Search

Recently, a novel method for carbon capture and storage has been proposed, which converts gaseous CO 2 into aqueous bicarbonate ions (HCO 3 - ), allowing it to be deposited into the ocean. This alkalinization method could be used to dispose large amounts of CO 2 without acidifying seawater pH, but there is no information on the potential adverse effects of consequently elevated HCO 3 - concentrations on marine organisms. In this study, we evaluated the ecotoxicological effects of elevated concentrations of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) (max 193 mM) on 10 marine organisms. We found species-specific ecotoxicological effects of elevated DIC on marine organisms, with EC50-DIC (causing 50% inhibition) of 11-85 mM. The tentative criteria for protecting 80% of individuals of marine organisms are suggested to be pH 7.8 and 11 mM DIC, based on acidification data previously documented and alkalinization data newly obtained from this study. Overall, the results of this study are useful for providing baseline information on ecotoxicological effects of elevated DIC on marine organisms. More complementary studies are needed on the alkalinization method to determine DIC effects on seawater chemistry and marine organisms., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Among the various flaps available for the reconstruction of the heel, a medial plantar flap has been widely accepted as the most ideal. This flap, however, involves the medial plantar nerve and its cutaneous branches, which may lead to postoperative hyperesthesia and dual sensation. The purpose of this report was to report the outcomes of the use of the medialis pedis flap for the coverage of weight bearing heel soft tissue defect., Patients and Methods: A total of 8 patients who had undergone reconstruction of the weight bearing heel with the medialis pedis flap were enrolled for this study. There were 6 male and 2 female patients and the mean age was 46 years. The causes of the defects included pressure sore, crushing injury and malignant melanoma. The mean size of the defects was 3 × 4 cm. Five cases were reconstructed with island flaps and 3 were covered with free flaps., Results: The mean size of the flaps was 3×5 cm. All flaps survived. One case developed arterial insufficiency and was treated with a vein graft. Ambulation in normal shoes was possible in all the patients. Seven cases did not report pain, but 1 case complained of mild pain. No case reported complications including pain at the donor site, ulcerations, sensory loss, hyperesthesia, or sensory disturbance. The mean follow-up period was 14.4 months., Conclusions: The medialis pedis flap may be considered a useful flap for the reconstruction of soft tissue defects smaller than 5 cm in the weight bearing heel., (© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Objective: Clinical Assessment Interview for Negative Symptoms (CAINS) has recently been developed to improve measurement of negative symptoms in schizophrenia. We performed a multi-center study to validate the Korean version of the CAINS (CAINS-K) and explore potential cultural variation., Methods: One hundred eighty schizophrenia patients diverse in demographic and illness profile were recruited from four centers in Korea. Along with the CAINS-K, the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS), Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia (CDSS), a self-report measure of behavioral inhibition and activation (BIS/BAS) and neurocognitive tasks were administered to verify external validities., Results: The CAINS-K showed high internal-consistency (0.92) and inter-rater reliability (0.77). Exploratory Factor Analysis replicated a two-factor structure of the original scale including motivation/pleasure and expression deficits dimensions. Korean patients tended to report lower pleasure compared to American patients in the prior study. The CAINS-K showed an adequate convergent validity with the SANS, negative symptoms of the BPRS, and BAS. A divergent validity was supported as the CAINS-K showed zero or only weak correlations with other symptoms of the BPRS, depression from the CDSS, and neurocognitive tasks., Conclusion: The CAINS-K demonstrated high internal consistency and adequate external validities, and is expected to promote studies on negative symptoms in Korean patients with schizophrenia.

Objectives: Hyperprolactinemia is an important but often overlooked adverse effect of antipsychotics. Several studies have shown that switching to or adding aripiprazole normalizes antipsychotic-induced hyperprolactinemia. However, no study has directly compared the effectiveness and safety of the 2 strategies., Methods: A total of 52 patients with antipsychotic-induced hyperprolactinemia were recruited. Aripiprazole was administered to patients with mild hyperprolactinemia (serum prolactin level < 50 ng/mL). Patients with severe hyperprolactinemia (serum prolactin level > 50 ng/mL) were randomized to an aripiprazole-addition group (adding aripiprazole to previous antipsychotics) or a switching group (switching previous antipsychotics to aripiprazole). Serum prolactin level, menstrual disturbances, sexual dysfunction, psychopathologies, and quality of life were measured at weeks 0, 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8., Results: Both the addition and switching groups showed significantly reduced serum prolactin level and menstrual disturbances and improved sexual dysfunction. In patients with severe hyperprolactinemia, the numbers of patients with hyperprolactinemia and menstrual disturbance in the switching group were significantly lower than those in the addition group at week 8., Conclusions: Both the addition and switching strategies were effective in resolving antipsychotic-induced hyperprolactinemia and hyperprolactinemia-related adverse events, including menstrual disturbances and sexual dysfunction. In addition, these findings suggest that switching to aripiprazole may be more effective than addition of aripiprazole for normalizing hyperprolactinemia and improving hyperprolactinemia-related adverse events in patients with schizophrenia.

