• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.62-69
• /
• 2014

In the results of monitoring nitrate concentration in more than 8,000 groundwater wells around agro-livestock, the average and maximum nitrate concentration was 9.4 mg/L and 101.2 mg/L, respectively. Since about 31% of the monitoring wells was exceed the quality standard for drinking water, nitrate control such as remediation or source regulation is required to conserve safe-groundwater in South Korea. Typical nitrate-treatment technologies include ion exchange, reverse osmosis, and biological denitrification. Among the treatment methods, biological denitrification by indigenous microorganism has environmental and economic advantages for the complete elimination of nitrate because of lower operating costs compared to other methods. Major mechanism of the process is microbial reduction of nitrate to nitrite and nitrogen gas. Three functional genes (nosZ, nirK, nirS) that encode for the enzyme involved in the pathway. In this work, we tried to develop simple process to determine possibility of natural denitrification reaction by monitoring the functional gene. For the work, the functional genes in nitrate-contaminated groundwater were monitored by using PCR with specific target primers. In the result, functional genes (nosZ and nirK) encoding denitrification enzymes were detected in the groundwater samples. This method can help to determine the possibility of natural-nitrate degradation in target groundwater wells without multiplex experimental process. In addition, for field-remediation application we selected nitrate-contaminated site where 200~600 mg/L of nitrate is continuously detected. To determine the possibility of nitrate-degradation by stimulated-natural attenuation, groundwater was sampled in two different wells of the site and nitrate concentration of the samples was 300 mg/L and 616 mg/L, respectively. Fumarate for different C/N ratio was added into microcosm bottles containing the groundwater to examine denitrification rate depending on carbon concentration. In the result, once 1.5 times more than amount of fumarate stoichiometry required was added, the 616 mg/L of nitrate and 300 mg/L of nitrate were completely degraded in 8 days and 30 days. The nitrite, byproduct of denitrification process, was also completely degraded during the experimental period.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
• /
• v.10 no.3
• /
• pp.130-142
• /
• 2006

Lab-on-a-chip technology is attracting great interest because the miniaturization of reaction systems offers practical advantages over classical bench-top chemical systems. Rapid mixing of the fluids flowing through a microchannel is very important for various applications of microfluidic systems. In addition, highly sensitive on-chip detection techniques are essential for the in situ monitoring of chemical reactions because the detection volume in a channel is extremely small. Recently, a confocal surface enhanced Raman spectroscopic (SERS) technique, for the highly sensitive biological analysis in a microfluidic sensor, has been developed in our research group. Here, a highly precise quantitative measurement can be obtained if continuous flow and homogeneous mixing condition between analytes and silver nano-colloids are maintained. Recently, we also reported a new analytical method of DNA hybridization involving a PDMS microfluidic sensor using fluorescence energy transfer (FRET). This method overcomes many of the drawbacks of microarray chips, such as long hybridization times and inconvenient immobilization procedures. In this paper, our recent applications of the confocal Raman/fluorescence microscopic technology to a highly sensitive lab-on-a-chip detection will be reviewed.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
• /
• v.49 no.3
• /
• pp.215-220
• /
• 2009

The prevalence of potentially xenozoonotic viruses in the reproductive tract of female pigs in Korea was investigated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). These viruses include porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV), porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV), swine hepatitis E virus (SHEV), porcine lymphotropic herpesvirus (PLHV), and porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV-2). Histopathological examination and PCR analysis were conducted using the ovaries of 70 slaughtered pigs that were collected from 14 farms in Jeju. Histopathologically, infiltrations of mononuclear inflammatory cells around the thick-walled coiled vessels in the ovarian medulla were observed in 15 cases. Based on the PCR method, PERV, PLHV, PRRSV, SHEV, and PCV-2 were detected in 69 (98.6%), 35 (50%), 5 (7.1%), 4 (5.7%), and 1 sample (1.4%), respectively. These results suggest that PERV and PLHV are the major xenozoonotic viruses in the porcine ovary. This study should aid in the development of a monitoring protocol for potential xenozoonotic agents and in the production of germ-free pigs for xenotransplantation.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
• /
• v.38 no.2
• /
• pp.101-106
• /
• 2015

Murine mycoplasmosis, caused by Mycoplasma (M.) pulmonis, is a prominent disease in rodent animals. The aim of this study was to develop a sensitive and specific PCR assay to detect M. pulmonis in animals and to assess the suitability of this assay for the detection of mycoplasmal infection in rats experimentally infected with M. pulmonis. A new PCR assay using the M. pulmonis-specific primer pairs MPul-F and MPul-R was developed. The primers and probe for the assay were designed from regions in the 16S rRNA gene that are unique to M. pulmonis. The novel PCR assay was very specific and sensitive for M. pulmonis, detecting the equivalent of 5 pg of target template DNA. It detected only M. pulmonis and no other Mycoplasma species or other bacterial species. The newly developed PCR assay also effectively detected M. pulmonis infection in rats. These results suggest that this PCR assay using M. pulmonis-specific primer pairs of MPul-F and MPul-R will be useful and effective for monitoring M. pulmonis infection in animals.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.356-364
• /
• 2010

