• Development and Reproduction
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.231-239
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• 2020

Many benefits of silk protein fibroin (SPF) have been suggested in biomedical applications; and notably, significant SPF effects have been observed for metabolic syndromes that are directly linked to insulin resistance, such as type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Based on our previous findings, we believe that SPF from spiders exhibits outstanding glucose-lowering effects in diabetic BKS.Cg-m+/+Lepr^db mice. In order to evaluate the dietary effects of SPF in diabetic animals, we generated several lines of transgenic rice (TR) that expresses SPF, and the feeding of TR-SPF to diabetic animals decreased blood glucose levels, but did not change insulin levels. Western blot analyses of hepatic proteins showed that AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) expression and phosphorylation both decreased in TR-SPF-fed groups, compared with controls. This finding suggests that the glucose-lowering effects in this diabetic animal model might be AMPK-independent. In contrast, six-transmembrane protein of prostate 2 (STAMP2) was upregulated after TR-SPF exposure. Together with STAMP2, the Akt protein phosphorylation increased after TR-SPF exposure, which indicates that STAMP2 leads to Akt phosphorylation and thus increases insulin sensitivity in hepatocytes. Importantly, the hepatic steatosis that was seen in the liver of diabetic mice was remarkably alleviated in TR-SPF-fed mice. Hepatocytes that were immunopositive for STAMP2 were overwhelmingly observed in hepatic tissues from TR-SPF-fed mice compared to the control. Taken together, these results suggest that feeding diabetic mice with TR-SPF upregulates STAMP2 expression and increases Akt phosphorylation in hepatic tissues and thus potentially alleviates insulin resistance and hepatic steatosis.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.49-57
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• 2014

Orb-web spiders can be considered as an effective bio-indicative animal to monitor the ecological air pollution of certain habitat since they have limited shifting ability during their life spans. In this study we revealed the fine structural characteristics of booklung in the orb-web spider Nephila clavata, and its bio-indicative significance in the monitoring environmental asbestos exposure. The high resolution scanning electron microscopy results suggest that the cuticular spikes near the atrium could be act as an effective filtering structure for dust materials. Furthermore, inner cuticular spikes which protruded across the air sacs, have the functions not only sustaining appropriate respiratory volume of each air sac but also help to enhance respiratory capacity by maximizing the gross surface area for gas exchange. Interestingly, in spite of short exposure, the asbestose fibrils were effectively captured on the surface of the atrial cuticular spikes. Furthermore, histologic damages were observed due to penetration of asbestos fibrils through air sacs and fixed on the hemolymph space. In addition, although accumulated mass of hemocytes were observed near the fibrils, there were no asbestos bodies or coagulated hemocytes were found on the surface of the fibrils, This could be mainly due to the short exposure period towards asbestos. Briefly, these results indicate the spider's booklung could be valuable tool in the detection ecological air pollutants.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.223-229
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• 2019

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is characterized by insulin resistance (IR). T2DM is correlated with obesity and most T2DM medications have been developed for enhancing insulin sensitivity. Silk protein fibroin (SPF) from spiders has been suggested as an attractive biomaterial for medical purposes. We generated transgenic rice (TR) expressing SPF and fed it to diabetic $BKS.Cg-m+/+Lepr^{db}$ mice to monitor the changes in blood glucose levels and adipose tissue proteins associated with energy metabolism and insulin signaling. In the present study, the adipocyte size in abdominal fat in TR-SPF-fed mice was remarkably smaller than that of the control. Whereas the adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK)-activated protein kinase and insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS1) protein levels were increased in abdominal adipose tissues after TR-SPF feeding, levels of six-transmembrane protein of prostate 2 (STAMP2) proteins decreased. Phosphorylation of AMPK at threonine 172 and IRS1 at serine 307 and tyrosine 632 were both increased in adipose tissues from TR-SPF-fed mice. Increased expression and phosphorylation of IRS1 at both serine 307 and tyrosine 632 in adipose tissues indicated that adipocytes obtained from abdominal fat in TR-SPF-fed mice were more susceptible to insulin signaling than that of the control. STAMP2 protein levels decreased in adipose tissues from TR-SPF-fed mice, indicating that STAMP2 proteins were reducing adipocytes that were undergoing lipolysis. Taken together, this study showed that TR-SPF was effective in reducing blood glucose levels in diabetic mice and that concurrent lipolysis in abdominal adipocytes was associated with alterations of AMPK, IRS1, and STAMP2. Increased IRS1 expression and its phosphorylation by TR-SFP were considered to be particularly important in the induction of lipolysis in adipocytes, as well as in reducing blood glucose levels in this animal model.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.80 no.2
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• pp.162-176
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• 1991