Despite the possible relationship between impaired self-referential processing and anhedonia, it has not yet been investigated. This study investigated an abnormality in brain activation associated with self-referential processing and its relationship with anhedonia in schizophrenia, specifically in self-related brain regions of interest. Twenty patients with schizophrenia and 25 controls underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while rating the degree of relevance between faces (self, familiar other, or unfamiliar other) and words (positive, negative, or neutral). Brain activation in self-related regions, including the ventral and dorsal medial prefrontal cortices, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), posterior cingulate cortex, precuneus, and insula, were compared between groups and their correlations with anhedonia level were calculated. Compared to controls, patients were less likely to rate negative words as irrelevant for the self face. Patients showed significantly increased activation in the ACC and precuneus compared to controls, irrespective of conditions. ACC activity in the self-neutral word condition was positively correlated with anhedonia score in patients. These results suggest that patients with schizophrenia may have an abnormality in the self-related cortical midline structures and particularly, abnormal ACC activation may be involved in anhedonia. Disrupted self-referential processing may be a possible cause of anhedonia in schizophrenia., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Water, suspended particulate matter (SPM), and biota samples were collected from the Taehwa River Estuary to determine the distributions, partitioning, and bioaccumulation of arsenicals. Six forms of As were quantitated by the use of HPLC-ICP/MS. As was found mainly near urban and industrial areas, and inorganic As(V) was the predominant As form in both water and SPM. Particulate arsenicals were found at the greatest concentrations in coarse particles (>180μm), followed by medium (30-180μm) and fine (0.45-30μm) particles, in freshwater. Arsenical concentrations were similar across the three particle fractions in saltwater. Field-based distribution coefficient (Kd) values for As depended strongly on SPM, with a less robust dependence on salinity. Concentrations of As were greater in macroalgae than in marine animals, such as fishes, bivalves, crabs, shrimps, and gastropods. Overall, the results of the present study provide useful information on the behaviors and fate of arsenicals in an estuarine environment., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Stress has been suggested as one of important cause of human cancer without molecular biological evidence. Thus, we test the effect of stress-related hormones on cell viability and mitotic fidelity. Similarly to estrogen, stress hormone cortisol and its relative cortisone increase microtubule organizing center (MTOC) number through elevated expression of γ-tubulin and provide the Taxol resistance to human cancer cell lines. However, these effects are achieved by glucocorticoid hormone receptor (GR) but not by estrogen receptor (ER). Since ginsenosides possess steroid-like structure, we hypothesized that it would block the stress or estrogen-induced MTOC amplification and Taxol resistance. Among tested chemicals, rare ginsenoside, CSH1 (Rg6) shows obvious effect on inhibition of MTOC amplification, γ-tubulin induction and Taxol resistance. Comparing to Fulvestant (FST), ER-α specific inhibitor, this chemical can block the cortisol/cortisone-induced MTOC deregulation as well as ER-α signaling. Our results suggest that stress hormone induced tumorigenesis would be achieved by MTOC amplification, and CSH1 would be useful for prevention of stress-hormone or steroid hormone-induced chromosomal instability., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Background: The Clinical Assessment Interview for Negative Symptoms (CAINS) is one of the validated interview measures of negative symptoms in psychotic disorders. The Motivation and Pleasure Scale-Self-Report (MPSR) is a self-report measure that assesses the motivation and pleasure domains of negative symptoms based on the CAINS. This study evaluated the reliability and validity of a Korean version of the MPSR., Methods: A total of 139 patients with schizophrenia completed the MPSR, CAINS, Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS), Brief Psychiatric Rating Scales, Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia, and other measures of trait and cognitive function., Results: The 15-item MPSR showed good internal consistency. In addition, it also had a good convergent validity with the Motivation and Pleasure subscale of the CAINS and the anhedonia/avolition subscale of the SANS. The scale was not associated with psychotic symptoms, agitation/mania, and depression/anxiety, and it showed good discriminant validity. MPSR scores were significantly correlated with Behavioral Activation System total score for trait measure., Conclusion: The Korean version of the MPSR is a notable self-report method for examining the severity of negative symptoms in schizophrenia.

