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HrpN(EP), from the gram-negative pathogen, Erwinia pyrifoliae, is a member of the harpin group of proteins, inducing pathogen resistance and hypersensitive cell death in plants. When the hrpN(EP) gene driven by the OsCc1 promoter was introduced into tobacco plants via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation, their resistance to the necrotrophic fungal pathogen, Botrytis cinerea, increased. Resistance to B. cinerea was correlated with enhanced induction of SA-dependent genes such as PR-1a, PR2, PR3 and Chia5, of JA-dependent genes such as PR-1b, and of genes related to ethylene production, such as NT-EFE26, NT-1A1C, DS321, NT-ACS1 and NT-ACS2. However the expression of NPR1, which is thought to be essential for multiple-resistance, did not increase. Since the pattern of expression of defense-related genes in hrpN(EP)-expressing tobacco differed from that in plants expressing hpaG(Xoo) from Xanthomonas oryzae pv. Oryzae, these results suggest that different harpins can affect the expression of different defense-related genes, as well as resistance to different plant pathogens.

Objective. This study was designed to assess sequential association between right ventricular systolic pressure and cardiothoracic (C/T) ratio of chest radiography in systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients and inferred pulmonary arterial hypertension by increased C/T ratio and right ventricular systolic pressure. Methods. Twenty-eight consecutive patients with confirmed SSc (22 females, 6 males; mean age 51.1±2.1 years), with a mean time of 91.0±6.7 months from SSc diagnosis, were prospectively included in the study. C/T ratio was obtained by chest radiography with an interval of two years. The first C/T ratio was taken at diagnosis and second C/T ratio was taken at the time of enrollment. The enrolled subjects were agree to undergo echocardiography and measurement of brain natriuretic peptide. Results. In 24 SSc patients with normal right ventricular systolic pressure, 10 SSc patients had increased C/T ratio, the other four SSc patients with increased right ventricular systolic pressure by echocardiography, had increased C/T ratio all together. In four SSc patients with increased right ventricular systolic pressure, one patient had resting dyspnea, taken cardiac catheterization and confirmed as pulmonary hypertension and the other three patients had no clinical symptoms. The increased right ventricular systolic pressure is related to the increase of C/T ratio (＞0.55) in chest radiography (p＜0.05) and increased brain natriuretic peptide in blood (p＜0.05). Conclusion. The increase of C/T ratio (＞0.55) in chest radiography was associated with increased right ventricular systolic pressure measured by echocardiography and inferred a role in early detection of asymptomatic pulmonary arterial hypertension in SSc patients. (J Rheum Dis 2015;22:19-24)

We report on a 13-year-old female with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) who exhibited symptoms of severe migraine and familial moyamoya disease. Cerebral magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) showed stenosis and occlusion of the bilateral internal carotid arteries associated with the development of collateral circulation (moyamoya vessels). In a child, as in this case, headaches with cerebral infarction associated with moyamoya disease are unusual. Few cases of SLE associated with familial moyamoya disease have been reported, with no previous reports of such cases from Korea. There were no evidences of antiphospholipid syndrome, and activity of SLE or other risk factors for cerebral occlusion were also absent.

In this article, we introduce the novel technique to design and implement a low cost embedded system for multimedia data processing. We use the skeleton of the existing Linux operating system and developed micro-kernel to perform a number of specific tasks for our purpose efficiently and effectively: memory management, video processing, input/output port control.

