Summary
In January 2010, foot‐and‐mouth disease (FMD) occurred for the first time in 8 years in Korea. The outbreaks were because of A serotype, different from the O type, which had occurred ...previously in 2000 and 2002. The FMD outbreaks were identified in seven farms, consisting of six cattle farms where viruses were detected and one deer farm where only FMDV antibody was detected. The seven farms were within 9.3 km of each other. All susceptible animals within 10 km radius of the outbreak farms were placed under movement restrictions for 3–11 weeks. No vaccination took place to facilitate the clinical observation of infected animals and virus detection. After clinical observations and serological tests within the control zones showed no evidence of FMD infection, the movement restrictions were lifted, followed by FMD‐free declaration (23 March) at 80 days after the first outbreak on 2 January. This communication describes the outbreak of FMD A serotype, and control measures applied to eradicate the disease in Korea.
Key Features in the Operation of KSTAR Jong-Gu Kwak; Oh, Y. K.; Kim, K. P. ...
IEEE transactions on plasma science,
2012-March, 2012-03-00, 20120301, Letnik:
40, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) device is aimed at advanced tokamak (AT) research. Three years have passed since it achieved its first plasma in 2008. Because it is a ...superconducting machine and is working toward AT research, it has unique features in terms of the machine engineering and operation. The toroidal field (TF) magnet coils are made of Nb 3 Sn, which provide high TFs up to 3.5 T, and have been fully tested. The poloidal field (PF) magnet coils, consisting of both Nb 3 Sn and NbTi, which have a maximum current of 25 kA in their design, were tested up to 15 kA. A thermal hydraulic analysis is being conducted for PF magnet coil operation. All plasma-facing components (PFCs) are equipped with water cooled graphite tiles and have the capability of being baked up to 350°C. A startup scenario, which considered both the effect of the ferromagnetic material in the cable in conduit conductor jacket of the magnet coils as well as a nonferromagnetic up-down asymmetry in the cryostat structure, was developed and demonstrated its effectiveness by the last two year's reliable operations. Passive stabilizers and in-vessel control coils (IVCCs) are key components to realize AT operation in KSTAR. The segmented IVCC coils were connected to form circular coils for internal vertical control in 2010, and diverted plasmas with high elongation (κ~1.8, δ>;0.6) were achieved. A neutral beam injection (NBI) system was developed aiming at 2 MW, 300 s per ion source which meets the long-pulse requirement of KSTAR. An NBI ion source with a power of 1.7 MW at 100 kV has been commissioned for 10 s. Finally, ELMy H-modes were successfully produced with 1.3-MW NBI power at a plasma current of 0.6 MA in the 2010 campaign. The first H-mode discharge (#4200) in KSTAR was achieved one year earlier than officially planned and was done at B T = 2 T with I p = 0.6 MA in a well-balanced double null configuration after boronization on the PFC. Successful operations in the early days of KSTAR including H-mode experiments revealed the capability of advanced and steady-state operation which is essential for the international thermonuclear experimental reactor (ITER) and future fusion reactors.
π-Conjugated poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) based field-effect transistors (FETs) were fabricated in this study. A thin PEDOT layer (thickness ≈500
nm) with the desired pattern was formed ...as an active and a gate electrode by a vapor polymerization of 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) on the photolithographically patterned ferric
p-toluenesulfonate (FTS) oxidant layer. Crosslinked poly(vinyl cinnamate) (PVCN) insulating layer was formed by spin-coating and UV crosslinking. The currents (
I
ds) of the PEDOT active channel decreased with increasing gate bias (
V
g), implying p-type FET. The dc conductivities (
σ
dc) and
I
ds of the PEDOT active channel were measured as a function of
V
g under various relative humidities (RHs) ranging from 0% to 55%. The
σ
dc and the
I
ds of the PEDOT channel rapidly decreased with increasing positive
V
g under humid conditions, while those of the PEDOT channel showed no change with
V
g in vacuum, i.e. 0% RH. The threshold gate bias, which is defined as the onset of the curve of
I
ds versus
V
g, rapidly decreased with increase of RH. The moisture absorbed in the PEDOT active channel may assist the dedoping of the system by the screening and/or the relative separation of constituent ions from PEDOT chain upon applying a positive
V
g. When the positive
V
g was removed (
V
g
=
0), the
σ
dc of the channel recovered slowly and a relatively long relaxation time was observed, which implies that the PEDOT active layer was slowly redoped. For the PEDOT based FET, we observed the moisture assisted dedoping and the redoping processes of the PEDOT channel upon applying and removal of positive
V
g under the humid conditions.
The CC chemokine eotaxin contributes to epithelium‐induced inflammation in airway diseases such as asthma. Eupatilin (5,7‐dihydroxy‐3′,4′,6′‐trimethoxyflavone), a bioactive component of Artemisia ...asiatica Nakai (Asteraceae), is reported to inhibit the adhesion of eosinophils to bronchial epithelial cells. However, little is known about the molecular mechanism of eupatilin‐induced attenuation of bronchial epithelium‐induced inflammation. In this study, we investigated the effect of eupatilin on expression of eotaxin‐1 (CCL11), a potent chemoattractant for eosinophils. Eupatilin significantly inhibited eotaxin expression in bronchial epithelial cells stimulated with TNF‐α, while NF‐κB and IκBα kinase (IKK) activities declined concurrently. Eupatilin also inhibited mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) activity; however, all of these anti‐inflammatory activities were reversed by MAPK overexpression. In contrast, eupatilin did not affect the signal transducer and activator of transcription 6 (STAT6) signalling in bronchial epithelial cells stimulated with IL‐4. Furthermore, eupatilin significantly attenuated TNF‐α‐induced eosinophil migration. These results suggest that the eupatilin inhibits the signalling of MAPK, IKK, NF‐κB and eotaxin‐1 in bronchial epithelial cells, leading to inhibition of eosinophil migration.
