• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.46 no.3
• /
• pp.395-408
• /
• 2013

Environmental condition can induce changes in early life-history traits in order to maximise the ecological fitness. Here I investigated how temperature change and variation in human aquatic activity/behaviour affect early life-history consequences in fish using a dynamic-state-dependent model. In this study, I developed a general fish's life-history model including three life-history states depend-ing on foraging activity, such as body mass, mass of reproductive tissue (i.e., gonadal development) and accumulated stress (i.e., cellular or physiological damage). I assumed the level of foraging activity maximises reproductive success-ultimately, fitness. The model predicts that growth rate, development of reproductive tissues and damage accumulation are greater in higher temperature whereas higher human aquatic activity rapidly reduced the growth rate and development of reproductive tissue and increased damage accumulation. While higher foraging activity in higher temperature is less affected by human aquatic activity, the foraging activity in lower temperature rapidly declined with human aquatic activity. Moreover, lower survival rate in higher temperature or human aquatic activity was independent on mortality rate due to human aquatic activity or mortality rate when foraging activity, respectively. However, the survival rate in lower temperature or human aquatic activity was dependent on these mortality rates. My findings suggest that including of early life-history traits in relation to climate-change and human aquatic activity on the analysis may improve conservation plan and health assessment in aquatic ecosystem.

• Journal of fish pathology
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.193-206
• /
• 2013

The ark shell, Scapharca broughtonii is a marine bivalve mollusks belonging to the family Arcidae and important seafood for Korean and Japanese, and southern coast is brisk bays for the ark shell aquaculture. However, productivity of ark shell from these regions were rapidly reduced during the last decade due to mass mortality. The reason of this great damage has not yet been identified. To overcome this economic loss, diverse investigations were focused on environmental factors that affects in the physiology of S. broughtonii, but microbiological researches were performed insufficiently. Hemoglobin is one of the major blood component of ark shell and is damaged by some species of bacterial toxins. We concentrated on this red pigment because hemolysis could be the cause of ark shell mortality. In this study, we analyzed microbial diversity of underwater sediments in coastal regions and also existences in the body of S. broughtonii. We investigate about 4,200 isolates collected from June to September for microbial diversity of sediments and ark shell. We screened all of culturable microorganisms, and identified 25 genera 118 species, 24 genera 89 species, 30 genera 109 species and 39 genera 141 species, and selected 140 unique colonies for identification and challenge assay.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.32 no.3
• /
• pp.303-309
• /
• 1999

Mass mortality of the Manila clam, Ruditapes philippinarum has been reported all along the west and south coast of Korea for the past several years. As a pathogenic agent, Perkinsus sp., an endoparasitic protozoan has been identified in this study and believed to be responsible for the mass mortalities. Prevalence and infection intensity of Perkinsus sp. was investigated from a Manila clam population inhabiting at Komsoe Bay in the west coast where mass mortality of the clam has been reported. A total of 142 Manila clam, 50 oyster, Crassostrea gigas, 10 ark shell, Scapharca broughtonii, and 5 predatory gastropada, Rapana venosa were examined for the presence and the quantity of Perkinsus sp. Ray's fluid thioglycollate medium method (FTM method) with modified Mackin's infection intensity scale and Choi's quantitative method were used in detecting and quantifying the parasite. All individuals of R. philippinarum examined in this study were infected with Perkinsus sp., indicating $100\%$ prevalence while none of the oysters and the gastropods exhibited the parasite. Six to ten individual hypnospores of Perkinsus sp. were counted from the ark shells. The number of hypnospores in the clam tissues varied from 16,667 to 4,091,667, with a mean number of 1,077,628. Average infection intensity according to Mackin's was 2.87, indicating a moderate infection. A negative correlation was observed between the number of Perkinsus sp. in the tissue and the condition index, a ratio tissue wet weight to shell cavity volume. The clam size and the infection intensity in terms of total number of parasites were positively correlated; the bigger clam, the heavier infection. Such high number of Perkinsus sp. counted in the clams could be enough to cause physiological disturbance of clams, such as retarded growth and reproduction. It is also believed that such a high infection leads mortality of the clam via continuous draining of the energy by metabolic activities and reproduction of the parasites. Correlation between the condition index and the infection intensity observed in this study supports this hypothesis.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.22 no.5
• /
• pp.642-649
• /
• 2012

