Renal ischemia as a course of renal transplantation is a common cause of renal dysfunction as renal failure. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of ascorbic acid on blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine (Cr) and resistive index (RI) for dog models with renal ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury. Renal ischemia was induced on 6 Beagle dogs. The left kidney was exposed to normothermic ischemia for a short period at 30 min followed by reperfusion. On the blood Cr level and RI, there was no significant difference comparing both groups. 14 days after I/R injury a significant reduction on the blood BUN level was observed in the vehicle group (34.06 mg/dl) compared to that of ischemia induced treated group (10.3mg/dl) (p < 0.05). In conclusion, administration of ascorbic acid for renal ischemic-reperfusion injury had influence on blood BUN level, but it was not revealed the influence on blood Cr and RI.

Three indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (iELISA) based on the North American like (NA-like), European like (EU-like) and co-expressed NA- and EU-like recombinant nucleocapsid proteins (N-protein) of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) were validated for the detection of the antibodies in porcine sera. A total of 422 serum samples from unvaccinated pigs were tested. The cut-off value was optimized by a two-graph receiver operating characteristics analysis at a 95% confidence level. This assay was validated with Western blot analysis and IDEXX HerdChek ELISA. Cross-reactivity results showed that iELISA was PRRSV-specific. Repeatability tests revealed that the coefficients of variation of positive sera within and between runs were less than 10%. The results indicate that iELISA is simpler to produce and perform, time-saving and suitable for large scale surveys of PRRSV infection at low cost, and is potentially useful to evaluate the efficiency of various vaccines against PRRSV.

ABSTRACT. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of erdosteine on renal reperfusion injury. Twelve male Landrace and Yorkshire mixed pigs were randomly divided into two groups: untreated control group (I/R), erdosteine treated group (I/R + erdosteine). Each group is composed of six pigs, and the pigs were unilaterally nephrectomized and their contralateral kidneys were subjected to 30 min of renal pedicle occlusion. The elevations of creatinine and blood urea nitrogen levels were lower in the treated group compared with the control group. The catalase activity and the glutathione peroxidase activity were higher in the erdosteine group. As a result, this study suggests that the erdosteine treatment has a role of attenuation of renal I/R injury recovery of renal function in pig.KEY WORDS: antioxidant enzyme, erdosteine, ischemia-reperfusion injury, pigs.

Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV-2) has been nowadays recognized as a major agent causing postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS) in pigs worldwide. PMWS most commonly affects the weaned piglets, being of increasing importance to the pig industry in Korea. Seven commercial farms affected with PMWS and 2 farms free from PMWS, located in the southern part of Gyeonggi province, were selected for this study. The peripheral mononuclear cells were tested for the presence of ORF2 gene by PCR, and 54 (68.4%) of 79 samples were positive. All of 9 herds tested included the positive cases. The positive rates by herds were 50 to 100% in the PMWS-affected herds and 40 to 62.5% in the PMWS-free herd. The nucleotide and amino acid sequences of ORF2 gene of 6 strains were characterized. Homologies among 6 strains revealed 92.1 to 100% in the nucleotide and 92.3 to 100% in the amino acid. The overall ranges of homologies for 25 strains comprised 2 Korean and 23 foreign strains were 91.1 to 100% in the nucleotide and 89.7 to 100% in the amino acid. Three regions of greater heterogeneity were found in immunorelevant epitopes of the capsid protein, and the sequences between 57 to 80 aa revealed higher mutation than other areas. In the phylogenetic tree analysis, KOR 71 strain was clustered together with Korean strains previously isolated in Korea. The remaining 5 strains were closely clustered with other European and Asian strains. The results will be valuable for improving our understanding of the molecular epidemiology of PCV-2 in Korea and development of preventive measures for PMWS.

Through a press release dated July 17, 2018, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission recommended that the National Fire Agency develop preventive measures against fire in the "Indoor Archery Ground" and "Room Escape Café" etc., which were originally excluded from the category of "Publicly Used Establishments." This study developed the hierarchy of domains and indicators of measurement for fire risk assessment of the new business of publicly used establishments through the Delphi Method. It analyzed the goodness of fit scores (over 3.00) and secured an average score of 4.25. Using AHP analysis, the ratio of consistency for the domains of measurement of fire risk assessment was found to be 4.0%, which was lower than CR ≤ 0.1 (10%). The consistency of subsequent measurement indicators were distributed in the range of 0.1%~3.6%, and they were identified as being commonly consistent. The indicators of measurement appeared as follows in order of importance and priority: Type of Internal Passage of Establishment and Evacuation Capacity of Exit (0.316), Control of Ignition Source (0.141), Inherent Risk (0.106), Appropriateness and Adaptiveness of Fire Detection System (0.097), Control of Inflammables/Combustibles (0.084), Guides and Facilities helping Evacuation (0.075), Fire Resistant Structure and Finishing Materials (0.060), Compartmentalization and Emergency Exit (0.049), Risk of Fire Expansion (0.046), and Appropriateness and Adaptiveness of Fire Extinguishing Facilities (0.026). The findings of this study are expected to be expansively used as data for future research on the development of fire risk assessment indicators.