• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.99-110
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• 2024

According to the REDD+ program, it is necessary to monitor, quantify, and report forest conditions in protected land areas. The objectives of this work were to quantify the average monthly aerial net primary productivity (ANPP_MONTH) of semi-arid Chaco Forest at Copo National Park (CNP), Santiago del Estero, Argentina, during the period 2000-2023, as well as its spatial distribution and relationship, and its use efficiency (RUE) of average monthly rainfall (AMR). The ANPP_MONTH model accounted for 90% of the seasonal variability from October to May, the average seasonal ANPP_MONTH was 145 tons of dry matter per hectare (t dm/ha), being the maximum in January with 192 t dm/ha and the minimum in May with 91 t dm/ha. The surface area covered by ANPP_MONTH exhibited a consistent positive trend from October to May (t test=15.65, p<0.01). Strong and significant direct relationships were found between ANPP_MONTH and AMRs, linear models explaining 90% and 96% of the variability, respectively. The results obtained become reference values for assessing the capacity of the forest systems to stock carbon for global warming mitigation and for monitoring and controlling their response to extreme climatic adversities. The average ANPP_MONTH reduces uncertainty when defining the thresholds to monitor and quantify ANPP and forest area, thus facilitating the detection of negative changes in land use in CNP. Such results evidence the National Parks Administration's high effectiveness for the maintenance of protected area and for the high ANPP of the FCHS of CNP in the period 2000-2023.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.259-264
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• 2024

Dalbergia sissoo and Dalbergia latifolia are the two most important timber wood species that are indigenous to the Indo-Pak subcontinent producing very high-quality timber. Its wood is used to produce high-quality furniture. Due to overexploitation and dieback disease, their production is seriously hampered and threatens their genetic diversity. Several ecotypes are tolerant to dieback thus offering an opportunity to develop a superior hybrid for the establishment of plantations for hybrid seed production. Hybrid evaluation can only be done by using DNA markers such as SSR markers. Cross-specific amplification of SSR markers is a cost-effective way of producing DNA markers for species lacking genetic information. Here, we report for the first-time successful cross-amplification of SSR markers in Dalbergia latifolia and added new SSR markers in D. sissoo. Cross-species amplification resulted in 13 successful SSR markers in D. latifolia and an addition of 14 markers in D. sissoo of expected sizes. Six SSR markers were further selected randomly to validate the breeding behavior of both species. A diverse DNA profile of seed progenies matched to different pollen donors deviated from the same mother suggested cross-pollination is the most likely mechanism of seed production in D. sissoo and D. latifolia. However, the results must be validated by using a large sample size and through controlled pollinations. SSR markers thus developed will be useful in the conservation and development of superior hybrids for sustainable development and production of commercial populations in Dalbergia sissoo and D. latifolia.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.60.1-60.6
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• 2024

Importance: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia in the elderly with the incidence rising exponentially after the age of 65 years. Unfortunately, effective treatments are extremely limited and definite diagnosis can only be made at autopsy. This is in part due to our limited understanding of the complex pathophysiology, including the various genetic, environmental, and metabolic contributing factors. In an effort to better understand this complex disease, researchers have employed nonhuman primates as translational models. Case Presentation: This report aims to describe the AD-like neuropathology in the brain of a 37-year-old female baboon (Papio hamadryas), which at the time of her death made her the oldest hamadryas baboon at any member institution of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. A diagnostic necropsy was performed, and the brain was evaluated for neurodegenerative disease. Frequent amyloid-β deposits were identified, consistent with what has been described in other geriatric nonhuman primates. Phospho-tau pathology, including neurofibrillary tangles, a feature not well-described in other primate models, was also abundant. Conclusions and Relevance: Our results suggest that more detailed, prospective, longitudinal studies are warranted utilizing this particular species to see if they represent a viable model for human brain aging.

• Weed & Turfgrass Science
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.88-94
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• 2013

Brown patch caused by Rhizoctonia solani AG-1 IB occurred on Kentucky bluegrass during late May through early October 2010 at golf course in Gyeongbuk Province, Korea. Disease symptoms on the turfgrass for spring season were leaf blights dying from the leaf tip, which appeared patches of brown color in the field. However, it appeared patches of dark brown color or gray brown color in fall. The fungus (B-7 isolate) of brown patch was isolated from the diseased leaf tissue and cultured on potato-dextrose agar (PDA) for identification. The young hyphae had acute angular branching and few septa and mature hyphal branches showed about 90-degree angles and development of monilioid cells, which were morphologically identical to Rhizoctonia solani AG-1 IB reported previously. DNA sequences of ribosomal RNA gene (internal transcribed spacer) of the fungus were homologous with similarity of 99% to those of Rhizoctonia solani AG-1 IB isolates in GenBank database, confirming the identity of the causal agent of the disease. Pathogenicity of the fungus was also confirmed on the creeping bentgrass and Kentucky bluegrass by Koch's postulates. This is the first report of brown patch on Kentucky bluegrass caused by Rhizoctonia solani AG-1 IB in Korea.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.61-69
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• 2015

