To study the genetic variation of the HIV-1 strains prevalent in South Korea, we analyzed the nef sequences derived from 46 HIV-1-positive individuals living in various geographic regions in Korea. Phylogenetic analysis revealed four subtypes of HIV-1: A (3 patients), B (41 patients), D (1 patient), and a type that could not be clearly classified to any known subtype (1 patient). Thirty-five of the 41 Korean subtype B isolates formed a distinct monophyletic clade that is not related to any of the international sequences from the Los Alamos Database or GenBank as of June 1997. Indeed, the presence of unique conserved sequences was identified among the Korean isolates in this Korean subtype B group. The variations in the nucleotide sequences of a majority (32 of 35) subtype B samples within the Korean clade were 1.9% to 8.8%, and amino acid sequences varied from 3.9% to 15.5%. These results suggest that HIV-1 strains currently present in South Korea might have originated from a few sources or might be developing through a certain selective pressure. This is the first report on the molecular nature of the HIV-1 infection present in South Korea.

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In a typical cooling system of automotive engine, a mechanical water pump is used to control the flow rate of coolant. However, this traditional cooling system is not suitable for a high efficiency performance in terms of fuel economy and exhaust emission. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a new technology for engine cooling systems. These days, the electronic water pump is spotlighted as the new cooling system of an engine. The new cooling system can provide more flexible control of the coolant flow rate and the engine temperature, which used to be strongly relied on the engine driving conditions such as load and speed. In this study, an engine experiment was carried out on a New European Drive Cycle (NEDC) with a 2.7L diesel engine. The electric water pump operated by BLDC motor and the electronic valve were installed in the cooling system to control the coolant flow rate and temperature. This paper explains that the exhaust emissions were reduced with an increase in the engine temperature and a decrease in the coolant flow. From this experiment, we found that increasing coolant temperature had a significant effect on reducing the emissions (e.g. THC and CO). Decreasing coolant flow also affected the reduction of emissions. In contrast, NOx emission was observed to increase in these conditions.

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