• Journal of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.329-338
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• 2022

Purpose: This study aimed to develop an infection control e-learning training program for long-term care facility care workers to prevent emerging infectious diseases and evaluate its effectiveness. Method: The program was developed using the analysis design development implementation evaluation (ADDIE) model. The effectiveness of the program was evaluated for 30 care workers. The knowledge and performance of the care workers before and after the program were analyzed by a t-test. Results: In the analysis stages, a literature review on infection control, knowledge and performance of infection control, and education needs was performed, and focus group interviews with ten care workers were conducted. In the design stage, education topics, educational content, and educational methods were selected for the program. A video was produced centered on eight themes. In the development stage, a system for education was developed, and each topic was uploaded. In the implementation stage, the program was applied to 30 care workers, and a questionnaire was administered. In the program's final evaluation, there was a significant difference in infection control knowledge (t=3.06, p=.005), and there was no significant difference in infection control performance. Conclusion: In this study, the necessary topics were finally selected by quantitatively and qualitatively analyzing the educational needs of care workers taking care of the elderly in long-term care facilities. It is necessary to understand the long-term effect and the degree of performance of the observation method in the future.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2010

Progress in the development of DNA vaccines and their delivery strategies has been made since their initial concept as a next generation vaccine. Since DNA vaccine includes non-infectious DNA parts of pathogens, it can't cause disease yet it closely mimic the natural process of infection and immune responses. Despite their early promising results of controlling infectious diseases and cancer in small animal models, DNA vaccines failed to display a level of immunogenicity required for combating these diseases in humans, possibly due to their lower protein expression levels. However, increasing evidence has shown that DNA vaccines are clinically well-tolerated and safe. Furthermore, one notable advantage of DNA vaccines includes convenient utilities of plasmid DNAs coding for antigens. For instance, any emerging pathogens could be prevented easily and timely by allowing the simple exchange of antigen-encoding genes. In this review, newly developed DNA vaccine strategies, including electroporation, which has emerged as a potent method for DNA delivery, targeting infectious diseases and cancer will be discussed with a focus on any on-going DNA vaccine trials or progress made pre-clinically and in clinics.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.507-520
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• 2023

The purpose of this study is to inquire into the effect on the coping with stress by the knowledge of Emerging infectious disease, clinical practice stress. A research was held to the nursing students living in Seoul and Chungbuk from September 10 to October 10, 2022, 259copies of the data were used for the final analysis, Pearson's correlation coefficient and Multiple linear regressions was used. As a result of the study, there was a positive correlation between clinical practice stress due to burden of work, practice education environment stress, and active coping with stress. Clinical practice stress due to interpersonal conflicts, conflicts with patients, burden of work, and undesirable role models was positively correlated with passive coping with stress. Satisfaction of clinical practice, practical educational environment stress and gender accounted for 15.0% of the total variance in the active stress coping, and burden of work accounted for 7% of the total variance in the passive stress coping. Consequently, this study could be suggested as a basis for counseling and developing practical education program for active coping with stress.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.1-9
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• 2015

Objectives: The purpose of this article was to assess epidemiological characteristics and recommendations for strengthening national response and preparedness after MERS-CoV outbreak in Korea, 2015. Methods: The author reviewed epidemiological reports and policy recommendations on MERS-CoV outbreak in Korea, 2015. Results: There was no evidence that genetical difference between the MERS viruses in the Republic of Korea and recent viruses in the Middle East. From the index case to last laboratory-confirmed case, there were 186 laboratory-confirmed cases that included 36 deaths(19.4%), all of whom appear epidemiologically linked to the index cases or subsequent secondary, tertiary, and quaternary cases. This outbreak spread to hospitals through nosocomial transmission. At least, three large clusters were investigated. However, there was at least one case of community transmission of MERS-CoV. Several factors had contributed to the MERS outbreak in Korea, 2015 that including epidemiological characteristics, and infrastructure of national healthcare system for preventing and controlling emerging infectious diseases. Conclusions: It is very important that to share experiences and identify underlying causes of this outbreak for prevention and control of emerging infectious disease in the future; including epidemiology, clinical features, and public health response and preparedness.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.140-148
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• 2015

