• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.58 no.5
• /
• pp.490-497
• /
• 2005

Background : The paraoxonase enzyme plays a significant role in the detoxification of various organophosphorous compounds in mammals, and paraoxonase (PON) 1 is one of the endogenous free-radical scavenging systems in the human body. In this study, we investigated the interaction between cigarette smoking and the genetic polymorphism of PON1 with lung cancer in Korean males. Methods : Three hundred thirty five patients with lung cancer and an equal number of age-matched controls were enrolled in this study. Every subject was asked to complete a questionnaire concerning their smoking habits and alcohol drinking habits. A 5' exonuclease assay (TaqMan) was used to genotype the PON1 Q192R polymorphism. The effects of smoking habits and drinking habits, the PON1 Q192R polymorphism and their interactions were statistically analyzed. Results : Cigarette smoking and the Q/Q genotype of PON1 were significant risk factors for lung cancer. Individuals carrying the Q/Q genotype of PON1 were at a higher risk for lung cancer as compared with those individuals carrying the Q/R or R/R genotype (odds ratio, 2.84; 95% confidence interval, 1.69 - 4.79). When the groups were further stratified by the smoking status, the Q/Q PON1 was associated with lung cancer among the current or ex-smokers (odds ratio, 2.56; 95% confidence interval, 1.52 - 4.31). Current smokers or ex-smokers who had the Q/Q genotype showed an elevated risk for lung cancer (odds ratio: 15.50, 95% confidence interval: 6.76 - 35.54) as compared with the group of subjects who never smoked, and had the Q/R or R/R genotype. The odds ratios (95% confidence interval) of smokers with the PON1 Q/Q type compared to the nonsmokers with the PON1 Q/R or R/R type were 53.77 (6.55 - 441.14) for squamous cell carcinoma, 6.25 (1.38 - 28.32) for adenocarcinoma, and 59.94 (4.66 - 770.39) for small cell carcinoma, and these results were statistically significant. Conclusion : These results suggest that cigarette smoking and the PON1 Q/Q genotype are risk factors for lung cancer. The combination of cigarette smoking and the PON1 Q/Q genotype significantly increased the lung cancer risk irrespective of the histologic type of cancer.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.151-157
• /
• 2015

Recent laboratory studies have documented that mixotrophic dinoflagellates Dinophysis spp. and heterotrophic dinoflagellate Oxyphysis oxytoxoides share a common prey, i.e. the mixotrophic ciliate Mesodinium rubrum. Nonetheless, very little is known about the population dynamics and species interactions among these protists in natural environments. To investigate the interactions between the dinoflagellate predators and their ciliate prey in the field, we took the samples twice a day from 26 July to 28 August, 2011 at a fixed station in Masan Bay and analyzed their abundances. During this study, salinity was highly variable, ranging from 5 to 28, due to the periodic input of rainfalls to the sampling station. Water temperature was on average $26.5^{\circ}C$ until 20 August and thereafter was about $21^{\circ}C$ by the end of the sampling period. The ciliate M. rubrum occurred persistently throughout the sampling period, ranging from 13 to $492\;cells\;mL^{-1}$. Cell densities of D. acuminata and O. oxytoxoides ranged from undetectable level to $19,833\;cells\;L^{-1}$ and from undetectable level to $100,333\;cells\;L^{-1}$, respectively. The high abundance of D. acuminata mostly followed the blooming of the ciliate M. rubrum, but it often did not peak even during heavy blooms of the prey, probably due to sensitivity to large salinity fluctuation and also presumably overlapped grazing by other mixotrophic dinoflagellates. The abundance of O. oxytoxoides was detected only when water temperature was lower than $24^{\circ}C$, indicating that water temperature is an important environmental factor to control the population dynamics of the dinoflagellate species.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.358-372
• /
• 1987

