Emerging roles of desumoylating enzymes

AbstractPosttranslational modification by small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) controls diverse cellular processes including transcriptional regulation, nuclear transport, cell-cycle progression, DNA repair, and signal transduction pathway. Sumoylation is a highly dynamic process that is reversed by a family of Sentrin/SUMO-specific proteases (SENPs). Thus, desumoylation process must be important for regulation of the fate and function of SUMO-conjugated proteins as well as SUMOylation process. SENPs catalyze the removal of SUMO from SUMO-conjugated target proteins as well as the cleavage of SUMO from its precursor proteins. Since the first report of yeast desumoylating enzymes, many studies have revealed the structural and cellular biological properties of SENP family. This review focuses on the specificity of the SENPs' catalytic activities with regard to SUMO isoforms and their emerging roles as cellular regulators

Attitudes Towards Volunteerism and Individuals with Disabilities in High School Students as a Function of Educational System in South Korea

Volunteerism has positive effects for both society and the individuals who engage in volunteering. Numerous studies have focused on the positive relationship between adolescents’ volunteering experiences and their psychological and social development, while other studies have assessed the positive attitudinal changes of adolescent volunteers in frequent contact with individuals with disabilities. However, few studies have focused on the role of education on students’ perceptions of individuals with disabilities. The present study investigated the volunteering experiences of students enrolled in American and Korean educational system schools in South Korea. Results revealed that the American-system students volunteered more often and had more positive attitudes about volunteerism compared to Korean-system students. In addition, American-system students with more positive attitudes about volunteerism had more positive perceptions of individuals with disabilities. There was no relationship in Korean-system students between these two variables. Cross-cultural findings and implications for education and social policy are discussed

Epidemiological Aspects of Exotic Malaria and Dengue Fever in Travelers in Korea

In order to compare the epidemiological aspects of exotic malaria (EM) and dengue fever (DF) imported by travelers in Korea, we have analyzed the current state both of the disease incidence and related risk factors. A total of 345 cases of EM occurred between 2001 and 2008 in Korea, and the average incidence rate per 100,000 population was 0.091. A total of 252 of DF cases occurred during the same period, and its rate was 0.063. While most of the EM and DF prevalence occurred in summer, prevalence in spring and winter was more prominent for EM (P < 0.05 ~ P < 0.01), while outbreaks in summer were more frequent for DF (P < 0.01). In Korea, more males were infected with EM and DF than females (P < 0.01). The remarkable difference between gender distributions in Korea is believed to reflect cultural differences in terms of work and travel. In both diseases, the manhood age bracket (20 - 39 years old) is possible due to increased oversea activities and travel. Moreover, reported EM cases in several prefectures in the regions of Asia and Africa were widely spread by the appropriate vector of mosquitoes, while the vectors of DF in the region of Asia are limited

Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Crawfish Processing By-Products for Bioflavor Production.

Crawfish processing by-products (CPBs) were hydrolyzed using protease to evaluate the potential for bioflavor production. Ten commercial proteases (neutral and alkaline) were tested at both 37\sp\circC and their optimum temperatures using CPBs as substrate. Of these, APL-440 was selected for enzymatic hydrolysis of CPBs on the basis of activity per cost. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the hydrolysis of CPBs using APL-440. Optimum hydrolysis conditions for enzymatic hydrolysis of CPBs with APL-440 were determined to be pH 8-9, 65\sp\circC, 2.5 hr reaction time, 75% substrate concentration, and 0.3% APL-440. Two types of CPBs (composite and claw) were hydrolyzed under optimum hydrolysis conditions, Flavor concentrates were prepared using atmospheric evaporation (100\sp\circC) and vacuum evaporation (60\sp\circC). A higher volume of flavor concentrate was obtained by enzymatic hydrolysis. Volatile flavor components of flavor concentrates were analyzed and compared. Concentrations of 12 pyrazines detected in flavor concentrates increased significantly (p $\u3c$ 0.05) after enzymatic hydrolysis. 2,5-Dimethylpyrazine was the most abundant among the pyrazines detected. Concentrations of dimethyl disulfide, dimethyl trisulfide, and benzaldehyde also increased after enzymatic hydrolysis, whereas lipid decomposition products decreased significantly. These results suggested that increased precursors (amino acids and peptides) by enzymatic hydrolysis or increased ammonia by deamidation of glutamine and asparagine led to an increase in thermally generated aromas. Although a number of volatile compounds disappeared after evaporation, the major volatile compounds were pyrazines, which concentrations increased markedly after atmospheric evaporation of CPBs hydrolysate. It is thought that 2-ethyl-3,6 (and 5)-dimethylpyrazines play an important role in flavor concentrate because of their low threshold values. Enzymatic hydrolysis of CPBs was further evaluated on a pilot scale basis. Optimum hydrolysis conditions obtained from laboratory scale could be applied directly to pilot scale hydrolysis of CPBs. It was demonstrated that composite CPBs or claw CPBs could be converted to value-added flavor concentrates by enzymatic hydrolysis, making it possible to utilize such crawfish processing by-products to their full potential and reduce the discharged waste volume

CHRONOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE ELECTRONIC WORD- OF-MOUTH EFFECT OF FOUR SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS ON MOVIE SALES: COMPARING TWITTER, YAHOO!MOVIES, YOUTUBE, AND BLOGS

Based on Rogers’s innovation diffusion model, we investigate how electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) through different types of social media impacts movie sales across the different phases of movie screening. We collected eWOM information on movies from February to October 2012 from Twitter, Yahoo!Movies, YouTube, and blogs on a daily basis. The results indicate that Twitter is relatively influential on movie revenue in the initial stage of opening because of its mass media characteristic. On the other hand, Yahoo!Movies and blogs are relatively influential on movie revenue in the late stages of opening because of their interpersonal communication characteristics. Since YouTube contains both characteristics of mass media and interpersonal communication, we determine that there is no difference in the impact of YouTube on movie revenue between the initial and late stages of opening

Analysis and evaluation of mobile rhythm games : Game structure and playability

The rhythm game is an action simulation game adapted to the presented music. While it is expected to have an educational effect as a functional game, the relationship between the operability and rhythm education under the mobile platform is still questionable. In Korea, it seems that mobile rhythm game is a minority maniac genre that are played mostly among teenagers and early twenties. In this paper, we select three mobile rhythm games that are most played by Korean gamers in analysis. First, we analyze the user interface layout, note control, evaluation style and level of difficulty for three games – Deeno, Cytus, and Lanota. Then, we take a user survey in order to evaluate the playability of those games. All three games obtain high scores but there exust several statistically significant differences among games in analysis