Reintroduction includes the captive propagation and movement of extirpated animals or plants into areas of historical and native distribution. Many biotic or abiotic factors can affect a founder population when small numbers are released into unfamiliar novel environments, particularly at the early stage of reintroduction. The inclusion of behavioural and ecological components plays a crucial role in the decision-making process of endangered species conservation efforts such as reintroduction. Since the resident population of Oriental Storks Ciconia boyciana was locally extirpated in South Korea in 1971, its founders have been established through reintroduction since 2015. The aim of this study was to investigate the demography, habitat use, and movement patterns of stork founders using the first two-year demographic and tracking data. Stork founders maintained their population size, which slightly increased in the long term. The patterns of habitat use and movement depended on rice paddy fields for foraging and breeding along with mixed effects of breeding status and season. Considering ecological and life history-related perspectives, we also discuss the potential adaptiveness of founder Oriental Storks as a resident population in a novel environment in South Korea.

Oxidative stress causes several diseases and dysfunctions in cells, including oocytes. Clearly, oxidative stress influences oocyte quality during in vitro maturation and fertilization. Here we tested the ability of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) to reduce reactive oxygen species (ROS) and improve mouse oocyte quality during in vitro culture. Treatment with 50 μM CoQ10 efficiently reduced ROS levels in oocytes cultured in vitro. The fertilizable form of an oocyte usually contains a cortical granule-free domain (CGFD). CoQ10 enhanced the ratio of CGFD–oocytes from 35% to 45%. However, the hardening of the zona pellucida in oocytes was not affected by CoQ10 treatment. The in vitro maturation capacity of oocytes, which was determined by the first polar body extrusion, was enhanced from 48.9% to 75.7% by the addition of CoQ10 to the culture medium. During the parthenogenesis process, the number of two-cell embryos was increased by CoQ10 from 43.5% to 67.3%. Additionally, treatment with CoQ10 increased the expression of Bcl2 and Sirt1 in cumulus cells. These results suggested that CoQ10 had a positive effect on ROS reduction, maturation rate and two-cell embryo formation in mouse oocyte culture.

A new design method of an ultra-wideband circularly-polarized planar multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) antenna is presented in this paper. The proposed MIMO antenna consists of four unit cell antennas, being comprised of a microstrip feed line and a square slotted ground plane. In the proposed unit cell design, a circular stub is protruded from the ground plane strip for achieving circular polarization. The unit cell of the MIMO antenna is optimized by adjusting design parameters. The compact four-port MIMO antenna prototype is designed on the FR4 substrate with the overall dimensions of 45 × 45 × 1.6 mm3. The proposed four-port MIMO antenna design provides an impedance bandwidth (S11 < −10 dB) of 112% (3.1–11 GHz) and a 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth of 36% (4.8–6.9 GHz). The performance of the fabricated MIMO antenna shows good agreement between the EM simulation and measurement results.

Following ovulation, oocytes undergo a time-dependent deterioration in quality referred to as post-ovulatory ageing. Although various factors influence the post-ovulatory ageing of oocytes, oxidative stress is a key factor involved in deterioration of oocyte quality. Artemisia asiatica Nakai ex Pamp. has been widely used in East Asia as a food ingredient and traditional medicine for the treatment of inflammation, cancer, and microbial infections. Recent studies have shown that A. asiatica exhibits antioxidative effects. In this study, we investigated whether A. asiatica has the potential to attenuate deterioration in oocyte quality during post-ovulatory ageing. Freshly ovulated mouse oocytes were cultured with 0, 50, 100 or 200 μg/ml ethanol extracts of A. asiatica Nakai ex Pamp. After culture for up to 24 h, various ageing-induced oocyte abnormalities, including morphological changes, reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation, apoptosis, chromosome and spindle defects, and mitochondrial aggregation were determined. Treatment of oocytes with A. asiatica extracts reduced ageing-induced morphological changes. Moreover, A. asiatica extracts decreased ROS generation and the onset of apoptosis by preventing elevation of the Bax/Bcl-2 expression ratio during post-ovulatory ageing. Furthermore, A. asiatica extracts attenuated the ageing-induced abnormalities including spindle defects, chromosome misalignment and mitochondrial aggregation. Our results demonstrate that A. asiatica can relieve deterioration in oocyte quality and delay the onset of apoptosis during post-ovulatory ageing.