For the purpose of contributing to wild birds protection and propagation, distribution characteristics and ecological breeding habitats were surveyed in Mt. Chiri from September, 1986 to December, 1989 by the use of the nestboxes installed in four study sites by the altitude. The results were as follows ; 1. During the study period, observed birds were 2,403 individuals belong to 59 species, especially, at the 1,400m above altitude the rare species, Falco tinnunculus and the protecting bird species such as Ninox scutulata, Strix aluco and Prunella collaris were observed. 2. In the inhabitation structure of birds by the altitude, Fringilla montfringilla was the highest dominance (41.33%) among the inhabitated birds in the surveyed area. 3. Phasianus colchicus and Streptopelia orientalis which were mainly inhabited in hilly area were observed until the altitude of 900m. 4. The 92.5% of nest boxes was mainly used by the small birds, Parus spp. and Sitta europaea. These species preferred the nest boxes installed at the edge or along the mountaineering path, because they could get food and water easily from those places. 5. The utilization rate of the nest boxes was showed 86% at 500m, 96% at 900m, 98% at 1,400m and 90% at 1,700m above the altitude, respectively. 6. The breeding rate of birds in the nest boxes was showed from 6% to 46% by altitude. Parus varius was the highest breeding species in the surveyed area. These birds inhabited above 500m laid eggs from 15th, April to 22th, May(n=22), but those above 1,700m laid eggs from 28th, April to 27th, May(n=13), that 13 days were delayed at high altitude. 7. Food items of the chicks of the 5 species collected by the collar method were animal matters ; 91.3% of the food was forest insects such as Phalera asiimilis and Pleuroptya batteata except 8.7% of spiders.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.142-156
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to analyze observation characteristics through eye movement according to cognitive style. For this, developed observation task that can be shown the difference between wholistic cognitive style group and analytic cognitive style group, measured eye movement of university students who has different cognitive style, as given observation task. It is confirmed the difference between two cognitive style groups by analysing gathered statistics and visualization data. The findings of this study were as follows; First, Compared observation sequence and pattern by cognitive style, analytic cognitive style group is concerned with spider first and moving on surrounding environment, whereas wholistic cognitive style group had not fixed pattern as observing spider itself and surrounding area of spider alternately or looking closely on particular part at first. When observing entire feature and partial feature, wholistic cognitive style group was moving on Fixation from outstanding factor without fixed pattern, analytic cognitive style had certain directivity and repetitive investigation. Second, compared the ratio of observation, analytic cognitive style group gave a large part to spider the very thing, wholistic cognitive style group gave weight to surrounding area of spider, and analytic group shown higher concentration on observing partial feature, wholistic cognitive style group shown higher concentration on observing wholistic feature. Wholistic cognitive style group gave importance to partial features in surrounding area, and wholistic feature of spider than analytic cognitive style group, analytic cognitive style group was focus on partial features of spider than wholistic cognitive style group. Through the result of this study, there are differences of observing time, frequency, object, area, sequence, pattern and ratio from cognitive styles. It is shown the reason why each student has varied outcome, from the difference of information following their cognitive style, and the result of this study help to figure out and give direction to what observation fulfillment is suitable for each student.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.18-28
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• 1981

