• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.3 s.83
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• pp.312-317
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• 2007

This study was conducted to research the morphological characteristics and analyze the genetic diversity by using RAPD in Calanthe species native to Korea. Nine samples were selected by flower color and 19 morphological characteristics. In the length and width of leaf, dorsal sepal, the lateral sepal, the petal, the central lip, and the lateral lip, C. discolor was the shortest and narrowest, respectively, but C. sieboldii was the longest and the widest, respectively. The flower stalk length was the shortest in C. discolor, and the longest in C. sieboldii. Three variants were the intermediate between C. discolor and C. sieboldii in the above morphological characteristics, but spur length was the longest in C. discolor, the shortest in C. sieboldii, and intermediate in the variants. The ovary length in C. discolor was shortest and C. sieboldii and variants were similar with each other. The flower color of C. discolor were brownish red, the value of CIE Lab was between 40 and 50. The flower color of C. sieboldii was yellowish, the value of CIE Lab was between 110 and 130. And variants had various colors between 50 to 70 in the value of CIE Lab. By analyzing multiple band patterns of PCR products, 154 bands were selected as polymorphic RAPD markers. The analysis of genetic similarity of Calanther species using RAPD showed that C. discolor and C. sieboldii are more distant from each other than variants, and these results demonstrated that genetic position of variants located between C. discolor and C. sieboldii.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.38-44
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• 2007

Purpose : Menkes disease is an X-linked recessively inherited disorder caused by the mutation of the ATP7A gene encoding copper-transporting P-type AT Pase. The phenotypic features are progressive neurological degeneration, mental retardation, loose skin, and vascular complications. Early diagnosis and treatment are very important for the prognosis of Menkes disease. Here, we describe nov el mutations of the ATP7A gene and prenatal diagnosis by mutation analysis. Methods : Five unrelated Korean Menkes patients were included in this study. They presented with depigmented wool-like hair, progressive neurologic deterioration, and hypotonia in infancy. Serum copper and ceruloplasmin levels w ere decreased. Brain magnetic resonance imaging revealed tortuous intracranial vessels. Mutation analysis has been carried out using cDNA from cultured skin fibroblasts or genomic DNA from peripheral leukocytes. Prenatal diagnosis was performed in two cases using chorionic villi samples or amniocytes. Results : Four novel mutations have been identified from four different families; c.3511+1G>A (p.E1099_N1171delinsMfsX 18), c.4005+5 G>A (p.V1268_R1335del), c.1870_2172del (p.S624_Q724del), and c.3352 G>A (p.G1118S). T he remaining one was previously reported (c.1933 C>T (p.V 1268_R1335del)). On prenatal DNA analysis, one w as diagnosed as normal, while the other turned out to be a female heterozygote with p.S624_Q724del mutation of the ATP7A gene. Conclusion : We identified 4 novel mutations of the ATP7A gene. Prenatal diagnosis in families at risk is critical in order to choose preventiv e options including an early treatment with copper-histidine therapy or therapeutic termination. Most mutations of the ATP7A gene were frame-shift mutations and prenatal diagnosis has been successfully carried out.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.72-79
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• 2007

Purpose : Glycogen storage disease type III (GSD-III) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder of glycogen metabolism. The affected enzyme, amylo-1,6-glucosidase, 4-alpha-glucanotransferase (AGL, glycogen debranching enzyme), is responsible for the debranching of the glycogen molecule during catabolism. The disease shows clinical and biochemical heterogeneity, reflecting genotype-phenotype heterogeneity among different patients. In this study, we aim at analyzing mutations of the AGL gene in three unrelated Korean GSD-III patients, and characterizing their clinical and laboratory findings. Methods : We characterized the clinical features of three unrelated Korean GSD-III patients by biochemical, histological and imaging studies. The 35 exons and part of exon-intron boundaries of AGL were analyzed by direct sequencing using genomic DNA extracted from the peripheral leukocytes of patients. Results : Diverse clinical features were observed in these patients including hepatomegaly (all patients), seizures (patient 2), grow th failure (patients 1 and 2), hyperlipidemia (patients 1 and 3), raised transaminase and creatine kinase concentrations (all patients), and mild cardiomyopathy (patient 2). Liver transplantation w as performed in patient 2 due to progressive hepatic fibrosis. A dministration of uncooked corn starch maintained normoglycemia and improved biochemical and growth profiles. DNA sequence analysis revealed mutations in 5 out of 6 alleles. Patient 1 was a compound heterozygote of c.1282 G>A (p.R428K) and c.1306delA (p.S603PfsX6), patient 2 had c.1510_1511insT (p.Y 504L fsX 10), and patient 3 had c.3416 T >C (p.L 1139P) and c.1735+1 G>T (p.Y 538_R578delfsX 4) mutations. A part from the p.R428K mutation, the 4 other substitutions identified w ere nov el. Conclusion : GSD-III patients display variable phenotypic characteristics resembling those of GSD-Ia. Molecular defects in the AGL gene of Korean GSD-III patients are genetically heterogeneous.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.559-575
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• 2014

