• Title/Summary/Keyword: Flu-

Search Result 169, Processing Time 0.034 seconds

Study of Specific Oligosaccharide Structures Related with Swine Flu (H1N1) and Avian Flu, and Tamiflu as Their Remedy

  • Yoo, Eun-Sun
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
    • /
    • v.21 no.5
    • /
    • pp.449-454
    • /
    • 2011
  • The infection of pandemic influenza viruses such as swine flu (H1N1) and avian flu viruses to the host cells is related to the following two factors: First, the surface protein such as HA (hemagglutinin) and NA (neuraminidase) of the influenza virus. Second, the specific structure of the oligosaccharide [sialic acid(${\alpha}2$-6) galactose(${\beta}1$-4)glucose or sialic acid(${\alpha}2$-3)galactose(${\beta}1$-4)glucose] on the host cell. After recognizing the specific structure of the oligosaccharide on the surface of host cells by the surface protein of the influenza virus, the influenza virus can secrete sialidase and cleave the sialic acid attached on the final position of the specific structure of the oligosaccharide on the surface of host cells. Tamiflu (oseltamivir), known as a remedy of swine flu, has a saccharide analog structure, especially the sialic acid analog. Tamiflu can inhibit the invasion of influenza viruses (swine flu and avian flu viruses) into the host cells by competition with sialic acid on the terminal position of the specific oligosaccharide on the surface of the host cell. Because of the emergence of Tamiflu resistance, the development of new potent anti-influenza inhibitors is needed. The inhibitors with positive-charge groups have potential as antiviral therapeutics, and the strain specificity must also be resolved.

Knowledge and Perceptions of Influenza Vaccinations Among College Students in Vietnam and the United States

  • Kamimura, Akiko;Trinh, Ha N.;Weaver, Shannon;Chernenko, Alla;Nourian, Maziar M.;Assasnik, Nushean;Nguyen, Hanh
    • Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
    • /
    • v.50 no.4
    • /
    • pp.268-273
    • /
    • 2017
  • Objectives: Influenza is a significant worldwide public health issue. Knowledge and perceptions regarding the flu vaccination are associated with whether individuals obtain the vaccination. The purpose of this study was to examine how such perceptions were related to knowledge and self-efficacy regarding influenza and the flu vaccination in Vietnam and the US. Methods: College students (n=932) in Vietnam (n=495) and the US (n=437) completed a self-administered survey regarding knowledge and perceptions of influenza vaccinations in September and October 2016. Results: Vietnamese participants reported significantly lower levels of awareness about flu risk, higher levels of negative attitudes toward flu vaccination, lower levels of knowledge about the flu and vaccination, and lower levels of self-efficacy than US participants. Higher levels of flu and flu vaccination knowledge and self-efficacy regarding general responsible health practices were associated with lower levels of negative perceptions of flu risk and attitudes toward vaccination. At the same time, self-efficacy regarding responsible health practices was associated with higher levels of awareness of flu risk and lower levels of negative attitudes toward vaccination. Self-efficacy regarding exercise was associated with lower levels of perceptions of flu risk and higher levels of negative attitudes toward vaccination. Conclusions: Vietnam could benefit from influenza education based on this comparison with the US. In both countries, knowledge and self-efficacy were found to be important factors influencing perceptions of influenza risk and vaccination.

Conformation and Linkage Studies of Specific Oligosaccharides Related to H1N1, H5N1, and Human Flu for Developing the Second Tamiflu

  • Yoo, Eunsun
    • Biomolecules & Therapeutics
    • /
    • v.22 no.2
    • /
    • pp.93-99
    • /
    • 2014
  • The interaction between viral HA (hemagglutinin) and oligosaccharide of the host plays an important role in the infection and transmission of avian and human flu viruses. Until now, this interaction has been classified by sialyl(${\alpha}2-3$) or sialyl(${\alpha}2-6$) linkage specificity of oligosaccharide moieties for avian or human virus, respectively. In the case of H5N1 and newly mutated flu viruses, classification based on the linkage type does not correlate with human infection and human-to-human transmission of these viruses. It is newly suggested that flu infection and transmission to humans require high affinity binding to the extended conformation with long length sialyl(${\alpha}2-6$)galactose containing oligosaccharides. On the other hand, the avian flu virus requires folded conformation with sialyl(${\alpha}2-3$) or short length sialyl(${\alpha}2-6$) containing trisaccharides. This suggests a potential future direction for the development of new species-specific antiviral drugs to prevent and treat pandemic flu.