The southern coast of Korea is important for the ark shell ($Scapharca$ $broughtonii$) aquaculture, but the productivity was rapidly reduced during the previous decade by mass mortality. To overcome this economic loss, investigations only focused on environmental factors, and microbiological researches were performed insufficiently. In this study, two sites (Gangjin and Jinhae bay) were selected for their high and low rate of mortality, respectively, and the existence of microflora from underwater sediments in the bodies of $S.$ $broughtonii$ was analyzed. We screened the whole body of each sample and chose unique colonies, which exhibit alpha- and beta-hemolytic activity, for identification. The microflora in $S.$ $broughtonii$ was less variable than sediments, and restricted species were isolated. We identified 17 genera of 88 species and 16 genera of 64 species from the two bays, respectively. A major proportion was comprised of $Bacillus$ species, with the $Bacillus$ $cereus$ group being the most common species among the $Bacillus$ strains, while $Paenibacillus$, $Lynsilbacillus$, and $Vibrio$ species were the second most abundant species. At the genus level, there were no significant microbial differences between the two coastal regions. 64 species were isolated from rare site (Jinhae bay), but more species (88) with greater variety were isolated from the frequent site (Gangjin bay). Therefore, it was assumed that the cause of mass mortality lay in the difference in specie-level diversity, and conducting investigations on the diagnosis of pathogenic species by challenging tests using isolated unique species.

• Journal of Aquaculture
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.203-212
• /
• 1998

As seed production program is growing prosperously in various fishes in southern Korea, disease problems in larval and juvenile stages have emerged as a new research object. The following results were obtained from investigation about environmental factors related to mass mortalities of young Kinki red seabream, Pagrus major in process of artificial seedling production. Total length of red seabream larvae hatched was 2.93mm, and became 18.83~20.12mm at day 40. The first noticeable mortality of red seabream larvae (7.98~9.37mm) occurred in 25~30 day-old fish with the survival rates of 59.8~60.3%. Thereafter the mortality of larvae decreased, survival rate was 20.5~25.45% in day 40. After 20~30 days, the quality of pond water was bellow II class. During the experimental period COD, $PO_4$-P, $NO_2$-N, $NO_3$-N and $NH_$-N increased up to 3, 7, 34, 6 and 8 times, respectively, compared to initial ones. The number of viable bacteria in pond water and seabream larvae were $6.3{\times}10^6$~$2.3{\times}10^7$ cfu/ml, 4.3~$7.4{\times}10^6$ cfu/g in day 25, respectively. Among the isolated bacteria from the diseased red seabream in day 25, Vibrio spp. was considered to be the causative organism. External symptoms of this disease were floated, spined near the surface and inflated abdomen. When the isolated strain of the Vibrio was bathed to seabream larvae, $LD_50$ of seabream larvae was over $10^6$ cfu/ml of Vibrio spp.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.5-13
• /
• 1989

Carotid body paraganglioma is uncommon, with appoximately 900 reports of it in the world literature, and with only 7 documented cases in the Korean literature. The classic carotid body paraganglioma develops in the bifurcation of common carotid artery and involves both the internal and external carotid arteries at it expands. The diagnosis may almost always be established preoperatively by selective angiography which shows a widening of the carotid bifurcation with a well defined vascular mass. Differential consideration of a single, lateral cervical mass in this location include branchial cleft cyst, neurogenic tumor, metastatic thyroid cancer, carotid body aneurysm and salivary gland tumor. Surgical therapy is the preferred method of treatment as these tumors are regarded as radioresistant. Because of their high vascularity and anatomical location, surgical removal of these tumors reguires a considerable degree of caution and a high degree of surgical expertise. With improved diagnostic and surgical technique, the morbidity and mortality has been reduced lately. This report details the management of 3 patients with carotid body paraganglioma who underwent safe resection by subadventitial dissection or using an internal vascular shunt.

