Joseon mummies before mummy studies began in Korea

Mummy studies in Korea are instrumental in reconstructing the health and disease status of pre-modern Joseon peoples using firm scientific evidence. However, this scientific approach to such investigations in Korea is a relatively new discipline which began only within the last decade. Previous studies on Joseon tombs and their contents were performed exclusively by dress historians because most of the artefacts recoverable from Joseon tombs were textiles. In this report, we examine some of the excavation records left by dress historians in order to elucidate the approximate number and preservation status of Korean mummies discovered prior to the advent of their scientific investigation

Improper hydration induces global gene expression changes associated with renal development in infant mice

Abstract Background The kidney is a major organ in which fluid balance and waste excretion is regulated. For the kidney to achieve maturity with functions, normal renal developmental processes need to occur. Comprehensive genetic programs underlying renal development during the prenatal period have been widely studied. However, postnatal renal development, from infancy to the juvenile period, has not been studied yet. Here, we investigated whether structural and functional kidney development was still ongoing in early life by analyzing the renal transcriptional networks of infant (4 weeks old) and juvenile (7 weeks old) mice. We further examined the effects of dehydration on kidney development to unravel the mechanistic bases underlying deteriorative impact of pediatric dehydration on renal development. Methods 3-week-old infant mice that just finished weaning period were provided limited access to a water for fifteen minutes per day for one week (RES 1W) and four weeks (RES 4W) to induce dehydration while control group consumed water ad libitum with free access to the water bottle. Transcriptome analysis was conducted to understand physiological changes during postnatal renal development and dehydration. Results Kidneys in 4-week- and 7-week-old mice showed significantly distinctive functional gene networks. Gene sets related to cell cycle regulators, fetal kidney patterning molecules, and immature basement membrane integrity were upregulated in infantile kidneys while heightened expressions of genes associated with ion transport and drug metabolism were observed in juvenile kidneys. Dehydration during infancy suppressed renal growth by interrupting the SHH signaling pathway, which targets cell cycle regulators. Importantly, it is likely that disruption of the developmental program ultimately led to a decline in gene expression associated with basement membrane integrity. Conclusions Altogether, we demonstrate transcriptional events during renal development in infancy and show that the impacts of inadequate water intake in the early postnatal state heavily rely on the impairment of normal renal development. Here, we provide a meaningful perspective of renal development in infancy with a molecular and physiological explanation of why infants are more vulnerable to dehydration than adults. These results provide new insights into the molecular effects of dehydration on renal physiology and indicate that optimal nutritional interventions are necessary for pediatric renal development

Improvement of the Usability of Online Mentoring Website

The purpose of this study is to improve the usability of the current online mentoring website by deriving what should be improved through assessment and reflecting it to system improvement. The related data such as search log and Think Aloud were collected from user groups (9 users in total), and usability was tested according to the predefined test procedures. The collected data were analyzed, using quantitative methods. In terms of search log, the related items including effectiveness, efficiency, satisfaction and error were quantified according to usability testing standards. Then, descriptive statistics was performed. According to usability comparison before and after system improvement, it has mostly improved such as improved effectiveness (increase by 15 points), better efficiency (reduction by 41 seconds), increase in satisfaction (by 8 points) and decrease in error frequency (decrease by 1.2 times). Usability testing should be viewed as a process, not outcome itself. Therefore, it could be used during system prototype in addition to the current system and useful in system improvement

IRF8 Governs Expression of Genes Involved in Innate and Adaptive Immunity in Human and Mouse Germinal Center B Cells

IRF8 (Interferon Regulatory Factor 8) is a transcription factor expressed throughout B cell differentiation except for mature plasma cells. Previous studies showed it is part of the transcriptional network governing B cell specification and commitment in the bone marrow, regulates the distribution of mature B cells into the splenic follicular and marginal zone compartments, and is expressed at highest levels in germinal center (GC) B cells. Here, we investigated the transcriptional programs and signaling pathways affected by IRF8 in human and mouse GC B cells as defined by ChIP-chip analyses and transcriptional profiling. We show that IRF8 binds a large number of genes by targeting two distinct motifs, half of which are also targeted by PU.1. Over 70% of the binding sites localized to proximal and distal promoter regions with ∼25% being intragenic. There was significant enrichment among targeted genes for those involved in innate and adaptive immunity with over 30% previously defined as interferon stimulated genes. We also showed that IRF8 target genes contributes to multiple aspects of the biology of mature B cells including critical components of the molecular crosstalk among GC B cells, T follicular helper cells, and follicular dendritic cells

Quality characteristics of rice inoculated with Inonotus obliquus mycelia and incubated under different cultivating conditions

