• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.56 no.6
• /
• pp.633-637
• /
• 2018

Present study was performed to survey on infection status of Isthmiophora hortensis (formerly Echinostoma hortense) metacercariae (IhMc) in dark sleepers, Odontobutis spp., from some water systems of the Republic of Korea. A total of 237 Odontobutis spp. was collected in the water systems of 5 rivers, i.e., Mangyeong-gang (gang means river), Geum-gang, Tamjin-gang, Seomjin-gang, and Nakdong-gang. They were all examined with artificial digestion method for 5 years (2013-2017). A total of 137 (57.8%) Odontobutis spp. were infected with 14.8 IhMc in average. The prevalence was the highest in Nakdong-gang areas (62.9%) and followed by in Mangyeong-gang (57.1%), Geum-gang (56.3%), Tamjin-gang (54.8%), and Seomjin-gang (53.9%) areas. Metacercarial densities were 28.1 (Geum-gang), 13.9 (Mangyeong-gang), 13.3 (Nakdong-gang), 13.1 (Tamjin-gang), and 2.3 (Seomjin-gang) per infected fish. Especially, in case of Yugucheon (cheon means stream), a branch of Geum-gang, IhMc were detected in all fish (100%) examined and their density was about 48 per fish. By the present study, it was confirmed that the infection status of IhMc is more or less different by the surveyed areas and the dark sleepers, Odontobutis spp., are suitable fish hosts of I. hortensis.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.57 no.2
• /
• pp.145-152
• /
• 2019

The infection status with Clonorchis sinensis metacercariae (CsMc) was examined in freshwater fishes from Yangcheon (a branch of Gyeongho-gang), which is located in Sancheong-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do, the Republic of Korea. Total 2,201 fishes in 26 species were examined by the artificial digestion method through 7 years. CsMc were detected in 1,171 (53.2%) fishes in 21 spp. (80.8%) and their density was 85 per fish infected. Total 532 (99.6%) out of 534 Pungtungia herzi (index fish) examined were infected with 147 CsMc per fish infected. Metacercarial densities in this fish were highest in 2015 (179 CsMc), followed by 2012 (168), 2013 (152), 2016 (145), 2014 (114), and 2017 (89) respectively. In the gobioninid fish group, i.e., P. herzi, Sarcocheilichthys spp., Squalidus spp., Pseudogobio esocinus, Hemibarbus longirostris, and Hemibarbus labeo, 841 (92.7%) fishes were infected with 117 CsMc per fish infected. Total 250 (54.7%) acheilognathinid fish (bitterlings), Acheilognathus spp. and Acanthorhodeus spp. were infected with 5.8 CsMc. In the rasborinid fish (chubs) group, i.e., Zacco platypus, Zacco temminckii, and Zacco koreanus, 77 (13.7%) out of 563 fish examined were infected with 2.4 CsMc in average. The susceptibility indices of CsMc were 49.09 in the overall positive fish group, 104.15 in the gobioninid group, 3.17 in the acheilognathinid group and 0.35 in the rasborinid fish group respectively. Only 1 CsMc was detected in 3 fish species, Coreoperca herzi, Channa argus, and Lepomis macrochirus, respectively. Conclusively, it was confirmed that CsMc are moderately prevalent in fishes from Yangcheon in Sancheon-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do, Korea.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.59 no.3
• /
• pp.265-271
• /
• 2021

We surveyed on the infection status of zoonotic trematode metacercariae (ZTM) in freshwater fishes from Soyang-cheon (a branch stream of Mangyeong-gang) in Wanju-gun, Jeollabuk-do, the Republic of Korea. A total of 927 fishes were individually examined with the artificial digestion method during 2013-2015 (462 fish in 15 spp.) and 2018-2019 (465 fish in 25 spp.). Clonorchis sinensis metacercariae were detected in 207 (31.4%) out of 659 fishes in 14 positive fish species (PFS), and their mean intensity was 114 per fish infected (PFI). Metagonimus spp. metacercariae were found in 302 (37.4%) out of 808 fishes in 21 PFS, and their mean intensity was 12 PFI. Centrocestus armatus metacercariae were detected in 222 (59.0%) out of 376 fishes in 12 PFS, and their mean intensity was 383 PFI. Echinostoma spp. metacercariae were found in 139 (22.1%) out of 628 fishes in 10 PFS, and their mean intensity was 7 PFI. Clinostomum complanatum metacercariae were detected in 14 (6.5%) out of 214 fishes in 4 PFS, and their mean intensity was 2.4 PFI. Metorchis orientalis metacercariae were detected in 36 (13.5%) out of 267 fishes in 5 PFS, and their mean intensity was 4.3 PFI. Conclusively, the prevalence and infection intensity of ZTM is generally not so high in fishes from Soyang-cheon. However, those of C. sinensis metacercariae are more or less higher in 2 fish species, Pungtungia herzi and Sarcocheilichthys variegatus wakiyae.