The chemical and biological reaction of the aquatic organism is closely related with temperature variation and water temperature is one of the most important factors that should be considered in establishing sustainable reservoir operation scheme to minimize adverse environmental impacts related with dam construction. This paper investigates temperature variation in the downstream of Yongdam Reservoir using sampled data collected from total 8 temperature monitoring stations placed along the main river and the major tributaries. Using KoRiv1, 1-dimensional dynamic water quality simulation model, temperature variation in the downstream of Yongdam Reservoir has been simulated. The simulated results were compared with sampled data collected from May 15 to August 1 2008 by applying two different temperature modeling schemes, equilibrium temperature and full heat budget method. From the result of statistical analysis, seasonal temperature variation has been simulated by applying the equilibrium temperature scheme for comparison of the difference between the reservoir operation and the natural conditions.

• ALGAE
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.237-241
• /
• 2011

The toxic dinoflagellate Karlodinium veneficum has been implicated in numerous fish kill events around the world. Since this species commonly co-occurs with other morphologically similar dinoflagellates, field monitoring of this species in natural waters via light microscopy only has been problematic. In this study, we investigated temporal changes in K. veneficum's abundance in the waters of Obido, Tongyeong, using a species-specific real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay. The field survey, from April to December 2010, revealed K. veneficum occurred at low densities (12 to 425 cells $L^{-1}$) during this time and that cell numbers peaked in June (early summer in Korea), indicating this species generally occurs in the warmer season (mostly at $16.9-22.3^{\circ}C$ and 33.4-34.5‰) in the Obido area.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.633-641
• /
• 1999

Reaction by neighbours to odours is increasingly affecting operations of existing animal farming operations and may adversely constrain the further development of the animal production industry in some parts of Australia. It is critical that the scale of such odour impact on the rural-urban interface be estimated to provide useful information both for environmental protection and animal farming operations. Furthermore, the information can be used to modify odour reduction strategies as economic conditions change. The Centre for Water and Waste Technology at The University of New South Wales has developed a comprehensive set of odour control techniques in the course of its research and development effort over the past eight years. Techniques have been developed for odour sampling at point, area and volume sources, monitoring environmental parameters such as ventilation rate, shed temperature, shed humidity, litter water content and ambient meteorological condition, olfactometry and odour dispersion modelling. The work has paved the way for the establishment of odour reduction strategies based on best environmental management practice and advanced odour abatement technologies.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.15 no.7
• /
• pp.255-263
• /
• 2015

The current study examines the association between multiple losses and depressive symptoms and the role of social support in multiple losses. Using a prospective designed dataset(Changing Lives of Older Couples), this study found a significant difference on the depressive symptom levels between multiple losses and single loss. In addition, there was a significant buffering effect of social support in bereavement, as oppose to previous literature that social support does not buffer the initial bereavement reaction in comparisons between the bereaved with multiple losses and the bereaved with a single loss. The author discusses the importance of monitoring elderly people with multiple losses and availability of social support before and after the loss.

• The korean journal of orthodontics
• /
• v.25 no.6 s.53
• /
• pp.723-731
• /
• 1995

Type I and type II collagens are considered the major collagens of bone and cartilage respectively. Monitoring the patterns of those gene and protein expressions during development will provide a basis for the understanding of the normal and abnormal growths. This study was undertaken to investigate the expression of collagen genes and proteins involved in the developing human mandible. Fifty embryos and fetuses were studied with Alcian blue-PAS, Masson's Trichrome, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), Western blot analysis, and Southern blot analysis. Our results showed that $pro-{\alpha}1(II)$ collagen gene expression begins in the 5th week. Type II collagen is synthesized in mesenchymal cells in advance: of overt chondrogenesis. The gene expression for type II collagen was highest during the appearance of Meckel's cartilage. There was a switch in collagen protein expression from type I to type II during the appearance stage of Meckel's cartilage. The distribution of the mRNA for type II collagen corresponded well with the pattern of type II collagen protein. The endochondral ossification was observed where there was direct replacement of cartilage by bone.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.505-510
• /
• 2007

This study was conducted to detect ${\beta}$-lactam antibiotic-resistant genes in the 400 E coli isolates from porcine fecal samples in Korea by a DNA chip. The DNA chip contains the specific probe DNAs of the ${\beta}$-lactam antibiotic-resistant genes that had been labeled with a mixture of primer set designed to amplify specific genes (PSE, OXA, FOX, MEN, CMY, TEM, SHV, OXY and AmpC) using a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Of 400 isolates 339 contained at least one ${\beta}$-lactamases gene. Resistance to ${\beta}$-lactamases was mediated mainly by AmpC (n = 339, 100%), and followed by TEM (n = 200, 59.0%), CMY (n = 101, 29.8%), PSE (n = 30, 8.9%) and both OXA and SHV genes (n = 20, 5.9%), while the FOX, MEN and OXY genes were not detected. The other sixty-one did not contain any ${\beta}$-lactamase genes even though they were resistant to antimicrobial drugs. In conclusion, the DNA chip system can be used as a rapid and reliable method for detecting of ${\beta}$-lactamases genes, which will help veterinarians select the antibiotics for monitoring and treating of animal diseases.