Patients with schizophrenia present with dysfunction of the magnocellular pathway, which might impair their early visual processing. We explored the relationship between functional abnormality of early visual processing and brain volumetric changes in schizophrenia. Eighteen patients and 16 healthy controls underwent electroencephalographic recordings and high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging. During electroencephalographic recordings, participants passively viewed neutral or fearful faces with broad, high, or low spatial frequency characteristics. Voxel-based morphometry was performed to investigate brain volume correlates of visual processing deficits. Event related potential analysis suggested that patients with schizophrenia had relatively impaired P100 processing of low spatial frequency fearful face stimuli compared with healthy controls; patients' gray-matter volumes in the dorsolateral and medial prefrontal cortices positively correlated with this amplitude. In addition, patients' gray-matter volume in the right cuneus positively correlated with the P100 amplitude in the left hemisphere for the high spatial frequency neutral face condition and that in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex negatively correlated with the negative score of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. No significant correlations were observed in healthy controls. This study suggests that the cuneus and prefrontal cortex are significantly involved with the early visual processing of magnocellular input in patients with schizophrenia.

Study Design: Retrospective study., Purpose: To evaluate the radiological and clinical results of three different methods in the deformity correction of a degenerative flat back., Overview of Literature: There are no comparative studies about different procedures in the treatment of degenerative flat back., Methods: Sixty-four patients who consecutively underwent corrective surgery for degenerative flat back were reviewed. The operations were performed by three different methods: posterior-only (group P, n=20), one-stage anterior-posterior (group AP, n=12), and two-stage anterior-posterior with iliac screw fixation (group AP-I, n=32). Medical and surgical complications were examined and radiological and clinical results were compared., Results: The majority of medical and surgical complications were found in group AP (5/12) and group P (7/20). The sagittal vertical axes were within normal range immediately postoperatively in all groups, but only group AP-I showed normal sagittal alignment at the final follow-up. Postoperative lumbar lordosis was also significantly higher in group AP-I than in group P or group AP and the finding did not change through the last follow-up. The Oswestry disability index was significantly lower in groups AP and AP-I than in group P at the final follow-up. Meanwhile, the operating time was the longest in group AP-I, and total amount of blood loss was larger in group AP-I and group AP than in group P., Conclusions: Anterior-posterior correction showed better clinical results than posterior-only correction. Two-staged anterior-posterior correction with iliac screw fixation showed better radiological results than posterior-only or one-staged anterior-posterior correction. Two-staged anterior-posterior correction with iliac screw fixation also showed a lower complication rate than one-staged anterior-posterior correction.

It has been reported that reality evaluation and recognition are impaired in patients with schizophrenia and these impairments are related to the severity of psychotic symptoms. The current study aimed to investigate the neural basis of impairments in reality evaluation and recognition and their relationships with cognitive insight in schizophrenia. During functional magnetic resonance imaging, 20 patients with schizophrenia and 20 healthy controls performed a set of reality evaluation and recognition tasks, in which subjects judged whether scenes in a series of drawings were real or unreal and whether they were familiar or novel. During reality evaluation, patients showed decreased activity in various regions including the inferior parietal lobule, retrosplenial cortex and parahippocampal gyrus, compared with controls. Particularly, parahippocampal gyrus activity was correlated with the severity of positive symptoms in patients. During recognition, patients also exhibited decreased activity in various regions, including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, inferior parietal lobule and posterior cingulate cortex. Particularly, inferior parietal lobule activity and posterior cingulate cortex activity were correlated with cognitive insight in patients. These findings provide evidence that neural impairments in reality evaluation and recognition are related to psychotic symptoms. Anomalous appraisal of context by dysfunctions in the context network may contribute to impairments in the reality processing in schizophrenia, and abnormal declarative memory processes may be involved in cognitive insight in patients with schizophrenia.

