• Animal Bioscience
• /
• v.35 no.12
• /
• pp.1827-1838
• /
• 2022

Objective: The semen quality of stallions including sperm motility is an important target of selection as it has a high level of individual variability. However, effects of the molecular architecture of the genome on the mechanisms of sperm formation and their preservation after thawing have been poorly investigated. Here, we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for the sperm motility of cryopreserved semen in stallions of various breeds. Methods: Semen samples were collected from the stallions of 23 horse breeds. The following semen characteristics were examined: progressive motility (PM), progressive motility after freezing (FPM), and the difference between PM and FPM. The respective DNA samples from these stallions were genotyped using Axiom Equine Genotyping Array. Results: We performed a GWAS search for single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers and potential genes related to motility properties of frozen-thawed semen in the stallions of various breeds. As a result of the GWAS analysis, two SNP markers, rs1141327473 and rs1149048772, were identified that were associated with preservation of the frozen-thawed stallion sperm motility, the relevant putative candidate genes being NME/NM23 family member 8 (NME8), olfactory receptor family 2 subfamily AP member 1 (OR2AP1), and olfactory receptor family 6 subfamily C member 4 (OR6C4). Potential implications of effects of these genes on sperm motility are herein discussed. Conclusion: The GWAS results enabled us to localize novel SNPs and candidate genes for sperm motility in stallions. Implications of the study for horse breeding and genetics are a better understanding of genomic regions and candidate genes underlying stallion sperm quality, and improvement in horse reproduction and breeding techniques. The identified markers and genes for sperm cryotolerance and the respective genomic regions are promising candidates for further studying the biological processes in the formation and function of the stallion reproductive system.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
• /
• v.22 no.11
• /
• pp.1875-1885
• /
• 2021

Objective: Central nervous system involvement in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been increasingly reported. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the incidence of radiologically demonstrated neurologic complications and detailed neuroimaging findings associated with COVID-19. Materials and Methods: A systematic literature search of MEDLINE/PubMed and EMBASE databases was performed up to September 17, 2020, and studies evaluating neuroimaging findings of COVID-19 using brain CT or MRI were included. Several cohort-based outcomes, including the proportion of patients with abnormal neuroimaging findings related to COVID-19 were evaluated. The proportion of patients showing specific neuroimaging findings was also assessed. Subgroup analyses were also conducted focusing on critically ill COVID-19 patients and results from studies that used MRI as the only imaging modality. Results: A total of 1394 COVID-19 patients who underwent neuroimaging from 17 studies were included; among them, 3.4% of the patients demonstrated COVID-19-related neuroimaging findings. Olfactory bulb abnormalities were the most commonly observed (23.1%). The predominant cerebral neuroimaging finding was white matter abnormality (17.6%), followed by acute/subacute ischemic infarction (16.0%), and encephalopathy (13.0%). Significantly more critically ill patients had COVID-19-related neuroimaging findings than other patients (9.1% vs. 1.6%; p = 0.029). The type of imaging modality used did not significantly affect the proportion of COVID-19-related neuroimaging findings. Conclusion: Abnormal neuroimaging findings were occasionally observed in COVID-19 patients. Olfactory bulb abnormalities were the most commonly observed finding. Critically ill patients showed abnormal neuroimaging findings more frequently than the other patient groups. White matter abnormalities, ischemic infarctions, and encephalopathies were the common cerebral neuroimaging findings.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
• /
• v.50 no.2
• /
• pp.163-170
• /
• 2024

In the literature, inhalation of cosmetic fragrances, including natural extracts or natural essential oils, has been reported to induce brainwave changes. Angelica gigas (AG) and Cnidium officinale (CO) are widely used in East Asian countries as traditional medicines to improve health, but there have been no previous reports of inhaling their aromas and assessing changes in brain activity through electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings. In this study, the scent of natural herbal extracts such as Artemisia princeps var. orientalis (Compositae), AG, and CO was inhaled and evaluated whether emotional state changes were caused by olfactory stimuli, and brain activity was confirmed through EEG records before and after inhaling the scent of natural herbal extracts in subjects aged 20 to 30. We also used an electrocardiogram (ECG) to record the electrical activity of the heart during fragrance administration. The test results indicated that inhaling the scents of Compositae, AG, and CO extracts, as well as the positive control lavender, significantly increased the relative alpha power and the alpha/beta ratio of brain waves across the brain regions. The ECG recordings indicated that the inhalation of Compositae fragrance significantly decreased the low-frequency/high-frequency ratio, and that the inhalation of traditional herbal extract fragrances resulted in comfort and relaxation.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.155-163
• /
• 2003

Fluoranthene, a common polycyclicaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), exhibits phototoxicity which may affect aquatic organisms. The eventual goal of this study is to develop a biomarker of Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) used in monitoring hazardous chemicals in the ecosystem. In this study we investigated neural toxicity of fluoranthene in Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) along with comparative analysis of corresponding behavioral response. The untreated individuals shooed normal behavioral characteristics (i. e., smooth and linear movements). The treated fish, however, showed stopping and abrupt change of orientation (100 ppb), and severely reduced locomotive activity and enhanced surfacing activity (1,000 ppb). Treatment of the medaka fish with fluoranthene caused a significant suppresson of acetycholine esterase (AChE) activities in the body portion but not in the head portion. When fish were exposed to 1,000 ppb of fluoranthene for 24 hr, the body AChE activities decreased from 126.${\pm}$31.89 (nmoles substrate hydrolyzed per min per mg protein) to 49.51${\pm}$11.99. Expressions of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) protein in the different organs from both head and body portions were comparatively analyzed using an immunohistochemical technique. Five organs of the medaka fish showing a strong TH protein expression were the olfactory bulb, hypothalamus, optic lobe, pons and myelencephalon regions. This study provides molecular and neurobehavioral bases of a biomonitoring system for toxic chemicals using fish as a model organism.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.118-125
• /
• 2018