This study was performed to obtain data which can be applied to use of water-proof mortars. The data was based on the properties of water-proof mortars depending upon various mixing ratios to compare those of cement mortar. The water-proof agents used were retard and accelerate type which are being used as mortar structures. The water-proof agents, mixing ratios of cement to fine aggregate were 1:1, 1:2, 1:3 and 1:4. The results obtained were summarised as follows; 1. The results of flow test, water-cement ratio was increased with the increasing of mixing ratio. 2. The permeability were increased in poorer mixing ratio and higher water pressure. 3. The bulk density was decreased with the increasing of mixing ratio, and compressive and tensile strength were increased with increasing of the bulk density. 4. At 1:1 mixing ratio, the highest strengths were showed and strengths were decreased with the increasing of mixing ratio. 5. The absorption rates were increased in- poorer mixing ratio 6. The correlation between W/C, permeability, bulk density, compressive strength and absorption rate were highly significant as a straight line, respectively.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
• /
• v.32 no.1
• /
• pp.67-77
• /
• 1987

To obtain basic information concerning the soybean cultivar differences of physiological and ecological responses to soil pH to select and breed stably higher yielding cultivars, and to improve cultural management of soil differing in pH, the responses of soybean plants in growth, grain yield, nodule formation and its activity, and major chemical compositions of soybean plants were investigated using six cultivars and two levels of soil pH 5 and 7 of the pot and field experimental soil in Suwon, 1985. Acidic soil condition suppressed overall vegetative growth of soybean plants and thereby decreased stem length, number of nodes, leaf area, dry weight of the plants, root activity, nodulation and nodule activity, the content of allantoin nitrogen, total nitrogen, phosphorous, calcium, and magnesium of the plants. Due to the such responses of soybean plants to the acid soil, grain yield also decreased along with less grains per plant. However, the little difference in growth and yield of the cultivar Janbaeglcong in response to soil pH is considered to be a good source of breeding materials tolerant to acidic soil condition. In this regard Bongeui and Oialkong also were relatively stable in the growth and grain yield under the different soil acidity conditions.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
• /
• v.33 no.4
• /
• pp.501-510
• /
• 2015

In this study, we investigated the onset and release of endo-dormancy under natural conditions by observing bud break characteristics in 'Fuji' apple trees using water cuttings. Through examinations of bud break rate and days to bud break, we found that the endo-dormancy of 'Fuji' apple tree continues for 70 d from 165 to 255 d after full bloom (DAFB), from late October to early January of the following year. In addition, within 20 d of first bud break, based on a final bud break rate of 60% or more, we able to identify the timing of the changeover from para-dormancy to endo-dormancy, and endo-dormancy to eco-dormancy. Analysis of the chilling requirement during the endo-dormancy period revealed that chilling accumulation up to 255 DAFB to release endo-dormancy amounted to 666 and 517 h based on the CH and Utah models, respectively. Observation of internal changes in the bud during endo-dormancy showed that flower bud differentiation begins from mid-July, and t ime of inflorescence o f the disk f lower is a vailable to f ind. The f lower buds subsequently developed slowly but steadily during endo-dormancy and in the following year in February, the developmental stage of each organ had progressed. Moreover, the flower buds of 'Fuji' apples were mostly healthy during the dormancy period, but some exhibited necrosis of flower primordium, due partial cell damage from the formation of ice crystals rather than a direct effect of the low temperature. Flower buds were formed in both the axillary buds of bourse shoots and terminal buds of spurs, but lower bud differentiation was observed for the terminal buds of spurs at rate of about 65% of total buds, which was directly related to the bud size and shoot diameter.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.257-266
• /
• 2012

Near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) has become increasingly used as a rapid, accurate method of evaluating some chemical constituents in cereal and dired animal forages. Analysis of forage quality by NIRS usually involves dry grinding samples. Costs might be reduced if samples could be analyzed without drying or grinding. The objective of this study was to investigate effect of sample preparations on prediction ability of chemical composition and fermentation parameter for Italian ryegrass silages by NIRS. A population of 147 Italian ryegrass silages representing a wide range in chemical parameters were used in this investigation. Samples were scanned at 1nm intervals over the wavelength range 680-2500 nm and the optical data recorded as log 1/Reflectance (log 1/R) and scanned in oven-dried grinding and fresh ungrinding condition. The spectral data were regressed against a range of chemical parameters using partial least squares (PLS) multivariate analysis in conjunction with four spectral math treatments to reduced the effect of extraneous noise. The optimum calibrations were selected on the basis of minimizing the standard error of cross validation (SECV) and maximizing the correlation coefficient of cross validation (${R^2}_{CV}$). The results of this study show that NIRS predicted the chemical parameters with high degree of accuracy in oven-dried grinding treatment except for moisture contents. Prediction accuracy of the moisture contents was better for fresh ungrinding treatment (SECV 1.37%, $R^2$ 0.96) than for oven-dried grinding treatments (SECV 4.31%, $R^2$ 0.68). Although the statistical indexes for accuracy of the prediction were the lower in fresh ungrinding treatment, fresh treatment may be acceptable when processing is costly or when some changes in component due to the processing are expected. Results of this experiment showed the possibility of NIRS method to predict the chemical composition and fermentation parameter of Italian ryegrass silages as routine analysis method in feeding value evaluation and for farmer advice.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.39 no.2
• /
• pp.65-72
• /
• 2006