Dosimetry based on the electron spin resonance (ESR) technique was used to study human cortical bone irradiated by a therapeutic proton beam. Bone samples were irradiated with 160-MeV protons and, for comparison, 6-MV photons, Additional samples were held aside as controls. The ESR peak-to-peak heights (PPH) for various doses were studied. A Bragg curve was generated by irradiating bone samples at various depths and measuring the ESR response. A companion Bragg curve was also generated via parallel plate ion chamber (PPIC) measurements. The proton-to-photon dose-response was 0.806/spl plusmn/0.034 (+1 s.d.) in the Bragg plateau. This ratio is lower than previously reported and is likely attributable to an intermediate-length (year,) decay component. In the Bragg curve analysis, an iterative technique for sub-millimeter sample depth-correction was employed. The Bragg peak position and height of the ESR data differed from the PPIC data. The ESR Bragg peak shift was -0.6 mm. The ratio of the ESR-to-PPIC Bragg peak height was 0.804/spl plusmn/0.029 (+1 s.d.), for a normalization in the Bragg plateau region. In conclusion, the difference in the peak position and the peak value of the Bragg curve may, in part, be from detector size effects, as noted in the very interesting work of Bichsel (1995). A direct comparison, however, can not be made because of differences in the two studies. The role of differential proton stopping-power effects in the bone response is discussed.

Electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy was used to analyze the persistent free radicals in irradiated bone. Human cortical bone samples were irradiated in vitro by a 160-MeV proton beam and a 6-MV photon beam, and were subsequently analyzed with an x-band ESR spectrometer. The samples' spectroscopic g-values and microwave power saturation responses were studied, as well as various combinations of ESR signal peak-to-peak widths (PPW) and heights (PPH). The samples were also measured using the vector saturation transfer (VST) method, where first- and second-derivative ESR spectra collected at various modulation phases, and calculated third-derivative "harmonics," are compared. The samples' spectroscopic g-values and microwave power saturation responses were similar for both types of radiation. The g-values varied depending on bone dose and "background" signal, but became fairly regular around 50 Gy. The PPW were similar for both protons and photons, and varied with dose. The various groupings of PPH were all a linear function of dose. The ratio of net proton/photon PPH(dose) was 0.81, which differs from previous results. No significant differences were observed In the resultant VST harmonic figures, In conclusion, with the exception of the ratio of the net proton/photon PPH(dose), there were no significant differences in the spectroscopic character of the persistent free radicals in the proton- or photon-irradiated bone samples.

Studies have been actively undertaken on image retrieval from a large-capacity image database, particularly on image retrievals such as natural image retrieval, character image retrieval or trademark retrieval from a streaming image database. In retrieving a character image, either color or shape information is used for the key feature information. However, changes in the shape of a character image often makes it difficult to retrieve solely based on the shape information, requiring a new retrieval method where both color and shape information are taken into consideration. We present a highly effective method for retrieving or matching similar character images even when shape information differs substantially. In our approach, combined features of color and shape information are used for image retrieval; an image is first split into sectors; color information is extracted from the sector images followed by quantization using Parzen window to extract features; an image is then retrieved by means of bipartite matching using the features. Our results show the retrieval rate using the combined information increases substantially for matching natural or character images compared with the results obtained by the combination of two features independently.

Anogenital infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections worldwide. The majority of HPV infections are transient and subclinical, with subsequent clearance by the immune system. However, in some individuals, especially those with impaired immunity, HPV infection may persist and result in condyloma acuminatum, pre-cancerous cervical abnormalities, as well as cervical cancer. Because of the intrinsic immunological aberrations and immunosuppressive treatment, patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have higher prevalence of anogenital HPV infection, and SLE itself appears to be a major risk factor for HPV infection. HPV infection is sexually transmitted via genital contact; autogenesis of condyloma acuminatum without sexual contact is rare. In this case, a 27-year old virgin female with SLE was admitted to our clinic, presenting anogenital condyloma acuminata. It report that SLE patient can have a disease of anogenital HPV infection, despite the lack of sexual contact. Therefore, we recommend that patients with SLE have regular gynecological evaluations, in addition to prophylactic HPV vaccinations.

