Seed Biology,Stand Characteristics,and Regeneration of Fraxinus rhynchophylla Hance

Fruit size and seed moisture content were measured and seed production and dispersal were monitored to understand the seed biology of the Korean ash (Fraxinus rhynchophylla Hance) in two Korean ash forests. A combination of four ground treatments and four crown closure levels were created in a natural forest to understand the site conditions needed for seedling emergence in natural stands and to determine practical regeneration methods for direct seeding. The seed size of Korean ash increased until late May and its moisture content decreased rapidly in early November. Prolific seed bearing occurred every 3 yr. The distance of seed dispersal by wind was about 30 m, but more than 90% of the seeds dispersed within 10 m from the seed trees. Twenty-five seed trees per hectare provided for successful natural regeneration. The seedling emergence in the natural stands was best with scarification treatment and 25～50% of crown closure.     

Forest and Forestry Research and Education in Mongolia

Since 1990, after the dramatic change in Mongolia's political and economic system, human impact on forest resources highly increased and became continuously degraded due to improper exploitation, forest fire, mining, pest and disease, uncontrolled grazing, and inadequate management which negatively affect its environmental conditions causing severe deforestation, desertification, and ecological stress in some regions of the country. Forestry research and education became fragmented in Mongolia. Several institutions and universities conducted vague and in some cases duplicating research topics. Hence, this article aims to understand the current status and issues as well as to formulate possible solutions in strengthening and developing forest and forestry research and education in the country.     

Changes in cyclooxygenase-2 immunoreactivity in the hippocampus in a model of streptozotocin-induced type 1 diabetic rats

In this study, we investigated diabetic stage dependent cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) immunoreactivity in the dentate gyrus in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced type 1 diabetic rats. The animals were sacrificed at 2, 3 and 4 weeks after STZ treatment. Blood glucose levels were increased after STZ treatment. COX-2 immunoreactivity in dentate gyrus was significantly increased in these regions 3 weeks after STZ treatment and restored to its basal level to 4 weeks after STZ treatment. In contrast, COX-2 immunoreactivity was not changed in CA3 region in all groups. These results suggest that STZ-induced type 1 diabetes transiently, but not permanently, decreased synaptic transmission and plasticity 3 weeks after STZ treatment in the dentate gyrus.     

Effect of potassium simplex optimization medium and NCSU23 supplemented with beta-mercaptoethanol and amino acids of in vitro fertilized porcine embryos

The present study was conducted to examine the comparative efficacy of potassium simplex optimization medium (KSOM) and North Carolina State University (NCSU)-23 medium supplemented with beta-mercaptoethanol (beta-ME) and amino acids (AA) on the developmental competence of porcine in vitro fertilized (IVF) embryos. Four experiments were conducted. KSOM and NCSU-23 medium were used to culture porcine parthenogenetic (Exp. 1) and IVF (Exp. 2) embryos. KSOM and NCSU-23 were equally effective in supporting porcine parthenogenetic and IVF embryo development from the 1-cell stage to blastocysts. The NCSU-23 medium (Exp. 3) and KSOM (Exp. 4) were supplemented with amino acid (AA; 5 microl/ml non-essential amino acids + 10 microl/ml essential amino acids) and/or 10 microM beta-mercaptoethanol (beta-ME). The quality of blastocysts from Exp. 3 and 4 was evaluated by counting the number of total cells and determining the ratio of the inner cell mass (ICM) to trophoectoderm (TE) cells. Supplementing with AA and beta-ME or beta-ME alone in NCSU-23 produced significant (p<0.05) differences in terms of rate of cleavage to the 2- to 4- cell (80.8 to 85.4% vs. 73.6%) and blastocyst (30.4 to 30.5 vs. 23.5%) stages and the number of TE (51.4 to 53.8 vs. 35.8) and total cells (67.2 to 71.2 to 48.8) over the control group. On the other hand, supplementing KSOM with AA and/or beta-ME produced significant (p<0.05) differences in terms of rate of cleavage to the 2- to 4-cell (78.8% vs. 67.7%) and morula (57.8% vs. 46.3%) stages and the number of ICM (18.6 to 19.2 vs. 11.6) and total cells (62.8 to 70.6 vs. 42.8) over control group. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that both KSOM and NCSU-23 medium supplemented with AA and beta-ME and/or only beta-ME alone are superior to normal KSOM and NCSU-23 for porcine IVF embryo culture in terms of embryo developmental competence and quality.     

Variation in susceptibility of six pine species and hybrids to pitch canker caused by Fusarium circinatum

Six pine species or hybrids were tested for susceptibility to pitch canker caused by Fusarium  circinatum. Pinus  densiflora, Pinus  thunbergii, Pinus  x rigitaeda (Pinus  rigida × Pinus  taeda), P. rigida × P. x rigitaeda, Pinus  echinata and Pinus  virginiana were inoculated with three spore loads (50, 500 and 5000 per tree) of F. circinatum. External symptoms, lesion length, and the frequency of reisolation of the fungus were investigated. External symptoms were greatest in P. echinata, followed by P. virginiana, however, P. densiflora was not susceptible to F. circinatum. Based on mean lesion lengths, the six pine species or hybrids differed significantly (p < 0.01) in susceptibility to pitch canker. Pinus  echinata sustained the longest lesions, whereas P. densiflora sustained the shortest lesions. The effect of inoculum density was not significant among three spore treatments within species (p = 0.17), although lesion length was slightly greater at higher spore loads over all pine species. The fungus was reisolated from inoculated stems of all pine species tested, even on trees showing little or no damage from the disease. Additional studies are needed to further explore the basis for resistance to pitch canker.     