A transverse (d 33) mode piezoelectric cantilever was fabricated for energy harvesting. Various dimensions of interdigital electrodes (IDE) were deposited on a piezoelectric layer to examine the effects of electrode design on the performance of energy harvesters. Modeling was performed to calculate the output power of the devices. The estimation was based on Roundy’s analytical modeling derived for a d 31 mode piezoelectric energy harvester (PEH). In order to apply the Roundy’s model to d 33 mode PEH, the IDE configuration was converted to the area of top and bottom electrodes (TBE). The power conversion in d 33 mode PEH was commonly estimated by the product of piezoelectric layer’s thickness and finger electrode’s length. In addition, the spacing between fingers was regarded as gap between top and bottom electrodes. However, the output power in a transverse mode PEH increases continuously with the increase of finger spacing, which does not correspond to experimental results. In this research, the dimension of IDE was converted to that of TBE using conformal mapping, and variation of power of PEH was remodeled. The modified model suggests that the maximum power in a transverse mode PEH is obtained when the finger spacing is identical with effective finger spacing. The output power then decreases when finger spacing is larger than effective finger spacing. The decrease of efficiency may result from insufficient degree of poling and increased charged defect with increasing finger spacing.

Learning to read and to write influences not only verbal skills but also global cognitive performance. Our study aimed to compare the visuoconstructional abilities of elderly illiterates with those of elderly literates. A total of 125 healthy subjects over 65 years old were recruited. Korean version of Mini-Mental State Examination (K-MMSE) and the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-cognitive subscale (ADAS-cog) constructional praxis examination were used. We divided subjects into three groups (educated literate n = 53, uneducated literate n = 36 and uneducated illiterate n = 36). Interlocking pentagons drawing, a part of the K-MMSE, was scored using the 6-point hierarchical scale. The uneducated-illiterate group obtained significantly lower scores than did the other two groups. Scores on the ADAS-cog constructional praxis test were highest in the educated-literate group and those in the uneducated-illiterate group obtained the lowest scores. We demonstrated that illiteracy influences not only language performance but also visuoconstructional functioning. (JINS, 2011, 17, 934–939)

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs cause gastric ulceration through a number of mechanisms including inhibition of PG synthesis, generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and induction of apoptosis. Recently, matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) have been suggested to play a crucial role in these mechanisms. The present study investigated the protective effect of anthocyanins isolated from black rice bran (Heugjinjubyeo) against naproxen-induced gastric mucosal injury in rats. The oral administration of anthocyanins (5, 25 or 50 mg/kg body weight) showed significant protection against naproxen (80 mg/kg body weight)-induced gastric ulcer and inhibited lipid peroxidation in the gastric mucosa. In addition, pretreatment with anthocyanins resulted in a significant increase in the activities of radical-scavenging enzymes such as superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase. Also biochemical and zymographic analyses suggested that the administration of anthocyanins gives a significant protection against naproxen-induced gastric antral ulcer through scavenging ROS and regulation of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) activity. The results of intracellular radical activation show that anthocyanins suppress the generation of intracellular ROS and attenuate the suppression of MMP-2 activity by naproxen. These results suggest that anthocyanins extracted from black rice may offer potential remedy of gastric antral ulceration.

Rodents respond to a chronic high-fat diet (HFD) in two ways: some readily become obese (obesity prone, OP) and others do not (obesity resistant, OR). Although several hypotheses have been proposed, the mechanisms underlying the inter-individual susceptibility to diet-induced obesity remain to be fully defined. In the present study, two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) combined with matrix-assisted laser desorption ionisation time-of-flight MS was carried out for identification of differentially expressed liver proteins in OP and OR rats fed a HFD, in an attempt to discover marker proteins involved in susceptibility and/or resistance to obesity in rat liver. The 2-DE analysis demonstrated that forty spots from 380 visualised spots were differentially regulated between the groups. Among these forty spots, twelve were differentially expressed proteins between OP and OR rats, reaching statistical significance. Of these, five proteins have already been linked to obesity; however, seven proteins involved in obesity susceptibility or resistance were identified for the first time in the present study. In order to validate the proteomic results and gain insight into the metabolic changes between the OP and OR groups, we further confirmed the expression pattern of some proteins of interest by Western blot analysis. Combined results of proteomic analysis with Western blot analysis revealed that reduced lipogenesis and increased fat oxidation were achieved in the livers of OR rats. In conclusion, the present proteomic study is an important advance over the previous steps required for identification of OP and OR rats, and should prove valuable in the search for the pathogenesis of obesity in humans.