• International Journal of Stem Cells
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.36-43
• /
• 2023

Background and Objectives: Lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) deposited from disease-affected individuals could be a valuable donor cell source for generating disease-specific induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). However, generation of iPSCs from the LCLs is still challenging, as yet no effective gene delivery strategy has been developed. Methods and Results: Here, we reveal an effective gene delivery method specifically for LCLs. We found that LCLs appear to be refractory toward retroviral and lentiviral transduction. Consequently, lentiviral and retroviral transduction of OCT4, SOX2, KFL4 and c-MYC into LCLs does not elicit iPSC colony formation. Interestingly, however we found that transfection of oriP/EBNA-1-based episomal vectors by electroporation is an efficient gene delivery system into LCLs, enabling iPSC generation from LCLs. These iPSCs expressed pluripotency makers (OCT4, NANOG, SSEA4, SALL4) and could form embryoid bodies. Conclusions: Our data show that electroporation is an effective gene delivery method with which LCLs can be efficiently reprogrammed into iPSCs.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.31-37
• /
• 1996

The chigger mites known as the vectors of Tsutsugamushi disease seriously increased due to the expansion of their habitats by the change of farmland into idle land, arboreta and golf courses with the progress of industrialization. These mites were surveyed for their nymphs in soil of four areas located in the northern part of Kyonggido known as the outbreak areas of Tsutsugamushi disease. Total number of the chigger mites collected in the soil of four surveyed areas was 2576, and two genera and ten species including Leptotrombidium palpale were indentified. Among them L. pallidum was the dominant species with the highest occurrence rate of 62 percent. Nine species occurred on the bank of Changrungchon that has been idled for more than ten years, but six or seven species occurred in Wonhundong and Ilsandong that hans been idled for less than five years. The number of individuals collected was also higher in Changrungchon than the other sites. Seasonal occurrence of these mites showed a peak with 166 mites in November on the west slope and another with 192 mites in February on the east slope of the bank of Changrungchon, but none in June. Component ratio of individual numbers for L. palpale, L. pallidum, L. orientalis and L.scutelaris were 19, 62, 9 and 3 percent, respectively. Individual number of L. pallidum and L. scutelaris appeared to some extent of 397 and 23 mites, respetively.

• Journal of Multimedia Information System
• /
• v.8 no.4
• /
• pp.233-242
• /
• 2021

Various anatomical MRI imaging biomarkers for Alzheimer's Disease (AD) identification have been recognized so far. Cortical and subcortical volume, hippocampal, amygdala volume, and genetics patterns have been utilized successfully to diagnose AD patients from healthy. These fundamental sMRI bio-measures have been utilized frequently and independently. The entire possibility of anatomical MRI imaging measures for AD diagnosis might thus still to analyze fully. Thus, in this paper, we merge different structural MRI imaging biomarkers to intensify diagnostic classification and analysis of Alzheimer's. For 54 clinically pronounce Alzheimer's patients, 58 cognitively healthy controls, and 99 Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI); we calculated 1. Cortical and subcortical features, 2. The hippocampal subfield, amygdala nuclei volume using Freesurfer (6.0.0) and 3. Genetics (APoE ε4) biomarkers were obtained from the ADNI database. These three measures were first applied separately and then combined to predict the AD. After feature combination, we utilize the sequential feature selection [SFS (wrapper)] method to select the top-ranked features vectors and feed them into the Multi-Kernel SVM for classification. This diagnostic classification algorithm yields 94.33% of accuracy, 95.40% of sensitivity, 96.50% of specificity with 94.30% of AUC for AD/HC; for AD/MCI propose method obtained 85.58% of accuracy, 95.73% of sensitivity, and 87.30% of specificity along with 91.48% of AUC. Similarly, for HC/MCI, we obtained 89.77% of accuracy, 96.15% of sensitivity, and 87.35% of specificity with 92.55% of AUC. We also presented the performance comparison of the proposed method with KNN classifiers.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.14 no.5
• /
• pp.2393-2399
• /
• 2013