Objective of this research was to remove the accumulated salts in the plastic film house soils by installing the perforated PVC (${\phi}10cm$) underdrainage pipes at 50 cm depth of soils with cultivating vegetables. Efficiency of the underdrainage pipes was assessed based on the changes of soil chemical properties such as pH, EC, and cations, and growth and yield parameters of the vegetables between the two treatments; the control and the underdrainage pipe treatments. The EC of the underdrainage pipes installed soils after two growing seasons were in the ranges of $1.42-2.88dS\;m^{-1}$ but those of the control were in the ranges of $3.86-4.53dS\;m^{-1}$, indication the underdrainage pipes effectively removed the accumulated salts in soils. The pHs of the control soils and the underdrainage pipe installed soil were in the ranges of 7.2-7.5 and 6.9-7.3, respectively. There was a significant correlation between pH and cation exchange capacity (CEC) of the soils ($CEC=17.107{\times}pH-106.2$, $r^2=0.759$, P < 0.05). The ECs of the soils at different depths were compared between the two treatments after cultivating vegetables with lettuce-lettuce-garland chrysanthemum rotation systems. The ECs of the control soils at depths of 0-10, 10-20, 20-30, 30-40, and 40-50 cm were 3.45, 3.47, 3.03, 2.03, and $2.28dS\;m^{-1}$, respectively, with decreasing with soil depths. On the other hand, the respective ECs of the underdrainage pipes installed soils were 2.43, 2.52, 2.28, 4.00, and $4.23dS\;m^{-1}$ with increasing with soil depths. This might be derived from the salts moved downward with the draining water into the subsoil. The order of cations moved downward was Mg > Ca > K, based on the ratios of cations at specific depth over those at the surface soil. The survival rates of lettuce after 15 days of transplanting in the underdrainage pipe installed soils were 98.2% as compared to 86.6% of the control. The underdrainage pipe treatment also increased the diameter of the lettuce stalk from 12.9mm of the control to 13.7mm. Overall results demonstrated that the installment of the underdrainage pipes in the subsoils of the salt accumulated plastic film house soil effectively removed the salts by leaching downward,resulting in lowering soil EC and enhancing the growth and yield of vegetables.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
• /
• v.59 no.3
• /
• pp.319-324
• /
• 2014

Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) is an important crop for protein, oil, carbohydrates, isoflavones, and many other nutrients to humans and animals. But, antinutritional factors in the raw mature soybean are exist. Raffinose and stachyose are main antinutritional factors in soybean seed. Both raffinose and stachyose are carbohydrates, belonging to the raffinose family of oligosaccharides (RFOs). RFOs are not readily digested in humans and cause flatulence or diarrhea. The objective of this research is to obtain the information on raffinose and stachyose content according to genotype and environment. A total of twenty two soybean genotypes (11 cultivars, 3 germplasms and 8 breeding lines) were selected. Each genotype was grown in the field for two years with two replications and harvested in bulk at natural maturity for two years. Content of raffinose and stachyose was detected by HPLC. The raffinose content (g/kg) of 22 genotypes was $2.68{\pm}0.21-5.87{\pm}2.43$ in year 1 and was $3.24{\pm}0.37-9.05{\pm}0.16$ in year 2. The stachyose content (g/kg) was $4.23{\pm}0.98-27.68{\pm}9.90$ at year 1 and was $5.11{\pm}1.09-25.32{\pm}0.35$ in year 2. Genotype and environment have highly significant effects on raffinose and stachyose content. Three genotypes (Da-7, 116-13, and RS-78) have low stachyose content at 5% significant level in two years. A positive correlation ($R^2=0.1985^*$) between raffinose and stachyose was observed in year 2. These informations are valuable in soybean genetics and breeding program related with raffinose and stachyose content.