Individual investors are increasingly flocking to message boards to seek, clarify, and exchange information. Businesses like Seekingalpha.com and business magazines like Fortune are evaluating, synthesizing, and reporting the comments made on message boards or blogs. In March of 2012, Yahoo! Finance Message Boards recorded 45 million unique visitors per month followed by AOL Money and Finance (19.8 million), and Google Finance (1.6 million) [McIntyre, 2012]. Previous studies in the finance literature suggest that online communities often provide more accurate information than analyst forecasts [Bagnoli et al., 1999; Clarkson et al., 2006]. Some studies empirically show that the volume of posts in online communities have a positive relationship with market activities (e.g., trading volumes) [Antweiler and Frank, 2004; Bagnoli et al., 1999; Das and Chen, 2007; Tumarkin and Whitelaw, 2001]. The findings indicate that information in online communities does impact investors' investment decisions and trading behaviors. However, research explicating the correlation between information on online communities and stock market activities (e.g., trading volume) is still evolving. Thus, it is important to ask whether a volume of posts on online communities influences trading volumes and whether trading volumes also influence these communities. Online stock message boards offer two different types of information, which can be explained using an economic and a psychological perspective. From a purely economic perspective, one would expect that stock message boards would have a beneficial effect, since they provide timely information at a much lower cost [Bagnoli et al., 1999; Clarkson et al., 2006; Birchler and Butler, 2007]. This indicates that information in stock message boards may provide valuable information investors can use to predict stock market activities and thus may use to make better investment decisions. On the other hand, psychological studies have shown that stock message boards may not necessarily make investors more informed. The related literature argues that confirmation bias causes investors to seek other investors with the same opinions on these stock message boards [Chen and Gu, 2009; Park et al., 2013]. For example, investors may want to share their painful investment experiences with others on stock message boards and are relieved to find they are not alone. In this case, the information on these stock message boards mainly reflects past experience or past information and not valuable and predictable information for market activities. This study thus investigates the two roles of stock message boards-providing valuable information to make future investment decisions or sharing past experiences that reflect mainly investors' painful or boastful stories. If stock message boards do provide valuable information for stock investment decisions, then investors will use this information and thereby influence stock market activities (e.g., trading volume). On the contrary, if investors made investment decisions and visit stock message boards later, they will mainly share their past experiences with others. In this case, past activities in the stock market will influence the stock message boards. These arguments indicate that there is a correlation between information posted on stock message boards and stock market activities. The previous literature has examined the impact of stock sentiments or the number of posts on stock market activities (e.g., trading volume, volatility, stock prices). However, the studies related to stock sentiments found it difficult to obtain significant results. It is not easy to identify useful information among the millions of posts, many of which can be just noise. As a result, the overall sentiments of stock message boards often carry little information for future stock movements [Das and Chen, 2001; Antweiler and Frank, 2004]. This study notes that as a dependent variable, trading volume is more reliable for capturing the effect of stock message board activities. The finance literature argues that trading volume is an indicator of stock price movements [Das et al., 2005; Das and Chen, 2007]. In this regard, this study investigates the correlation between a number of posts (information on stock message boards) and trading volume (stock market activity). We collected about 100,000 messages of 40 companies at KOSPI (Korea Composite Stock Price Index) from Paxnet, the most popular Korean online stock message board. The messages we collected were divided into in-trading and after-trading hours to examine the correlation between the numbers of posts and trading volumes in detail. Also we collected the volume of the stock of the 40 companies. The vector regression analysis and the granger causality test, 3SLS analysis were performed on our panel data sets. We found that the number of posts on online stock message boards is positively related to prior stock trade volume. Also, we found that the impact of the number of posts on stock trading volumes is not statistically significant. Also, we empirically showed the correlation between stock trading volumes and the number of posts on stock message boards. The results of this study contribute to the IS and finance literature in that we identified online stock message board's two roles. Also, this study suggests that stock trading managers should carefully monitor information on stock message boards to understand stock market activities in advance.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.186-194
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• 2013