Surface modification of poly(lactic acid) by UV/Ozone irradiation

Hydrophobic poly(lactic acid), PLA, was modified to give hydrophilicity and dyeability to cationic dyes via UV/O₃ irradiation. The UV irradiation treatment caused ester linkage of PLA surface to break down resulting in reduced molecular weight and generation of new photooxidized products as indicated in subtracted ATR spectra and ESCA analysis. It was found that water contact angle decreased from 61 ° to 39 ° and surface energy slightly increased with increasing UV energy, which was attributed to significant contribution of polar component rather than nonpolar component resulting from the surface photooxidation of PLA. Also the surface treatment increased dyeability of PLA to C.I. Basic Blue 41 in terms of both K/S and %E. The increased dyeability may be due to photochemically introduced anionic and dipolar dyeing sites which electrostatically interact with the cationic dye as ascertained by the decreased zeta potential and its pH dependence of the modified PLA.     

Macromolecular depletion modulates the binding of red blood cells to activated endothelial cells

Adhesion of red blood cells (RBCs) to endothelial cells (ECs) is usually insignificant but an enhanced adhesion has been observed in various diseases associated with vascular complications. This abnormal adhesion under pathological conditions such as sickle cell disease has been correlated with increased levels of various plasma proteins but the detailed underlying mechanism(s) remains unclear. Usually it is assumed that the proadhesive effects of plasma proteins originate from ligand interactions cross-linking receptors on adjacent cells, but explicit results detailing binding sites or receptors for some proteins (e.g., fibrinogen) on either RBC or EC surfaces that would support this model are missing. In this study, the authors tested whether there is an alternative mechanism. Their results demonstrate that dextran 2 MDa promotes the adhesion of normal RBCs to thrombin-activated ECs and that this effect becomes more pronounced with increasing thrombin concentration or with prolonged thrombin incubation time. It is concluded that depletion interaction originating from nonadsorbing macromolecules (i.e., dextran) can modulate the adhesion of red blood cells to thrombin-activated EC. This study thereby suggests macromolecular depletion as an alternative mechanism for the adhesion-promoting effects of nonadsorbing plasma proteins. These findings should not only aid in getting a better understanding of diseases associated with vascular complications but should also have many potential applications in biomedical or biotechnological areas that require the control of cell-cell or cell surface interactions.     

Alleviating cancer drug toxicity by inhibiting a bacterial enzyme

The dose-limiting side effect of the common colon cancer chemotherapeutic CPT-11 is severe diarrhea caused by symbiotic bacterial β-glucuronidases that reactivate the drug in the gut. We sought to target these enzymes without killing the commensal bacteria essential for human health. Potent bacterial β-glucuronidase inhibitors were identified by high-throughput screening and shown to have no effect on the orthologous mammalian enzyme. Crystal structures established that selectivity was based on a loop unique to bacterial β-glucuronidases. Inhibitors were highly effective against the enzyme target in living aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, but did not kill the bacteria or harm mammalian cells. Finally, oral administration of an inhibitor protected mice from CPT-11-induced toxicity. Thus, drugs may be designed to inhibit undesirable enzyme activities in essential microbial symbiotes to enhance chemotherapeutic efficacy.     

Degradation of the sulfonylurea herbicide LGC-42153 in flooded soil

LGC-42153, 2-fluoro-1-[3-(4,6-dimethoxypyrimidin-2-ylcarbamoylsulfamoyl)pyridin-2-yl] propyl methoxyacetate, is a new sulfonylurea herbicide for use in rice. Its breakdown and metabolism was studied in soil under flooded conditions using two radioactive tracer compounds labelled at either the propyl group or the pyrimidine ring. The half-life of LGC-42153 was approximately 3.0 days. The mass balance over 120 days ranged from 94.0 to 104.2% of applied radiocarbon, and no significant amount of volatiles or [14C]carbon dioxide were observed. Solvent non-extractable radiocarbon reached about 11-14% of applied radiocarbon at 120 days after treatment. The major metabolic reaction was the cleavage of the carboxyl ester bond to give 1-(4,6-dimethoxypyrimidin-2-yl)-3-[2-(1-hydroxy-2-fluoropropyl)pyridine-3-sulfonyl]urea, which underwent hydrolysis of the sulfonylurea bridge giving 2-(1-hydroxy-2-fluoro)propyl-3-pyridinesulfonamide and 4,6-dimethoxy-2-aminopyrimidine.     

Age-related changes of calbindin D-28k-immunoreactive neurons in the myenteric plexus of gerbil duodenum

We examined the age-related changes of calbindin D-28k (CB)-immunoreactive neurons and overall populations of neurons in the myenteric plexus of gerbil duodenum using whole mount preparations and immunohistochemistry. The circumference of duodenum increased age-dependently. CB-immunoreactive neurons were observed in all groups, and most of them had the Dogiel type II morphology. The fully developed cobweb-like structures were observed in the myenteric plexus of duodenum at postnatal month (PM) 3 to 24. Although the highest numbers of CB-immunoreactive neurons and overall population were observed in PM 1.5, it is related with significant increase of the size of circumference between PM 1.5 to PM 3. CB-immunoreactive neurons were slightly decreased with age between PM 3 to PM 24. We have also found that whole numbers of myenteric neurons were also significantly decreased in PM 24 group. These results suggest that loss of overall numbers of myenteric neurons and CB-immunoreactive neurons may be related with age-related neurodegeneration and functional loss of duodenum in the gerbil.