• Food Science and Preservation
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.317-322
• /
• 2005

The purposes of this study were to assess the microbiological contamination level of various disposable kitchen utensils and evaluate the effectiveness of gamma irradiation as a sterilization process for the utensils. The 51 kinds in 17 groups of disposable kitchen utensils were tested for the enumeration of total aerobic plate count, coliforms, fungi and Salmonella. Generally, cell density of microorganisms in disposable kitchen utensils were lower than that of cooking utensils currently using in kitchen. The survivals of total aerobic plate counts, putrefactive bacteria, on the surface of the disposable utensils were ranged up to $10^3\;CFU/100\;cm^2$. Filamentous fungi were detected in 13 samples. Coliform bacteria were detected in two kinds of samples but Salmonella spp. was detected below detection limits in all the samples. The microorganisms survived on the surface of utensils were effectively eliminated by gamma irradiation process at 3 kGy.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.28 no.12
• /
• pp.2133-2140
• /
• 2018

Norovirus is the most common cause of acute gastroenteritis. Its pathogenesis is poorly understood owing to the difficulty of establishing viral infection in animal models. Here, post-weaning gnotobiotic pigs were infected with human norovirus genogroup II genotype 4 (HuNoV GII.4) to investigate the pathogenesis and replication of the virus. Three groups of four pigs were infected with $1{\times}10^5$, $1{\times}10^6$, or $1{\times}10^7$ genomic equivalent (GE) copies of HuNoV GII.4. Four pigs were used as negative controls. Blood and rectal swab samples were collected after viral infection, and gross legions were examined after necropsy. Diarrhea was induced in 25% and 75% of pigs infected with $1{\times}10^6$ and $1{\times}10^7$ GE copies, respectively. Viral shedding was detected in 50%, 75%, and 50% of pigs infected with $1{\times}10^5$, $1{\times}10^6$, and $1{\times}10^7$ GE copies, respectively. Viremia was detected in 25% of pigs infected with either $1{\times}10^6$ or $1{\times}10^7$ GE copies. When gross lesions of gastroenteritis were investigated, the ileum walls of the infected pigs were thinner than those of the controls. Villi atrophy and inflammatory cell infiltration were identified in the ileum of each infected pig. Viral capsid was identified in the jejunum, ileum, colon, spleen, and mesenteric lymph node. Virus replication was newly verified in the spleen and mesenteric lymph nodes by detection of negative-sense viral RNA. In conclusion, HuNoV GII.4 could induce acute gastroenteritis and replicate in the extra-intestinal lymphoid tissues in post-weaning gnotobiotic pigs. Therefore, such pigs would be a suitable animal model for studying the pathogenesis and replication of HuNoV.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
• /
• v.51 no.1
• /
• pp.26-33
• /
• 2019

Recently, the rapid growth of the companion animal market has led to the development of animal disease diagnosis kits. Therefore, the utility of the introduction of biomarkers for the development of animal molecular diagnostics is being reevaluated. A good biomarker should be precise and reliable, distinguish between normal and diseased states, and differentiate between different diseases. Recently reported genetic markers, tumor markers (cell free DNA, circulating tumor cells, granzyme, and skin tumors), and others (brucellosis, programmed death recovery-1, symmetric dimethylarginine, periostin, and cysteinyl leukotrien) have been developed. The biomarkers are used for risk prediction or for the screening, diagnosis, and monitoring of disease progression. The most important criteria for related biomarkers are disease specificity. Many potential biomarkers have emerged from laboratory and test studies, but they have not been validated in independent or large-scale clinical studies. Candidate biomarkers evaluate disease associations, verify the effectiveness of biomarkers for early detection and disease progression, and incorporate them into humans and animals. In the future, it will be necessary to reevaluate the utility of well-structured biomarker-based research and study the development of kits that can be used in on-site tests in accordance with the trends introduced in the diagnosis of animal diseases.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.28 no.12
• /
• pp.1397-1405
• /
• 2018

