• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.174-185
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• 2018

This study was conducted to explore the levels of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)-related knowledge, attitudes and preventive behaviors performance and to identify predictors of MERS-related preventive behaviors performance among clinical practice students in a tertiary hospital. The participants were 480 nursing and medical clinical practice students. Data collection was conducted using self-reported questionnaires in June of 2015 and were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent t-tests, one-way ANOVA, and hierarchical regression using the SPSSWIN 24.0 program. The MERS-related knowledge (9.56 out of 13 points) was high, attitudes towards MERS, such as severity cognition and prevention about MERS was positive (4.15 out of 5 points), and MERS-related preventive behaviors performance level was moderate (3.02 out of 5 points). Female students, having education experience regarding MERS, taking vaccination for influenza H1N1 infection in the last year, having the intention of taking influenza H1N1 in the current year, having fear of MERS infection, higher knowledge and more positive attitudes about MERS were predictors of better MERS-related preventive behaviors performance. These results show that general characteristics associated with MERS-related preventive behaviors performance should be considered to improve preventive behaviors of clinical practice students. Furthermore, this study highlights the need to develop effective and useful MERS education programs that provide essential knowledge and attitude about MERS that clinical practice students must acquire to promote the MERS-related preventive behaviors performance.

• Journal of Korean Neuropsychiatric Association
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.28-34
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• 2017

Objectives The purpose of this study was to evaluate psychological effects of an outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), a newly emerged infectious disease, on doctors. Methods After the MERS outbreak was over, we conducted an online survey of doctors who worked at the hospitals in which exposure to MERS cases had been confirmed or who were directly involved in MERS diagnosis and treatment. The Patient Health Questionnaires-9 (PHQ-9) and the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) assessment methods were used to assess the severity of depressive and posttraumatic stress symptoms among the 64 doctors participating in the survey. Results The results of the survey indicate that 26.6% (n=17) of participants exhibited depressive symptoms and 7.8% (n=5) had post-traumatic stress symptoms. The doctors employed at hospitals with MERS cases had higher PHQ-9 and IES-R mean scores than those in doctors were not so employed. In contrast, there was no significant difference in those test scores between doctors who participated directly in MERS diagnosis and treatment and those doctors who did not. Conclusion The survey demonstrated that 28.1% (n=18) of doctors involved in MERS care suffered from depressive or posttraumatic stress symptoms, even though the MERS infection was being controlled. Working at a hospital with MERS cases was the primary determinant of the adverse psychological outcomes among doctors ; however, direct participation in the diagnosis and care of MERS patients was not significantly related to such outcomes.

• Genes and Genomics
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• v.40 no.12
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• pp.1363-1371
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• 2018

One of the main concerns in biology is extracting sophisticated features from DNA sequence for gene interaction determination, receiving a great deal of researchers' attention. The epigenetic modifications along with their patterns have been intensely recognized as dominant features affecting on gene expression. However, studying sequenced-based features highly correlated to this key element has remained limited. The main objective in this research was to propose a new feature highly correlated to epigenetic modifications capable of classification of genes. In this paper, classification of 34 genes in PPAR signaling pathway associated with muscle fat tissue in human was performed. Using different statistical outlier detection methods, we proposed that 5-mers highly correlated to epigenetic modifications can correctly categorize the genes involved in the same biological pathway or process. Thirty-four genes in PPAR signaling pathway were classified via applying a proposed feature, 5-mers strongly associated to 17 different epigenetic modifications. For this, diverse statistical outlier detection methods were applied to specify the group of thoroughly correlated genes. The results indicated that these 5-mers can appropriately identify correlated genes. In addition, our results corresponded to GeneMania interaction information, leading to support the suggested method. The appealing findings imply that not only epigenetic modifications but also their highly correlated 5-mers can be applied for reconstructing gene regulatory networks as supplementary data as well as other applications like physical interaction, genes prioritization, indicating some sort of data fusion in this analysis.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.330-340
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• 2016

Objective: The outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) started in South Korea in May 2015 and the end of crisis was declared in December 2015 by Korea Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). However, Zika virus emerged in less than 2 months following MERS and showed higher mortality than other countries. This study is to assess the current prevention system of overseas infectious diseases, based on MERS and Zika virus outbreak and to suggest effective response system for the future. Methods: We conducted two surveys on medical specialists working at tertiary general hospitals regarding the effectiveness of responding system by KCDC against MERS and Zika virus and education in individual medical institutions using 5-Likert points. Response system was examined in three different periods as initial period, spreading period, and post disease period. Results: Although medical specialists received the notifications in initial period, no practical prevention was proven to be placed in responding stage by medical facilities (averagely 3.5/5 points in total and sub-analyses). During spreading period, there were several academic seminars conducted, which were evaluated as helpful. In post disease period, all answered that there were changes on patient treatment in all medical facilities, with mainly report system and the treatment regulations in case of suspicious patients for infection. Only 49% respondents answered positive on the possibility of initial responses. For questionnaire items regarding Zika virus, all answered that there were notifications prior to the first outbreak of the infected patient. Eighty% of respondents were aware of 'the Guideline system for traveling to dangerous areas', and answered that the system was moderately effective (averagely 3.8/5 points in total). For the effectiveness of prevention measures for foreign novel disease by KCDC, the average point was 3.0 in both of total and sub-analyses. Conclusion: There is not enough response system to prevent infectious disease in medical institutional and governmental levels in Korea. It would warrant the modification of overall medical system to improve preventive measures for initial spread of such diseases.

