• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.9
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• pp.1410-1416
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• 2015

Wolbachia is an obligate symbiotic bacteria that is ubiquitous in arthropods, with 25-70% of insect species estimated to be infected. Wolbachia species can interact with their insect hosts in a mutualistic or parasitic manner. Sequence types (ST) of Wolbachia are determined by multilocus sequence typing (MLST) of housekeeping genes. However, there are some limitations to MLST with respect to the generation of clone libraries and the Sanger sequencing method when a host is infected with multiple STs of Wolbachia. To assess the feasibility of massive parallel sequencing, also known as next-generation sequencing, we used pyrosequencing for sequence typing of Wolbachia in butterflies. We collected three species of butterflies (Eurema hecabe, Eurema laeta, and Tongeia fischeri) common to Korea and screened them for Wolbachia STs. We found that T. fischeri was infected with a single ST of Wolbachia, ST41. In contrast, E. hecabe and E. laeta were each infected with two STs of Wolbachia, ST41 and ST40. Our results clearly demonstrate that pyrosequencing-based MLST has a higher sensitivity than cloning and Sanger sequencing methods for the detection of minor alleles. Considering the high prevalence of infection with multiple Wolbachia STs, next-generation sequencing with improved analysis would assist with scaling up approaches to Wolbachia MLST.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.110-117
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• 2000

Potato virus X (PVX-KO) showing mild mosaic and stunting symptoms on potato (Solanum tuberosum) in Kangwon area has been isolated and characterized. EM observation of the purified virus particles showed flexuous rod shape of about 520 nm in length. The coat protein (CP) of the virus had a molecular weight of 31 kDa in SDS-PAGE analysis, and the viral RNA was approximately 6.4 kb in size in denatured agarose gel electro-phoresis. In gel-immunodiffusion tests, it reacted strongly with an antiserum to common PVX from BIOREABAAG (USA). A rabbit antiserum was produced using purified virus and used for routine PVX detection by ELISA. Cultivated potatoes in Kangwon and other areas were frequently infected with PVX-KO. Both Datura stramonium and Nicotiana tabaccum cultivars developed necrotic local lesions 5 days after inoculation, and systemic mosaic symptoms with vein clearing 2 weeks after inoculation. All the features agree with the description of other PVX strains. To confirm and determine PVX strains, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction experiment was conducted using specific primers for viral CP. Amplified DNA fragments were cloned and sequenced. Results showed nucleotide sequence homologies of about 88 to 99% to other PVX strains. Based on CP amino acid sequence deduced from nucleotide sequences and host range studies PVX-KO is considered a member of the type X subgroup of PVX.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.20 no.8
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• pp.16.1-16.8
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• 2017

The exportation of cultured olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus) in Korea has been recently decreasing due to the infections with a myxozoan parasite Kudoa septempunctata, and there is a strong demand for strict food safety management because the food poisoning associated with consumption of raw olive flounder harbouring K. septempunctata has been frequently reported in Japan. The life cycle and infection dynamics of K. septempunctata in aquatic environment are currently unknown, which hamper establishment of effective control methods. We investigated sea water and marine invertebrates collected from olive flounder farms for detecting K. septempunctata by DNA-based analysis, to elucidate infection dynamics of K. septempunctata in aquaculture farms. In addition, live marine polychaetes were collected and maintained in well plates to find any possible actinosporean state of K. septempunctata. The level of K. septempunctata DNA in rearing water fluctuated during the sampling period but the DNA was not detected in summer (June-July in farm A and August in farm B). K. septempunctata DNA was also detected in the polychaetes Naineris laevigata intestinal samples, showing decreased pattern of 40 to 0%. No actinosporean stage of K. septempunctata was observed in the polychaetes by microscopy. The absence of K. septempunctata DNA in rearing water of fish farm and the polychaetes N. laevigata intestinal samples during late spring and early summer indicate that the infection may not occur during this period. N. laevigata was suspected as the possible alternate invertebrate host of K. septempunctata, but the actinosporean stage was not found by well plate method and further studies will be necessary. This research provides important baseline information for understanding the infection dynamics of K. septempunctata in olive flounder farms and further establishment of control strategies.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.15-24
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• 1996