Detecting outliers in segmented genomes of flu virus using an alignment-free approach

  • Daoud, Mosaab
    • Genomics & Informatics
    • /
    • v.18 no.1
    • /
    • pp.2.1-2.11
    • /
    • 2020
  • In this paper, we propose a new approach to detecting outliers in a set of segmented genomes of the flu virus, a data set with a heterogeneous set of sequences. The approach has the following computational phases: feature extraction, which is a mapping into feature space, alignment-free distance measure to measure the distance between any two segmented genomes, and a mapping into distance space to analyze a quantum of distance values. The approach is implemented using supervised and unsupervised learning modes. The experiments show robustness in detecting outliers of the segmented genome of the flu virus.

A Lesson in Swine Fever (뉴스초점 - 신종플루(H1N1)의 교훈)

  • Choo, Seung-Hwan
    • Journal of the Korean Professional Engineers Association
    • /
    • v.42 no.6
    • /
    • pp.42-46
    • /
    • 2009
  • Every year influenza contributes to the death of 72 people in the South korea, 20,000 in the U.S. and perhaps millions worldwide. The swine fever so-called the noble flu A H1N1, a strain of the flu virus, which jumped species and burst into the human population in March and April of this year. The outbreak of 2009 novel H1N1 was the fourth in 100 years. Fortunately, it led to today's comparatively tame swine flu than the vicious 1918, which was original H1N1 pandemic flu virus, killed at least 40 million worldwide in an ongoing pandemic era. Although the 2009 H1N1 which is still in full swing, this global flu epidemic is already teaching scientists valuable lessons about pandemics. Evidence accumulated these days indicates that the 2009 H1N1 was not entirely new to all human immune systems. This article introduces only an outline for our better understanding the basic mechanisms of influenza and the vaccination about longstanding fears of that worst-case scenario engendered pandemic that are paying off today.

  • PDF

Ionization and Divalent Cation Complexation of Quinolone Antibiotics in Aqueous Solution

  • Park, Hyeong Ryun;Jeong, Gwang Yeong;Lee, Hyeong Cheol;Lee, Jin Gi;Baek, Gi Min
    • Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
    • /
    • v.21 no.9
    • /
    • pp.849-854
    • /
    • 2000
  • The protonation and divalent cation complexation equilibria of several quinolone antibiotics such as nalidixic acid (NAL),flumequine (FLU), oxolinic acid (OXO), ofloxacin (OFL), norfloxacin (NOR) and enoxacin (ENO) have been examined by potentiome tric titration and spectrophotometric method. The antibacterial activity of these drugs depends upon the pH and the concentration of metal cations such as Mg2+ , Ca2+ in solu-tion. The apparent ionization constants of NAL, FLU, OXO, OFL, NOR and ENO in aqueous solution were found to be 6.33, 6.51, 6.72, 7.18, 7.26, and 7.53, respectively. In aqueous solution, NAL, FLU and OXO were found to be present mainly as two chemical species : molecularand anionic; but OFL, NOR and ENO were present mainly as three chemical species : anionic, neutral zwitterionic and cationic form, in equilibrium. The pKa1 and pKa2are found to be 6.10 and 8.28 for OFL; 6.23 and 8.55 for NOR; 6.32 and8.62 for ENO, respec-tively. The complex formation constants between OFL, NOR or FLU and some divalent cations are measured at pH 7.5. The 1 : 1 complexes are formed mainly by ion-dipole interaction. FLU has somewhat larger Kf values than OFL and NOR because its molecular size is small and the FLU is present asanionic form at pH 7.5.

Anti-influenza Virus Activity of Water Soluble Substance from Elfvingia applanata Alone and in Combinations with Interferons (잔나비걸상버섯 수용성물질의 항인플루엔자바이러스 작용과 인터페론과의 병용효과)

  • 정선식;어성국;김영소;한성순
    • YAKHAK HOEJI
    • /
    • v.43 no.4
    • /
    • pp.469-473
    • /
    • 1999
  • EA, the water soluble substance, was prepared from the carpophores of Elfvingia applanata (Pers). Karst. Anti-influenza A virus (anti-Flu A) activity of EA was examined of Vero cells by plaque reduction assay in vitro. And the combined antiviral effects fo EA with interferon (IFN) alpha and gamma were examined on the multiplication of Flu A with 50% effective concentration ($EC_50$) of 1.50 mg/ml. The results of combination assay were evaluated by the combination index (CI) that was analysed by the multiple drug effect analysis. The combination of EA with IFN alpha on Flu A showed more potent synergism with CI values of 0.50~0.52 of 50%, 70%, 90% effective levels than that with IFN gamma with CI values of 0.82~0.99.

