Perilla is a self-fertilizing crop widely used in East Asia for its seeds and leaves. Of the two varieties of Perilla, P. frutescens var. frutescens has long been used as a folk plant in South Korea. The seeds are rich in unsaturated fatty acids, which offer significant health benefits, making them popular for use in seed oil or as a spice. The leaves, with their high perilla ketone content and unique aroma, are used as leafy vegetables and spices. The morphological characteristics of crops are complex for various reasons, such as environment factors, multiplicity, etc. To better understand the morphological variations among three types of Perilla collected from three regions of South Korea, 7 qualitative traits and 10 quantitative traits were investigated using 500 Perilla accessions. The results of principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that the first two components together explained 52.2% of the overall variation. The 500 Perilla accessions clearly distinguished cultivated var. frutescens from weedy var. crispa and also revealed differences between cultivated and weedy types of var. frutescens. Significant morphological differences were observed among the three types of Perilla, especially in seed and plant characteristics. When the PCA results were analysed by region, regional differences were observed for all three types of Perilla. Therefore, this study provides a better understanding of the morphological and geographical differences in Perilla grown and naturally occurring in South Korea, which will aid research on crop evolution and differentiation, as well as Perilla breeding programmes.

This study aimed to identify the longitudinal association between seaweed and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in the Korean population. Data from 148 404 Korean adults aged 40 years and older without a history of T2DM, cardiovascular disease or cancer at baseline were obtained from the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study data. The participants’ seaweed intake was obtained using a validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire, and the diagnosis of T2DM was surveyed through a self-reported questionnaire during follow-up. The hazard ratio (HR) and 95 % confidence interval (CI) for T2DM were calculated using the Cox proportional hazard regression, and the dose–response relationship was analysed using a restricted cubic spline regression. Participants had a mean follow-up period of 5 years. Participants with the highest seaweed intake had a 7 % lower risk of T2DM compared with the group with the lowest intake (95 % CI (0·87, 0·99)). Interestingly, this association was stronger in those with normal weight (HR: 0·88, 95 % CI (0·81, 0·95)), while no association was observed in participants with obesity. Spline regression revealed an inverse linear relationship between seaweed intake and T2DM risk in participants with normal weight, showing a trend where increased seaweed intake is related to lower instances of T2DM (Pfor nonlinearity = 0·48). Seaweed intake is inversely associated with the onset of T2DM in Korean adults with normal weight.

Multiple studies have elucidated the antioxidant properties of Se, which are now well known among the nutrition and biomedical science communities. Recently, considerable interest has been focused on the possible association between Se exposure and risk of metabolic disease, such as lipid dysregulation; however, there is limited epidemiological data on this topic. The present study aimed to investigate associations between toenail Se levels and dyslipidaemia or individual lipid levels, and to examine the effect of dietary supplement use on these associations. We analysed baseline data from a cohort in the Yeungnam area, including 232 men and 269 women. Information on demographic, dietary and lifestyle characteristics was obtained through a self-reported questionnaire. Se levels in toenail specimens were measured using neutron activation analysis. Fasting blood lipid levels were measured during medical examinations. After adjusting for multiple confounding variables, we observed no association between toenail Se levels and dyslipidaemia or individual lipid profiles. However, the association was modified by dietary supplement use. Among the supplement users, higher toenail Se levels were associated with a higher prevalence of lipid dysregulation, whereas non-users exhibited a lower prevalence of lipid dysregulation. Associations between toenail Se levels, lipid levels and dyslipidaemia may be influenced by taking dietary supplements. Future large-scale, prospective cohort studies should be conducted to further evaluate the association between Se levels in the body and metabolic health effects in light of increasing rates of dietary supplement use.

To evaluate the appropriateness of the screening strategy for healthcare personnel (HCP) during a hospital-associated Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak, we performed a serologic investigation in 189 rRT-PCR–negative HCP exposed and assigned to MERS patients. Although 20%–25% of HCP experienced MERS-like symptoms, none of them showed seroconversion by plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT).

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2017;38:234–238

The aim of this study was to test the reproducibility and validity of a self-administered FFQ for the Trace Element Study of Korean Adults in the Yeungnam area (SELEN). Study subjects were recruited from the SELEN cohort selected from rural and urban areas in Yeungnam, Korea. A semi-quantitative FFQ with 146 items was developed considering the dietary characteristics of cohorts in the study area. In a validation study, seventeen men and forty-eight women aged 38–62 years completed 3-d dietary records (DR) and two FFQ over a 3-month period. The validity was examined with the FFQ and DR, and the reproducibility was estimated using partial correlation coefficients, the Bland–Altman method and cross-classification. There were no significant differences between the mean intakes of selected nutrients as estimated from FFQ1, FFQ2 and DR. The median correlation coefficients for all nutrients were 0·47 and 0·56 in the reproducibility and validity tests, respectively. Bland–Altman’s index and cross-classification showed acceptable agreement between FFQ1 and FFQ2 and between FFQ2 and DR. Ultimately, 78 % of the subjects were classified into the same and adjacent quartiles for most nutrients. In addition, the weighted κ value indicated that the two methods agreed fairly. In conclusion, this newly developed FFQ was a suitable dietary assessment method for the SELEN cohort study.