Anhedonia, the inability to feel pleasure, and amotivation, the lack of motivation, are two prominent negative symptoms of schizophrenia, which contribute to the poor social and occupational behaviors in the patients. Recently growing evidence shows that anhedonia and amotivation are tied together, but have distinct neural correlates. It is important to note that both of these symptoms may derive from deficient functioning of the reward network. A further analysis into the neuroimaging findings of schizophrenia shows that the neural correlates overlap in the reward network including the ventral striatum, anterior cingulate cortex and orbitofrontal cortex. Other neuroimaging studies have demonstrated the involvement of the default mode network in anhedonia. The identification of aspecific deficit in hedonic and motivational capacity may help to elucidate the mechanisms behind social functioning deficits in schizophrenia, and may also lead to more targeted treatment of negative symptoms.

Blunted affect is a relatively enduring schizophrenic symptom and its presence brings about poor functioning and outcomes. Functional impairment in the mirror neuron system which is involved in both motor execution and imitation may be a neural basis of blunted affect, but it is not proved yet. Fifteen patients with schizophrenia and 16 healthy controls performed the facial expression task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. The task was to reproduce facial expressions in response to the face or word stimuli for happiness, sadness, and meaningless expression. Brain activities during facial expressions in patients compared with controls and their relationship with affective flattening were analyzed. Compared to controls, patients exhibited decreased activity in the widespread dorsal frontal regions and increased activity in the ventral frontal and subcortical regions. Patients also demonstrated significant negative correlation of the severity of affective flattening with activities in the mirror neuron system, such as the premotor cortex, motor cortex, and inferior parietal lobule. Emotional expression in patients with schizophrenia may be related to hypoactivity of the dorsal system and hyperactivity of the ventral system. An imbalance of these two systems may contribute to blunted affect. Directly addressing blunted affect using emotional expression provides a new perspective that functional disturbance of the mirror neuron system may play an important role in manifestation of blunted affect in schizophrenia., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Reality evaluation (i.e., the discrimination of things existing outside of oneself and figments of others' imagination) may be impaired in patients with schizophrenia, and impairment in reality evaluation may be related to psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions. In this study, we investigated the nature of impairment of reality processing and its relationship with hallucinations and delusions in schizophrenia. Twenty-six patients with schizophrenia and 25 healthy controls completed the reality evaluation task, in which subjects judged whether scenes in a series of drawings were real or unreal and whether they were familiar or novel. The patient group exhibited significantly lower accuracy in reality evaluation than the control group, and lower accuracy in the patient group was related to more severe hallucinations and delusions. These findings provide preliminary evidence that impaired reality evaluation is related to the formation or maintenance of hallucinations and delusions in schizophrenia., (© 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

While the World Health Organization 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) equivalency factors are useful estimates of relative potencies of mixtures when conducting risk assessments, they are not useful when comparing the results of bioassays such as the H4IIE-luc to concentrations of TCDD equivalents calculated from instrumental analyses. Since there are thousands of dioxin-like compounds (DLCs), one use of screening assays is to determine if all of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) active DLCs in a mixture have been accounted for in instrumental analyses. For this purpose, bioassay-specific relative potency (ReP) values are needed. RePs of 21 polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, polychlorinated dibenzofurans, and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls that exhibit effects mediated through the AhR were determined by use of the H4IIE-luc assay. Different values of RePs are derived, depending on the statistical, curve-fitting methods used to derive them from the dose-response relationships. Here, we discuss the various methods for deriving RePs from in vitro data and their assumptions and effects on values of RePs. Full dose-response curves of 2,3,7,8-TCDD and other representative DLCs were used to estimate effective concentrations at multiple points (e.g., EC20-50-80), which were then used to estimate ReP of each DLC to 2,3,7,8-TCDD.

Objective: Patients with schizophrenia who are treated with aripiprazole experience some benefits including an improvement of social competence, but the underlying mechanism of this improvement has not been investigated yet. This study aimed to provide preliminary evidence that the GABA system may be involved in the effect of aripiprazole on social competence., Methods: Seventeen outpatients with schizophrenia (9 taking aripiprazole and 8 taking risperidone) and 18 healthy controls underwent (18)F-fluoroflumazenil PET, and GABAA receptor binding potential was compared between the three groups., Results: Voxelwise one-way ANOVA showed that GABAA receptor binding potentials in the right medial prefrontal cortex (p=0.04) and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (p=0.02) were significantly lower in the aripiprazole group than the risperidone group, and those in the left frontopolar cortex (p=0.03) and right premotor cortex (p=0.02) were significantly lower in the aripiprazole group than the risperidone and control groups., Conclusion: Our results suggest that aripiprazole administration results in increased GABA transmission in the prefrontal regions, and that these increases may be a neural basis of aripiprazole's clinical benefits on an improvement of social competence.