• Journal of fish pathology
• /
• v.6 no.2
• /
• pp.197-204
• /
• 1993

Flounder culture has been developed mainly in the western parts of japan, and, to date, following six bacterial diseases have been reported. Bacterial white enteritis occurs in 16 to 30-day-old flounder larvae and often causes mass mortality in seed production. Bacterium named Vibrio sp. INFL invades and multiplies in the mucosae of posterier part of intestine, and causes desquamative enteritis. Gliding bacterial disease occurs mostly in juvenile stage and in spring to summer. Diseased signs are partial discoloration and erosion of skin and fins. Histologically, epidermis are removed, and the causative bacterium, Flexibacter maritimus, multiplies on the surface of demis and invades into the muscular tissue. Vibriosis caused by Vibrio anguillarum and related organisum is one of the well-known diseases among marine fish. Outbreaks of the disease in flounder culture are relatively few, but mass mortalities in fingerlings due to the disease were reported. An outbreak of nocardiosis in the autumn of 1984 has been reported, but since then the disease scarcely occurred. The disease is characterized by formation of abscesses under the skin and white nodes in the gill, heart, spleen and kidney. Streptococcicosis occurs frequently in recent years. Beta-hemolytic streptococcus is the causative bacterium, which possesses the same biochemical and serological characteristics as $\beta$-streptococci isolated from some marine and freshwater fish, and is seemed to related to Streptococcus iniae. Edwardsiellosis is the disease that causes most damage in flounder culture in Japan. Characteristic symptoms are swelling of abdomen and intestinal protrusion from the anus due to accumulation of ascites. Edwardsiella tarda, a well-known pathogen of freshwater fish, is the causative bacterium of the disease.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.12 no.3
• /
• pp.209-218
• /
• 2009

We examined physiological and histological responses related to the survival, oxygen consumption, excretion, and O/N ratio of the ark shell, Scapharca subcrenata, as a result of salinity changes. The 20-day $LS_{50}$ (median lethal salinity) at $15^{\circ}C$ was 13.87 practical salinity units (psu; confidence limits 10.30-18.74 psu), whereas the 14-day $LS_{50}$ at $25^{\circ}C$ was 12.59 psu (confidence limits 8.03-18.16 psu). In conditions of decreasing salinity, the osmolarity of individuals acclimated within 5 h above 26.4 psu but required more than 60 h below 13.2 psu. Oxygen consumption and ammonia excretion rates varied irregularly as salinity decreased. The O/N ratio was 19 and 27 at water temperatures of $15^{\circ}C$ and $25^{\circ}C$, respectively, but decreased to 1-10 as salinity declined. The effects of decreasing salinity were observed in the histological changes to each organ of S. subcrenata. As salinity decreased, cilia fell off, the epithelial layer underwent necrosis and vacuolation, the connective tissue layers of the mantle and visceral mass were destroyed, and hemocytes increased in the gills. The results of this study could prove important in investigating causes of mass mortality and managing shellfish aquaculture farms.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
• /
• v.57 no.1
• /
• pp.50-53
• /
• 2015

Usually fungal infections caused by opportunistic and pathogenic fungi had been an important cause of morbidity and mortality among immunocompromised patients. However clinical data and investigations for immunocompetent pathogenic fungal infections had been rare and neglected into clinical studies. Especially Cryptococcal brainstem abscess cases mimicking brain tumors were also much more rare. So we report this unusual case. This 47-year-old man presented with a history of progressively worsening headache and nausea for 1 month and several days of vomituritions before admission. Neurological and laboratory examinations performed demonstrated no abnormal findings. Previously he was healthy and did not have any significant medical illnesses. A CT and MRI scan revealed enhancing $1.8{\times}1.7{\times}2.0$ cm mass lesion in the left pons having central necrosis and peripheral edema compressing the fourth ventricle. And also positron emission tomogram scan demonstrated a hot uptake of fluoro-deoxy-glucose on the brainstem lesion without any evidences of systemic metastasis. Gross total mass resection was achieved with lateral suboccipital approach with neuronavigation system. Postoperatively he recovered without any neurological deficits. Pathologic report confirmed Cryptococcus neoformans and he was successively treated with antifungal medications. This is a previously unreported rare case of brainstem Cryptococcal abscess mimicking brain tumors in immunocompetent host without having any apparent typical meningeal symptoms and signs with resultant good neurosurgical recovery.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.36 no.2
• /
• pp.144-150
• /
• 2003

Reproductive biology and population dynamics of Latreutes planirostris were investigated on the south western waters of Korea from June 2001 to May 2002. This paper describes sex ratio, population growth, and reproductive aspects of Latreutes planirostris. Brood size was an isometric function of female carapace length. Based on dry weight, reproduction effort (mass of eggs/mass of female) averaged 0.23. Ovarian examination showed that there was significantly higher gonadosomatic index from May to September, with a peak in June. Statistical analysis revealed that the ovarian dry weight of females with eyed eggs was significantly higher than that of those with non-eyed eggs. This suggests that females were potentially consecutive breeders. Sex ratio showed that female is more numerous than male. Growth parameters mortality and recruitment were estimated by monthly length-frequency data. Growth parameters were estimated, using the seasonalized von Bertalanffy growth function model $(L\infty\;=\;12.70\;mm\;CL,\;K\;=\;0.87yr^{-1},\;C\;=\;0.96,\;WP\;=\;0.59)$. The recruitment pattern was twice a year.