We investigated the concentrations and distribution patterns of 17 polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins/dibenzofurans(PCDD/Fs), 12 dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls(DL-PCBs) and 24 polybrominated diphenyl ethers(PBDEs) in sediments from Ulsan Bay in Korea. The concentrations of PCDD/Fs, DL-PCBs, and PBDEs in 33 sediment samples ranged from 0.11 to 4.86($1.81{\pm}1.04$) pg $WHO_{2005}$-TEQ $g^{-1}$ dry weight(dw), 0.06 to 44.2($4.02{\pm}7.99$) pg $WHO_{2005}$-TEQ $g^{-1}$ dw, and 2.81 to 63.8($19.4{\pm}13.9$) ng $g^{-1}$ dw, respectively. DL-PCBs had dominant contributions(mean, 88%) of total TEQ concentrations in sediment. The concentrations of target compounds in inner locations were higher than those in outer locations in Ulsan Bay (p<0.05). The dominant contribution of highly chlorinated DD/Fs in sediment was associated with combustion process from industrial complexes. Distribution pattern of DL-PCBs was similar with those of commercial PCB products. BDE209 was a dominant congener in sediment, suggesting high use amount of commercial deca-BDE product in surrounding areas.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.35 no.4 s.100
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• pp.273-284
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• 2002

During January 1998-October 1999, the impact of free-floating plants (FFP) on limnology of the wetland ecosystem was evaluated through the investigation of physicochemical characteristics of the Woopo Wetland along with in situ manipulation experiments of aquatic plants. Flooding events occurred in the wetland during the summer period (Jun.-Aug.) and water levels rose to 2-3 m due to precipitation from the catchment and inflow from the main channel of the Nakdong River. Physicochemical parameters and plankton dynamics in the wetland during the summer were greatly influenced by floods and growth of free-floating plants. Dissolved oxygen (Jun.-Sept., 4.5${\pm}$2.5 mg/1; Oct.-May, 8,1 ${\pm}$4.0 mg/1) and pH (Jun.-Sept., 6.9${\pm}$0.4; Oct.-May,7.4${\pm}$0.8) levels were significantly lower during the summer than any other seasons. Three types of enclosure experiments (100 L, treatments with floating plants, screened and opened) were conducted under the presence and absence of sediment for 15 days in the 1999 summer. The treatments with sediment had higher levels of nutrient concentrations than those of the others. Among the treatments with sediment, nutrient concentrations in the treatments with free-floating plants were higher than the others. Zooplankton communities in each treatment showed a similar variation, although the scale of zooplankton densities differed. Rotifer community dominated the zooplankton at the initial phase of the experiment, but decreased drastically along with an increase of cladoceran and copepod communities. In conclusion, low levels of dissolved oxygen and pH in the Woopo Wetland during the summer seemed to be caused by a proliferation of free-floating plants and active decomposition process at the bottom of the sediment.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.409-415
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• 2007

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary enzyme mixture fortified with ${\beta}-glucanase$ on the growth performance, serum components and meat quality of broiler chicks. 31,800 Ross 208 male broiler chicks were randomly allotted into 2 groups, the control and 0.3% enzyme diet with ${\beta}-glucanase$ supplementation groups. Control group chicks were fed the control (corn-soybean meal based) diet and the treatment group chicks were fed the 0.3% enzyme mixture supplemented with ${\beta}-glucanase$. The growth performance, serum components and meat qualities such as pH, color, water holding capacity, cooking loss, and shearing force of meats were investigated. The results showed that the growth performance of chicks fed the 0.3% enzyme mixture diet were improved compared to that of the control group, as much as 5% in growth rate, 19% in average weight, 6.8% in performance index, and 5.5% in feed efficiency. Although, there were no significant differences in the muscle color degrees ($L^*a^*b^*$) and shearing force between the control group and experimental group, the water holding capacity and cooking loss of the experimental group were significantly higher than those of control group (p<0.05). The antibody titers in serum against the antigens of Newcastle disease and Infectious Bursal disease were higher in the experimental group than in the control group. Altogether, these suggest that the broiler diet containing 0.3% enzyme mixture fortified with ${\beta}-glucanase$ activity can improve the growth performance, immune reaction, and meat quality of broiler chicks.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.243-251
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• 2010

