• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.123-135
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• 2010

Around Tongyeong coasts which located in southern coast of Korea composed to the complex coastal line and scattered by small islands. It also has been distributed to a complicated bathymetric structure by several types of channels. This study carried to analyze the spatial characteristics of macrobenthic community and benthic environmental variance on sub-tidal area based on multivariate statistics tools. Sediment composition varied from muddy sand to mud, and along the channels, it composed to a heterogeneous bottoms mixed by shell fragment, cobbles and mud. Organic contents on the surface sediment varied 1.1-3.9%. Total of 272 species, $33,349\;ind./m^2$ of macrobenthos identified in all of sample area. Polychaetes also prevailed among the specimen. L. longifolia, P. pinnata dominated based on density. Considering on the biomass, echinoderm S. lacunosa, A. tricoides listed. Closer to the coastal area, the density and diversity were higher. Community structure based on cluster analysis was discriminated into three groups. Each group was also characterized by geographical state such as depth, sediment composition. In addition, when applied to the bathymetric data, the channel, which composed to the mixed sediment, made a role of limited factor which characterized to benthic community. Because the specimen around the channel have been affected on the diverse sediment mixture. Most of benthic studies in the southern coast of Korea focused to the condition of benthic organic pollution spatially, because along the coast, it also developed a aquaculture ground and industrial complex. But, as results, most of the area, it turn out the less polluted areas nevertheless similar environment situation. It supposed that benthic community affect to the bottom sediment composition by physical characteristics.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.85-92
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• 2013

The coral symbiotic algae zooxanthellae is often expelled from the host as the host coral is under physiological stress, causing the coral to turn completely white. Such coral bleaching events are occurring more frequently with the increase in the global warming, ocean acidification and increased level of anthropogenic impacts such as eutrophication. In the present study, we investigated the effects of inorganic nutrients including ammonium, nitrate, phosphate and elevated water temperature on the symbiotic zooxanthellae density in the fragment of branching coral Acropora nobilis. Zooxanthellae density in the host coral decreased 8 hrs after the experiment at a given elevated water temperature ($32^{\circ}C$, p < 0.05). In contrast, no clear coral bleaching or decrease in the symbiotic algae density was observed from the branching coral exposed to a normal water temperature of $30^{\circ}C$ and high levels of nutrients such as 20 ${\mu}M$ of $NH_4Cl$, 20 ${\mu}M$ of $NaNO_3$ and, 10 ${\mu}M$ $KH_2PO_4$. Accordingly, the data indicated high water temperature is one of the stressful factors to cause bleaching in A. nobilis, whereas the high levels of nutrients is not a factor. It is believed that the results obtained in the present study are useful as baseline information in the management of the coral reefs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.627-631
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• 2006

The objective of this study was to evaluate the association of genetic differences in the bovine leptin gene and milk yield, reproduction, body condition score (BCS), and plasma glucose level in Iranian Holstein cows. In total, two hundred and thirty eight cows were used and genotyped for a restricted fragment length polymorphism at the leptin gene locus. Two genotypes, AA and AB, have been distinguished which have the frequencies of 0.89 and 0.11, respectively. The genotypes were distributed according to the Hardy - Weinberg equilibrium ($x^2$ = 0.733). During the first 12 wk of lactation, milk yield and composition, live weight, BCS and plasma glucose were measured in 50 cows. Data were analyzed based on a repeated measures ANOVA. During this period, milk yield and composition, live weight, BCS and plasma glucose level were similar among the genotypes. The first cumulative 60-d milk yield, 305-d milk yield, days to first breeding, days open and days from first breeding to conception using previous lactation records were also analyzed using Standard Least Square within mixed models. Fixed effects were year, season, parity and age at calving, and sire. For the reproductive traits the cumulative first 60-d milk yield was also added to the model. Animal was fitted as a random effect. A significant association was detected between the RFLP-AB genotype and 305-d milk yield (p<0.05). The first 60-d cumulative milk yield was similar for the two genotypes (p = 0.21) and tended to be higher in the heterozygous cows. The heterozygous genotypes at the above mentioned locus had a trend to better reproductive performance than the homozygous. The results demonstrate that the RFLP B-allele can yield a higher 305-d milk production with a trend to better reproductive performance.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.155-158
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• 2003