Purpose
It is important to identify a ‘metabolically unhealthy obese’ subset with higher cardiovascular risk among obese individuals. We investigated the associations between the
GNB3
C825T ...polymorphism and obesity-related metabolic risk factors among Korean obese women.
Methods
This study was a sub-investigation of a double-blind randomized controlled trial that examined the additive effect of or list at on weight loss with sibutramine. A sample of 111 obese women were divided into T-carriers (CT/TT) or a homozygous CC group, according to the presence of the 825T allele at
GNB3.
These groups were compared to determine their associations with obesity-related metabolic risk factors, i.e., fasting plasma glucose, serum lipids, serum insulin/insulin resistance, and abdominal fat amounts.
Results
The allele frequencies of the
GNB3
polymorphism were C allele = 59.5 % and T allele = 40.5 %. The T allele was found to be significantly associated with greater visceral fat and higher serum lipids, and these significances remained robust after adjusting for potential covariates.
Conclusions
The
GNB3
825T polymorphism is significantly associated with greater visceral fat and higher serum lipids in Korean obese women and it suggests that the
GNB3
C825T is a determinant of obesity-related metabolic traits in this population.
The aging of reproductive organs is not only a major social issue, but of special interest in aging research. A long-standing view of 'immortal germ line versus mortal soma' poses an important ...question of whether the reproductive tissues age in similar ways to the somatic tissues. As a first step to understand this phenomenon, we examine global changes in gene expression patterns by DNA microarrays in ovaries and testes of C57BL/6 mice at 1, 6, 16, and 24 months of age. In addition, we compared a group of mice on ad libitum (AL) feeding with a group on lifespan-extending 40% calorie restriction (CR).
We found that gene expression changes occurred in aging gonads, but were generally different from those in somatic organs during aging. For example, only two functional categories of genes previously associated with aging in muscle, kidney, and brain were confirmed in ovary: genes associated with complement activation were upregulated, and genes associated with mitochondrial electron transport were downregulated. The bulk of the changes in gonads were mostly related to gonad-specific functions. Ovaries showed extensive gene expression changes with age, especially in the period when ovulation ceases (from 6 to 16 months), whereas testes showed only limited age-related changes. The same trend was seen for the effects of CR: CR-mediated reversal of age-associated gene expression changes, reported in somatic organs previously, was limited to a small number of genes in gonads. Instead, in both ovary and testis, CR caused small and mostly gonad-specific effects: suppression of ovulation in ovary and activation of testis-specific genes in testis.
Overall, the results are consistent with unique modes of aging and its modification by CR in testis and ovary.
Summary Objective To assess the effects of joint effusion on proprioceptive status in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA). Design A single-blind, randomized, controlled clinical trial in 40 female ...subjects aged 50 years and over with painful knee OA. All subjects were randomly assigned to either the control or experimental group. A volume of 20 mL of normal saline was injected into the knee joint cavity of subjects in the experimental group under ultrasonographic guidance. Proprioceptive acuity was assessed by active repositioning of the lower limb using an electrogoniometer to measure knee joint position sense (JPS) under both non-weight-bearing (NWB) and weight-bearing (WB) conditions twice, with a 20-min rest interval. The experimental group performed the task twice (Test 1 and Test 2) before and within 5 min after joint infusion. The control group also performed Test 1 and Test 2 without joint infusion. The outcome of interest was the absolute angular error (AAE), ignoring the direction of the error, between the randomized target angle and the patient’s reproduced angle of JPS values. Results Compared with the control group, JPS was significantly compromised in the experimental group in the NWB test after joint infusion ( P = 0.025). However, no significant differences in the angular error were observed between Test 1 and Test 2 in the control group for the NWB or WB test or in the experimental group for the WB test after infusion ( P > 0.05). Conclusions This study showed that joint effusion impairs proprioceptive function in osteoarthritic knee joints. Clinical trial number NCT01060215 ( ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier)
: The degradation of different isoforms of human recombinant tau (R‐tau; T39, T40, and T44) and fetal tau (F‐tau) by cathepsin D (CD) was investigated. Gel electrophoresis and Coomassie Blue staining ...of different R‐tau species digested at pH 3.5 showed very little differences in CD susceptibility. Immunoblotting analyses revealed that amino and carboxy termini of tau were cleaved before other regions. F‐tau was most vulnerable to proteolysis at both termini. Digestion of R‐tau with 0.01 unit of CD/ml at pH 3.5 resulted in cleavage between Phe8‐Glu9, Met419‐Val420, Thr427‐Leu428‐Ala429, and Leu436‐Ala437 as determined by amino acid sequencing and mass spectroscopy (numbering of amino acids was based on T40). With higher concentrations of CD (1 unit/ml), additional sites of digestion were detected between amino acids 34–161, 200–257, and 267–358. The cleavage sites at amino acids 34–161 and 267–358 were observed at pH 3.5, whereas that at amino acids 200–257 was detected at pH 7.0. Our results suggest that CD cleavage of tau could generate tau fragments with intact microtubule binding domains, which could have a role in the pathogenesis of paired helical filaments (PHFs) in Alzheimer's disease. Such proteolysis might also contribute to the changes of PHF phenotype observed in intracellular and extracellular tangles.
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