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.

The current Korean national geodetic reference frame, KGD2002, refers to the fixed epoch at 2002·0 under the assumption that there is no crustal movement of the Korean peninsula. A discontinuity in the coordinates of the reference stations may occur due to the relocation of the stations, antenna replacement, or earthquakes. The static reference frame has difficulty in covering continuous and/or discontinuous crustal movements at the same time. A new dynamic local geodetic reference frame has been calculated based on eight years (2007–2014) of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) data. The final geodetic coordinates and velocities were calculated on the basis of the IGb08 reference frame. The discontinuity caused by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake can be addressed using the newly proposed model in this study, which ensures the consistency and continuity of the local geodetic datum.

Thyroid cancer is the most common cancer among Korean women. However, there are few data on dietary factors related to thyroid cancer risk. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the association between raw vegetables and fruits intake and thyroid cancer in a case–control study. We included 111 histologically confirmed malignant thyroid cancer cases and 115 benign cases. Controls who did not have nodules in thyroid ultrasonography were matched to cases by age ( ± 2 years). Food and nutrient intakes were estimated using a quantitative FFQ with 121 items. Conditional logistic regression analysis was used to obtain OR and corresponding 95 % CI. The intake of total vegetables was not associated with malignant thyroid cancer, but inversely associated with benign cases. High raw vegetable intake was inversely associated with thyroid cancer risk both in malignant and benign cases (P for trend = 0·01 in both malignant and benign cases). Among fruits, persimmon intake had an inverse association with thyroid cancer risk in both malignant and benign cases (P for trend = 0·06 in malignant cases; P for trend = 0·01 in benign cases) and tangerine intake had an inverse association in malignant cases (P for trend = 0·03). The frequency of consumption of raw vegetables and persimmon also had a consistent inverse association in both malignant and benign cases. These results suggest that high consumption of raw vegetables, persimmons and tangerines may decrease thyroid cancer risk and help prevent early-stage thyroid cancer.

Heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) is reported as the main factor responsible for the beneficial effects of glutamine (GLN) and as a negative regulator of high mobility group box protein-1 (HMGB-1) expression. Our aim was to determine whether GLN attenuates acute lung injury (ALI) by the inhibition of HMGB-1 expression during sepsis. Male Sprague–Dawley rats were subjected to caecal ligation and puncture (CLP) to induce sepsis. GLN or saline was administered through tail vein 1 h after CLP. Then, quercetin (Q), an inhibitor of HSP70, was utilised to assess the role of the enhanced HSP70. We observed the survival of the subjects. At 24 h post-CLP, we measured lung HSP70, phosphorylated heat shock factor-1 (HSF-1-p) and HMGB-1 expressions, NF-κB DNA-binding activity and ALI occurrence. We also measured serum HSP70, IL-6 and HMGB-1 concentrations. GLN improved survival during sepsis. In GLN-treated rats, lung HSP70 and HSF-1-p expressions were enhanced, lung HMGB-1 expression and NF-κB DNA-binding activity were suppressed, and ALI was attenuated. Furthermore, in GLN-administered rats, serum HSP70 concentration was higher, and serum IL-6 and HMGB-1 concentrations were lower than those in non-treated rats. Q inhibited the enhancement of HSP70 and HSF-1-p expressions and abrogated the GLN-mediated benefits. In conclusion, GLN attenuated ALI and improved survival by the inhibition of HMGB-1 expression during sepsis in rats. These benefits were associated with the enhancement of HSP70 expression by GLN.

Effect of SiO2 capping layer(C/L) on recrystallization of amorphous Si (a-Si) film was investigated. When a thick C/L over 500 Å was deposited on an a-Si film before crystallization, fine p-Si grains less than 100nm were obtained at full range of energy density window. However, when a thin C/L below 200 Å was used, Si-melt spouted out through C/L at over critical energy density. When Si-melt started spouting, abrupt change of grain size also occurred. These large grains could be explained by a non-uniformity of heat flow caused by Si-melt spouting. With this polycrystalline Si (p-Si) material having appreciable grain size protected by C/L, fabrication of low-cost Low Temperature Poly Si (LTPS) without additional cleaning of p-Si surface could be successfully developed.

