Divided Countries, Divided Mind 1: Psycho-Social Issues in Adaptation Problems of North Korean Defectors

A review of studies on the adaptation problems of North Korean defectors in South Korean society and studies of people's adaptation to political and cultural changes in other countries suggests that similar adaptation problems may occur in the process of and after unification. Defectors have various adaptation problems and some of them have psychiatric disorders such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The reasons for this were revealed to be the difference in the culture and personality between South and North Korea, which have developed for the last 60 years without any communication with each other, in spite of their common racial and cultural heritage. Economic factors including the lack of skills and knowledge for working at industrialized and competitive society like South Korean society, also aggravate the severity of such adaptation problems. Research on defectors' adaptation problems and on the differences in the culture and mentality between North and South Korea can provide useful information on what kinds of problems may arise during the process of and after unification and what should be done to achieve mutual adaptation and harmonious and peaceful unification

Cell migration directionality and speed are independently regulated by RasG and Gβ in Dictyostelium cells in electrotaxis.

Motile cells manifest increased migration speed and directionality in gradients of stimuli, including chemoattractants, electrical potential and substratum stiffness. Here, we demonstrate that Dictyostelium cells move directionally in response to an electric field (EF) with specific acceleration/deceleration kinetics of directionality and migration speed. Detailed analyses of the migration kinetics suggest that migration speed and directionality are separately regulated by Gβ and RasG, respectively, in EF-directed cell migration. Cells lacking Gβ, which is essential for all chemotactic responses in Dictyostelium, showed EF-directed cell migration with the same increase in directionality in an EF as wild-type cells. However, these cells failed to show induction of the migration speed upon EF stimulation as much as wild-type cells. Loss of RasG, a key regulator of chemoattractant-directed cell migration, resulted in almost complete loss of directionality, but similar acceleration/deceleration kinetics of migration speed as wild-type cells. These results indicate that Gβ and RasG are required for the induction of migration speed and directionality, respectively, in response to an EF, suggesting separation of migration speed and directionality even with intact feedback loops between mechanical and signaling networks

Implementation of Cloth Simulation Using Parallel Computing on Mobile Device

Physically based modeling and simulation is an important technique for deformable object simulation, which is widely used to represent the realistic shape change and movement of objects for mobile game or 3D simulation. However, they require the high computational cost for representing the physical phenomenon on deformable objects when it applied on mobile device. In this paper, we designed and implemented the cloth simulation for deformable object simulation using the parallel technique on mobile device to optimize the computational burden. We especially applied GPU parallel technique for the integration solving process such as Euler, Midpoint, 4th-order Runge-Kutta method to estimate the particles' next status using positions and velocities. Also we applied multi-thread parallel technique for calculating the spring force. Then we compared the performance of each integration methods between under only CPU and CPU with GPU on mobile device. Also we compared the computing time of spring calculation between only CPU and using CPU multi-thread

Development of a serum-free medium for in vitro expansion of human cytotoxic T lymphocytes using a statistical design

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Serum-containing medium (SCM), which has a number of poorly defined components with varying concentrations, hampers standardization of lymphocyte cultures. In order to develop a serum-free medium (SFM) for the expansion of human lymphocytes from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), a statistical optimization approach based on a fractional factorial method and a response surface method was adopted. A basal medium was prepared by supplementing RPMI1640 medium with insulin, albumin, ferric citrate, ethanolamine, fatty acids, glutamine, sodium pyruvate, 2-mercaptoethanol, 1-thioglycerol, nonessential amino acids, and vitamins. We identified additional positive determinants and their optimal concentrations for cell growth through a statistical analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>From a statistical analysis using the fractional factorial method, cholesterol and polyamine supplement were identified as positive determinants for cell growth. Their optimal concentrations were determined by the response surface method. The maximum viable cell concentration in the developed SFM was enhanced by more than 1.5-fold when compared to that in RPMI1640 supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS). Furthermore, a cytotoxicity assay and an enzyme-linked immunospot assay revealed that the effector function of cytotoxic T lymphocytes generated from PBMCs grown in SFM, by stimulation of peptide-presenting dendritic cells, was retained or even better than that in SCM.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The use of a developed SFM with cholesterol and polyamine supplement for human lymphocyte culture resulted in better growth without loss of cellular function when compared to SCM.</p

Draft Genome Sequence of Amycolatopsis lurida NRRL 2430, Producer of the Glycopeptide Family Antibiotic Ristocetin.

We report here the first draft genome sequence for Amycolatopsis lurida NRRL 2430, the producer of the glycopeptide antibiotic ristocetin. The 9-Mbp genome is predicted to harbor 8,143 genes, including those belonging to the ristocetin biosynthesis cluster and 31 additional predicted secondary metabolite gene clusters.This work was supported by the grants from the Royal Society (516002.K5877/ROG) and the Medical Research Council (G0700141).This paper was originally published in Genome Announcements (Kwun MJ, Hong H-J, Genome Announcements 2014, 2(5):e01050-14. doi:10.1128/genomeA.01050-14)

The activity of glycopeptide antibiotics against resistant bacteria correlates with their ability to induce the resistance system.

Glycopeptide antibiotics containing a hydrophobic substituent display the best activity against vancomycin-resistant enterococci, and they have been assumed to be poor inducers of the resistance system. Using a panel of 26 glycopeptide derivatives and the model resistance system in Streptomyces coelicolor, we confirmed this hypothesis at the level of transcription. Identification of the structural glycopeptide features associated with inducing the expression of resistance genes has important implications in the search for more effective antibiotic structures.This work was supported by the Royal Society (516002.K5877/ROG) and the Medical Research Council (G0700141).This is the accepted manuscript version. The final version is available from ASM at http://aac.asm.org/content/early/2014/07/30/AAC.03668-14.abstract

Genome Sequence of Streptomyces toyocaensis NRRL 15009, Producer of the Glycopeptide Antibiotic A47934.

Here we report the draft genome sequence of Streptomyces toyocaensis strain NRRL 15009 which is the producer of the glycopeptide antibiotic A47934. The genome sequence is predicted to harbor a total of 26 secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters including the A47934 cluster.This work was supported by grants from the Royal Society (516002.K5877/ ROG) and the Medical Research Council (G0700141).This is the final published version, also available from ASM at http://genomea.asm.org/content/2/4/e00749-14

Analysis of Ionospheric foF2 by Solar Activity over the Korean Peninsula

The F2 layer is the upper sector of the ionospheric F region, and it is ~250 km above sea level. It has a high electron density and thus plays an important role in shortwave communications. The variations of the critical frequency of the F2 layer (foF2) offer clues regarding the events happening within the entire F2 layer, and foF2 analysis is essential for stable shortwave communications. This study analyzes the seasonal and annual variations of the foF2 as well as the reactions of the F2 layer height at two locations in South Korea by employing the mean and standard deviation (SD) used in previous studies. To ensure a more elaborate analysis, the median and quartiles were used for analyzing the ionosphere. We thereby compensate for the limitations of the mean and SD in developing the SD, despite the convenience of the SD for probability analysis. The application of the median and quartiles for the analysis of ionospheric data led to analysis results with greater detail. This was achieved by determining the relative SD and concurrently displaying the outliers and range of variation