Insect community structures along elevation gradients on Mt.Seongak-san, South Korea

Insect communities along three elevation gra- dients on Mt. Seongak-san, South Korea, were investigated from May to September 2013 using traps in order to collect basic data for distributional monitoring of species in a forest ecosystem. A total of 2698 individuals of 309 moth species of 18 families were collected in bucket-light traps, along with 196 individuals of 26 ground-beetle species and 11,276 individuals of 14 ant species in pit-fall traps. The insect community at each site was analyzed using analysisof variance and non-metric multidimensional scaling （NMS）. The ground-beetle and ant abundances varied with elevation. The NMS showed distinct clusters of moths between the ground-beetle and ant distributions with ele- vation and month. The community-level responses of these insect groups to those gradients were analyzed.

Recent advances in stem cell therapy for neurodegenerative disease: Three dimensional tracing and its emerging use

Neurodegenerative disease is a brain disorder caused by the loss of structure andfunction of neurons that lowers the quality of human life. Apart from the limitedpotential for endogenous regeneration, stem cell-based therapies hold considerablepromise for maintaining homeostatic tissue regeneration and enhancingplasticity. Despite many studies, there remains insufficient evidence for stem celltracing and its correlation with endogenous neural cells in brain tissue with threedimensionalstructures. Recent advancements in tissue optical clearing techniqueshave been developed to overcome the existing shortcomings of cross-sectionaltissue analysis in thick and complex tissues. This review focuses on recentprogress of stem cell treatments to improve neurodegenerative disease, andintroduces tissue optical clearing techniques that can implement a threedimensionalimage as a proof of concept. This review provides a more comprehensiveunderstanding of stem cell tracing that will play an important role inevaluating therapeutic efficacy and cellular interrelationship for regeneration inneurodegenerative diseases.

Indigenous parasitoids as effective natural enemies of Phyllocnistis citrella(Lepidoptera:Gracillariidae)in Korea

This study is aimed to investigate the occurrence of Phyllocnistis citrella Stainton （citrus leafminer; CLM）, which has recently caused increasing damage to citrus farms in southern South Korea, and its natural enemies, which can act as biological control agents. In the present study, CLM monitoring using sex pheromone traps were conducted in the major citrus farms in the Jeju region in South Korea. Also a survey of parasites was carried out to detect the effective control agent for CLM. During the investigation from 2011 to 2015, a relatively large number of adult CLM （2,386,990） were observed in the sex pheromone traps. The mean annual occurrence of CLM was 477,398, which showed an increasing trend with the increase in temperature. A survey of parasites was conducted in November 2015. Six parasites were found, of which, Quadrastichus sp. and Sympiesis sp. showed the highest rates of parasitism. The mean rate of parasitism during the survey period was 3.97 %. We discovered four new species of parasites of CLM in South Korea.

Microenvironmental regulation of stem cells injected in the area at risk of neurodegenerative diseases

The complex mechanism of degenerative diseases and the non-specific modulation of regenerative targets aretopics that need to be elucidated in order to advance the use of stem cells in improvement of neurodegenerative diseases.From pre-transplantation through post-transplantation, there are many changes in the conditions, both inside andoutside of the stem cells that have not been carefully considered. This has hindered development in the field of celltherapy and regeneration. This viewpoint highlights the potential implications of intracellular and extracellularalterations of stem cells in transplanted areas at risk of neurodegenerative disease.