A 30 year-old woman with a history of Behcet’s disease was admitted to our clinic because of a paroxysmal attack of palpitations, headache, and ocular pain. Initially, we did not suspect a pheochromocytoma. We evaluated Behcet’s disease activity because the cardiovascular and neurological symptoms mimicked those of Behcet’s disease. Pheochromocytoma is often overlooked and can be fatal if not recognized and treated appropriately. In the present case, abdominal computerized tomography incidentally revealed a mass confirmed to be a pheochromocytoma in the left adrenal gland, and the tumor was successfully removed. This is the first Korean report of a pheochromocytoma in a patient with Behcet’s disease. We suggest that pheochromocytoma should be included in the differential diagnosis of Behcet’s disease if a patient presents with cardiovascular or neurological symptoms. (Korean J Med 2013;85:334-337)

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is an idiopathic inflammatory demyelinating disease, characterized by optic neuritis and myelitis. NMO is a very uncommon and serious neurologic manifestation of Sjogren's syndrome. We report on a 32-year-old female with NMO as central nerve system involvement of Sjogren’s syndrome. She had a transverse myelitis ten years ago and did not have symptoms for a long period of time. She visited the emergency center because of worsening weakness of both limbs. She had an appendectomy three days ago before hospitalization. Cervical spinal magnetic resonance imaging showed increased signal intensity in T2-weighted images from the cervical (C2) to the upper thoracic (T4) spinal cord. As serum NMO-IgG was positive, we diagnosed neuromyelitis optica and treated with high dose steroid, but failed. Therefore, we treated with plasmapheresis and the patient was discharged without any neurological deficits.

Mango ( Mangifera indica L.), an economically important fruit cropin the subtropics and tropics, was recently introduced into Korea. Itis being cultivated over an area of 20 ha with an annual productionof approximately 300 tons in Jeju Island. In July 2010, stem-end rotswere found on fruits of mango (cv. Irwin) grown in a greenhouse inJeju. In the early stage, the affected fruits appeared as small brownspots. As they enlarged, the lesions became circular, dark brown toblack and water-soaked patches and progressed from the surface toinner part of the fruit (Fig. 1A). Two fungal isolates were obtained from lesions on mango fruits.Cultures were initially white to smoke grey, with fluffy aerialmycelium on potato dextrose agar and became gray or black with afew medium grays in laterstage (F ig.1B) . The pycnidia produced onthe 14-day-old cultures (Fig. 1C) were simple, often aggregated,stromatic, ostiolate and hairy. Paraphyses within the pycnidia werehyaline,cy lindrica septate, occasionallyl, branched. Conidiogenouscells were hyaline, thin-walled, smooth, cylindrical, holoblastic(Fig. 1D). Young conidia were hyaline, unicellular and subovoid toellipsoid, with a granular content (Fig. 1E). Mature conidia wereone-septate, dark brown, thick walled, ellipsoidal, with longitudinalstriations (Fig. 1F) and measured 17.5 −26.8 × 12.3 −17.1 μm (mean22.7 × 14.7 μm). No teleomorph was observed in culture. The twofungal isolates were identified as Lasiodiplodia theobromae (Pat.)Griffon & Maubl. [Synonym: Botryodipodl ia theobromae Pat].bas edon their morphological and cultural characteristics, and correspondedto previous description for the species (Alves et al., 2008).To confirm the identification, the complete internal transcribedspacer (ITS) rDNA regions and translation elongation factor 1-alpha (EF1-α) of the two fungal isolates, ML1001 and ML1005were amplified using the primers ITS1/ITS4 and EF1-688F/EF1-1251R asd escribed by Alvese at . (20l 08) and sequencedTh . ere sultingsequences were deposited in GenBank (Accession numbersJN542561 and JN542562 for ITS rDNA, JN542563 and JN542564for EF1-α). Sequences of reference isolates were retrieved fromGenBank. A phylogenetic tree derived from combined sequences ofITS rDNA and EF1-α was constructed by the neighbor-joiningmethod with Kimura’s two-parameter distance model using MEGAversion 5.0. In the phylogenetic tree, the present isolates placed inthe same clade with L. theobromae in GenBank and clearlydistinguished from the closely related Lasiodiplodia species, L.parva and L. pseudotheobromae (Fig. 2).Pathogenicity tests were made on mango fruits. The fruits wereperforated with 3 mm cork borer, followed by drop-inoculated with100 μl of conidial suspensions (5×10