The purpose of this study was to establish the intergrated control of rice insect pests. Specific objectives were to reveal the diversity of natural enemies in rice field environment, to obtain basic informations of their population dynamics, and to screen the selective insecticides for the conservation of natural enemies. The results of the study were as follows. 1. In numbers of species and in numbers of each species of parasitic Hymenoptera of rice insect pests were more diverse and abundant in rice paddy leeves and banks than paddy fields. Braconid Mymarid and pteromalid were predominated in the field and their population was high during early August to mid September. 2. Of the predatory spiders, Pirata subpiraticus was the largest in number and amounted to 72% of the total, Gnatonarium dentatum, Pachygnatha clerki and Clubiona japonicola were the next. It was also found that P. subpiraticus had three generations in a year. 3. Hence the activities of the predatory spider species and parasitic Hymenoptera were high in early to mid August and September, it would be better promising to avoid chemical applications at this time of periods as possible. 4. The relative toxicity of several insecticides which have been used for the control of brown plant hopper (BPH) showed that P. subpiraticus was 1.1-73.1 times higher than BPH and G. dentatum to P. subpiraticus was 1.1-73.1 times, respectively. 5. Three conventional insecticides, Padan, Diazinon and Carbofuran were screened for toxicity to predatory spider species. The insecticides deffered in their toxicity to the predators. However, Padan was appeared to be the least toxic to the predators.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.87 no.4
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• pp.571-576
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• 1998

Experiments were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of the application of low concentration insecticides by sprinkler system for control of the pine needle gall midge, Thecodiplasis japonensis, by killing the adults emerging and copulating near the ground. For ground spray, 2 insecticides of fenitrothion and deltamethrin, dilutions of $2,000{\times}$ and $3,000{\times}$ deltamethrin, and 3 spray intervals of 1-3 day were tested at the peak time of adult emergence during the day time. The results are as follows ; 1. Ground spray of fenitrothion 50% EC and deltamethrin 1% EC were found to be highly effective for control of the pine needle gall midge. Average gall formation by fenitrothion, deltamethrin and untreated ones were 3.40%, 5.23% and 45.69%, respectively ; control value of both insecticides exceeded 88%. 2. As a ground spray of deltamethrin 1% EC, dilution $2,000{\times}$ was significantly different from $3,000{\times}$ in gall formation rates. Average gall formation of $2,000{\times}$ plots and $3,000{\times}$ treated ones were 5.23% and 18.00% ; control values were 89.44% and 63.66%, respectively. 3. Diurnal treatment of ground spray was found to be highly effective for control of pine needle gall midge. 4. In particular, control by ground application of dilutions $2,000{\times}$ and $3,000{\times}$ of deltamethrin is suggested because it does not have an adverse effect on arthropods of the ground surface such as ants and spiders.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.79 no.2
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• pp.115-126
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• 1990

This study was performed to find differences in phototaxis response of the larva, adult emergence, sex ratio and gall formation rate of Thecodiplosis japonensis Uchida et Inouye between two areas, north and south. Larvae from these two areas, Hweng-sung in north and Moo-an in south, both considered to be the sities of severe outbreak of the insect recently, were collected from the floor and transported to the entomology larboratory, Won-Kwang University in Iri, then overwintered. These larvae were used for various experimental purposes on various dates. The following results were obtained. 1. The sizes of larvae reached 2.45 in length, 0.70 in width for north, and 2.50 in length, 0.72 in width for sourth. It seems that the differents were not significant. 2. It is known that Leaving gall of larvae to the ground for the hibernation usually occurs on rainy days. For the larvae dispersion, the phototaxis response of the larvae was hypothesized. To check this, the author manipulated some different illumination intensities adjusting the distance between the glass tube in which 100 larvae were contained and electric bulb. The glass tubes were blackened all but except a small portion. The phototaxis responses between two areas seemed to be different particularly at low light intensities, 45, 145 and 1000 lux, The larvae from north assembled to the clear portion of the glass tube were more than 30 out of 100, however less than 30 in south sample regardless of the time passage. In either cases, the saturation points came after about 8 to 10 hours. If temperature units were used, the phototaxis curve= after 1 hour illumination between two areas provided significant differences. 3. The adult emergence of south area was lagged 10 days later than that of north area. The accumulated effective day-degrees of temperature for adult emergence were $934^{\circ}C$ for north area and $1180^{\circ}C$ for south area. The emerging duration of north area appeared to be in late May through the early of July and the peak emergence occurred in middle June that was approximately 15days earlier than that of south area. The sex ratio of female to male, regardless of area, was approximately 3 : 1. 4. The rates of gall formation of the red pine(Pinus densiflora Siebold et Zuccarini), 6-year-old seedlings, were as low as 9.94% for north area and 8.87% for south area. Through the close observation, the author presumed that the population reduction was greatly affected during the prepupa stage by relative moisture content and predators, such as spiders and ants presented on the ground.

