• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
• /
• v.46 no.4
• /
• pp.255-273
• /
• 2019

Orchids are indispensable to the floriculture industry due to their unique floral organization. The flowers have two outer whorls of tepals including a lip (labellum), and two inner whorls, pollinia and gynostemiun (column). The floral organization and development is controlled at the molecular level, mainly by the MADS-box gene family, comprising homeotic genes divided into type I and type II groups. The type I group has four sub-groups, Mα, Mβ, Mγ, and Mδ, playing roles in seed, embryo, and female reproductive organ development; the type II group genes form classes A, B, C, D, and E, which are a part of the MIKC^C subgroup with specific roles in florigenesis and organization. The coordinated functioning of these classes regulates the development of various floral whorls. The availability of genome and transcriptome sequence data for Phalaenopsis equestris offers an opportunity to validate the ABCDE model of flower development. Hence, this study sought to characterize the MADS-box gene family and elucidate of the ABCDE model. A total of 48 identified MADS-box proteins, including 20 type I [Mα (12), Mγ (8)] and 28 type II [MIKC^C (27), MIKC*(1)] members, were characterized for physico-chemical features and domains and motifs organization. The exon-intron distribution and the upstream cis-regulatory elements in the promoter regions of MADS-box genes were also analysed. The discrete pace of duplication events in type I and type II genes suggested differential evolutionary constraints between groups. The correlation of spatio-temporal expression pattern with the presence of specific cis-regulatory elements and putative protein-protein interaction within the different classes of MADS-box gene family endorse the ABCDE model of floral development.

• Current Research on Agriculture and Life Sciences
• /
• v.31 no.4
• /
• pp.233-239
• /
• 2013

Understanding the temporal variability of agricultural parameters derived from historical climate data is important for planning in agriculture. Therefore, this study assessed the magnitude and recent trends of the transpiration ratio defined as the crop water use per harvested yield for the period from 1980 to 2010. The crop water use was estimated using the Food and Agriculture Organization's Crop Wat model for eight administrative provinces in Korea. The temporal trends and spatial uncertainty were explored using the Mann-Kendall and Theil Sen's methods. The regional average rice yield was $6.31t\;ha^{-1}$(range 5.9 to $6.9t\;ha^{-1}$). The results showed that the rice yield in Korea increased by $26kg\;ha^{-1}yr^{-1}$. Overall, the regional average transpiration ratio was $1,298m^3t^{-1}$ (range 1,162 to $1,470m^3t^{-1}$). From 1980 to 2010, the transpiration ratio decreased by $8.2m^3t^{-1}$ (range 2.7 to $14.4m^3t^{-1}$), largely as a result of the increasing yield. The statistical approach to historical data used in this study also provides a basis for simulating the future transpiration ratio.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.165-177
• /
• 2018

Particulate matter (PM) measurements are important in air quality, public health, epidemiological studies and decision making for short and long-term policies implementation. However, only few cities in the word have advance air quality-monitoring networks able to provide reliable information of PM leaves in the ambient air, trends and extent of the pollution. In Colombia, only major cities measure PM concentrations. Available measurements from Bogota, Medellin and Bucaramanga show that PM concentration are well above World Health Organization guidelines, but up to now levels and trends of PM in other cities and regions of the country are not well known. Satellite measurements serve as an alternative approach to study air quality in regions were surface measurements are not available. The aim of this study is to perform a spatial and temporal assessment of PM in the ambient air of Colombia. We used Aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrieved by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite of NASA and surface measurements from the air quality networks of Bogota, Medellin and Bucaramanga. In a first step, we estimated the correlation between MODIS-AOD and monthly average surface measurements (2000 to 2015) from these three cities, obtaining correlation coefficient R values over 0.4 for the cities under study. After, we used AOD and $PM_{10}$ measurements to study the temporal evolution of PM in different cities and regions. Finally, we used AOD measurements to identify cities and regions with the highest AOD levels in Colombia. All the methods presented in this paper may serve as an example for other countries or regions to identify and prioritize locations that require the implementation of more accurate air quality measurements.

• Animal cells and systems
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.235-245
• /
• 2009

Embryonic stem (ES) cells have a capability to generate all types of cells. However, the mechanism by which ES cells differentiate into specific cell is still unclear. Using microarray technology, the differentiation process in mouse embryonic stem cells was characterized by temporal gene expression changes of mouse ES cells during differentiation in a monolayer culture. A large number of genes were differentially regulated from 1 day to 14 days, and less number of genes were differentially expressed from 14 days to 28 days. The number of up-regulated genes was linearly increased throughout the 28 days of in vitro differentiation, while the number of down-regulated genes reached the plateau from 14 days to 28 days. Most differentially expressed genes were functionally classified into transcriptional regulation, development, extra cellular matrix (ECM),cytoskeleton organization, cytokines, receptors, RNA processing, DNA replication, chromatin assembly, proliferation and apoptosis related genes. While genes encoding ECM proteins were up-regulated, most of the genes related to proliferation, chromatin assembly, DNA replication, RNA processing, and cytoskeleton organization were down-regulated at 14 days. Genes known to be associated with embryo development or transcriptional regulation were differentially expressed mostly after 14 days of differentiation. These results indicate that the altered expression of ECM genes constitute an early event during the spontaneous differentiation, followed by the inhibition of proliferation and lineage specification. Our study might identify useful time-points for applying selective treatments for directed differentiation of mouse ES cells.