While the macroscopic properties and eruption style of basaltic and phonolitic melts are different, the microscopic origins including atomic structures are not well understood. Here we report the atomic structure differences of glass in diopside-anorthite eutectic composition (basaltic glass) and phonolitic glass using high-resolution 1D and 2D solid-state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR). The $^{27}Al$ MAS NMR spectra for basaltic glass and phonolitic glass show that the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of Al for basaltic glass is about twice than phonolitic glass, suggesting the topological disorder of basaltic magma is larger than that of phonolitic magma. The $^{27}Al$ 3QMAS NMR spectra for basaltic glass and phonolite glass show much improved resolution than the 1D MAS NMR, resolving Al and Al. Approximately 3.3% of Al is observed for basaltic glass, demonstrating the configurational disorder of basaltic magma is larger than phonolitic magma. This result confirms that the topological disorder of Al in basaltic glass is larger than that of phonolitic glass. The observed structural differences between basaltic glass and phonolitic glass can provide an atomistic origin for change of the macroscopic properties with composition including viscosity.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.1-18
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• 2016

Baekdudaegan Mountain System (BDMS) is a unique and traditional concept in Korea that puts importance on the connectivity of energy when Korean people recognize their mountain system. Two main national organizations that are in charge of managing natural environment in Korea, Korea Forest Service (KFS) and Ministry of Environment (MoE), have been independently investigating the natural resources in protected areas of BDMS. Each organization released its first survey report for the whole protected areas in 2011. In order to provide better understanding of BDMS's natural environment, the results contained in the first reports of KFS and MoE were compared. It was found that KFS contains a wider variety of survey items, though many of the items are overlapped between the reports of KFS and MoE. It was noticeable that the survey results of KFS and MoE were not always matched even for the same or similar items in the identical target areas. The main causes of the different survey results are suggested to be the differences of the details of the survey conditions between KFS and MoE, such as the season of the surveys and the subjectivity of surveyors, and the type of literatures included in the indoor survey. As a result, it is difficult to directly compare the survey results of KFS and MoE, which leads to low usability of the data and low efficiency of the survey processes. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that the sections and methodologies of survey should be clearly set with consideration for the research purposes. The survey data and geographical information should be digitalized and opened to the public for better accessibility to BDMS information. Also, the survey reports should include English summary, thereby the results can be utilized globally for scientific, cultural and political purposes, such as designation of a heritage site.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.135-140
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• 2018

BACKGROUND: The Asian hornet (Vespa velutina nigrithorax), a wasp species, has attacked honey bee populations and affected the beekeeping industry in Korea over the past 15 years. However, little research has been done with this invasive species. In this study, we investigated the intestine bacterial microbiota of Asian hornets and honey bees to design an attractive trap for Asian hornets. METHODS AND RESULTS: Genomic DNAs isolated from the intestine microorganisms of Asian hornets and honey bees were utilized to amplify bacterial 16S rDNA for the comparative sequence analysis. The next generation sequencing analysis identified that the orders Flavobacteriales as the most abundant intestinal microorganisms in Asian hornets, showing a clear difference compared to honey bees in which Aeromonadales are dominant. We also report five newly identified 16S rDNA sequences of Asian hornet intestinal bacteria. According to the sequence blast search, these five bacteria belong to the genera Thalassomonas, Caedobacter, Vampirovibrio, Alkaliphilus and Calothrix. CONCLUSION: While Asian hornets and honey bees show similar intestine bacterial diversity, the relative ratio of bacterial populations is different. providing useful information to design pest control agents specifically targeting Asian hornets.

• Environmental Mutagens and Carcinogens
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.142-148
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• 2002