In this study, as a part of the basic study for the application of optical fiber sensors to smart composite structures, the integrity of optical fiber sensors embedded within the composite structures was examined and then the laser signal transmitted through optical fiber sensors during the deformation of host structures was investigated. Firstly, it was found that bending test could be substituted for tensile test by comparing cumulative failure distribution based on weakest link theory and introducing the correction factor. Weibull parameters were obtained through the experiments and the correction factor was found to be applied to cumulative failure distribution derived from bending test. The integrity of embedded optical fiber sensors due to the thermal effect was evaluated by the comparison of the mean tensile strengths of cured and uncured optical fibers. Secondly, relationships between stress-strain curve obtained in tensile test of composite laminate and the intensity of laser signal transmitted through embedded optical fibers were examined and the possibility of the effective damage detection using optical fiber sensors was studied.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.346-350
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• 2010

Purpose: Diagnosis of diabetic foot infection is sometimes difficult, since the classical inflammatory signs and leukocytosis may be absent due to the decreased host immune response in diabetics. Therefore inflammatory blood markers, such as white blood cell (WBC) count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and C-reactive protein (CRP) have been commonly needed to confirm the diagnosis of infection. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the diagnostic usefulness of WBC, ESR and CRP for detection of diabetic foot infection. Methods: Peripheral blood samples were taken from 113 patients with diabetic foot ulcers admitted from June 2007 to April 2009. Diabetic foot infection was diagnosed according to the microbiological culture from soft tissue and bone specimens. Reference values of tests were 4500-11000 /${\mu}L$ for WBC count, 0-20 mm/hr for ESR, and 0-5 mg/L for $CRP^{13,14}$. Sensitivities, specificities, positive and negative predictive values of laboratory tests were calculated and analysed. Receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) curve was also created. Results: There was a significant difference in WBC, ESR, and CRP between infectious group and noninfectious group (p<0.05). The sensitivity of WBC>11,000 /${\mu}L$ ESR > 20 mm/hr, and CRP > 5 mg/L was 30%, 96%, and 84%. The specificity was 86%, 14%, and 50% for WBC, ESR, and CRP, respectively. Positive predictive value was 88%, 78%, and 84%, and negative predictive value was 28%, 50%, and 50% respectively. The areas under the ROC curve for WBC, ESR and CRP were 0.72, 0.75, and 0.78 respectively. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, we conclude that CRP is more useful method in predicting and diagnosing infection than WBC, ESR in diabetic foot ulcer patients.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.8
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• pp.1209-1220
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• 2023

Objective: The use of probiotics as an alternative to antibiotics in animal feed has received considerable attention in recent decades. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) have remarkable functional properties promoting host health and are major microorganisms for probiotic purposes. The aim of this study was to characterize LAB strains of the chicken digestive tract and to determine their functional properties for further use as potential probiotics in poultry. Methods: A total of 2,000 colonies were isolated from the ileum and cecal contents of the chickens based on their phenotypic profiles and followed by a preliminary detection for acid and bile tolerance. The selected 200 LAB isolates with exhibited well-tolerance in acid and bile conditions were then identified by sequencing the 16S rDNA gene, followed by acid and bile tolerance, antimicrobial activity, adhesion to epithelial cells and additional characteristics on the removal of cholesterol. Then, the two probiotic strains (L. ingluviei and L. salivarious) which showed the greatest advantage in vitro testing were selected to assess their efficacy in broiler chickens. Results: It was found that 200 LAB isolates that complied with all measurement criteria belonged to five strains, including L. acidophilus (63 colonies), L. ingluviei (2 colonies), L. reuteri (58 colonies), L. salivarius (72 colonies), and L. saerimneri (5 colonies). We found that the L. ingluviei and L. salivarius can increase the population of LAB and Bifidobacterium spp. while reducing Enterobacteria spp. and Escherichia coli in the cecal content of chickens. Additionally, increased concentrations of valeric acid and short chain fatty acids were also observed. Conclusion: This study indicates that all five Lactobacillus strains isolated from gut contents of chickens are safe and possess probiotic properties, especially L. ingluviei and L. salivarius. Future studies should evaluate the potential for growth improvement in broilers.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.53 no.12
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• pp.67-75
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• 2016

