Trip To The May 18 Park and Gwangju National Museum

The May 18 Democratic Uprising in Gwangju is considered to be the symbol of the Korean democratic uprising. It was a righteous civil resistance against the military dictatorship. The May 18 Memorial Cemetery in Mangwol-dong is the place where the victims of the uprising are buried. People from all over the county continue to visit to admire the spirit of the dead protectors. Sangmudae was the military building where innocent citizens were prisoned, but now its site has become the future-oriented center of the newly-developed town. The May 18 Memorial Park and May 18 Liberty Park are located near the old site of Sangmudae.

Another attraction of our trip was set on the edge of Biennale Park, the Gwangju National Museum was built to house the treasures rediscovered from a sunken Chinese ship. The building itself is quite beautiful, a white, columned Asian-style building. Upstairs houses the artifacts from the Chinese ship, which are from the Chinese Song and Yuan dynasties. The collection is mainly ceramics. Upstairs also includes a prehistoric collection. While many displays include English, there is lack on many pieces and there is hardly any in depth explanation in any of cllections. Downstairs is my favorite collection: Korean Buddhist Art. There are some excellent representations of Buddha in all forms. There is also a room of art scrolls with some beautiful pieces.

Some of the photos during the trip are attached in this page.

Rose Festival-2008

Last weekend, Chosun University celebrated its 6Th Rose festival in front of our Research Center. It's becoming a one of the most popular events in Kwangju. This time also we enjoyed in the festival with it's beautiful rose blossom, some of the clips are attached in here.

Tool Use Is Just a Trick of the Mind

Tool Use Is Just a Trick of the Mind
By Michael BalterScienceNOW Daily News28 January 2008

( Second hand?The brain appears to treat a tool as just another appendage.)
Credit: Photodisc/Getty Images

Don't take that hammer for granted. Using tools may seem like second nature, but only a few animals can master the coordination and mental sophistication required. So how did primates learn to use tools in the first place? A new study in monkeys suggests that the brain's trick is to treat tools as just another body part.

Primates, with their four flexible fingers and opposable thumbs, have a highly evolved ability to grasp and manipulate objects. Previous research has shown that many of these actions are controlled by an area of the brain called F5. As the hand opens and closes to grasp an object, neurons in area F5 fire in a predictable sequence. In the parlance of neuroscientists, the neurons are "coded" to control the hand movements. When a primate learns to use a tool, its brain must code neurons not only to move the hand but also to make the tool manipulate an object, a much more cognitively complex task.

To investigate how the brain performs this sleight of hand, a team led by neuroscientist Giacomo Rizzolatti of the University of Parma in Italy recorded brain activity in two macaque monkeys. Each was trained for 6 to 8 months to grasp items of food with pliers. The team documented the activity of 113 neurons in F5 and in a brain area called F1, which has also been implicated in the manipulation of objects. The researchers first established the brain's firing sequence when the monkeys grasped only with their hands. The experiment was then repeated while the monkeys used normal pliers that required first opening the hand and then closing it to grasp the food. The same neurons fired in the same order. Remarkably, the same neurons also fired, in the same order, when the monkeys used "reverse pliers" that required them to close their fingers first and then open them to take the food, the team reports online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Rizzolatti and his co-workers conclude that when learning to use a tool, the pattern of neuronal activity is somehow transferred from the hand to the tool, "as if the tool were the hand of the monkey and its tips were the monkey's fingers." As for how the same neurons could affect both the opening and the closing of the hand, the team speculates that they may be connected with other sets of neurons that more directly control these movements. The authors also point out that area F5 is rich in so-called mirror neurons, a type of nerve cell discovered earlier by Rizzolatti that fires both when a primate performs an action and when it observes another individual doing the same thing (ScienceNOW, 13 July 2007). Mirror neurons in F5, the authors suggest, may be involved in this transfer process as a monkey learns how to use a tool by watching others.

The findings "fairly clearly show that monkey tool use involves the incorporation of tools into the body schema, literally as extensions of the body," says Dietrich Stout, an archaeologist specializing in tool use at University College London. Scott Frey, a neuroscientist at the University of Oregon, Eugene, says that in humans, this ability to represent tools in the brain, combined with a capacity for innovation, "was no doubt a fundamental step in the development of technology." (Copied from the Science News)

MicroRNA Sets Stage for Human Therapies

MicroRNA Sets Stage for Human Therapies

-By Steve MitchellScience
NOW Daily News26 March 2008



Monkey business. By blocking tiny pieces of RNA called microRNA in African green monkeys, researchers have shown the potential of using the strategy for fighting disease in humans.
Credit: RxGen Inc.

Scientists have taken a big step toward developing therapies based on naturally occurring tiny RNA molecules called microRNAs. In the first successful experiment with primates, researchers have blocked microRNAs to lower cholesterol levels in monkeys. This achievement builds hope that the strategy could one day be used to attack human diseases. Safety concerns still linger, however.

