• 설비공학논문집
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• 제23권7호
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• pp.520-527
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• 2011

Recently, Influenza(AI, PI) patients have been increasing rapidly. But, there is a lack of isolation hospitals. In particular, according to increase the rate of patients with airborne infection, in order to prevent the spread of pathogens, design of layout plan and air conditioning system of isolation hospitals becomes more important to maintain patient's room as negative pressure. In this study, the spread of pathogens are analyzed as room differential pressure, moving time of medical staff and patients, and moving way in isolation hospitals by multizone simulation; CONTAM 2.4. Through the analysis, the ways to improve isolation hospital considered at the design step are reached to prevent the spread of pathogens effectively. Also, it verifies that HVAC system for isolation hospital is suitably designed as standard.

• 대한안전경영과학회지
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• 제19권4호
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• pp.115-123
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• 2017

Recently there is a growing interest in the airborne spread of virus. In particular, there is growing interest in secondary infection through the air in the hospital. The distribution of air-born virus depends on ventilation system installed in a hospital. In this study, simulations were carried out to predict the move of air-born virus by ventilation system at hospital. Simulation results showed that pressure distribution was -372.05Pa ~ -3.45 Pa at 1st floor incase of only used mechanical exhaust at bathroom, shower stall, storage, kitchen etc.. if ventilation switch from used mechanical exhaust to mechanical exhaust & mechanical supply. Simulation results showed that pressure distribution was -336.44Pa at stair hall < -0.2Pa at bathroom < mean 1.19Pa at other room. So simulation results showed that using all of the mechanical supply and mechanical exhaust was more effective then the mechanical exhaust for maintain the pressure distribution in hospital. It was also showed that when using the mechanical supply and mechanical exhaust more effectively prevention of air born virus diffusion.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• 제61권4호
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• pp.367-370
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• 2018

Lysozyme is an antibacterial enzyme that is found in most of body fluids. Lysozyme in tears plays a primary role in protecting eye from harmful environments; if lysozyme is degraded or inhibited, eyes are likely to be more vulnerable to bacterial infection. In this study, lysozyme activity was evaluated according to varying concentrations of heavy metals, copper, zinc, cobalt and manganese and light metal, calcium that are frequently found in airborne particulate matters and was assayed using a dye-quenching lysozyme substrate, Micrococcus lysodeikticus. Less fluorescence intensity was observed with increasing amounts of copper, zinc, manganese and cobalt but not with calcium suggesting that these metals have some affinity with lysozyme and inhibit lysozyme activity. When albumin, the second most common protein in tears, was added on the reaction of lysozyme and metals, lysozyme activity was partially restored. This finding suggests that the albumin might protect damage caused by metals on lysozyme. To identify whether the decrease in enzymatic activity was related to structural changes of lysozyme, SDS-PAGE was conducted and only with copper did lysozyme show marked smearing bands on the SDS-gel, meaning that copper degraded lysozyme consistent with the sharpest activity decrease.

• 한국환경보건학회지
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• 제48권2호
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• pp.116-122
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• 2022

Background: The recent COVID-19 pandemic is one of the worst disease outbreaks of the 21th century. Due to a lack of reliable antiviral therapeutics, wearing face masks is recommended to prevent airborne infection originating from virus-contaminated bioaerosols. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the filtration efficiencies of face masks that are commercially available in South Korea for a biological aerosol of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and murine coronavirus, a well-known surrogate for human coronaviruses. Methods: We collected six different kinds of commercial masks: two Korea Filter (KF)94 (KF94-1, KF94-2) masks, one surgical (Surgical-1) mask, one anti-droplet (KF-AD-1) mask, and two dust (Dust-1, Dust-2) face masks. S. aureus (ATCC 6538), a well-performing test bacteria and murine coronavirus (ATCC VR-764) were prepared under a suitable culture condition. Then, a mask biological filtration tester was used to examine the microbial filtration efficiencies of masks. Test microorganisms were quantitatively measured via cultivation methods and microbial filtration efficiencies were calculated appropriately. Results: All face masks showed over 99.6% filtration efficiency for S. aureus or murine coronavirus. There were no significant differences among the bacterial filtration efficiencies of the face masks. KF94-1 (99.97±0.08%) and Dust-1 mask (99.97±0.07%) showed the highest (over 99.9%) filtration efficiency for murine coronavirus. KF94-1 or Dust-1 masks showed a significant virus filtration efficiency compared to Surgical-1 mask (p<0.05; Mann-Whitney U test). Conclusions: All the commercially available face masks used in this study can filter S. aureus or murine coronavirus in bioaerosols efficiently, regardless of the mask type. Therefore, our results suggest that wearing a certified face mask is a reliable means to prevent the transmission of infectious airborne diseases via biological aerosols.

