• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Fisheries Technology Conference
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• 2000.05a
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• pp.375-376
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• 2000

Sex ratio of a population is a key factor to determine reproductive rate of the population. If the population has skewed sex ratio to the male, the population size may decline gradually at an area which it inhabits, and, furthermore, if a species plays an ecologically important role in its community (e.g., a keystone species in Paine, 1966), its potential reproductive rate will be to form a characterized community because community structure is strongly influenced by the abundance of the ecologically important species (Hughes, 1986). A number of workers (e.g., Bryan et al., 1986 in Nucella lapillus; Spence et al., 1990 in Thais haemastoma) suggested that high frequency and/or late stage of imposex might affect the female mortality and normal reproduction adversely. Consequently, the imposex could affect sex ratio of natural population of some neogastropod including thaisid species. (omitted)

• Kidney Research and Clinical Practice
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.315-322
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• 2018

The high mortality rates associated with acute kidney injury are mainly due to extra-renal complications that occur following distant-organ involvement. Damage to these organs, which is commonly referred to as multiple organ dysfunction syndrome, has more severe and persistent effects. The brain and its sub-structures, such as the hippocampus, are vulnerable organs that can be adversely affected. Acute kidney injury may be associated with numerous brain and hippocampal complications, as it may alter the permeability of the blood-brain barrier. Although the pathogenesis of acute uremic encephalopathy is poorly understood, some of the underlying mechanisms that may contribute to hippocampal involvement include the release of multiple inflammatory mediators that coincide with hippocampus inflammation and cytotoxicity, neurotransmitter derangement, transcriptional dysregulation, and changes in the expression of apoptotic genes. Impairment of brain function, especially of a structure that has vital activity in learning and memory and is very sensitive to renal ischemic injury, can ultimately lead to cognitive and functional complications in patients with acute kidney injury. The objective of this review was to assess these complications in the brain following acute kidney injury, with a focus on the hippocampus as a critical region for learning and memory.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.10
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• pp.1350-1357
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• 2021

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a major pathogen that causes human pneumonia, leading to significant morbidity and mortality. S. aureus coagulase (Coa) triggers the polymerization of fibrin by activating host prothrombin, which then converts fibrinogen to fibrin and contributes to S. aureus pathogenesis and persistent infection. In our research, we demonstrate that isovitexin, an active traditional Chinese medicine component, can inhibit the coagulase activity of Coa but does not interfere with the growth of S. aureus. Furthermore, we show through thermal shift and fluorescence quenching assays that isovitexin directly binds to Coa. Dynamic simulation and structure-activity relationship analyses suggest that V191 and P268 are key amino acid residues responsible for the binding of isovitexin to Coa. Taken together, these data indicate that isovitexin is a direct Coa inhibitor and a promising candidate for drug development against S. aureus infection.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.79-86
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• 1985

In order to judge appropriately the suitability as the second intermediate host of Clonorchis sinensis, the present experiments were proposed to survey the metacercaria of C. sinensis in the fish host, Cuztriculus eigenmanni, in the 6eld, and to observe, by experimental infection of the fish with Clonorchis cercaria, the penetrating ability of the cercaria, maturity, the process of degeneration and extinction, and infectivity of the metacercaria. The following is a brie summary of the leading facts gained through the experiments. 1. All the ten fish (mean body weight $13.4{\pm}3.439$) which were caught in Ok-ku irrigation reservoir were in acted with the metacercariae and the average number of the metacercariae found in the fish body/gram was 4.55. 2. The Bish was easily subject to invasion of the cercaria, and the examination of the cercariae after having the fish infected disclosed that 5:l hours after the infection, all of the cercariae formed their cysts in muscle and the metacercariae kept growing, that 7 days later the metacercariae were found folding their bodies twice, and that in 15 days the characteristic structure of the metacercariae was complete and made a vigorous rotary movement intermittently. 3. In the case of control fish, Pseudorasbora parka, both penetrating ability of the cercariae and the infective degree of the metacercariae to control host were stronger as compared with the 5sh host because that the control fish had higher suceptibility to C. sinensis. 4. Afterwards, the metacercariae in the fish host came to a state of maturity and beyond this stage some metacercariae started the Process of degeneration and extinction in as early as 30 days, and as more days elapsed, mortality of the metacercariae was not uniformly increased but difference of mortality appeared to be according to the individual of Ssh host. That is, in 390, 540 and 586 days, all of the metacercariae in the fish hosts became dead, meanwhile almost all of those found in the fish host of 596 days after the infection survived (mortality; 8, 51%) , Percentage of orally administered metacercariae developing to maturity in rabbit is 10.465 in the last case. 5. As the days were progressed the shapes of the metacercariae in the fish host tended to change from ellipsoid to almost round shapes, the length became shorter while the width was wider. The results shown above revealed that C. eigenmanni was, though it could not be proper host than p. larva. suitable as the second intermediate host in addition to our previous observation results.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.70-78
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• 1991

