A STUDY OF BIOETHICAL KNOWLEDGE AND PERCEPTIONS IN KOREA

This study assessed the knowledge and perception of human biological materials (HBM) and biorepositories among three study groups in South Korea. The relationship between the knowledge and the perception among different groups was also examined by using factor and regression analyses. In a self‐reporting survey of 440 respondents, the expert group was found more likely to be knowledgeable and positively perceived than the others. Four factors emerged: Sale and Consent, Flexible Use, Self‐Confidence, and Korean Bioethics and Biosafety Action restriction perception. The results indicate that those who are well aware of the existence of biobanks were more positively inclined to receive the Sale and Consent perception. As a result of the need for high quality HBMs and the use of appropriate sampling procedures for every aspect of the collection and use process, the biorepository community should pay attention to ethical, legal, and policy issues.     

EFFECT OF ASSESSORS EXPERTISE LEVEL ON EFFICIENCY OF WARM-UP FOR TRIANGLE TESTS

The effect of warm-up on performance for repeated triangle tests is studied according to assessors' expertise level for both triangle test strategy and the pair of products to compare. Three experiments performed with orange flavored soft drinks show that the effect of warm-up depends on the assessors' expertise: (1) naive assessors do not increase their performance with warm-up; (2) assessors with a moderate practice of both triangle tests and the pair of products improve their performance with warm-up; (3) assessors with a moderate practice of triangle tests, but not familiar with the pair of products, improve their performance with warm-up too; and (4) assessors highly experienced for both triangle tests and products do not improve their performance with warm-up. These results support the idea that the positive effect of warm-up is due to an attentional process: Warm-up seems to help assessors focusing their attention on the dimension on which the two products are actually different and ignoring the other dimensions. Thus, results show that assessors are able to learn the difference between the two products and to learn to focus their attention on this difference at any time. They also suggest that prior knowledge of the triangle test scheme is required to benefit from warm-up.     

GROWTH RESPONSE OF SALMONELLA SPP. TO CYCLOHEXIMIDE AMENDMENT IN MEDIA

The present study was designed to evaluate cycloheximide as a potential media amendment to prevent fungal overgrowth on selective media for salmonellae enumeration. The objectives were to determine the effect of cycloheximide on Salmonella spp growth rates and to determine the effect of cycloheximide addition on Salmonella enumeration in selective media. The bacteria tested included two strains of Salmonella typhimurium (NO/NA and LT2) and one strain of Salmonella arizonae. All strains were grown in tryptic soy broth containing cycloheximide to determine the effect of cycloheximide on bacterial specific growth rates. The growth rate of all strains grown in tryptic soy broth were not significantly influenced by addition of cycloheximide at concentrations up to 1,000 mg/L. Growth rates of S. typhimurium NO/NA in minimal media were significantly decreased by addition of cycloheximide aerobically (300 mg/L) and anaerobically (600 mg/L). However, S. typhimurium NO/NA populations on brilliant green agar, MacConkey agar, and from selenite cysteine broth and tetrathionate broth were not affected by cycloheximide additions at concentrations up to 1,000 mg/L. Cycloheximide has potential as a fungistat additive for salmonellae selective media.     

Characterization of new microsatellite markers in mung bean,Vigna radiata (L.)

The present work reports the isolation and characterization of new polymorphic microsatellites in mung bean (Vigna radiata L.). Of 93 designed primer pairs, seven were found to amplify polymorphic microsatellite loci, which were then characterized using 34 mung bean accessions. The number of alleles ranged from two to five alleles per locus with an average of three alleles. Observed and expected heterozygosity values ranged from 0 to 0.088 and from 0.275 to 0.683, respectively. All seven loci showed significant deviations from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium, whereas only one pairwise combination (GBssr‐MB77 and GBssr‐MB91) exhibited significant departure from linkage disequilibrium. These newly developed markers are currently being utilized for diversity assessment within the mung bean germplasm collection of the Korean Gene Bank.     

低氧诱导因子和角质细胞生长因子双基因重组腺病毒的构建及其在肺泡上皮细胞中的表达

目的：构建同时携带低氧诱导因子-1α（HIF-1α）和角质细胞生长因子（KGF）N腺病毒载体（pAdxsi-GFP-HIF-KGF）,观察其在防治肺损伤潜在的应用前景。方法：低氧处理A549细胞后提取总RNA并逆转录为eDNA作为模板,依据GeneBank公布的HIF-1α cDNA设计引物,并分别引入KpnI和BamHI酶切位点,PCR扩增后将目的基因HIF-1α连接到载体pShuttle-CMV-EGFP上,构建重组质粒pShuttle-GFP—HIF。然后以质粒plRES2-EGFP-KGF为模板,用引入NheI和PmeI酶切位点的引物PCR扩增KGF基因并克隆到重组质粒pShuttle-GFP-HIF上,获得穿梭质粒重组质粒pShuttle—GFP-HIF—KGF。采用细菌内重组方法将目的序列重组到pAdxsi病毒骨架栽体上构建携带HIF．10t和KGF双基因的重组腺病毒载体pAdxsi-GFP-HIF-KGF。检测重组腺病毒滴度后,转染人肺泡上皮细胞A549,检测目的基因的转染表达。结果：通过对构建质粒克隆进行测序及酶切,证实携带HIF—lot和KGF双基因的重组腺病毒载体pAdxsi-GFP-HIF-KGF构建成功,且构建的重组腺病毒纯度好、滴度高。用pAdxsi-GFP-HIF-KGF以100MOI转染A549细胞后24h后在荧光显微镜下可观察到细胞有较强的绿色荧光表达,48h时荧光更强;转染48hELISA法检测培养上清中HIF-1蛋白表达水平为（56．36±4．53）ng／mL,KGF蛋白表达水平为（60．20±2．92）ng／mL。结论：成功构建了腺病毒栽体pAdxsi-GFP-HIF-KGF,其转染效率及目的基因的蛋白表达水平较高,具有潜在的进一步在肺损伤局部应用的前景,为后期制备可以同时发挥KGF、HIF-1作用的基因治疗药物打下基础,同时为高海拔地区应激性急性肺损伤的有效防治提供实验基础。     

On multi-strain model for Hepatitis C

In this paper we present a multi-strain model for hepatitis C virus (HCV) including an immune response term. The model is presented and discussed. Also we argue that the added multi-strain term represents some basic properties of the immune system and that it should be included to study longer term behavior of the disease.     

Study on Traditional Knowledge of Wild Edible Plants Used by the Mongolians in Xilingol Typical Steppe Area*

The local herdsmen were served as informants, methods of interviews and voucher specimen collection and identification have been used to conduct ethnobotanical field investigations on wild edible plants in the Xilingol typical steppe area, Inner Mongolia. The results show that 29 species and two varieties of wild plants used for food and drinks by the Mongolians in Xilingol typical steppe area. The edible parts of the plants are whole plant, aerial parts, roots, stems, bulbs, leaves, flowers, fruits or/and seeds respectively. Among them, the leaf is the most widely used part. Six categories of food uses based on the mode of folk edible use were established to classify wild food plants, including wild grain, vegetables, fruit, substitute for tea, seasoning, and snacks. Among them, vegetables were the largest group, followed by plants used as substitute for tea, and plants used for seasoning. Wild plants are usually eaten raw or cooked by the local people. Raw materials and prepared food from wild plants are preserved through the method of pickling and drying. A distinguishing feature of region and ethnic group is that mutton, beef, fresh milk and yoghourt are necessarily used in cooking dish and making milk tea from wild plants by local Mongolians.