Vaccination is the most powerful and useful preparation against infectious diseases. However, developing vaccines costs a lot and requires extensive long-term efforts. Therefore, the government should research and develop vaccines with a national-level policy. To greatly enhance the success rate of vaccine development, the policy should be set up considering priorities such as the current status of domestic research, the importance for public health, the urgency of research. The Delphi technique was utilized to draft this survey, through a brainstorming stage, then two inquiries, and finally the final panel meeting where unresolved items were discussed, to draw the conclusion. Among the results, firstly, the highest ranked item on centralized fields for vaccine development by the Ministry of Health was 'self-sufficiency of vaccines.' Secondly, 'emerging infectious disease' was most highly ranked in prioritized fields of vaccine development and research. Thirdly, for the vaccine that needs to be improved and developed further by the government to improve its efficacy and safety, BCG (Bacille de Calmette) for tuberculosis was ranked the highest on both types (intradermal and subcutaneous injection) from National Immunization Programme (NIP) and non-NIP. As for the high risk pathogens, 'anthrax' and 'smallpox' were first and second, consecutively. Lastly, 'development and control of vaccine candidates' was ranked the highest for the area in need for technique development in order to improve domestic vaccine's research level. The results of this study will be put to good use as basic data for the national vaccine research and development (R&D) policy of the country. This study was first step and more studies should be carried out for the final decision of the national vaccine R&D priority.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.18-29
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to examine the spatial characteristics and factors in the occurrence of COVID-19 from January 20 to August 30 of 2020. The exploratory spatial data analysis and spatial econometrics model are used. The spatial unit of analysis is 255 si-gun-gu in Korea. As a result of the analysis, COVID-19 infection did not appear to be a significant factors(host and environment) influencing the emergence of existing new infectious diseases, but there was a relationship between spatially adjacent areas and their occurrence. It also showed a close relationship with the outbreak pattern of group 4 infectious diseases, another type of new infectious disease in Korea. The result of this study shows that COVID-19 is not a new pattern of emerging infectious diseases. It means that the properties of the space where new infectious diseases appear must be continuously managed in order to effectively control new infectious diseases.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.343-351
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• 2014

The present study performed semantic network analysis of the keywords in the headlines of newspapers to investigate the media coverage of the multidrug-resistant microorganisms(MDROs) which is resistant to antibiotics. For this purpose, 229 news stories on MDROs in 28 newspapers from June 1, 2010 to December 31, 2011 were analyzed. The news stories were gathered from the Korea Press Foundation's news database, KINDS (www.kinds.or.kr) and websites of Korean newspapers. The analysis of the keywords revealed 'superbacteria' appeared most frequently (n=155) followed by 'infection' (n=63) which arouses fear among readers. While network was structured with the keywords such as 'domestic', 'multidrug-resistant microorganisms', 'first', 'antibiotics', 'outbreak' and 'infection', the keywords such as 'MDROs related stocks', 'medical staff', and 'safety' were on the periphery of the network.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.63 no.4
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• pp.681-692
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• 2021

Environment, food, and disease have a selective force on the present and future as well as our genome. Adaptation of livestock and the environmental nexus, including forest encroachment for anthropological needs, has been proven to cause emerging infectious diseases. Further, these demand changes in meat production and market systems. Meat is a reliable source of protein, with a majority of the world population consumes meat. To meet the increasing demands of meat production as well as address issues, such as current environmental pollution, animal welfare, and outbreaks, cellular agriculture has emerged as one of the next industrial revolutions. Lab grown meat or cell cultured meat is a promising way to pursue this; however, it still needs to resemble traditional meat and be assured safety for human consumption. Further, to mimic the palatability of traditional meat, the process of cultured meat production starts from skeletal muscle progenitor cells isolated from animals that proliferate and differentiate into skeletal muscle using cell culture techniques. Due to several lacunae in the current approaches, production of muscle replicas is not possible yet. Our review shows that constant research in this field will resolve the existing constraints and enable successful cultured meat production in the near future. Therefore, production of cultured meat is a better solution that looks after environmental issues, spread of outbreaks, antibiotic resistance through the zoonotic spread, food and economic crises.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.31 no.3
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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.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.64 no.2
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• pp.13.1-13.6
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• 2024

Avian influenza A viruses (IAVs) present significant threats to both animal and human health through their potential for cross-species transmission and global spread. Clade 2.3.4.4 H5Nx highly pathogenic avian IAVs initially emerged in East Asia between 2013 and 2014. Since then, they have spread to Europe, Africa, and America via migratory bird flyways. However, beyond viral transmission primarily facilitated by migratory birds, the potential involvement of other intermediate factors for virus transmission remains poorly investigated. This study aimed to investigate the role of wild rodents as intermediary hosts in the ecology of avian IAVs in Gyeonggi province, South Korea. By capturing and analyzing 189 wild rodents near poultry farms and migratory bird habitats in 2013 and 2014 and employing serological assays and virus isolation techniques, we found no evidence of IAV infection among these populations. Our results suggest that wild rodents may not significantly contribute to the transmission dynamics of IAVs within these regions.