Mulberry (Morus alba L.) is native to China, and has long beenwidely cultivated to feed the silkworms. Recently, it is being used asa material for medical applications and health food in Korea. In July2009, leaf spot disease severely occurred in some local varieties ofmulberry grown in Suwon, Korea. Among different varieties surveyed,a variety, Hasusang, was found to be highly susceptible to the diseasewhere disease incidence reached nearly 90 percent. The disease usuallyoccurred on leaves close to the ground and gradually progressed toupper leaves. The symptoms appeared initially in the form of small,circular, dark-brown spots less than 1 mm and with age these spotsenlarged to large lesions with diffuse chlorotic halo (Fig. 1A and 1B).A total of eight fungal isolates were obtained from lesions on theleaves of mulberry plants. Acervular conidiomata produced onnecrotic lesions in concentric circles were white to pinkish white,subepidermal, separate or confluent, mostly 150 −200 µm wide (Fig.1C). Conidiophores were hyaline, cylindrical, holoblastic andmeasured 7.3 −21.5 × 2.3−4.5 µm (Fig. 1D). Conidia were hyaline,cylindrical, straight or curved, tapered towards the apex, 1 −6 septateand measured 21.0−68.8 × 2.5−5.2 µm (Fig. 1E). Colonies onpotato dextrose agar were slow growing, compact, producing palered diffuse pigment, white on top surface and dark green withpinkish white edge on reverse side (Fig. 1F)A . ll fungal isolates wereidentified as Phloeospora maculans (Sandri) Allesch . [teleomorphMycosphaerella mori (Fuckel) Wolf] based on their morphologicaland cultural characteristics. The morphological characteristics ofpresent isolates were also similar to those described previously(Punithalingam, 1990; Sutton, 1980).To confirm the results of conventional identification, the riboso-mal DNA-internal transcribed spacer (rDNA-ITS) regions fromMP0930, MP0938 and MP0940 were amplified using the primersITS1/ITS4, and sequenced. The sequences obtained were depositedin GenBank with accession numbers of HQ874466, 874467 and874468. An ITS-based phylogenetic tree was constructed by theneighbor-joining method with Kimura’s two-parameter distancemodel using MEGA version 4.0. The phylogenetic tree showed thatpresent isolates could be distinguished from the other Mycospha-erella species and form an independent clade together with P.maculans in GenBank (Fig. 2). Pathogenicity tests were made on mulberry leaves spray-inoculated with conidial suspension (5 × 10

Edible species of yam are a significantly important food and pharmaceutical crop used throughout the world [1]. Among them, the yam (Dioscorea batatas Decne.), a health food crop, is the most widely cultivated species in Korea [2]. Leaf spot is the most commonly encountered foliar disease in yam fields. The disease has been reported to be caused by Cercospora dioscoreae by Ellis and Martin, Cylindrosporium dioscoreae by Miyabe and Ito, and Pseudocercospora contraria (Syd. and Syd.) by Deighton [3]. This study was conducted to identify the fungus, based on morphological and cultural characteristics, causing leaf spot in yams in Korea. Additionally, to clarify the phylogenetic relatedness among taxa, rDNA-internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of the fungal isolates isolated from yam leaves were compared with those of related fungal species retrieved from the GenBank database. Finally, pathogenicity of the fungal isolates was tested.

