The nucleotide sequence of the cucumber (Cucumis sativus L. cv. Baekmibaekdadagi) chloroplast genome was completed. The circular double-stranded DNA, consisting of 155,527 bp, contained a pair of inverted repeat regions (IRa and IRb) of 25,187 bp each, which were separated by small and large single copy regions of 86,879 and 18,274 bp, respectively. The presence and relative positions of 113 genes (76 peptide-encoding genes, 30 tRNA genes, four rRNA genes, and three conserved open reading frames) were identified. The major portion (55.76%) of the C. sativus chloroplast genome consisted of gene-coding regions (49.13% protein coding and 6.63% RNA regions; 27.81% LSC, 9.46% SSC and 18.49% IR regions), while intergenic spacers (including 20 introns) made up 44.24%. The overall G-C content of C. sativus chloroplast genome was 36.95%. Sixteen genes contained one intron, while two genes had two introns. The expansion/contraction manner of IR at IRb/LSC and IR/SSC border in Cucumis was similar to that of Lotus and Arabidopsis, and the manner at IRa/LSC was similar to Lotus and Nicotiana. In total, 56 simple sequence repeats (more than 10 bases) were identified in the C. sativus chloroplast genome.

Rationale Exposure to fine particulate matter has adverse effects on mental health outcomes. However, no empirical study has yet been conducted on mechanisms of how and why exposure to fine particulate matter can affect mental health outcomes, especially focusing on children. In addition, children living in poverty may be more vulnerable to fine particulate matter. Objective This study aims to examine whether physical activity can explain the impact of ambient fine particulate matter on depressive symptoms among Korean children and whether family poverty moderates the associations between fine particulate matter, physical activity, and children’s depressive symptoms. Methods Children and their primary caregiver data were drawn from the Children’s Happiness Life Time Survey data collected by Child Fund Korea, and fine particulate matter data were derived from Air Korea, collected by the Korea Environment Corporation. Individual-level data were linked to a nationwide neighborhood-level data on air quality. Multilevel structural equation modeling was used to consider the hierarchical data structure. The analytical sample consisted of 4,161 children living in 79 neighborhoods. Results The findings suggest that living in neighborhoods with higher levels of fine particulate matter is associated with a decrease in physical activity, which in turn increases children’s depressive symptoms. Physical activity fully mediates the association between fine particulate matter and children’s depressive symptoms. However, family poverty does not have a significant moderating role for the associations between fine particulate matter, physical activity, and children’s depressive symptoms. Conclusions The results of this study indicate the importance of physical activity in relation to fine particulate matter and children’s depressive symptoms.

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