Understanding the Visitation Aspect of Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus) in the Long Period at Nakdong Estuary, Busan, Republic of Korea

AbstractThis study analyzes data in the first half of 1990 (May, 1989 - April, 1993) and mid-2000 (May, 2002 - April, 2006) to understand long-term status of black-headed gulls (Larus ridibundus) in the estuary of the Nakdong River under rapid changes. During the period (May, 1989 - April, 1993 and May, 2002 - April, 2003 for a total of 8 years), a total of 201,519 individuals of Laridae were discovered at the estuary and the number of the black-headed gulls (Larus ridibundus) was 32,538 (16.15%). Monthly average of the black-headed gulls showed that there were just a small number of individuals arrived in July and August, but the number increased from September, reached the highest in April for the first term (1989 - 1993). The second term showed that some individuals were discovered in summer (June - August), then the number increased from October and reached the peak in April. Monthly average in the latter period marked 5.7 times higher than that of the former. In the aspect of individuals, there is a significant difference between the two period (P<0.05) and it is discovered that the number of individuals in 2000s (Mean= 6923.50) was higher than that of 1990s (Mean=1211.00). Comparing individuals of gulls, herring gulls (Larus argentatus) and black-headed gulls for 8 years, it was found out that the herring gulls (Larus argentatus) showed the largest number (average=5313.13), followed by the black-headed gulls (average=4067.25) and gulls (average= 1207.63). The fluctuation on individuals of black-headed gulls in the mid-2000s (May, 2005 - April, 2006) recorded the average number of 472.75, then 113.50 in DMD, 244.00 in JJ and SJD, 635.25 in SJ and DY, 727.50 in LUD and 643.50 in USD, showing significant differences among regions (P<0.05)

The Design of a Patient Transportation Robot's Lifting Arms Considering Comfort and Safety without the Presence of a Sheet

A transportation robot's lifting arms have an effect on the comfort and safety of patients. Improved arms have been designed through dynamic and static analyses to increase safety if a sheet not present on the lifting arms. To design the lifting arms, experimentation is very helpful, however, it is difficult and dangerous to experiment on patients; therefore, a simple human model was made and used for the dynamic analysis. Through the dynamic analysis results, a safe width and comfortable location for the lifting arms were determined. The thickness was then determined by static analysis and optimum design. In addition, tests have been conducted to confirm comfort and safety by deploying the designed lifting arms onto a transportation robot

Pattern Visual Evoked Potential as a Predictor of Occlusion Therapy for Amblyopia

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to investigate the role of the pattern visual evoked potential (pVEP) as a predictor of occlusion therapy for patients with strabismic, anisometropic, and isometropic amblyopia. The secondary aim was to compare the characteristics of pVEP between strabismic and anisometropic amblyopia. METHODS: This retrospective comparative case series included 120 patients who had received occlusion therapy or a glasses prescription for correction of strabismic, anisometropic, and isometropic amblyopia (20 patients had strabismic amblyopia, 41 patients had anisometropic amblyopia, and 59 patients had isometropic amblyopia). For each patient, the value of the P100 latency on pVEP at the time of the initial diagnosis of amblyopia was collected. Subsequently, the P100 latency was compared according to types of amblyopia. Fifty of 120 patients (7 patients with strabismic amblyopia, 21 patients with anisometropic amblyopia, and 22 patients with isometropic amblyopia) who were followed-up for longer than 6 months were divided into two groups based on the value of their P100 latency (Group 1, P100 latency 120 msec or less; Group 2, P100 latency longer than 120 msec.) The amount of visual improvement after occlusion therapy or glasses was compared between two study groups. RESULTS: The mean P100 latency was 119.7+/-25.2 msec in eyes with strabismic amblyopia and 111.9+/-17.8 msec in eyes with non-strabismic (anisometropic or isometropic) amblyopia (p=0.213). In Group 1, the mean visual improvement after occlusion therapy or glasses was 3.69+/-2.14 lines on Dr. Hahn's standard test chart; in Group 2, the mean improvement was 2.27+/-2.21 lines (p=0.023). CONCLUSIONS: The P100 latency on pVEP at the time of initial diagnosis was significantly related to the visual improvement after occlusion therapy or glasses in patients with strabismic, anisometropic, and isometropic amblyopia. Therefore, it was presumed that patients with a delayed P100 latency might have less visual improvement after occlusion therapy or glasses. In addition, there was no apparent difference in P100 latency between patients with strabismic and non-strabismic (anisometropic or isometropic) amblyopia.ope

UniPrimer: A Web-Based Primer Design Tool for Comparative Analyses of Primate Genomes