Mitochondria have multiple functions in cells: providing chemical energy, storing cellular $Ca^{2+}$, generating reactive oxygen species, and regulating apoptosis. Through these functions, mitochondria are also involved in the maintenance, proliferation, and differentiation of stem/progenitor cells. In the brain, the subventricular zone (SVZ) is one of the neurogenic regions that contains neural stem cells (NSCs) throughout a lifetime. However, reports on the role of mitochondria in SVZ NSCs are scarce. Here, we show that rotenone, a complex I inhibitor of mitochondria, inhibits the proliferation and differentiation of SVZ NSCs in different ways. In proliferating NSCs, rotenone decreases mitosis as measured through phosphorylated histone H3 detection; moreover, apoptosis is not induced by rotenone at 50 nM. In differentiating NSCs, rotenone blocks neurogenesis and oligodendrogenesis while glial fibrillary acidic protein-positive astrocytes are not affected. Interestingly, in this study there were more cells in the differentiating NSCs treated with rotenone for 4-6 days than in the vehicle control group which was a different effect from the reduced number of cells in the proliferating NSCs. We examined both apoptosis and mitosis and found that rotenone decreased apoptosis as detected by staining cleaved caspase-3 but did not affect mitosis. Our results suggest that functional mitochondria are necessary in both the proliferation and differentiation of SVZ NSCs. Furthermore, mitochondria might be involved in the mitosis and apoptosis that occur during those processes.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
• /
• v.51 no.3
• /
• pp.301-308
• /
• 2019

The emergence and spread of multidrug resistant (MDR) Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a critical problem worldwide. The pathogenesis of P. aeruginosa is due partly to the production of several cell-associated and extracellular virulence factors. This study examined the distribution of virulence factors and antimicrobial resistance patterns of carbapenem-resistant P. aeruginosa (CRPA) isolated from a tertiary hospital in Daejeon, Korea. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed using the disk diffusion method, and PCR and DNA sequencing were performed to determine for the presence of virulence genes. In addition, the sequence type (ST) of MDR P. aeruginosa was investigated by multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Among 32 CRPA isolates, 14 (43.8%) were MDR and the major ST was ST235 (10 isolates, 71.4%). All isolates were positive for the presence of virulence genes and the most prevalent virulence genes were toxA, plcN, and phzM (100%). All isolates carried at least eight or more different virulence genes and nine (28.1%) isolates had 15 virulence genes. The presence of the exoU gene was detected in 71.4% of the MDR P. aeruginosa isolates. These results indicate that the presence of the exoU gene can be a predictive marker for the persistence of MDR P. aeruginosa isolates.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
• /
• v.34 no.3
• /
• pp.309-315
• /
• 2019

To enumerate Staphylococcus aureus in food, Baird-Parker Agar (BPA) is usually used in the conventional method, However it requires time and space for the preparation and plating, and incubation. Thus, use of the $3M^{TM}$ $Petrifilm^{TM}$ Staph Express Count Plate (STX Petrifilm) might be appropriate to solve these challenging problems. The purpose of this study was to compare the efficiency of STX Petrifilm with BPA for enumeration of S. aureus in various foods. A mixture of S. aureus strains ATCC29213, ATCC25923, and ATCC13565 was inoculated on marinated pork chop, beef (chuck tender), dried filefish, semi-dried squid, rice cake, and Japchae (stir-fried glass noodles) at 2, 3, 5, and 7 Log CFU/g. S. aureus cell counts were enumerated by spread-plating on STX Petrifilm and BPA after 0 and 24 hours at $4^{\circ}C$ (marinated pork chop, beef, semi-dried squid, and stir-fried glass noodles) and $25^{\circ}C$ (dried filefish and rice cake). Recovery of STX Petrifilm for S. aureus from various food samples was compared with BPA, and the results showed that there were no significant differences between two selective media in all cases. The results indicated that STX Petrifilm had enough efficiency to recover S. aureus from various foods as well as saving time and space.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.429-435
• /
• 2021

In intracavitary radiotherapy, incorrect location of the source can cause excessive dose to normal tissue, so it is essential to evaluate the location accuracy of the source. In this study, basic research was performed on digital line dosimeter based on lead (II) oxide (PbO) to improve analog verification method. Therefore, a polycrystalline PbO unit cell dosimeter was manufactured and the measurement performance for Ir-192 sources was evaluated. As a result, the reproducibility satisfies the evaluation criteria of 1.5% with a relative standard deviation of 0.85%. Linearity showed excellent results with a linear coefficient of R² of 0.9998. In the case of distance dependence evaluation, the power function R² showed 0.9855 for PbO and 0.9974 for diode, and the overall average difference was 1.66% for PbO and 2.18% for diode. This study presents the basic detection performance of the polycrystalline PbO dosimeter for the Ir-192 source and can provide basic data in the field of radiation measurement.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
• /
• v.65 no.6
• /
• pp.834-840
• /
• 2022