This study was performed to investigate the quality characteristics of Inonotus obliquus mycelia rice incubated with I. obliquus (KCTC 256152). Different volumes of mycelial culture of I. obliquus were used for production of I. obliquus mycelia rice. Twenty percent of the mycelial culture was added to rice and designated as IOR-20, 30% as IOR-30 and 40% as IOR-40. Using the I. obliquus mycelia rice, the contents of β-1,3-glucan, betulin, total polyphenol and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazol (DPPH) radical scavenging activity, Hunter`s color values, free amino acid content, and mineral content were investigated. The β-1,3-glucan content in I. obliquus mycelia rice were in the order of IOR-30(729.7 μg/g) > IOR-20(716.0 μg/g) > IOR-40(690.5 μg/g) and those of betulin content were OR-30(1273.7 μg/g) > IOR-40 (1247.81 μg/g) > IOR-20 (1209.82 μg/g). The highest content of total polyphenols (353.6 μg/g) and activity of DPPH radical scavenging were observed in the IOR-30. The higher contents for β-1,3-glucan, betulin, polyphenol, and DPPH radical scavenging were found in 30% mycelial culture treatment, showing the best condition for the production of I. obliquus mycelia. Aspartic acid (10.28 to 29.44 μg/100 g), threonine (5.43 to 11.00 μg/100 g), serine (8.84 to 14.53 μg/100 g), glutamic acid (31.01 to 53.61 μg/100 g), glycine (4.77 to 10.26 μg/100 g), valine (2.93 to 6.57 μg/100 g), and lysine (5.20 to 14.41 μg/100 g) contents were determined in the I. obliquus mycelia rice and the order was as follows; IOR-20>IOR-30>IOR-40. The IOR-30 sample exhibited the highest levels of K(899.1±8.1 mg/kg), Mg(427.3±9.3 mg/kg), Ca(480.2±6.9 mg/kg), Na(296.1±9.2 mg/kg).Keywords: Rice, Inonotus obliquus (KCTC 256152), β-1,3-glucan, betulin, quality characteristicsAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(33), pp. 5131-513

Self-similarity of fluid residence time statistics in a turbulent round jet

Fluid residence time is a key concept in the understanding and design of chemically reacting flows. In order to investigate how turbulent mixing affects the residence time distribution within a flow, this study examines statistics of fluid residence time from a direct numerical simulation (DNS) of a statistically stationary turbulent round jet with a jet Reynolds number of 7290. The residence time distribution in the flow is characterised by solving transport equations for the residence time of the jet fluid and for the jet fluid mass fraction. The product of the jet fluid residence time and the jet fluid mass fraction, referred to as the mass-weighted stream age, gives a quantity that has stationary statistics in the turbulent jet. Based on the observation that the statistics of the mass fraction and velocity are self-similar downstream of an initial development region, the transport equation for the jet fluid residence time is used to derive a model describing a self-similar profile for the mean of the mass-weighted stream age. The self-similar profile predicted is dependent on, but different from, the self-similar profiles for the mass fraction and the axial velocity. The DNS data confirm that the first four moments and the shape of the one-point probability density function of mass-weighted stream age are indeed self-similar, and that the model derived for the mean mass-weighted stream-age profile provides a useful approximation. Using the self-similar form of the moments and probability density functions presented it is therefore possible to estimate the local residence time distribution in a wide range of practical situations in which fluid is introduced by a high-Reynolds-number jet of fluid

Good Glycemic Control Is Associated with Better Survival in Diabetic Patients on Peritoneal Dialysis: A Prospective Observational Study

BACKGROUND: The effect of glycemic control after starting peritoneal dialysis (PD) on the survival of diabetic PD patients has largely been unexplored, especially in Asian population. METHODS: We conducted a prospective observational study, in which 140 incident PD patients with diabetes were recruited. Patients were divided into tertiles according to the means of quarterly HbA1C levels measured during the first year after starting PD. We examined the association between HbA1C and all-cause mortality using Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS: The mean age was 58.7 years, 59.3% were male, and the mean follow-up duration was 3.5 years (range 0.4-9.5 years). The mean HbA1C levels were 6.3%, 7.1%, and 8.5% in the 1(st), 2(nd), and 3(rd) tertiles, respectively. Compared to the 1(st) tertile, the all-cause mortality rates were higher in the 2(nd) [hazard ratio (HR), 4.16; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.91-18.94; p = 0.065] and significantly higher in the 3(rd) (HR, 13.16; 95% CI, 2.67-64.92; p = 0.002) tertiles (p for trend = 0.005), after adjusting for confounding factors. Cardiovascular mortality, however, did not differ significantly among the tertiles (p for trend = 0.682). In contrast, non-cardiovascular deaths, most of which were caused by infection, were more frequent in the 2(nd) (HR, 7.67; 95% CI, 0.68-86.37; p = 0.099) and the 3(rd) (HR, 51.24; 95% CI, 3.85-681.35; p = 0.003) tertiles than the 1(st) tertile (p for trend = 0.007). CONCLUSIONS: Poor glycemic control is associated with high mortality rates in diabetic PD patients, suggesting that better glycemic control may improve the outcomes of these patients