• 한국환경보건학회지
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• 제31권3호
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• pp.199-206
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• 2005

C. neoformans-associated cryptococcosis is primarily a disease of immunocompromised persons, has a world-wide distribution, and is often spread by pigeons in the urban environment. In contrast, C. gattii causes infection in normal hosts, has only been described in tropical and semi-tropical areas of the world, and has a unique niche in river gum Eucalyptus trees. Cryptococcosis is acquired through inhalation of the yeast propagules from the environment. C. gattii has been identified as the cause of an emerging infectious disease centered on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. No cases of C. gattii-disease were diagnosed prior to 1999; the current incidence rate is 36 cases per million population. A search was initiated in 2001 to find the ecological niche of this basidiomycetous yeast. C. gattii was found in the environment in treed areas of Vancouver Island. The highest percentage of colonized-tree clusters were found around central Vancouver Island, with decreasing rates of colonization to the north and south. Climate, soil and vegetation cover of this area, called the Coastal Douglas fir biogeoclimatic zone, is unique to British Columbia and Canada. The concentration of airborne C. gattii was highest in the dry summer months, and lowest during late fall, winter, and early spring, months which have heavy rainfall. The study of the emerging colonization of this organism and subsequent cases of environmentally acquired disease will be informative in planning public health management of new routes of exposure to exotic agents in areas impacted by changing climate and land use patterns.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• 제41권1호
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• pp.1-8
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• 2017

Background: Though the biomass of floral vegetation in understory plant communities in a forested ecosystem only accounts for less than 1% of the total biomass of a forest, they contain most of the floral resources of a forest. The diversity of understory honey plants determines visitation rate of pollinators such as honey bee (Apis mellifera) as they provide rich food resources. Since the flower visitation and foraging activity of pollinators lead to the provision of pollination service, it also means the enhancement of plant-pollinator relationship. Therefore, an appropriate management scheme for understory vegetation is essential in order to conserve pollinator population that is decreasing due to habitat destruction and disease infection. This research examined the diversity of understory honey plant and studied how it is related to environmental variables such as (1) canopy density, (2) horizontal heterogeneity of canopy surface height, (3) slope gradient, and (4) distance from roads. Vegetation survey data of 39 plots of mixed forests in Chuncheon, Korea, were used, and possible management practices for understory vegetation were suggested. Results: This study found that 113 species among 141 species of honey plant of the forests were classified as understory vegetation. Also, the understory honey plant diversity is significantly positively correlated with distance from the nearest road and horizontal heterogeneity of canopy surface height and negatively correlated with canopy density. Conclusions: The diversity of understory honey plant vegetation is correlated to vegetation structure and human impact. In order to enhance the diversity of understory honey plant, management of density and height of canopy is necessary. This study suggests that improved diversity of canopy cover through thinning of overstory vegetation can increase the diversity of understory honey plant species.

• 설비공학논문집
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• 제25권1호
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• pp.7-13
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• 2013

Bio Clean Room(BCR) and pharmaceutical product manufacturing facilities require careful assessment of many factors, including HVAC, controls, room finishes, process equipment, room operations, and utilities. Flow of equipment, personnel, and product must also be considered along with system flexibility, redundancy, and maintenance shutdown strategies. It is important to involve designers, operators, commissioning staff, quality control, maintenance, constructors, validation personnel, and the production representative during the conceptual stage of design. Critical variables for room environment and types of controls vary greatly with the clean space's intended purpose. It is particularly important to determine critical parameters with quality assurance to set limits and safety factors for temperature, humidity, room pressure, and other control requirements. In this paper, oxygen cluster ion equipment was utilized in order to enhance the indoor air quality and to prevent the airborne infection of ward in hospital. Moreover, the performance test of the equipment was also performed in order to develop the optimal sterilization system of BCR using the equipment.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제12권2호
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• pp.268-271
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• 2021

Lung granulomas are uncommon in Thailand. The disease typically develops from an occupational environment and is mostly caused by infection. Herein is a case report of a female patient, aged 48, working as a nurse in an Accident and Emergency Department at a hospital. Eighteen years prior to admission the patient was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis and pulmonary tuberculosis. The chest X-ray and CT scans showed a solitary pulmonary nodule in the lower left lung. The patient received an open thoracotomy with a left lobectomy. Granulomatous and nonseptate hyphae were found in the pathology diagnosis. The patient was thus diagnosed as having a lung granuloma. The galactomannan antigen test was positive. The solitary pulmonary nodule-found from the use of a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test-was an Aspergillus spp. The fungus culture was collected from air samples. The air samples were collected by the impaction technique using a microbial air sampler. Three types of Aspergillus spp. were found as well as Penicillium spp. and Monilia sitophila. The Aspergillus spp. was a match for the patient's disease. The patient was diagnosed as having a lung granuloma possibly Aspergillus nodule which was caused by airborne Aspergillus spp. from the occupational environment.