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of the addition of cordyceps ochraceostromat, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and silkworm cocoon on the quality and storage characteristics of pork sausage manufactured by MDCM (mechanically deboned chicken meat) recovered protein. The samples were divided into 5 groups (sausage made from pork ham; control, 40% of MDCM recovered protein to replace pork ham; T1, 40% of MDCM recovered protein to replace pork ham with 0.1% cordyceps ochraceostromat; T2, 40% of MDCM recovered protein to replace pork ham with 0.1% CLA; T3, and 40% of MDCM recovered protein to replace pork ham with 0.1% silkworm cocoon; T4). The control sample had a higher moisture and protein contents and lower fat content than the other samples during 4 weeks of storage at $4^{\circ}C$ The treatment samples had lower lightness and higher redness values than the control (p<0.05). Hardness, cohesiveness, gumminess and chewiness were significantly lower in the treatment samples than the control (p<0.05). All sausage samples showed a significant increase in thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), volatile basic nitrogen, and total plate counts during the storage time (p<0.05). In addition, the MDCM treatment samples had higher TBARS values than the control, but the VBN value of the treatment samples was lower than the control after the 4 weeks storage period.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.38 no.4 s.173
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• pp.435-450
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• 2005

The purpose of the study is to analyze the hydrogeochemical characteristics by multivariate statistical method, to interpret the hydrogeochemical processes for the new variables calculated from principal components analysis (PCA), and to infer the groundwater flow and circulation mechanism by applying the geostatistical methods for each element and principal component. Chloride and nitrate are the most influencing components for groundwater quality, and the contents of $NO_3$ increased by the input of agricultural activities show the largest variation. The results of PCA, a multivariate statistical method, show that the first three principal components explain $73.9\%$ of the total variance. PC1 indicates the increase of dissolved ions, PC2 is related with the dissolution of carbonate minerals and nitrate contamination, and PC3 shows the effect of cation exchange process and silicate mineral dissolution. From the results of experimental semivariogram, the components of groundwater are divided into two groups: one group includes electrical conductivity (EC), Cl, Na, and $NO_3$, and the other includes $HCO_3,\;SiO_2,$ Ca, and Sr. The results for spatial distribution of groundwater components showed that EC, Cl, and Na increased with approaching the coastal line and nitrate has close relationship with the presence of agricultural land. These components are also correlated with the topographic features reflecting the groundwater recharge effect. The kriging analysis by using principal components shows that PC 1 has the different spatial distribution of Cl, Na, and EC, possibly due to the influence of pH, Ca, Sr, and $HCO_3$ for PC1. It was considered that the linear anomaly zone of PC2 in western area was caused by the dissolution of carbonate mineral. Consequently, the application of multivariate and geostatistical methods for groundwater in the study area is very useful for determining the quantitative analysis of water quality data and the characteristics of spatial distribution.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.44-50
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• 2004

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of different levels of light intensity (100, 200, 400 ${\mu}mol\;{\codt}\;m^{-2}\;{\cdot}\;s^{-1}$, and natural light) on the growth and the fruit quality of cucumber(Cucumis sativus cv. Hyakunari-3). The results of this experiment indicated that plant height and length of lateral shoots were decreased under low light condition, but it was not significantly different among treatments. Leaf area and root weight were lowest under low light intensity(100 ${\mu}mol\;{\codt}\;m^{-2}\;{\cdot}\;s^{-1}$), but no significant differences were noted between 200 and 400 ${\mu}mol\;{\codt}\;m^{-2}\;{\cdot}\;s^{-1}$. Photosynthesis rate was decreased with reduced light intensity and total chlorophyll contents, root activity and xylem sap were also decreased under low light intensity, but there was no significant difference between 200 and 400 ${\mu}mol\;{\codt}\;m^{-2}\;{\cdot}\;s^{-1}$. From the SEM observation the erosion of the guard cells and closed stomata in low light treatment were shown and the size of stoma were small also the stomatal aperture were decreased with reducing the light intensity. Chlorosis in leaves and aborted-liked fruits were appeared under low light condition and Ca and Mg uptake in leaves were decreased by shading in proportion to the decrease of light intensity. Fruit yields were decreased by 65% under 400 ${\mu}mol\;{\codt}\;m^{-2}\;{\cdot}\;s^{-1}$, and by 80${\sim}$90% under 200 and 100 ${\mu}mol\;{\codt}\;m^{-2}\;{\cdot}\;s^{-1}$, compared to those under the natural light. This low intensity of light caused the sharp decrease in the early harvested yields within two weeks and the fruit yields of lateral shoots were greatly decreased.