Emotional memory dysfunction may be associated with anhedonia in schizophrenia. This study aimed to investigate the neurobiological basis of emotional memory and its relationship with anhedonia in schizophrenia specifically in emotional memory relate brain regions of interest (ROIs) including the amygdala, hippocampus, nucleus accumbens, and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Fourteen patients with schizophrenia and 16 healthy subjects performed a word-image associative encoding task, during which a neutral word was presented with a positive, neutral, or control image. Subjects underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing the recognition task. Correlation analyses were performed between the percent signal change (PSC) in the ROIs and the anhedonia scores. We found no group differences in recognition accuracy and reaction time. The PSC of the hippocampus in the positive and neutral conditions, and the PSC in the nucleus accumbens in the control condition, appeared to be negatively correlated with the Physical Anhedonia Scale (PAS) scores in patients with schizophrenia, while significant correlations with the PAS scores were not observed in healthy subjects. This study provides further evidences of the role of the hippocampus and nucleus accumbens in trait physical anhedonia and possible associations between emotional memory deficit and trait physical anhedonia in patients with schizophrenia., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Mucoadhesive polymer-coated pellets containing metformin hydrochloride were prepared by the powder-layering technique using a centrifugal fluidizing (CF)-granulator. Four high-viscosity polymers were applied to make the pellets: 1) hydroxymethylcellulose (HPMC), 2) sodium alginate (Na-Alg), 3) HPMC/Carbopol, and 4) sodium carboxylmethylcellulose (Na-CMC). The physical crushing test, mucoadhesive test, zeta-potential test, in vitro release study and observation of gastroretention state of the dosage form were performed to investigate the pellets. The strong adhesive interaction between the Na-CMC-coated pellets and the mucin disc was obtained by mucoadhesive test. Na-Alg was most effective among the polymers used in changing the value of zeta potential of the mucin solution by the interaction between a polymer and a mucin particle. Results from drug dissolution study showed that over 95% of the drug from all the four pellets was released before 2 h, while Na-CMC- and Na-Alg-coated pellets showed a moderate sustained-release in SGF (simulated gastric fluid) and SIF (simulated intestine fluid), respectively. In conclusion, Na-CMC and Na-Alg seem to be promising candidates for mucoadhesive formulation and further studies to improve the sustained-release property are underway for achieving the ultimate goal of once-a-day formulation of metformin hydrochloride.

During a search for keratinocyte differentiation-related genes, we obtained a cDNA fragment from the 5'-untranslated region of a previously identified splicing variant of desmoglein 3 (Dg3). This transcript encodes a protein of 282 amino acids, which corresponds to the N-terminal truncated intracellular domain of Dg3 (deltaNDg3). Northern blot analysis detected a 4.6-kb transcript matching the predicted size of deltaNDg3 mRNA, and Western blot analysis with an antibody raised against the Dg3 C-terminus (H-145) detected a 31-kDa protein. Increased deltaNDg3 expression was observed in differentiating keratinocytes by RT-PCR and Western blot analysis, suggesting that deltaNDg3 is indeed a differentiation-related gene product. In immunohistochemical studies of normal and pathologic tissues, H-145 antibody detected the protein in the cytoplasm of suprabasal layer cells, whereas an antibody directed against the N-terminal region of Dg3 (AF1720) reacted with a membrane protein in the basal layer. In addition, deltaNDg3 transcript and protein were upregulated in psoriatic epidermis, and protein expression appeared to increase in epidermal tumors including Bowen's disease and squamous cell carcinoma. Moreover, overexpression of deltaNDg3 led to increased migration and weakening of cell adhesion. These results suggest that deltaNDg3 have a role in keratinocyte differentiation, and that may be related with tumorigenesis of epithelial origin.

