• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.45-49
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• 2016

Purpose: This study was performed to evaluate the effects of cyclosporine-A (CsA) on linear growth in pediatric patients with steroid-dependent (SDNS) or resistant nephrotic syndrome (SRNS). Methods: Thirty-five pediatric patients with SDNS or SRNS undergoing glucocorticoid (GC) and/or CsA treatment were retrospectively reviewed. Seventeen patients were treated with GC alone and 18 were treated with GC and CsA. The cumulative doses of GC and CsA were quantified (mg/kg/day). Linear growth during the follow-up period was defined as the difference in Z-score between the initial and final height according to the follow-up period (${\Delta}$ height Z score/year). The associations between linear growth and clinical parameters were analyzed. Results: The linear growth of patients in the two groups was not significantly different (P=0.262). The ${\Delta}$ height Z score/year did not show a significant correlation with the cumulative doses of CsA, but was negatively correlated with the cumulative dose of GC and positively correlated with the Z score for height at the time of diagnosis. Conclusion: In children with SDNS or SRNS undergoing GC therapy, added CsA treatment may not have harmful effects on linear growth.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.75-78
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• 2014

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the clinical features of macrocephaly at birth in Korea using ultrasonography. Methods: We retrospectively investigated the medical records of full-term birth neonates in Cheil General Hospital & Women's Healthcare Center from January 2000 to June 2012. The following parameters were recorded and analyzed: gestational age, sex, birth weight, height, occipitofrontal circumference (OFC), physical examination, perinatal problems, and ultrasonography results. Macrocephaly was diagnosed when the OFC was greater than two standard deviations, based on the 2007 Korean National Growth Charts. Results: There were 75 neonates with macrocephaly at birth (52 boys and 23 girls), with a mean OFC of $38.1{\pm}0.49cm$. A comparison of the birth weight and height with the OFC value showed that height was correlated with OFC (r=0.35) but birth weight was not correlated with OFC (r=0.06). There were no remarkable findings in 56 cases (75%). Germinal matrix hemorrhage was identified in 10 cases (13%). An enlarged cerebrospinal fluid space was found in 5 cases (6.7%). There were 3 cases of mega-cisterna magna (4%), 1 case of ventriculomegaly, and 1 case of an enlarged interhemispheric space (6 mm) among these patients. In addition, a choroid plexus cyst was seen in 1 case. Mineralizing vasculopathy in both basal ganglia with no evidence of congenital infection was found in 2 cases and an asymptomatic subarachnoid hemorrhage was found in 1 case. Conclusion: Our results indicate that macrocephaly at birth has benign ultrasonography findings and shows a pattern of male dominance.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.8
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• pp.1061-1065
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• 2015

Data collected from 690 purebred Duroc pigs from 2009 to 2012 were used to estimate the heritability, and genetic and phenotypic correlations between production and meat quality traits. Variance components were obtained through the restricted maximum likelihood procedure using Wombat and SAS version 9.0. Animals were raised under the same management in five different breeding farms. The average daily gain, loin muscle area (LMA), backfat thickness (BF), and lean percent (LP) were measured as production traits. Meat quality traits included pH, cooking loss, lightness ($L^*$), redness ($a^*$), yellowness ($b^*$), marbling score (MS), moisture content (MC), water holding capacity (WHC), and shear force. The results showed that the heritability estimates for meat quality traits varied largely from 0.19 to 0.79. Production traits were moderate to highly heritable from 0.41 to 0.73. Genotypically, the BF was positively correlated (p<0.05) with MC (0.786), WHC (0.904), and pH (0.328) but negatively correlated with shear force (-0.533). The results of genetic correlations indicated that selection for less BF could decrease pH, moisture content, and WHC and increase the shear force of meat. Additionally, a significant positive correlation was recorded between average daily gain and WHC, which indicates pork from faster-growing animals has higher WHC. Furthermore, selection for larger LMA and LP could increase MS and lightness color of meat. The meat quality and production traits could be improved simultaneously if desired. Hence, to avoid further deterioration of pork characteristics, appropriate selection of traits should be considered.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.277-287
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• 2018