• BMB Reports
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.397-402
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• 2019

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) uses the spike (S) glycoprotein to recognize and enter target cells. In this study, we selected two epitope peptide sequences within the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the MERS-CoV S protein. We used a complex consisting of the epitope peptide of the MERS-CoV S protein and CpG-DNA encapsulated in liposome complex to immunize mice, and produced the monoclonal antibodies 506-2G10G5 and 492-1G10E4E2. The western blotting data showed that both monoclonal antibodies detected the S protein and immunoprecipitated the native form of the S protein. Indirect immunofluorescence and confocal analysis suggested strong reactivity of the antibodies towards the S protein of MERS-CoV virus infected Vero cells. Furthermore, the 506-2G10G5 monoclonal antibody significantly reduced plaque formation in MERS-CoV infected Vero cells compared to normal mouse IgG and 492-1G10E4E2. Thus, we successfully produced a monoclonal antibody directed against the RBD domain of the S protein which could be used in the development of diagnostics and therapeutic applications in the future.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.401-408
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• 2020

This study was undertaken among students majoring in Emergency Medical Technology, to comprehend the knowledge, attitudes and preventive behaviors associated with MERS. This study further provides basic data for education related to MERS prevention. A total of 167 students were enrolled in the study. Evaluation of MERS education revealed a higher number of inexperienced subjects: 74 experienced(44.3%) vs. 93 inexperienced(55.7%). Assessing the attitude items for MERS revealed that "have to wear personal protective equipment when dealing with MERS patients" ranked highest (average, 4.54 ± 0.87), whereas "washed my hands more often than usual" ranked highest (average, 3.82 ± 1.06) in the prevention items for MERS. Analyzing the correlation between attitude towards MERS and preventive behavior revealed that "canceled or delayed meeting with friends, eating out, watching sports, shopping, etc." showed that, although negatively correlated, a greater attitude showed a higher level of prevention (r=-0.63, p<0.004). Taken together, results of this study indicate the necessity to develop an education program that improves the level of education and knowledge about MERS, and to impart this education systematically and repeatedly.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.46-57
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• 2018

Purpose: The purposes of the study were to examine the knowledge and practice about Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) isolation precaution, and to explore influencing factors of the isolation practice among hospital nurses. Methods: A total of 182 nurses were recruited from four general hospitals where MERS patients had been treated. The knowledge and practice of MERS isolation precaution were measured by the scales developed based on the CDC guidelines. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS/WIN 22 with descriptive statistics, T-test, One-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficients, and hierachical multiple regression analysis. Results: The nurses were 30 years old in average, and half of them had less than 5 years of clinical experience. and knowledge on droplet precautions (${\beta}=.171$, p=.019) were the significant predictors, explaining 19.6% of variance in the MERS isolation guideline practice. Clinical experience (${\beta}=.225$, p=.002), working at infection unit (${\beta}=-.203$, p=.011). Conclusion: The knowledge on droplet precaution and general knowledge on MERS were the important modifiable factor to improve the MERS isolation guideline practice among hospital nurses, even after adjusting clinical experience and demographic variables. It is necessary to develop an efficient education program on specific guidelines for prevention and management of infection by improving the knowledge on infectious disease such as MERS as well as droplet precaution which are modifiable factors.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.8
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• pp.1316-1323
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• 2019

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is a newly emerging coronavirus which is zoonotic from bats and camels. Its infection in humans can be fatal especially in patients with preexisting conditions due to smoking and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Among the 25 proteins encoded by MERS-CoV, 5 accessory proteins seem to be involved in viral evasion of the host immune responses. Here we report that ORF4a, ORF4b, and ORF8b proteins, alone or in combination, effectively antagonize nuclear factor kappa B ($NF-{\kappa}B$) activation. Interestingly, the inhibition of $NF-{\kappa}B$ by MERS-CoV accessory proteins was mostly at the level of pattern recognition receptors: melanoma differentiation-associated gene 5 (MDA5). ORF4a and ORF4b additively inhibit MDA5-mediated activation of $NF-{\kappa}B$ while that of retinoic acid-inducible gene 1 (RIG-I) is largely not perturbed. Of note, ORF8b was found to be a novel antagonist of MDA5-mediated $NF-{\kappa}B$ activation. In addition, ORF8b also strongly inhibits Tank-binding kinase 1 (TBK1)-mediated induction of $NF-{\kappa}B$ signaling. Taken together, MERS-CoV accessory proteins are involved in viral escape of $NF-{\kappa}B$-mediated antiviral immune responses.

• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.5-22
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• 2016

MERS(Middle East Respiratory Syndrome), an acute and infectious viral disease with high fatality sneaked in South Korea in May 2016. Although MERS is officially declared to be exterminated in Korea by the date of December 24, it aroused a great panic throughout the country and remained many tasks requiring sincere deliberations and innovative actions. This study starts to summarize all that had been happening during first 7 months since last May, reconsider the whole process in light of disaster paradigm, analyze the causes and tasks of such turmoil under the framework of social medicine. It is wrapped up with the visions and prospect of the social medicine, an interdisciplinary approach that takes into account the expert knowledge of academia, administrative knowledge of government, media knowledge from traditional/new media and lay knowledge of civil society.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.149-157
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• 2017

MERS outbreak in Korea was related to healthcare-associated infections. The number of healthcare workers infected with MERS were 39, of which 15 were nurses. We investigated knowledge, attitudes and preventive behaviors against MERS in nursing students who will serve as future nurses. This is a cross-sectional study using a questionnaire survey. Data were collected from 350 nursing students from April to May 2016. As a result, there was a statistically significant positive correlation between attitudes and prevention behaviors against MERS. (r=.387, p <.001). The effect of knowledge and attitudes on preventive behaviors against MERS was analyzed by 15.2% of the explanatory power of regression model and statistically significant by regression equation (F = 31.081, p <.001). This study suggests that nursing students need convergence educational programs to improve their attitudes and preventive behaviors against infectious diseases such as MERS.