DNA computing technology makes the interests on DNA storage and DNA watermarking / steganography that use the DNA information as a newly medium. DNA watermarking that embeds the external watermark into DNA information without the biological mutation needs the reversibility for the perfect recovery of host DNA, the continuous embedding and detecting processing, and the mutation analysis by the watermark. In this paper, we propose a reversible DNA watermarking based on circular histogram shifting of DNA code values with the prevention of false start codon, the preservation of DNA sequence length, and the high watermark capacity, and the blind detection. Our method has the following features. The first is to encode nucleotide bases of 4-character variable to integer code values by code order. It makes the signal processing of DNA sequence easy. The second is to embed the multiple bits of watermark into -order coded value by using circular histogram shifting. The third is to check the possibility of false start codon in the inter or intra code values. Experimental results verified the our method has higher watermark capacity 0.11~0.50 bpn than conventional methods and also the false start codon has not happened in our method.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.1066-1072
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• 2011

In the method to analyze the relationship in the system call orders, the normal system call orders are divided into a certain size of system call orders to generates gene and use them as the detectors. In the method to consider the system call parameters, the mean and standard deviation of the parameter lengths are used as the detectors. The attack of which system call order is normal but the parameter values are changed, such as the format string attack, cannot be detected by the method that considers only the system call orders, whereas the model that considers only the system call parameters has the drawback of high positive defect rate because of the information obtained from the interval where the attack has not been initiated, since the parameters are considered individually. To solve these problems, it is necessary to develop a more efficient learning and detecting method that groups the continuous system call orders and parameters as the approach that considers various characteristics of system call related to attacking simultaneously. In this article, we detected the anomaly of the system call orders and parameters by applying the temporal concept to the system call orders and parameters in order to improve the rate of positive defect, that is, the misjudgment of anomaly as normality. The result of the experiment where the DARPA data set was employed showed that the proposed method improved the positive defect rate by 13% in the system call order model where time was considered in comparison with that of the model where time was not considered.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.249-255
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• 2002

This paper describes on the extraction of ship's real-time movement information using a combination full-function ARPA radar and ECS system that displays radar images and an electronic chart together on a single PC screen. The radar target extractor(RTX) board, developed by Marine Electronics Corporation of Korea, receives radar video, trigger, antenna bearing pulse and heading pulse signals from a radar unit and processes these signals to extract target information. The target data extracted from each pulse repetition interval in DSPs of RTX that installed in 16 bit ISA slot of a IBM PC compatible computer is formatted into a series of radar target messages. These messages are then transmitted to the host PC and displayed on a single screen. The position data of target in range and azimuth direction are stored and used for determining the center of the distributed target by arithmetic averaging after the detection of the target end. In this system, the electronic chart or radar screens can be displayed separately or simulaneously and in radar mode all information of radar targets can be recorded and replayed In spite of a PC based radar system, all essential information required for safe and efficient navigation of ship can be provided.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.377-384
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• 2005

Since gamma-ray bursts(GRBs) have been first known to science societites in 1973, many scientists are involved in their studies. Observations of GRB afterglows provide us with much information on the environment in which the observed GRBs are born. Study of GRB afterglows deals with longer timescale emissions in lower energy bands (e.g., months or even up to years) than prompt emissions in gamma-rays. Not all the bursts accompany afterglows in whole ranges of waveleogths. It has been suggested as a reason for that, for instance, that radio and/or X-ray afterglows are not recorded mainly due to lower sensitivity of detectors, and optical afterglows due to extinctions in intergalactic media or self-extinctions within a host galaxy itself. Based on the idea that these facts may also provide information on the GRE environment, we analyze statistical properties of GRB afterglows. We first select samples of the redshift-known GRBs according to the wavelength of afterglow they accompanied. We then compare their distributious as a function of redshift, using statistical methods. As a results, we find that the distribution of the GRBs with X-ray afterglows is consistent with that of the GRBs with optical afterglows. We, therefore, conclude that the lower detection rate of optical afterglows is not due to extinctions in intergalactic media.