Both long period of summer drought and unusual high water temperature in 1988 caused the harmfull effect to the aquacultural organisms in south coast of Korea. One of those was the mass mortality of arkshell seedlings in Jinhae Bay. The purpose of this study was to verify the effects of environmental factors on arkshell seedlings by investigating not only water quality and food organisms in culturing grounds, but also meteorological conditions. Water temperature in November was higher at $2.0^{\circ}C$ than mean water temperature and the concentration of total inorganic nitrogen and N/P ratio were $0.38{\mu}g-at/l,$ 0.98, respectively which indicated the exhaustion of nutrients, especially nitrogen in the study area. In analysis of phytoplankton population structure, species diversity index(H) , equitability-index(e), species richness $index(d_1)$ were low, but dominance $index({\delta}_2)$ was high at the value of 98.4 and dominant species was Nitzschia pungens. In conclusion, it seems that mass .mortality of arkshell seedlings in November was resulted from the metabolism disorder with poor food organism under the unstable marine environment.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.3973-3980
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• 2014

Prostate adenocarcinoma is one of the leading causes of cancer related mortality in men but still limited knowledge is available about its associated functional SNPs including rs1042522 (Pro72Arg). The present study was undertaken to explore the association of this SNP with susceptibility to prostate adenocarcinoma along with its structural and functional impacts in the Pakistani population in a case-control study. Three-dimensional structure of human TP53 with Pro72Arg polymorphism was predicted through homology modeling, refined and validated for detailed structure-based assessment. We also carried out a HuGE review of the previous available data for this polymorphism. Different genetic models were used to evaluate the genotypes association with the increased risk of PCa (Allelic contrast: OR=0.0.34, 95%CI 0.24-0.50, p=0.000; GG vs CC: OR=0.17, 95%CI 0.08-0.38, p=0.000; Homozygous: OR=0.08, 95%CI 0.04-0.15, p=0.000; GC vs CC: OR=2.14, 95%CI 1.01-4.51, p=0.046; Recessive model: OR=0.10, 95%CI 0.05-0.18, p=0.000; Log Additive: OR=3.54, 95%CI 2.13-5.89, p=0.000) except the Dominant model (OR=0.77, 95%CI 0.39-1.52, p=0.46). Structure and functional analysis revealed that the SNP in the proline rich domain is responsible for interaction with HRMT1L2 and WWOX. In conclusion, it was observed that the Arg coding G allele is highly associated with increased risk of prostate adenocarcinoma in the Pakistani population (p=0.000).

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.8
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• pp.223-234
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• 2017

Background: Spatial structure of plants in a population reflects complex interactions of ecological and evolutionary processes. For dioecious plants, differences in reproduction cost between sexes and sizes might affect their spatial distribution. Abiotic heterogeneity may also affect adaptation activities, and result in a unique spatial structure of the population. Thus, we examined sex- and size-related spatial distributions of old-growth forest of dioecious tree Torreya nucifera in extremely heterogeneous Gotjawal terrain of Jeju Island, South Korea. Methods: We generated a database of location, sex, and size (DBH) of T. nucifera trees for each quadrat ($160{\times}300m$) in each of the three sites previously defined (quadrat A, B, C in Site I, II, and III, respectively). T. nucifera trees were categorized into eight groups based on sex (males vs. females), size (small vs. large trees), and sex by size (small vs. large males, and small vs. large females) for spatial point pattern analysis. Univariate and bivariate spatial analyses were conducted. Results: Univariate spatial analysis showed that spatial patterns of T. nucifera trees differed among the three quadrats. In quadrat A, individual trees showed random distribution at all scales regardless of sex and size groups. When assessing univariate patterns for sex by size groups in quadrat B, small males and small females were distributed randomly at all scales whereas large males and large females were clumped. All groups in quadrat C were clustered at short distances but the pattern changed as distance was increased. Bivariate spatial analyses testing the association between sex and size groups showed that spatial segregation occurred only in quadrat C. Males and females were spatially independent at all scales. However, after controlling for size, males and females were spatially separated. Conclusions: Diverse spatial patterns of T. nucifera trees across the three sites within the Torreya Forest imply that adaptive explanations are not sufficient for understanding spatial structure in this old-growth forest. If so, the role of Gotjawal terrain in terms of creating extremely diverse microhabitats and subsequently stochastic processes of survival and mortality of trees, both of which ultimately determine spatial patterns, needs to be further examined.