In early 2002, over 200 people in the city of Pusan. Korea suffered from paratyphoid fever resulting from Salmonella Paratyphi A Infection. Antimicrobial susceptibility tests and Xbal pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFCE) were conducted to 54 Salmonella Paratyphi A isolated from humans during the period of 1998 to 2002. Most of the isolates ($83\%$) were only nalidixic acid-resistant and $78\%$ were X 1 PFGE patterns. Also, we measured the MIC of ciprofloxacin and screened gyrA mutation(5) using allele- specific PCR and restriction fragment length polymorphism (AS-PCR-RFLP). The representative 5 isolates in 2002 and 1 isolate in 2000 were $1{\mu}g/ml$ of MIC and had mutation at the 83rd codon in gyrA. These data suggest that the outbreak in the early 2002 might have been due to dissemination of the strain present In 2000. Also, decreased susceptibility to ciprofloxacin was partly due to the mutation at the 83rd codon in gyrA.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.768-774
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• 2007

To study the effect of dietary docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) enrichment on the expression of hepatic genes in pigs, weaned, crossbred pigs (30 d old) were fed diets supplemented with either 2% tallow or DHA oil for 18 d. Hepatic mRNA was extracted. Suppression subtractive hybridization was used to explore the hepatic genes that were specifically regulated by dietary DHA enrichment. After subtraction, we observed 288 cDNA fragments differentially expressed in livers from pigs fed either 2% DHA oil or 2% tallow for 18 d. After differential screening, 7 genes were found to be differentially expressed. Serum amyloid A protein 2 (SAA2) was further investigated because of its role in lipid metabolism. Northern analysis indicated that hepatic SAA2 was upregulated by dietary DHA enrichment (p<0.05). In a second experiment, feeding 10% DHA oil for 2d significantly increased the expression of SAA2 (compared to the 10% tallow group; p<0.05). The porcine SAA2 full length cDNA sequence was cloned and the sequence was compared to the human and mouse sequences. The homology of the SAA2 amino acid sequence between pig and human was 73% and between pig and mouse was 62%. There was a considerable difference in SAA2 sequences among these species. Of particular note was a deletion of 8 amino acids, in the pig compared to the human. This fragment is a specific characteristic for the SAA subtype that involved in acute inflammation reaction. Similar to human and mouse, porcine SAA2 was highly expressed in the liver of pigs. It was not detectable in the skeletal muscle, heart muscle, spleen, kidney, lung, and adipose tissue. These data suggest that SAA2 may be involved in mediation of the function of dietary DHA in the liver of the pig, however, the mechanism is not yet clear.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.2227-2230
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• 2015

Background: Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most commonly diagnosed neoplasms and the second leading cause of cancer death in men in the Western world. Vitamin D (1,25dihydroxy vitamin D) is linked to many biological processes that influence oncogenesis but data on relations between its genetic variants and cancer risk have been inconsistent. The aim of this study was to determine associations between a vitamin D genetic polymorphism and 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels and prostate cancer. Materials and Methods: Genomic DNA was extracted from 124 Jordanian prostate cancer patients and 100 healthy volunteers. Ethical approval was granted from the ethical committee at Hashemite University and written consent was given by all patients. PCR was used to amplify the vitamin D receptor Fok1 polymorphism fragment. 25(OH)D serum levels were measured by competitive immunoassay. Results: All genotypes were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Genotype frequency for Fok1 genotypes FF, Ff and ff was 30.7%, 61.3% and 8.06%, for prostate cancer patients, while frequencies for the control group was 28.0%, 66.0% and 6.0%, respectively, with no significant differences. Vitamin D serum level was significantly lower in prostate cancer patients (mean 7.7 ng/ml) compared to the control group (21.8 ng/ml). No significant association was noted between 25(OH)D and VDR Fok1 gene polymorphism among Jordanians overall, but significant associations were evident among prostate cancer patients (FF, Ff and ff : 25(OH)D levels of 6.2, 8.2 and 9.9) and controls (19.0, 22.5 and 26.3, respectively). An inverse association was noted between 25(OH)D serum level less than 10ng/ml and prostate cancer risk (OR 35.5 and 95% CI 14.3- 88.0). Conclusions: There is strong inverse association between 25(OH)D serum level less than 10ng/ml level and prostate cancer risk.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.16
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• pp.6505-6510
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• 2014

