Proposing Design Guidelines of Insa-dong by Referring Design Guidelines of Old City Historic District

Design Guidelines are written to preserve the character of the district, including architectural character of the structures and historic character of the district and buildings. In case of South Korea, the country began to concern preserving historic district, but does not have design guidelines. Design guidelines are necessary to support the preservation movement and for effective preservation in South Korea. The study focuses on proposing design guidelines of Insa-dong, Seoul by referring the design guidelines of Old City Historic District, Philadelphia. Insa-dong is the first Cultural District in South Korea and it has many historical and cultural properties within the area. Insa-dong and Old City Historic District have similarities in the characteristics that both place are mix of commercial and residential districts and mix of traditional and modern buildings. The study assesses the history and the architectural history of Insa-dong, and also analysis of design guidelines of Old City Historic District and character defining features of Insa-dong. The contents of proposed design guidelines are determined by using the analysis of design guidelines of Old City Historic District and character defining features of Insa-dong. Since the Hanok is the major historic buildings in Insa-dong, the design guidelines mainly guide Hanok houses, but some general standards are added for modern style buildings to make harmony with Hanok and preserve historic view of Insa-dong.The design guidelines of Hanok include guidance of roof and eaves, structure, exterior wall, fence, storefront, two-story Hanok, and new construction. The design guidelines of modern style buildings include guidance of material, color, storefront, new construction. The other recommendations are suggested for effective preservation and sustainability of Insa-dong. The proposed design guidelines will be used for helping to protect cultural and historical view of Seoul, and also as a reference for future design guidelines

Nutritional, Bone, and Physical Fitness States of Jockeys in Chronic Repetition of Short-Term Weight Loss

Professional jockeys are required to fit their weight, mainly weight loss, for two game days every weekend during racing season which usually lasts 10 months a year in Korea. The repetitive routine weight loss protocol is performed for 4 to 5 days a week include two game days. This situation would have brought some negative effects on the professional jockeys\u27 overall health and physical condition with the relation of their performance. The purpose of the present study was: 1) to examine the weight loss habits of pro-jockeys, and 2) effects of chronic short-term weight loss on nutritional status, bone health, and physical fitness of them. Pro jockeys (n=43) completed a questionnaire for the assessment of weight loss habits. Pro jockeys (n=10, around 12 years of career) were compared with trainee jockeys (n=10, less than 1 years of career) for their nutritional status, bone health, and physical fitness. The nutritional status was measured by a computerized program (CAN Pro 2.0). Bone mineral density was measured by DEXA (Hologic, QDR-4500W, USA). All participants performed grip strength test, standing on one leg with eyes closed test, and side step test for the assessment of physical fitness. According to the result, more than 80% of pro jockeys underwent a routine weight loss process every week, for around 1 kg, within 2 to 3 days prior to the game days by diet mainly and/or exercise/sauna. Around 70% of them reported severe fatigue during the weight loss period. There were no significant differences in nutritional status between two groups. However, they consume average of 1,100 Kcal a day reflecting 21 to 80% of recommended daily consumption during weight loss periods. In bone health, six trainee jockeys and two pro jockeys were diagnosed as osteopenia. One pro jockey was diagnosed as osteoporosis. No significant difference was found in fitness factors between two groups. In conclusion, chronic exposure to short-term weight loss may result in serious health problems especially on bone health. For the jockeys in Korea, balanced diet program and the related education on weight management are strongly required.

Interaction between IDH1 WT and calmodulin and its implications for glioblastoma cell growth and migration

Isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) mutations are found in low-grade gliomas, and the product of the IDH mutant (MT), 2-hydroxyglutarate (2-HG), is the first known oncometabolite. However, the roles of the IDH wild type (WT) in high-grade glioblastoma, which rarely has the IDH mutation, are still unknown. To investigate possible pathways related to IDH WT in gliomas, we carried out bioinformatics analysis, and found that IDH1 has several putative calmodulin (CaM) binding sites. Pull-down and quantitative dissociation constant (Kd) measurements using recombinant proteins showed that IDH1 WT indeed binds to CaM with a higher affinity than IDH1 R132H MT. This biochemical interaction was demonstrated also in the cellular environment by immunoprecipitation with glioblastoma cell extracts. A synthetic peptide for the suggested binding region interfered with the interaction between CaM and IDH1, confirming the specificity of the binding. Direct binding between the synthetic peptide and CaM was observed in an NMR binding experiment, which additionally revealed that the peptide initially binds to the C-lobe of CaM. The physiological meaning of the CaM-IDH1 WT binding was shown with trifluoperazine (TFP), a CaM antagonist, which disrupted the binding and inhibited survival and migration of glioblastoma cells with IDH1 WT. As CaM signaling is activated in glioblastoma, our results suggest that IDH1 WT may be involved in the CaM-signaling pathway in the tumorigenesis of high-grade gliomas. (C) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Effect of Exercise Intervention on Flow-Mediated Dilation in Overweight and Obese Adults: Meta-Analysis

The objective of this meta-analysis is to summarize the effect of exercise intervention on flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) in overweight and obese adults. We searched four electronic databases (PubMed/Medline, Scopus, and CINAHL) through June 2016 for relevant studies pertaining to the effectiveness of exercise intervention on FMD. Seventeen of the 91 studies identified met the inclusion criteria. Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software (version 3) was used to compute the standardized mean difference effect size (ES) and 95% CI using a random effects model. We calculated 34 ESs. We found that exercise intervention had medium and positive effects on FMD, with an overall ES of 0.522 (95% CI = 0.257, 0.786). Heterogeneity of ESs was observed ( = 239, ≤ 0.001, 2 = 86.19), and the effect was moderated by comorbidity ( = 6.39, df = 1, = 0.011). A large ES for the combination exercise, low intensity exercise, and comorbidity subgroups (ES = 0.82∼1.24) was found. We conclude that while exercise intervention significantly improves FMD in overweight and obese adults, the effect may depend on the different characteristics of exercise intervention and on participants’ demographics

Genome sequences of 12 bacterial isolates obtained from the urine of pregnant women

The presence of bacteria in urine can pose significant risks during pregnancy. However, there are few reference genome strains for many common urinary bacteria. We isolated 12 urinary strains of Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Citrobacter, Gardnerella, and Lactobacillus. These strains and their genomes are now available to the research community

Genome sequences of 14 Firmicutes strains isolated from the human vagina

Research on vaginal infections is currently limited by a lack of available fully sequenced bacterial reference strains. Here, we present strains (now available through BEI Resources) and genome sequences for a set of 14 vaginal isolates from the phylum Firmicutes. These genome sequences provide a valuable resource for future research in understanding the role of Gram-positive bacteria in vaginal health and disease

Genome sequences of 11 human vaginal Actinobacteria strains

The composition of the vaginal microbiota is an important health determinant. Several members of the phylum Actinobacteria have been implicated in bacterial vaginosis, a condition associated with many negative health outcomes. Here, we present 11 strains of vaginal Actinobacteria (now available through BEI Resources) along with draft genome sequences

Genome sequences of nine gram-negative vaginal bacterial isolates

The vagina is home to a wide variety of bacteria that have great potential to impact human health. Here, we announce reference strains (now available through BEI Resources) and draft genome sequences for 9 Gram-negative vaginal isolates from the taxa Citrobacter, Klebsiella, Fusobacterium, Proteus, and Prevotella