Intra-uterine growth retardation has been linked to the development of type 2 diabetes in later life. Mitochondrial changes have been suggested as a link between fetal malnutrition and adult insulin resistance. Taurine has been implicated in this process. We investigated whether protein malnutrition in early life alters mitochondria of the pancreatic islets in adulthood, and whether taurine supplementation restores these changes. Male offspring of rats fed a control diet, a low-protein diet or a low-protein diet supplemented with taurine during pregnancy and lactation were weaned onto the control diet. In each group, at 20 weeks of age, intravenous glucose tolerance tests, euglycaemic–hyperinsulinaemic clamp studies, morphometric analysis of the pancreatic islets and ultra-structural analysis of the mitochondria of the β-cells were performed. The expressions of cytochrome c oxidase (COX) I and mitochondrial respiratory chain complex II were also measured. Fetal protein-malnourished rats showed decreased pancreatic islet mass and reduced insulin-secretory responses to a glucose load. These rats also showed reduced mitochondrial DNA-encoded COX I gene expression in the islets. Electron microscopic examination showed abnormal mitochondrial shapes in the β-cells of fetal protein-malnourished rats. Taurine supplementation to the low-protein diet restored all these changes. Our findings indicate that a maternal protein-restriction diet causes long-lasting mitochondrial changes that may contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes later in life. The lack of taurine may be a key causative factor for these dysfunctional mitochondrial changes.

Human complement regulatory protein hCD46 may reduce the hyperacute rejection (HAR) in pig-to-human xenotransplantation. In this study, an hCD46 gene was introduced into porcine embryonic germ (EG) cells. Treatment of human serum did not affect the survival of hCD46-transgenic EG cells, whereas the treatment significantly reduced the survival of non-transgenic EG cells (p < 0.01). The transgenic EG cells presumably capable of alleviating HAR were transferred into enucleated oocytes. Among 235 reconstituted oocytes, 35 (14.9%) developed to the blastocyst stage. Analysis of individual embryos indicated that 80.0% (28/35) of embryos contained the transgene hCD46. The result of the present study demonstrates resistance of hCD46-transgenic EG cells against HAR, and the usefulness of the transgenic approach may be predicted by this cytolytic assessment prior to actual production of transgenic pigs. Subsequently performed EG cell nuclear transfer gave rise to hCD46-transgenic embryos. Further study on the transfer of these embryos to recipients may produce hCD46-transgenic pigs.

Asian plantain (Plantago asiatica) essential oil (PAEO) contains multiple bioactive compounds, but its potential effects on lipid metabolism have not been examined. PAEO was found to be mostly composed of oxygenated monoterpenes, with linalool as the major component (82·5 %, w/w), measured using GC–MS. Incubation of 0–200 μg PAEO/ml with HepG2 cells for 24 h resulted in no significant toxicity. Incubation with 0·2 mg PAEO/ml altered the expression of LDL receptor (+83 %; P < 0·05) and 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl-CoA (HMG-CoA) reductase ( − 37 %; P < 0·05), as assessed using RT-PCR. LDL oxidation was markedly inhibited by PAEO treatment due to the prevalence of linalool compounds in PAEO. Oral administration of PAEO for 3 weeks in C57BL/6 mice significantly reduced plasma total cholesterol and TAG concentrations by 29 and 46 %, respectively. The mRNA (+58 %; P < 0·05), but not protein, levels of the LDL receptor were significantly higher, whereas both mRNA and protein levels of HMG-CoA reductase were significantly lower ( − 46 and − 11 %, respectively; P < 0·05) in the liver of PAEO-fed than of control mice. The mRNA levels of CYP7A1 were marginally reduced in HepG2 cells, but not in mouse liver after PAEO treatment. Thus, PAEO may have hypocholesterolaemic effects by altering the expression of HMG-CoA reductase. Reduced TAG and oxidised LDL may provide additional cardiovascular protective benefits.

We have analyzed Tb L3-edge x-ray absorption near-edge structure spectra of Tb-doped phosphor compounds for plasma display panel applications. Intensity and lifetime of the green emission from the Tb3+:5D4→7F5 transition were measured with respect to nominal terbium concentration in the host compounds, i.e., YBO3, YPO4,and Y4Al2O9, all of which were made through the solid-state reaction. Typical concentration quenching was evident on the fluorescence intensity and the fluorescing level lifetime in our samples. From the analyses of white line absorption peaks at TbL3-edge, it was verified that terbium is essentially trivalent in all the samples, even invery highly concentrated ones. Thus, this implies that the concentration quenching was not caused by presence of mixed-valent states of terbium. Instead, it is believed that anonradiative energy transfer route among Tb3+ ions might be responsible for thebehavior.