• Development and Reproduction
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.207-215
• /
• 2009

Numerous factors can affect the activities of hypothalamus-pituitary-gonad (HPG) hormonal axis, resulting in alteration of reproductive capacity or status such as onset of puberty and menopause. Soon after the finding of leptin, a multifunctional hormone secreted from adipocytes, a close relationship between reproduction and body energy balance have been manifested. Ghrelin, another multifunctional hormone from gastrointestinal tract, is an endogenous ligand of growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHSR), and is thought to be a counterpart of leptin in the regulation of energy homeostasis. As expected, ghrelin can also modulate the reproductive capacity through the modulation of activities of HPG axis. This paper summarizes the current knowledge on the discovery, gene structures, tissue distribution and roles of ghrelin and GHSRs in mammalian reproduction in particular modulation of reproductive hormone secretion in HPG axis. Like POMC gene expression in pituitary gland, preproghrelin gene can generate a complex repertoire of transcripts which further undergo alternative splicing and posttranslational modifications. Concerning the roles of preproghrelin gene products in the control of body physiology except energy homeostasis, limited knowledge is available so far. Several lines of evidence, however, show the interplay of ghrelin between metabolism and reproduction. In rat and human, the distribution of ghrelin receptor GHSRs (GHSR1a and GHSR1b) has been confirmed not only in the hypothalamus and pituitary which were originally postulated as target of ghrelin but also in the testis and ovary. Expression of the preproghrelin gene in the brain and gonads was also verified, suggesting the local role (s) of ghrelin in HPG axis. Ghrelin might play a negative modulator in the secretions of hypothalamic GnRH, pituitary gonadotropins and gonadal steroids though the action on pituitary is still questionable. Recent studies suggest the involvement of ghrelin in regulation of puberty onset and possibly of menopause entry. It is now evident that ghrelin is a crucial hormomal component in 'brain-gut' axis, and is a strong candidate links between metabolism and reproduction. Opposite to that for leptin, ghrelin signaling is likely representing the 'hunger' state of body energy balance and is necessary to avoid the energy investment into reproduction which has not a top priority in maintaining homeostasis. Further researches are needed to gain a deep insight into the more precise action mechanism and role of ghrelin in reproduction, and to guarantee the successful biomedical applications.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.45-55
• /
• 2008

Purpose: This study evaluates the association of estrogen receptor(ER), progesterone receptor(PR), Her-2, COX-2, and survivin with the clinicopathological features and outcomes in young Korean women with breast cancer using recently developed tissue microarray(TMA) technology. Materials and Methods: A cohort of 212 young patients with breast cancer diagnosed at the age of 45 years or younger from March 1994 to August 2005, were enrolled in this study. The age range of patients was $23{\sim}45$ years(median age, 39 years). The minimum and median follow-up periods were 24 months and 60 months, respectively. Serial sections of primary tumors were processed by the use of a TMA for immunohistochemical staining for five biomarkers. The correlation of these five biomarkers and the clinicopathological features and outcomes were analyzed by statistical methods. Results: The majority of the patients were stage T1(90 patients) or T2(101 patients), and 105 patients(49.5%) had an axillary node metastasis. The 5-year overall and relapse free survival rates for all of the patients were 90.4% and 82.3%, respectively, and 36 patients had a locoregional or distant metastasis as a first event. Positive expression of ER, PR, Her-2, COX-2, and survivin was determined in 38.2%, 45.3%, 25.9%, 41.5%, and 43.4%, of the tumor samples, respectively. Tumor stage, nodal status, age, as well as expression of ER, PR, and HER-2 status were significantly associated with the disease free survival rate. Tumor stage, nodal status, as well as expression of ER, PR, and HER-2 were significantly related with the overall survival rate. Expression of COX-2 and survivin were not single independent prognostic factors for the disease free and overall survival rate although co-expression of HER-2 and COX-2 had a tendency as a poor prognostic factor. By multivariate analysis, only T stage and lymph node status were significant prognostic factors, and ER status was a marginally significant prognostic factor(p=0.075). Conclusion: Expression of ER, PR and HER-2 were significant prognostic factors for the relapse free and overall survival rate. Expression of COX-2 and survivin were not prognostic factors for young women with breast cancer.