• 한국입자에어로졸학회지
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• 제18권1호
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• pp.1-8
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• 2022

Since 2019, the corona virus has been continuously affect human life. In particular, in the indoor space where people live, infection by airborne transmission of viruses is a problem. Among them, the spread in the subway, which is the main mode of transport for humans, can be serious. To solve this problem, our research team developed an ionic wind collector to collect and remove corona virus using an ionic wind collector and ozone. In order to apply the ionic wind collector to the subway, it must operate in two modes. Because large amounts of ozone are harmful to the human body. There is a mode that collects bio-aerosol from the air using ionic wind and a mode that inactivates viruses floating in the air by generating a large amount of ozone. As the applied voltage increased, the cleaning ability of the ionic wind collector increased, and the farther the distance between the discharge electrode and the ground plate, the higher the cleaning ability even at low current. In addition, clean air delivery rate (CADR) of an ionic wind collector was up to 5.5 m³/min. As a result of measuring the amount of ozone generated, it was confirmed that 50 ppb to 250 ppb was generated, and it was confirmed that ozone generation was controllable in the ionic wind dust collector.

• 대한간호학회지
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• 제9권2호
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• pp.17-26
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• 1979

This research is to prevent the infection of maternity in the hospital by examining the microbes contaminations in maternity through airbone microbes and those who are engaged in the ward of O.B. ＆ G.Y. and to furnish the basic data available to hospital management. The bacterial growth of airbone microbes contaminations in nosocomial air and who thor the nasal cavity of passers by (doctors, nurses, parturient women) who went to the ward of O.B. ＆ G.Y. contaminated or not were examined in“E”Univ. Hospital from July to August, 1979 by using thioglycollate broths and agar plates. The following results were obtained: 1. The average colony number of airborne microbes revealed as follows the pediatric ward (36 colonies), the internal ward (33 colonies), the ward of O.B. ＆ G.Y. (30 colonies), the ward of surgery (24 colonies), delivery-waiting room (11 colonies), and the delivery room (3 colonies). 2. The bacterial growth beforenoon differed from that of afternoon. Namely, the latter (24 colonies) was higher than the former (21 colonies). 3. The type of strains isolated from the air of the ward revealed staphylococci (82%), Gram negative bacilli (18%), fungi (17%), Gram positive diplococci (13%), and Bacillus subtilis (2.8%). 4. The strains isolated in the delivery-waiting room revealed staphylococci (66.7%), Gram negative bacilli (33.6%), and revealed staphylococci (75%), Gram positive diplococci (8.3%), and fungi (8.3%), in delivery room. 5. Most of strains isolated in the ward of O.B. & G.Y. revealed staphylococci (100.0%), Gram positive diplococci (8.3%), and Gram negative bacilli (6.7%). 6. The strain isolated in the surgical ward revealed staphylococci (91.7%), fungi (33.3%), Gram positive diplococci (25%), Gram negative bacilli (25%) and Bacillus subtilis (8.3%). 7. The strain isolated in the pediatric ward revealed staphylococci (75%), fungi (25%), Gram positive diplococci (8.3%), Bacillus subtilis (8.3%), and Gram negative bacilli (8.3%). 8. The strain isolated in the internal ward revealed staphylococci (91.7%), fungi (33.3%), Gram positive diplococci (25%), and negative bacilli (16.7%). The strains isolated from the nasal cavity of those doctors and nurses who and enaged in the ward of O.B. & G.Y. revealed staphylococci (80%), Bacillus subtilis (10%), and Gram negative bacilli (10%), from doctors and Gram positive diplococci (10%), instead of Gram negative bacilli (10％), from nurses. 10. The strain isolated from nasal cavity of parturient women on admission revealed staphylococci (90%), and Gram negative bacilli (10%), but after admission revealed staphylococci (70％), Gram positive diplococci (10%), and Gram negative bacilli (10%). 11. Of the total 91 staphylococci isolated from the air of the ward, the Coagulase pastive was 36 (39.6%), and the negative 55 (60.4%), As a result of the coagulase experiment of the staphylococci isolated from the nasal cavity of those who are engaged in the ward of O.B. ＆ G.Y. all were revealed as negative that belonged to non-pathogenic. 12. Consequence of the biochemic examination of the gram negative bacilli isolated from the air of the ward the aerobacter aerogens revealed was (16.7%) E-coli 5％ in the nasal cavity of those came and went to the of O.B. ＆ G.Y. and Aerobacter aerogens 7.5%.