In this paper, we proposed a method to screening of Alzheimer's disease (AD) from Raman spectra of platelet with synthesis of basis spectra using singular value decomposition (SVD). Raman spectra of platelet from AD transgenic mice are preprocessed with denoising, removal background and normalization method. The column vectors of each data matrix consist of Raman spectrum of AD and normal (NR). The matrix is factorized using SVD algorithm and then the basis spectra of AD and NR are determined by 12 column vectors of each matrix. The classification process is completed by select the class that minimized the root-mean-square error between the validation spectrum and the linear synthesized spectrum of the basis spectra. According to the experiments involving 278 Raman spectra, the proposed method gave about 97.6% classification rate, which is better performance about 6.1% than multi-layer perceptron (MLP) with extracted features using principle components analysis (PCA). The results show that the basis spectra using SVD is well suited for the diagnosis of AD by Raman spectra from platelet.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.56 no.3
• /
• pp.259-265
• /
• 2018

To investigate the infection status of zoonotic trematode metacercariae in yellowfin goby, Acanthogobius flavimanus, from coastal areas of the Republic of Korea (Korea), we examined total 344 gobies from 21 localities with an artificial digestion method from 2013 to 2017. The metacercariae of Stictodora lari were most frequently detected in 45.3% goby from 7 localities, i.e., Taean-gun (Chungcheongnam-do), Gochang-gun (Jeollabuk-do), Muan-gun, Shinan-gun, Haenam-gun (Jeollanam-do), Hadong-gun and Goseong-gun (Gyeongsangnam-do). Their infection rates were 90.0%, 66.7%, 46.7%, 8.0%, 3.3%, 26.7%, and 86.7% and intensities were 1,090, 6.2, 1.6 1.0, 2.0, 2.0, and 7.2 metacercariae per fish infected respectively. Heterophyopsis continua metacercariae were found in 38.2% goby from 6 localities, i.e., Gochang-gun, Muan-gun, Shinan-gun, Gangjin-gun, Boseong-gun (Jeollanam-do) and Goseong-gun, and their intensities were relatively low, 1-21 metacercariae. Stictodora fuscata metacercariae were detected in 61.3% goby from 4 localities, i.e., Taean-gun, Gochang-gun, Hadong-gun and Goseong-gun. Their infection rates were 90.0%, 53.3%, 5.9%, and 73.3% and intensities were 1,081, 3.1, 3.0, and 10.2 metacercariae per fish infected respectively. Heterophyes nocens metacercariae were found in 55.0% goby from Muan-gun and Shinan-gun. Total 3 metacercariae of Isthmiophora hortensis were detected in 2 (8.0%) gobies from Shinan-gun. Total 15 metacercariae of Centrocestus armatus were detected in 5 gobies (33.3%) from Gyeongpo-ho (ho means lake) in Gangneung-si, Gangwon-do. The present study suggests that yellowfin goby, A. flavimanus, acts as the infection sources of zoonotic intestinal flukes in western and southern coastal areas than in eastern coastal areas of Korea.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
• /
• v.56 no.3
• /
• pp.189-197
• /
• 2024

From March to November 2021, a study conducted in Jeju used the dry ice trap method to collect 17,855 ticks across six regions, examining their distribution and potential as disease vectors. The ticks were identified and categorized by species and growth stage. In addition, the study focused on Babesia, a disease transmitted by hard ticks. Of 17,641 ticks from which DNA had been extracted, 581 pools underwent polymerase chain reaction testing. Of these, 43 pools tested positive for Babesia, with the highest positivity found in Western Seogwipo (23 pools, 53.5%), followed by eastern Seogwipo and central Jeju. The peak times for positive results were April and July. This study highlights an increased risk of tick bites linked to the rising number of abandoned pets in Jeju, necessitating ongoing environmental management and monitoring. These findings provide fundamental data for formulating strategies to prevent and manage tick-borne diseases in Jeju. This involves reducing the disease incidence through targeted preventive measures and detailed epidemiological research. These results underscore the necessity for continued vigilance and proactive intervention to address the health challenges ticks pose in the region.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.52 no.2
• /
• pp.225-229
• /
• 2014

A total of 9,281 larval chigger mites were collected from small mammals captured at Hwaseong-gun, Gyeonggi-do (Province) (2,754 mites from 30 small mammals), Asan city, Chungcheongnam-do (3,358 mites from 48 mammals), and Jangseong-gun, Jeollanam-do (3,169 for 62 mammals) from April-November 2009 in the Republic of Korea (= Korea) and were identified to species. Leptotrombidium pallidum was the predominant species in Hwaseong (95.8%) and Asan (61.2%), while Leptotrombidium scutellare was the predominant species collected from Jangseong (80.1%). Overall, larval chigger mite indices decreased from April (27.3) to June (4.9), then increased in September (95.2) and to a high level in November (169.3). These data suggest that L. pallidum and L. scutellare are the primary vectors of scrub typhus throughout their range in Korea. While other species of larval chigger mites were also collected with some implications in the transmission of Orientia tsutsugamushi, they only accounted for 11.2% of all larval chigger mites collected from small mammals.