Current reports suggest that obesity is a serious global health issue. Emerging evidence has predicted strong links between obesity and the human gut microbiota. However, only a few such studies have been conducted in Asia, and the gut microbiota of lean and obese adult Asians remains largely unexplored. Here, we investigated the potential relationship between gut microbiota, body massindex (BMI), and metabolic parameters in adults from Thailand, where obesity is increasing rapidly. Fecal and blood samples were collected from 42 volunteers who were allocated into lean, overweight, and obese groups. The fecal microbiota was examined by quantitative PCR analysis. Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Staphylococcus spp. and methanogens were most abundant in lean volunteers. Overweight volunteers majorly harbored Christensenella minuta and Akkermansia muciniphila, ${\gamma}-Proteobacteria$, and bacteria belonging to the genus Ruminococcus. Methanogens and bacteria belonging to the phylum Bacteroidetes were negatively correlated with adiposity markers (BMI and waist circumference), but positive correlated with high-density lipoprotein, suggesting that they can be used as leanness markers. While some of our results agree with those of previous reports, results regarding the contributions of specific taxa to obesity were inconsistent. This is the first study to report the adult gut microbiota in Southeast Asian populations using molecular techniques and biochemical markers and provides a foundation for future studies in this field.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.377-388
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• 2014

Purpose: Determining the spatial structure of data is important in understanding within-field variability for site-specific crop management. An understanding of the spatial structures present in the data may help illuminate interrelationships that are important in subsequent explanatory analyses, especially when site variables are correlated or are a combined response to multiple causative factors. Methods: In this study, correlation, principal component analysis, and single and nested variogram models were applied to soil electrical conductivity and chemical property data of two fields in central Missouri, USA. Results: Some variables that were highly correlated, or were strongly expressed in the same principal component, exhibited similar spatial ranges when fitted with a single variogram model. However, single variogram results were dependent on the active lag distance used, with short distances (30 m) required to fit short-range variability. Longer active lag distances only revealed long-range spatial components. Nested models generally yielded a better fit than single models for sensor-based conductivity data, where multiple scales of spatial structure were apparent. Gaussian-spherical nested models fit well to the data at both short (30 m) and long (300 m) active lag distances, generally capturing both short-range and long-range spatial components. As soil conductivity relates strongly to profile texture, we hypothesize that the short-range components may relate to the scale of erosion processes, while the long-range components are indicative of the scale of landscape morphology. Conclusion: In this study, we investigated the effect of changing active lag distance on the calculation of the range parameter. Future work investigating scale effects on other variogram parameters, including nugget and sill variances, may lead to better model selection and interpretation. Once this is achieved, separation of nested spatial components by factorial kriging may help to better define the correlations existing between spatial datasets.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.386-392
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• 2016

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Changes in nutritional status during gestation and lactation have detrimental effects on offspring metabolism. Several animal studies have shown that maternal high-fat diet (HFD) can predispose the offspring to development of obesity and metabolic diseases, however the mechanisms underlying these transgenerational effects are poorly understood. Therefore, we examined the effect of maternal HFD consumption on metabolic phenotype and hepatic expression of involved genes in dams to determine whether any of these parameters were associated with the metabolic outcomes in the offspring. MATERIALS/METHODS: Female C57BL/6 mice were fed a low-fat diet (LFD: 10% calories from fat) or a high-fat diet (HFD: 45% calories from fat) for three weeks before mating, and during pregnancy and lactation. Dams and their male offspring were studied at weaning. RESULTS: Dams fed an HFD had significantly higher body and adipose tissue weights and higher serum triglyceride and cholesterol levels than dams fed an LFD. Hepatic lipid levels and mRNA levels of genes involved in lipid metabolism, including $LXR{\alpha}$, SREBP-2, FXR, LDLR, and ABCG8 were significantly changed by maternal HFD intake. Significantly lower total liver DNA and protein contents were observed in dams fed an HFD, implicating the disturbed liver adaptation in the pregnancy-related metabolic demand. HFD feeding also induced significant oxidative stress in serum and liver of dams. Offspring of dams fed an HFD had significantly higher serum cholesterol levels, which were negatively correlated with liver weights of dams and positively correlated with hepatic lipid peroxide levels in dams. CONCLUSIONS: Maternal HFD consumption induced metabolic dysfunction, including altered liver growth and oxidative stress in dams, which may contribute to the disturbed cholesterol homeostasis in the early life of male mice offspring.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.1536-1541
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• 2000