We have studied infrared photoluminescence (PL) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) of 400 nm and 1500 nm thick InAs epilayers on GaAs, and 4 nm thick InAs on graded InGaAs layer with total thickness of 300 nm grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The PL peak positions of 400 nm, 1500 nm and 4 nm InAs epilayer measured at 10 K are blue-shifted from that of InAs bulk by 6.5, 4.5, and 6 meV, respectively, which can be largely explained by the residual strain in the epilayer. The residual strain caused by the lattice mismatch between InAs and GaAs or graded InGaAs/GaAs was observed from XRD measurements. While the PL peak position of 400 nm thick InAs layer is linearly shifted toward higher energy with increase in excitation intensity ranging from 10 to 140 mW, those of 4 nm InAs epilayer on InGaAs and 1500 nm InAs layer on GaAs is gradually blue-shifted and then, saturated above a power of 75 mW. These results suggest that adopting a graded InGaAs layer between InAs and GaAs can efficiently reduce the strain due to lattice mismatch in the structure of InAs/GaAs.

As a basis for inferring phylogenetic relationships between Pelvetia and Pelvetiopsis in the family Fucaceae, the complete sequences of the plastid-encoded RuBisCo spacer region were determined for all four species of Pelvetia, for the type species of Pelvetiopsis, P. limitata, and for three other fucacean species (Ascophyllum nodosum, Fucus gardneri and F. vesiculosus). All trees based on the sequences of the RuBisCo spacer region showed that Pelvetia is not monophyletic and consists of two clades, one including P. babingtonii, P. compressa, and P. siliquosa, the other comprising only the type species, P. canaliculata. P. canaliculata is not closely related to any of the other Fucaceae studied, and it may represent a monotypic genus. RuBisCo spacer sequences support the establishment of a new genus for the three Pacific Pelvetia species: P. babingtonii, P. compressa and P. siliquosa. The congruence of the RuBisCo spacer data with reported nuclear rDNA 18S and ITS sequences, and with biogeographical and morphological data, indicates that the RuBisCo spacer region, including its flanking areas, is useful for inferring phylogenetic relationships within the Fucaceae.

Botulinum toxin type A (BTA) is known to inhibit the release of acetylcholine from cholinergic nerve endings. Owing to the characteristics of BTA, we thought that it could be used for the treatment of intrinsic rhinitis acting as an anticholinergic drug. In a double-blind placebo-controlled study four units of BTA were injected into the middle turbinate (two units) and inferior turbinate (two units) in each nasal cavity. Rhinorrhoea, nasal obstruction, and sneezing were recorded in a symptom diary on the basis of a scale of 5 and the number of paper tissues used per day was also recorded for 24 weeks. Rhinorrhoea was significantly diminished in severity (24.1–41.5 per cent reduction) and paper tissue use (54.3 per cent reduction) in the BTA group compared with the placebo group. This effect could be maintained for four weeks. Sneezing and nasal stuffiness were not affected by BTA. These results suggest that BTA can be used to treat rhinorrhoea in intrinsic rhinitis patients, however, the effective period is short.

The fine ceramic particles of zirconia toughened alumina (ZTA), titania toughened alumina (TTA), and zirconia-titania toughened alumina(ZTTA) were synthesized through ultrasonic spray pyrolysis at various temperatures and compositions. The starting solution was prepared to have the concentration of 0.05 ∼ 0.1 M adjusting with water as a solvent. The temperature regulated for particle synthesis was 400 ∼ 550 °C as a drying zone, 850 ∼ 1400 °C as a pyrolysis zone. The produced particles were collected by a wet process and were analyzed to give characteristic properties after being dried. Various properties such as thermal behavior, phase, particle size and size distribution, shape, diffraction pattern, content of elements, etc, of particles synthesized with different experimental conditions were determined and studied by XRD, TG/DTA, PSA, ICP, and SEM, and the optimum experimental conditions for the particle synthesis were proposed.