MicroRNAs regulate gene expression and play key roles in many biological processes, such as cell death and metabolism. Scientists have eyed microRNAs as potential targets for disease-fighting treatments because their malfunction has been implicated in cancer, heart disease, viral infections, and other disorders. Ailing mice have recovered thanks to microRNA-based therapies, but researchers have worried whether blocking overactive microRNAs in people will be feasible and safe. The new tests were led by Santaris Pharma, a biotech company in Horsholm, Denmark, focused on developing microRNA-based therapies. The company, which has developed a way to block microRNAs that is different from the strategies previously used in mice, put their method to the test by targeting a microRNA called miR-122 that regulates cholesterol levels.

Sakari Kauppinen, a molecular geneticist at Santaris, teamed with collaborators from Stanford University and RxGen, a biotech company in Hamden, Connecticut. They generated a short sequence of DNA that would bind to and block the function of miR-122. The DNA sequence was combined with a piece of RNA designed to increase its binding power to the microRNA. The researchers then injected the modified DNA sequence into African green monkeys at varying doses. In the five healthy monkeys that received the highest dose, cholesterol levels dropped by a maximum of 40% within 23 days, a strong indication that the therapy had stymied miR-122. Five animals that received a lower dose had a cholesterol drop of 20%. Of the 15 animals injected with the microRNA blocker, none showed any signs that the treatment was toxic, the researchers report online today in Nature. Kauppinen says his company's goal is to develop a hepatitis C treatment based on miR-122, because this microRNA is involved in replication of the virus in people.

John Rossi, a molecular geneticist at the City of Hope in Duarte, California, says the findings open the door for using microRNA-based therapies in people. That's because the research shows it is possible to get these microRNA blockers into the cells where they are needed, without causing apparent harm to the animal. This approach could now be adopted for developing treatments for other conditions, by generating DNA sequences that target specific microRNAs involved in diseases, he says.

Although no serious side effects were detected in the monkeys, both Rossi and Peter Kang, a neurologist at Children's Hospital Boston, say the safety of blocking microRNAs in humans must be carefully studied. Many microRNAs regulate numerous genes, so knocking down the expression of just one could have untold effects on the body, Rossi says. (Copied from Science news)

2008 Seollal (Lunar New Year’s Day)

Korea’s one of the biggest holiday of the year was just passed away!!!. Seollal, or Lunar New Year’s Day, falled this year on February 7th of the solar calendar. Korean people consider Seollal to be the most important holiday of the year, so they a total of 3 days of designated holidays including the days before and after Seollal.

We foreigners enjoyed various programs organized by Gwangju International Center (GIC). GIC hosted as of 6th-Nepal day, 7th-India day and 8th-Mongolia day. We (me and Partima) partially participated in Nepal and India day only. Some of the photos during the festival are attached in this page.

Volunteer in Oil Spill Site

Last week we took Part in Oil Clean Up in Taean with most of Nepalese in Chosun University and some of the Korean friends as volunteer.

Some 10,500 tons of crude oil were estimated to have poured from a super tanker after a drifting barge punched holes in its side. South Korea's previously largest spill happened in 1995, when 5,000 tons of oil washed onto the southern coast.

More than 20 million tourists a year visit the area, drawn by its natural beauty.
The area is also home to many oyster beds and seafood farms, which supply local hotels and restaurants.

There are also wider environmental worries: Mallipo, for example, is an important transit point for migrating birds such as snipe and mallards.

We were very eager to help this disaster against nature and human being and finally we did it!!!!!!!!! Basically I was loaded full of lab work at that time but I couldn’t let this great opportunity pass by.

(Partima in Oil Spill Site: Really a appreciating work)

(In spite of the coolest weather, we couldn’t let this great opportunity pass by. )

(Chosun University family members)

(Sea site with volunteer dress...)

Cheers to a New Year 2008 !!!

Happy New Year Everyone!
May the worst day of 2008 be better than the best day of 2007!!!

(Partima enjoyed year end celebration with snow falling)

(Leisure time of her at 2007-in my desk)

(We celebrated new year 2008 with snow fall)

(Partima : In working table)

( Last moment of 2007- snow falling)

A habit

A habit

"What is a habit?"
The disciples asked a teacher.
The teacher brought them a hill and showed grasses and tress of two kinds.
First, was a young grass.
Second, a young grass,too. But it had branched out already.
Third, was a small tree,and,
Forth, a giant tree.

"Pull up the first and second grasses."
They pulled them up.
"It was easy."

"Pull up the third tree."
They pulled up that easily, too.

"Pull of the forth tree."
They tried and tried but could not.
"it was impossible"

The teacher replied,
"That is the feature of habit.
We can control the habit with a mind at first.
However, when it grows, we can't control it later.
Remove the bad habit at first and grow the good habit."

(From The Chosun world Vol.77 No.7 Gwangju, Korea)

Trip To Naejangsan National Park

Naejangsan National Park in South Korea is a famous mountain in Jeolla-do, and the best mountain in Korea to view autumn crimson leaves. The name Naejang means 'many secrets' in the mountain. We had good chance to visit inside the park Baekyangsa and Naejangsa temples. All throughout the year, different kinds of wild flowers bloom here. Some of the clips during the trip are attached in this page.