Goals of Work: Fatigue is highly prevalent in cancer and greatly inferences with daily life. The goal of this study was to identify the most informative score in the Brief Fatigue Inventory and to define cut points for "mild," "moderate," and "severe" fatigue based on their relevance to quality of life (QOL)., Patients and Methods: We surveyed cancer patients at five hospitals in Korea with self-administrated questionnaires. The patients were older than 18 years, have a histological diagnosis of malignancy, gave informed consent to participate, and were able to understand the questionnaires. We analyzed 150 cancer patients who reported fatigue., Main Result: "Usual fatigue" was a sensitive and reliable indicator of fatigue severity and was defined as mild (1-3), moderate (4-7), or severe (8-10) because it had the strongest correlation with the functional interference, symptoms, depression, and QOL., Conclusion: These cutpoints might be useful in clinical evaluation of fatigue in cancer. Our findings suggest a simple technique for the rapid screening of fatigue and for evaluating its impact on the symptoms and daily functioning of cancer patients.

We isolated a human gene encoding keratinocyte proline-rich protein (hKPRP). hKPRP gene is located in the region of epidermal differentiation complex on chromosome 1q21, and its approximately 2.5 kb mRNA encodes 579 amino acid protein with high proline content (18%). The mRNA level of hKPRP was markedly increased at both 7 and 14 d after treatment with 1.2 mM calcium in cultured normal human epidermal keratinocytes. In situ hybridization demonstrated that hKPRP was expressed in upper granular layer of normal epidermis with characteristic intermittent pattern. In psoriatic lesion, hKPRP expression was increased as compared with normal skin and showed continuous pattern. Immunohistochemical analysis also confirmed the expression of hKPRP at the protein level. Western blot analysis showed that hKPRP protein of approximately 70 kDa size was significantly increased by calcium in a time-dependent manner. In mouse tissue blot assays, the expression of KPRP was detected in stomach and skin tissues, and began at 17.5 embryonic days. Additionally, hKPRP expression was detected in the periderm of human fetal skin from 16 wk estimated gestational age. Together, these results suggest that hKPRP is an epidermal marker expressed in stratified squamous epithelia and has a potential role in keratinocytes differentiation.

In watermelon, grafting of seedlings to rootstocks is necessary because watermelon roots are less viable than the rootstock. Moreover, commercially important watermelon varieties require disease-resistant rootstocks to reduce total watermelon yield losses due to infection with viruses such as cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV). Therefore, we undertook to develop a CGMMV-resistant watermelon rootstock using a cDNA encoding the CGMMV coat protein gene (CGMMV-CP), and successfully transformed a watermelon rootstock named 'gongdae'. The transformation rate was as low as 0.1-0.3%, depending on the transformation method used (ordinary co-culture vs injection, respectively). However, watermelon transformation was reproducibly and reliably achieved using these two methods. Southern blot analysis confirmed that the CGMMV-CP gene was inserted into different locations in the genome either singly or multiple copies. Resistance testing against CGMMV showed that 10 plants among 140 T1 plants were resistant to CGMMV infection. This is the first report of the development by genetic engineering of watermelons resistant to CGMMV infection.

In order to clarify the contamination of vegetable gardens with human intestinal helminths, the soil samples were examined for the presence of eggs and larvae during the period from September 1973 to August l974. When soil samples collected from the vegetable gardens in Taegu were examined, four species of helminth eggs (ascarid, whipworm, hookworm and liver fluke) and a number of unknown eggs were found. Ascarid was found to be highest in the rate of detection(82.5%), followed by whipworm. The rates of hookworm, liver fuke and Trichostrongylus species were unexpectedly low. There was no difference between detection rate of vegetable gardens and that of vinyl green houses. However, the average number of helminth eggs detected from the soil of vinyl green houses was higher than the number of vegetable gardens. In the monthly incidence of ascarid eggs, the highest rate was found in September, and the least often was observed in August. While, the peak in the average number of the egg was encountered in August. There was no distinct trend in the monthly incidence of whipworm. However, it is likely that the detection number of whipworm per 100 gm of soil examined was relatively abundant in a period from May to August, and very little from October to April of next year. When the soil of vegetable gardens was divided into superficial, intermediate and deep layers and examined for presence of ascarid egg. The average number of the eggs found of the superficial layer was more abundant than those of the intermediate and deep layers, but the rate for the former was similar with the latter. In the demonstration of larval nematodes from the soil of vegetable gardens and vinyl houses, there found the filariform and rhabditoid larvae of hookworm and the larvae of Trichostrongylus species and unknown one. The majority of the larvae detected was belonged to unknown species, followed by hookworm larvae. The least was found in the rate of Trichostrongylus species. Generally, the filariform larva of hookwom could be detected during the hot season from May to August, but no larva was found in the winter. This suggests that the soil of vegetable gardens and vinyl green houses in Taegu is contaminated with human intestinal helminths.