Whole genome sequences of various primates have been released due to advanced DNA-sequencing technology. A combination of computational data mining and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay to validate the data is an excellent method for conducting comparative genomics. Thus, designing primers for PCR is an essential procedure for a comparative analysis of primate genomes. Here, we developed and introduced UniPrimer for use in those studies. UniPrimer is a web-based tool that designs PCR- and DNA-sequencing primers. It compares the sequences from six different primates (human, chimpanzee, gorilla, orangutan, gibbon, and rhesus macaque) and designs primers on the conserved region across species. UniPrimer is linked to RepeatMasker, Primer3Plus, and OligoCalc softwares to produce primers with high accuracy and UCSC In-Silico PCR to confirm whether the designed primers work. To test the performance of UniPrimer, we designed primers on sample sequences using UniPrimer and manually designed primers for the same sequences. The comparison of the two processes showed that UniPrimer was more effective than manual work in terms of saving time and reducing errors

Effect of Ca and CaO on the High Temperature Oxidation of AZ91D Mg Alloys

Magnesium alloys of AZ91D, AZ91D + (1, 3, 5) mass% Ca, and AZ91D + (0.5, 1) mass% CaO were cast and oxidized at high temperature in atmospheric air in order to study the effect of Ca and CaO on the oxidation. The microstructure of the CaO-added alloys was similar to that of the Ca-added alloys. Ca and CaO both formed Al 2 Ca in the alloys, but Ca was more effective than CaO in increasing the oxidation resistance of Mg alloys. The microstructure and composition of the scale formed on the CaO-added alloys were similar with those on the Ca-added alloys

Moxifloxacin: Clinically compatible contrast agent for multiphoton imaging

Multiphoton microscopy (MPM) is a nonlinear fluorescence microscopic technique widely used for cellular imaging of thick tissues and live animals in biological studies. However, MPM application to human tissues is limited by weak endogenous fluorescence in tissue and cytotoxicity of exogenous probes. Herein, we describe the applications of moxifloxacin, an FDA-approved antibiotic, as a cell-labeling agent for MPM. Moxifloxacin has bright intrinsic multiphoton fluorescence, good tissue penetration and high intracellular concentration. MPM with moxifloxacin was demonstrated in various cell lines, and animal tissues of cornea, skin, small intestine and bladder. Clinical application is promising since imaging based on moxifloxacin labeling could be 10 times faster than imaging based on endogenous fluorescence.1152sciescopu

Transient Increase of Higher-Order Aberrations after Lateral Rectus Recession in Children

The changes of higher-order aberrations (HOAs) after bilateral lateral rectus muscle recession were evaluated. Forty eyes of 20 children were enrolled and their wavefront information was assessed until postoperative 3 months. Even though the root mean square (RMS) of total aberration was not changed, the RMS of HOA was transiently increased at postoperative 1 week and returned to baseline level after 1 month. Among individual Zernike coefficient, secondary astigmatism, quadrafoil, secondary coma, secondary trefoil, and pentafoil showed similar tendency with the RMS of HOA. However, coma, trefoil, and spherical aberration were not changed. Regarding recession amount, it did not correlate with any Zernike coefficient. In summary, our data imply that the HOAs are transiently increased after lateral rectus recession surgery. These results are in collusion with previous reports that strabismus surgery induced transient corneal astigmatism

Oral intake of Lactobacillus rhamnosus M21 enhances the survival rate of mice lethally infected with influenza virus

BackgroundInfluenza viruses cause acute respiratory disease. Because of the high genetic variability of viruses, effective vaccines and antiviral agents are limited. Considering the fact that the site of influenza virus entry is the mucosa of the upper respiratory tract, probiotics that can enhance mucosal immunity as well as systemic immunity could be an important source of treatment against influenza infection.MethodsMice were fed with Lactobacillus rhamnosus M21 or skim milk and were challenged with influenza virus. The resulting survival rate, lung inflammation, and changes in the cytokine and secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) levels were examined.ResultsBecause of infection (influenza virus), all the mice in the control group and 60% of the mice in the L. rhamnosus M21 group died; however, the remaining 40% of the mice fed with L. rhamnosus M21 survived the infection. Pneumonia was severe in the control group but moderate in the group treated with L. rhamnosus M21. Although there were no significant changes in the proinflammatory cytokines in the lung lysates of mice collected from both groups, levels of interferon-γ and interleukin-2, which are representative cytokines of type I helper T cells, were significantly increased in the L. rhamnosus M21-treated group. An increase in sIgA as well as the diminution of inflammatory cells in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid was also observed in the L. rhamnosus M21-treated group.ConclusionThese results demonstrate that orally administered L. rhamnosus M21 activates humoral as well as cellular immune responses, conferring increased resistance to the host against influenza virus infection