• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.813-819
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• 2019

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) induces severe respiratory impairment with a reported mortality rate of ~36% in humans. The absence of clinically available MERS-CoV vaccines and treatments to date has resulted in uncontrolled incidence and propagation of the virus. In vaccine design, fusion with the IgG Fc domain is reported to increase the immunogenicity of various vaccine antigens. However, limited reports have documented the potential negative effects of Fc fusion on vaccine antigens. To determine whether Fc fusion affects the immunogenicity of MERS-CoV antigen, we constructed a Fcassociated MERS-CoV spike protein (eS770-Fc, 110 kDa), whereby human IgG4 Fc domain was fused to MERS-CoV spike protein (eS770) via a Gly/Pro linker using baculovirus as the expression system. For comparative analyses, two eS770 proteins lacking the IgG4 Fc domain were generated using the IdeS protease ($eS770-{\Delta}Fc$) or His tag attachment (eS770-His) and the immunogenicity of the above constructs were examined following intramuscular immunization in mice. Contrary to expectations, non-Fc spike proteins ($eS770-{\Delta}Fc$, eS770-His; 90 kDa) showed higher immunogenicity than the Fc fusion protein (eS770-Fc). Moreover, unlike non-Fc spike proteins, eS770-Fc immunization did not elicit neutralizing antibodies against MERS-CoV. The lower immunogenicity of Fc-fused eS770 was related to alterations in the structural conformation of the spike protein. Taken together, our results indicate that IgG Fc fusion reduces the immunogenicity of eS770 by interfering with the proper folding structure.

• Food Industry
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• s.246
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• pp.2-3
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• 2015

메르스(MERS)는 새로운 변종 코로나바이러스(MERS-CoV) 감염으로 인한 중증급성호흡기질환의 이름이다. 2015년 5월 20일 한국에서 메르스 최초 감염자가 확인되었다. 2015년 6월 17일 기준으로 메르스로 인한 격리대상자는 6,508명이며, 잠복기가 지나 격리가 해제된 사람은 총 3,951명이다. 메르스 광풍에서 살아남을 수 있는 방법은 없을까.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.41.1-41.16
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• 2022

The human antimicrobial peptide LL-37 has chemotactic and modulatory activities in various immune cells, including dendritic cells. Because of its characteristics, LL-37 can be considered an adjuvant for vaccine development. In this study, we confirmed the possible adjuvant activity of LL-37 in mucosal vaccine development against Middle East respiratory syndrome-coronavirus (MERS-CoV) by means of intranasal immunization in C57BL/6 and human dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (hDPP4)-transgenic (hDPP4-Tg) mice. Intranasal immunization using the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of MERS-CoV spike protein (S-RBD) recombined with LL-37 (S-RBD-LL-37) induced an efficient mucosal IgA and systemic IgG response with virus-neutralizing activity, compared with S-RBD. Ag-specific CTL stimulation was also efficiently induced in the lungs of mice that had been intranasally immunized with S-RBD-LL-37, compared with S-RBD. Importantly, intranasal immunization of hDPP4-Tg mice with S-RBD-LL-37 led to reduced immune cell infiltration into the lungs after infection with MERS-CoV. Finally, intranasal immunization of hDPP4-Tg mice with S-RBD-LL-37 led to enhanced protective efficacy, with increased survival and reduced body weight loss after challenge infection with MERS-CoV. Collectively, these results suggest that S-RBD-LL-37 is an effective intranasal vaccine candidate molecule against MERS-CoV infection.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.185-196
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• 2017

This study was conducted to investigate the practical experience of nurses in MERS patients care. Nine nurses in one general hospital in S city underwent in-depth interviews from August 2015 to March 2016. The collected data were analyzed according to the procedure of the phenomenological method of Colaizzi. The following five categories were derived: '1. Anxiety and burden due to the risk of transmission of new infectious diseases', '2. Social isolation because of being the nurse in charge of MERS patients', '3. Faced with problems due to an unprepared treatment environment', '4. Overcome the burdensome MERS patient care process', '5. Reflect on the steps for preparing against new infectious diseases'. These results suggest that it is important to draw positive experiences as well as the negative effects of nurses who are involved in treatment of various infectious diseases, including MERS. Based on this, it can be used as a basis for reducing negative psychological and social impacts and improving positive adaptation. Additionally, it is necessary for healthcare workers including nurses to establish the necessary workforces, departments and guidelines for nursing new infectious disease patients.

• FLOWER RESEARCH JOURNAL
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.201-206
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• 2010

The genetic relationship among 48 Cymbidium cultivars was analyzed using randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) with eighty 10 mers random primers (Operon Technologies) and twelve 20 mers random primers. Forty eight Cymbidium cultivars included 34 oriental Cymbidium, 7 hybrids, and 7 western Cymbidium. 407 (9.9 per primer) and 56 polymorphic bands (9.5 per primer) were generated by polymerase chain reaction with selected thirty 10 mers primers, and nine 20 mers primers, respectively. The polymorphic fragments ranged from 0.4 to 1.5 kb in size. The dendrogram was constructed by using the UPGMA clustering algorithm based on genetic similarity. Forty eight Cymbidium cultivars were classified into four major groups at similarity coefficient value of 0.638.