Plant genetic resources (PGR) include cultivars, landraces, wild species closely related to cultivated varieties, breeder's elite lines and mutants. The loss of genetic diversity caused by the practice of agriculture and the availability of genetic information has resulted in a great effort dedicated to the collection of PGR. Prior to the advent of molecular profiling, accessions in germplasm collections were examined based on morphology. The development of molecular techniques now allows a more accurate analysis of large collections. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) with de novo assembly and resequencing has already provided a substantial amount of information, which warrants the coordination of existing databases and their integration into genebanks. Thus, the integration and coordination of genomic data into genebanks is very important and requires an international effort. From the determination of phenotypic traits to the application of NGS to whole genomes, every aspect of genomics will have a great impact not only on PGR conservation, but also on plant breeding programmes.

Stream restoration is an important process affecting the ecological health of stream ecosystems. There have been numerous cases of restoration, dealing with either structural or biological changes. In Korea, most restoration projects have merely dealt with improving hydrological characteristics or water quality; however, in recent years the improvement of ecological characteristics has been an increasing focus for restoration projects. In this study, we utilized data collected from 5675 stream sites in May 2007 to discover general patterns of anthropogenic modification in Korean streams. The survey results after application of the stream modification index (SMI; presence or absence type; high scores indicate more disturbed) provided a general distribution of disturbed/undisturbed streams or rivers in the watershed. We then compared the level of modification with the socio-geographical patterns (population, land coverage, elevation, and slope) for the watershed. The results show that streams in highly populated areas suffered from human modification compared with other well-preserved stream sites. In metropolitan cities, urbanized areas had positive relationship as identified by a high SMI. On the other hand, agricultural land cover identified an SMI increase for lowland river area. In general, mountainous streams possessed a better status in stream morphology due to different land-cover patterns (i.e., mainly forested area); however, some mountainous areas were impacted by concentrated summer rainfall. We could distinguish the forcing variables (i.e., land use pattern) for the disturbed streams through a comparison between the SMI and geographical information; the SMI application was able to identify areas of high necessity for restoration.

Despite numerous previous studies, relationships between watershed land use and adjacent streams and rivers at various scales in Korea remain unclear. This study investigated the relationships between land uses and the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of 720 sites of streams and rivers across the country. The land uses at two spatial scales, including a 1-km buffer and the base watershed management region (BWMR), were computed in a geographical information system (GIS) with a digital land use/land cover map. Characteristics of land uses at two spatial scales were then correlated with the monitored multidimensional characteristics of the streams and rivers. The results of this study indicate that land use types have significant effects on stream and river characteristics. Specifically, most characteristics were negatively correlated with the proportions of urban, rice paddy, agricultural, and bare soil areas and positively correlated with the amount of forest. The site-scale and BWMR-scale analyses suggest that BWMR land use patterns were more strongly related to ecological integrity than they were to site land use patterns. Improving our understanding of land use effects will largely depend on relating the results of site-specific studies that use similar response techniques and measures to evaluate ecological integrity. In addition, our results clearly indicate that the characteristics of streams and rivers are closely linked and that land use types differentially affect those characteristics. Thus, effective restoration and management for ecological integrity of lotic system should consider the physical, chemical, and biological factors in combination.

We investigated the pressure dependence of the inductive coupled plasma (ICP) oxidation on the electrical characteristics of the thin oxide films. Activation energies and electron temperatures with different pressures were estimated. To demonstrate the pressure effect on the plasma oxide quality, simple N type metal-oxide-semiconductor (NMOS) transistors were fabricated and investigated in a few electrical properties. At higher pressure than 200mTorr, plasma oxide has a slightly higher on-current and a lower interfacial trap density. The on-current gain seems to be related to the field mobility increase and the lower defective interface to the electron temperature during oxidation.