Although ionizing radiation (IR) has been used to treat the various human cancers, IR is cytotoxic not only to cancer cells but to the adjacent normal tissue. Since normal tissue complications are the limiting factor of cancer radiotherapy, one of the major concerns of IR therapy is to maximize the cancer cell killing and to minimize the toxic side effects on the adjacent normal tissue. As an attempt to develop a method to monitor the degree of radiation exposure to normal tissues during radiotherapy, we investigated the transcriptional responses of human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) following IR using cDNA microarray chip containing 1,221 (1.2 K) known genes. Since conventional radiotherapy is delivered at about 24 h intervals at 180 to 300 cGy/day, we analyzed the transcriptional responses ex-vivo irradiated human PBL at 200 cGy for 24 h-period. We observed and report on 1) a group of genes transiently induced early after IR at 2 h, 2) of genes induced after IR at 6 h, 3) of genes induced after IR at 24 h and on 4) a group of genes whose expression patters were not changed after IR. Since Biological consequences of IR involve generation of various reactive oxygen species (ROS) and thus oxidative stress induced by the ROS is known to damage normal tissues during radiotherapy, we further tested the temporal expression profiles of genes involved in ROS modulation by RT-PCR. Specific changes of 6 antioxidant genes were identified in irradiated PBL among 9 genes tested. Our results suggest the potential of monitoring post-radiotherapy changes in temporal expression profiles of a specific set of genes as a measure of radiation effects on normal tissues. This type of approach should yield more useful information when validated in in vivo irradiated PBL from the cancer patients.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.18 no.2 s.23
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• pp.65-66
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• 2004

There have been groves, in many cases, along with hedgerows and remnant forests around a traditional Korean village. A village grove is very closely connected to the life of residents. Sometimes it was a holy place where important village festivals were held, and became a resting place for farmers, especially in sunny summer. As a matter of fact, it is noted that traditional Korean village groves had been fostered for many purpose as religion, Confucianism, scenery, sanitation, traffic guard, public security, agriculture, hunting, and military and public uses were included in Chosun Govemor General(1938). Village groves were usually located at the outlet of watershed inside which a village was built. In addition, village groves used to be established along part of mountain ranges, streams and streets. A unique type of village grove, called bibosoop was fostered especially where the outlet of watershed was largely opened. In other cases, it was placed where a part of mountain range was relatively low, or where village residents were likely to see ugly objects such as a huge cliff, stony upland with an unvegetated area and the like(Kim and Jang 1994). In a sense, a sheltebelt is a sort of bibosoop as it is a landscape element to complement places that are exposed to strong winds. However, it is comparable to other typical bibosoop that is situated at a topographically very specific zone of watershed. In this paper, we will address potential functions of Korean village groves from a perspective of modern landscape ecology and show current status of some remnants, based on preliminary surveys. A village grove functions as barrier or filter of objects such as water, nutrients, and other elements and habitat of wildlife (park et al. 2003, Lee 2004). The village grove slows down the flow of water and air, maintains soil moisture an hinders soil erosion, enabling cultivation of crops and bringing up creatures nearby. It contributes to enhancing biodiversity. Birds rest on shrubby and woody trees of the element. Presumably, other organisms may also inhabit the village groves and take advantage of it when those move from a forest patch to others. Emerging insects acclimate themselves in the shade of the green space before they fly to sunny air. Besides the village grove acts as a component of agroforestry system as leaf litter is shed from a grove to an asjacent agricultural area, and transformed into green manure(Lee 2004). By the way, many of the landscape elements were destroyed or declined in Koea during the past several decades. The losses have been parallel or linked to environmental degradation. Unfortunately, we have a little reliable data as for how many groves have disappeared in Korea until now. There has been no complete census on the village groves in Korea, and the viewpoints of survey were to a degree different depending on surveyors. So, it is difficult to analyze the temporal and spatial change of village groves. Currently, national inventory data of Korean village groves are available in three reports. We reviewed the locations of village groves and arranged those according to the present administrative units, DONG. With the limited data, we found that at least 484 of village groves were recorded in South Korea. Among all provinces, village groves were most in Gyeongsanbuk-Do Province and least in Chungcheongbuk-Do Province(Table 1). This is a preliminary report prepared while some quantitative data regarding functions and lossers of the village groves are being collected. More detailed data will be introduced in the near future.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.262-267
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• 2007

To access the natural product antibiotics produced by uncultured microorganisms, six cosmid libraries of DNA extracted directly from soil samples (environmental DNA, eDNA) were constructed and screened for the production of antibacterial active molecules. Of the approximately 60,000 clones screened, one antibacterial clone (YS92B) was detected. Ethyl acetate extracts of clone YS92B showed antibacterial activity against various pathogenic bacteria (Listeria monocytogenes, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas syringae, Xanthomonas campestris pv. oryzae, Staphylococcus epidemis). Active constituents from cultures of YS92B were isolated and purified using a bioassay-guided fractionation against B. subtilis through a series of procedures (ethyl acetate extraction, Sephadex LH20 column chromatography, High Performance Liquid Chromatography). NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) spectral analysis of a major antibacterial active YS92B-VII indicated that it is a lauric acid linked to tyrosine. This report describes the characterization of antibacterially active long chain N-acyl derivatives of tyrosine that are produced by eDNA clones hosted in Escherichia coli from Korean soils.