• Journal of the Korean Society for information Management
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.273-287
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• 2015

This study aimed to investigate the impact of the epidemic disease including Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS) on the usage of public libraries. Such disease yields anxiety throughout the nation and discourages social activities in general. 18,711,453 records from 303 public libraries were examined with "big data retrieval & analysis platform for public libraries" located in Sejong National Library. The results are as follows. First, in 2015, when MERS was prevalent, the daily mean of books checked out was 64,645.05, showing decrease of 6,300 per day compared to that of 2014. Second, in 2014, the daily mean of books checked out from July 5th to August 19th was greater than that of from April 4th to May 19th and that of from May 20th to July 4th, implying the impact of summer vacation on the increase in books checked out in public libraries. Third, in 2015, the daily mean of books checked out from July 5th was greater than during MERS outbreak(from May 20th to July 4th), while it did not show statistically significant difference with that of before the outbreak. Fourth, the daily mean of books checked out did not show statistically significant difference between 2014 and 2015 before and during the outbreak, while it showed statistically significant difference between 2014 and 2015 after the epidemic period. The results indicate that MERS and the anxiety it brought nationwide had an impact on the daily mean of books checked out in public libraries after the epidemic period rather than during the outbreak.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.124-136
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• 2016

Because of continuous outbreaks of disasters and emergencies, the importance of government crisis management has been increased. This study analyzed the Korean government's response messages during the 2015 MERS outbreak, which was an emergency issue that showed a great ripple effect. According to the three diffusion phases of MERS, the semantic network analysis of 134 press releases on the central and local governments' official web sites of MERS was conducted. The results showed that during the early stage of MERS, the central government misperceived the crisis situation, and as a result, specific and enough information was not provided promptly regarding a list of hospitals with known MERS exposure and prevention method. During MERS diffusion and decline stages, Seoul and Gyeonggi-do provided more specific and actionable messages than the central government. This study was meaningful in that it analyzed and evaluated crisis communication messages during an outbreak of the infectious disease. The findings of this study provide useful implications for government officials in their crisis management and communication strategy during emergency risk situations.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.1305-1317
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• 2015

Distributed generation systems (DGSs) have been getting more and more attention in terms of renewable energy use and new generation technologies in the past decades. The self-excited induction generator (SEIG) occupies an important role in the area of energy conversion due to its low cost, robustness and simple control. Unlike synchronous generators, the SEIG has to absorb capacitive reactive power from the outer device aiming to stabilize the terminal voltage at load changes. This paper presents a novel static VAR compensator (SVC) called a magnetic energy recovery switch (MERS) to serve as a voltage controller in SEIG powered DGSs. In addition, many small scale SEIGs, instead of a single large one, are applied and devoted to promote the generation efficiency. To begin with, an expandable mathematic model based on a d-q equivalent circuit is created for parallel SEIGs. The control method of the MERS is further improved with the objective of broadening its operating range and restraining current harmonics by parameter optimization. A hybrid control strategy is developed by taking both of the stand-alone and grid-connected modes into consideration. Then simulation and experiments are carried out in the case of single and double SEIG(s) generation. Finally, the measurement results verify that the proposed DGS with SVC-MERS achieves a better stability and higher feasibility. The major advantages of the mentioned variable reactive power supplier, when compared to the STATCOM, include the adoption of a small DC capacitor, line frequency switching, simple control and less loss.

• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.725-732
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• 2016

This study analyzes the number of Jeju-bound tourists according to travellers' purposes. We classify the travellers' purposes into three categories: "Rest and Sightseeing", "Leisure and Sport", and "Conference and Business". To see an impact of MERS outbreak occurred in May 2015 on the number of tourists, we fit seasonal ARIMA-Intervention model to the monthly arrivals data from January 2005 to March 2016. The estimation results show that the number of tourists for "Leisure and Sport" and "Conference and Business" were significantly affected by MERS outbreak whereas arrivals for "Rest and Sightseeing" were little influenced. Using the fitted models, we predict the number of Jeju-bound tourists.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.721-731
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to investigate the knowledge, attitude, infection management intention and educational needs among nurses with no experience of new respiratory infectious diseases (NRID: SARS and MERS). Data were collected from 162 nurses working at the general hospitals in B city using structured questionnaires from October 10 to 31, 2017. The infection management intention of NRID was high in those who were over 30 years old, married, highly educated, and had a total working experience of more than 5 years. Nurses' infection management intention for NRID showed a positive correlation between knowledge of NRID (r=.27, p<.001) and attitude toward NRID (r=.65, p<.001). In other words, the higher the knowledge score for NRID, the more positive the attitude and the higher the infection management intention. In addition, the knowledge score related to incubation period, treatment, isolation, and release criteria was low while the educational needs were high. Therefore, in preparation for the possibility of NRID relapse and other NRID in the future, a systematic program addressing these educational needs for nurses should be periodically implemented to enhance infection management.