Objective: This study was conducted to identify whether polymorphic variants of set domain-containing protein 8 (SET8) and tumor protein p53 (TP53) codon 72, either independently or jointly, might be associated with increased risk for cervical cancer. Methods: We genotyped SET8 and TP53 codon 72 polymorphisms of peripheral blood DNA from 114 cervical cancer patients and 200 controls using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and direct DNA sequencing. Results: The frequency of SET8 CC (odds ratios (OR) = 2.717, 95% CI=1.436-5.141) or TP53 GG (OR=2.168, 95% CI=1.149-4.089) genotype was associated with an increased risk of cervical cancer on comparison with the SET8 TT or TP53 CC genotypes, respectively. In additional, interaction between the SET8 and TP53 polymorphisms increased the risk of cervical cancer in a synergistic manner, with the OR being 9.913 (95% CI=2.028-48.459) for subjects carrying both SET8 CC and TP53 GG genotypes. Conclusion: These data suggest that there are significant associations between the miR-502-binding site SNP in the 3'-UTR of SET8 and the TP53 codon 72 polymorphism with cervical cancer in Chinese, and there is a gene-gene interaction.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.1255-1262
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• 2014

Background: The aim of the study was to investigate any associations between benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the VDR gene (FokI, BsmI, ApaI and Taq${\alpha}$I loci) and the CYP17 gene (MspA1I locus), as well as TA repeat polymorphism in SRD5A2 gene among Lebanese men. Materials and Methods: DNA extracted from blood of 68 subjects with confirmed BPH and 79 age-matched controls was subjected to PCR/PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. The odds ra=tio (OR) of having a genotype and the relative risk (RR) of developing BPH for having the genotype were calculated and the alleles were designated risk-bearing or protective. Results: Our data indicated that the A and B alleles of the VDR ApaI and BsmI SNPs were highly associated with increased risk of BPH (p=0.0168 and 0.0002, respectively). Moreover, 63% of the controls compared to 43% of the subjects with BPH were homozygous for none of the risk-bearing alleles (p=0.0123) whereas 60% of the controls and 28% of the subjects with BPH were homozygous for two or more protective alleles (p<0.0001). Conclusions: For the first time, our study demonstrated that ApaI and BsmI of the VDR gene are associated with risk of BPH among Lebanese men. Our study also indicated that overall polymorphism profile of all the genes involved in prostate physiology could be a better predictor of BPH risk.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.4985-4989
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• 2016

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a novel class of non-protein coding RNAs that are involved in a wide variety of biological processes. There are limited data regarding the impact of lnc-LAMC2-1:1 rs2147578 as well as CASC8 rs10505477 T>C polymorphisms on cancer development. Here we examined for the first time whether rs2147578 and rs10505477 polymorphisms are associated with childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in a total of 110 cases and 120 healthy controls. Genotyping was achieved by the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. The rs2147578 variant increased the risk of ALL in codominant (OR=4.33, 95%CI=2.00-9.37, p<0.0001, CG vs CC, and OR=5.81, 95%CI=2.30-14.69, p=0.0002, GG vs CC), dominant (OR=4.63, 95%CI=2.18-9.86, p<0.0001, CG+GG vs CC), overdominant (OR=1.74, 95%CI=1.02-2.97, p=0.0444, CG vs CC+GG) and allele (OR=1.91, 95%CI=1.32-2.77, p=0.0008, G vs C) inheritance models tested. No significant association was found between the CASC8 rs10505477 T>C variant and risk of childhood ALL. In conclusion, the present study revealed that the lnc-LAMC2-1:1 rs2147578 polymorphism may be a risk factor for developing childhood ALL. Further studies with larger sample sizes with different ethnicities are now required to confirm our findings.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.359-366
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• 1997

The usefulness of host range expanded recombinant viruses for economical viral insecticide and expression vector system has been studied. Host range expanded recombinant viruses, RecS-B6 and RecB-8, constructed by cotransfection of Bombyx mori nuclear polyhedrosis virus (BmNPV) and Autographa californica NPV (AcNPV), and a host range expanded AcNPV recombinant, Ac-BH, constructed by substitution of the 0.6Kb fragment of the BmNPV helicase gene were compared. The restriction enzyme digestion patterns showed that RecS-B6 and RecB-8 had expanded host ranges by genomic recombination and were more similar to genome of AcNPV than that of BmNPV. SDS-PAGE and PCR analysis showed that the polyhedrin gene of RecS-B6 and RecB-8 was derived from BmNPV genomic DNA. The morphology of polyhedra of recombinant viruses showed a slight difference between the two host cells, Sf and BmN cells, indicating that the morphology of polyhedra was influenced by host cells. The bioassay data for insect larvae showed that Ac-BH, compared to wild type viruses, had superior pathogenicity against Bombyx mori larvae but inferior pathogenicity against Spodoptera exigua larvae. Although the pathogenicity was lower than that of wild type viruses in both larvae, RecS-B6 showed the pathogenicity in both larvae. These results suggested that Ac-BH was a less useful economical insecticide than random genomic recombinant virus RecS-B6.