• Speech Sciences
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.53-62
• /
• 2008

The purpose of this study was to examine the English l sound in an English short story produced by 16 Korean students in order to determine various allophones of the sound using acoustic visual displays and perceptual judgments. The subjects read the story in a quiet office at normal speed. Each word included the lateral sound in onset or coda positions and before a vowel of the following word. Results showed as follows: Firstly, there was a durational difference between the two major groups. Also the majority of the subjects produced the clear l regardless of the contexts. Some students produced the sound as the Korean flap or the English glide [r]. A few missing cases were also seen. The dark l was mostly produced by the subjects of English majors in coda position with a few cases before a vowel in a phrase. Visual displays using the computer analysis were very helpful in distinguishing lateral variants but sometimes perceptual process would be necessary to judge them in fast and weak production of the target word. Further studies would be desirable to test the discrepancies between the acoustical and perceptual decisions.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
• /
• v.59 no.3
• /
• pp.302-305
• /
• 2016

Gliofibroma is an extremely rare biphasic tumor with an astrocytic and benign mesenchymal component, which commonly occurs within the first two decades of life. The exact biological behavior of the tumor is not fully understood. Therefore, it is not listed as a distinct entity in the current World Health Organization classification of central nervous system tumors. Here, we describe a rare case of gliofibroma, which was located on the medial temporal lobe in a 61-year-old woman. Preoperatively, we misdiagnosed it as a meningioma because it was a well-demarcated and well-enhanced extra-axial mass with calcification and bony destruction. On the histopathological and immunohistochemical examination, the tumor consisted of a mixture of glial tissue and mesenchymal tissue and it was finally diagnosed as a gliofibroma. To our knowledge, this case of intracranial gliofibroma is in the oldest patient ever reported.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.19-25
• /
• 1994

On the basis of morphological and functional studies, it is now established that there exist multiple motor representation areas in the frontal lobe of subhuman primates. Recent development of analysis on cerebral critical organization in human subjects, utilizing novel techniques of PET and MRI, provides evidence of corresponding motor areas. Each area has its unique sources of inputs from the thalamus and from other parts of the cerebral cortex. To understand functional roles of these multiple motor areas, it is necessary to study neural activity while subjects are performing a variety of motor tasks. In view of high accuracy in spatial and temporal resolution, the analysis of single cells in relation to specific aspects of motor behavior remains to be a powerful research technique. It is with this technique that a number of novel concepts on functional roles of multiple motor areas have been proposed.

• Journal of the Korean BIBLIA Society for library and Information Science
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.25-44
• /
• 2012

This study analyzed the current condition of authority control, introduced the MADS(Metadata Authority Description Schema) for authority data. MADS supports encoding an authority description for a agent(person, organization), event, term(topic, temporal entity, genre, geographic entity, hierarchical geographic entity, occupation) and defines main elements, subelements, and attributes using the XML schema language. Lastly, using the MADS's characteristics, this study proposed the effective use plans of interoperability of authority data.

• Speech Sciences
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.127-140
• /
• 2006

This study examined acoustic characteristics of 900 CV syllables produced by five English native speakers. Those target syllables were produced between the syllable /ba/ twenty times. The syllables were segmented and normalized by the maximum intensity value of each syllable and were divided into consonant or vowel sections by a few visible acoustic criteria. Intensity values were collected at 100 relative time points per syllable. Also, cumulative intensity values and consonant and vowel durations along with the ratio of a consonant to each syllable were measured using Praat scripts. Results showed as follows: Firstly, the consonantal section amounted to a quarter of the syllable in terms of both the cumulative intensity and duration. Secondly, the consonantal ratio by the cumulative intensity was similar to that by the duration. Finally, the sum of the cumulative intensity values in each syllable partially coincided with the consonant order by the current sonority scale. Further studies would be desirable on more reliable acoustical measurements and sophisticated perceptual experiments on the English syllables.

• Genomics & Informatics
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.145-150
• /
• 2014

Recent technical advances, such as chromatin immunoprecipitation combined with DNA microarrays (ChIp-chip) and chromatin immunoprecipitation-sequencing (ChIP-seq), have generated large quantities of high-throughput data. Considering that epigenomic datasets are arranged over chromosomes, their analysis must account for spatial or temporal characteristics. In that sense, simple clustering or classification methodologies are inadequate for the analysis of multi-track ChIP-chip or ChIP-seq data. Approaches that are based on hidden Markov models (HMMs) can integrate dependencies between directly adjacent measurements in the genome. Here, we review three HMM-based studies that have contributed to epigenetic research, from a computational perspective. We also give a brief tutorial on HMM modelling-targeted at bioinformaticians who are new to the field.