• The Korean Journal of Malacology
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.151-158
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• 2015

This study was conducted to find out the changes of survival, respiration and organ structure of Tegillarca granosa exposed to copper (Cu). Experimental period was four weeks. Experimental groups were composed of one control condition and three copper exposure conditions (0.125, 0.250 and 0.500 mg/L). The results of the study confirmed that copper induces reduction of survival rate and respiration rate and histopathology of organ structure of the bivalve. In the copper concentration of 0.500 mg/L, mortality was 66.7% after Cu exposure of 4 weeks. Respiration rate was observed exposure groups lower than control decline by 18%. Histological analysis of organ system illustrated degeneration of epithelial layer and connective tissue layer of the mantle. Also, histological degenerations as epithelial atrophy and disappearance of lateral cilia are recognized in the gill and it was observed expansion of hemolymph sinus, disruption of epithelial layer, acidification of mucous and degeneration of muscle fiber bundles in the foot. In the digestive diverticulum, it was showed atrophy and destruction of basophilic cell and epithelial cell in the digestive tubules.

• KIPS Transactions on Software and Data Engineering
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.91-98
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• 2018

Automatic detection of pig wasting diseases is an important issue in the management of group-housed pigs. In particular, porcine respiratory diseases are one of the main causes of mortality among pigs and loss of productivity in intensive pig farming. In this paper, we propose a noise-robust system for the early detection and recognition of pig wasting diseases using sound data. In this method, first we convert one-dimensional sound signals to two-dimensional gray-level images by normalization, and extract texture images by means of dominant neighborhood structure technique. Lastly, the texture features are then used as inputs of convolutional neural networks as an early anomaly detector and a respiratory disease classifier. Our experimental results show that this new method can be used to detect pig wasting diseases both economically (low-cost sound sensor) and accurately (over 96% accuracy) even under noise-environmental conditions, either as a standalone solution or to complement known methods to obtain a more accurate solution.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.355-361
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• 1999

Distribution of size class, population regeneration and changes in the population structure of Quercus mongolica were studied from 1994 to 1999 in Mt. Jumbong (128°27' E, 38° 04' N) of Mt. Sorak National Park and Biosphere Reserve in central Korea. Three 20m × 20m permanent quadrats were set up at the elevation of 900m. The vegetation of the study site was dominated by Quercus mongolica and Acer pseudosieboldianum, but little change was observed in the community structure from 1995 to 1999. Most mortality in the study site was observed in small trees of A. pseudosieboldianum and Tilia amurensis. Mean annual growth in dbh (diameter of breast height) of Q. mongolica for 4 years was only 0.09cm, and no ingrowth of saplings (dbh < 2.5cm) into tree class was observed during the study period. Among the 21 Q. mongolica trees studied in the permanent quadrats. all the smaller trees (dbh < 30cm) were established in 1920 ∼ 1950, while many bigger trees (with 40cm < dbh < 80cm) were established in 1750 ∼ 1800, indicating that its establishment was episodic. Distribution of dbh classes among Q. mongolica trees shows that smaller trees were poorly represented, and no saplings of Q. mongolica occurred in the permanent quadrats studied, indicating that currently Q. mongolica is not regenerating well in the study site. Total seed production of Q. mongolica in 1994 was estimated as 88 acorns per square meter in the study site. Rate of predation including caching of acorns was highest in 1994, then declined sharply thereafter. Most of the acorns which managed to survive in the first year were predated in the second year, and only 5% of the acorns produced in 1994 survived into the third year. No seeds produced in 1994 or seedlings germinated from them succeeded to survive to 5 years after seed production. However, seedling emergence rate and seedling survival were high in the early growing season in 1995. These results suggest that predation can be a significant factor in the regeneration of Q. mongolica. and that Q. mongolica is not regenerating well in Mt. Jumbong and needs large scale disturbances for its new recruitment.