  • PDF

A study on knowledge of influenza A(H1N1) and preventive behavior in the midst of the spread of the flu (신종인플루엔자 확산에 따른 지식과 예방행동에 관한 연구)

  • Choi, Hye-Sook;Jeon, Mee-Jin;Lim, Mi-Hee
    • Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
    • /
    • v.10 no.4
    • /
    • pp.567-576
    • /
    • 2010
  • Objectives : The purpose of this study was to examine selected people's knowledge of Influenza A(HINI), their self-efficacy, social norms, awareness of the gravity of the infection of the flu, behavioral intention, preventive behavior, the impact of their knowledge of the flu on those variables and the relationship of the variables, as the spread of the flu has been accelerated. Methods : The subjects in this study were 484 health-related majors at two selected colleges selected by random sampling from the metropolitan area. Results : As for connections between knowledge of the 2009 H1N1 and self-efficacy, the students who were knowledgeable about the flu got a mean of 3.24, and those whose knowledge was on an intermediate level got 3.08. The students who didn't know well about that got 2.91. The students who were better informed were ahead of those who were less informed in terms of self-efficacy, and the intergroup gap was statistically significant(p<0.01). In relation to self-efficacy, the better-informed students scored higher than the less-informed ones in both of the two items: whether to know how to cope with the spread of the 2009 H1N1(p<0.01), and whether to be able to be ready for the spread of it(p<0.01). The intergroup gaps were statistically significant. Conclusions : The knowledge of the students about Influence A(H1N1) and their preventive behavior were analyzed in association with the spread of the flu, and there were no differences in actual preventive behavior though they were not the same in terms of behavioral intention. Therefore health education programs should be prepared to improve not only their knowledge but their attitude and preventive skills to boost their preventive behavior.

Expressional Changes of Connexin Isoform Genes in the Rat Caput Epididymis Exposed to Flutamide or Estradiol Benzoate at the Early Postnatal Age

  • Lee, Ki-Ho
    • Development and Reproduction
    • /
    • v.21 no.3
    • /
    • pp.317-325
    • /
    • 2017
  • Direct communication between neighboring cells through connexin (Cx)-based gap junction is a crucial biological manner to regulate functions of a tissue consisting of multi-cell types. The present research evaluated expressional changes of Cx isoforms in the caput epididymis of adult rat exposed to estradiol benzoate (EB) or flutamide (Flu) at the early postnatal age. A single subcutaneous administration of EB at a low-dose [$0.015{\mu}g/kg$ body weight (BW)] or a high-dose ($1.5{\mu}g/kg\;BW$) or Flu at a low-dose ($500{\mu}g/kg\;BW$) or a high-dose (5 mg/kg BW) was performed to an animal at 1 week of age. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis was employed to determine expressional changes of Cx isoforms. The transcript levels of Cxs30.3 and 37 were decreased by a low-dose EB treatment, while decreases of Cxs31, 31.1, 32, 40, and 45 transcript levels were observed with a low-dose EB treatment. The treatment of a high-dose EB resulted in expressional reduction of Cxs30.3, 31, 31.1, 37, 40, 43, and 45. The Flu treatment at a low dose caused increases of Cxs26, 37, and 40 transcript levels but decreases of Cxs31.1, 43, and 45 transcript levels. Increases of Cxs30.3, 31, 37, and 40 mRNA amounts were induced by a high-dose Flu treatment. However, exposure to a high-dose Flu produced expressional decreases of Cxs31.1, 32, and 43 in the adult caput epididymis. These observations suggest that exposure to EB or Flu at the neonatal period could lead to aberrant expression of Cx isoforms in the adult caput epididymis.

A Study on the GIS-based Method of Building Digital Forest Land-Use Map (GIS 기반 산지이용구분도 작성방법에 관한 연구)

  • Park, Young-Kyu;Kwon, Soon-Duk;Song, Chul-Chul;Kwon, Dae-Soon;Lee, Jong-Hak;Kim, Hyung-Ho
    • Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
    • /
    • v.9 no.3
    • /
    • pp.46-57
    • /
    • 2006
  • The purpose of this study is to develop a GIS-based digital Forest Land-use(FLU) Map Building Process which will be adopted as the map publishment methodology for the official FLU Map notification in 2007. The process is composed of 6 steps, extracting forest lands from Continuous Land Map(CLM), extracting forest land borders restricted by other laws, extracting boundaries between semi- and reserve forest lands, making digital FLU map by integrating spatial and attribute data among the extractions, printing FLU map and FLU register, and re-correcting zoning errors. Through the process, in 1:25,000 and 1:5,000 scale, 14 and 173 sheets of the FLU Maps and it's register were created for the whole area of Hwaseong, Kyunggi.

  • PDF