning recently amended definition of probiotics, the regulation of probiotics, the strain specificity of efficacy, the association with microbiome research, and the market trends.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.705-709
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• 2021

Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis) is a major bacterial pathogen that causes periodontitis, a chronic inflammatory disease of tissues around the teeth. Periodontitis is known to be related to other diseases, such as oral cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and rheumatism. Thus, a precise and sensitive test to detect P. gingivalis is necessary for the early diagnosis of periodontitis. The objective of this study was to optimize a rapid visual detection system for P. gingivalis. First, we performed a visual membrane immunoassay using 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB; blue) and coating and detection antibodies that could bind to the host laboratory strain, ATCC 33277. Antibodies against the P. gingivalis surface adhesion molecules RgpB (arginine proteinase) and Kgp (lysine proteinase) were determined to be the most specific coating and detection antibodies, respectively. Using these two selected antibodies, the streptavidin-horseradish peroxidase (HRP) reaction was performed using a nitrocellulose membrane and visualized with a detection range of 10³-10⁵ bacterial cells/ml following incubation for 15 min. These selected conditions were applied to test other oral bacteria, and the results showed that P. gingivalis could be detected without cross-reactivity to other bacteria, including Streptococcus mutans and Escherichia fergusonii. Furthermore, three clinical strains of P. gingivalis, KCOM 2880, KCOM 2803, and KCOM 3190, were also recognized using this optimized enzyme immunoassay (EIA) system. To conclude, we established optimized conditions for P. gingivalis detection with specificity, accuracy, and sensitivity. These results could be utilized to manufacture economical and rapid detection kits for P. gingivalis.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.175-181
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• 2022

COVID-19 is an acute respiratory syndrome that affects the host's breathing and respiratory system. The novel disease's first case was reported in 2019 and has created a state of emergency in the whole world and declared a global pandemic within months after the first case. The disease created elements of socioeconomic crisis globally. The emergency has made it imperative for professionals to take the necessary measures to make early diagnoses of the disease. The conventional diagnosis for COVID-19 is through Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing. However, in a lot of rural societies, these tests are not available or take a lot of time to provide results. Hence, we propose a COVID-19 classification system by means of machine learning and transfer learning models. The proposed approach identifies individuals with COVID-19 and distinguishes them from those who are healthy with the help of Deep Visual Embeddings (DVE). Five state-of-the-art models: VGG-19, ResNet50, Inceptionv3, MobileNetv3, and EfficientNetB7, were used in this study along with five different pooling schemes to perform deep feature extraction. In addition, the features are normalized using standard scaling, and 4-fold cross-validation is used to validate the performance over multiple versions of the validation data. The best results of 88.86% UAR, 88.27% Specificity, 89.44% Sensitivity, 88.62% Accuracy, 89.06% Precision, and 87.52% F1-score were obtained using ResNet-50 with Average Pooling and Logistic regression with class weight as the classifier.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.685-702
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• 2023

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are commonly used as probiotics; however, not all LAB strains have the same beneficial effects. To successfully use LAB as probiotics in canines, LAB species should originate from the canine intestinal tract as they display host specificity. The objective of this study was to investigate the phenotypic and genomic traits of potential probiotic LAB isolated from canine fecal samples. Twenty LAB samples were evaluated for their potential probiotic characteristics including resistance to low pH, bile salts, hydrophobicity, auto-aggregation, co-aggregation, adhesion to epithelia or mucosa, and production of inhibitory compounds. Additionally, we evaluated their safety and other beneficial effects on canine health, such as DPPH free radical scavenging, and β-galactosidase. Four strains demonstrated potential probiotic characteristics and were selected: Enterococcus hirae Pom4, Limosilactobacillus fermentum Pom5, Pediococcus pentosaceus Chi8, and Ligilactobacillus animalis FB2. Safety evaluations showed that all strains lacked hemolytic activity, could not produce biogenic amines, and did not carry any pathogenic genes. In addition, L. fermentum Pom5 and P. pentosaceus Chi8 displayed susceptibility to all antibiotics and concordant with the absence of antibiotic resistance genes. Based on their phenotypic and genomic characteristics, L. fermentum Pom5 and P. pentosaceus Chi8 were identified as potential probiotic candidates for canines.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.420-424
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• 2023

In 2020, within the Dongbaekdongsan area in Jeju Island, a Septobasidium sp. associated with a felt disease in Castanopsis sieboldii (Makino) Hatus. ex T. Yamaz. & Mashiba was identified. The symptom included the presence of brown, thin, and silk-like mycelial mats attached to the tree's bark, displaying variations in size from large to small. To induce hyphal growth, the samples collected were incubated in a moist chamber, and the newly formed hyphae were subjected to genomic DNA extractions. The nucleotide sequences of the internal transcribed spacer and small subunit rDNA genes were determined, and molecular characteristics among the isolates were investigated through polymerase chain reaction-based restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. This Septobasidium sp. exhibited distinct morphological and phylogenetic features compared to those that were previously reported in South Korea. Consequently, this strain is taxonomically classified as a provisionally novel species of Septobasidium. Furthermore, the observed felt disease exhibited a high degree of host specificity, as it was exclusively identified in C. sieboldii without occurrence in other tree species at the time of observation.