Objective : C-reactive protein (CRP) level, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and white blood cell (WBC) count are inflammatory markers used to evaluate postoperative infections. Although these markers are non-specific, understanding their normal kinetics after surgery may be helpful in the early detection of postoperative infections. To compliment the recent trend of reducing the duration of antibiotic use, this retrospective study investigated the inflammatory markers of patients who had received antibiotics within 24 hours after surgery according to the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service guidelines and compared them with those of patients who had received antibiotics for 5 days, which was proven to be non-infectious. Methods : We enrolled 74 patients, divided into two groups. Patients underwent posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) at a single institution between 2019 and 2020. Group A included 37 patients who received antibiotics within 24 hours after the PLIF procedure, and group B comprised 37 patients who had used antibiotics for 5 days. A 1 : 1 nearest-neighbor propensity-matched analysis was used. The clinical variables included age, sex, medical history, body mass index, estimated blood loss, and operation time. Laboratory data included CRP, ESR, and WBC, which were measured preoperatively and on postoperative days (POD) 1, 3, 5, and 7. Results : CRP dynamics tended to decrease after peaking on POD 3, with a similar trend in both groups. The average CRP level in group B was slightly higher than that in group A; however, the difference was not statistically significant. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed operation time, number of fused levels, and estimated blood loss as significant predictors of a greater CRP peak value (r²=0.473, p<0.001) in patients. No trend (a tendency to decrease from the peak value) could be determined for ESR and WBC count on POD 7. Conclusion : Although slight differences were observed in numerical values and kinetics, sequential changes in inflammatory markers according to the duration of antibiotic administration showed similar patterns. Knowledge of CRP kinetics allows the assessment of the degree of difference between the clinical and expected values.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.22 no.8
• /
• pp.43-54
• /
• 2006

The scope of this paper covers the applications of bender element tests in consolidation, tomography, and liquefaction. Loading and unloading time during consolidation are evaluated based on shear wave velocity. As S-wave velocity is dependent on effective stress, the loading step may be determined. However, cautions are required due to the different mechanism between the settlement and effective stress criteria. The stress history may be evaluated because the S-wave shows the cement controlled regime and stress controlled regimes. A fixed frame complemented with bender elements permits S-wave tomography The tomography system is tested at low confinement within a true triaxial cell. Results show that shear wave velocity tomography permits monitoring changes in the velocity field which is related to the average effective stress. To monitor the liquefaction phenomenon, S-wave trans-illumination is implemented with a high repetition rate to provide detailed information on the evolution of shear stiffness during liquefaction. The evolution of shear wave propagation velocity and attenuation parallel the time-history of excess pore pressure during liquefaction. Applications discussed in this paper show that bender elements can be a very effective tool for the detection of shear waves in the laboratory.

• Asia-pacific Journal of Multimedia Services Convergent with Art, Humanities, and Sociology
• /
• v.8 no.3
• /
• pp.945-953
• /
• 2018

In this paper, we use 3-D LIDAR for obstacle detection and avoidance maneuver for autonomous unmanned operation. It is aimed to avoid obstacle avoidance in unmanned water under marine condition using only single sensor. 3D lidar uses Quanergy's M8 sensor to collect surrounding obstacle data and includes layer information and intensity information in obstacle information. The collected data is converted into a three-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system, which is then mapped to a two-dimensional coordinate system. The data including the obstacle information converted into the two-dimensional coordinate system includes noise data on the water surface. So, basically, the noise data generated regularly is defined by defining a hypothetical region of interest based on the assumption of unmanned water. The noise data generated thereafter are set to a threshold value in the histogram data calculated by the Vector Field Histogram, And the noise data is removed in proportion to the amount of noise. Using the removed data, the relative object was searched according to the unmanned averaging motion, and the density map of the data was made while keeping one cell on the virtual grid map. A polar histogram was generated for the generated obstacle map, and the avoidance direction was selected using the boundary value.