An evaluation system for an electronic-nose concept using three types of metal oxide gas sensors that react similarly to the human olfactory cells was constructed for the quantitative and qualitative evaluation of aroma fragrances. Four types of aroma fragrances (lavender, orange, jasmine, and Roman chamomile), which are commonly used in aromatherapy, were evaluated. All the gas sensors reacted remarkably to the aroma fragrances and the good correlation of r=0.58-0.88 with the aromatic odor intensities by olfaction was confirmed. From the results of the analysis of an electronic-nose concept for classifying the characteristics of aroma oil fragrances, aroma oils could be classified using the fragrance characteristics and oil extraction methods with the cumulative variability contribution rate of 95.65% (F1: 69.65%, F2: 26.03%) by principal component analysis. In the pattern recognition based on the artificial neural network, the four aroma fragrances were 100% recognized through the training data of 56 cases (70%) out of 80 cases, and the pattern recognition rate was 57.1%-71.4% through the validation and testing data of 24 cases (30%). The pattern recognition success rate through all confusion matrices was 82.1%, indicating that the classification of aroma oil fragrances using the three types of gas sensors was successful.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.21-25
• /
• 2008

Purpose : The objective of this study was conducted to find out the facilitation therapy. Therapeutic exercise concepts are changed from classical therapeutic exercise and neurophysiolosical approach to facilitation therapy. Methods : This is literature study with books and PNF international course books. Results : Facilitation concepts are changed. Complex movements are the result of spinal reflex-mechanism. It was changed the to reflex-reponses are variable and organization of complex movements are determined by the necessity to move. Therefore therapy goals and concepts of spasticity have to change. Conclusion : Facilitation therapy approach by use input systems, which are needed to interact with environmental and task demands. The systems are visual, tactile, propriocepsis, vestibular, acoustical and olfactory. Facilitation therapy need these system all together with shaping.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.23-29
• /
• 2009

This paper presents a capacity estimation of a storage system accumulating all data sensed during the lifetime of an individual human being. The calculation assumes modern data compression and data collection schemes based on wearable or implanted devices under ubiquitous environment. More than 76% of the storage area is found to be used for video data storage of common TV image quality. The remaining storage area is for data from other sensing organs including audio, taste, olfactory and tactual systems in addition to indexing information. Total storage area of around 600 tera bytes is needed to cover 100 years of human life including his fetal period.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.366-370
• /
• 2007

New product development requires information on customers' emotions such as vision, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, or tactile perceptions. In this study, tactile sense which has not been well studied compared to other senses, was measured and statistically analysed for different surface roughnesses of plastic samples. The emotional responses of 37 pairs of positive and negative adjectives describing tactile senses were collected and analysed through the questionnaire to find the correlation between adjectives and surface roughness. Frequency of the first preference for each adjective on four different roughness is obtained, and used for the statistical studies such as factor analysis, multidimensional scaling, or clustering.

• The Korean Journal of Zoology
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.105-110
• /
• 1972

A cellulosse acetate electrophoretic survey of Korean Anura has revealed the presence of diverse lactate and malate dehydrogenase (LDH and MDH) isozymes. The pattern of LDH and MDH isozymes in the tissues of the central nervous system of the six species of Anura examined are species specific and differ from those of mammals and birds. Both Rana nigromaculata nigromaculata and Rana nigromaculata coreana have two molecular forms of LDH and MDH, respectively, with almost the same pattern. Whole brain homogenate of Rana temporaria shows also a maximum of only two LDH isozymes. Both Bufo bufo asiaticus and Bombina orientalis have five molecular forms of LDH with an entirely different spacing on the zymograms, whereas Rana rugosa has three. Two molecular forms of MDH are present in all animals examined and one band is shown in olfactory lobe and mixture of cerebellum and medulla oblongata of Rana nigromaculata nigromaculata.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.3.1-3.16
• /
• 2021

Coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been spreading worldwide since its outbreak in December 2019, and World Health Organization declared it as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. SARS-CoV-2 is highly contagious and is transmitted through airway epithelial cells as the first gateway. SARS-CoV-2 is detected by nasopharyngeal or oropharyngeal swab samples, and the viral load is significantly high in the upper respiratory tract. The host cellular receptors in airway epithelial cells, including angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 and transmembrane serine protease 2, have been identified by single-cell RNA sequencing or immunostaining. The expression levels of these molecules vary by type, function, and location of airway epithelial cells, such as ciliated cells, secretory cells, olfactory epithelial cells, and alveolar epithelial cells, as well as differ from host to host depending on age, sex, or comorbid diseases. Infected airway epithelial cells by SARS-CoV-2 in ex vivo experiments produce chemokines and cytokines to recruit inflammatory cells to target organs. Same as other viral infections, IFN signaling is a critical pathway for host defense. Various studies are underway to confirm the pathophysiological mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Herein, we review cellular entry, host-viral interactions, immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 in airway epithelial cells. We also discuss therapeutic options related to epithelial immune reactions to SARS-CoV-2.