PURPOSE The present study was intended to evaluate the effect of soldering techniques with infrared ray and gas torch under different gap distances (0.3 mm and 0.5 mm) on the tensile strength and surface porosity formation in Ni-Cr base metal alloy. MATERIALS AND METHODS Thirty five dumbbell shaped Ni-Cr alloy specimens were prepared and assigned to 5 groups according to the soldering method and the gap distance. For the soldering methods, gas torch (G group) and infrared ray (IR group) were compared and each group was subdivided by corresponding gap distance (0.3 mm: G3 and IR3, 0.5 mm: G5, IR5). Specimens of the experimental groups were sectioned in the middle with a diamond disk and embedded in solder blocks according to the predetermined distance. As a control group, 7 specimens were prepared without sectioning or soldering. After the soldering procedure, a tensile strength test was performed using universal testing machine at a crosshead speed 1 mm/min. The proportions of porosity on the fractured surface were calculated on the images acquired through the scanning electronic microscope. RESULTS Every specimen of G3, G5, IR3 and IR5 was fractured on the solder joint area. However, there was no significant difference between the test groups (P > .05). There was a negative correlation between porosity formation and tensile strength in all the specimens in the test groups (P < .05). CONCLUSION There was no significant difference in ultimate tensile strength of joints and porosity formations between the gas-oxygen torch soldering and infrared ray soldering technique or between the gap distance of 0.3 mm and 0.5 mm.

The clinical manifestations of antisynthetase syndrome are severe interstitial pneumonitis, mild polyarthritis, and myositis. This disease is accompanied by anti-Jo-1 antibodies and anti-Ro/SSA antibodies and occasionally by the concurrence of anti-Jo-1 and anti-Ro/SSA antibodies, which leads to a more severe form of interstitial lung disease. In this case, the patient was transferred to our hospital because of pulmonary fibrosis with myositis and diagnosed with antisynthetase syndrome and the concurrence of anti-Jo-1 with anti-Ro/SSA antibodies. He was refractory to glucocorticoids, and developed leucopenia and thrombocytopenia. He was treated with rituximab infusions, but the interstitial pneumonitis progressed very rapidly and he died.

Objective: To assess the 10-year cumulative survival outcome of polymyositis (PM) and dermatomyositis (DM) as well as the factors associated with the the outcome. Methods: Eighty five patients with PM and twenty one patients with DM were diagnosed at our university medical center between 1997 and 2007. Thirty six patients with PM and 13 patients with DM were followed up until death or until the end of January, 2008. Gender, age, AST, ALT, CPK, LDH, ESR, CRP, aldolase, drugs of therapy, combined ILD, and cancer, and duration of remission after therapy were assessed as prognostic factors of death by the Kaplan-Meier curve and Cox regression model. Results: The respective 10-year survival rate for PM and DM was 80.8% (95% confidence interval (CI): 73.3∼87.2) and 55.9% (95% CI: 40.7∼71.1), respectively. The median survival for PM and DM was 11.3 years (95% CI: 9.8∼12.9) and 7.0 years (95% CI: 3.6∼10.5), respectively. Compared to DM patients, the subjects with PM had a 167.26 fold (95% CI: 7.59∼ 3683.19) combined ILD adjusted risk of mortality (p＜0.05) and no other individual factor reached significance as a predictor of death. However, cancer had a hazard ratio (HR) of 17.00 (95% CI: 1.06∼281.79) and 2.45 (95% CI: 0.78∼12.45) for death in the PM and DM group, respectively. Conclusion: According to an analysis of the survival and its prognostic factors in patients with

Background and Objectives: Left transradial coronary angiography may result in damage of both radial arteries in patients who experienced right radial access. In some patients, the left radial artery has been used as a graft. We investigated whether graft angiography using right radial access is feasible in patients with bypass surgery to preserve the left radial artery as a future graft. Subjects and Methods: A total of 109 consecutive patients with bypass surgery who had undergone right radial access underwent graft angiography via the same access. Results: Sixteen (15%) patients were excluded because of the presence of a severely tortuous right subclavian artery. Bypass graft angiography via right radial or brachial access was completed successfully in 90 (97%) out of 93 patients. In 3 (3%) of patients, femoral access was needed to complete the angiography. Saphenous vein grafts were cannulated selectively in 150 (90%) of 167 grafts with satisfactory image quality and not found even on the aortogram in the other 17 (10%) grafts. Ninety-two (89%) out of 103 left mammary grafts were cannulated selectively or semi-selectively using a modified Simmons catheter, resulting in satisfactory image quality. The other 11 (11%) grafts were visualized non-selectively using a Judkins Left catheter, and resulting in acceptable image quality in 10 (91%) grafts. There were no procedure-related complications. Conclusion: Graft angiography via right radial access can be performed reliably in most patients that lack severe subclavian tortuosity. (Korean Circ J 2009;39:304-309)