The present study was carried out to measure changes of feed intake and thirst level caused by water deprivation in goats fed on dry feed and to elucidate the relationship between those two parameters. Water deprivation significantly (p<0.01) decreased cumulative feed intake and rate of eating at 30, 60, 90 and 120 min, respectively, after feed presentation. Cumulative feed intake, after completion of 2 h feeding, was reduced by about 20, 21 and 64 % due to water deprivation during feeding for 2 h (WD2), for 22 h (WD22) and for 46 h (WD46), respectively, compared to free access to water (FAW). Compared to the FAW, WD2, WD22 and WD46 increased thirst level by about 5, 5 and 9 times, respectively. Mean thirst level (X, g/30 min) was negatively correlated with cumulative feed intake (Y, g DM) after completion of 2h feeding (Y=1302-0.2 X, $r^2=0.97$, p<0.05). Water deprivation depressed plasma volume and there was a significant positive regression between plasma volume (X, ml) and cumulative feed intake (Y, g DM) after completion of 2h feeding (Y=-1003+0.6 X, $r^2=0.99$, p<0.01). Mean plasma osmolality (X, mOsmol/l) correlated significantly and negatively with cumulative feed intake (Y, g DM) after completion of 2h feeding (Y=27004-84.9 X, $r^2=0.95$, p<0.05). In conclusion, a decrease of feed intake during water deprivation is mainly due to an increase of thirst level quantitatively, and the act of feeding itself induces thirst more than the length of water-deprivation periods in goats fed on dry feeds. The present findings suggest that plasma osmolality and plasma volume which affect thirst level are involved in the decrease of feed intake in water-deprived goats.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.983-988
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• 2007

The aim of this study was to examine the correlation between bovine casein (CN) mRNA expression levels in mammary epithelial cells and lactation period, the yields of milk proteins and other parameters. The cells were collected from each cow's milk, which contained somatic cell counts (SCC) of less than 100,000 cells/ml. The levels of ${\alpha}s1-$, ${\alpha}s2-$, ${\beta}$- and ${\kappa}$-CN mRNA expression were significantly correlated with each other in mammary epithelial cells (p<0.01). All cows produced either less than 30 kg/day/cow or a over 30 kg/day/cow level of milk yield (MY). It was shown that the CN mRNA expression levels decreased gradually from the calving period to late lactation, when MY was over 30 kg/day/cow. The SCC tended to increase gradually during the course of lactation, but it was negatively correlated with milk protein and CN yields (p<0.01) when MY was less than 30 kg/day/cow. Moreover, there was a tendency for a negative correlation between SCC and ${\alpha}s1$-CN and ${\beta}$-CN mRNA expression level, when MY was less than 30 kg/day/cow (p<0.05).

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.24 no.10
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• pp.1372-1376
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• 2011

The content of Ca in milk exceeds the typical saturation level of Ca salts, which is necessary for neonate growth. This calcium is distributed between the casein micelles in the colloidal and aqueous phases. Information on the properties of calcium activity in the aqueous phase is limited compared with that on the properties of bound or sequestrated calcium. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the changes in calcium activity in fresh milk using an ion-selective electrode and to assess the relationship between calcium activity and milk production in hot season. Milk samples collected from 10 cows at the National Agricultural Research Center for Kyushu Okinawa Region in June to October (Min-Max: 7.2-$35.2^{\circ}C$, 24.3-100% RH) were analyzed on total calcium concentrations and calcium activity. We observed that the rectal temperature of the cows increased according to elevation of ambient temperature but that the pH of the collected milk ($6.61{\pm}0.01$ (Mean${\pm}$SEM)) was not significantly influenced by rectal and ambient temperature. Total calcium concentrations and calcium activity in fresh milk decreased in July (Min-Max: 21.1-$33.5^{\circ}C$, 48.9-100.0% RH) compared with the values after August (Min-Max: 18.1-$35.0^{\circ}C$, 26.5-96.2% RH) (p<0.05); however, there was no significant correlation between the two parameters. The ratio of calcium activity to total calcium concentration decreased after August compared with the values in June and July (p<0.05). The calcium activity in fresh milk was positively correlated with milk yield (r = 0.45, p<0.01) and negatively correlated with milk lactose content (r = -0.53, p<0.01). These results suggest that the calcium activity in milk could be affected by ambient temperature and might be associated with milking production in hot season.

• The Korean Journal of Applied Statistics
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.287-301
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• 2018

It is common to encounter count data with excess zeros in various research fields such as the social sciences, natural sciences, medical science or engineering. Such count data have been explained mainly by zero-inflated Poisson model and extended models. Zero-inflated count data are also often correlated or clustered, in which random effects should be taken into account in the model. Frequentist approaches have been commonly used to fit such data. However, a Bayesian approach has advantages of prior information, avoidance of asymptotic approximations and practical estimation of the functions of parameters. We consider a Bayesian zero-inflated Poisson regression model with random effects for correlated zero-inflated count data. We conducted simulation studies to check the performance of the proposed model. We also applied the proposed model to smoking behavior data from the Regional Health Survey (2015) of the Korea Centers for disease control and prevention.