• Korean Journal of Breeding Science
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.406-414
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• 2018

This study was conducted to develop environmental risk assessments and biosafety guides for insect-resistant genetically modified rice in an LMO (Living Modified Organism) isolation field. In the LMO quarantine area of Kyungpook National University, the species diversities and population densities of non-target insects found on insect-resistant genetically modified rice (Bt-T), rice resistant to Cnaphalocrocis medinalis, and non-GM rice (Dongjin-byeo and Ilmi-byeo) were investigated. The Bt-T plants were, therefore, evaluated under field conditions to detect possible impacts on above ground insects and spiders. In 2016 and 2017, the study compared transgenic rice and two non-GM reference rice, namely Dongjin-byeo and Ilmi-byeo, at Gunwi. A total of 9,552 individuals from 51 families and 11 orders were collected from the LMO isolation field. From the three types of rice fields, a total of 3,042; 3,212; and 3,297 individuals from the Bt-T, Dongjin-byeo, and Ilmi-byeo were collected, respectively. There was no difference between the population densities of the non-target insect pests, natural enemies, and other insects on the Bt-T compared to non-GM rice. The data on insect species population densities were subjected to principal component analysis (PCA) without distinguishing between the three varieties, namely GM, non-GM, and reference cultivar, in all cultivation years. However, the PCA clearly separated the samples based on the cultivation years. These results suggest that insect species diversities and population densities during plant cultivation are determined by environmental factors (growing condition and seasons) rather than by genetic factors.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.76 no.2
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• pp.109-118
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• 1987

The purpose of this study was to investigate the inhabiting ecology of wild birds using artificial nests in Gyeongnam province. The sort of birds, the utilization of artificial nests by the materials, by the sites and by the forest type, and other inhabiting ecology of birds were investigated from 1984 to 1986. The results obtained were as follows; 1. Wild birds in surveyed areas were classified into 20 families and 35 species. Among them the birds inhabiting the artificial nests were 6 species and those using them most frequently were Parus ater (17.2%), P. major (16.7%) and P. palustris (12.2%). 2. The artificial nests installed on the top and at the toot of the mountain were chiefly utilized by P. ater and P. major, but the artificial nests in park area were mostly used by Passer montanus and Sturnus cineraceus. 3. Sixty-one percent of the artificial nests were utilized by the birds; 45.5% were used for breeding and 15.6% were inhabitation only. 4. When different nest materials and shapes were tested, mixed nests (sawdust and cement) were used most frequently, and C type. (Diamond shape) of wood nests was used more frequently compared with the A (Roof shape) and B (Box shape) types of wood nests. Meanwhile, the birds prefered the 3cm hole size (81.1% of utilization) to 4cm of hole (57.8%) and 5cm of hole (24.4%). 5. The artificial nests constructed in mixed forest were more frequently inhabited (73.3%) by the birds than coniferous forest (68.3%) and broad-leaved forest (63.3%). 6. The period of egg-laying in Parus species was from late April to early May, while Eophona migratoria, Lanius bucephalus, Motacilla alba and Passer montanus laid eggs generally in the middle of May. 7. Parus species, Passer montanus and Motacilla alba laid one egg every day for 5-10days, but Eopphona migratoria laied 4 eggs in 7 days and Lanius bucephalus laid 5 eggs in 4 days. The incubation period of Parus species was 16-18 days, while the others were about 11 to 14 days. 8. Thirteen days after the hatch of Parus major, chicks reached 13.9g of body weight, 72.0mm of wing-length and 20.9mm of tarsus length. P. montanus chicks reached 20.3g of weight, 66.2mm of wing-length and 20.2mm of tarsus length during the same period. 9. Food item of feeding chicks almost consisted of creatures (98.2%) with following composition; 55.2% of insect larvae, 37.2% adult insects, 2.8% of pupae and 2.8% of spiders. Vegetable items were 2% only. Among those creature food items, 95.2% were insect pests to forest.