Symptoms of basal rot occurred sporadically on creeping bent grasses growing at a golf course in Hampyeong, Korea in April 2007. Ten isolates of Microdochium sp. were obtained from leaves and crowns of the diseased bent grasses. All isolates were identified as Microdochium bolleyi based on morphological, cultural, and molecular characteristics. This is the first report on M. bolleyi associated with basal rot on creeping bent grass in Korea.

Systemic lupus erythematous (SLE) is systemic autoimmune disease of unknown etiology. SLE involve all part of heart but clinically important myocarditis is an unusual feature and is potentially fatal complication of SLE. We describe the woman who had diagnosed as SLE, 5 years ago and in that time, she had sinus tachycardia, mild dyspnea, chest discomfort, and depressed left ventricular function. She was diagnosed to myocarditis clinically and was treated by high-dose corticosteroids of intravenous pulse methylprednisolone. After treatment, she improved and showed improvement of left ventricular function. However, a sudden pneumomediastinum was occurred without trauma, and she died. The cause of pneumomediastinum was unexplained. We report a sudden pneumomediastinum in the course of lupus myocarditis presenting as sinus tachycardia with review of literature.

Behcet’s disease is chronic and systemic inflammatory vasculitis, characterized by immunologically involving in variable size of arteries and veins. Clinically, principal manifestations are recurrent oral ulcer, genital ulcer, skin and eye lesions. Compared to other connective tissue disease, cancer is not accompanied commonly in Behcet`s disease. But, immunological confusion such as T cell depletion or B cell hyperplasia, or long-term of immunosuppressive treatment lead to occurrence of malignancy. Recently, we experienced a case of maxillary mass, induced to abrupt headache in Behcet’s disease, confirmed diffuse large B cell lymphoma by biopsy, and treated by rituximab-CHOP chemotherapy. Thus we report these with literature review.

Background and Objectives: Echocardiographic evaluation of the long axis left ventricle (LV ) function has been reported to be useful for understanding heart failure in those patients with a preserved ejection fraction (EF). The global and segmental peak LV systolic longitudinal strain (PSLS), as determined by the 2D speckle tracking method, may be related with the conventional diastolic parameters. We sought to determine whether the PSLS could reveal LV systolic dysfunction in those patients who have a normal EF and diastolic dysfunction. Subjects and Methods: A total of 168 patients who underwent a routine echocardiographic examination were evaluated. Echocardiographic evaluations were performed and the patients were grouped according to the grade of their diastolic dysfunction. The global and segmental PSLS were analyzed off-line. Results: Measurements of the LV PSLS were successfully obtained in 83% of the patients. The mid and basal PSLS values were significantly lower in the patients with grade I and II diastolic dysfunction (-17.5±2.0% and -17.5±2.3%, respectively) versus the normal healthy controls (-20.6±1.9%, p

frequently in women than men and pathogenesis of systemic scleroderma may be related to female X chromosome. but the role of X chromosome in autoimmunity has not been illustrated yet. Most recently reports, the disturbances in X chromosome and inactivation of X chromosome may be the cause of autoimmunity in abnormal sex chromosome syndrome. Also autoimmune diseases such as systemic scleroderma is increased in Turner’s syndrome. the author had experienced a woman with systemic scleroderma who had been diagnosed to triple X syndrome due to infertility in the past. which was very rare case and not reported yet. So the author report a case of systemic scleroderma with triple X syndrome with literature review.

Specimens collected from sweet potato plants with slime mold symptoms in fields in Daejeon, Korea were examined. Two species of Myxomycetes, Fuligo septica and Stemonitis herbatica were identified based on their morphological characteristics. This is the first report that the two species of Myxomycetes cause slime mold of sweet potato in Korea.